2012 Year in Review

2012 was the first of hopefully many years of activity. After my "post-baby" weight gain was causing my size 36 pants to be too tight, I decided I needed to lose weight and get in shape. (Yes, guys can gain weight with a newborn, especially if he never sleeps and you eat whatever as "treats" for not getting any sleep).
I first weighed in at 217.6 lbs and today I weighed 196.6 lbs, a loss of 21 lbs. I still have about 10 lbs to go and hopefully that will happen once the holidays pass (I haven't lost anything since Thanksgiving).
In the 20 weeks since I started running in August, I completed two 5Ks, and I have another scheduled in 2 weeks.

2012 Races
Oct 27 - Pumpkin 5k - 29:21 (9:28/mile)
Nov 22 - Turkey Trot 5k - 28:22 (9:09/mile)

Totals for the Year
Run (Started in August)
# times: 56
Total Distance: 140 miles (+49 miles of walking - warmups, cooldowns, etc)

Biking (Started after Thanksgiving)
# Times: 13
Total Distance: 68 miles

Swimming (Started in December)
# Times: 6
Total Distance: 5450 yards

First BRICK = Miserable

After a week off exercising due to Christmas traveling, I forced myself back into a workout. It is hard when everyone is laying around the house. It is tempting to do the same. However, my free time is very limited, so I take an opportunities I can get.

On Friday, I ran. On Saturday, I biked 12 1/2 miles. On Sunday I decided to try a BRICK (Bike + Run). My Saturday bike ride was the longest I had ever done. So when I hopped on the bike, my butt was still very sore, and my legs felt like jello. I planned two laps around the neighborhood (5.5 miles), but only managed one. The transition seemed fairly smooth, but I forgot to take my fleece off which soon proved to be hot. (Time = 2 minutes) The beginning of the run felt very weird. After about 400 yards, my calves were tight so I had to stop and stretch. I also went about 1.5 hrs after a big lunch, so my stomach gave me troubles. I would have like to go later, but with both kids napping, it was the best time to get out of the house. After many many thoughts about quitting the run, I push myself to do my original planned distance of 2.25 miles. It felt miserable. On the brightside, when I calculated my run time, it came out to be 9:24 mile, which I am still in disbelief over. It felt much slower.

Last Workout Before Christmas

We'll be doing some traveling over Christmas so I wanted to hit it harder this morning since I won't be able to do anything again for about a week. It was quite cold for Houston (34 F) at 5am. I ran 5.6 miles, which is my longest distance ever. I was running for distance and didn't care much about speed. I felt I was at my "Energizer Bunny pace" (I could keep going and going), which is currently about 10:30/mile. As I wasn't out of breath at all when I finished, though my legs were getting tired and I was started to get a blister on my foot. I could have easily hit 10k, but I was at a good stopping point and needed to get back to help get the kids ready.  Now my legs are good and sore, so they can recover over the next week.

I have a 5k in about 3 weeks. My goal is to break 9:00/mile (I was 9:06 last time), but I haven't been doing as much running (in lieu of biking and swimming), so I'm not sure if it will happen.

Strong Cyclists Have the Advantage

I am a numbers guy. I keep detailed records of my workouts. I was curious to see what average times were and the differences within each discipline. The below stats are from 30-34 year old male age group of the 2012 CB&I Woodlands Triathlon. 

If you are an above average swimmer (25th percentile), you would save 3.09 minutes over someone who was a below average swimmer (75th percentile). However, if you were an above average cyclist (25th percentile) you would save about 8 minutes over a below average cyclist (75th percentile)

Kinesthetic Awareness

With Christmas, it'll be tough to get any workouts in for about a week, so I am trying to push myself this week. So I went for an 8 mile bike ride this morning, upping my average pace to 14 mph. I am trying some kinesthetic awareness (riding, self diagnosing issues, and then using google to find answers).

