It's all coming together now...

Okay, had a quick run today, up the hill, through Beacon Hill park, down along the water, up Government, and back to the hotel, 3.07 miles according to Run.com. Well, I think that I've figured out my tricep problem, I need a massage... ;) Just kidding, I need to alter my running style, I run with my hands very close and high on my chest, to minimize movement and wasted effort, well, apparently it's taking a toll on my triceps, causing minimal movement, but thousands of repetitions of lightweight tricep extensions. It's over use. I figured it out about a mile into the run, as my right tricep started aching, and a couple of minor adjustments to my hand positioning, and it stopped aching. Well, all fine and good I guess. Anyway, the results, 3.07 miles in 24 minutes 44 seconds which puts my pace at 8 minutes 3 seconds/mile. I'm very happy with these results. I just have to look back a couple of months ago, and I was running less than 2 miles before needing to take a quick break. My legs felt pretty heavy today based on my long run two days ago, but still turned a good time. Well, after the run, it was a quick bicep workout, then off to the room for my morning coffee. Well, that's all for now -m3

I was running

Okay, so nothing done today, my body is kinda acting wierd, my right arm is fuckin' up, it feels like I tore a muscle, my tricep is sore. It's okay until I flex it, then it feels like an electric shock. But anyway, yesterday I went running, and took over a minute off my time from the previous long day. So anyway, took the long run course, and ran 7.25 miles. I corrected the course on run.com but they're still .2 miles off, they're showing the course at 7.03-7.05 miles while my bike computer is showing 7.25 miles. Anyway, I ran it yesterday, and I felt terrible, couldn't get my stride right, even half way through it, couldn't get a good extension on my stride, felt kinda choppy, but then on the last mile I couldn't believe my time. Anyway, pulling into the hotel, hit the stop on my watch. Looked down, and 7.25 miles in 57 minutes 15.58 seconds. I'm happy, yay!!!

I learned a lesson today...

Okay, day started out well, woke up late, planned to ride 10+ today, and it was sunny. Bike was working well, headed out of the garage, and about 2 miles into the ride, I realize "damn, I forgot my fuckin' waterbottle." Well, okay, so I figure, no problem, I've done it before, it'll be okay. Then about 3 miles in, I'm riding in traffic, no problem, but I'm coming up fast on another biker, who's riding a road bike. It looks like he cuts out into traffic to make a lane change, but the truck in front of him hits the brakes, and bike meets tailgate, at about 15 mph. I stop, he's alright, but he almost got sandwiched from the car behind him. This is probably when I should of said, "fuck it" and gone home, but nooooo, I'm not that smart. So, I cut right out of the heavily traveled streets, and find some hills, okay, I'm pushing it hard on the hills, out of the saddle, trying to keep my speed. Up on hill, down another, up one hill, down another, okay, so maybe I'll try a different route home. I know where I am, kinda, and I figure I've got about 3 or so miles back to the hotel. Down one hill, back up another, and just as I crest that hill, my front tire hits a bump, and then feels wierd, I look down, and my front tire is flat. "Fuck" I realize I don't have my flat kit with me, ugh, and I can't walk on these bike shoes, okay, fuck it. Off come the shoes, off come the socks, okay, barefoot, I think I'm kinda close to the hotel, well, about 40 minutes later, and 2.5 miles, I'm back at the hotel, with sore feet. I might not run tomorrow, we'll see how the feet are doing. Well, enough for now, and I've gotta buy another tube...

Huh, what day is it?

Okay, today, slept in (felt good, oh, it felt goooood) got up around 11ish (my alarm is usually set for 10. Went for my run, today it was "Around the point" 3.48 miles, per run.com. I'm kinda curious about run.com though, for my long run, I paced it out on my bike, and it was 7.25 miles, but run.com when I mapped it out, reported 6.93 miles. Hmmm, there's something afoot at the circle k... I trust my bikc computer more I think, since it was the exact same track I run and bike. Well, my time was as usual, 28min 38sec for 3.48 miles, which for times is as follows...
8min 13sec/mile. I'm good with that.

Is it friday already?

Okay, since I've been slacking on updating the blog (thanks stephanie). I'll try to blog as soon as I get in. Here's the lowdown for today.

