Ironman training

Did a hill workout yesterday at Central Park where we ran up Cat hill, 14 x 200m. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/146497292
Running uphill is always tough but it’s a good workout, running uphill is great for running form. I like short repeats and I’m try to build up my base/speed first before starting to put more emphasis on endurance training. Weather was amazing yesterday, just wore t-shirt and shorts.

I am going for a 2 week backpacking trip across Central America tomorrow morning and still have not planned my trip yet. Booked a one way flight from NYC to Guatemala City and one way from Panama city back to NYC. Hopefully I can get from Guatemala to Panama in 2 weeks. Heard it’s pretty dangerous there so probably I won’t be able to run around the cities. Flying to Guatemala city tomorrow at 6am, have to start packing my back now…

Went to the pool twice this week, Monday and Thursday. Spent 1.5 hours each time. Thought I finally got it after managed to swim 20 laps in the pool last week but instead this week, I started to sink again and wasn’t comfortable for distance longer than 6 laps in the pool. I think I need to learn how to relax more in the water. Spent time working on my backstroke because that’s what the Total Immersion DVD taught for beginner. Floating on the back was not as easy as it seemed in the DVD.

On Tuesday, we did a lactate alternate run where we ran for .5 miles at our 10k/half marathon race pace and .5 mile recovery at a pace 30 secs slower. Running at half-marathon race pace is usually considered as a pace where lactate acid is at its equilibrium  level and will start accumulating if the pace is any faster. Scott mentioned that by doing the lactate alternate run, that will allow improve our lactate threshold which is important for doing well in medium distance races. Did 3 repeats for 3 miles plus a mile each for warm up and cool down, so total 5 miles.

On Sat, we did a long run at 7:30 pace for 13 miles. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/146066261 Was supposed to run for 16 miles but somehow I didn’t feel too well on the run. It’s kind of weird because the course was easier than the long run a week before, last week we ran at a 6.54 min/mile pace for 12 miles around CP going up Harlem Hill, so that should be tougher course. This time the course went around the west side highway which flatter but still I found it harder. I felt my right knee started to hurt at mile 9 and after mile 13, I had to stop. Another plausible reason might be because I didn’t eat anything before the run and went out the night before, so maybe the lack of food and sleep might have caused me to hit the wall early.

Read some pages from this book “Brain Training for Runners” http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Training-Runners-Revolutionary-Endurance/dp/0451222326 at Barnes & Nobles on Sunday. This book is interesting where it disagrees with the traditional training method which emphasize on working on our lactate threshold level but instead it encourages runners to go all out in their training run. According to the book, to increase the speed, you will need to run at your max speed capacity and increase the distance each time. Fitzgerald’s motto is “train the brain and the rest will follow”. The brain control the firing of the neuron to our synapses in our muscle fiber, so all the training should involved increasing the sensitivity of our muscle fibers reaction to our brain. The book also talks a lot about this term “teleoanticipation” which means knowing intuitively just how much to hold back at the beginning of a maximal running effort to complete the effort without anything left in the tank, yet also without any decline in performance. Even our brain is working hard subconsciously in our run.

On Tuesday, did a hill workout running up Cathill in Central Park with the Whippets. From the bottom traffic light up to the traffic light top of the hill, it’s 400m. Did 8 x 400m at an average of 5:46 pace. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/142637666 Running up hill is essential to work on a good running form and to be a faster/stronger runner.

On Wednesday, I spent 1.5 hour in the pool. Surprisingly, I managed to swim 20 laps after only managing a max of 4 laps for the passed few times I was in the pool. That was my “Eureka” moment. After watching so many youtube videos about front crawl and the DVD Total Immersion, I guess that began to sink in my mind. The only thing I did differently was turning my whole body sideway when I breathe instead of just trying to bob up my head. Another thing was to push my hand slightly below my head when I am extending my stroke, that moved the fulcrum/center of gravity of my body a little forward and prevented me from sinking.

On Thursday, I was pretty tired after work and the weather was freezing, thought about going home for a nap but decided at the minimal I still needed to do an easy workout with Niketown.  But somehow I ran with the Boston marathoner training group instead and we did a 4 mile tempo run at 6:30ish pace and did the plank exercise for 6 minutes at the store after that which was more intense that what I expected. I guess the theme for the day was “No pain, no gain”.

