Disney Training - Week 5

Another well-intended week with house stuff getting in the way. I am definitely disappointed with my training, but we got a ton done at the house, and there is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel now. Therefore, I will keep plugging away at house stuff. This upcoming week, however, I have set a schedule to make sure I don't miss any training workouts. I might miss others, but the primary training ones will not be skipped or shifted.

Swimming
I was able to get in one session. I had tried to use a planned workout, but selected the wrong options and although my swim went well, the tracking was messed up. That's a minor detail though, as the main thing is that I actually swam.

Cycling
I had intended to hop on my bike a couple times, but that never happened. I'll keep trying to get more consistent with that. I would hate my current efforts to fade away.

Running
Two out of five runs isn't that great, but it's better than nothing. On a really good note, I felt great on both runs. Granted my treadmill one was rather rough, but there is always so little to no airflow at the gym, so that was expected.

Strength
No formal strength sessions this week. However, I cannot even begin to count the weight I moved up and down over a dozen stair cases. In addition, I lifted countless boxes. I definitely got a good workout, just nothing formal.

Nutrition
I had healthier habits this week. I was able to cut down a lot of the portions. Plus with Blue Apron I have eaten very healthy for a few nights. I still snack way too much, but ever thought I don't have any chips or pretzels.

Final Thoughts
My focus of getting my house finished is still my top priority. I do have a plan in place now so I can get house stuff done and still have time for my scheduled workouts. The real test will be to see if I can get any other workouts in. Here's to a good upcoming week! Cheers!

Disney Training - Week 4

With my foot doing much better, I decided before I got running that I would work on some endurance and continued with my TrainerRoad program. I completed all three TrainerRoad workouts, although one did not go very well. I was pleased to end my week with getting in a run, which I will go into more detail below. I also got in a strength session, as well as a stretch and light cardio session, which really helped me out as well. Overall, an awesome recovery week for my foot that ended with me ready to get back into my Disney training.

Swimming
I didn't get any swimming in, which, as usual, bothers me and I need to improve on this.

Cycling
I got in three TrainerRoad workouts in. I can honestly say I have never been so taxed on riding my trainer before. This has really opened my eyes to structured indoor training and I love it! My Friday session did not go well though. It had nothing to do with the ride, but rather me. I had not slept well the night before and I consumed an insane amount of caffeine that day, which bit me hard for my ride. I was having severe shakes and my heart was going nuts. Therefore, I had to cut my ride short. Sunday went much better. I am not sure I'll be able to get all three sessions in each week, but I hope to get at least two.

Running
My foot was feeling good at the beginning of the week, but I didn't want to risk anything. However, by the weekend I felt 100% so I went out for a run. It was mostly hills and it felt amazing! For the first time in a long time I not only felt good during and after my run, but nothing bothered me; knees, feet, back, or shoulder. I am definitely ready to get back to my Disney training. Although, I will make sure to alter the distance to ease back into it.

Strength
I was able to get in one actual strength session. It was full body strength with a focus on core. It was challenging and I was definitely a bit sore the following two days. This is just further evidence I need to be getting in more strength sessions because I should not have been sore like I was.

Nutrition
I seem to continue to fight the nutrition monster; myself. Things are starting to get a little more normal with the move-in, and we have some Blue Apron meals planned for next week, so I am hoping to get my nutrition a little more on track.

Final Thoughts
A very good week as I mentioned. I know I have said this before, but I really need to get swimming again and must incorporate more strength training. In addition, I think I need to do actual strength workouts, not just HiiT-style full body workouts. I will probably continue with mostly body-weight strength, but it will be a lot more focused on specific muscle groups.

Some TrainerRoad Things I Have Learned So Far

I decided to take the plunge into structured indoor cycling workouts to both help my endurance and improve my overall cycling training. I have tried doing my own thing for years, where I will focus on drills and do cadence training. Don't get me wrong, it has worked really well. For an outdoor ride with hills, my longer rides have gone from averaging 15 mph to 19+ mph. However, I am training not only for an Ironman right now, but my goal is to qualify for Kona. This means putting out some serious bike speeds in addition to exponentially improving my swimming.

