A Quick Update on Progress

So, two weeks in and I am starting to see a bit of progress.  I ran 3 x 3 miles of tempo work today.  Last week I did 2 x 3 miles.  If you compare the two:

Set 1               Last Week    This Week

Mile 1            5:23                  5:23

Mile 2            5:33                  5:26

Mile 3            5:40                  5:29

Set 2

Mile 1            5:29                  5:17

Mile 2            6:00                  5:32

Mile 3           5:50                   5:44

I did fall apart on the third set this week.  My chest got a cramp a mile and a half into it so I had to back off for 2 minutes, but I picked it back up and finished strong.  I definitely feel that my cardio system is in better shape than my muscular system, but I am also logging more miles than ever before.  I am sure my legs are a bit drained.  I am at 83 miles already this week and I have two more runs between today and tomorrow along with a few swims and bikes.  Don’t worry, I am feeling fresh for each workout.  I eat every second I am in “The Crib” when I am not napping.  I realize with the stress I am putting on my system, I MUST take care of myself.  RACE HARD!

Cortney and Deena

View from Minaret Vista

A Week Down

My Usual Pre Training B-Fast

One week in Mammoth down and I am feeling STRONG!  Why haven’t I been training like this?  Total focus on training as if it’s my job?  Oh wait, it is.  My daily routine is wake up, coffee, eat, train, eat, nap, coffee, train, eat, sleep.  I ask myself, “What’s the difference betwen a weekend night and a week night when in a focused training block?”  The answer, nothing.  Either way I am relaxing and in bed by 9:30pm.  I feel my body adapting to the altitude, but my heart rate still blows up as soon as there is any incline in the terain.  Yesterday, post ride, I ran 8 miles up to 9000ft.  I tried to keep my heart rate down below 145bpm which equaled a trot similar to walking.  I really want to work on my climbing in the run because if I can run uphill fast with a low heart rate imagine what I can do on a flat.

The talent that the runners have on the Mammoth Track Club is astounding.  These guys are fast!  Whether its an “easy” warm up or mile repeats, they mean business.  There is no messing around.  They are the best in the world and by training with them I can see how they got there.

I had a decent volume week last week and that was my “warm up” week to Mammoth. I can’t wait to build on it this coming week.  My week end total is:

85 miles running

5:30 hours biking

18,000 meters swimming

My Sunday workout is a 2 hour 15 minute run and a 4000m swim.  A nice open to a new week.  I’ll keep you in the loop.  RACE HARD!

P.S. Check out www.Lubesmultisport.com for coaching info.

Tempo Day

 

 

Today we went “down” to 7000 feet to do a tempo workout.  The workout was based on heart rate, thankfully not pace.  I have not come close to adapting to this altitude thing yet and it was evident today.  I ran 2 x 3 miles on a road that seemed like it was endless.  It was hot, windy, undulating, and long.  I loved it.  The pain I felt was great.  The first 3 miles I kept my heart rate between 165-170 and the second 3 miles I kept my heart rate between 170-175. Although I was working and my HR was high, my pace was not evident of that.  I averaged between 5:20-5:40/mile where as if I were at sea level I would have been sub-5/mile at those heart rates.  I think it is gong to be pretty cool to compare the numbers week over week and see my progression.  We do our Friday tempo runs at the same spot every week, so the gains will be easily visible.

It is so nice to have people to run with.  In L.A. I mainly run alone.  Up here, the group is strong and pushes me to dig deep.  I am not saying that I don’t push it when I am on my own, but it makes it a bit nicer to suffer when you have people around you suffering as well.  I think I am really going to make some big gains running up here because of the talent I am surrounded by.  This team is amazing and it makes me raise my game just to attempt to keep up.

Big weekend of training to come.  I need to get some good nutrition in tonight because the next few days are going to be “fun.”  RACE HARD!

The J's

 

Breathing Through a Straw

I met up with Josh and family Monday night for some delicious Mexican fare.  Josh’s high school track coach, Kirk, also joined us for dinner.  He was a super nice guy.  We had some great conversation about running, training, and life.  Kirk said something to me that really hit home.  He said his advice to his athletes is, “In your 20’s do all you can, in your 30’s learn all you can, and in your 40’s make all you can.”  This struck a chord with me because it made me feel more confident in my decisions as of late.  I am currently learning a lot about myself, my life, and my profession.  I will admit, a bit of doubt goes through my head occasionally but all of the positive support I have received drives me to succeed and work hard to make the most of my opportunities.

