Midweek 5K Training 100%

Today was my day to do the 5k at 100%. I rode the 2nd and 4th sections at 100%, but I felt sluggish, as I have the last couple of days, especially when I start out. Of course the transplant patient in me wonders if everything is okay. It's been very hot lately and there is no AC in my car and I've been driving around town like crazy, not sleeping much, and not eating super well. However, my times seem to be consistent. On the 2nd 5K, I rode it in 9.00. My best is 8.37. I couldn't really get any momentum early. I also had a cyclist drafting off my bike tire. Oh well. on the 4th 5k, I rode 8.35, nearly my best effort. All together, I rode the 20K in 42 minutes. That is a solid time considering that I wasn't pushing on sections 1 & 3.

Spotlight: John Petrick ... fellow Transplant Athlete

Today I rode with fellow US Transplant Athlete, John Petrick. He decided to ride the bicycle in this year's World Games after picking up triathlons this year. Most people "pick up" coins. He "picks up" triathlons, never mind the guy has had a kidney transplant. John is a strong rider and if he just started out, I'm sure he'll do very well in Transplant Games to come. We did the "perfect 20K" course in Griffith Park. It was my day to go "80%" and it's the pace we rode with a few bursts throughout the course. It was a great way to get to know John whom I met at last year's US Transplant Games. I look forward to seeing him in Brisbane.

SPMA Long Course Meters Regional Championships in Thousand Oaks

Today I swam at the SPMA Long Course Meters Regional Championships in Thousand Oaks. It was my first Master's event. My goal was to learn what I needed to do to improve my training. First of all, I need to train more and do more competitions to develop a better sense of how I warm up the day before an event and how that affects my recovery on race day. I didn't sleep well, had a tough week of work, and it was very hot. I swam a "long course," ie a 50m long pool as opposed to the 25m length I'm used to. It makes a difference. Even when I'm tired, I didn't realize how the turns give your arms a break. On the first competition, the 50 freestyle, my goal was to break 40 seconds. My final time was 0:40:52. I did a good job of spotting my dive into the pool and my stroke felt solid the first 25 meters. At 35 meters or so, I started getting tired. At one point, I thought (wanted to think) that the wall was very close. It took a little bit extra effort to get to the wall. The second competition didn't go as I had hoped. I felt more tired than nervous before the 200m heat. I did some a couple of laps in the warmup pool, but I probably shouldn't have given my tiredness. When I dived in, my goggles twisted to the side so that my left eye was only partially covered. It was distracting. For a moment, I reminded myself to relax and take longer strokes to get maximum breath, but because of the goggles I couldn't really spot the wall and reverted to just touching the pool as opposed to doing a turn. Mary, one of SQAC's swimmers, said that the 3rd leg would be the toughest, but after the 1st leg, it all felt tough. I think my strokes were too short and I was distracted thinking about getting to 3.30 as opposed to just relaxing and kicking. My final time was 4.11. It was much worse than I usually swim in a shorter course. I'll know more next time. I enjoy swimming, but I'm not sure if the 200m is my best distance. Probably I should try to get myself to do 400m, 800m, and 1,500m swims to see how my times compare with others in competition. Speaking of competition, it's humbling that so many people are so much better than I am.

Saturday Swim

World Transplant Games, US Transplant Games, National Kidney Foundation, Chronic Kidney Disease, Organ Transplantation

Cycling - July 24, 2009

I did the perfect 20k (20.15), but I stayed in the road position again. My goal for this morning was to go at 100%, but after four days of work, driving and the heat I told myself I would only go at 90%. Surprisingly, my legs felt fluid. It just goes to show you that you never know what you can do on any given day until you do it. My 20.15k time was 40.43. It was probably a slightly better result than a few days ago, but I chose to stay on the flats as the Australian course looks very flat. Now it's time to recover and drink as many fluids as possible in this Los Angeles' heat.

5K Training at 100%?

Today was my day to do the 5k at 100%, but it felt more like my day at 80%. My time turned out a little better, but overall I'm a little disappointed with myself. In fairness, I had to stop at three lights and the wind was strong. I give myself a standard 20 seconds off, but it's hard to gauge the loss in momentum. On the first 5K, I actually was slower than when I did the same stretch at "80%." I redeemed my ride (with less wind) on the 4th 5k with a .34 second improvment from my previous time. I consider the 4th 5k one of the hardest. I think I need to go back to doing 5K intervals at 80%, 90%, 100% etc.

Eight Days off from swimming …

I hadn't swam in eight days and I felt like it. My technique was pretty good, but after I got past 25m I felt sluggish. I've also had a morning and evening work schedule that may have contributed to the lagging feeling. I was also focused on going at only 80%. My times reflected these factors. I still find myself concentrating on my technique while swimming too much. Perhaps it's normal while still in the early phases of learning something and maybe it's good just swimming by constantly reflecting on technique. Sunday's swim meet should teach me a lot about swimming training.

80% Road Ride

I did the perfect 20k (20.15), but this time I stayed in the road position and the distance was 20.93. I also climbed over the Griffith Park Mountain twice, since a big part of Griffith Park was closed. I focused on going at 80% so I concentrated on using my gears and spinning to get up the mountain. I was smooth over the two climbs today so that my transitions were practically seemless. I still don't feel 100%, but right now I'm going to chalk it up to traveling and picking up a low-grade virus. I need to train at this distance in the road position to get a sense of how fast I can go in the 20k in Australia and get a feel for using just the road bars.

Take a look at this:
http://www.youthnoise.com/user/zachbrooks/blog