Weekly brush-up No.3 (01/23/11—01/30/11)

• Swimming: 1x (2000mts (47 min)

First pool session since I’ve been sick, I felt pretty sluggish and I was loosing my form pretty easily. Anyways I out out a couple of good moderate efforts and times were what I expected.

• Cycling : 3x (5hrs 02min (113.9km)

Quality quality quality. That’s the name of the game on the bike for me. Three sessions and every single one had some threshold or tempo work included. Feeling good on the bike, position is good and I feel I can be aero for 3hrs non stop. Averaged speed kept me feeling happy.

• Running: 5x (3hrs 15min (30.7km)

Five run sessions wooooot, including a long run on course, First threshold run with the segment been 20min, a 2 mile brick of the bike and couple of easy short ones.

Totals:

Very Happy about my overall performance this week. I was able to nail a couple of key workouts in the bike. I continued to do workouts on the actual race course making thing as race specific as possible. I feel good with my consistency on the run this week, 5x that’s my best since last year I think. Now it’s time to keep working , been as positive and optimistic as I can and focus on finishing.

Weekly Brush-Up No.3

Swimming: 1x (34min) 1500mts

Cycling: 0x

Running: 2x (97min) 9 millas

total: 2hrs 11min

Tough week overall, not because of training or hard workouts but because of sickness. I became very sick this week and could barely talk by Thursday. I had to take 5 days off from training and if you know me, you know I just hate missing workouts when I’m forced to. Anyways know and I better and it’s time get back to business and what the plan is. Because of this interruption and I’m now 7 weeks away from goal race and reality has hit in. I cannot expect of train like I will PB in this race. There is just not enough time. So after some thinking my goals are down to just finishing the event, avoid walking as much as I can and be part of history. I’m about 53 days away and I plan on not taking an off day for the remainder of the way. Main focus now is to race simulate as much as possible and just do race specific workouts, no garbage miles or km’s. So I better start working and thinking positive, I know I can do it, I just need a little bit of help from destiny and hold back the cramps just a little. I plan on taking this race just as a Sunday ride, the race will start on the run/walk part and If I got something left I should be all right.

Weekly Brush-up #2 (1-10-11/1-16-11)

Swimming: 2x = 4000mts 90min total

Managed to hit my key workout of 10 x 100mts @ threshold with :10 rest. Goal here was to stay under 1.50. I went a little over that with a 1.52 max and a 1.44 as my fastest. Overall I’m please with this as I am leaving my swimming behind to fit in more B & R.

Bike: 4x = 5hrs 42min 105km + trainer distance

Feeling pretty good here, consistency as wanted. Long ride on Sunday was supposed to be longer, cheated a bit there due to motivation factors and been SOLO. On the other side I went outdoors twice and managed a good quality session on the trainer. I also put lots of aero position practices which so far is so good.

Run: 4x = 2hrs 34min = 24km

Consistency present but I hope to upper that to 5x a week of running. My on course long run on Tuesday was a success given the fitness at the time. Now I’ll start incorporating some threshold work to my medium runs on Tuesdays to try and boost up as much as I can.

TOTALS: 9HRS 36MIN , Overall a good week with some good consistency.  Overall times and paces are glacial.

Weekly Brush-up No.1 (1-3-11/1-9-11)

Swimming: 2 sessions , I hit my target ms of 7 x 100ms @ uncomfortable pace on 10sec rest. I was happy to stay under 1.50 and even pr @ 1.36.

Cycling: 3 sessions, 2x trainer 1x outside. Managed to ride outside on 70.3 course, just shy of 2 hours but incorporated some threshold work that I hope will make a huge difference in 11 weeks.

Running: 4 sessions, Just continuing my emphasis here, consistency and gradual build up plan. Managed to run 1hr for the first time in 2 months, felt ok. Looking forward to improvements here.

Totals:

Swim
1:25
3,800 m

Run
2:20
22.5 km

Bike
3:20
52 km

Total
7:05
78.3 km

Notes: Nice first week overall, got a little bit of everything done, consistency was there, I showed signs of improvement here and there.

Pre season recap 2011 (5 weeks)

Well, after I got better from my dengue I decided to start up really slow and put frequency as the main factor. I started jogging 5 days a week for 20 minutes, just listening to my body and keeping heart rate in touch.  First week was a little shaky , I lacked any strength and I was well dizzy after many of my runs.  On the positive side was my swim, after loosing 37 days I was concerned, boy I was wrong! I‘m feeling sooo good in the water right now and just started adding some intensity to my sets.  I am giving away a little bit of swimming this year to focus on bike to run fitness to see if that alleviates the cramping issues during the last part of tri’s.

