Pheidippides’s BodyBlog

Work has kept me so busy the past week I’ve had little time for exercise.  Since last Saturday, when I had a good swim workout, I’ve only been to the gym once — on Tuesday, for a light weight-lifting session, about 25 minutes on the stationary bike, and about 12 minutes on the treadmill.

This morning I finally busted loose from the grind and ran 7 miles in 1 hour 30 seconds — roughly an 8:40 min/mile pace.  The pace wasn’t too bad but after having done so little running lately the 7 miles felt a bit stiff.  I’m a long way from being able to run a 10K anywhere near as fast as I’d like to.

Weight was down a bit today — a miracle given the way I’ve been eating lately.  172.6 pounds and 20.2% bodyfat according to the scale.

Swam 2550 yards today.  Total time 51:30.  It took more time because I did some faster intervals and took rest breaks between them.

Focused on stroke.  It seems like improvement is coming slowly.  I notice other people in the pool — some of whom look less fit than I — who appear to swim more smoothly and efficiently than I do.  I’m not exactly sure what’s missing, but I don’t always feel like I’m properly balanced, and I’m not sure if I complete the pull element of the stroke as completely as I should.  And I’m pretty sure I don’t rotate as much as I should.

The main fitness component of the swim was seven 100 yard intervals — 5 of them back to back every 2 minutes in the second 500 yards, and 2 of them in the 4th 500 yards.  I was trying for near O2 max pace.  Times were 1:23, 1:26, 1:32, 1:32, 1:36, 1:32, 1:37.  Definitely starting to fade with the last one.  My form was really good during the first part of the first intervals, when I wasn’t yet winded.  But it declined during the ensuing intervals.  Overall times did represent some improvement so I was mildly pleased.  I’d like to shoot for being able to sustain 1:25 as a 100 yard interval pace over a set within the next month.  If I can do that then I should be able to sustain 1:35 as a race pace.

Weight today 173.4.  No real improvement, but I feel like I’ve gained some muscle and lost some fat. Will try to push to get down under 172 by this weekend.

Easy workout today, noteworthy only because I finally increased the number of reps in the bench press to 11.  I went for 12, but needed a hastily recruited spotter to help me get the bar off my chest.  So I have one rep to go to achieve all five of my weight lifting goals for the first quarter of 2008.  I hope to get there by the end of February.  I’ve already shifted my focus to endurance training and losing weight, so it isn’t going to get any easier to build upper body muscle strength.

After my workout, hit the stationary bike for 30 minutes.  For most of that time I maintained watts at 185, burning 362 calories and going 10.8 miles.  Max HR was 131, so it was a moderately easy aerobic run.

I think I’ll try to swim again tomorrow, maybe 2500 yards with some focus on stroke technique and some 100 yard intervals, trying for maximum oxygen consumption pace.

It’s a gorgeous sunny day in Northern California.  I wasn’t going to do any exercise today, but the weather was so great I decided to try running again, so I did.  5 miles, total 43:54 minutes.  Mostly easy to moderate running (8:15 to 9:30 pace, more or less), but with two intervals.  First interval, about half a mile, not timed, but I estimate about 6:20-6:30min/mile pace.  One mile later did second interval — one half mile in exactly 2:55 (5:50 min/mile pace).  I was very pleased at the interval pace because I’ve done so little running over the last few months.  The swimming and biking have improved my aerobic capacity, which helped, and the biking and squats have kept up leg strength.

This was my fourth day in a row of cardio, so I’m going to give the cardio a rest tomorrow, although it’s possible I may decide to lift.

Big family day — my daughter turns 10, and the boys had little league tryouts.  They did well, and hit better than I expected.  The rest of the family will come over later for my daughter’s birthday. Time to go!

I’m stepping up the cardio as my triathlon training progresses.

Yesterday spent 50 minutes on the bike at the gym.  About 25 minutes at 204 watts, reaching average HR of about 142 during that interval.  Total 18 miles and 613 calories burned.  My legs were a bit tired from the more intense bike workout the day before, but I still held steady.  Legs are getting stronger and better able to endure sustained harder pedaling.

This morning, swim workout.  3300 yards (twice race distance of 1.5K) in 1:05:20, including rests between sets.

Initial warmup of 500 yards.

Next 500 yards: focused on stroke, with emphasis on minimizing the number of strokes per length.  I was able to get it down consistently to 19-20 strokes per 25 yard length and about 40 strokes per 50 yards.  Definitely room for improvement.

Next swam 500 yard steady swim at "race" pace, although I think it was a bit slower than that.  Time 8:08.  Too slow.  For my race I need to reach 7:40 per 500 yards.

The rest of the way I swam easy-moderate, but with a few 50 yard speed intervals.  My speed time isn’t very speedy — I was doing 50 yards in about 40 seconds, although I was a bit fatigued from the amount of swimming I had done up to that point.