1. My butt gets sore
2. I think I still might be a little low in the saddle.
3. I still need to learn to ride with one hand. (How else can I drink any water or eat?)

(1) From the indefatigable Sheldon Brown:

You'll notice that I do call them "saddles," not "seats." There is a reason for this. A "seat" is something you sit on, and is designed to bear essentially your entire weight. Recumbent bicycles have "seats," but conventional upright bicycles have saddles. A saddle is intended to carry some, but not all of your weight. The rest of your weight is mainly carried by your legs, and some by your hands and arms. (Me: I may not be carrying much weight with my legs)
 A cyclist who is out of cycling shape from being off a bicycle for a few months or more, will start out strong, but the legs will tire rapidly. When the legs tire, the rider sits harder on the saddle, and that's when the trouble starts. (Me: Yes) Many saddle complaints are actually traceable to fatigue caused by starting out the season with a longer ride than you are ready for.

(2) Again from Sheldon Brown:

You cannot judge the saddle height to any accuracy by just sitting on it, or riding around the block. As you get close to the correct position, the clues get more and more subtle.Most people start with the saddle too low. .... Riding with the saddle too low is like walking with your knees bent. If you walked that way all the time, you'd also get used to that, but you'd think that half a mile was a long walk. The way the human leg is made, it is strongest when it is nearly straight.
I suggest gradually raising your saddle, perhaps half an inch (1 cm) at a time. Each time you raise it, ride the bike. If it doesn't feel noticeably worse to ride, ride it for at least a couple of miles/km. If it had been too low before, your bike will feel lighter and faster with the new riding position. If raising the saddle improved things, raise it again, and ride some more. Keep doing this until the saddle is finally too high, then lower it just a bit.
When the saddle is too high, you'll have to rock your hips to pedal, and you'll probably feel as if you need to stretch your legs to reach the bottom part of the pedal. Another indication that the saddle may be too high is if you find yourself moving forward so that you are sitting on the narrow front part of the saddle. 

(3) From How to Ride Your Bike Like a Veteran

Learning to ride with one hand takes a bit of skill and coordination. Your weight needs to be firmly placed on the seat, with the one steering had locked out for support and stability. Bent elbows are a no-no here. Some folks find that engaging your core muscles can help!

Swim Improvement

In the last week since I last went swimming, I bought swim jammers (just had standard trunks) and have been watching a lot of YouTube videos. I actually saw some serious improvement over my previous times. My 100 yard time dropped from 2:45 to between 2:14 - 2:31 depending on the set.

I've mostly been doing blocks of 100 yards. I figure if I can concentrate on my stroke the best when I am not out of breath. Endurance swimming can come later. I found that these drills, addressed some of my weaknesses. I definitely hadn't rotated my body when swimming, but this is because I learned it was bad ("rotating is wasting energy").

I breath out of my right side, and I notice I start pulling with my left hand too early (when my hand is by my thigh). It was a little difficult to correct with the "catch-up" drill or the similar "slow arm recovery" drill, because I notice I start sinking and I use the pull to keep my head above water so I can breathe. I think I need to keep my butt up closer to the surface as I must be dragging. I need to have someone video me when I swim.


Update: Via the wonders of the internet and google, I found an answer to my question. The entire post "Bigfuzzdoug's Ten Points to Swimming" is awesome, and one of the points directly addressed my issue:

 

4.)  “Torpedoes move faster than oil tankers.” You have to try and maintain a slim, sleek, torpedo shape.  Back and legs straight as a board.  Think of your body swimming through a narrow two foot-wide-tube.  Most swimmers legs tend to sink.  You need to overcome this by two things:  First, improve your back, abs and oblique core muscles.  I can’t stress enough how good exercise like Pilates are for swimming!  And second, “press your buoy.”  By lowering your head and pressing your chest down, you raise your legs.  This is known as “downhill swimming”.
Unusual Training Tip:  Try to look at your feet!  That's right.  As you swim, I want you to try and look under and behind you.  This is going to drive your head down, get your feet up and make you more streamlined in the water.  Your chin should be against your chest.  Not so tightly that you can't breathe or that it's uncomfortable, just so that you're leading with the top of your head, not your forehead and driving your head down.  Again, the goal is to raise your legs and look like a flat, horizontal torpedo in the water....