So we have a 3 day weekend because of Martin Luther King day. Weather was a little cold this weekend and felt a little sick. Did a 12 miler on Saturday morning at 6:54 min/mile pace. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/141692347 I thought we were doing a relax long run but it turned out to be a tempo run instead. It’s painful but I guess it’s a good run. Had my final swimming lesson after the run, our instructor taught us flip turn today. We also practiced backstroke but somehow I kept drinking pool water when I flipped on my back and gave up.

Took a break on Sunday and went ice skating at Citi Pond in Bryant Park, this is my second time ice skate and luckily I only fell once. I still can’t figure out how to brake using my new hockey skate that I bought on Saturday.

Was planning to go for a swim today but the pool closed early so I went for a bike ride around Central Park instead. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/142403473 My legs are still not that strong on the bike, tried to do a quick loop and that took me 20 minutes for 6 miles and my legs were burning after a quick loop. Going anti-clockwise, it’s much much easier biking at the east side than the west side of the park. Watched part of the Total Immersion video today and can’t wait to try out the technique I saw in the videos.

Went for an hour swim yesterday at the NYC Parks pool in Chelsea, finally I can swim 100 yards which is 4 laps in the 25 yards pool. It wasn’t easy and I drank quite a mouthful of pool water doing that. In order to save energy, I am trying to kick once per leg for each stroke I take. Still struggling with breathing sideways, noticed that I was sinking when I tried to breathe sideways from the left side after the first lap. I suspect this might be caused by the way I kick or my pull.

Did a tempo run this evening with my running club in Central Park. We did a mile warm up, 6 miles tempo run at 6:40 min/pace and another mile cool down.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/140714155 

Tempo run is important to run a faster half-marathon or marathon because by running at the level close to our lactate threshold, we can prevent lactate acid from accumulating too fast in our muscles and that can prevent the onset of early fatigue.

Great weather today. After 2 days of cold spell on Tues and Wed, the weather actually hit 60F today. Went to Central Park this morning to cheer for some friends running the Kleinerman 10K. Rode my bike to Nyack and it took me around 1:27 to get to Nyack, it’s around 25 miles 1 way. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/140017531My garmin died half way, so the route on the link is not complete.

Met Dan and Ellen at Rockland county park and got something to eat at Runcible spoon which is a popular hangout place for cyclist. It’s much tougher to bike back on the 9W to the city than to Nyack, my legs are not as strong on the bike and it’s hard for me to keep up. I think running and biking are totally different animals. Not only do they require different sets of muscles but also require different motor unit which is essential to build muscles memory. Read this online “Motor memory refers to recalling specific motor skills. Proper motor skills are required for the muscles, brain, skeleton, joints and nervous system to work together efficiently toward accomplishing a task. Muscle memory is properly defined as the body’s collective ability to memorize and perform well rehearsed muscular contractions”. This sounds like an efficient motor unit will fire the right amount of neurons and communicate to the muscles in the most efficient manner, so that’s probably why marathon training requires such high mileage, not only to train the muscles but the motor unit as well. Same as in biking too I guess.

There are still a lot training I need to do for biking. Got back to the city and went to Daisy May BBQ at 46th and 11th ave to grab a bite, heard it’s one of the best BBQ and it’s actually pretty good. Since the weather is so tempting, I did another 4 loops around Central Park in the afternoon, so in total, probably I rode around 80 miles today. The last loop around Central Park was tough, my legs were pretty tired and my back was aching.

This winter has been mild but weather has been freezing for the passed 2 days, averaging 20F. Weather was 35F today, so decided to go for a run with Niketown last minute, didn’t bring my running gear to work so had to go home and change. Thursday is speedwork day which I prefer because I need to build up speed first before going for endurance. I found that if I run a lot at a slow pace, I will be stucked at the pace forever.

Blame it on the subway, somehow the train took me to Harlem 125th st, so I had to run all the way from Harlem to W 72nd st transverse, took that as my tempo run. It’s around 3 miles, my Garmin watch just managed to get a signal at 110st, did a 6:44 min/mile pace for tempo. Did some speedwork at 6 min/mile pace across the transverse then ran back to the store. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/139768362

Also I got in to the super expensive NYC Half, more than a hundred dollars, so that will be my next race unless I sign up for something sooner.

