Don't skip workouts

Sometimes you need to miss a workout. If you're sick, injured or if you're so tired and sore from a previous workout that another workout will probably result in injury, you need a day off. But if you're just feeling tired or lazy or there's something good on the tele you want to watch, you need to force yourself to workout. That's how I was feeling tonight. After work, I discovered a link to the rebroadcast of Kona ( http://ironman.edgeboss.net/wmedia/ironman/rebroadcast.wvx ) that I started to watch. I was tired and enjoying the race so I didn't feel like going to the pool. I started looking for ways to justify skipping my workout. But I forced myself to go and I'm really glad I did.

I discovered another little thing about my form and found a little more speed. I need to focus on what I'm calling my switch timing, meaning the transition from one arm to the other. When I start to fatigue, I tend to let my left arm drop in the water and start pulling before my right arm is past my head and ready to enter the water. The result is that I create extra drag and don't get a good pull with my left arm. On my last 300 yard set I really focused on holding my left arm up until my right arm was past my head and ready to enter the water. I also focused on really reaching with my arms and gliding for a split second. I swam that set in 4:47, my fastest time yet and I had already swam 1400 yards so I was already fatigued. That's a 1:35 100-yard pace, which would be a 1:07 Ironman swim if I could hold that pace for 2.4 miles. That would be awesome...not that it's going to happen. But it's fun to think about.

I also learned another valuable lesson today. Never let vegetables rot in the fridge. I found a cucumber in the back of the fridge that's been in there for a few months. I didn't know cucumbers could liquefy, but trust me...they can. That thing was disgusting. I think I'd rather see a rotting corpse than see that cucumber again. And I found an open bag of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots that had gone bad. What a horrible stink...like the stench of death.

Time to do my stretches and watch some more Ironman Kona. You don't get to watch Ironman coverage like this everyday. Good stuff.

Week 5 In The Books

Week 5 didn't exactly go according to plan, but it wasn't a total loss. I missed a few workouts due to my back, but that did force me to go to the voodoo doc which may or may not solve some back problems and hip alignment problems for me. Time will tell. I had a few good swim workouts and got a chance to try some pain relief creams. Aspercreme is okay, but nothing like the voodoo cream the doc gave me. I might have to pick some of that up. It's called Biofreeze.

Why am I now using Aspercreme? Funny you should ask. Remember a few posts back when I said form is king? I have become committed to improving my form in all 3 disciplines and this week I decided to start putting as much focus on my running form as I have been on swimming. The first thing I learned is that I'm a heel striker, which means I land with my heel first. That's bad. You want to land on the ball of your foot. Heel striking is probably responsible for some of my knee and back pain. So I started to work on that, but since I missed some workouts due to back pain I only ran once this week....today for 10 miles. Don't make changes to your form on a long run. I didn't even think about how landing on the balls of my feet would affect my calf muscles. They are so sore right now I'm not sure I'm going to be able to walk tomorrow. But the Aspercreme seems to be helping. Here's to Aspercreme.

Besides running, I also went to the pool today with Cheri. What a great workout. One of my best swim workouts yet. It really helped having Cheri there. I haven't swam with her in a few weeks and I've missed it. We have fun at the pool and I much prefer sharing a lane with her than some old dude with questionable hygiene. Cheri said she can tell my form and speed has improved so that was really encouraging.

Yesterday I watched as much Kona coverage as I could on the Internet. They did a great job covering it live. I wish someone would pick it up (Versus maybe?). It's a long day of coverage, but I would think it would get better ratings than a whole day of bull riding. Plus triathletes are a great group to advertise to. They like to spend money. Anyway, I had to go for a long ride and go to 2 birthday parties so I didn't get to watch as much coverage as I wanted but that's okay. Jess's birthday party was a lot of fun so missing Macca win is no real loss.

Hopefully week 6 goes well.


Week 5
Total Time: 10:43:12
Swim Yards = 6200
Bike Miles = 76.69
Run Miles = 10.13
Weights Time = 1:00