40 days until IMFL

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Jeff

It is hard to believe that it is now less than 40 days until Ironman Florida.  I can’t believe it has been 10 years since my 1st and only IMFL.  I am so looking forward to going back.  This past weekend was our final recovery week before our final 2 serious build weeks.  Recovery week for me, means 10-12 hours of workouts as apposed to the 15-18 hr build weeks.  It’s just crazy how your perception of things change with regards to a long run or long ride.  Less than 2 years ago, I was running 3 times per week for no more than 3-6 miles.  6 miles (twice around the campus at work) was a long way.

Friday:

Friday called for a Time Trial at the pool.  The workout consisted of the usual 400yd warm up followed by a 3600yd time trial.  The workout itself was kind of boring.  No intervals, or sets, or repeat 250s, just lots of laps…144 to be exact. So, 1:12:00 later, I finished up and did a few cool down drills.

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Saturday:

It was my turn to work the weekend again.  No big deal, just the way it is in my industry.  The only downer was that the heat decided to rear it’s ugly head one more time.  This has been the hottest summer that I can remember.  This time of year it’s usually about 80-85 tops in the later part of September.  So when I walked out of work at 3pm for a 10 mile run, I was surprised that it was 97 degrees.  It wasn’t hot like a Wal-Mart parking lot in Orlando in July, but it was pretty hot.  So I headed off to the American Tobacco Trail to knock it out.  The workout was not too bad.  The plan was to run the first 8 miles at E-pace, and the the final 2 miles at marathon pace.  I managed to keep 9:45 for the first 8, and then 8:45 for the final 2 miles.  I can go much faster for 10 miles but that’s really not the point here.  It doesn’t make a lot of sense to run at a much faster pace than you would ever see in your Ironman marathon, so no need to be knocking out 7-8 min miles.

Sat_RUN   dwn_and_back

 

Sunday:

Sunday was great.  The high for the day was only mid 70’s (big swing from yesterdays 97).  So I decided to sleep in until I woke up(10am).  Man I haven’t done that in a long time.  Since this is a recovery week, all we had on tap was a 50 mile ride.  So after goofing around the house we headed out around noon.  I kept hearing the mention of rain sometime over the weekend, but I’ve kind of gotten used to it not raining.  Appears as though we are in a bit of a drought.  Come to think of it, we have not been caught a single time in the rain on the bike this year…and we’ve been doing a lot of biking on the weekends.  Must be a record.  Anyway, the record officially ended with about 10 miles to go.  First it started with a trickle that I wouldn’t really consider rain.  Then it just kept getting harder and harder.  It was nice though.  The rain felt good to cool off a bit.

chance_of_rain

I did have 1 casualty.  I just bought these Hammer flasks last week for the EFS shots, (still like them).  Not sure what happened, as I was just taking a sip and putting it back into the Bento box.  I just missed and it slipped away.  Let the field tests show that this baby held up to a fall from 3ft high at 20 miles an hour.  No spillage whatsoever.  It wasn’t until the Dually Truck followed by a boat trailer and a Honda Civic each had their way with it, did the Hammer Flask finally explode.

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Overall the ride was great.  Like I said previously, a 50 mile ride is now my short ride and it just seems like a walk in the park.  Since 112 miles is still a long ride for me, I am looking to push well past this next weekend.  Next weekends ride is going to be long….real long.  We are singed up for the TrySports Capital to the Coast ride on Saturday, Oct 2.  This will be a 150 mile ride from Raleigh to Wilmington!  Hopefully after 150 miles, 112 will be the new 50.  Let me know if you’re doing this ride.  I’m always looking forward to meeting new folks on the road.

Have a great week everyone!

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Vanilla Ice weekend

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Jeff

For the past 6 months or so I’ve been using Perpetuem and Endurolytes (Hammer Nutrition) on pretty much all of my long rides and long runs.  Don’t get me wrong, both of these products work great and have kept me out of the gutter on quite a few hot days.  However, as my rides have gotten longer, I’ve been looking for something a little more, um palatable.  After about 3 hours on the bike, the Perpeteuem gets lukewarm/hot and starts to taste more and more like the plastic bottle, and less and less like, well Perpetuem.

Earlier in the week I ordered 2 bottles of EFS Shots.  If I’m adding all the calories and electrolytes up correctly, I can just take EFS shots and water for both the long rides and long runs.  Each 5 oz serving gives you 400 calories with 1500mg of electrolytes.  Not bad when a bottle of Perpetuem gives you 270 calories.  The trade-off is the Perpetuem gives you a few grams of fat and protein, which is still going to be important.

