14 mile run was a bust

I set out to do a 14 mile run with 15 second bursts every 5 minutes.  I started out great and then began tapering off bit by bit arouns 9 miles.  It came to the point that I was walking the hills that I was running in my 10 mile run two days ago.  It really sucked.

It got to the point that my 15 sec intervals were occurring on the hills and it was completely ruining my workout.  I decided at 12.6 miles to stop ans get more water because it was taking longer than I expected.

However, when I stopped, I decided the rest was all junk and I should try again Sunday….

Fail

I failed to get my long run in this week.  I was supposed to do a 13.1 mile run.  I wasn’t about to run 2+ hrs on a treadmill.

I’m truly sick of this rain.  Why can’t it rain while I’m at work?…

Workout:
Cycling 90 min in zone 2, 30 sec in big ring every 10 minutes.

Ride of shame

I had to take the ride of shame 40 miles into the 56 mile bike ride today.

Let me rephrase, after thinking about it, I chose to take the rid of shame.  I started getting “foggy” and caught myself drifting into the other lane.

Looking back at it, I really think I could’ve finished.  The problem was it was 100+, 12:15, and with 16 miles to go, I would’ve been out another hour at least.  You can to ask yourself, do you finish ans risk an injury setback or do you play itself and look at the long term goal?  My answer was play it safe and live to do it again.  I’m not a PR or ER (personal record or emergency room) type of person.

Looking back, this all started yesterday. First, I had a poor breakfast to eat.  Second. I skipped lunch because the breakfast was so big.  Finally, I ruined it by drinking a big old 32 oz soda, ribeye sandwich, and fries for dinner.  I should have concentrated on eating properly for such a big day of training.  Afterall, I was going to practically do the entire half ironman.  Instead, a lost focus and blew it…

And to help you not make the same mistake I made, here’s another article on training in the heat.

You’re Dangerous Maverick!

So I set my alarm today for 7:00 am to get a long ride in before the family woke up.  Instead, it woke up the whole family!

You see, we went out of town and are staying in a one room cabin.

So although I didn’t get a workout in, we walked and walked and walked…  We took in battery park, the USS Yorktown, and Fort Sumter.  It was a blast.  My legs feel as though I rode 50 miles!

Funny Marathon Sign

Well, I don’t have much to see today other than my workout didn’t go planned as scheduled. Was supposed to do 60 min in the pool, but only did 30. The wife had a work dinner so I had to cut it short to watch the kids. Enjoy the photo.

Back in the Saddle again!

Well, I did it.  Last night I got back in track!  I did a swim workout and bike ride.  In addition, I did a run tonight.

I didn’t do exactly what my training plan called for, but I did it.  You see, last night I was supposed to do a 30 min swum workout and a 30 minute run.  However, I wanted to make up the 60 minute ride that I missed.  The kicker was that my ling bike ride is Saturday so I didn’t want to do back to back rides.

So… I switched the bike and run.

On an even more positive note, I had lunch with my old boss and he said, “you’re losing weight again?  I can see it in your face.” It’s nice to know the hard workouts are paying off…

Lost the Mojo

Well my parents left this morning and between them visiting and the weather, my workouts have vanished this week.

I haven’t worked out since Saturday.  It really sucks.  To be honest with you, those two things are simply excuses.  I should be able to get up early and knock out a workout.  Instead, I wasted time staying up to watch TV!   Ugh.

In the meantime, my run has probably gone to crap not to mention I’ve gained about 5 pounds because I’ve been eating as though I was gonna work out every evening to just fail to do it.

Just do it? Whatever Bo!  Sometimes you just excuse it!  It’s not acceptable at all.  Maybe its just my body telling me to take it easy?  After all, I’ve gained back the weight I lost in just one week, last week.

I don’t know.  Just know if you have a setback, you’re not alone.  This sucks.  Really, really sucks.  Tomorrow I’m gonna have to double up.  Ugh…

If you still have time, its national running day so get off your butt and run!  (Hypocritical)

And since its national running day, there’s tons of discounts and codes on the internet.  If you’ve been debating entering one, go online and check to see if you can find one for that event!

