Crazy Weekend on the Bike

Got up Saturday morning - had a great breakfast, got hydrated and was ready to go for a challenging 90 min ride through Reading, Wilmington, Andover and North Andover. Only about 2 miles in I was racing to beat a green light at an intersection and Wham! I hit a pot hole and flattened my front tire. So I pulled into the gas station and began changing the tube. Got everything all set and then when I went to pump it up using the CO2 cartridge, I noticed that the cartridge the bike store sold me did not exactly fit the CO2 pump they sold me, so now I'm stuck! I called Jamie, who I knew was at the gym and probably just got there, so no luck, called Oscar and he was in Wakefield and would be able to pick me up in about 20-30 min. So as I was waiting two other cyclists rode by and asked if I needed any help. They luckily had a pump on them and then asked me to join them on their ride. So we went for a 29 mile ride through Andover and then back to Reading. Tom and Naomi, a husband and wife who live in Reading right around the corner from us, have been riding for quite a while and they kept a great pace. As we were wrapping up the trip Tom mentioned to me that he was going for a longer ride tomorrow with one of his buddies and asked if I wanted to join. I figured I was supposed to do my long ride on Sunday anyway, so why not.

So I get up Sunday morning all jazzed up to join a couple of new cycling friends and ride over to meet Tom and his buddy Tom (not the juice guys) at his house around the corner. He showed me the map of the route they were planning to do and it was an aggressive 60 mile course to Ipswich and back. As the morning wore on I began to learn more about their cycling abilities - like they both have been riding for years and years, Tom in Reading leads group rides on a weekly basis and is competing in a century (100 mile race) pretty soon. Their pace was absolutely grueling, the wind was gusting at 30 mph in your face down by the water. I was struggling to keep up with these freaks on wheels!!! So after a much longer trip than I expected, I finally made it back home, but a lot later that I originally thought to help Jamie get everything ready for Mother's Day as we were hosting everybody at our house. Sorry Jamie;o) I ended up burning 2375 calories on the trek and drank 5 gatorades over the course of the day yesterday.

As a side note, just got an email from Tom this morning asking if I wanted to join him on a century training ride this coming Sunday and if I want to join the North Shore Cycling Club rides they have in the early evenings. I think I'll pass on this century ride, but will probably start to do some of the club rides with the gang.

This Week's Focus on the Bike

This week wraps up the individual discipline focus with the Bike. The workouts will mostly all be on the bike with the exception of a few swims and a long run on Friday. There will be some really long rides this weekend with a 90 min ride on Saturday followed by a 30 minute recovery run and then a 2:30 hour ride on Sunday to wrap up the week.

All in all I feel pretty good - been able to keep injuries at bay and have been able to maintain weight.

Only 47 days left until my first Tri of the season...wow, did that come up quick! The Webster Lake Triathlon will consist of a 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 3 mile run. Should be a great tune up for the 1/2 ironman 3 weeks later.

This week's workouts so far:

Tue 5/5/09 5:30 am Bike 60 min 23 mi 2:37 min per mile Effort: 14
Mon 5/4/09 1:59 pm Swim 30 min 1500 m 32:11 min per mile Effort: 11
Mon 5/4/09 5:30 am Bike 75 min 30 mi 2:30 min per mile Effort: 14 HR: ave 132 max 146 BPM

This Past Weekend's Reverse Tri and Running Emphasis This Week

So I finally put it all together on Saturday for the first time and did a reverse tri training session - a 30 min run, 60 min bike, followed by a 30 min swim. All in all things felt pretty good. I'm absolutely psyched that the nice weather has finally arrived and it's going to make training sessions and getting up in the morning a lot easier!

This week's training sessions will focus on the run. There will be two 60 min run's with a long 90 min run on Sunday. There will be some shorter swims and biking sessions mixed in, but it's all about running this week.

For those that are interested, there is a really cool web site that stores millions of jogging routes in a database for free viewing. Just pop in your criteria (ie. desired length, location, type of route, etc.) and you can see a map of your route. http://www.usatf.org/routes/

Swimming and Running workouts this week

Kids' school April vacation is putting a damper on my swimming focus week as the Framingham Y is reserving 3 of the 4 lanes for their swimming lessons during the normal lap swim times. So I've be hitting the treadmill this week instead and will hopefully have better luck at the Reading Y today.

This Saturday I will put it all together for the first time and do a reverse tri session. Starting with a 30 min run followed by a 60 min bike and a 30 min swim.

Here's a list of this week's workouts so far:

Thu 4/23/09 5:30 am Run 30 min 3.5 mi 8:34 min per mile Effort: 11
Wed 4/22/09 12:00 pm Run 30 min 3.5 mi 8:34 min per mile Effort: 11
Tue 4/21/09 12:00 pm Swim 45 min 2200 m 32:55 min per mile Effort: 12
Tue 4/21/09 5:30 am Resistance Training 40 min Effort: 11
Mon 4/20/09 2:00 pm Bike 60 min 26 mi 2:18 min per mile Effort: 14
Mon 4/20/09 5:30 am Resistance Training 45 min Effort: 11

Beginning of Week 9 - Swim Focus Week

For the next three weeks I will be focused on a specific sport each week mixed in with some other workouts. This week's focus is on the swim.

Some resistance training this morning and a long swim this afternoon.

Did a long run yesterday and the legs are feeling a little stiff today, but it's getting much easier to run outside with the nice weather coming.