This past weekend was a blast! Another Winter Cycling Relay Challenge with SBR Coaching is in the books. A quick recap of this event: 24 hours of computrainer riding with 7 teams going head to head. There are 2 courses; flat and hilly; where riders go all out for 55 minutes. Teams are ranked according to total accumulated mileage after the 24 hours.
I always look forward to this weekend. Its a great time with good company, food, beverages and some very strong riders. I was on a newcomer team, Pat's Gym. We took a respectable 4th place amongst some stiff competition. RDE, who has won the lat several of these events came in 3rd, The Competition was 2nd, and StravaJava took back their title. Congrats to them!
Having worked on my cycling legs this winter, I had some high hopes for putting out some respectable power numbers for my 3 pm hilly course. Sadly, things did not go according to plan. I have been training at Speed Cycling with a threshold of 280 watts for workouts and feeling really good, and I suspect that my actual threshold is in the 290-295 range, on a good day. The one time I power tested this winter I averaged 289 with a flat tire...(make sure your tires are good before doing something like this!) So far I have been struggling to find those legs when it matters. I came out at a meager 262 for my hour...that's a number I am not happy with. Granted, I did run a 5k that morning at a relatively solid effort, but I felt like I held back enough to keep my TT effort together (more on that in a bit). For the first 30 minutes I felt relatively good. Unfortunately, when it came time to start pushing, my legs did not want to cooperate. Cramping in my calves started after about 25 minutes and did not stop. I suppose I can't be entirely disappointed with my effort, since I did hold it together enough to not be completely embarrassed. Oh well, there's always next time...
On to the somewhat better news, the Valentines 5k. I had high hopes at cracking the 18:00 min mark, but the weather and pavement conditions did not help here. That morning I was greeted with cold, high winds, freezing rain and a very slick course. The roads were covered in slush, most of the turns had to be taken very cautiously and we had one 0.5 mile stretch that was completely covered in ice and snow. Even with those conditions I finished around 18:23. I'm happy with that. I had a lot left in the tank. Really looking to another crack at it when we get some decent weather in WI and dry pavement! Come on spring! Enough of this awful winter....
Moral learned from this weekend? I need to be less hard on myself sometimes. Its only February, I did not prepare for either of these events as a priority, and serious training does not start until March. I'm still in maintenance mode and have a long season of racing to look forward to. One thing is for sure...I'm seeing improvements in the right areas and expect to make some big gains this season. Keep on keepin' on.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
100 x 100 Swim and Chipotle - A Perfect Match
What did you do last Sunday? I bet it wasn't swimming a 10k set in the pool. Well, that's exactly what I did. Call me crazy, but it was actually a lot of fun! I'd highly recommend doing this with a fun group of friends, plenty of snacks, cookies and bacon (yes, we had BACON). Unless of course you are a swimmer, then this shouldn't be such a big deal...
We met at the Middleton high school pool at 11 am to start this epic swim. The swim was broken up as follows, more or less:
10x100 swim w/u
5x100 drill/swim
5x100 band
10x100 kick w/ fins
10x 100 pull
- 5x pads only
- 5x 100 pads + buoy
10x 100 "pyramid of stroke"
- 100 free
- 75 free/25 stroke
- 50 free/ 50 stroke
- 75 free/ 25 stroke
- 100 stroke
- 100 stroke
- 75 stroke/ 25 free
- 50 stroke/ 50 free
- 25 stroke/ 25 free
- 100 free
*** snack break ***
5x100 IM
5x100 pull buoy
5x100 free
10x100 kick w/ fins
5x100 drill
5x100 drills
5x100 pull buoy only
6x100 free descend (1:45)
4x100 c/d
NOTE: I don't have fins so the kick sets were brutal and I don't how to butterfly (yet), so I substituted in 1 arm drills instead. Also, everything was done at a casual pace.
Surprisingly, I didn't really start to feel tired until about 7k in. At that point my triceps and shoulders were very tired. The first 50 of each 100 felt relatively good, but by the time we were coming back in on the 2nd lap I felt completely spent. At one point I did feel like dropping out because my lungs hurt so bad. From time to time I get exercise induced asthma. I'm not sure if I was experiencing that or dry drowning? During the 2nd kick set I took in a large amount of water and after that I had some difficulty getting in full breaths. Instead of calling it on the spot I settled down a bit and focused on getting in full, relaxed breaths. In hindsight, I should have just stopped, but I'm stubborn and was committed to finishing the workout. Good thing I'm not a young child eh? I only say that because dry drowning seems to be an issue with the young ones...