Accuracy
If you don't have a smart trainer or a power meter, don't take the actual FTP value as absolute. For example, I know my one friend can turn out some pretty decent power, but my base FTP after my FTP Test was insanely higher than his; 344 for reference. However, that doesn't mean this isn't a really useful number. Along with FTP/kg, you can really plan and gauge progress. Instead of focusing on actual FTP, I'll be focusing on my percent improvement over time. Therefore I will still be gaining all of the benefits I need from knowing this data. The only time accuracy is more important is if you are competing with friends, which I am definitely not, and would buy a power meter if I was.

Heart Rate Broadcasting - Garmin 935XT
Since I am back indoors, plus TrainerRoad needs at least a speed sensor, I put my Garmin speed and cadence sensors back on my bike. Pairing was easy once I had the Ant+ iPad dongle and the 30-pin to lightning adapter. However, my first workout got me stuck with 2 workouts showing up because my HR was tracked on my watch and power and related metrics on TrainerRoad. I learned the other day that the Garmin 935XT, along with many of the newer and more high-end Garmin devices, can broadcast HR for other devices to pick up. This worked and I am so happy. Here is what I did.

On Garmin 935XT Watch

1. Hold "Up" button then scroll to and select "Settings"

2. Scroll to and select "Sensors & Accessories"

3. Scroll to and select "Wrist Heart Rate"

4. Scroll to and select "Broadcast Heart Rate"

5. Your HR is now broadcasting and your app can pick up the data and you can do your workout

You perform this each time you do your ride. Once this is enabled, you do not need to start the activity on your watch. Just leave it as-is. You can now find and sync it with the TrainerRoad app. Perform your ride and enjoy!

You Don't Need an Expensive Trainer

Most people think you need an expensive trainer that measures power and can automatically adjust resistance when hooked in with training apps such as TrainerRoad. I beg to differ, as I am a very cheap triathlete and hate spending money on gear. I purchased a standard magnetic trainer on Amazon for about $50 and that's as smart as I went.

TrainerRoad, not sure about others like Zwift, has a fancy chart to allow you to match a supported trainer with the trainer you have. This obviously adds to less accuracy of FTP, but you can read above for my explanation on that. You will definitely need to buy a skewer, however, as trying to use the quick release that is common on most road and tri bikes doesn't really fit too well and you will be prone to the bike coming loose and risking some serious injury. Other than that, you will need a PC, MAC or iOS device that has an Ant+ adapter. Once you have these things, you are good to go. 

I hope to add more tips and tricks as I learn more. Enjoy your next workout!

Disney Training - Week 3

Another busy week with moving in and getting situated. It seems I am more prone to injuries now with non-sports related activities. I hurt my other foot to add to the mix. Fortunately, it's nothing major and my other foot is starting to recover now. I finally got my trainer setup, so I got in a couple rides, which were tough but felt really good. I wanted to toss in some strength, but psyched myself out and I just didn't get any done. I will be working hard to get over this mental hurdle this week.

Swimming
I didn't get in any swims, which was really disappointing. Honestly, I was too lazy to drive to the gym to swim. I won't make excuses this week, that's my plan.

Cycling
As I noted, I finally got my trainer setup. I signed up with Trainer Road to have some structured trainer workouts this time around. In prior years, I primarily just rode on my trainer, with no real strategy, other than volume and some slight variability in resistance. Since my primary focus is still running, I'll be starting a cycling plan, but will be focused on building up my legs and building back my endurance. It will be very interesting to do training with power, even if it's estimated power. I have always just done cadence training and never really seen too many gains.

Running
As you know, my foot is still healing, so I am doing no running at all, even though I have just completed week 3 of training and am onto week 4. With how my foot is feeling right now, I expect to be back to some light running by the end Week 4, and back into a modified plan in Week 5. I definitely need to be careful, since I have lost a good amount of conditioning already. My thought right now is I will start Week 5 with a modified version of Week 2, and assuming I am fine from that, Week 6 I will do a faster ramp-up.

Strength
Not only did I not start my NTC strength plan this week, I didn't do any strength training either. I had one session of rehab work, which was just stretching and core. I am pretty disappointed in myself on this one, as I know the key to faster recovery, improvement, and injury prevention is to have my strength up.