The most common mistake by amateur swimmers (me not excluded) is that they convert their breathing stroke into a vertical support stroke to push their heads up and out of the water further.  It doesn't work and it's wasted energy.  It slows you down (dramatically) and creates bad habits.  Keep that chin in tight to your shoulder and use that stroke to go FORWARD!   ...

Most people suffer in that as they're recovering an arm, turning up, getting their mouth out of the water to take a breath, they begin the next pull to push down and keep their head up to breathe.  They've immediately decreased their length of waterline by two feet or more and this immediately creates wake drag.  You have to be able to put your ear on your bicep with a fully extended arm and keep it their throughout the entire breath.  Recovery arm meets the extended one, rotate back down and THEN begin the next pull.

White Oak Bayou Trail

Normally, I got around the neighborhood in the morning, but with all of the stops and intersections, sometimes getting a good workout can be a little difficult. Since I had some more time today, I took a trip over to the White Oak Bayou Trail. The total trail is over 5 miles, and you can ride from 43rd street to Antoine/West Little Work (a 3 mile distance) without any intersections. The Bayou made for decent scenery and you can quickly forget you are pretty much in the ghetto until you get to Antoine. The underpasses along the way made for some practice riding on "hills."

I certainly got the workout I wanted. It was only my 7th time out on my bike, but I decided to ride for a long distance no matter how slow I rode. I did 11.5 miles and that took me an hour. Some of that was interrupted by lights and intersections getting to and from the trail. My average pace on the trail (6 miles) was just over 13 mph and my best mile was 16.44 mph. I didn't really get out of breath, but my legs got tired. (My butt also got really sore.)

To put this in perspective, in the 2012 Woodlands Triathlon, the 90th percentile of participants in the 30-34 age group was 16.4 mph over 15 miles. So I have a looong way to go. However, it was only my 7th time, and it took about 35 times running for my standalone 5k time to be within the 90th percentile of the same triathlon athlete times for the 5k portion. I have about 30 weeks my planned triathlon, so if I can ride twice per week, that is 60 more training rides. Patience, Chris.

The First of Many Laps

I spent my lunch hour at a pool trying to work on my stroke. I've read that it is better to work on the stroke than swim for endurance. I've tried to put instruction from YouTube videos into practice. The results were not immediately successful. I think this will be a long road.

I tried some of the drills recommended in my triathlon book (Complete Triathlon Book by Matt Fitzgerald), but they weren't so successful. I tried the "catch-up" drill, but got out of breath (when do you breath and how). I tried the "count stroke" drill, but got out of breath and also lost track. I also tried the "close fist" drill (swimming with close fists) and that worked better. I found that doing 100 yds and being concious of my form was possibly the best.

Among others, I did 3 seperate sets of 100 yards at freestyle, all were 2:44 or 2:45. I wasn't trying a all-out pace, but a pace I could somewhat maintain. I also did 100 yards of backstroke and I clocked it at 2:40, even though turns were much more slow and awkward (I cannot do flip turns).

It will be a long road. I have to remember that I have gone running 53 times since August, but this is my 4th time in a pool. I plan on trying to go twice per week.

Helpful Online Swimming Videos

This is a work-in-progess post. I've been scowering YouTube looking for helpful videos. I've found a few  and tried to put them into practice. When I find additional ones that are good, I will add them.