Anyway, I was able to come around and finish strong. The group in my lane was coming in around 1:26-1:27 for the final 100's. Some of the group decided they wanted to finish off with 100 sprints off the blocks. Crazy. Finishing off the day with Chipotle burritos was just what the doctor ordered.
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| Bacon motivation! |
We met at the Middleton high school pool at 11 am to start this epic swim. The swim was broken up as follows, more or less:
10x100 swim w/u
5x100 drill/swim
5x100 band
10x100 kick w/ fins
10x 100 pull
- 5x pads only
- 5x 100 pads + buoy
10x 100 "pyramid of stroke"
- 100 free
- 75 free/25 stroke
- 50 free/ 50 stroke
- 75 free/ 25 stroke
- 100 stroke
- 100 stroke
- 75 stroke/ 25 free
- 50 stroke/ 50 free
- 25 stroke/ 25 free
- 100 free
*** snack break ***
5x100 IM
5x100 pull buoy
5x100 free
10x100 kick w/ fins
5x100 drill
5x100 drills
5x100 pull buoy only
6x100 free descend (1:45)
4x100 c/d
NOTE: I don't have fins so the kick sets were brutal and I don't how to butterfly (yet), so I substituted in 1 arm drills instead. Also, everything was done at a casual pace.
 |
| Mid swim break. Morale is still high : ) |
Anyway, I was able to come around and finish strong. The group in my lane was coming in around 1:26-1:27 for the final 100's. Some of the group decided they wanted to finish off with 100 sprints off the blocks. Crazy. Finishing off the day with Chipotle burritos was just what the doctor ordered.
 |
| The group post swim. Spent, yet happy. |
 |
| Burritos! |
Monday, February 4, 2013
Indoor Triathlons - Surprisingly Fun!
Last Friday (Feb. 1st), I took part in my first indoor triathlon. These are put on by a local company, Race Day Events, LLC. I will say, for being a 40 min. Friday night workout, it was tons of fun. Who would think swimming indoors, riding on those awful indoor spin bikes, and running on the dreadmill could be so much fun. Not this guy...
I had been wanting to do one of these for awhile. Since I work part time for RDE, I thought now would be as good a time as any, plus it would be a good indicator of where my fitness is currently at.
My plan for the swim was to just cruise...wait, before I get into that I should probably outline how these events are structured. Its basically a timed leg for each discipline (swim, bike and of course run). The person who goes the furthest distance in each leg, sets the curve and gets 100 points. Your score is based on the highest distance with points rewarded accordingly. The legs are broken down as follows: 10 min swim, 20 min spin, 10 min run. You get about 10 min in between each leg to change etc...
I digress...so the swim. I started off at a steady cruise pace and built into a good rhythm. I managed to get in 14 laps (700 yards) for the 10 minutes. This came out to ~1:25/100, which I was happy with. I came out of the pool feeling great. The spin portion is another story. If you've ever ridden one of those spin class bikes you know what I'm talking about. The seats are huge and squishy, the adjust-ability is 'meh' at best, and everyone is stuck with the same resistance. This means it becomes a spin fest. Since I was hoping to set the curve for this one I knew I had to spin really fast for the 20 min, but didn't know how fast. I hit 130-135 rpm's and held it there. This sucked. It was incredibly uncomfortable, mainly because the set up was so different from my actual bikes. I also noticed that if I hit 140 the computer would shut off, so I had to keep backing off. On a positive note, my legs felt fine from a muscular stand point and I did have the highest spin distance : )
Total distance on bike was 12.7 km, whatever that means. Not sure how to compare that to an actual outdoor ride.
Knowing that the run was only 10 min, I planned on running it relatively hard, but not doing anything too crazy. Once I was warmed up, I set the incline to 1% and started out at 9.5 mph (~6:20 pace). Each minute I bumped the speed up a tad until I was around a 5:52. This still felt pretty comfortable so by the end I was holding about a 5:07 pace for the last 2 minutes. I ended up running 1.67 miles in the 10 min, which was also the highest run of the night. If there was one thing I would do differently here I would just start around a pace of 5:40 and hold it for the 10 min.
All in all it was a solid workout. I may start doing something similar to this to get a good benchmark on a semi regular basis. The beautiful thing is this is something anyone can do, on their schedule, at whatever effort level they feel like. Try it out sometime!
