Ironman training

Ran the NYC half marathon today, finished it in 1:27:53, just just missed my PR by a bit. Weather was awesome and the course was great. There were around 15,000 runners. First 6 miles were a little hilly because it’s in Central Park but after that, it’s all flat. As usual, I started out a little faster than I should have, and kind of slowed down at the end. There were a few CPTC girls who passed me at mile 12, but managed to pass them before going in the tunnel before South Street Seaport which is the finish line. I was expecting to PR in this course but my legs felt a little different from the bike training. It seems to me that biking uses a different sets of muscles and increases the density of my quad’s muscles which I felt a little unnatural.

NYC Half http://connect.garmin.com/activity/159195001

The past week has been a little slow, still recovering from my long bike ride and run from last weekend. Didn’t bike as much in order to save my legs.

Swam on Monday morning, felt a little easier breathing on my left now. I think I just need to delay catching my breathe a little later until my left stroke goes all the way back.

On Tuesday, did a slower 4 miler tempo run at 7 min pace http://connect.garmin.com/activity/159195081

On Thursday, did a 5 mile recovery run with Niketown.

Went to the pool again on Friday and did a short bike ride to Brooklyn on Saturday before the NYC half.

On Monday, did a Brick workout. After setting up my bike trainer, I did a 20 mins lactate threshold ride on the bike and ran 4 miles at 6:44 min/pace at the west side before heading to my group meeting at 7:30pm. The first 2 mile, I got a strong headwind behind me so the negative split is because of the headwind. I kind of like this workout, it’s pretty intense but it’s short.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/155942326

Tuesday, ran with Niketown and did 2 loops around the reservoir which is around 3.2 miles at a 6:30 ish pace http://connect.garmin.com/activity/155942324 and then went for a swim with Steve at the pool on 54th st. The pool is only 18 yards but that wasn’t my night, didn’t feel very good in the water and drank couple mouthful of pool water. Then I had to rush to UES to meet a friend, the E train wasn’t running so got home pretty late, a long day.

On Wed, did another Brick workout. Biked for 20 mins at a lactate threshold pace, then went out for a 3 mile run at 6:44 min/pace http://connect.garmin.com/activity/155942320 which is exactly the same pace as on Monday before rushing to my Spanish lesson.

Had to file my tax return on Thursday so took that as my rest day.

On Friday, went for a morning swim in the pool for 45 minutes.

On Saturday, went for a group ride with the SIG-A group under NYCC. It’s a nice ride, a little windy and cold in the morning but weather got warmer later in the day. We rode up to Blauvelt which is a little south of South Nyack. Rode 50 miles in the group and then did my own thing in Central Park, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/157188994 in total, I did around 60 miles.

On Sunday, signed up for a long run with the whippet. Went out the night before plus we lost an hour because of day light saving, so was pretty sleepy.
Decided to biked from midtown to Prospect Park because it’ll take the same amount of time on the train anyway, if not longer. Ran 15 miles around Brooklyn, it’s a pretty nice course, we went from Prospect Park, passed by the Gowanus Canal, ran passed IKEA, DUMBO
, 

Williamsburg, Fort Greene and back to the park, did a whole scenic loop around Brooklyn.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/157189010

Biked back home after the run and attended my 2nd swimming lesson at night. We still did drills like last time. Actually I felt pretty good in training this time, maybe it’s because I swam in the slow lane so I found myself swam faster..lol

So this week has been a productive one for training, managed to work out everyday except Thursday. Kind of get a taste of how’s life going to be for the next few months. For the weekend, I biked around 80 miles, ran 15 miles and swam for an hour. Those activities really took up a lot of my time, will need to re prioritize my life.

Monday was the only day I trained for this whole week and wasn’t able to put in another bike or swim workout because of a busy week. Had a Bloomberg Seminar on Tues, Spanish lesson on Wed, Club Night on Thurs, dinner on Fri and SIG meeting on Sat.

Did the NYRR Coogan’s 5 k run on Sunday. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/155942333 The race was pretty hilly and my pace was around 6:11  min/mile but I had a hard time at the race, especially the last mile. As always, I started out too fast, still haven’t learned my mistake. I did the first mile in 5:54, the 2nd mile was 15 seconds slower than the first and the 3rd mile was 15 seconds slower than the second. I should have started out a little slower and maintained or picked up speed after the half way point.

My pic was up on NYRR website http://nyrr.org/sites/default/files/styles/gallery966x522/public/gallery/2012/7165_resize.jpg

Went for a bike ride in the evening.