Friday:

Friday rolled around, and the UPS came through in the nick of time.  This stuff comes in any flavor you like, as long as it’s Vanilla!

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I picked up 5 hammer flasks because they seem a little flatter and easier to manage while on the bike.

After work, I headed to the pool to get in a good 3000yd workout which consisted of some drills followed by 12 x 250yds.  The pool was great! Since Labor Day has come and gone, the pool is only open to 18yrs and older during the week.  So the pool was wide open with only a couple of us swimming.  I love the sunlight this time of year.  The heat breaks, the humidity retreats, the air is dry, and the sunsets are pretty cool.

Pool-Fri

Saturday:

Saturday we had a 17 mile run at Umstead Park.  This gave me a real good opportunity to field test the EFS shots during race like conditions.  So I filled up 2 5oz flasks(previously chilled) and basically took a 1oz sip every 15 minutes.  I washed it down with a mouth full of water.  My initial thought was, wow this tastes pretty sweet, but then there was no aftertaste at all.  So the run actually worked like clockwork.  I had no issues whatsoever other than the 17 mile run part.

LongRun

Sunday:

Sunday, we got up early, packed up the bikes and gear and headed out for a 100 mile ride! My first thought as I stepped out the front door was, “Thank God, it’s cool out today.” My second thought was, “I hope it doesn’t rain.  As we started out, the fog was really pretty thick.  This was actually a lifesaver, as we got through the first 60 miles or so with some solid cloud cover.

 

Fog

Then the sun started to poke through and eventually burned off all of the cloud cover.  The temperature was back up to around 90 degrees, but at that point who cares, with 60 miles in the bag.  And, with awesome views of Jordan Lake, everything is better with the sun and blue skies.  Our route was a simple out and back 50 miles, with Miles 45-50 straight up Lystra if you recall from earlier this summer.  I found that these out and back routes are much much better than dong multiple loops of say 30 miles.  It’s just too easy for the monkey to get on your back after doing 2 of 3 loops, and calling it a day.  If you’re doing a 50 mile out and back, and you get tired at mile 50, well tough luck….you can rest when you get home.  Just got to find a way to get through it.

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Jordan Lake

—

I took 3 bottles of water, and 5 5oz flasks of EFS shots.  This was the perfect amount for my 100 mile ride.  I had no issues to speak of in terms of nutrition.  I’m not sure if the flasks are the best way to carry this stuff on the bike.  I had 1 in my Bento Box, and the other 4 in my jersey pockets.  I’ll have to figure out something for race day, since I only have 1 small pocket in that jersey.

This week ended up being about 17 hours of workouts.  I feel SO much better than last week.  Sometimes, if you get run down like I did last week, you just know it’s not something that will go away unless you get a lot of rest.  Sure, you’ll lose a little bit of fitness from the lost days.  But I would rather lose a couple days along the way than not even make it to the Starting Line.

Thanks Reading Everyone!  If you use EFS shots on the bike, drop me a line and let me know how you manage all the flasks on Race Day.

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NFW

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Jeff

On Friday, I wrote “So my plan through the weekend is to just work out based on how I feel.  If I feel good, I’ll finish the workout.  If not, I’ll cut it short, or bag it all together.  If I can’t recover fully during recovery week, I surely won’t be able to recover during build week.

Well, based on how I feel, I would say the weekend was a “FAIL’’.  I’ve now had a big “0” for training on 5 out of the last 7 days, battling some kind of upper respiratory thing.  I am starting to feel better today, but still not back to 100%.

Rhino

Photo by: wAlanb

Anyway, the past is the past and I’ve got a big build week ahead of me with some serious workouts to cover.  I really can’t afford to take any more days off, so I’ll just have to push through it.  In total, I should be in the 17 – 20 hrs of workouts range by Sunday afternoon.

While I’ve been resting I’ve had more time to do some light reading over the weekend.

Back in July, I wrote about some of my favorite Triathlon Blogs that I read from time to time.  One of them was Hungry Like The Wolfgram, and his attempt to qualify for Kona.  I checked today and see that Wolfgram won a qualifier spot.  Pretty cool to be at that level.  So check out his site in the next couple days, and see what it’s like.

Found this cool little gem about drafting during the Open Water Swim: Key Principles of Open Water Drafting

Ran across this Link on Joe Friel’s site regarding Optimal Pacing for Different Courses.

