Aquafit Triathlon Training Program

WOW – here it is April 24, 2010 and triathlon training program came to an end with a mini indoor triathlon. This program started the week of January 17, 2010 and I was really pumped to get started. While the training calendar seemed to be an aggressive one I realized that to be successful in the world of triathlons it had to be this way. Let me take this time to thank our head coach Allison F. Harper and our swim coach Ellyn Vail for giving us the leadership needed to see this through. These coaches were there when we needed to talk out our fears and to encourage us to keep going. With these 15 weeks of training behind me I feel confident in my knowledge to continue my training leading up to my first triathlon the Assateague Assault Triathlon in June 2010.

This next 6 weeks will be very tough on me as I continue forward towards the running of my first official triathlon. So for those of you that are connected to me on Facebook and Twitter I will be looking for your support and guidance. To my wife the most important support person in my life please keep believing in me and understand that I am not ignoring you.

With all this said I am ready to ROCK ON!!!!

Thursday 2/4/10

I ran 8.55 mi on 2/4/2010 at 12:07 PM with a pace of 7'01"/mi http://nikerunning.nike.com/n/r/en_US/1285443551/141763545/?sitesrc=fbk_ab_plus.

This run felt great I was in a grove and a run that was supposed to be easy turned out to be a little intense.

Went to Aquafit for a Spin Class and Meghan was leading class tonight. There was more sweat on the bike and floor than there ever was in any previous class. Of course I think that after telling her that I ran 8.5 miles at lunch time she cranked it up a notch.

Hey I had my annual physical on Tuesday night and the doctor told me I was in great shape and to keep up the good work.

	Date:	2/3/2010	Wednesday
Time	Qty	Food	Calories	Protein	Fat
7:00 AM	1	Oatmeal, protein powder, banana	320	30	34
1:00 PM	1	Muscle Milk	330	32	16
2:00 PM	1	Bean soup	150	9	0
7:00 PM	1	Pure Protein Chocolate Peanut Butter	200	20	6
7:30 PM	1	Meat Loaf	216	21	14
7:30 PM	1	peas	103	7	1
9:00 PM	1	Peanut Butter	90	15	7
		Total:	1409	134	78

 

Wednesday 2/3/10

I ran 6.22 mi on 2/3/2010 at 10:16 AM with a pace of 7'05"/mi http://nikerunning.nike.com/n/r/en_US/1285443551/1551069870/?sitesrc=fbk_ab_plus.

This run felt great and was my first ever negative split with my second half over 1 minute faster. What I believe is that my cross training for the triathlon is helping my running.

Started receiving my gear for the upcoming triathlons, first my triathlon suit and training swim suit came in and then the pedals I bought from eBay arrived. Will be getting the bike on the road when it stops snowing, unbelievable I start to train for a sprint triathlon and we have a winter full of snow.

The supplements I am taking are liquid multi-vitamin, calcium, fish oil, and Creatine all of which I purchase from Vitacost online.

	Date:	2/3/2010	Wednesday
Time	Qty	Food	Calories	Protein	Fat
7:30 AM	1	Oatmeal, protein powder, banana	320	30	34
11:00 AM	1	Muscle Milk	330	32	16
12:45 PM	2	Tomato Soup	225	5	0
1:30 PM		Carrots & Celery Peanut Butter	222	7	15
3:00 PM	0.5	Grapefruit	52	1	0
5:00 PM	1	Bean soup	150	9	0
		Total:	1299	84	65

 

Tuesday 2/2/10

Today was a rest day so I am posting my food intake for the day.

	Date:	2/2/2010	Tuesday
Time	Qty	Food	Calories	Protein	Fat
3:30 AM	1.5	Cheerios	200	6	4
3:30 AM	1	Banana	90	1
9:30 AM	1	Met-Rx Chocolate Roasted Peanut with Caramel	180	19	5
2:00 PM	1	200 Calorie Pizza Cheese & Tomato	200	9	9
3:30PM	1	Peanut Butter & Jelly	390	17	13
7:30PM	16 oz	Homemade beef stew	150	12	0
		Total:	1210	64	31

Monday 2/1/10

Today's training agenda is spin class and legs strength training. Spin class was different as usual each instructor does their own course. This class had us climbing hills with sprints interlaced. During this training session my heart rate went from 70 bpm to 155 bpm with an average of 129 bpm. While definitely felt the burn and was sweating profusely I still went down and did 3 sets with 15 repetitions of squats, leg extensions, seated leg curls, and walking lunges. The weights are very light and the reps are high with a concentration to flex the muscle that is being worked. This strength training was completed at a rapid pace to add some additional fatigue. Upon completion of the both sessions I felt great and a little stiff.