 

R-E-C-A-P

Run/// I ran 21 days out of 33 days (575minutes =9.5hrs) , I started with 20min and max @ 40min

Bike///8 bike sessions about 2x week starting @20min and max @45min total =395minutes = 6.5hrs)

Swim///7 swim session starting at 1000mts and max @ 2k total (9900mts)

So far everything is going smooth, the main issue is just to get to satisfactory run fitness.  At the moment running stills difficult on my body even though I tackle it with a great mental attitude. Going into my first A race which is just 11 weeks away by the way, I know I have to build my run, I’ve started to do just that by running at least 4x a week.  Next step is to add some threshold work and just gain the fitness, nothing fancy about speed.  For me I know that the key to a good performance on my age group is to be able to RUN or JOG the run part instead of walking the whole thing.  Pace is not even important I can still do good with 11min miles, but walking is a NO-NO. On to the cycling I now realize I made a big mistake down at Miami. There is no way I should be able to average close to 20mph in a 90k bike segment if my max for a 20k is a mere 21mph. I believe that on a more conservative bike pacing strategy I should be able to get off the bike feeling better and at least run for the first mile.Like I said before, I’ve decided to back off from swimming and paying the price, because the advantage I’ve gain over those in last races has disappear later way too quickly. I’ll be back reporting on my improvement in next couple of weeks when I should be re-testing in all 3 disciplines.

2011 Season Races Scheldue

Well after some a bad patch with me health, I am finally doing some (not much) but I am back moving.  I’ve been trying to run as many days as I can for just 20 minutes to create a high frequency habit.  I have feel ok, with the normal lack of power and stamina.  I was surprise to find out how normal I felt during my first swim in 37 days. I’ve also, work some on my bike fit position to try and be comfortable while been aggressive.

 

 

I’ve done a little bit of research on my bests past races. I’ll like to go back to my 2009  Joyuda Performance and certain things I was doing that allowed me to do that. I beat a lot of people that day that completely dominated me this year.  I know not walking is the key for me and if I ever get a cramp free day in triathlon a lot of hearts will be broken.

Now into the races. I am all set!

1. March 19,2011 Ironman San Juan 70.3 (go under 6 on short prep)
2. *May 1rst Roselyn Sanchez triathlon for Life sprint tri
3. June Rincon sprint tri (Go under 1.15 and dispute age group podium)
4. August Dorado Olympic tri (Use it as race prep for Augusta)
5. September 25, 2011 Ironman Augusta 70.3 (Establish a PR and run a 2hr half marathon)

*Not sure, thinking about it

So, a challenging schedule that will require a lot of training and sacrifice.  I learn a lot this year in terms of what is needed to do well in long distance tri. I hope this is the season when I can put it all together.

2011 Season Plan & 2010 Season Notes

I can’t call 2010 a bad year, I can’t call it a good year neither, But I can point out a couple of details of what improved and other stuff that I learned on the journey. Basically I had 3 major goals for 2010:

1. Joyuda: Improve on last year result (4.26 2009 result)
   • I ended up with 4.31 but we had a longer swim which basically makes my time the same from previous year, so I can check this goal.
2. Rincon: Sprint under 1.15
   • I finished with 1.16 and that included driving 2.5hrs the morning of the event and some walking during the run part. I can check this goal also.
3. Miami Ironman 70.3: Half Ironman on 5.30 or under
   • Things got ugly here, I finished with 6:52 and a grueling day. Positive side is I hit my bike split goal of 2.50 with a 2.51 bike time.

Additional Notes:

• I trained more and harder that ever
• I went over some hurdles in trainer and got mentally tougher
• I had faster swim times than ever before
• I got a new start from scratch opportunity with a free 70.3 entry for any 2011 event.
• Even though time wise I wasn’t close I didn’t DNF at any event for the year and completed 2/3 of my season goals

2011 season

So far this is my list of events for next season:

1. FEBRERO 6, MEDIO MARATON SAN BLAS 21K (Return to 2008 shape and run under 2hours)
2. MARZO 19, SAN JUAN IRONMAN 70.3 (Improve my PB for the distance and not cramp)
3. JUNIO RINCON SPRINT OR OLYMPIC DISTANCE  (B priority race go under 1.15 age group podium)
4. AGOSTO, DORADO SPRINT OR OLYMPIC DISTANCE (B priority race age group podium)
5. SEPTIEMBRE/OCTUBRE, 70.3 RACE USING FREE ENTRY( Kill it!!!)

Things to work on for next season:

1. CRAMPS
2. CRAMPS
3. CRAMPS
4. Complete longer workout at target paces
5. Incorporate hear rate monitor into training program
6. Understand my body and develop a plan that enables it to be rested and perform higher been cramp free
7. Focus on running at least 4x a week.

As measurements to reduce my cramping issue, here is what I’ll be trying for next couple of months.

• Reduce sports drink intake volume, replace with plain water ( to avoid hyper hydrating and the processes that your body goes to balance your blood stream.
• Take a Blood test,( Identify possible Magnesium, calcium or zinc deficiencies.)
• Take a daily supplement of these, (try to take my levels to normal then proceeed with aplicable race day nutrition.)
• Do longer and harder training sessions (Use these to simulate race conditions, hydration, nutrition and muscle memory)
• Reduce caffeine intake,(Other possible cause for cramping) 
• Incorporate more stretching into my training program, I’m none as a very stiff person , some extra flexibility can’t do any damage)
•  

 Additional Notes: I plan on keep using the same training system [that’s a secret] I’ve used for the last 6 months, I can’t complain about lack of fitness, all of my struggle has come from something outside of my power, something I can’t seem to control or fix to some point or incorrect pacing on my part, as was the case in dorado sprint tri. The thing I don’t have a clue is, What kind of plan will I use for San Blas Half-Marathon I think I’ll have 8-10 weeks to prepare for that but my route in currently not defined.