Setbacks

So you’ve been frustrated with setbacks right?  Well look above.  I have them too.

I was cruising along getting, set to hit my weight I was this time last year.  Then, pow! It happens!  A setback.

How did it happen?  A perfect storm of missed opportunities.  You see, there’s a saying, “train to eat, it to train.”  Well I thought I was eatin properly for long workouts this weekend.  However, one workout was half as long as I thought it would be and tthe other didn’t happen at all!

Saturday night I had a bunch of carbs to prepare me for a two hour run on Sunday before church.  Good right?  The problem is I didn’t get my butt out of bed to do it!  This compounded by need to do the yard work and spend time with my family that’s in town meant that I didn’t get my run in!  So I didn’t burn the extra 1300 or so calories I expected to!  UGH!!!

You can also see the peaks and valleys in the graph as well.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure what causes my peaks.  One word: weekends.  Yous think that since my weekends were my hardest workouts or races that my weight would drop dramatically.  Hey I’m human just like you!   I like to relax and enjoy the weekend too.  Maybe just a little too much enjoyment!

There tends to be an interesting phenomenon with endurance athletes.  They tend to celebrate their accomplishments with friends and family which sometimes leads to overeating.  For instance, my watch estimated I burned over 1700 calories.  Therefore, I automatically thought I could quit watching what I ate that day.

What can I say, I’m human and we make mistakes.  The biggest mistake was not getting out of bed to do my two hour run and burning the carbs off.  Now I’m forced to do it today which is supposed to be my day off.

Finish line:  Setbacks will happen.  When training, you have to stick to your plan or else you’ll surely have more of them than you want to.

Group Workouts

Earlier I mentioned to join a club.  Today I decided to incorporate a club meet-up into my training plan but found out it can be a double edged sword.

First was the swim workout.  My training plan called for a workout that was 2500+ yds and 60+ minutes.  Instead, my workout ended up being 16 minutes and 775 yds.  Why?  We met at the lake for an open water swim.  Unfortunately it was extremely windy.  Wind plus water equals chop!  It was ridiculously choppy so to be on the safe side, we all cut the swim in half.  It was extremely difficult and felt like we still did the full mile swim!

Then we did the bike ride.   This was bitter sweet for me.  I did one of the fastest two hour rides I’ve ever done.   However, my workout wasn’t supposed to be two hours!  It was supposed to be 3.5 hours!   Because of the stops go regather, time we spent getting ready, etc., I ran out of time to finish my workout.

So while group workouts are great for the cameraderie and pushing yourself, it can be a detriment to your workout.

Finish line: If don’t have a set schedule and training plan, go have fun in a group workout.  If you want to stick to your plan, you might want to go on your own or pick a smaller group.

Negative Energy and Cloudy Heads

Ok.  So I got some really bad news about a friend last night.  I thought I’d use the negative energy and get my long bike ride in (3:15).

I got up at 7:45.  I let the buzz about the news on Facebook get the best of me.  By the time I hopped on the bike, it was 9:47.  Yep, more than 2 hours later.

I planned poorly for my workout.  I forgot to make water bottles up and freeze them, lay clothes out, watch, etc the night before.

The result?  A horrible workout.  I managed to knock out 43 miles.  It sounds like amazing distance for being relatively new, but it was just  13.7 MPH.  I can usually average 15-16 MPH at the longer distances.

What else happened?  I missed a turn.  And I didn’t miss it by a few hundred yards.   I missed it by over 10 miles!   Instead of doing my planned modified loop I did a straight out and back.  I rode 21.7 miles straight out and then back.  It was frustrating because I had to stop and check on my phone to see where I was geographically.  Yep, way overshot the turn.

Big deal, right?  Well with all the frustration from the past 24 hours, stopping, and the heat increasing by the minute, it was so tempting to just pick up the phone, call the wife, and call it a day.  I didn’t, but the last 60 minutes of the ride was definitely “junk miles.”  I don’t have to think that.  The GPS says it all…

I did burn 2500 calories on the ride though. Which was pretty much all consumed back at a pizza buffet. :p

Finish Line: while working out is a great way to get rid of negative energy, don’t let the negative thoughts fog your thoughts and ruin your workout.