For long distance nutrition, I’m reading a lot of good stuff about EFS Liquid Shots.  I put in an order, so I will let you know how it turns out.  I’ve been using Perpetuem and Endurolytes (Hammer Nutrition), but am looking for something a little simpler.  Kind of an all in one type thing.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Walking a Thin Line

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Jeff

4576733748_5cb468fb9f

Photo By: Clevercupcakes

Last week was the 3rd week in a 3 week build phase ending with a 100 mile ride on Labor day.  This week I have felt sick all week.  My energy level is about 50%, and I’ve had a nagging sore throat all week.  The good news is that this is a recovery week, so I don’t have to do anything too intense.  The bad news is that next week is not a recovery week, and it’s already Friday.

In short, I’m walking a thin line between getting rested in time for the next build phase, and getting sick in the final 2 months before IMFL(Not the time to be sick).

So, Tuesday I just bagged the workout and took the day off.
Wednesday, I was supposed to swim 3000yds…I swam 1500yds.
Thursday, I was supposed to Ride 10, and run 7…I completed both.

Friday, I’m still feeling sluggish with a sore throat, so I stopped in at the Doc to get checked out.  He tested for both Mono and Strep, and both came back negative.  So looks like just a small upper respiratory type thing.

Plan:

  1. Plenty of rest and lots of fluid
  2. Tylenol
  3. Saline Nasal spray, gargle salt water, and Claritin
  4. Activity as tolerated

So my plan through the weekend is to just work out based on how I feel.  If I feel good, I’ll finish the workout.  If not, I’ll cut it short, or bag it all together.  If I can’t recover fully during recovery week, I surely won’t be able to recover during build week.

Have a good weekend

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Tour de Moore Century Ride Weekend

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Jeff

Labor Day weekend finished off with the Tour de Moore Century Ride in Southern Pines, NC.  Southern Pines is beautiful.  It’s pretty much horse farm country, and right next door to Pinehurst, NC, also beautiful for all of the golf courses.  This would be my first time participating in the Tour de Moore and my first century in 10 years (IMFL 2000).  My goal today was to work on my nutrition and continue getting comfortable taking in lots of fluid, Fig Newtons, and Endurolytes.  I wanted to do the group ride to offload some of the work that we’ve been doing on solo long rides in previous weeks.  So I was looking to stay in the top 1/3 of riders and then fall back to slower groups as the day wore on. 

So the ride started right at 8:30 am, and off we went.  Immediately I noticed this was a different crowd than the previous group rides.  The Peloton went like a rocket out of town.  Looking at the data afterwards, the lead group averaged ~23-25mph for the first 10 miles.  This was not sustainable for me, so I dropped back after 10 miles to a more manageable pace.

I dropped in with several other groups over the course of the day and took turns pulling for 3-5 minutes at time.  The downside of group rides for me is that I’m not real comfortable in the aerobars while in close quarters, and most rodies probably aren’t either.  So I sit up while in the group unless I’m on the very back.  This has a tendency of putting pressure on a different part of my sit bones than I’m used to. 

Onto the course!  I’ve never been mistaken for being an expert hill climber or anything, but this was one seriously challenging course.  I had no idea the Southern Pines area was so hilly. It was very rare to have a flat section….Just constant rollers all day long.  See the elevation profile below.

Elevation

I’ve added the entire route to my Bike Routes page.  This was a really great place to ride.  The roads were decent for the most part, and there was virtually no vehicle traffic.  After I climbed up E. Connecticut for the last 5 miles or so, I had a quick 3 mile run to cool down.  If you’re looking for a challenging century next year, you’ve got to check this out.  The SAG stops were all well supported and the volunteers were awesome.  Plenty off food and beer afterwards as well.

One of the volunteer ladies at the SAG stop seemed a bit perplexed when she was looking at my chubby Aerobottle, so I just told her that’s where I hold the Margarita.  Sure, I’ve got Salt tablets and everything, I said:)

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I wasn’t able to take too many pictures of this ride during the event since I was either climbing or barreling downhill most of the time, but here are a couple of the surrounding area from during/afterwards.

 

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Sunday:

Sunday was a rest day this week.  Good call.

Saturday:

16 mile run over at Umstead.  This was our long run for the week and I could really tell a difference for some reason between 14 last week, and 16 this week.  The best part was that the heat had finally broken on Saturday…Wooho!!  As soon as I walked out the door on Saturday morning I could tell the difference.  It was like having twice the lung capacity.  I got through that without any real issues, but really needed to spend the afternoon recovering so I could do the Tour De Moore 2 days later on Monday.

Friday:

Nice easy swim!  Just and easy 400 yard warm up followed by a solid 1500 continuous swim at race pace, then a 300 yd cool down. 

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Thanks for reading.  Have a nice week everyone!