Had my first swimming lesson with Jack Rabbits in YMCA at 9pm. This was actually an intermediate swimming lesson and I struggled with it when we have to do laps.

The coach taught us to breath sideway, with one goggle in the water and not to bring our head high up when we breathe. Instead, he advised us to move our core when we breathe.

The other drill is to lie on our back straight on the ground, tuck in our stomach and chin up. After getting the feel, we did drills squeezing the kickboard between our legs. Every stroke we took, we tried to move our core, body and making sure the kickboard flip around as well.

I can breathe fine on my right side but not my left. My legs were cramped in the pool too, so after the workout, I felt a little pressured  and stress about my swimming because the Ironman is only 5 months away.

I’ll need to ramp up my training and start getting ready.

On Saturday, there was this Al Gordon 4 m run in Prospect park. It’s a pretty windy day, took my bike out for a ride. Started in midtown west, biked to Prospect Park in Brooklyn, went across Brooklyn bridge and came back across Manhattan bridge. In total it’s 20 miles, just took slightly over than an hour.  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/152490637

On Sunday, went for a run with the Whippets. The run is called I hop to I hop run. The reason is because we started the run at the I-Hop at 135th st in Harlem and ran to the I-Hop in Union Square. In total, it’s around 10 miles. My garmin again ran low on battery so I am borrowing my teammates stats. We started a little slow at 8:30 min/mile pace and then picked it up at the end to 7:00-7:10 min/mile pace. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/152850703 After the run, everyone gorged at the amazing pancakes!

Went for an hour swim after I Hop. So this weekend, biking, running and swimming really made me busy. No more partying during the weekend.

On Monday, weather was pretty nice so decided to go for a tempo run at the west side. Did a 5 miler at around 6:40 ish min/mile http://connect.garmin.com/activity/153325280

Missed the training run with the whippet on Tuesday because of a Bloomberg seminar. The training on Tues is actually Hill Workout which will be helpful for my 5 K Coogan race this Sunday. But decided to take a break because I felt a little sick and it’s always nice to stop by at Bloomberg to eat all the snacks. 🙂

Finally fixed my bike to the bike trainer!

QME9NHKMQZGG 

Went swimming on Tuesday morning and surprisingly I got better in the pool after taking a 3 week break. Spent an hour and managed to do 10 repeats 3 times, that’s an achievement for me because I have been struggling for a while.

Did a lactate alternate threshold run in the evening with the Whippets. Did 4 repeats of 1 mile along the 72 transverse in Central Park. We broke up the 1 mile into 2 parts, the first half a mile, we run at 15 secs faster than our lactate threshold pace so lactate will start accumulating in our blood and the second half we run at 15 secs slower than our lactate threshold pace so to allow the lactate acid to be absorbed. My lactate threshold pace is at around 6:30-6:40 I think, so we ran the first half at 6:00-6:20 min/mile pace and recover at 6:40-6:50min/pace. It’s a pretty tough workout doing the 4 repeats. My garmin died half way so didn’t get an accurate reading on my watch. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/152490647

Went for another swim on Thursday morning before work for an hour.

So I was away backpacking across Central America for 18 days. I started my trip in Guatemala City, then moved to Antigua in Guatemala, El Tunco, San Salvador in El Salvador, Managua, Granada, Rivas, Ometepe Island in Nicaragua, San Jose in Costa Rica and Panama City.
This is sort of the route map, http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=217049814165523351340.0004b5ba74af964b911b3&msa=0

Some pictures from my trip https://plus.google.com/photos/103181381343202069037/albums/5713194172357698497

MY trip went pretty well, I didn’t get rob or kidnap. I only got food poisoning once in El Salvador and got sunburn during my stay there.

So I was slacking off for almost 3 weeks, it’s hard to run in Central America because the cities are pretty dangerous because of crime, traffic and air pollution. I didn’t really get to swim or bike too.

I did manage to run around a Volcano mountain in Ometepe Island in Nicaragua, here is the Garmin stats, the route looks pretty cool on satellite. The smaller island is around 35km but the weather was so hot and road was very hilly and rocky so I hitched a ride back on a truck after running 10 miles and walking 4 miles.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/149918903

Also I did a 7 miles run around Panama City at 7:20 pace before flying back to NYC
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/150476634

Took a 3am flight from Panama City back to NYC on Sunday. Got back to NYC around 10am in the morning. Didn’t really sleep the whole day but forced myself to do a 4 mile run along the west side in the evening to get back in shape. Manged to run 4 miles at 6:45 min/mile pace and felt ok, so I guess it wasn’t so bad to take a break after all.

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”.