Tuesday, August 07, 2007

It turns out that running like a hamster is pretty hard work. I knew this at the time, but I didn't know just how hard it was, or how much it was hurting me. After my trip to Chicago, I tried to jump back into some quality training here in Boulder. I found out pretty quickly that the efforts from four hours of indoor training treated me a bit like a race, and I needed to recover from it like a race. It found this out after two moderately unsuccessful workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday. My run and ride those days were quite a struggle, and not the good kind of struggle. I made it through the rest of the week with the intensity notched back a fair bit, and starting this new week, I'm feeling back to full speed.

This morning was the regular Tuesday morning run at the Rez with Simon's group. We've been meeting there since early in the spring, and although the turnout varies greatly, we've got a nice group to motivate one another. WIth the local half ironman this weeked (5430), some of the runners were taking it a bit easy. Others of us were planning for races next weekend (Timberman), so we added a bit more to the end of the session. Although I admit that I miss running at the track, these workouts are probably a better simulation for the types of races we do. And with Simon's ever-changing workouts, we get nice dose of variety.

Next up is a visit to Dave Scott's Hour of Power, aka House of Pain, aka 11:30 swim session. I am not sure if anyone actually uses these terms to refer to the workout, but they could. And they should. It's a popular, often over-crowded slug fest in the water. As a great part of my Hawaii prep is centered around boosting my swim, this is a key element to my training.

The final part of my day will be a ride to Jamestown on my new bike. It's now three weeks old, so it's not super new anymore. However, since I have not posted the "New Bike Update" yet, it's still new to everyone else. And on that note, tune in soon for a full low down of the new Javelin Lugano!

Thanks for checking in.

4 comments:

Eric said...

Sorry if I got any drool on the Javelin when I saw it at FAC on Sunday.

Eric said...

PICTURES! We need pictures. Where is the bike porn! Bolder has plenty on his site. BIKE.PORN.

Oh and your weather avitar is very cute.

Podium quest said...

Dang, i get tired just reading about all your workouts! Very moyivating! Sure would love to see a pic of your new steed! Thanks for the updates. I really enjoy them. Happy training Michael!

Sunny said...

First time I'm seeing your blog -- I had no idea that a pro like you would keep a blog here. It's very inspiring to read about your enjoyment of the tests and rigors of pro-level training and GSSI-level analysis.

I'm a scientist, so I like the techie stuff. I'm also an Athena triathlete racing my second 70.3 next weekend up at Timberman, so thanks for the inspiration to push hard through the run. That's always my mentally-toughest part to triathlon, and you're a fantastic runner, so it's kind of heartening to know that it can be tough for you, too. But still sub-6 min miles...wow!
Keep up the great racing, -Sunny