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Harris Lake Nuclear Swim Weekend

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Jeff

Have you ever walked through a field of corn?  It’s pretty amazing how tall the stalks can get.  Now imagine that same field was full of water and you had to swim through it.   Well, it’s kind of shocking at first, but then once you realize it’s just corn, it’s not that big of a deal.  I’ll come back to that in a bit…

Typically I do the weekend review in chronological  order.  This weekend I decided to review everything in reverse order, so I’ll start with Sunday.

Nuclear

Photo by: BlatantNews.com

Sunday:

We woke up and packed the gear for the day and hightailed it out to Harris Lake for the Nuclear Swim.  This was a 1 mile open water swim that was organized by FSSERIES.  Harris Lake is a 680-acre park situated on a peninsula near the Shearon Harris Reservoir in New Hill, N.C. Shearon Harris is a nuclear power plant operated by Progress Energy in case you are wondering why the race is called the “Nuclear Swim”.

Check-in was a snap.  We were in and out in about 2 minutes.  As a bonus we got this cool T-shirt.

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Next, we strolled on down to the waterfront where they were just finishing up a short instructional on Open Water swimming.  There were quite a few participants out there already warming up, but we got there a little late, so with about 10 min to go we headed down to the water.  I snapped a couple of quick picks just prior the the start.

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After going through the corral, I head out to the water to the starting area.  I would have liked to have warmed up a bit to get a feel for the water and sight some land marks, but no big deal; this was just an open water practice opportunity.  Just as I was walking into the water, I remembered some guy passing us in the parking lot earlier talking to his girlfriend about “remember all the grass last year”.  At this point I thought I knew what he meant.  To get out to the starting line, it was like wading through a Kelp forest.  We treaded water for about 5 minutes and then the race began just like that.

The cool part was that the starting line was very wide, and it didn’t really matter if you were on the inside or the outside.  So with no warm up, it pretty much felt like a “grip it and rip it” kind of swim for the first 5 minutes to stay ahead of the fray.  Somewhere between 5-10 minutes into the race, I felt a tugging around my left ankle.  What was that, I thought.  Then my right ankle…Woa!!, there is something in this water.  Then I was just swimming through a sea of octopus like arms from the deep.  There were just huge amounts of grass type plants that were just growing in the water.  I’m guessing these plants were over 6 feet tall because they just barely reach the surface of the water, and I could not see or touch the bottom. I could not help but smile thinking that my wife was getting ready to start the swim in the second wave.  Later, she would officially name the area the “Underwater Pasture” as you can see below.

 

SwimCourse

 

Here’s what some of this stuff looks like up close.  Perfectly harmless, though a bit alarming at first.

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I was pretty pleased with the swim.  As you can see, I swam a fairly straight line, so my sighting was not a problem.  I ended up officially swimming a time of 30:56, 35th out of 111. 

Here are a couple more pictures of folks just finishing up their swim.  It’s difficult to tell one elbow from another:)  I had a great time at this race and would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a well organized open water swim.

IMGP0766  IMGP0767 IMGP0768  

Anyway, after we were both done, it was time to saddle up and head out for a long ride.  Usually, our base camp for long rides is Lifetime Fitness in Cary, but since the race was out by Harris Lake, we just road from there.  We always ride out in this direction anyways, so we essentially just skipped all of the city/suburbs, to the land of nice open roads.  I was really looking forward to this ride.  Our plan was to do 90 miles today.  I set up a nice little 30 mile route that we could just repeat 3 times and be good to go (I added the route to my Bike Routes page for future reference).  The only problem? Our legs were dead.  I had a quick bout of Montezuma’s Revenge prior to the race, but other than that, I wasn’t sure why I felt so bad.  Anyway, we pedaled along as best we could.  Along the way we about literally ran into this deer.  I think we surprised her more than anything.  We rolled past and were probably 15 – 20 feet away before she bolted into the woods.

Bambi IMGP0781

 

After it was all said and done we only did about 53 miles.  Kind of a downer when you’re planning to do 90 miles.  But if your legs are not there, they’re just not there.  No need to be pushing through it at 15 miles an hour.  Crazy, last week we ran 14 miles on Saturday, and biked 85 on Sunday.  Some weeks are better than others. 

Saturday:

Saturday kind of sucked because I had to work again.  Usually I do my long runs in the morning to avoid the heat as best as possible.  I finished up work around 2pm, met my wife and headed out to the Tobacco Trail for a 10 mile run.  Nothing special here, just 5 miles out and 5 miles back.  Perfectly flat. The only thing I can think of is maybe my long ride suffered on Sunday because my long run on Saturday was too late and I didn’t have enough time to recover. 