Freestyle Swimming Technique

 

Freestyle Body Positioning

"Breathe to Air"

Three good swim drills ( "slow arm recovery," "quick catch" and "high swingers")

Common Freestyle Mistakes in Swimming

Preparing for Open Water Swim

 Breathing in Freestyle

Freestyle Stroke Analysis

Grant Hackett - Front Crawl Technique

The Swim Arm Cycle

Open water swimming - sighting technique with Keri-anne Payne

From "The Race Club"
Secret Tip - Head Position Part 1
Secret Tip - Head Position Part 2

Helpful YouTube Running Videos

The benefit of running today as opposed to trying to run in 1995 (when I was in high school) is the advent of the internet and YouTube. Information is much more readily available, but sometimes the good information may be hard to find.

If someone was starting running, and especially if they were prone to shin splits, I would heavily recommend the first two videos. As for the five mistakes, I was making four of them. Implementing the tips from these videos has changed my view of running from "I hate it" to something much more managable (I still don't love running).

Five Beginner Running Mistakes:

Forefoot running explained:

Newton is a new shoe company that has designed their shoes around forefoot running. I started running on my forefoot a few months before I bought their shoes. Watching the video made me realize it wasn't a gimmick. It made sense. I've owned them for two months now, and I am a happy customer. My joint pain is less and I think my run time is up because the pain is less.

Newton has other good videos, but this one below hit home for me. Despite trying to run on my forefoot, I would still feel some shin pain from time to time. I think this is why (I was still overextending).

Longest Run Ever (5 miles)

I ran five miles on Saturday. Yup. Five miles. Since my in-laws were in town for my son’s 1^st birthday, my and I were able to go together. I first ran with the Mrs. for 2.4 miles at her pace (11:29/mile), and then I ran 2.7 miles at a faster pace (10:14/mile), but slower than my recent training pace.

I didn’t really care about time at all, though. Since my previous furthest distance ever was 3.28 miles, so running 5.1 miles has been a huge ego boost. I now have confidence that I could run a 10k. At the end, I wasn’t out of breadth, but my legs were very tired. They are still sore today.

Back in the Pool

So I got to go swimming over lunch. The place is really nice and the cost was low ($5/visit). So I swam a total of 650 yards in about 18 minutes. I started with 250 yards, but got myself all out of breath and I couldn’t probably recover even switching to backstroke. So I stopped, rested and started again. I did 300 yards, all freestyle. It was slow, but I was happy to be able to maintain the stroke, since that is where I want to get to eventually.  Backstroke laps won’t really help my eventual goal. However, the overall time was as a slow as when I did add in backstroke. Later in the season they are supposed to switch the lanes to lengthwise so each lap will be 50m, which means less turns. I stink at turns, but there is no point in learning them if tri swims are open swims.

I’ve gotten my 5k time down to 28:22 minutes, so part of my mind was expecting to immediately be producing equivalent times on the bike and the swim, but that is far from true. While I’m not quite at square one as I was when I started running, I am much further down on the learning curve.

Time on the Bike

I got to take my bike for another spin this morning. It’s basically the 4^th time I’ve taken it out for exercise. I went 5.5 miles. I didn’t really get too out of breadth, but my legs get tired. Cycling definitely used different muscles that running – more the quads rather than the calves.

Part of mind thinks I should be able to do 15 miles at 20 mph already. I’m not like I was with running August, but there is some build up required. The other part of my brain has me practicing things like going over potholes or rounding corners (trying to get a feel for the speed to make a certain turn). The rationale side of me says all of these things take time to practice. I am still getting used to being on a bike again. I still have 21 weeks until a triathlon. For reference, I’ve been running for 17 weeks.

Longer than 5k

I did run on Sunday for 3.28 miles, which is my new longest distance and still maintain a pace of 9:50 min/mile, though I felt tired when I started. I think if I can build the endurance to run a 10k, then I should be able to have the endurance to do the triathlon. Similarly, I should be able to swim 1k (all freestyle) if that is my only exercise. I might try going swimming tomorrow. I’ll start with 500m. I haven’t swam in 7 weeks. For reference, at that time I was running 2.5 miles at about 10:45 a mile.