January 31, 2010

Wow! Is the month of January over already? What a month this has been. While I started working on the voyage in December 2009 I started with my training at AquaFit in Chestertown, Maryland. The trainers Allison F. Harper, Mark R. Pagano, and Ellyn Vail provided a plan for all the training and meet with the team weekly. This Sunday January 31^st was our first group swim practice, I have to say that after an hour of drills and instruction I was rather sore. My plan was to run after the swim practice and while I did a run that day it wasn't until later that afternoon. While I am still tuning up my bike and waiting for some parts to arrive I have been attending spin classes twice a week. These classes have been great to get me back into the saddle and to get my bike skills sharpened.

The January summary of my training looks like this: Cross Training – 2 hours, Cycling – 3 hours 6 minutes, Running – over 70 miles in 10 hours 5 minutes, Swimming 1 hour 20 minutes. During this month I posted a new personal best for the mile and I believe that I am on track for a personal best for a 5k on February 14, 2010.

With January behind me I am looking forward to bigger and better things in February and while I am concentrating on my first triathlon Assateague Assault Triathlon in June I want to continue running which I hope it does not interfere with my triathlon training.

My diet has been a part that February is going to be a primary focus and I will log everything I eat, drink and the supplements I take.

Sunday 1/24/10

I started the day by getting up at 7:00 am and fixing a bowl of oatmeal with a scope of vanilla protein powder and half of a banana. While this might sound a little off it was actually pretty good. The plus side of this breakfast was it had 320 calories, 22 grams fat, 34 grams carbohydrates, and 30 grams of protein. This was eaten 1 hour before the start of my exercise program that started with a 45 minute spin class and then moved on to a 3.1 mile run on the treadmill. This is the protein powder I use Body Fortress 2lb Vanilla Whey Protein and I purchase it at Wal-Mart and the price is reasonable at $14.94 for a 2 lb container. This is also the same protein that I used after my gastric bypass surgery at GBMC in 2008. Post workout I used Body Fortress: Super Whey Protein Shot Fruit Punch Supplement, 17.4 oz for 26 grams of protein, you can find this at Wal-Mart $10.54 for a box of 6 shots. On the way home from the gym I ate a Met-Rx: Peanut Butter Pretzel Big 100 Colossal Meal Replacement Bar, 3.52 oz for an additional 30 grams of protein. You can purchase these bars in your local grocery or pharmacy store and even on the internet. You can see by noon I had 86 grams of protein and was working on consuming water for the day. For dinner I had some barbecue ribs, beans and peas around 4 PM and will be having some wings later while watching the NFC football game.

Yesterday I wrote about the VO2max test that the team was given and wanted to expand a little on the results. The test was using the Rockport Fitness Walking Test and after calculating my results were 43.01 and according to the chart I found for a 51 year old male this is Excellent see the chart below from the Brian Mac sports coach website. This was a surprise to me and I am hoping that maybe I can get to that Superior level.

Age	Very Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent	Superior
13-19	<35.0	35.0 - 38.3	38.4 - 45.1	45.2 - 50.9	51.0 - 55.9	>55.9
20-29	<33.0	33.0 - 36.4	36.5 - 42.4	42.5 - 46.4	46.5 - 52.4	>52.4
30-39	<31.5	31.5 - 35.4	35.5 - 40.9	41.0 - 44.9	45.0 - 49.4	>49.4
40-49	<30.2	30.2 - 33.5	33.6 - 38.9	39.0 - 43.7	43.8 - 48.0	>48.0
50-59	<26.1	26.1 - 30.9	31.0 - 35.7	35.8 - 40.9	41.0 - 45.3	>45.3
60+	<20.5	20.5 - 26.0	26.1 - 32.2	32.3 - 36.4	36.5 - 44.2	>44.2

 

One more thing before I go while I was running today I had the voice of Lance Armstrong on my iTouch tell me that I had a new personal best for the mile. When I was done it showed me that I ran a mile during my run today at 6:53 pace. This without a doubt is the best I have done and I am confident that I should get a personal best for the 5k on Valentine's Day for the first race of 2010.