ATT

Friday:

This was a quick swim workout at Lifetime Fitness in Cary.  The workout consisted of the following:

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  • 300 yd warm up
  • 14 x 50 yd w/ :10 rest
  • 1 x 100 yd kick
  • 14 x 50 yd w/ :10 rest
  • 100 yd cool down

 

This added up to be about 1900 yards. 

 

 

 

 

Next up…..The 2010 Tour de Moore Century Ride in Southern Pines, NC.

Have a great Week Everyone!

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Recovered and Ready to Roll…

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Jeff

After having a nice recovery week, this week was time to get back on the horse…so to speak.  We’re getting to the point in the training volume where it is necessary to do 2-a-day workouts, because it’s just not feasible to do 3+ hour workouts after work.  This would leave me finishing my workouts at 10pm.  This is supposed to be fun right?  And what’s the fun in finishing a workout at 10pm?

After almost a solid week of getting back into the groove, our weekend build started early Friday morning with a swim workout followed by another evening swim workout.  I thought long and hard and I’m pretty sure this was my first ever 2-a-day swim workout.  6700 total yards is a long swim for me.

 

 Friday:

Morning Workout Evening Workout
200 yd warm up 300 yd warm up
7 x 200 yd w/ :15 rest 11 x 300 yd w/ :15 rest
200 yd cool down 100 yd cool down
2000 yd continuous swim  
Total Total
3400 yards

3300 yards

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Saturday:

Saturday’s workout was a manageable 14 mile run over at Umstead Park.  This is the best place to run in the Raleigh area for your long runs.  It’s a huge state park with 5,579 acres and probably a hundred miles of trails or more.  I love it because you’re away from any roads or traffic and the paths are typically soft crushed gravel.  The other cool thing is that Umstead Park is NOT flat.  As you can see below, you’re either going up or down.  After we finished, it was time to eat and spend the rest of the afternoon recuperating for Sunday’s long ride.

Elevation SaturdayLongRun

 

Sunday:

We headed over to Lifetime Fitness bright and early to get started on an 85 mile ride.  Yup, we’re getting into serious weekly long ride increases now with less than 75 days until IMFL.  The bulk of our grocery bill goes to Inside Out Sports and consists of Perpetuem, Endurolytes and Fig Newtons.  I made a huge mistake on Saturdays long run, in that I forgot to apply Body Glide to the areas that frequently get chaffed, like the nether-regions.  This meant that…oh half mile into the 85 miler I was already uncomfortable on the saddle.  

So with an 85 mile bike ride, you’re going to be on the saddle for upwards of 5 hours, unless you’re in a group ride like you see below.  On race day you don’t get that luxury, so my wife and I have been doing the bulk of our group rides solo.  Every 5-6 weeks, we’ll try to find a charity ride, so we can have a change of pace, meet some cool folks and just relax and have some fun. 

The ride went well, despite my lack of Body Glide.  With about 20 miles to go the air temp dropped a good 10-15 degrees as this monster of a T-storm was approaching.  About a half mile down the road in the picture we turned left and pushed a bit harder for the final 20 miles.   We got back to the gym parking lot and did a quick 20 minute run to finish the workout.  Soon after, the bottom dropped out and the deluge of rain continued for about 40 minutes.  Perfect timing!!

 GroupRideT-storm

Here’s our route for Sunday. It’s crazy the distance you can cover on a bike. 

SundayLongRide

So with 17 hours of training completed, I feel pretty good today.  My fitness has improved dramatically over the past year.  I’ve been noticing this especially on the bike.  In the past I’ve simply just been weak on the hills, and now I just have tons more staying power.  I still feel the fatigue when climbing, but I never really feel like I’m just blowing up and have nothing left. 

Have a good week everyone!

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Training Logs for Triathletes

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Jeff

About a month or 2 ago I ran across a question on Facebook asking what is the best Training Log.  I’ve since been asked this question several more times recently.  Real good question, but this is also like asking what is the best car for you to drive.  The answer is….Well, it depends.  And it doesn’t really depend on all the bells and whistles that each training log has, or all of the other nifty features.  It depends on “you”, the athlete.

rsz_notebook

Photo by: Hey Paul

There are several types of athletes when it comes to to the sport of triathlon, and more personalities that I can count.  Here are some very general examples:

  • Hardcore Henry:  Has an aero-helmet, carbon fiber water bottle holder, PowerTap, and Zipp 404’s for training rides. 
  • Molly the Mingler:  Just enjoys the sport the because you get to meet so many different types of people.  Likes to train in groups and work together toward a common goal. 
  • Tri-Geek Tony:  Loves all gadgets.  Likes to analyze data to the n^th degree.  Always looking to understand more.
  • Project Manager Paul:  Likes to have a paper trail of all training sessions.  Not so much to analyze, but more just for tracking purposes.  Paul is not trying to find the meaning of life here, but rather to show progress and completion.