The 500 yard time of 8:08 is a bit better than what I had done before, so that’s good, but I want to beat 8 minutes soon.  That’s a 24 second/25 yards length pace.  I need to do more drills at faster pace — say 40 seconds-44 seconds per 50 yards or  1:28 to 1:35 seconds per 100 yards.

Good news on weight front: weighed 172.6 pounds this morning.

On another good note, the weather has improved and the days are noticeably longer.  It’s a gorgeous sunny day.  I’m itching to get outside and start running.

Short gym workout today in the afternoon.  Took a stab at the bench press but still couldn’t go over 10 reps.  I think I haven’t given it enough rest to allow for gains since the last go, so I’ll wait a little.  It feels like I’m not far off.

Then 35 minutes on the stationary bike.  After a 10 minute warmup at 165 watts I took it up to 223 watts and held that at an average of around 100 rpm for 20 minutes, then cooled down for 5 minutes.  That was the longest I’ve held it at that level, so it indicates some improvement in the legs.  Sustained heart rate at 223 watts was 151-156 bpm, which I assume is somewhere around 85% of max heart rate (I don’t yet know exactly what my max HR is).  It was a tiring but not completely exhausting pace - still tougher on the legs than on the heart.  Probably a near threshold pace — kind of an equivalent of a tempo run.  I assume that for the triathlon I will be trying to hold my pace at a little below threshold pace, so I need to continue kicking my threshold pace up higher — certainly at a level of over 260 watts.
I need to get back in the pool.  Maybe tomorrow.

I’ve eaten O.K. today, hopefully the scale will show some improvement tomorrow morning.

Took it easy on the buffalo wings yesterday, and on food consumption, generally, and, capping off the yesterday with a good leg workout and some modest cardio, I finally got some good results for my weigh in this morning.  173.6 pounds; 20.5% bodyfat.  That’s the first time in a while my bodyfat number has been BELOW my starting point of Nov. 13, and it’s combined with a total weight gain of 1.6 pounds.  That translates to a gain of 2 pounds muscle and loss of one pound of fat.  As bulking phases go, it’s kind of ridiculous, but I’ll take it, especially now that it’s time to stop trying to bulk and time to get leaner and faster for the triathlon.  Even allowing for some probable error in the scale, the numbers mean I was able to put on a little muscle and strength while losing a little fat.

The goal from this point on is to focus on improvements in endurance and speed in biking and swimming, and, later, running; gradual weight and fat loss; and maintaining or modestly improving performance in basic weight lifting exercises like squat, bench press, biceps curl, barbell row.  I do want to considerably improve performance at pushups, getting up to 60 (I’m at something over 40), and pullups, getting over 12 (I’m at 9).

Swim workout Monday night at 8:15 p.m.:  2500 yards in 44:30, first time I’ve swum that total distance workout in under 45 minutes.  First 1.5K (66 lengths) in 28:30, slower than I wanted, but included some stops between sets.  I concentrated on form, but I’m still sloppy, not fully rotating as much as I should, not always maintaining proper head position, etc.  I also don’t consistently do flip turns, and I think I lift my head too much when I breathe on my left side, which I try to do every third turn.  I felt strong at the end of the swim, though, and I think my fastest pace was over the last ten (out of a total 100) lengths, so that was good.

Beginning at a friend’s house at around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday I embarked on a new and interesting diet — the buffalo wing diet.  I watched as my friend, who was hosting the Super Bowl party (great game), cooked them in his deep fat frier, and also observed as he ladled big heaps of butter into the sauce marinating in the pan.  The end result was wonderful.  I lost count how many I ate during the game, and my host, noting my partiality to them, left me a large bag of them to take home.  So I did, and I continued my chicken wing feast yesterday for snack, lunch, and early supper.

No, it’s not exactly clean eating.  But with a short (30 minute) but intense episode on the stationary bike around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, before the Super Bowl, and a 45 minute stint in the pool yesterday, I felt like I was offsetting my bad ways just a little.  And it’s lot’s of protein, right?  Besides, I only drank one beer during the game.
The final verdict: not too much damage.  Weight Sunday morning: 174.6  BF: 21.1%.  Weight Tuesday morning: 175.2.  BF: 21.1%.  I have a few cold wings left in the fridge — and I’m not going to lay off them — but I’m done with the gorging.

From here on I’m going to try to lose about a pound a week through March.  I should be able to get my weight down to around 167 or 166 by that time.  With moderate eating and plenty of cardio — which I expect to get lots of with my training — that should be doable.  The key is to be MODERATE.

Swimming yesterday was O.K.  100 lengths — 2500 yards, in 44:45, with a few rests in there.  Swam the first 66 lengths (1.5K) in about 28, still quite a bit slower than I want to do it.  To swim that distance during the race in 25 minutes, I need to be able to do it alone in perhaps 24.  I’m a long way off from being able to do that.  Still need to take a lesson.

Still no improvement on the bench press.  I’ve hit a plateau.  I worked the chest pretty hard on Sunday and still feel a little soreness, which I think is good.  I’ll give the bench press PR another go later this week or this weekend.