November 2015 "Training" and Other Stuff

Not much this month, starting to wind down. 
Got a little bit in here and there. 
No swimming at all for the first time in a long time.  The last time I did not swim in a month was October of 2008. 

I am going to stop tracking my workouts and weight at the end of this year.  If I ever go back to racing, I am going to stop tracking all my data.  I am going to stop logging and tabling everything.  If I start racing again, I would like to do it in a more relaxed fashion, not where I am tracking everything.

The last few posts I do in 2016 will be summarizing my racing, training, weight, and a few posts that I have started and not finished. Then I will be done with the blog.

I did learn baby massage this month.  Pretty interesting.  I have given Charlie the GI massage, which has helped him with gas.  You can actually feel stuff moving along the GI track.  For the most part, he seems to enjoy it, or at least it doesn't bother him to much.

After about 8-9 weeks, Charlie has settled down a lot.  Almost a totally different baby.  He goes to bed without any rocking, or humming, or anything.  He can sit in his little chair, or swing, or on his play mat for fairly long periods without fussing.  He smiles and laughs and coos, it is pretty cool. 


November to November Training

Total and Averages Since 2007

YTD Total and Since 2007

 

September 2015 Racing and Training Summary (And More!)

The big news for this month.....we now have a son.  Charles David was born on September 23rd.  He was a healthy 9lbs and 1oz and 22 inches long.  All is well.  As people with children know, it changes everything.  Of course, he will change everything about training and racing, and life.  He will change everything about life for the better :)

I did get in two Salomon Trail Races this month.  It was pretty hot\humid both nights.  The distance for the first two runs is about 4.2 miles, the longer of the two courses.  The final two races are a shorter distance course.
4.18 miles = 36:30 (8:44/mi)
4.18 miles = 35:54 (8:33/mi)
These two times were slower than last year, by a fairly good amount.  My fastest time last year, on this course, was 34:11, so my fastest this year was about a minute and a half slower than last year.  My run has been slower this year than last year, so my results are not too surprising.  I have not been able to put a finger on why my run is slower this year.  Maybe, when I run, I have been pushing harder than last year, and not mixing in enough easier runs, like I did the year before.  I will try to do a little more analysis towards the end of the year.
I am going to try and do the last Salomon trail race of the year, 10/14.

With the birth of our son, my training has slowed, actually halted, a bit.  Not a bad thing.  I haven't taken time off in awhile.  As of this writing, Oct 6th, I have not worked out in over two weeks, maybe almost three weeks.  That is probably the longest I have gone without a workout in awhile.  I might try to go for a run soon.  See how that feels.  I think for the rest of the year, I am going to workout when I can, no real plan.  Probably the way it should be.

Below are the usual tables.  I am down a bit from previous years, to be expected. 

September Year-to-Year Comparison

 

Totals and Averages Since 2007

YTD Totals and Totals Since 2007

 

August 2015 Racing and Training Summary

This August I had 3 Olympic distance triathlons and one TT.  With all that racing, I cut back on training a little bit.  I had USAT AG Nationals, Lake Marion, and Maple Grove.  USAT and Maple Grove were a little slower than last year, but still not too bad.  Lake Marion was my first time doing the Olympic.  My time was not great but I managed to win my AG, so that made up for a slower time.

I already posted my TT results for this year and my past results.  I was able to finish fairly strong, tying my fastest time for the year.
8/11 - 10 miles = 26:47 (22.85MPH)

I think I had decent month training.  Not too much to say about it. It was only the second month this year that I swam more than I biked.  With 3 races and a TT, most of my hard biking was during a race, I kept it a little easier when I did training runs.  Same thing went for my running.  I kept my training runs a little short and a little easier.  I have not been running as good as last year, so I am not sure killing myself at this point is going to be useful.

Compared to previous Augusts, this was a little bit less.  Last August, I swam a little less, biked a little more, and ran a little more.