So I did some research and found a pretty good list of online Training Logs for Triathletes.  At first, I signed up for each one and began tracking workout data.  This proved to be an exercise in futility, with all of the data entry processing for the different accounts. So, following is a list of the some of the training logs that I discovered, grouped by one of the athlete types mentioned above.  If you’re looking for a training log, hopefully you’ll fit one or more of the above athlete personalities and have a couple of Triathlon Logs to check out.

Note: Some training logs are mentioned more than once.  There is a huge gray area in personal preferences one may have, so I’ve included some under multiple personalities.

Hardcore Henry

  • SportTracks – This is my personal favorite.  This is an application that you can load on your PC.  You can track just about anything imaginable.  You can upload data directly from Garmin, and others sites.  There is a huge list of plugins available to add specific functionality.  This is like a an “a la carte training log”.  Computrainer Plugin makes viewing your trainer workouts a breeze.  Also cool Training Load plugin to track current fitness and taper periods. 
  • Trainingpeaks.com – It’s one of the most complete fitness tracking sites and has the most customizable UI with their "pod layout" concept. You can slice and dice workout data any way you want to.  You can upload your data in just about any format, including csv. gpx, pwx, sdf, srm, txt, wko, xml. Data can be shared for viewing if you have a personal trainer/coach. 
  • Garmin Connect -  If you have a Garmin HR Monitor, this site is great.  You basically just plug in the ANT+ to your PC after you finish your workout, and everything is synced to the Garmin Connect Website.  HR, Speed, Pace, Weekly totals are all right there for analysis.
  • Runsaturday.com – Allows for Garmin uploads, Polar, Nike+, Adidas micoach, Nokia, GPX files, any pretty much any other extension you can think of.  Also has Sport Tracks Plugin!! Sweet.  This is a really great site, and easy to use.  Once cool thing I noticed on this site was that you can check out a Google StreetView Tour, if you have the route data already loaded.  So, with biking for example you could get a rough idea what the roads and traffic are like.  Lots of neat charts, graphs, etc.

Molly the Mingler

  • Dailymile.com – It’s a social training log – Facebook for your workouts. The set up is exactly the same as your Facebook wall or News Feed.  You basically just update your Workout Feed in the same way.  This is not really for me but I could see how some folks would like this if you are training together with a group of friends to towards a common goal.  This is a good set up to keep the group accountable to each other.
  • Strands.com – Allows for uploads from Garmin, Nike+, Suunto, Polar, CSV, and GPX. Track Food, Weight(Import Withings Scale), Sleep.  Share Events like upcoming races with your friends.  Create Groups Ex: Cycling buddies, Running club, etc.  You can Follow, Be Followed (Like Twitter).
  • Runsaturday.com – Allows for Garmin uploads, Polar, Nike+, Adidas micoach, Nokia, GPX files, any pretty much any other extension you can think of.  Also has Sport Tracks Plugin!! Sweet.  This is a really great site, and easy to use.  Once cool thing I notice on this site was that you can check out a Google StreetView Tour, if you have the route data already loaded.  So, with biking for example you could get a rough idea what the roads and traffic are like.  Lots of neat charts, graphs, etc.
  • Sportypal.com – Easy to use intuitive application for your mobile phone.  You activate it when you start your running, cycling, walking, rollerblading or similar exercise.  In two simple clicks it will start to log and map your position, movement, distance, tempo and calories burned.  Not sure how useful this is.  This does not appear to be something that is integrated with your HR monitor.  This is basically just taking advantage of your GPS functionality on your phone, wrapping it up in an application so that you can share your route with others online.

