January 2010
31 posts
Week 4, Friday
302 days until Ironman Arizona.
Swim 400 warm-up (drills) 1 x 500, 5 x 100 on 2:30, cooldown (4 x 50)
Week 4, Thursday
303 days until Ironman Arizona.
No training. Insane weather here—we lost power and water, and the wind was so bad Mrs. Fat Triathlete forbade me to go out on the bike.
Week 4, Wednesday
304 days until Ironman Arizona.
I think focussing on bilateral breathing for the past couple weeks is starting to pay off: It’s getting easier.
Swim: 1500 yards (15 x 100 on 2:30-ish), focus on bilateral breathing and catch-up.
Week 4, Tuesday
305 days until Ironman Arizona.
Long (but not as long as usual—it’s recovery week!), easy run.
Run 57:06, 6.12 miles, Avg Pace: 9:20, Avg HR: 151.
Week 4, Monday
306 days until Ironman Arizona.
Recovery week here at Fat Triathlete training camp. I’m really undisciplined, though—I find it difficult to cut volume without increasing intensity—especially on the bike. To wit, I went for some serious hills on this ride and blasted high gears in the flats as fast as I could. I also conveniently forgot to wear my heart-rate monitor chest strap.
So much...
Week 3, Saturday
308 days until Ironman Arizona.
Longer easy ride today, except the return trip was into some serious wind. My usual route is all messed up by construction on the freeway—need to figure out another one.
Oh, and today somebody threw a beer bottle at me from a moving truck as they passed—I’m guessing they were doing about 40-45 mph. Luckily they missed, but wow. What the hell is wrong with...
Week 3, Friday
309 days until Ironman Arizona.
Easy swim and run today.
Swim: 15 x 100 b/l
Run: 41:54, 4.46 miles, Avg Pace 9:24/mile, Avg HR 152 bpm
Week 3, Thursday
310 days until Ironman Arizona.
Bike: 2:06:39, 36.89 miles, Avg Speed: 17.5mph, Avg HR: 148 bpm, Avg Cadence: 91 rpm.
Run (Not a brick): 30:09, 3.3 miles, Avg Pace: 9:09/mile, Avg HR 153 bpm.
Week 3, Wednesday
311 days until Ironman Arizona.
Today was supposed to be the second-longest swim of the week, but, well, I got trapped in an environmental disaster the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the Exxon Valdez.
About 35 minutes into my set, an older woman got in my lane without rinsing off first. As she swam off for her first lap, you could see a rainbow-colored film on the water trailing...
Week 3, Tuesday
312 days until Ironman Arizona.
Easy 6-mile ride to gym.
Weight training (legs + back)
Run: 1:27:16, 8.19 miles, Avg Pace 10:40/mile, Avg HR 152 bpm.
Easy 6-mile ride home.
Week 3, Monday
313 days until Ironman Arizona.
I did my brick today with my new tri shorts from Hammer Nutrition. They’re a bit shorter than bike shorts—about four inches shorter judging from this photo:
I’m not going to lie, I felt a little immodest in these shorts as well as a little, um, shall we say “less padded.” Reactions from others ranged from the funny—Mrs. Fat Triathlete...
Week 2, Sunday
314 days until Ironman Arizona(!)
Today’s an off day, and you can bet your sweaty tri-shorts that I’m taking it (and washing said shorts.)
I thought I’d post because I just discovered that the countdown iPhone app I wrote for Ironman Arizona has a bug: It was counting down to November 27th, and the Ironman is on November 21st!
I just lost six or seven days of training,...
Week 2, Saturday
321 days until Ironman Arizona.
3-hour endurance ride today. Kept my HR pretty much on target at the low end of zone 2 despite riding into pretty good gusts for the final hour-and-a-half.
Bike: 2:55:48, 47.31 miles, Avg speed 16.1 mph, Avg HR 141 bpm, Avg cadence 95 rpm.
WatchFast.
Week 2, Friday
322 days until Ironman Arizona.
Today was long and fun, but I forgot the Garmin, so I don’t have detailed time/distance/hr data.
Bike: 20 minute warm-up ride to gym.
Weight training. (I log all my sets and reps in a notebook, but I feel like it’s a bit much to post them here.)
Swim 45 minutes. Mostly 100- and 50-yard bilateral breathing and balance drills on 2:30 or so—I’m...
Fat Triathlete Recovery Drink™®
Straight from Fat Triathlete Nutrition Labs, the recipe for my patent-pending recovery drink:
4 ounces Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice
6 ounces vodka, chilled. (Fat Triathlete recommends Belvedere, but hey, whatever.)
On the evening following a good run or bike workout, place lime juice and vodka in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Pour evenly into two martini glasses. Add a...
Week 2, Thursday
323 days until Ironman Arizona.
Easy endurance ride today, managed to keep my heart rate in check, felt awesome on the short one-mile cooldown transition run afterwards. Tons of energy left over after the whole thing. Nice contrast to Monday’s workout.
Bike: 35.13 miles, 2:03:30, Avg Speed: 17.1 mph, Avg HR: 141 bpm, Avg Cadence: 92 rpm
“It is pointless to be able to ride hard if you lack the overall endurance for...”
– Going Long
Week 2, Wednesday
324 days until Ironman Arizona.
So, um, yeah, swimming. Have I told you guys about my swimming? It’s not pretty. When I finished the swim leg of the Nathan olympic-distance triathlon last September—my first time swimming in open water ever—I remember thinking, “okay Fat Triathlete, the hard part’s over.” If I had stubbed my toe and DNF’ed in T1, I still would...
Week 2, Tuesday
325 days until Ironman Arizona
I was so tired after yesterday’s brick and last night’s weightlifting that today’s run was a total slog—my legs felt like dead weight.
The pool has reopened, so expect some really bad swim workout numbers soon.
On another note, I went for my annual physical today: The nurse practitioner was very pleased with my weight and blood pressure...
Week 2, Monday
326 days until Ironman Arizona.
Endurance brick today. Went as easy as I could stand on the bike and managed to keep my HR mostly in check, but the run was a different story. I had to walk a couple times just to get my HR anywhere near zone 3.
Thinking I need to find somewhere better to do bricks than from my house: There’s no way to leave here without dealing with hills and the...
700x23C
After my adventure in flat-changing on Saturday, I decided it was time to buy some new Continental Grand Prix 4000 tires yesterday.
Went to mount them for this morning’s brick workout and discovered that while both boxes said “700x23C,” one of them had a 700x25C inside. Waiting for Performance to open so I can swap it out and do my workout.
Given the four flats on Saturday...
Week 1, Saturday
328 days until Ironman Arizona.
Well, today was supposed to be an easy three-hour ride (Saturday is my long day for the bike), but as you’ve probably surmised from this, this, and this, it turned into more of a flat-changing drill session.
*Bike: 35.97 mi, 2:04:12, Avg Speed: 17.4 mph, Avg HR: 133bpm[1], Avg Cadence: 94[2] rpm.
[1] Too low! I think coming back off the first tire change...
No joke: Got third flat while changing second and got fourth flat walking bike to nearest gas station. At this point can only laugh.
Week 1, Friday — Happy New Year!
329 days until Ironman Arizona.
Easy run today, and a good thing, too—I forgot to bring my hydration belt and bottles.
Pretty damned sore from the weight training on Wednesday, especially my calves.
Run: 1:00:49, 6.33 miles, Avg Pace: 9:35/mile, Avg HR: 148 bpm.