That being said, upon finishing dinner Josh and I agreed to meet at 9:30 a.m. the next day for some interval work.  We met at a beautiful park close to downtown Mammoth.  We ran a 3 mile warm up, then the pain began.  The workout was 3 x 1 mile, with 2 minutes easy between, followed by a 4k tempo run.  The idea being to hit it hard on the 4k on some heavy legs.  We started the first interval, and I was instantly suffering.  I felt as though I was breathing through a straw.  I my air was so limited.  Up until this point I hadn’t really felt the effects of the altitude while running, but I WAS FEELING IT NOW!  My legs got heavy quickly and Josh pulled a head of me.  He was completing the intervals sub-5, I was coming in around 5:15/mi.  I didn’t set my Garmin for splits because I didn’t want to get frustrated at the times.

After the second interval Josh told me I had some blood coming from my nose.  My saying is, go so hard you, “Bleed from your pores.”  Now I actually was.  It was actually bleeding because it is really dry here, but we don’t have to say that.

After the 3 x 1 mile we started the hard 4k and this is where I hit the wall.  Mentally I felt like I was pushing harder than ever, but my legs wouldn’t move.  It was a pretty trippy feeling.  Josh smoked down the trail and I brought up the rear.  After, we were chatting and he told me this adaptation happens, just stick with it.  The lack of oxygen causes the crap to build up in your legs and not get flushed out like it would at sea level.  There is less fresh, oxiginated blood circulating in the system, so the old blood is trying to replenish the system which is a lost cause.  That’s why the legs don’t move.  I can’t wait until they learn to move again.

After the run I met the rest of the Mammoth Track Club.  What a great bunch of people.  These are the best runners in the world, and they were as welcoming as any family would be.  This is going to be fun, and painful!  Today the team is doing a long trail run which fits into my schedule nicely.  I hope I can hang.

Before I wrap this one up I wanted to remind everyone that Lube’s 12 Weeks to More Power Trainer Session at Triathlon Lab has been CANCELLED.  The Santa Monica City put the nix on it.  I figure they saw how powerful all of the riders were getting and didn’t want those Monsters pedaling around the streets of Santa Monica.  RACE HARD!

 

 

Mammoth, Day #2

I had a longer day of training yesterday, but it flew by.  When you train amongst views like this the efforts don’t hurt as bad.  I rode 70 miles early and swam 3500m later in the day.  I rode around June Lake.  In Los Angeles, 70 miles is no problem, here I was feeling it around mile 50.  Hills, wind, altitude; it all adds up to fatiguing a bit quicker.  I made sure to keep the calories coming in, but when I got back to “The Crib” I crashed hard!  I slept for 2 hours, but it felt like 2 minutes.  I woke up, and walked over to the pool.  The pool is a block from my place which makes swimming convenient.  This is where I felt the altitude.  I had some longer swims, 1000m sets, and my breathing was suffering.  I took it extremely slow, but I was spent  when I got out of the pool.

The area I am being effected the most by the change in altitude is in my sleep. I am having a tough time falling asleep at night.  It is really dry, I am always thirsty, my skin is really dry, and I am drinking more water than I ever have.

Today I have an hour and a half run and I hope to get some strength training in.  It is kind of strange to read on Twitter about all of the athletes racing today, and not to be racing myself.  I have to remember the big picture.  I have my sights set on different goals which I have to remember every second of the day. This drives me to push myself to the next level.  Until next time,  RACE HARD!

Mammoth Lakes, CA- Night #1

I arrived in Mammoth around 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon. It is absolutely beautiful up here. Fresh air, snow-capped mountains, and the bluest sky I have ever seen. The drive was easy and uneventful. I pulled into Snowcreek Resort, where I will be living, and I was quickly met by a perky receptionist. She had been awaiting my arrival. She tossed me the keys to “The Crib” and told me to have fun. “The Crib” is what the people at Snowcreek call the chalet I am staying in. The Crib, like every other chalet at Snowcreek, is sweet. It is a huge place, fully furnished, with everything you would need to have a blast for a fun summer weekend or an intense ski trip. It also has cable so I can watch The Tour which is key. Once I arrived, I threw on my shoes and went for a run. I did a few pick ups during the run, and at 7,500ft., I could tell there was something different. I could go hard, but I couldn’t get to that anaerobic point. I have always heard this, but I haven’t experienced it. I will be interested to see how my body adapts over the time I spend here. Once I knocked out 8 miles, I came back to The Crib, got on my bike, and went for an “easy” spin. The reason this spin was not easy is because there are hills all over this place. I can already tell the strength I am going to gain from this training is going to be mammoth (good use of words, right?). Last night I grilled out and drank gallons of water. It is dry up here. I know being here is going to take my performance to a new level and I look forward to focusing on what needs to be done to get better. Today, I have a three and a half hour ride followed by a 4000yd swim. I know I have to ease into training in Mammoth, so once I feel too much stress on the body I HAVE to call it quits. I’ll keep you in the loop. RACE HARD!