After having too much fun over the holidays, now is the time to start getting back into training mode. I am strong believer of the 80/20 rule and read this article about an efficient way to train for an Ironman, Minimalist Ironman training. Also found this 13 weeks Ironman training program.

The only thing that is fair to mankind is time, everyone has 24 hours. Ironman training is something that takes up a lot of time, since time is limited, hopefully I can train efficiently and try my best not to let training disrupt my daily life.

My weakest link is in swimming, so for the passed 2 days, I have been going to the pool. Because swimming is all about technique, it’s important to get it right from the start. Like Abraham Lincoln said “If I have to spend 6 hours chopping down a tree, I will spend 4 hours sharpening the axe”, something like that. Went to Barnes & Nobles at Union Square and read “The Art of Swimming” which is about the thing called Shaw Method and Alexander Technique which emphasizes the movement of head, neck and back while swimming. Another book I read is “Total Immersion” which talks about how to swim with the least resistance, like a fish. The max I can swim right now using front crawl is only 50 yards, so I am not looking good.

Some takeaways from those books are:
-While swimming, feels like you are swimming downhill
-Lengthen the whole body as much as possible, extend the hand and make sure one hand is always in the front quadrant
-Turn body sideways while swimming to minimize resistance, rotates shoulders and hips
-Don’t use too much arm muscles, utilize the chest muscles
-Minimize the stroke required, keep distance/stroke ratio high
-Water resistance affect 70% of the speed and muscles only 30%.
-In swimming, drag trumps power so always try to minimize drag/resistance.
-Swim like you are going through a small tube to reduce drag
-Don’t pull your head up, just rotate the head, try to create a small pocket in the water while you pull the water and use the pocket to breathe. It’ll be better to rotate your body to breathe instead of the head.
-Your chest is like a fulcrum, if your legs are sinking, push your chest lower and towards the front.
-Point your hand downwards, beneath your head if your legs are sinking
-Keep the head, neck and back streamline
-Don’t push all your breathe out, some air will help you float, breathe naturally
-Relax

This is a good article/Videos, Total Immersion: How I Learned to Swim Effortlessly in 10 Days and You Can Too by Tim Ferriss, the author of 4 hour workweek on how he learned to swim in 10 Days.

My way of learning how to swim is to watch some good youtube videos with high ratings, read some good books about swimming, get this free lessons from the NYC Parks & Recreation and observe and talk to people in the pool, some people are really friendly and eager to teach. I keep reminding myself, swimming is all about technique.

So 2012 is here! We did the Emerald Midnight run in Central Park when the clock turned Jan 1st! We (me and my running club) got a slot on CNN Live with Anderson Cooper as part of the New year’s celebration on TV!! We did a 4 miler so hope that will bring us to a great start for the New Year.

I bought myself a used 2006 Felt F75 on Jan 1st, a New Year’s present for myself. It’s little impulsive but the seller seems like a nice guy so I just got it. I got the bike for $550 so I can ride with NYCC because they don’t allow tri bike to ride with them. Also I thought maybe I can use this bike as my trainer. My first bike was a used 2005 Specialized transition Comp which I got it last year. So this is my second bike, or actually it’s my 3rd, because I borrowed my GMC Denali to a friend and that got stolen. My weakness is riding uphill, so there will be some work to do here.

Rode 2 loops around Central Park (12 miles) on the Felt today, weather was a little cold and I still need to get a spacer to adjust the height of the handlebar since the bike didn’t fit so well. Anyway, Happy New Year everyone!

So an Ironman is a 2.4 miles swim, 112 miles bike ride and a 26.2 miles run. It’s like swimming along the Hudson river for a distance comparable to the distance from Lincoln Center down to Union Square then bike to Philadelphia and then run a marathon.

Why did I do this to myself?? No idea, probably I wasn’t sure what did I get myself into then or yet.

Maybe because I think this quote is cute
“Shoot for the stars, even if you fail, you’ll still land on the moon”