Day 37 - 30 min Run and 60 min Bike

Finally back to running this morning after dealing with shin splints for 2 weeks. I eased into it with a real easy pace and didn't push it past 30 min. I'll do the same thing for Thursday's run. Shin felt pretty good and hasn't really bothered me in the couple hours after the run. Hopefully the shin splints are behind me! I'll hop on the bike trainer for an hour tonight while watching some TV.

In other exciting news, Jamie and I booked a last minute trip to Napa and San Francisco and leave this Saturday!!! We'll spend 3 days in Napa and 3 in San Fran. We're staying at the Westin in Napa and the Westin in SF. We can't wait!! We've been talking about going out to wine country for a while and we found a great deal that we couldn't pass up. We plan on doing a bike tour one day biking between 4 vineyards and stopping for tastings at each.

Tue 3/31/09 5:30 am Run 30 min 3.2 mi 9:23 min per mile Effort: 11 HR: ave 150 max 163 BPM

Tue 3/31/09 7:19 pm Bike 60 min 23.5 mi 2:33 min per mile Effort: 13 HR: ave 142 max 153 BPM

This past weekend's workouts and start of Week 6

Did some resisitance and core training on Sat followed by a 2 hour long bike ride on the trainer indoors on Sunday due to the rain. Ended up watching all of Rocky Balboa - (the 6th one in the series I believe) not a bad flick to watch while you're training - made things go by pretty quickly, still a long time to be in the saddle! Close to 45 miles and over 1250 calories later I finished the 2 hours. Today's workout was a morning recovery bike ride of 45 minutes to loosen the stiffness and a swim at lunch. Getting fired up for my first run tomorrow since the shin splints started 2 weeks ago.

Sat 3/28/09 12:00 pm Resistance Training 60 min Effort: 12 HR: ave 117 max 150 BPM

Sun 3/29/09 11:19 am Bike 120 min 44.94 mi 2:40 min per mile Effort: 15 HR: ave 141 max 157 BPM

Mon 3/30/09 5:30 am Bike 45 min 15 mi 3:00 min per mile Effort: 11 HR: ave 119 max 135 BPM

Mon 3/30/09 12:00 pm Swim 40 min 2000 m 32:11 min per mile Effort: 11

Day 33 - First Swim Workout with Boston Performance Coaching

Holy SH!T!! So that is what a real swim workout is like!! The triathlon swimming clinic is taught by two certified instructors, one was an all american triathlete at BU and is now the strength and conditioning coach at BU, the other is a certified triathlon coach. I was a little nervous and anxious about the class because I've never swam competitively before, but all in all everything went pretty well! They worked us through a variety of drills - swimming with your fists closed (not easy), sighting for cones so you know where you are when you're swimming in open water, and swimming underwater for as long as you possibly can to build up your lung capacity. These are things I would never be doing on my own, so I'm psyched about the clinic and looking forward to next week.

Day 32 - 30 min Elliptical, Lunch Swim, and New Toy

In order to ease back into running, I figured the elliptical machine would be a good way to slowly transition back into it. It felt great, no shin pain and really loosened up my lower leg muscles. Monday will be my first day back running again.


I'll go for an easy swim at lunch today to get my bearings and work on technique before tomorrow morning's first swim clinic class...should be interesting.


And last, but not least, I purchased a new toy yesterday - should arrive in 5-7 days. I'm absolutely psyched!! Jamie you have been incredibly supportive!! Thank you, Thank YOU! No excuses not to be fast now!





Here's the description: The Quintana Roo Caliente Carbon Triathlon Bike is one incredibly fast bike that we could have just named “hot”, but using the Spanish translation just made it sound even more intense. After you see the Caliente’s incredible new paint scheme, witness the frame shaping inspired by the Lucero, feel its blazing performance and burn through your PR’s, we think you’ll see that it lives up to its name no matter the language. System integration of carbon aero seatpost and Real Design Aero HP fork only boosts the Caliente’s resume. The Caliente’s new handcrafted full carbon frame is leaps and bounds ahead, in both ability and head-turning characteristics, than any other bike in its class.

Day 31 - Resistance Training

Still no running in order to let the shin splint continue to heal. Depending on how it feels tomorrow, I may give it a try.

I did some resistance training, core workout and a lot of stretching this morning. Getting fired up (and a little nervous) for the first swim clinic class this Friday.