I had been wanting to do one of these for awhile. Since I work part time for RDE, I thought now would be as good a time as any, plus it would be a good indicator of where my fitness is currently at.
My plan for the swim was to just cruise...wait, before I get into that I should probably outline how these events are structured. Its basically a timed leg for each discipline (swim, bike and of course run). The person who goes the furthest distance in each leg, sets the curve and gets 100 points. Your score is based on the highest distance with points rewarded accordingly. The legs are broken down as follows: 10 min swim, 20 min spin, 10 min run. You get about 10 min in between each leg to change etc...
I digress...so the swim. I started off at a steady cruise pace and built into a good rhythm. I managed to get in 14 laps (700 yards) for the 10 minutes. This came out to ~1:25/100, which I was happy with. I came out of the pool feeling great. The spin portion is another story. If you've ever ridden one of those spin class bikes you know what I'm talking about. The seats are huge and squishy, the adjust-ability is 'meh' at best, and everyone is stuck with the same resistance. This means it becomes a spin fest. Since I was hoping to set the curve for this one I knew I had to spin really fast for the 20 min, but didn't know how fast. I hit 130-135 rpm's and held it there. This sucked. It was incredibly uncomfortable, mainly because the set up was so different from my actual bikes. I also noticed that if I hit 140 the computer would shut off, so I had to keep backing off. On a positive note, my legs felt fine from a muscular stand point and I did have the highest spin distance : )
Total distance on bike was 12.7 km, whatever that means. Not sure how to compare that to an actual outdoor ride.
Knowing that the run was only 10 min, I planned on running it relatively hard, but not doing anything too crazy. Once I was warmed up, I set the incline to 1% and started out at 9.5 mph (~6:20 pace). Each minute I bumped the speed up a tad until I was around a 5:52. This still felt pretty comfortable so by the end I was holding about a 5:07 pace for the last 2 minutes. I ended up running 1.67 miles in the 10 min, which was also the highest run of the night. If there was one thing I would do differently here I would just start around a pace of 5:40 and hold it for the 10 min.
All in all it was a solid workout. I may start doing something similar to this to get a good benchmark on a semi regular basis. The beautiful thing is this is something anyone can do, on their schedule, at whatever effort level they feel like. Try it out sometime!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Simple Veggie Curry
Last night I made one of my absolute favorite dishes...vegetable curry. The beautiful thing about this is how simple it is, plus you get tons of leftovers!
Things you'll need:
Start by cooking down some garlic with the red onion (thinly sliced) in some oil (I prefer coconut oil). After a minute or so throw in enough curry paste to coat the onions. Note: the more spice you use here will give you a richer curry flavor, so that's your judgement.
Once that has cooked for several minutes the remaining ingredients can be thrown in the pan. I tend to keep the pieces of produce rather large, but it doesn't really matter. Just keep them consistent so everything cooks at the same rate. After you have combined everything and smooth out the coconut milk, top the curry off with water so everything is covered. Make sure to add one bouillon cube per cup of water added so the flavor doesn't thin out.
Meanwhile, cook whatever you want to top the curry with. I recommend brown basmati rice or quinoa. Once the curry sauce has reduced to a thicker consistency and the potatoes are tender it is ready. Top with chopped basil or cilantro. Some lemon zest adds a nice touch as well.
Things you'll need:
- 1 can coconut milk
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1 large yellow squash
- 12 oz. cooked chick peas
- 1 large red onion
- Garlic
- Red curry paste or your favorite curry spice blend
- Thai basil or cilantro
- Brown basmati rice
- Bouillon cubes
Start by cooking down some garlic with the red onion (thinly sliced) in some oil (I prefer coconut oil). After a minute or so throw in enough curry paste to coat the onions. Note: the more spice you use here will give you a richer curry flavor, so that's your judgement.
Once that has cooked for several minutes the remaining ingredients can be thrown in the pan. I tend to keep the pieces of produce rather large, but it doesn't really matter. Just keep them consistent so everything cooks at the same rate. After you have combined everything and smooth out the coconut milk, top the curry off with water so everything is covered. Make sure to add one bouillon cube per cup of water added so the flavor doesn't thin out.
Meanwhile, cook whatever you want to top the curry with. I recommend brown basmati rice or quinoa. Once the curry sauce has reduced to a thicker consistency and the potatoes are tender it is ready. Top with chopped basil or cilantro. Some lemon zest adds a nice touch as well.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Magical Crock Pots
Anyone who says they can't cook is full of shit. Period.
