Comfort, Power and Speed.

I have to say my swim, bike, and run training during this off season is proving to be a success.

One of the most challenging swim drills for me is the freestyle kick without a board. It is done with arms held out front in a streamlined position with fingers overlap and one thumb lightly gripping the opposite hand. You lift your chin above the water to breath without turning your head. When I first did this I was not comfortable holding my hands together because of the sinking feeling and lack of air to breathe. By the end of winter swimming, the fear has gone away and I can hold my hands in a streamline position and kick in a 50 meter pool. It's hard to do 4 sets of 50 meter repeats but I'm enjoying the benefits.

During the winter months I did a "club challenge" on improving power on the bike. I did a 2 x 20 minute functional threshold test about 2 months ago and received all kinds of data to indicate my strength on the bike. For the last 2 months I did many workouts on the bike trainer to help increase my aerobic capacity. After 2 months of hard work I took the same test and my coach was very impressed with the results. I had a 33% increase in average output power on the bike. I surprised myself.

I am in my 8th week training for the Cleveland 10K Run and I have noticed my track and long run times are coming down. The short fast track intervals are the hardest to keep pace but I did manage to pull off 10 x 400 averaging 1:15 and 6 x 800 averaging 2:45 recently.

I guess if you put the comfort gained in the water, power gained on the bike, and speed gained on the run I should have enough confidence to race well this coming summer.

A taste of Power.

I had my eyes opened to the effectiveness of training with power on a CompuTrainer last night. A good friend from my triathlon club offered his coaching skills along with his CompuTrainer to put me through a time trial test. The focus of the workout was to montitor power, heart rate and cadence, in two 20 minute intervals. For the 2 sets I needed to ride at a hard effort and yet complete them in +/- 5% of each other.

The results will be compared in 6 weeks with another test. Since I do not have a CompuTrainer or some other power measuring device I will use my heart rate monitor to train with. In early April I will go back to my friends house to do another test on his CompuTrainer and see what results I get.

Dave, thanks for showing me the way to "Power". I think it's exciting stuff and will translate to improving my biking times.

Test 1 Results:
average speed: 18.3 mph
average watts: 147 watts
maximum speed: 19.6 mph
maximum watts: 183 watts
time: 20 minutes
distance: 6.14 miles
average heartrate: 116 bpm
maximum heartrate: 125 bpm
average cadence: 91
maximum cadence 97

Test 2 Results:
average speed: 18.9 mph
average watts: 158 watts
maximum speed: 22.2 mph
maximum watts: 246 watts
time: 20 minutes
distance 6.30 miles
average heartrate: 124
maximum heartrate: 139 bpm
average cadence: 93
maximum cadence: 110

On the trainer

Last night was the first night of my off season to ride indoors on my bike trainer. I needed some kind of inspirational workout to help chase away my indoor spinning blues. So I pulled out a DVD and rode with some of the pro cycling team in the Vegas area.

We had a beautiful ride in the Valley of Fire State Park. The DVD plays good pump up music and all I had to do was follow the prompts of when to sit, stand, increase cadence or intensity.

Now I look forward to more indoor spinning and hope to find more inspirational workout DVD's

more info about this dvd and trailer

Fasttandem Challenge Completed.

I took the challenge this past Monday and can say these workouts from fasttandem is tough.
The setup included: my Quintana Roo Kilo on a Cyclops Fluid2 trainer, a water bottle filled with water and 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar, and the boom box set to play Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium.

I began the workout with a short 6 minute warm up and then continued into the intervals of trying to spin at 100+ RPM at various gear ratios. To spin with the gears at 53 x 17 for four minutes requires a mind, heart, legs, and lungs of steel. I guess I don't have any of them just yet, because I averaged about 80 RPM during the 53 x 17 four minute interval. Maybe after completing more and more of these workouts I might be able to keep pace, I hope.

The Cateye bike computer reported the following:
Time 57:06,
Max speed 27.8 mph,
Average speed 18.9 mph,
Distance 18.0 miles.

Oh, after the challenge I ran barefoot on the treadmill for an easy 2 mile run.

Fasttandem Challenge!

I will be spinning on my bike trainer doing workout number 21 from www.fasttandem.com and would like to invite all those interested in spinning this workout with me sometime this week. If anyone would like to use this workout click on the link below and print it out and take it with you on your bike trainer. You will need a bike computer that measures cadence. My bike has a front chain wheel of 39 & 53. The rear free wheel has a 12-13-14-15-17-19-21-23-25 gears so when the workout calls for a gear of 39 x 16 I use 39 x 17. This is the only modification I make.

The workouts are above my level of strength and endurance but the more I plow through them the stronger I feel I'm getting. Maybe after a few years I might be able to spin at 53-17 for 4 minutes at 100+ RPM. Warning! You have to have legs of steel to spin at 100+ RPM for a period of time.

I will leave this post up all this week where you can post your results here.
What I will record is total time, distance, max speed, and average speed. I find I get 18 miles in around the 1 hour workout and that's when I stop. I'll post my detailed results and experience by Wednesday or Thursday.
The Challenge.