Below are the usual charts.  I have been able to maintain, on average, including weeks when I did no training for some reason or another, 2 hours of cycling, a little less than 2 hours of swimming, and an hour of running per week.  Consistency.

Comparison of August from Year-to-Year

Totals and Averages Since 2007

YTD Total and Since 2007

 

July 2015 Racing and Training Summary

This July had more training hours than the last few Julys.  I probably need the extra hours, and effort, going into August where it looks like I will be doing 3, maybe 4, Olympic distance triathlons to finish the season.  The biggest one being the first, USAT AG Nationals, on August 8th.  Last year, AG Nationals was my fastest Olympic distance race, ever.  Hopefully, I have trained, and raced, hard enough that my taper takes and I can again get a PR performance.  If not, I have to remember to enjoy the day and the race.

It looks like my bike is coming around just in time.  Like last year, my bike got faster in mid to late July, for some reason.  The two triathlons I did this month, I averaged almost 22 MPH on a nearly 29 mile course, and almost 23MPH on a 22.5 mile course.
The two TTs this month were about 0.5-0.6 MPH faster than previous fastest TTs this year.  Both of those were after weekend races. 
7/14/15 - 10 miles = 26:47 = 22.85MPH
7/28/15 - 10 miles = 26:57 = 22.71MPH

My run is still hot and cold.  Some training runs feel really good, some ick.  My two races this month were ok.  Nothing special.
 
My swim at Chisago was terrible.  Still bugs me.  My own fault.  Should not have gone out so fast.
Otherwise, my swim has been average this year.  I have put in more swim time this year than last year, but, as I have shown in my past comparisons to training time and race performance, it doesn't mean much. 

Below are the usual tables.  This July is the most time I have put in since July of 2011.  I had above average time for swim, bike, and run.  I did a 3 hour bike ride up to Chisago this month, which really helped boost my time for the bike.  I did the 3 hour bike on my Felt 75X, cycle cross bike, and was surprised at how comfortable the ride was.  It has been a long time since I have been on a bike for more than 2 hours, and I had no real discomfort in my seat or groin area, and very little in shoulder or wrist.  A far cry from spending over an hour on my tri-bike.


Year-to-Year July Comparison

Since 2007 Totals and Averages

YTD Totals and Totals Since 2007

 

June 2015 Racing and Training Summary, with Weight Update

My training time for this month is a little lower than I would have liked.  I do think I got the intensity in that I am looking, especially with the completion of two triathlons, a duathlon, and three TTs. 

The three TTs went ok.  One of them was my fastest so far this year, the other two were pretty similar.  I would really like the one that is the fastest so far this year, to not be my fastest of the year.  It would be nice to get over 22.5MPH this year.
6/2/15 - 10 miles = 27:32 (22.2 MPH)
6/16/15 - 10 miles = 28:08 (21.8 MPH)
6/30/15 - 10 miles = 27:57 (21.9 MPH)
Average of first 5 races = 21.48MPH


I was pretty happy with the results from the two triathlons (Buffalo Oly and Lake Waconia.  Lake Waconia race report coming soon) and the one duathlon (Lake Minnetonka). 

I am not sure why I was down from my training averages this month.  Maybe I am taking more rest after, and before, races.  I am getting older, I do need a little more recovery, especially when racing more.  I do need to get some good workouts in July, in preparation for AG Nationals on August 8th.  At the moment, I have one Olympic Distance tri (Graniteman Clearwater), and I may sign up for Chisago (Toughman) Sprint.  I also have two TTs in July.

Below my usual training and race data tables, I have my weight data.  I usual put out something with my weight at the end of the year and in June, basically every 6 months.

Year-to- Year June Comparison

Since 2007 Totals and Averages

YTD Totals and Since 2007

Weight Graph

Last year I had a pretty significant drop in my weight.  My average in 2013 was about 194, and my average in 2014 was 184.  So, I dropped about 10 pounds.  This year, so far I have averaged about 185.5ish, with my weight going up and down a lot more than last year.  Not sure why.  I think I am eating about the same, I don't think I am eating much more or worse.  I am working out a little less, not sure if that has anything to do with it or not.  In July, I am going to try to be a little more aware of what I am eating and try to watch it.  I would like to go down a few pounds before AG Nationals.  I can use all the help I can get. 