If you are one of those hopeless kitchen people, the ones who burn everything, can't figure out how to boil water, or are forever attached to grab and go food or salads...get a crock pot! Seriously.
I generally use mine for making large batches of chili, soups, etc. They are also a must for keeping large quantities of food up to temp for parties and whatnot. But, I tried something new (for me) yesterday. Before I left for work, I put some extra pork shoulder I had from a New Years party in the pot, left it on low, and headed out for work. Its amazing how something so minimal in terms of ingredients can come out so tasty. The only things I put on the shoulder were salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika and cayenne pepper. By the time I got home the entire apartment smelled of wonderful, succulent pork and it was fall off the bone tender. This would work with any large cut of meat.
And if you don't eat meat, throw in all of your favorite veggies, some liquid and some seasoning and I'm willing to bet something appetizing will come out of it. Haven't tried it yet but you can bet your ass I will be soon. Happy eating!
If you are one of those hopeless kitchen people, the ones who burn everything, can't figure out how to boil water, or are forever attached to grab and go food or salads...get a crock pot! Seriously.
I generally use mine for making large batches of chili, soups, etc. They are also a must for keeping large quantities of food up to temp for parties and whatnot. But, I tried something new (for me) yesterday. Before I left for work, I put some extra pork shoulder I had from a New Years party in the pot, left it on low, and headed out for work. Its amazing how something so minimal in terms of ingredients can come out so tasty. The only things I put on the shoulder were salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika and cayenne pepper. By the time I got home the entire apartment smelled of wonderful, succulent pork and it was fall off the bone tender. This would work with any large cut of meat.
And if you don't eat meat, throw in all of your favorite veggies, some liquid and some seasoning and I'm willing to bet something appetizing will come out of it. Haven't tried it yet but you can bet your ass I will be soon. Happy eating!
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
New year goals and motivation
I cannot believe it is already 2013! The last month has been a blur of family, holidays, and what naturally comes along with that...tons of junk food. I felt like Thanksgiving through the New Year was nothing but rich, comfort food and an exorbitant amount of desserts. While I do love that time of year, my stomach is glad to be over it.
With another new year being well on its way means that everyone is also making resolutions. I have never been too fond of making resolutions to keep, I have always believed that if you want to change something do it right away. No need to wait for an arbitrary time to make beneficial changes in your life. With that said, there is something I am starting to change in my life and it just so happens to be with the start of 2013. I need to be more proactive about taking responsibility with things I need to get done. However, this doesn't apply to anything major I am trying to accomplish, just the little things that will make my life much easier and far less stressful.
A great example of this would be getting back to what I was so good at last summer when I was chest deep in Ironman training. Although I was incredibly busy with work, staying on top of my training and maintaining what little personal life I had; making sure I had food prepared ahead of time and workout gear was in order made everything so much easier. I know it sounds silly (and like I said, small changes), but I need to get back to doing that. I am just now coming out of my "off-season" and I'm hoping that these changes will naturally occur.
The biggest thing that is hindering me right now is this damn WI winter! The days are short, nights are long, and the cold is here to stay. I absolutely love sleeping, so when I try to get up at 5am for group cycling, it becomes very easy to hit snooze and tell myself I'll go to the night class instead. This is fine I suppose, but I prefer getting stuff done right away. This is where the small changes need to take place. If I know I have my food ready for the day and my bags are packed, I have little else to get ready for the day and getting out the door becomes so much easier, even if it is 5 degrees outside.
Enough of my ramblings...with that I am happy to say I am pumped for this year. As mentioned in previous posts I am with a new team, Wattie Ink Team Elite, and am very excited about it. The right column of this blog should now have click-able links for all of our team sponsors. I have decided I am going to target 3 70.3 distance races this year: Racine 70.3, and the Rev3 WI Dells & Anderson (South Carolina) events. I will also be racing a lot of shorter stuff as well as some running races.
Lastly, the Packers looked great last week and I hope they keep this momentum going as they take on San Fran this coming Saturday! Go Pack!
With another new year being well on its way means that everyone is also making resolutions. I have never been too fond of making resolutions to keep, I have always believed that if you want to change something do it right away. No need to wait for an arbitrary time to make beneficial changes in your life. With that said, there is something I am starting to change in my life and it just so happens to be with the start of 2013. I need to be more proactive about taking responsibility with things I need to get done. However, this doesn't apply to anything major I am trying to accomplish, just the little things that will make my life much easier and far less stressful.