Wed 3/25/09 5:30 am Resistance Training 58 min Effort: 12 HR: ave 115 max 145 BPM

Day 30 - Bike and Time Trial Swim at lunch

My Coach (Jamie) got me out of bed early this morning to get my ass on the bike! She doesn't mess around! 60min on the bike and just over 22 miles, felt pretty good.

In preparation for my swim class on Friday, the instructors asked that all the participants swim a 500M time trial so they can group you with people of similar ability. I swam mine today at lunch and finished in 8:40. I'm guessing that'll put me with some of the other slower swimmers, but you gotta start somewhere! After the first 500M, I did a very slow relaxing 1300M.

Tue 3/24/09 5:30 am Bike 60 min 22.13 mi 2:43 min per mile Effort: 14 HR: ave 154 max 162 BPM

Tue 3/24/09 12:15 pm Swim 30 min 1800 m 26:49 min per mile Effort: 11

Day 29 - Start of Week 5

Got back into it after a great weekend up at Sunday River with Jamie and PJ. Had some beautiful weather and some great spring skiing.

I'm going to wait until Thursday to get back into the running program and give my shin just a little more time to heal. Jamie and I went to Marathon Sports in Melrose and had their shoe outfitters watch us run and walk to determine the best shoes for us. I ended up going with the Mizuno Wave Inspire - really light weight and pretty darn stable - designed for moderate overpronators. Jamie also picked up a pair of Mizuno's.

Mon 3/23/09 5:30 am Resistance Training 48 min Effort: 13

Mon 3/23/09 12:00 pm Swim 45.8 min 1950 m 37:50 min per mile Effort: 14

Day 24 Resistance Training and Lunch Swim

Finally got back to the weights this morning and it felt great. Going for a shorter but faster swim at lunch today.

Wed 3/18/09 9:00 am Resistance Training 46 min Effort: 12 HR: ave 114 max 147 BPM

Wed 3/18/09 1:30 pm Swim 35 min 1500 m 37:33 min per mile Effort: 14

Day 23 - Bike and Swim

My left shin really started bothering me after the run yesterday, so it's going to be all about the bike and swimming for the rest of the week and I'll see how it feels at the beginning of next week. I don't want this to become a bigger problem so early in the training schedule.

In other news, I signed up for a triathlon specific swim clinic at Boston University every Friday morning at 6:30am. The course is taught be triathlon certified coaches and will hopefully help a lot! There's lots of room for improvement with my swimming abilities!

Had a great swim at lunch today and felt like I could have kept swimming for a while! First time I've felt like that.

Tue 3/17/09 8:23 am Bike 60 min 23.5 mi 2:33 min per mile Effort: 14 HR: ave 139 max 150 BPM

Tue 3/17/09 12:55 pm Swim 40 min 2300 m 27:59 min per mile Effort: 14

Day 22 - Beginning of Week 4

After a great weekend of skiing in VT with the fellas and a great welcome home from Jamie, I'm feeling much better after suffering from the flu last week, got back into training mode this morning. This will be the last week of the "prep" period and next week the base training will start which will up the hours and intensity a little bit week by week.

Ran this morning and felt ok, had a little bit of a shin splint starting to act up - probably a result of my calves being too tight from skiing over the weekend.

Mon 3/16/09 8:21 am Run 40 min 4.5 mi 8:53 min per mile Effort: 14 HR: ave 147 max 172 BPM

Will swim today at lunch.

Day 18 Lunchtime Run

Went for a run outside around the lake in Wakefield. My lungs were burning because of how cold it was out. Didn't feel that great as I think I'm still recovering from the flu earlier this week.

Thu 3/12/09 2:36 pm Run 25.5 min 3.2 mi 7:58 min per mile Effort: 12 HR: ave 165 max 172 BPM

Day 17 - Still no workouts and Jamie's tough break (pun intended)

Finally back to normal diet and refueling for the rest of the week's workouts. Back at it again tomorrow. That stomach bug was ruthless!

So apparently Jamie had so much sympathy for me tearing my ACL twice that she needed to experience it for herself. Yup, unfortunately the MRI results are in and not what we wanted to hear. She'll now decide when she wants to have the surgery. I have no doubt that she'll make it through the process with flying colors and a smile on her face only to come back stronger and more determined than before!

Days 14, 15, and 16

Day 14 - Sunday - Resistance Training and Core Workout - 45 min

Sun 3/8/09 11:00 am Resistance Training 45 min Effort: 11

First bike ride outside today. What a difference being outside! Felt great, but the beautiful weather was just a tease.