Tri-Geek Tony

  • SportTracks – This is my personal favorite.  This is an application that you can load on your PC.  You can track just about anything imaginable.  You can upload data directly from Garmin, and others sites.  There is a huge list of plugins available to add specific functionality.  This is like a an “a la carte training log”.  Computrainer Plugin makes viewing your trainer workouts a breeze.  Also cool Training Load plugin to track current fitness and taper periods. 
  • Trainingpeaks.com – It’s one of the most complete fitness tracking sites and has the most customizable UI with their "pod layout" concept. You can slice and dice workout data any way you want to.  You can upload your data in just about any format, including csv. gpx, pwx, sdf, srm, txt, wko, xml. Data can be shared for viewing if you have a personal trainer/coach. 
  • Runningahead.com – Allows for Garmin uploads/Polar uploads/mapmyrun.  Reports, summaries, graphs.  This is actually a nice training long.  there’s no adds popping up all over the place.  You can add all data manually and quickly.  The layout is very simple.  The calendar has a summary of your weekly totals.
  • Logyourrun.com – Allows for Garmin uploads and others like Polar, Nike, etc…If you have data in another standardized format please contact us and we will try to set up an import filter for your data.  You can add all data manually and quickly.  This also has a simple layout with calendar that shows your weekly totals.
  • Garmin Connect -  If you have a Garmin HR Monitor, this site is great.  You basically just plug in the ANT+ to your PC after you finish your workout, and everything is synced to the Garmin Connect Website.  HR, Speed, Pace, Weekly totals are all right there for analysis.
  • Runsaturday.com – Allows for Garmin uploads, Polar, Nike+, Adidas micoach, Nokia, GPX files, any pretty much any other extension you can think of.  Also has Sport Tracks Plugin!! Sweet.  This is a really great site, and easy to use.  Once cool thing I notice on this site was that you can check out a Google StreetView Tour, if you have the route data already loaded.  So, with biking for example you could get a rough idea what the roads and traffic are like.  Lots of neat charts, graphs, etc.

Project Manager Paul

  • Ontri.com – Very basic.  Does not allow for Garmin uploads. For those that just like to manually enter their workouts.
  • WorkoutLog.com – Very Basic, but does also allow for Garmin uploads. Had to cross this one off the list(only free for 10 days).
  • Beginnertriathlete.com – Does not allow for Garmin uploads.  Can display in graphical format to show % of time in each sport. Allows you to document everything(Distance/Time/HR/Weight/Sleep/Comments, etc.  Everything needs to be done manually.  Downside is there are lots of adds to get you to upgrade.
  • Mapmyfitness.com – Allows for Garmin/Polar/GPX/Nike+ file uploads.  Easy to navigate, and manually add workouts.  Doesn’t really have a way to show what your training volume has been in the past.
  • Runningahead.com – Allows for Garmin uploads/Polar uploads/mapmyrun.  Reports, summaries, graphs.  This is actually a nice training long.  there’s no adds popping up all over the place.  You can add all data manually and quickly.  The layout is very simple.  The calendar has a summary of your weekly totals.
  • Runnersworld.com – Did NOT see a place for GARMIN uploads.  You can add/draw routes.  You can add all data manually and quickly.  This also has a simple layout with calendar that shows your weekly totals.  Also lots of calculators on this site.
  • Logyourrun.com – Allows for Garmin uploads and others like Polar, Nike, etc…If you have data in another standardized format please contact us and we will try to set up an import filter for your data.  You can add all data manually and quickly.  This also has a simple layout with calendar that shows your weekly totals.
  • Myswimbikerun.com – Allows for Garmin uploads.  You can add all data manually and quickly.  This also has a simple layout with calendar that shows your weekly totals.  No adds.

Know of a different training log that is not mentioned above that you think should be?  Post a comment so that others may benefit.

Thanks for reading!

Posted in Ironman, Running | Tagged | 10 Comments

Weekend Road trip

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Jeff

This weekend was looking to be very busy, so IMFL training was looking like it may need to take a back seat for a day or two(no big deal, since this was a recovery week).  This was not your typical road trip of leisurely sightseeing and goofing around.  This was the kind of trip where you just have a bunch of @#$% that needs to get done.  Said @#$% at place B,C, and D that needs to be moved to said place E,F,G.  We’ve had this scheduled for about a month, so really this was an exercise in getting the most done as possible in 48 hours.  Not so much cardio, but plenty of heavy lifting.  In this case, @#$% doesn’t mean @#$%, it really is just a bunch of things that are not pertinent to the subject.

Our path, minus all of my wrong turns, looked something like this:

Drivng

Friday:

After stopping briefly at Brueggers Bagels, we headed out of Raleigh.  I snapped this cool little picture of the Raleigh Convention Center before heading out.  These are individual little pieces of aluminum(I believe), that kind of flicker when the wind is blowing, so it gives the impression that the tree is blowing in the breeze.  I think it’s pretty cool.  Really it’s a blind for the giant AC units for the building.

CityofOaks

Anyway, we got going and went about the details of moving @#$% all over the place.  Later in the day, we hit a monster of a rain storm somewhere near Washington, NC.  The summer storms in this part of the state can be amazing.  It will rain like crazy and drop a couple of inches in an hour, and then just clear up like nothing happened.  You can see below, the waves are just pounding this small boat ramp.  Along with the rains, comes the bugs. Everything in eastern NC is bigger…kind of like Texas, I guess.  You can see this Praying Mantis is clearly bigger than the truck.  After barricading the door/windows from the giant insects we went to bed.