Nutrition
Nutrition was a mixed bag this week. In most regards, I did pretty well with making sure I had less snacks and higher quality meals. However, my portion control was still very poor, I didn't log my food even though I set reminders with MFP, and I still snacked more than I should have. However, I am starting to cook more again, which aided in some of my better decisions this week, so I am going to keep focusing on progress.

Final Thoughts
This was definitely not one of my better weeks and I had a lot of excuses. I really don't take injury well and I need to get over that somehow. As usual I have a good plan, but let's hope I can actually stick with it. Good luck to everyone with the endeavors!

Disney Training - Week 2

The week started off really well. My runs felt much better and recovery was very fast. However, the weekend did not fair so well. Even though it was move-in weekend to my new house, I still have planned out time for my two runs. However, Friday when I was working from home, I fell down the stairs and my foot and ankle were bothering me all weekend. So I decided I couldn't afford to risk re-fracturing my right foot, which is where I had landed from my fall. As I am writing this post today, my foot feels a little worse so I may be shifting the next couple weeks around to help recover. After feeling my toe and injury area, it feels very similar to when I had fractured it last. However, it does not hurt like it did, so I am hoping a couple weeks should have me good to go.

Swimming
I got in my usual Monday swim. Even though it was under 20 minutes of swimming, I was completely exhausted. I will need to get myself up to two or more swims a week if I want to stop feeling so drained each time. With my current foot injury, I'll be planning to up my swimming to 3 times a week minimum.

Cycling
I didn't have any cycling sessions, but with my foot, I will be setting up my trainer and starting to cycle a good bit to help keep up my endurance. I don't really have any plans for any major cycling workouts during my training; just the occasional cross training session.

Running
With my latest foot injury, although I am sure I could run, I am not risking it. The last time I was stupid I was out of commission for over 2 years. So I'll be focusing on swimming and cycling to keep up endurance.

Strength
I have been meaning to get my strength routines going, and with the injury, it's just a bigger excuse to roll out my strength plans. Therefore, I'll be doing about 2-4 strength sessions per week. My main focus will be legs, hips and core.

Nutrition
I have not done well at all with portion control or staying away from snacks. With my new move however, I am not stocking anything bad, so I really expect to start turning things around.

Final Thoughts
Overall a great week because I am now living in my new house and I have quick and easy access to lots of fitness facilities and areas. However, a bad week since I hurt myself; although I am happy it wasn't from working out. Now to mend myself so I don't miss too much training.

Disney Training - Week 1

This last week started my first week of sixteen for my Disney Dopey Challenge training! I cannot properly express how excited I am right now for this race. For anyone not familiar, the Dopey Challenge is 4 back-to-back days of running; 5k, 10k, half marathon, then full marathon. You run through the Disney World parks and there are tons of spectators and characters cheering you on non-stop. Supposedly during the marathon, there is a point you can hop on a roller coaster during the race. If this is true, I will definitely be taking advantage of this! In typical fashion, I'll be displaying my training in the same format I always do, but my focus will be on running.

Swimming
I had the Rock 'n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon the prior weekend, so I decided I would hop in the pool Monday to get the blood flowing and loosen up. This worked out really well, as the rest of my week for running went really well. I will probably be pushing to swim every Monday. If possible, I will be shooting for Fridays as well, since that is my other running "rest" day.

Cycling
I had the City to Shore Bike MS 45-miler on Saturday. I really wanted to get in my run as well, but my legs were pretty tired from that ride. I am not sure how much riding I will be doing over the next few months. My plan is to get my trainer set up once I am fully moved into my new house. Then I'll shoot for 1-2 trainer rides per week as some cross training.

Running
I had five runs scheduled this week. I completed four of them, with the fifth not being completed because of my bike ride. Although my body was still a bit tired from my half marathon, I still felt alright completing all of my runs. The only issue I had is that my pace was definitely a lot slower than I would have liked. Hopefully I can get in some more sleep, an extra swim, and some strength training to help loosen, strengthen, and speed up recovery.

Strength
I didn't get any strength sessions in. I am still working on figuring out where to put them into the schedule. I will definitely be doing 2 sessions per week though, since the last time I did endurance training and skipped strength, I got some serious injuries.

Nutrition
I was able to find the time to log all of my food five out of the seven days. Overall, I ate alright, but still lots of room for improvement and I need to get myself off of the mindless snacking. Even though I try and keep stuff out of the house, I find myself grabbing a bag of chips or cookies when I am at the food market without even noticing until I home again. I will keep working on this, as well as logging my food. I need to set reminders with MFP so I log at the end of every day.

