Week of 02/25/2008

My training summery for the week of 02/25/2008 was:

Planned Time = 7:06 hrs
Actual Time = 8:59 hrs
Calories Burned = 6,316 kj
Swim = 5450 yd = 3.1 miles
Bike = 55.43 mi
Run = 17.47 mi
XC-Ski = 16 mi

This was a rest week for me with one day totally off.
The planned time was a lot less this week than the previous weeks which felt weird but nice.

The Good

Finally getting a day off from training but felt horrible that day. Go figure.
Had a few good runs during the week. My running is becoming to be second nature now.
Spent a day XC-Skiing at Pineland by myself enjoying the peaceful and beautiful setting.
Went to John Cox's Birthday bash with Megan at Mac's Grill in Auburn. I had a salmon fillet and got to see some friends that I haven't seen in a while. I also got to meet John's family for the first time. The cupcake frosting was just plain crazy.

The Bad

Went to my osteopath doctor and he totally hurt me bad. He couldn't get one of my vertebra back into alignment and had to forcefully put it back in place. I was in some serious pain for a few days.
During my Saturday bike trainer workout I got a bad bloody nose right during a hard interval. I got blood all over my cycling jersey, bike and myself. It kind of disrupted my workout and had to finish the workout with gauze stuck up my nose. It made it pretty difficult to breath and concentrate.

The Ugly

Work is getting pretty stressful with a huge project going out to bid next week. The stress is starting to get to me but I'm really trying to keep a positive outlook at things and trying to stay motivated and enthusiastic at work. Wish me luck. Next week is going to be rough.


I'm also kind of late publishing this weeks post but I'm really trying to keep up with it.

Week of 02/18/2008 - Monastery

My training summery for the week of 02/18/2008 was:

Planned Time = 13:18 hrs
Actual Time = 12:23 hrs
Calories Burned = 9,526 kj
Swim = 8800 yd = 5 miles
Bike = 74 mi
Run = 41.48 mi

This was the third week of a build cycle. It was tough getting in all of the scheduled workouts this week and I ended up not biking on Sunday which is why my actual hours are less than planned. This was also a very big run week for me. I ended up running everyday except for Wednesday.
My legs were pretty sore come Sunday evening.

Some workout highlights for the week included;

• Running in the pouring rain.
• Running up a huge hill in the dark that had an elevation gain of 150ft and 15-20% grades, I don't think even cars can make it up the hill.
• Spending a very early morning on a bike trainer talking about kids and marriage with other triathletes while sweating my butt off.
• Running during a snow storm.
• Running in 12.2 miles Massachusetts not knowing the roads and suffering hardcore on the hills.
• Getting up the very next morning and running another 6miles only 12hrs latter while watching the sun rise and the birds chirp.

The Good

This weekend I spent the weekend with Megan and we went to St. Mary's Monastery where she is Benedictine oblate. I didn't really know what to expect but figured it couldn't hurt to check out a new place and learn more about the Catholic Faith. We stayed in a guest house which had separate wings for males and females. There was a common kitchen, dinning, and recreational/reading room which we spent most of the time in. We went to a few services which included; Compline at 8pm, Mass at 10am, Terse at the end of mass, and Sext at 12:15pm. I really liked Compline and Mass was pretty cool also except the incence really started to get to me. The services did have the readings and some prayers in English but most of them were sung in Gregorian chant in Latin with the nuns and monks alternating verses. It sounded really cool and made the mass seem totally more spiritual than an all English mass like at the Cathedral in Portland. I had a really nice time and it was very peaceful there. The monks and sisters were very nice and hospitalble. I would definitely like to visit again.

St. Mary's Monastery
271 North Main St.
Petersham, MA 01366

Photo's taken from website.
http://www.stmarysmonastery.org/
and
http://jdtreat.com/petersham.htm

The Bad

A few tough days of training really took it's toll on me. Some very sore and tired legs, back, and arms.

Time management is the key to this sport.

The Ugly

Not much really ugly happened other than missing a bunch of meals and still training. Doing this usually isn't a good thing to do.

Week of 02/11/2008

This past week was a bit better than last.

My training summery for the week of 02/11/2008 was:
Overall Time = 11:49 hrs

Swim = 8200 yd / 4.7 miles

Bike = 49.12 mi

Run = 36.03 mi

XC-Ski = 16.99 mi

The Good
Lots of training and other activities this week. My training load is increasing and I'm feeling more and more comfortable in the pool and running. I'm able to run now back to back even after long days. The soreness in the legs is also decreasing after a long run. I'm sleeping a bit better now but since I workout early every morning I don't get to really sleep in much.

During the week it was also Valentines Day. I got Megan a beautiful single rose along with a Boyd bear and a hand written card with a photo that I had taken. Megan got me a really cool alabaster polar bear and heart that one of her patrons at the library makes. They are really cool.

