ZappoMan.com - Fitness Blog

Swimming and biking and running… Oh My!

May 10th, 2007

I’ve been working really hard the last couple weeks on my new business. I’ve been doing late nights working on putting together some final touches on a product we hope to release as beta soon… basically it’s crunch time. To make matters even more challenging, last week, my wife was out of town taking care of her father (who had a heart attack and didn’t even know it)… playing Mr. Mom is a lot harder than my normal job.

The point is my blogging has been compromised… but that’s ok, we all have priorities. I have been able to keep my training up, although I’ll admit that I probably haven’t been getting the fullest out of my sessions. I mean I’m supposed to be in the Build-1 period right now… out of Base… the goal of this period is to focus on increasing effort at a mid/heavy time load (15 hours/week). I’m getting in the hours, but I don’t have enough energy to really put in the intensity levels I want.

Biking…

Here’s an example… I did a 54 mile bike ride yesterday. And I know Phil hates it when I say this but basically I felt pretty tired, and I could “only” muster a 17.5mph average. Considering this was a relatively flat course (maybe 1000ft over the entire distance) this is really quite slow for me. Now I can use the excuse of wind, there were some ungodly winds hitting me from all directions… but I should be able to power through those as well. I think the reality is I was tired. I had only slept about 3.75 hours two nights earlier and then 5 hours the night before…. Sure I brag about only needing about 5 hours a sleep a night… but that means that 3.75 hours is cutting out 25% of that normal amount… a big hit.

Anyway, I got the distance in, it was a beautiful day, it allowed me to clear my head, and then when I got back to home (work) I was able to power through a ton of work… so that’s all good.

Swimming…

Today, I went for a swim at my new pool. Yep, we finally joined a new gym. And I am happier with this pool. I want to write up a more detailed report on just this pool. But for now I’ll say, here’s what I like about it:

• It’s 25 meters long! Woo hoo. That really is great compared to the 17 yards of my old pool.
• It has 3 very wide lanes - and 100% circle swim - so you can never be refused a lane, you never have to wait to swim.
• It never shuts down for “family swim”. Which is to say that there is a recreation pool for family swim and a lap pool for swimming laps. Actually they are connected in a big “L” shape.
• The pool is very clean, well organized, and the gym looks great also… although so far I’ve only been swimming.

Interestingly, now that I have a longer pool to swim in, I am getting a much better workout. I can actually work on my swimming rhythm. Today I came to the conclusion that my average stroke count for 25 meters is 17-18 strokes. I think that’s pretty good… I was watching some other swimmers today and most of them were in the 22-24 range for this pool. I’ve been doing more work on doing more strokes per breath… but now that I’m not turning around after only 9 strokes, I’m seeing that it’s a little harder to keep up a 5 or 7 stroke per breath pace. I still need work on this.

Oh, and I took Zola to the pool on Monday, and she reports that “It’s cool Dad!”. She was really impressed with the Family Locker Room on the pool deck. I’ll admit, I think this is a great idea. Basically, they have a smaller locker room, that you have to get a key from the lifeguard to use. They have lockers and a couple chairs, and you’re guaranteed to have privacy. What a great solution!

Running…

I decided to go for a run today. This is my first run in a couple weeks. I had been avoiding running because of my mild case of plantar fasciitis. It turns out that was not what I should be worried about.

I had decided about a week ago, that I wanted to try to toughen up my feet so that I could race triathlons without socks on. I have been walking around with no socks in my shoes and I’ve been riding my bike with no socks since then. Today, I decided to try to do a run with no socks.

Turns out that wasn’t such a good idea… well… or I should say, I got a huge blister. Now part of me realizes that I was going to get a blister during this process. I expected it… so I can’t really be surprised.

But I guess I am surprised at how big it is, and how it actually hurts like hell! It practically covers the entire bottom of my left foot.

Oh well… It’s all part of the process.

Entry Filed under: Fitness, Triathlon, Swimming, Ironman, Running, Cycling, Sports Injuries, Daughters, exercise