IMGP0678IMGP0683 

I was hoping to somehow get in a nice easy 1500yd swim.  The pool at the hotel was closed for maintenance….which is no big deal.  With the size, I would have needed to do probably 400 laps or swim in circles for a half hour.  Jogging at night in this area is also a no-go. Mainly just state highways with logging trucks and similar type traffic.  So I bagged it.

IMGP0687

Saturday:

Saturday was more of the same.  Just hauling @#$% all over the place.  We did get a change to stop at a cool little consignment shop in Oriental.  If you need something for a boat, you can probably find it here.  Just like triathlon gadgets, nautical gadgetry is fascinating for some reason.  This place was a thrift shop for any kind of sailing gear you could need. 

Sunday:

Sunday I slept in until about 10 AM.  All we had on the schedule was a 6 mile run and an optional 45 min Bike, all at easy pace.  We opted for just the 6 mile run around the lake.  After having taken the previous 2 days off from training to get other @#$% done, I finally feel rested mentally and physically.  I think having 3 build weeks followed by 1 recovery week really works well for us.  It really allows us to be able to train for IMFL, but still take time to take care of other commitments without any set back.  It’s pretty much like throwing in a taper week every forth week.  Which is good….Because tomorrow we roll and kick it up a notch into IMFL mode.

 Sunday_Run

Have a great week everyone.  Thanks for Reading!

Posted in Ironman, Just for fun | 1 Comment

Recovery week so you can live to fight another day.

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Jeff

Rest 

Photo by Claudio Gennari

This is the first week all year that I feel like I’ve "needed" a recovery week.  Mondays are always my day off from workouts, and some weeks are deemed “recovery” weeks by my coach, but this week has felt different.  My previous 3 training weeks have been 12 hours, 15 hours, and 17.5 hours.  For many folks, these are just average numbers, but for mere mortals like myself, these long hours of workouts really add up.  Throw in some of the hottest June/July/August weather that we’ve had on record and some busier than expected days at work, and you have a tired me.

Weekly_Volume 

After this past weekend, I knew I was in need of rest but didn’t really know to what extent.  I figured after Monday’s rest, I would be good to go.  After Monday, recovery week was really looking like 2 hour or shorter type workouts. Tuesday was ok…just a quick 1.5 hour quick brick type workout.  Wednesday was another story.  It seemed like any other swim workout.  I had 12 x 300yd planned with 300yd warm up and 300yd cool down drills.  It was the kind of day where you don’t feel well, but don’t really realize it until you start the workout.  So I started my warm up drills and felt like crap.  With the heat, I felt like a boiling frog in a pot of water in a science lab.  I only got through 3 of the 12 x 300’s.  Mentally I was toast.  I was slow…I had no strength, no balance, my breathing was off….I had NOTHING.  So I took about 2 seconds to think about my plight, my long range training, and how this swim workout was just a blip on the radar.  I packed up my bag and went home…to recover.

I did some light reading on the subject of recovery as this will be a re-occurring theme over the next 3 months.  Moving forward for the rest of the week I am looking to improve on the following:

  • Nutrition — I eat a lot of food and I burn a lot of calories.  But I could eat better food(more fruits and vegetables), and less empty calorie type foods.
  • Sleep  — I really need to improve here.  I normally only get about 6.5 hours per night.  Just about anywhere you read suggests 7-9 hours of sleep nightly.
  • Yoga — I’ve never really done yoga, mainly because I would need to sign up and schedule a class, but I do understand the concept of stretching and breathing exercises.  Typically I stretch for about 5 minutes and call it a day.  I could really improve on this and just take my time and not rush through it just to be done. Goal –> 30 minutes per day.
  • Stress — Hmmm, stress is relative. During the day, work is like being in the ER at a Hospital.  I try to fix things when they break, stop the bleeding, etc.  I’m not dealing with life or death situations, so it helps to keep this in perspective.  Stress builds and infects so many other parts of your life.  So get up, take a walk…breathe.
  • Time Management — Managing my time with workouts is not a problem for me.  However, work during the day is pretty much a series of one interruption after another.  I’m pretty good at managing my time, but there’s really no way to follow a plan during my day.  It’s pretty much a troubleshoot and solve, and try to take good notes along the way, so that the next time will be faster kind of routine.  I’m always open for new ways to improve on time management, so if you know of some ideas, please post your comments!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Posted in Ironman | Tagged | Leave a comment