Megan also prepared a private candle light dinner for me in her room. I picked up the food, which I was late doing, but we both prepared it once I got there. We had scallops cooked in oil with garlic, roasted vegetables (sweet peppers, onions, carrots, parsnip) and some nice multi-grain crusty bread. It was good. We then watched a not so great movie that I picked out, d'oh again, oh well. I fell asleep during it anyways. I've been doing that a lot lately. It was a wonderful night that I will not forget.

Also this week I had another Disciples in Mission Group Meeting. It went pretty well and I contributed also. I didn't complete last weeks assignment but I couldn't really think of anybody to write a letter to. This weeks assignment I'm already doing. I'm listening to the daily readings and Liturgy of the Hours every day. So now I just need to reflect on that. This next week I'm actually going to mass to a Monastery with Megan and a few others. I will definitely report back on how that goes. I'm sure it will be just fine and I will further my religious bond.

The Bad
This weeks weather was horrible though. Wednesday was the worst weather that I have ever driven in. Normally my commute is 45min but this day due to rain/sleet/freezing rain/snow it was almost double that. It started off as rain at my house and ended up having a windshield covered in Ice and by the time I hit work it was snowing.
The very next day I went out for a run in the early morning. It was actually still dark when I left and due to all the rain and ice we got the roads were very treacherous. Plus it was very cold and I froze. I couldn't even move my hands when I got home.

Valentines day evening was great but the day it self sucked. I ran in the am before my first seminar on Phosphorus. I ended up going to the wrong hotel where it was taking place and ended up being late. The seminar itself was very dry and boring. Very technical and it was done by an engineer who has never taken a Dale Carnegie course. My second seminar/class is the Dale Carnegie class that I'm taking. Today I totally screwed up my speeches. I got very nervous and flustered. Oh well. That why we do it week after week. I just need to relax more. I also ran around afterwards and ended getting to Megan's house for dinner very late but once I got there every fell into place and I had a wonderful evening.

The Ugly
Work was still pretty stressful and I'm having a tough time with it.

Catch Up Report

Catch Up Report

This summer has been anything but normal for me. To start off this past spring I was attacked with a super immune bug which made me bed ridden for 3 months. I had been training intensely up to this point and then just crashed hard. I spent those 3 months mostly on the bed, couch, or at the doctor’s office. After 100’s of tests, liters of blood drawn, they never determined exactly what caused my illness but I finally got better with lots of time and rest. So this bout of illness totally screwed my training for upcoming spring and summer races. I had lost over 10lbs of lean body mass, mostly muscle. My power was very weak to non existent on the bike and it took a lot of mental and physical effort to just not quit. I did get better and gained some strength back. I also decided that I was not mentally fit to do pack road races this year since my spout of nasty crashes that I had. I decided to switch gears and do a lot of Time Trials and start swimming and running to train for triathlons. This was a new thing for me since I had never done a triathlon, never swam competitively before, or did much running other than playing soccer 8 years ago. I joined a local pool and just jumped right in with swimming. I did a lot of internet reading and talking to friends to figure out just how to do it. I’m still a very beginner but gaining strength and skill every day. My run training however has not gone so smoothly. I started off pretty easy doing some walk / run sessions for 20-30min max 2-3 times a week. After a few weeks of that I picked it up a bit and started running for 30-40 min. After a couple more weeks I started having knee pain every time I would run. I entered my first 5k race which was the Winthrop Friends of the 4th 5k race on July 4th. I did very well for my first ever running race and got 41st place overall out of 436 entrants. My time was 20:21.78 for 5k which equates to 6:33min miles and I ended up 4th in my category. After the race I continued to run with pain until I went to the doc to have it looked at. I found out that I had bursitis of the knee. Pretty common and I got some drugs, stopped running for a few weeks which cleared it right up. After that I started running again pretty easy on mostly off pavement. I would go to Bates and run on their synthetic track which was really nice. It felt like a big sponge. My knee felt better but not 100%. I had a dull ache right under the knee cap which would never go away not matter what I did. I had x-ray done, which showed nothing. Then I went ahead and had a MRI done. I was still running on it at this point. It didn’t hurt and wasn’t really affecting my running at all I just had a dull ache all the time. I found out from the MRI that I have stress fractures of the medial tibial plateau.

Image taken from The American Journal of Sports Medicine 34:78-83 (2006)

Not good. I was told no running for many months. When I found out I was totally heart broken it affected me more than I thought. I had a total mental breakdown and just wanted to quit all training and be the typical fat American bum. I had already signed up to do my first triathlon which was the next weekend which I had been planning to do now for months. I was totally excited about doing it and had put in a lot time, training and mental will power to tackle this feet which is now null in void. I got the word from the doc that I could continue to swim and bike but couldn’t run for a long time until I had zero pain which he said could take months. I decided to keep on training on the bike, because you know me I couldn’t just quit. I am also really concentrating on perfecting my swim. I decided also to enter the Lobsterman Aquabike which is on September 15th in Freeport, ME. It starts at 11am and I only have to swim then bike. It’s not the same as doing the full triathlon but I’ll take what I can get at this point. So that is my next serious goal other than doing a few Time Trials here and there. This gets us caught up to date and I’m going to try and do posts more often. I’ve got a few in mind so stay tuned.