Bike 7.11 miles in 26min 22sec

This sucked! Unfortunately because of traffic, and a couple of scooters, I had to keep my speed in check through the first couple miles. City riding is fun, but it can be interesting at times. Well, here are the highlights, in miles per hour:
Average 16.1
Max 34.3

At about 4.39 miles I threw in the brick, and ran 1.12 miles in 8min 19sec, which isn't too bad all things considered, I threw down for the the last 100 yards or so, so I'd guess my pace would of been around 8min 15sec mile, but that's just a WAG. So yesterday a friend and I were talking about running, depending on OP Tempo, and where in the world I am, I'm considering doing the Half or Full Seattle Marathon. I'll keep you all advised. -m3

Ugh, thursday

Okay, so I didn't update yesterday, but here ya go.
Wednesday, 7 mile bike ride
Thursday
25 yards warmup
50 yards warmup
50 yards 1min 4sec
100 yards 2min 3sec
50 yards 1min 2sec
50 yards 1min 10sec
50 yards 1min 5sec
50 yards 1min 12sec
50 yards 1min 2sec
50 yards 1min 14sec
50 yards not timed
50 yards not timed
50 yards cool down
25 yards cool down

I need to spend more time in the pool, the pool opens to 50 yards so I'll swim again then.

Tuesday

Ugh, I've gotta stop partying so damn hard, this city is gonna be the end of me... :D Anyway, though I was out late last night partying with a Firefighter from Vancouver, and a Canadian MP, got home at 0430ish... Slept in most of the day, had it off from work, but I knew today was gonna be the day. So, up at the crack of 1430 (that's two thirty in the afternoon for you civis) start slamming water, because today was the long run day. I had a track that I was using for my bike rides, 7.25 miles, so today was the day I was going to run it. I figured a good time for the course would be 1 hour, but being hung over, I wasn't too sure how I would do, well, given that it would be a little over an 8 minute mile, which incidently I considered a workout to run 2 miles at that pace when I started a couple of months ago. Well, long story short, up, dressed, stretch, put on my country MP3s, and start out, nice little up hill, ugh, down to the water, running with about a 4-5mph breeze, and bright sun, so it was stifling hot, I wasn't going fast enough to generate wind, because it was blowing the direction I was running. Well, right at about mile 2.5 I turn and head back, and running into the breeze, wearing underarmour, really helped to regulate my body temp, and was a god send, my pace picked up, and my hr started dropping. I was running about 165-171 HR for most of the run, I realized I was past half, and finally got my stride right, everything was firing!!! Well, I ran from the hotel, to beacon hill park, down the coast to the end of the beach walk, then back up the coast past the heliport, and back into downtown, on my bike computer, it's 7.25, on my New Balance 719s, partially hung over, it's 58min 50secs, and I know I could of probably cut a couple of minutes off that, given crossing signals and all. That puts me on pace for 7.25 miles at 8min 6.9secs. I'm happy today, and will be sore tomorrow!!!

Monday

Okay, nice little bike ride today, didn't figure out until oh, mile 4, that I was on the lower ring on my forward derailer, I kept wondering why I was topping out so damn quickly... I usually never go the lower ring, but I must of bumped my shifters or something. So anyway, I left the inner harbour marriott, out through West Victoria, headed out to the Esquimalt Graving Yard/CFB Esquimalt, back through West Victoria, over the Johnson Street Bridge, down past the Sea Plane docks, out to the shore, along the shore line to the Victoria 0 mile sign, then back to the hotel. Here's a picture of me at the 0 mile sign...

Updates

Okay, I've been busy with work, but here's what's been going on...
Thursday: 7.5 mile bike ride, beautiful ride along the water
Friday: Couldn't find the pool, yeah, I know, but I got lost
Saturday: 7.12 mile bike ride, 1 mile run (brick)
Sunday: Weights only

Not exactly the slow run I was looking for....

Okay, first day in Victoria, and it was spent running here, running there, waiting for guys to pick out shoes.... (long story) Well, the long story short, is I'm a very independant person, and I don't like having to wait, but that's one of my weaknesses, and I need to realize that the team makes sacrifices for me as well. Anyway, by the time we got out of our meeting at almost 1900, I was needing relief. Most everyone headed for the bar, the owner of the company offered to buy the first round, so there was definitely something wrong with me when I passed up free beer. All I could think about was lacing on my shoes, and I ran, I ran so far away, and I ran, I ran all night and day..... Not really, I ran this course
http://www.run.com/showroute.asp?map=76234
But it felt right, the legs were firing properly, and even though I was in pain with my quads from about the first 2-3 minutes, through out the run, it felt right. My stride was right, I was stretching my legs, rather than chopping, and I was feeling sore but good. Well, enough for now, tomorrow is the road bike... -m3

HATE IT, Hate It, hate it....