May 2015 Racing and Training Summary

I did two Tuesday Night Time Trials and the Gear West Duathlon in May.
GW Du went fine, I did a race report on it.
The two Tuesday Night Time Trials were ok.  Nothing fantastic.  Kind of slow starts for the year.  Both were on a different course than previous years.  They changed the course from last year for the first race, slightly longer.  The second race of the year, the course was changed back to the old out and back course, the original course, except slightly shorter.  The course was changed due to construction and the race director is not sure when we will go back to the longer course.  The first night was windy and cool and felt tough.  The second night felt better, but I was no faster.  It was the Tuesday, after the Sunday, that I did the GW Du.  Might have been the reason for my historically slow time (as I write this I have already done my 3rd TT of the year and it was faster than my first two and closer to my historical average) .  Hopefully, my slower times on the TT course are not reflected in my bike times in triathlons.
First two TTs of the year
5/5/2015 - 13.72mi = 39:25 (20.9MPH)
5/19/2015 - 10mi = 29:04 (20.6MPH)

Kind of an average month compared to the last few years.  About the same total time as last year, more than 2013, vacation in Hawaii in 2013, and about the same as 2012.  2011 and back further I had a lot more training time in the month of May.  I did go over 2 million total yards swimming since 2007.  That is something of an accomplishment.  I crossed over 100 total hours, which I think is a slower than last year.

June is two TTs and three triathlons.  Busy.

Below are the usual tables.

Comparison of May from Year-to-Year

Totals and Averages Since 2007

Year-to-Date Totals and Since 2007

 

April 2015 Racing and Training Summary

This April was a little below average in terms of swim, bike, and run.  I tried to keep my intensity up.  I think I did a good job of that.  I feel pretty good.

I crossed over 2000 hours of training since 2007.  Seems like it should be more.......
That comes out to a little over 21 hours a month in total training time.  That total and average includes months where I had no time, which hasn't been 2007.  Since 2007, the least amount of time I have put in training has been 6 hours in 2008. 

I had one race, St. Anthony's, as usual.  Race report for that coming up soon.

There isn't a whole lot to say about the month, except I tried to be consistent, as always, and keep up my intensity.  I felt pretty good throughout the month.  With the race season coming up in MN, I think keeping things going in May, Gear West duathlon and TTs, will be important, for when June - August races come around.  Just have to keep being consistent, it is all about consistency.

May through August should be more exciting.  Hopefully.

Year-to-Year April Comparisons

Since 2007 and Year-to-Date Totals

Total Since 2007 and Averages

March 2015 Racing and Training Summary

February and March are typically the months where I put in the most training, as I try to get ready for St. Anthony's and the season as a whole.  This year, with travelling to Europe, I lost some time in Jan and Feb.  No biggie!  I am doing this for fun and sometimes I need a vacation.  Anyway, a 3 week break at this point in the season might be very helpful.  I learned last year, taking some extra recovery time before a race can be very helpful.

In March, I tried to pack some more in with the hope that I can get in what I need before I taper a little before the race at the end of April. 

For the 6th year, 5th in a row, I did the Irish run 8K.  They changed the course a little bit this year.  I think it is a little easier, hard to say.  Weather this year was better, last year I think it was below freezing. The run felt pretty good.  I didn't feel any odd pain or stress on my body anywhere.  Nothing unusual.  It was painful, but it was meant to be.  In an attempt to work on my patience while racing, I started out a little slower and tried to get faster throughout.  
This would the 3rd course change in 6 times I have done it.  Always up and down Summit, they just change the start and finish lines.
Here are my results:
2015 - 37:47 (7:36/mi)
2014 - 37:53 (7:38/mi)
2013 - 38:10 (7:41/mi)
2012 - 39:11 (7:53/mi)
2011 - 38:49 (7:49/mi)
2009 - 36:40 (7:20/mi)
Good news, I have gotten progressively faster over the last 4 years.  Slowly, faster, but faster.  I have mentioned this in the past, I did run that fast time in 2009 on a stress fracture.  Have not been able to get back to that.  It must have been the right combination of something on that day.