Sun 3/8/09 1:30 pm Bike 105 min 26.5 mi 3:58 min per mile Effort: 15 HR: ave 131 max 175 BPM

Day 15 - Monday, came down with a stomach bug around 3AM this morning and feel terrible - No training today or tomorrow - out sick.

Day 16 - Tuesday still out sick - need to replenish fluids. Hopefully back at it tomorrow depending on how I feel.

Day 13 - Day off for rest!!!

Didn't really do anything physical at all today!! Spent most of the day doing taxes. What else could be more fun and relaxing on your day off?!

Long bike ride tomorrow. I can feel spring is almost here!! Can't wait to start training outside.

Day 12 - Short Bike and Fast Swim

45 min Bike ride this morning followed by a swim at lunch today. Went to see my knee surgeon's assistant this morning to get my knee checked and to get Jamie's knee checked. Everything was fine with mine, ACL looks solid and I may have a little patellar tendonitis, which is nothing really. Jamie's knee seemed a little "loose" so she is getting an MRI today. Hopefully everything's ok.

Fri 3/6/09 6:00 am Bike 45 min 14.5 mi 3:06 min per mile Effort: 11 HR: ave 118 max 147 BPM

Fri 3/6/09 2:21 pm Swim 37 min 1500 m 39:42 min per mile Effort: 14

Day 11 - 60 Min Long Run

Happy to be done for the day. I felt great the first 40 min and then my calf started to tighten up, I stopped and stretched it out a bit and then finished and was fine for the last 20 min. No problems getting out of bed in the morning. My coach (Jamie) is a great motivator!!

Thu 3/5/09 5:30 am Run 60 min 6.8 mi 8:49 min per mile Effort: 15 HR: ave 152 max 172 BPM

Day 10 - 60 Min AM Bike and Speed Swim at Lunch

Started the day off with an easy pace 60 min bike and felt really good. Shorter faster swim at lunch today - getting ready for the long run tomorrow.

Here's a quick run down of the 20 week training program I'm following:

Weeks 20-17 - Prep period
Weeks 16-13 - Building Base Phase 1
Weeks 12-9 - Building Base Phase 2
Weeks 8-5 - Building Base Phase 3
Weeks 4-3 - Last 2 week Build for Endurance
Weeks 2-1 - Taper Down before Race

Here's a description of the Prep period that I'm in right now:

This period is "preparing to train"--building base endurance through work and recovery. We'll keep the same number of hours throughout the period and approximately the same schedule. The goal is consistency and getting the body warmed up for the longer periods ahead.

Wed 3/4/09 5:30 am Bike 60 min 21 mi 2:51 min per mile Effort: 11 HR: ave 118 max 130 BPM

Wed 3/4/09 1:42 pm Swim 30 min 1500 m 32:11 min per mile Effort: 14

Day 9 - Short Run and Speed Swim

30 min run this morning and I felt pretty good. This cold weather and snow is ridiculous! Just when I was getting ready to start training outside, winter reminded us that spring isn't until mid-April in New England.

Tue 3/3/09 5:30 am Run 30 min 3.5 mi 8:34 min per mile Effort: 14 HR: ave 161 max 172 BPM

Day 8 - Beginning of Week 2

Old Man Winter decided he wasn't done with us yet and plans to dump 12-15 inches on us today. Anyone else ready for spring?

I loaded some workout playlist tunes on the blog below to give you a sense of what I'm listening to keep me fired up and motivated.

40 Min Run - Felt pretty good - a little stiff after yesterday's long bike session.

Long Swim day today - 50 Min - 6x100 warm up, 4x400 main, 2x150 cool down

Mon 3/2/09 8:34 am Run 40 min 4.5 mi 8:53 min per mile Effort: 14 HR: ave 160 max 174 BPM

Mon 3/2/09 4:40 pm Swim 50 min 2500 m 32:11 min per mile Effort: 14

Day 6 and 7 Resistance Training and Long 90 Min Bike

Just a light upper body and core workout yesterday and a long 90 min bike today (940 calories burned - I'm eating whatever the heck I feel like tonight!). Felt great and it certainly helped to have Jamie cheering me on towards the end of the bike. Jamie then hopped on the bike and banged out a quick 18 miles herself!

Sat 2/28/09 1:59 pm Resistance Training 50.2 min Effort: 11 HR: ave 125 max 149 BPM

Sun 3/1/09 4:12 pm Bike 94.7 min 38.8 mi 2:26 min per mile Effort: 14 HR: ave 138 max 165 BPM