Final Thoughts
Overall, a really solid first week of training. I just hope my body keeps the quick recovery pace so I can keep getting in all of these runs each week. Hope your training efforts are going well!

Rock 'n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon 2017

It's kind of nostalgic that the first race I run after more than two years due to injury, would be the Rock 'n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon. My first half marathon I ever ran was this race. And aside from the last 2 years, I have run it every year since then. I completed the race, which I was very happy about. However, I did not train enough and suffered for it.

Overview

The race venue had three races; 5k, 10k, and half marathon. The 5k and 10k were both held on Saturday. There was a 30-minute difference between start times, so you could technically have done both, back-to-back. The half marathon was held on Sunday as usual. I did not participate in either Saturday race, so I'll just talk about the Expo and Sunday.



The Expo

The race expo was at the Philadelphia Convention Center as usual. And per typical Rock 'n Roll fashion, they had a great selection of vendors. This is an important thing to me, even if I don't buy anything. I really like seeing trending running gear and attire. I also use this opportunity to get additional discounts to sign up for upcoming races. Plus I just feel it makes the whole experience that much more well-rounded and enjoyable.

Some of my favorite vendors there were Jaybird and Garmin. I was a bit disappointed from Philadelphia Runner, as I was hoping to score some discounted On Running shoes. Oh well, maybe next time. I got to try out the upcoming Jaybird earbuds, the Jaybird Run, which were AWESOME! I will definitely be choosing these, once they are released in October, over than Apple wireless earbuds.

Other than this, the expo was typical and I score a lot of really cool samples and tried some awesome food.

The Race

The weather was a mixed bag depending on the person. For me, the temperature couldn't have been more ideal. However, the humidity was 80% and the dew point was around 70%. Therefore, it made it near impossible for my body to cool properly during the race. Thankfully the sun didn't pop out until the last mile of the race. Anyway, setup was good as always; plenty Port-o-potties, convenient location for gear check, easy entry into corrals. Some people complained about the port-o-potty lines back to the gear check. However, the grass was really wet and already fairly muddy, so I felt it was very thoughtful of the race coordinator to keep everyone from being covered in mud before the race.

There were tons of people as always, and the corrals were packed. They did a really good job at the staggered start, which is definitely an improvement from the last time I ran this race. Not only that, but for the first time in memory, I didn't experience pushy runners at all. Everyone was in a good mood and very courteous. This was very refreshing and helped keep me motivated as the race started.

The course had a few up and downhills. Nothing too crazy, which for someone who actually trained, would have made this a very fast course. I didn't train much, so all it did was tire me out more, haha. The route was really nice, with only one slight out-and-back, which kept the scenery constantly changing. Plus I love the Philly scenery for the races held here. Plus there was a good amount of bands along the way playing pretty good music.

My Race

I started off at what I felt to be a slow pace. I did this because I didn't want to spend the first couple miles trying to sprint around people. This strategy worked to my advantage, since I felt pretty good until mile 8. However, as I hit mile 8, my legs started to tire quickly. By mile 9 I was struggling. Once I hit 10 however, I was cycling through some of my motivational music, and was able to get myself moving. I still had trouble though because my longest run leading up this was 10 miles, but aside from that one run, I had only done one 8-miler, and then a couple 7's and 6's. Overall I didn't have a great base to handle the latter miles. I still pushed out a small kick at the end to finish as strong as I could.

The Finish Line

Even though I finished later than I wanted to, the finish line was very well organized. There was plenty of water, Gatorade, chocolate milk, and snacks. This was refreshing because so many times races will run out of hydration and snacks for the later finishers. There was free beer (1 per registered race participants over 21) and live music. I didn't stay to enjoy the bands playing, but I definitely got my snacks and drinks. I was bummed there were no food trucks, but that's alright, because I was so dead afterwards I just wanted to get home.

Final Thoughts

Overall a very fun race and I am so excited to officially be back to racing. I will be making sure I am properly trained for my Disney Dopey challenge in January. Hopefully my recovery doesn't take too long from this race, but I'll be tossing in some swimming to help promote quicker healing. Hope anyone else who raced had a great time!