Below is the usual, comparison of March to March year after year.  Totals since 2007, averages since 2007, and YTD totals.  It was my highest swimming total for a month in a long time, and I was able to go over 10 hours on the bike, so it was the kind of March I would like to have.

Year-After-Year March Comparison



Total and Averages Since 2007

YTD and Totals Since 2007

 

How to go from bottom 10%-25% finisher (Overall and AG) to top-half (middle) to top-third in about 10 seasons of Multi-Sport, and some other thoughts - Part 1 of more than 1 Part Series

I have decided to write a multi-part blog series on how I went from the bottom 10%-25% of finishers (Overall and AG) in multi-sport (triathlon and duathlon) to the middle, top 50%, to top-third.  Mind you, I am not a pro, an elite triathlete, in fact, and I have never won a triathlon. 

First, here are my qualifications that allows me to tell you how to get better:

• Since 2006 I have started and completed 30 duathlons, also 2 duathlon relays (bike portion in both)
• Since 2007 I have started 78, and finished 76 (3 70.3 and the rest are Oly and Sprint).  One of the races I did not finish was due to a stress fracture and I bowed out after the bike and the other was due to a flat tire.  I also did one relay, where I swam and biked.
• I have started and completed 53 time trials.
• I have started and completed 40 running races.
• Since 2007 I have put in over 2000 hours of racing and training (I didn't keep very good records in 2006, but I did do some training when doing those first duathlons)
• I was coached, by a very good coach for almost 3 years (2007-2010), so I understand something about coaching.
• I do read triathlon magazines, articles, blogs, occasionally, but I don't get into any "fads" or anything. I don't bounce around between the newest diet, gear, or training thing that is "in".
• I am an engineer and scientist, by degrees and by job, so you can trust me

There are some pretty simple things you should know:

• To race faster, you need to train faster.  Not always going fast, you do need to recover and you do need to do base training, etc.  If you never train at or above race pace, you will never go faster.  My wife's cousin runs the same pace, no matter 5K or half-marathon, about a 10 min/mi pace..  She asked me "How come I never get faster?".  I asked if she ever does intervals, or anything above her race pace.  She doesn't.  She just goes out and runs farther, or shorter, but never goes faster.  That was my problem for awhile.  All I did was run shorter or longer, never really concentrating on speed.  Then I started doing fartleks and intervals, etc.  Guess what?  I got faster.  This goes for everything, swimming and biking.
• Learn to swim and swim well, and swim often.  A lot of triathletes think they can get away with not swimming much, or at all, and a lot can, because they are fast cyclists and\or runners.  If you are well conditioned at the swim, the other two things are easier.  If these people who are naturally good runners and/or bikers spent a little more time on the swim, they would probably be much better overall triathletes.  Instead of coming out of the water in the middle or back, and running and biking up to the front, they could come out further ahead and have even better bike and run splits.
• I am going to reference Devon Palmer's blog and blog post from Feb 20th (https://palmertri.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/over-and-under-training/).  Devon Palmer is a amateur turned pro turned amateur triathlete, coach, self proclaimed spokes model, who has some funny and reasonably good advice, at times.  The post is about over-training and use of that word.  He doesn't like it and neither do I.  It is probably not possible for your average amateur triathlete to be over-trained.  More than likely, they are stressed and/or not getting enough rest or nutrition, or they are just not in good enough shape.  There have been times that I thought I was over-trained.  In reality, I could maintain the training level I was at, if I just got more rest and ate enough\correctly. 