Okay, today just isn't my day.... I went swimming today, now I didn't do anything else because I pushed myself pretty hard the last couple of days, and frankly, my legs ache... So, I figure, I'll get a good pool workout in, right? WRONG!!! Today was the first day in what I'm going to wear in the swim, and I wasn't happy. Oh, btw, I picked up a pair of Nike square cut swim trunks. Anyway, my times on the 50 yard were 53-55 seconds, okay, not what I was looking for with the reduced drag... My 100 yard times were even worse 2min 10sec - 2min 15sec.... Ugh, what do I have to do here? Swam about 700 yards in 50 and 100 yard segments, but wasn't happy. Well, I did learn a couple of things today;
1. Rest: I've been lacking on this big time, both in recuperation time, and in actual sleep time, today it caught up with me.
2. Alcohol: Not good for training, I went out Sunday night with a friend of mine, and drank too much, Monday was a wicked hangover, and I powered through a bike ride, but today it caught up to me.
3. Food: I've been slacking here, in preparing for my trip, I haven't had the time to make sure that I'm getting enough food, eating maybe one a day or so, combine that with little sleep, I had no energy
4. Water: I've been slacking here too, I'll grab a diet coke on the way out the door, instead of water, my body isn't happy.
5. Breath: Okay, this is a positive, I've moved from the breath every other stroke (breathing on every right stroke) to every third stroke (alternating left and right) this feels more natural for me, and helps me keep my head down, yay, we had a positive today (yes, WE, me and the other voices in my head...)!!!

Okay, well, I guess the first stage of fixing the problem is to recognize the problem, okay, check.... But I knew better, well in the words of Baby Powder, "I need to slap my damn self." Tomorrow I'll probably do a short easy run, and I'll be updating the blog from my hotel room...

I'm registered!!!

Check it out Y'all!!! Yeah, baby, I'm in it to uh, finish it!!!

AthletesLounge.com Confirmation
Luke Noury,Thank you for registering for the Federal Escape Triathlon.
Your confirmation is as follows:
Confirmation #1956-168-268858
Name: Luke Noury
Birthdate: 1975-12-04
Gender: M
Shirt Size: L
Address:
Event: Federal Escape Triathlon - Sprint TriEvent
Date: July 28th, 2007
Event Time: 9:30:00

Hate the wind, love the bike!!!

Okay, took the new bike on the road today for a quick shakedown. I've gotta adjust the derailer a little, but other than that, it works very well, it was a good deal. I've added a computer, as well as new pedals, and my new tri shoes. Anyway, it was a clear fast run out to the end of Alki, and then back to Starbucks for a mmmmmm, mocha frap lite... mmmm... Well, I had a good deal of speed out, and rode well, took a little bit to find my comfort spot, but then it was nice. I need to buy some aerobars, but other than that, it looks like my setup is complete. Okay, here are the numbers... And according to the stationary bike, seem pretty spot on.

Totals (Trial + Cooldown)
14.27 Miles
47min 26sec
Avg Speed 16.9
Max Speed 27.9

Shakedown trial time
10.53 Miles
30min 32sec
Avg Speed 18.9
Max Speed 26.2

Six Mile Sunday

Well, almost 6 miles, more like 5.9, took the outer track at greenlake, then the inner track. Very nice fun little run, if I do say so myself. I went up for the "Running Poets of Green Lake" hosted by AKA, got the t-shirt, and ran my long day. It was really cool to see 100 poems on people's backs and to watch the reactions that everyone else had. I had a blast though. Anyway, since I'm interested in times, 5.9 miles in 49.40 which is a pace of....
8min 25sec/mile!!!!

Also, just to throw down for some people, PERFORMANCE Bicycle in the U-district is the shit!!!! I went there on the recommendation of a friend, and they had triathlon bicycling shoes on sale for 59.95!!!! Check them out, they've got the hook up! Well, 6 miles in the books, time to take a nap, then call the buffalos, and see if they're training.

Saturday, rain, ugh...

Okay, Saturday is usually my off day, and today was no exception, except I did arms... No big deal, quick bi/tri workout. But, I did buy my bike today!!!! It's not anything super highspeed, but I think it will do the job, and it will be traveling with me so I will begin training on it. I attached a computer today, and still need to add aero bars and pedals. But I've gone from the chicken to the pig... (it's a joke) In a ham and egg breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed... :D Well, here's the new (to me) bike...

