Paul's Blog

Timberman Training Sun, 26-Jul-2009

Sun, 26-Jul-2009

Sunday - swim/long run, Today, 2000 meter swim and 1:45 run.

Alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m. There's thunder in the distance. I get my gear ready. I figure I'll run before the gym opens and then swim at Bally's. I walk outside and the sky opens up!

By the time I get to the gym, 10 minutes later, the rain has slowed. (I don't mind running in the rain.)

I head out at about 7:00 a.m. for my run with my two premixed water bottles (Heed/Perpetuem), my iPod shuffle and my Garmin (again).

It's hot. And 30 minutes into the run -- how do I put this delicately -- I have to go. You know. Number two.

Timberman Training Sat, 25-Jul-2009

Sat, 25-Jul-2009

Most people associate Saturday mornings with waking up late and a nice breakfast. For those training for endurance events, it means getting up almost as early as during the week and doing the "long" workouts.

Today's workout was a 3 to 4 hour bike ride, the longest to date. Since last week I rode for three hours, I was thinking I'd try for four this week; it's what I anticipate I might be on the bike for during the actual event.

I ended up doing 3:42 and boy was it hard. This is the longest amount of time I've ever spent on the bike. By two hours in, I wanted to quit. By 3 hours, I was figuring four wasn't gonna happen but I knew it was still a good workout.

How does this reltte to business?

Timberman Training Fri, 24-Jul-2009

Fri, 24-Jul-2009

TGIF.

Except for the early morning run.

Alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m. Swing legs out of bed. Go downstairs, quiet dogs, say "Hi," to Pat (Trish's mom - she's been walking around since 2:25 a.m. when she woke me up).

Today is my longer weekday run, one hour. I put on my heart rate monitor, my Garmin watch, and my iPod shuffle (of course) and head out the door. I take an unfamiliar route to get to know the new neighborhood better.

There's something about being out early in the morning doing a workout that just feels good. Of course, the earlier you're up and out, the better. There's hardly anyone else out, traffic is light (for Long Island), and the sun is just up or low in the sky.

Timberman Training Thu, 23-Jul-2009

Thu, 23-Jul-2009

Ahhh, the best laid plans...or "What happened to Wednesday?!?"

Yes, Wed is usually a short run of 30 minutes or so. Problem is, I travel to Manhattan most Wednesdays and getting in my workout AND catching the train is always tight. So I missed my morning run.

Instead, I got up today well after my alarm went off (poor Trish!) and decided to skip my Thu swim and combine my 75min Thu bike with my missed 50min Tue bike and my missed 30min Wed run. Kind of like a goulash workout.

Timberman Training Tue, 21-Jul-2009

Tue, 21-Jul-2009

My typical Tuesday workout is a swim/bike.

It pays to look at the weather every night because I woke up at 4:45 a.m. today only to find out it was raining out and I'm not into biking in the rain (for safety reasons). The on-line weather report I quickly checked indicated it would clear up later and I figured I'd ride with Trish late in the day.