'ike loa

Nice easy run today to see how I feel after completing the San Diego Triathlon Classic.  I am particularly worried about my left ankle as I have been struggling  to keep it healthy since I sprained it in August.

The training goal was 1 hour sub-lactate, but I wanted to go a little slower and stay in HR zone 3, but my pace was in HR zone 4.  I did my standard out-and-back run, which has a decent hill in the middle of it.  Managed to get in 5 miles in 62 minutes and I felt great.  Everything seems ok mechanically but I did take the precaution of icing down my ankle after the run to minimize any swelling.  So far so good!

Run profile:

Only five and a half months left until Ironman New Zealand 2012. This has been a whirlwind training season so far and it seems like we are quickly running out of time for preparation.

Before I get to the update, I have a heart felt

“Please Help” from me and the team

I am trying to raise $9500 as part of this quest — all for charity.  None of what I raise is for me, it is to all about helping the mission and making a difference in the lives of those struggling with blood related cancers, and they really need our help.  And helping me helps the team achieve our goal of raising $500,000!

Three months into the program and I am quite far from my goal.  

Like $9000 far. Reaching my goal is very heavy on my mind.  Donations and support are 100% tax deductible and 75% of all donations from individual and organizations goes directly to the cause providing grants for research, patient assistance and support for patients and their families.

Here is what you can do today:

Click on the image below and you will be connected to my fundraising page.  You can safely contribute through the page.

Ok, so back to the regular update

This weekend I will be undertaking the San Diego Tri Classic 2011, an Olympic distance triathlon.  This won’t be a fast race for me as I am attempting to complete it sub-lactate and in HR zone 3 as much as possible, so I am look at about 3:30 to complete it.  Staying in HR zone 3 is hard.  Feels too slow and going up hills it becomes a choice between Zone 3 or staying upright. But HR zone 3 gives the most training bang for the fastest recovery.

This past week as mostly been tapering and keeping loose.  My ankle feels pretty good so I think I am ok there, but I am a little worried about my swim since I have been changing up my stroke and form.  We will see how it goes on Saturday.

Early morning at Fiesta Island. 3 large loops and 1 small loop at a HR zone 3 pace. I was able to average 16.8 mph at an average HR of 131. Staying in zone 3 allows for the most training benefit with the fastest recovery. It was also nice to go into work and not feel wiped out first thing in the morning.

Ran 3.25 miles at a zone 3 pace as a test to see how my left ankle is feeling. Everything felt good on the run and it looks as if I have recovered from my sprain.

It was a nice night for a run!

Today’s brick workout was a repeat of one last month. A 40 mile loop through some nice hilly and beautiful parts of San Diego. Meet-up was at Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach and we had an early start for the ride.

The ride ended up just short of 40 miles but had a decent 2500′ of climbing. Followed up with a 10 min run to round out the brick.

I am a left side breather when I swim. I also seem to have better form with the left side of my stroke than my right. Coach Ginger advised me that I need to learn how to bi-lateral breath while swimming and that I need to shorten my stroke a little but angle it down more. It seems that I reach too much for my strokes and am reducing my efficiency. For a shorter distance triathlon, this might not be a major issue, but for the 2.4 mile swim in the Ironman, efficiency is key.

So the swim practice was endurance laps with a few speed drills tossed in. So I focused on improving my form and attempting to breath on both sides.

Let’s just say that it would have been better if I had gills because I ended up drinking a lot of water when breathing on my right side. I rotate enough on my left to ensure that my mouth is above the water, but on the right, I don’t rotate near enough and often found myself with a mouth full of water.

Additionally, I had to change up my breathing rhythm, making it left side on third stroke, then right side on third stroke, meaning that I was getting more winded than usual.

This is going to require significantly more pool time for me to develop a new rhythm and form. Looks like the swim is now what I need to focus on the most.

Many of the team will be participating the San Diego Tri Classic on September 17.  It is an olympic distance tri, so our coaches thought it would be a good opportunity to combine a practice tri and a course preview!

So training was a .75m swim, a ~24 mile bike and a 6 mile run at sub-lactate levels.  It wasn’t exactly the same course as the SDTC, but it was a good preview of the hills for the bike course.  As I am still nursing my ankle sprain, I only did 1.5 miles for the run.

Here is what the bike portion of the practice tri was like:

1850 yards in the pool tonight.  Coach Ginger helped me work on my form, which apparently needs a lot more work.  For a 2.4 mile swim, efficiency will be key and I am not very efficient, so any improvement will be helpful.  I seemed to dial-in the left side of my stroke fairly quickly but struggling with my right side.  Probably because I can’t breathe bi-laterally yet.