Saturday 1/23/10

Well today has been a pretty good day and I enjoyed sleeping in. The training session consisted of getting our Vo2max tested, results to follow. A good part of the day was spent working on my nutrition plan and evaluating my supplements. My research is coming from The Triathlete's Training Bible by Joe Friel and nutrition periodization for endurance athletes by Bob Seebohar. Currently I am taking a liquid daily multivitamin, liquid calcium, liquid mega 3 fish oil, creatine, and B12 nasal spray. My protein intake is 80 grams or higher, trying to get this up to 120 grams per day. Some might ask why I use so many liquid supplements and the answer is simple. I want to get them in to my system quickly and I found some that don't taste to bad, especially the fish oil one.

Thursday 1/21/10

Well today was a 30 minute run 4.4 miles with a 6:49 pace I felt really good. Today's weight training was arms and back and I didn't think that I over did it, but I am a little bit sore tonight. Tomorrow I will ride the bike to get some seat time and I'm looking forward to Saturday when the coaches are going to measure our VO2max. This will be the first time I have had this tested and hope to learn how to train better. My running needs to start increasing as I will be running a half marathon March 7, 2010.

Today's question – what kind of pedals should I get for my road bike? Currently have straps but really don't like them and don't want the risk of an accident with them either.

Wednesday 1/20/10

Today I got up at 5:30 AM and packed my bag and headed to Aquafit for a circuit training session. This week the training is focusing on the upper body. The training is 30 minutes long and very challenging and I look forward to do this training more in the future. Next week the focus will be on the lower body and should help with my running and bike work.

Once I completed the circuit training I changed to my swimsuit and did 20 minutes in the pool. While there were no drills on the schedule I did do laps and practice on my breathing. The swim is going to be the hardest part for me. From my research and never having a formal swim lesson it seems that I am unbalanced. Should I be able to breathe from both sides? I seem to only turn my head to the left and I think this is wrong.

Tomorrow is a run and strength training for arms and back.

Tuesday 1/19/10

Today was a rest day by force really as I had to take my truck to the shop. While waiting for it to be fixed I reviewed my training program and recommitted to completing it with 100% effort. My rest day was also a chance to do more research on the proper equipment for a triathlon. What pedals and shoes are best for my bike? Should I use a one piece triathlon suit or top and shorts? What about the swim, wetsuit used or new?

Monday 1/18/10

Today's training consisted on a 30 minute run in the morning at a 9:31 pace on the treadmill. If the weather tomorrow is like todays then I will do a noon run outside. This evening I went to the gym for 30 minutes of strength training for the legs and core. My bike is on the rack and I am cleaning it up as I had it in storage for several years due to my health issues. What I would like is some feedback on what type of pedals I should use for triathlons. Along with that go the shoes and cleats to lock in to the pedals. Currently the pedals are straps and I never really liked them but I was not competing either. Should I install aero bars?

Tomorrow will be a rather light day with just a run I'm just not sure how long I will do. Whatever time I don't spend running I will be working on the bike.

Triathlon Training – Week 1

This week is the start of Aquafit's first triathlon training program. Yesterday we met with the coaches and they explained the program and expectations for the next 15 weeks. The group seems to be a diverse one and I think that we will have a great time getting to know one another. We had our measurements taken and then a gait analysis was completed, I have a normal gait and can wear whatever shoes I want.

The calendar for the 15 weeks was handed out and it seems to be an aggressive one but has room for flexibility. With that in mind I made my first change and instead of an off day today I did a spin class. This was only my third spin class so I am getting used to it but it was the first one that ended with a puddle of sweat under the bike. My heart rate ranged from 89-161 with an average of 137 so I did not feel over worked. Today's workout did follow a yesterday's 45 min spin class, 40 min run on the treadmill, and some upper body strength training.

There are some questions as I work through this training and preparation for my first event and they surround the gear. Should I wear a triathlon suit or a top & shorts? What kind of wet suit should I purchase? The first race is in June with and ocean swim. What kind of pedals should I install? Currently have the straps on my pedals but never felt safe with them.

Please respond to these questions with any suggestions that you might have for me.