Don't take yourself too seriously. 
When I think of some more sage advice, I will write a similarly titled post, except it will be "Part 2"

February 2015 Training Summary

I spent the first year of Feb in Italy.  Florence, Italy.  It is a beautiful city.  Had a great time.  Did not get much training.  This Feb is lower, than average, lowest training of any Feb, expect when I did no training, or not enough to count.  It is worth it, need the break.  Between going to France for work and Italy for vacation, this two month span is the least amount of training I have done this early in the year, which is fine.  I need the break.  I am not sure I needed to work in France.  I am going to have to pick it up in March and the first few weeks in April to get ready for St. Anthony's. 

Getting back in the pool after being out for 3 weeks has been rough.  I have not gotten back into the groove yet. My 100 splits are off 5-15 seconds, depending on the morning. I am going to try to go 3 days a week up to the week before St. Anthony's.

I did a 5 mile TT on the treadmill, to see where my run is at.  I am about 3 weeks away from the Irish 8K in St. Paul, which I use as an early season judge of my run fitness.  I did a 5 min warm-up and then did the 5miles in 38:04 (about 7:36/mi).  I am pretty happy with that.  I started the first mile at 7:54/mi.  At about 1.2mi, 2.2mi, 3.2mi, and 4.2mi I ran about a minute at 2%, otherwise I ran at 1% incline.  After the last 2%, I did 30 seconds at 0%, and near the finish I did 0% for 30 seconds.

I think my biggest concern is going to be the bike.  Hopefully, I can get enough in March, and April, to get my legs ready for St. Anthony's.  It is not like I am super competitive, but I still want to have a good race.  I want to be able to race hard, not for the race to be difficult because I am not in shape.

Anyway, below is the usual comparison to previous Februaries (sp?), YTD, and since 2007 tables.

Comparison of February from Year to Year

Since 2007 Total and Averages

YTD and Totals Since 2007

 

2015 January Training and Running in France (Grenoble, France)

I was in France. Grenoble, France for the last two weeks of January, so my training was a little less then previous years.

Hotel does not have the worst fitness room, not a great, but I have seen worse.  It has an exercise bike, treadmill, and elliptical.  Also, it has one of those circuit training things.  Not going to use it.
Exercise bike sucks.  Treadmill and elliptical are ok. 

Grenoble has a mountain with a fort at the top.  Wikipedia gives a nice little description, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastille_(Grenoble).  There is trail up to the mountain.  I was in Grenoble 10 years ago for work, before I started training, or even really thought about doing triathlons.  I decided since I was going back, I was going to run up this mountain.  It has a very wide, 8-10 foot wide, winding trail up the side.  Mostly packed dirt and gravel.  Towards the top the rocks get larger, and you need to be a little more careful.  There are some tight sections with stairs.
During the time I ran up, it was mostly sunny and the temperature was probably right around freezing.  The run was hard, probably the hardest single training run I have done.  I think the vertical elevation is probably 800-900 feet.  I did as a mix of run, jog, and walk.  Once at the top and I stopped, it was cold.  I took some pictures and headed back down.  Running back down involved a lot of slowing myself down.  I should have taken some pictures of the trail as I ran up, but I was concentrating too hard on getting up the hill.  I was sore for two days after, and I am going to guess the soreness came from running down, not up.
My total time from leaving to hotel to getting back was about an hour and twenty minutes.  I would say I actually spent about an hour and ten minutes on the move. Making this one of my longest runs in a long time.
The first two pictures below are of the mountain, one before the run outside the hotel, the other after the run across the river.  Below that are some pictures from on top. Below the pictures from my run, are my usual tables for each month.

 

 

This is my lowest January training in awhile.  Decent amount of running for the month.  Got some elliptical in at the hotel.  St. Anthony's is at the end of April, so I am going to have to do some work in Feb, March, and beginning of April.  Who knows, maybe a short break in Jan\Feb will do me some good. A bit of refresh before getting started again.