A great example of this would be getting back to what I was so good at last summer when I was chest deep in Ironman training. Although I was incredibly busy with work, staying on top of my training and maintaining what little personal life I had; making sure I had food prepared ahead of time and workout gear was in order made everything so much easier. I know it sounds silly (and like I said, small changes), but I need to get back to doing that. I am just now coming out of my "off-season" and I'm hoping that these changes will naturally occur.
The biggest thing that is hindering me right now is this damn WI winter! The days are short, nights are long, and the cold is here to stay. I absolutely love sleeping, so when I try to get up at 5am for group cycling, it becomes very easy to hit snooze and tell myself I'll go to the night class instead. This is fine I suppose, but I prefer getting stuff done right away. This is where the small changes need to take place. If I know I have my food ready for the day and my bags are packed, I have little else to get ready for the day and getting out the door becomes so much easier, even if it is 5 degrees outside.
Enough of my ramblings...with that I am happy to say I am pumped for this year. As mentioned in previous posts I am with a new team, Wattie Ink Team Elite, and am very excited about it. The right column of this blog should now have click-able links for all of our team sponsors. I have decided I am going to target 3 70.3 distance races this year: Racine 70.3, and the Rev3 WI Dells & Anderson (South Carolina) events. I will also be racing a lot of shorter stuff as well as some running races.
Lastly, the Packers looked great last week and I hope they keep this momentum going as they take on San Fran this coming Saturday! Go Pack!
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| Woodson looked far from old and slow. He is still a force to be reckoned with! |
Friday, December 14, 2012
Read this if you plan to attempt a beer mile...
Note: beer mile was attempted Nov. 22, 2012. Also, this is not a guide for running a good beer mile.
Here are some general guidelines when attempting to do your first beer mile, in no particular order of importance.
- DO dress like a fool. You will look like a fool during your first attempt, why not dress the part?
- DO NOT wear shoes 2 sizes too small for women
- DO NOT run a beer mile after a hard race. Not trying to play down being a BAMF, just try to avoid any unnecessary injuries.
- Avoid any kind of crap beer that is ice cold. This was probably my biggest downfall. I did not come prepared with the proper brew, so I was stuck with throat numbingly cold MGD. Highly NOT recommended.
- DO have your race timing friends give you splits for each lap + transition!
- The more effed up the course the better. We did 4 loops on someone's land, which was largely trail running. Also resulted in my friend Jordan and I getting lost on 2 of the loops.
- Did I mention to dress like a fool?
I would say my first beer mile was a success. Things I took away from it are that cold MGD sucks. And it makes you puke on your 4th lap. You are immediately drunk afterwards. Having awesome friends who set up official timing equipment for a beer mile is awesome.
Although I don't remember my official time (definitely 10+ minutes), I had an awesome first lap. It was somewhere around 90 sec including the beer. After that, things went downhill quickly. I think each beer after loop 1 took around 1 minute because of the cold beer and me just being a terrible cold beer drinker. The running was not bad at all. Next time around I will be prepared with shitty warm beer in hand.
Here are some general guidelines when attempting to do your first beer mile, in no particular order of importance.
- DO dress like a fool. You will look like a fool during your first attempt, why not dress the part?
- DO NOT wear shoes 2 sizes too small for women
- DO NOT run a beer mile after a hard race. Not trying to play down being a BAMF, just try to avoid any unnecessary injuries.
- Avoid any kind of crap beer that is ice cold. This was probably my biggest downfall. I did not come prepared with the proper brew, so I was stuck with throat numbingly cold MGD. Highly NOT recommended.
- DO have your race timing friends give you splits for each lap + transition!
- The more effed up the course the better. We did 4 loops on someone's land, which was largely trail running. Also resulted in my friend Jordan and I getting lost on 2 of the loops.
- Did I mention to dress like a fool?
 |
| Me on the left sporting borrowed shoes and shorts and my amazing wool socks. Ryan on the right, who also ran a marathon that morning. |
Although I don't remember my official time (definitely 10+ minutes), I had an awesome first lap. It was somewhere around 90 sec including the beer. After that, things went downhill quickly. I think each beer after loop 1 took around 1 minute because of the cold beer and me just being a terrible cold beer drinker. The running was not bad at all. Next time around I will be prepared with shitty warm beer in hand.
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