I Hate 10k Races

Pacific Palisades 10K

7/4/2011

1st Place Overall, 32:48

I feel as though I have used this title in the past, but let me reiterate, 10k races hurt.  There is not one second in a 10k that you can let off the gas.  I describe the Palisades 10k as Down, UP, Down, Up, Up, Up, Down, Up More, and Down a little.  I last ran this race in 2005 shortly after moving to California from Chicago.  All I remembered was the infamous switchbacks which lead to the top of Will Rodgers Park around mile 4.  I had forgotten the rest of the course.  From what I had been told, it was the toughest 10k in the Southern California region.

There was a solid field of runners present at the race.  The problem is, the 10k and the 5k start at the same time so I had no idea who I was racing against until almost the 2 mile mark of the race.  Cortney was not racing, but the two of us ran the first couple of miles together as a warm up before the race.  We noticed that the first mile was downhill.  I knew I was going to slow down on the switchbacks at mile 4 so I was going to have to try to make up for that loss of time in this first mile.

Sugar Ray Leonard shot of the starting gun and I was off.  There was a Corvette and two police motorcycles leading the way and I was off the front from the start.  I hit the gas the first mile and stayed true to my race strategy.   I went through mile 1 in around 4:45, then the road instantly shot up.  We climbed mile 2 to Sunset Blvd. turned right, went down a bit, then started a climb that seemed to last forever.  I didn’t let up. I drove my knees and made it hurt.  I was doing this race as a time trial to see where my speed was at.  I have been putting in a ton of mileage as of late and I wanted to make sure my speed was not suffering.  I came in this race fatigued off of a hard weekend of training.  Between Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I had run over 30 hard miles, swam 8500 yds., and rode 100 miles.  Now, at the beginning of this climb on Sunset I was feeling all of it.  I kept telling myself, “This is your job now Jim, you HAVE to do it.”  I kept driving and pushing the pace.  I didn’t look behind me once.  Even when I hit the switchbacks, I just put my head down and drove my knees up the hill.  If someone was going to catch me, they were going to have to work harder than I was.  I made it to the top of the switchbacks, pressed hard to the downhill and worked the short steep downhill as hard as I could.  I hit Sunset again and made a right to begin the last mile long climb.  As I was climbing, I was passing the field of runners going the other way.  Being a LA Tri Clubber and a locally grown Professional Triathlete I was getting words of encouragement from thousands as I passed. This was an awesome feeling.  I wanted to puke at this point, but these kind words kept me moving towards the finishline.  Once I hit mile 6, I heard a spectator say, “I can’t even see the 2nd place guy.”  I knew I had the victory, and I started to cruise to the finish.  I remember seeing Craig Alexander come in last week at Ironman Coeur d’Alene with the police escort and the hoopla and I was thinking, “Wow that’s pretty cool.”  This week it was me.  I was hammering down Sunset Boulevard through the Palisades on streets lined with cheering spectators, a police/Corvette escort, and I was tingling with excitement.  I didn’t let off the gas, I hit it hard to the finish, and crossed in a time of 32:48.

My run has really been coming together as of late.  I ran a 1:10 half marathon last month, I just ran this tough race in a fast time, and my weekly mileage is steadily increasing.  I have decided to put my focus on running for the next few months with hopes of qualifying for the Olympic Trials in January.  Easier said than done.  It will be a ton of work, but I think it’s worth a shot.  I will still be triathlon training, but it will be run focused.  I have been invited to go train with the Mammoth Track Club, so I will head up there and train with the best in the world in a few weeks.  That should be an experience.  My next race is Chicago Rock and Roll Half Marathon August 14th.  Like I told myself, this is my job now.  I am no longer working in corporate america.  I train, I race, and I coach.  This is my passion and I look forward to putting all I have into what I love.  It was great seeing everyone out there yesterday.   It is always inspirational to race with so many friends.  RACE HARD!

Mile Splits

1. 4:49/mi

2. 5:23/mi

3. 5:12/mi

4. 5:43/mi

5. 5:19/mi

6. 5:28/mi