Running Progress

I went running outside again after getting back from Vegas. There is enough areas without snow/ice that I can manage to find a route worth running. I am up to about 4 miles of running in about 45 minutes. I also just went to 2:00/1:30 for my run/walk times.

So far so good. It doesn't hurt to run, but I get pretty sore afterwards.

Bike Progress

Today I had to do my bike workout early in the morning before work. Overall my bike workouts have been going pretty well. Today was another set of intervals my coach calls "threshold efforts." Very hard efforts for a period of time (5 minutes today) with some amount of rest between at lower power (3 minutes today).

Well going into this I didn't think I would be able to do it. Big power for long period of time, coupled with me being low on sleep and coming back from a vacation. I figured I would just poop out.

It was indeed a very difficult workout. At the end of the 4th interval I was breathing really hard, and legs were burning but I finished. I actually can't believe it. Now I get to go to bed early!

Lonely Vegas Swim

Friday I drove downtown to go swim at the Las Vegas Municipal Pool. It was a lonely swim, just me and a water aerobics class. I swam my 2700 yards and then headed back to the hotel to shower and get some breakfast/lunch.

Today before we left, I again drove over to the pool. I arrived at about 750am but the pool didn't open until 8am. What pool isn't open at the crack of dawn? So it was me and a homeless guy waiting to get in. Once it opened up, I got in the pool and cranked out my yards while the old guys exercised their mouths in the lanes next to me.

Another Vegas Run

We drove over to Sunset Park again today for another run/walk. I took a slightly different route around the park and explored some new areas. The weather was beautiful again, with temps in the 40's but bright sunshine. The Vitamin D was nice!

All this exercise is needed because one of the things we like to do while we are in Vegas is eat ice cream. We have a couple of favorite places to go. Big scoops of gelato as seen in the picture below is our usual go to, but we also go to a place called Gelatology which has a bunch of very unique flavors.

Running and Sushi

We are on a long weekend trip to Vegas. Grandma came to town to watch over the kid, and Melissa and I headed out for a weekend away just after her birthday. We got in late last night and crashed in our Flamingo hotel room.

My  training plan had a run to do today and Melissa had a walk, so we grabbed some protein bars and headed towards Sunset park. The weather was rather cool, with temps only in the low 40's. We stopped at a gas station to pick up some diet dew and we also stopped at Starbucks to pick up a coffee for Melissa.

The run/walk through the park we beautiful. A true gem in the middle of this city. There was a section of this park that was left more "native" and just had paved trails winding around it. It was fun and a nice change from what we normally do in Vegas. We stopped at CVS on the way back to the hotel to pick up a couple of things we forgot. Happens almost every trip.

After a quick shower, we were ready for lunch. Makino sushi was on tap today. We ate our fill of sushi at this little local gem.

Co-Workouts

Occasionally our schedules coincide where Melissa and I have a workout at home. Two days in a row I was on the bike and she was on the elliptical. The biggest problem is what we watch on TV.

Neighborhood Run

My leg felt pretty good today, and it wasn't snowing or bitter cold so I went for a run in the neighborhood. The roads are still icy but there is a totally clear 0.8 mile loop sidewalk by the school so 3 laps around that plus the trip there and back.

The run went well. Experimenting a bit with my posture today. Nothing drastic, just trying to find that comfortable position for me. It was a good run, I had no issues. Hardest part is trying to figure out what to wear for the various temperatures I have been experiencing.

Another Lakewalk Run

I dropped Melissa off at the bowling alley and I headed down to the Lakewalk to do my run tonight. It wasn't bitter cold and I really didn't feel like getting on the treadmill. I parked did some warmups and headed out.

About a mile and a half in, I end up in a section of the Lakewalk that is basically unlit and it is DARK when there is no moon. I really needed a headlamp or something. I will have to keep that in mind for future runs down here.

I am up to a 1:45/1:45 run/walk ratio. So I keep trying to push the segment length. Run went fine. The first few run segments I didn't feel were very fast or efficient. About the 5th one it felt really good. I had no idea what my pace was on any of the run segments. I just ran what was comfortable.

The leg didn't bother me at all during the run. It hurts constantly otherwise. Just sitting or walking around it aches all the time, but running didn't bother it.

Morning Workouts

So I have generally been a morning person, but never a morning exercise person. But now I have been doing this 2x/week swim class at 615 in the morning along with some bike rides on the trainer in the mornings. So I have been slowly becoming a morning exercise person.

I don't eat anything before my morning workouts so I am truly going on nothing. I have a half a can of diet mountain dew on the drive to the Y in the morning thats about it. I don't do anything other than water if I am home. I just eat after my workout.

I generally don't have any issues with swimming, or at least I don't notice anything. Today was different. Today was the first time I can remember just not having anything in the tank for a swim workout. I could tell during the first round of 200's that I just didn't have it in me today. I completed the workouts, but my times were all off.

I guess all the workouts can't be good.

Just signed up!

Well after a quick discussion with my coach, I pulled the trigger and signed up for my first triathlon and signed up for the Superiorman short course. Well it will actually be the last triathlon of the season as it is at the end of August. My coach wants me to do a sprint and olympic distance before this.

Superiorman is a triathlon here in Duluth. It starts with jumping off a boat into the harbor to swim back to Bayfront park, then a long bike up and back along the shore, and then a run on the Lakewalk. They have two distances. They have the "Long course" distance which is a half ironman distance of 70.3 miles, and they have the "short course" which is 41.5 miles. I will be doing the short course which is a 0.5 mile swim, a 35.4 mile bike and a 5.6 mile run.

I am nervous and excited. I can't run that far (yet), it will be about 2 hours on the bike and I can't do much more than an hour now, and the swim will be COLD. I have several swimming friends that have done it and they encouraged me to do it too.