Heart Rate

So one of the other toys I got for my birthday was a heart rate monitor for the pool. I wore it for my two Tri-Swim classes this week and it worked great.

I noticed right away that there were two sets of 4 rising peaks in the middle there where we did two sets of 4x100 build.

Speaking of which, I have always struggled with build sets. I have never been able to find a middle gear. I can go nice and easy, and I can go fast, but being able to control things in the middle has been a struggle.

But today I was finally able to do that with a 2:01, 1:54, 1:48, 1:39 build set! I was super happy with that but hard to celebrate in a group session.

Injured

About 3 weeks ago I tried running for the first time in probably a decade. Wouldn't you know it, I hurt myself. I pulled a muscle in my inner thigh, and then that spread to a full fledged hamstring pull. The odd thing was that it only hurt when I ran or walked fast. Swimming or biking didn’t hurt. So finally after 3 weeks of rest without getting better, off to the doctor I went with a 730am appointment.

I saw TJ the NP. He said to ice it, and take mass doses of ibuprofen. That was not unexpected. He also agreed that PT was probably a good thing so he sent me off to scheduling to make an appointment for physical therapy. Amazingly enough there was an appointment at 830am that morning! So I went home, changed into some shorts and headed back to PT.

My PT was an initial 1 hour session. She checked me out and said that basically the adductor and hamstring pain are likely related. She wants me to ice my upper hamstring. She gave me some hamstring and calf stretches to do. She did a bunch of soft tissue massage with the grafton tool.

Her evaluation is that my left butt cheek is weaker than my right which likely has an effect on this too.

Next visit I am supposed to bring my running shoes. She said I have over flexible ankles and my foot tends to collapse inward and if the shoes don't support that, then your butt has to support that, and if your butt isn't strong enough then your hamstring takes the load and viola you end up in PT.

So this whole thing isn't starting very well.

First uses

So I took my new swim watch, sans heart rate strap, to my swim class Monday morning. It is designed such that you can pause the workout when you are resting at the end of the pool then restart when you swim. Well as expected, I forgot to pause it a couple of times, and forgot to restart it a couple of times. But it worked really well.

Because of my errors it was about 500 yards short for the day including the warm up and cool down.

The pace and stroke count were very interesting as well. I think I can have some fun with all this data!

The day before, I took the Edge 820 out on the bike to see how it worked.

Speed, cadence, elevation, lots of fun stuff for this too.

With the Garmin products, now all of this automatically uploads to my new TrainingPeaks account.

Now I just need a coach.

New Toys

So I had been using a Samsung Gear Fit for a few months now. It was kinda nice having the heart rate, sleep monitoring, step counting etc. But it is limited in its functionality. So after much research, I spent some money (happy birthday, merry Christmas, happy valentines day, happy anniversary....) and bought some new toys.

Garmin Fenix 5 on the left, and the Garmin Edge 820 on the right. I also got some chest strap heart rate monitors I can use while swimming, biking or running.

Not the most intuitive things to use. I will need to spend some time with the manuals. But the watch looks good on my wrist!

Swimming While Travelling

So last weekend I made a trip to Green Bay to see my folks and to attend a Packer game. While there I took an hour and headed up to the local YMCA for a swim. They have a nice 4 lane lap pool there and rarely crowded. I briefly shared a lane but soon found myself swimming alone. It felt good to get a good 1500 yards in.

This week I am travelling to Nashville for a convention. I depart Thursday and return on Sunday. I had looked up the resort before I left and it appeared they had a lap pool at the resort! So after I got there I went and checked it out. Sure enough, 3 lap lanes built into the indoor pool.

So Friday morning, I threw on my suit, grabbed my necessary equipment and headed down to the pool.

I was pretty tired from my Tri-Swim class on Thursday morning still, so a nice and easy 1000 yard swim over about 25 minutes was what was on tap today. There was one lifeguard sitting alone in the chair and another lifeguard taking a nap on one of the loungers. It was quiet and I was the only one there. The fitness center was another story. That place was packed!

So with the swim done, I was ready for a day of conventioning, and then we explored Broadway and downtown Nashville that night.

Double Workout

So today was the first day of a Tri-Swim class I am taking at the YMCA. Max is my coach and also my daughter's swim team coach. Max and I swam on a relay together at Nationals earlier this summer and he is a 3x Ironman finisher. I had take a class from him over the winter on Sundays and learned a lot, so a 2x/week class early in the morning seemed like a good idea.

Although I consider myself a morning person, I am NOT a morning exercise person. I prefer to do my exercise at the end of my day in the evening. So I can't actually remember a time that I exercised right after getting up.

So the class was at 615am which means I had to wake up at 530, throw on some clothes (laid out the night before) grab my bag (laid out the night before) some caffeine and head downtown to the Y. I got there in plenty of time and got down to the pool.