Friday

Good day, I'm happy.... :D I was swimming at the pool and ran into 3 other people who were training for various triathlons. It's kinda cool, you know, all of a sudden you've met up with other people who are experiencing the same kind of misery that you are, and you've all got the same goals. I was happily swimming my 50 yard laps, and next to me are two swimmers, that are making it look easy, okay, I hate them, I really hate them... Then I look over, and one of their water bottles says "Ironman" ugh, oh, great, it's the competition... Well, friendly me, I strike up a conversation, apparently they just got back from SD running a marathon, and they're training up for the half ironman in a couple of weeks. Cool! Then another guy who's eves dropping I find out that he's training for the Seafair Triathlon. Who knew so many triathletes trained at 24 hour fitness downtown seattle, huh? Anyway, my back is pretty tight from all the boxing yesterday, and I started my workout with a chest/weights workout, so here's the times today, in surf shorts.
50 yards 1min 4sec
50 yards 1min 4sec
50 yards 1min 3sec
50 yards 1min 2sec
50 yards 54sec
50 yards 56sec
50 yards 1min 1sec
50 yards 54sec
Tomorrow is off day, and just weight training for my arms.

Thursday, yeah baby!

Okay, was swimming, unfortunately I didn't have my G-Shock, so no times on the swim, ugh... Well, I'm swimming tomorrow as well, so I'll have times then. Felt good to be back in the water again though, two days of spinning/running were okay, I guess, but I was happy to be swimming again. Anyway, went back to the house 'o buffalo, no sprinting today, well, I guess that's a good thing. Continued with my boxing, wow, while my cardio is good for it, no weak legs, my arms were dead. Couple of rounds with the heavy bag, then four rounds of sparring, I forgot how rough that was... Good to see my close in work is still adequate, but my closing the distance needs work again, as I'm just bulling my way back in, but once I'm back inside, I'll throw my combo, and then step back out. I need to work on my counter punch. I did realize that I've still got my ability to walk straight down the pipe. I need to buy myself some 18 or 20 oz gloves if I'm going to get back into fighting. I realize that the mma gloves are 4 oz, but I need to build my shoulders back up to the point where I can throw down for 6-8 rounds with the heavier gloves. Well that's all for now, -me

Wednesday

I'm back in the groove again... Something a little odd happened today though, I was in spinning, keeping my HR between 145-155, and I noticed that as I increased load, which forced my RPMs down, it also dropped my HR, and as I dropped load, but increased my RPMs, my HR would remain constant, or even raise. The only thing that happened that even made remote sense was that under extremely heavy load, (the type you have to put all your body weight on a pedal) my HR would raise. HMMMMM, something is a foot at the Circle K.... Anyway, as I spin with different people, I think I am getting the idea that this class (Weds 0930) is more of a power workout. I guess that would make sense, as much time as I have spent in the gym lifting heavy, I guess my muscles are used to that, but the higher RPM less stress causes my muscles some confusion, resulting in the elevated HR. Well, it's an idea I guess, feel free to comment!!! Anyway, wrapped up with a quick treadmill mile, 8min09sec. I'm building back up to where I am running a 5k after my spinning sessions by the time the race comes around.

Tuesday... Spinning/Running

Okay, today was spinning at 1100, running a mile immediately afterwards total mile time 8.30, I've decided that probably the best way to approach this is to increase my cardio endurance factor. After my benchmark day, I've noticed that I was maintaining a HR between 160-170 for the entire event. Taking this to the next level, I continue to train and push my HR and train my body to maximize recovery times. This means that spinning and running need to maintain 160-170 HR for the duration of the event, unless there is a decreased load i.e. downhills, and my body needs to maintain cadence and recover during these times. I also use a little trick from shooting to reduce HR, which has been working well. Oh, yeah, monday was a complete day off.

Dry Run, Federal Escape

Okay, okay, today was the moment of truth, and I admit, I was a little apprehensive. Today was my inside dry run, for the Federal Escape. This was done at the 24hr fitness in bellevue.
I started out on the quarter mile swim, a 12 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run.

Quarter Mile Swim = 7min 03sec
Transition = 8min 20 sec (this sucked because I had to dry off and change out of my shorts into my running gear)
Bike (stationary bike level 5) 12 miles = 33min 30 sec
Transition = 2 min 57 sec (had to wipe down the bike)
Run (3.1 miles) = 26minutes 5 sec (this was including the ramp up time to running speed)

Total Time including T1 and T2 = 1 hour 17 minutes 55 sec

Okay the proof is in, I can do this, tomorrow off for recovery, then back to my routine!!!

Just Gym Saturday

Okay, nothing big here, just a quick arms workout... :D

Just Gym today....

Wow, I guess that the gym isn't really that difficult after all. After slogging through countless miles, and cycling the lifting part doesn't seem too hard anymore. Today was chest and shoulders, and you can definitely see the effects that all this f'n cardio is having. Starting to see some striations/veins in my shoulders on lifts now. Well, tomorrow is arms, then Sunday will be my dry run. :D