Comparison of Jan Year-to-Year

Since 2007 Totals and Averages

YTD and Totals Since 2007

 

2014 Training and Racing Summary and Comparison to Previous Years

There are bunch of tables and charts below (fun!).  Data.

The table below has the totals for swimming, biking, running, strength, and other (other is usually elliptical, maybe some yoga) from year-to-year starting in 2007.  2014 was the most time I spent racing and training since 2011.  2014 had a total of 261.55 hours, compared to last year, 253.04 hours.  Swim was down from last year, bike up a lot, run up a little.

There is a chart below with swimming, biking, running, and total time.  Charts can be more fun than tables, at least to look at.

Below that chart, is a chart that breaks down all my races, by type (triathlon, duathlon, run, and bike), by month.  Not surprising the peak is June, July, and August, with June being the most of the three months.

The bottom most table breaks down each race type by year.  Since 2006 I finished, I only put in races finished, a total of 203 races, with 106 of those races triathlons (76) and duathlons (30).  The number of TTs I have done (53) now surpasses the number of running races I have done (40).  My attempt at cyclecross racing is short lived, at 4.  Maybe I will go back to cyclecross someday.

I am not sure why I keep track of all this.  Who am I kidding, I am sure some of it is OCD.  It has some value to me, it shows me where I have been and where I am going and what I have done.

Time Spent Swimming (also Yardage), Biking, Running, Strength, and Other from Year-to-Year

 

Swimming, Biking, Running and Total Time by Year

 

Races by Type and by Month



Race Breakdown by Type and Year

December 2014 Training Summary and Weight Summary

December was all training work.  Nothing exciting.  This was the most total training time I have put in, in a December since December of 2010.  It was not intentional, just happened to work out that way.  Most of my time increase came from putting in some more time in the pool than the previous years.  January will be interesting, since I am going to spend the last two weeks in France for work, and then a week in Italy for vacation.  Like last January, I wanted to ramp up my bike time and intensity, that will be difficult to do.  I think I will have to save that bike ramp up for mid-February.  I can try to run more in January, that will probably be the easiest thing to do while I am in Europe.  Mostly I am going to have to do what I can while I am there.  My time will be consumed by work, unfortunately.

I am going to do year-to-year comparison of my training totals in a different post.  I did get over 100 hours on the bike, over 104 hours, that means that I have averaged over 2 hours a week on the bike.  I have not put in over 100 bike hour since 2011.

I have only registered for two races at this point.  St. Anthony's, as always, last weekend in April, and Gear West Duathlon, as always, near the end of May.  Still thinking about other races.

Comparison of December Training from Year-to-Year

Since 2007 Totals and Averages

YTD 2014 and Totals Since 2007

Since I don't have much to say in terms of training, I thought I would put in my final weight tracking results for the year.  On 12/31/13 I weighed in at 193, on 12/31/14 I weighed in at 183.  My weight, as expected, when up and down throughout the year.  Below are a number of charts.  One chart is each time I weighed myself, since 2007, one chart is my average for the year, standard deviation for the year, range for the year, and minimum and maximum for the year.

I have mentioned previously what I attribute my weight loss to this year, over previous years.  I will mention it again.  My wife made a deliberate effort for us to eat more veggies and chicken, less red meat.  We do a lot of cooking from the Weight Watchers and Skinny Taste cookbook.  Also, a little more portion control.  I am hungry all the time, portion control is difficult.  I have try to do a better job about eating snacks in between meals.  Trying to eat better "fillers" between meals.  Besides eating better, and differently, I think the increase in bike time and intensity, and run intensity, helped with my weight loss.  Of course, a loss of about 10 pounds, on average, helped my speed this year.  It probably helped my endurance, being that I did not have to tote that extra 10 lbs around.  I would like to get under 180, but I think that will take some extra effort I am not ready to commit to.

Weight Tracking Chart

Year-to-Year Average Weight

Year-to-Year Weight Standard Deviation

Year-to-Year Weight Maximum and Minimum

Year-to-Year Weight Range