5 of us in the class, all about the same age, 3 women, 2 men. We were all about the same ability level too. Made for a fun class. With a 650 yard warmup out of the way, we did some technique work and then some speed work. 1350 yards after the warmup, a nice even 2000 yard hour long workout. Felt good.

It was a rare fall day in Duluth today with a temp over 80 degrees. I wasn't going to ride my bike today, but you just can't pass up taking advantage of this weather. Soon it will be too cold to bike. So I grabbed my bike right after work and did a 13 mile out and back on the same road. New speed record with average speed over 15mph! Very exciting and felt real good too.

So my first double workout in a really long time (since I don't do mornings I can't remember when I last did it). I felt pretty energized after my bike, sore but energized, but now it is all coming crashing down and I am headed to bed.

How Far Did I Go?

So last night I hopped on the bike and headed out on the same path that I had taken the last few times. As I approached my normal turn around point (about 4 miles) I decided to just go another mile before turning around.

However, my watch was only displaying elapsed time and not distance, so I rode what I thought was another mile and then turned around. When I got home, it turns out that I rode 11.29 miles! So my estimation of a mile is off apparently.

Felt pretty good though.

Roy

After much discussion with the family, we decided on naming the bike Roy. With that settled, I took Roy out for another 8 mile spin tonight. It was a bit colder than Sunday so I wore a sweatshirt this time.

But the pace seemed good. My average speed was a bit better this time around. My butt didn't hurt as much this time around. So things are looking good.

Roy and I are getting along swell.

First Ride

On the recommendation of a friend, I spent some time leaned up against the car today trying to figure out how to clip in and out of my pedals.

Then I rode it in the grass, clipping and unclipping my way down the hill....

Riding it back up the street.

Then with a tiny bit of confidence I took her out for her first ride. 8 miles, 37 minutes. It was fun!

Still no name for the bike, though I have the family thinking about it too.

New Bike

So I went down to St. Paul yesterday to buy myself a bike. I had tried to do some research online but there are TONS of brands, and TONS of models within those brands. Everyone you ask has at least 2 opinions, so it is very unhelpful.

As I told my friend before I left I was mentally prepared for information overload and decision paralysis. What I was also prepared for was some sticker shock, but more on that later.

So I left Duluth about 6:30am in a dreary and rainy early morning. As I drove further south the weather improved and quit raining at least. I arrived at the store shortly after they opened. I went inside and they had tons of bikes. Road bikes, Tri bikes, mountain bikes, hybrid bikes, fat bikes....already overwhelming.

Future Decorations?

Then Rich comes up and asks if I need help with a bike. I said yes and we introduced ourselves and I settled in for a long day. I don't know if Rich expected to spend the next 6 hours with me or not, but thats what ended up happening.

Rich was incredibly patient. We spent the first hour talking about my history, what kind of biking I hoped to do, then what kind of road bikes (that term is too generic it turns out) there were, and what I might be interested it.

I decided pretty quickly that a hybrid bike was not what I was looking for, so we focused on road bikes. Talked about some of the brands, how they differ etc. We talked about components and levels of Shimano....oh the list goes on. Like I predicted, information overload.

So we picked out 3 different bikes to try. They put some flat pedals on them, and I took them all for about a 2 mile test ride. I hands down like a bike better than the other two. Not quite sure why, but I did. Then, and only then, did we even talk about price.

HOLY SH!T!! The bike I liked was way beyond what I was expecting to pay. Even above my high number.

So I told him that I was going to go to lunch and think about it. He gave me a recommendation for a great place for a burger and it was wonderful. Go check out the Nook if you are in St. Paul.

I walked out of the store and of course called my wife. I got the same response from her. Then I texted a friend and he said I would be very happy with that bike and that it would last me a long time. So with a full tummy and the ok of a couple of key people, I headed back to the store.

My new bike shoes

I had to buy, bike shorts (well actually a bike overall), bike shoes and a helmet. Those decisions were quite easy actually. Then with that, I hopped on this monstrosity to get fit for my bike.

The GURU Bike Fitter

It took about 30 minutes of adjusting seat height, fore/aft location, and the handle bar height and fore/aft location. They also used that time to explain how to clip in and out of the pedals.

So with the fit complete, then they finished building up my bike, gave me a quick demonstration of some basic maintenance, swiped my credit card and off I went with my new bike. A Cervelo S3

I have not yet named it, though the leading candidate is Charlie.

Running Still Sucks

Ok, so I last ran on Monday

I enjoyed it but apparently pulled a muscle and I was pretty sore until today. So today I decide to give it another shot. Same routine with a 0.3 mile walking warm up followed by a 5k run/walk/run.

Right away on the run, I could feel my left inner thigh tightening up. I pushed through the first mile, then walked the next 1.15 before finishing with the run/walk/run, though I shortened in the interval. I am seriously injured. It was really painful.

So on the google I went and apparently I have pulled an abductor muscle in my leg and it needs to rest for a while. So two runs and I am already too injured to continue.

Running sucks.

But I am all packed up for my trip to the Twin Cities to go bike shopping.