Note: 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off means: The total time is 1 minute. In the 30 seconds off, you can rest a little and bring your RPM up to 100, so that you can start > 100 RPM on the next 30 seconds.

Not much of a gadget guy.

I have no cell phone, palm pilot, ipod, or whatever electronic gizmo out there, but yet I work as a computer network administrator. It's not that I fear the use of those things, but the cost of any of them does not justify the need.

What I do have is a polar s120 heart rate monitor watch of which I only use the time and distance and mile splits for my runs. I think I only used the heart rate monitor a couple times just to see how much my heart beats while I run a 6 or 7 minute mile pace.

For my bike I have a cheap computer that only displays time, speed, and distance and that's all I needed or wanted. Until recently, I came to realize all my workouts on the bike trainer where I use DVD's and online workouts, all indicate a cadence to train at. I decided to buy a Cateye Astrale 8 for 30 bucks so that I can train using cadence to monitor my performance and progress. I think it'll be worth the 30 bucks. If anything it'll make my workouts more honest.

Today's workout from fasttendem.com had most of the spinning at 100 RPM and let me tell you if anyone can keep up with that pace has to be a tour de France champion. I think I kept most of the RPM's around 80, which was hard enough, and boy did I sweat. The numbers I gathered from today's bike workout were as follows: Max Speed = 25.7 MPH, Av Speed = 18.0 MPH, Trip Distance = 18 miles, and Elapsed Time = 1 hour. I wish the computer would have some cadence results. Maybe the higher priced ones have it but for now I'm happy with what I have. And hey, I like all the new fancy numbers that are displayed on my new bike computer.

Camping and a Brick

My son joined the cub scouts which means I became a cub scout too. Whatever he does as a scout I have to be involve in some way or another. I have to work with him in his scout handbook to learn and earn 12 Bear badges.
The fun part of being a scout is we get to go camping. This past weekend we went on our first camp-out with the scouts. We stayed in a heated lodge with 14 kids and about 10 adults. We hiked, played capture the flag, had camp fires, and had an official flag burning ceremony. I never realized there was a method of getting rid of a flag that was no longer in use. I didn't want to mention that when our flag got trashed from bad weather, we just threw the ragged thing in the garbage. Now, I'll have to get rid of my old flags the way I was taught this past weekend.

On Sunday, I was able to spin on my bike trainer for about 45 minutes then run out the door for an 8 mile run. The run felt almost effortless. Maybe it was the bike warm-up that got my legs ready for the run because I felt like I was holding myself back from running faster than the 7 minute mile pace that I was on. Either way it was good to get a bike/run workout which I haven't done since this past summer.

New Spinning workout DVD

Today was a kind of day to hop on the trainer and get a good workout. The day began with rain and temperatures dropped to the point of turning the rain into snow.

I recently received in the mail my new off-season workout DVD: SPINerVALS Ultra Conditioning 2.0 Ultra CORE-Strength Builder. And on this wonderful gray, wet, and snowy day I did the workout.

The workout consists 60% of the time on the bike doing various one leg drills and high cadence drills. The other 40% is core workouts on the stability ball. The core workouts were mixed in between sets of the different drill exercises, which help break the monotony of just spinning for an hour. My legs felt like they got a workout along with my back and abdominal muscles. I'll be back to do that workout again during the winter months.

Here is some information on the DVD.

Winter Training Update!

Core workouts include using Cylco-core and other Pilate DVD's with the exercise ball and some weights. During the workouts focus is on proper breathing. My goal is to build all around core strength before Spring race season begins. I have to admit the Cyclo-core workouts are getting a bit more comfortable to do. My son looks forward to the workouts with me. His goal is to get a 6-pack.

Swim workouts are at 3 times a week and range from 800 to 1700 yard steady endurance swims with some 50 to 100 yard pick-ups. My focus is improving technique. I wish I had someone to analyze my strokes. Maybe next year.

Bike workouts are still on the trainer 3 days a week with 1 hour sessions using the 17 week fasttandem.com schedule. I am gaining strength and confidence with these workouts.

Run workouts include a Wednesday 20-30 minute tempo treadmill workout and a Saturday 8 to 12 mile long run at about 7:30 pace indoor or outdoors. Easy run on treadmill on Monday and Friday.

2nd Winter Season for Triathlon Training!

Starting in December I have added core exercises and more indoor bike trainer workouts.


Core exercises have been self taught from books like these and others; Core performance essentials, Exercise balls for dummies, and Strength training on the ball. I have even replaced my office chair with an exercise ball. The biggest help I think I'm getting comes from the Cyclo-Core Off Season Conditioning DVD. The focus of the DVD is on Body Weight & Resistance Training workouts. It took 3 to 4 sessions before I could complete the exercises correctly.

Indoor bike trainer workouts consists of 3 days a week with 1 hour sessions using the 17 week schedule from http://fasttandem.com

I am feeling stronger and am looking forward to good race results this coming spring.