Week 4 Work Outs

I got some news this week that tells me I'm probably not going to be able to compete in either Ironman 70.3 Austria or Switzerland. While disappointing, given my inability to find the pool I'm not crushed. I am going to continue with the training plan since I want to maintain my bike proficiency as well as my run proficiency.

Week 3 wasn't good due to the headcold with 0 workouts completed. I'm still struggling with the headcold but I will get back on track tomorrow morning.

Swim Workout explained:

This Is A Really Bad Week

That headcold I talked about Sunday has had me on my butt all week and I haven't done any working out. Couple that with the fact that we signed for and moved into a house this week. I just haven't had my mind on working out.

I'm not a big fan of working out when I'm under the weather. I believe in recovering from whatever ails me before I start hitting it hard. I might do some short 30 minutes or less cardio workouts or maybe lift a little but no lenghty cardio.

Week 3 Training Plan

Week 2 went better than Week 1. So I'm expecting good things for Week 3 as well. I've learned that Majors can PT on their own and the staff doesn't do PT together very often, so I don't see a big problem with continuing my workout problem. Staff PT is something I'm probably going to eventually change but we'll see how I can integrate my workouts into it without overwhelming someone who do doesn't do the volume of cycling and running that I do.

I'm still looking for a swimming pool, although I think I know where one is at, I just have to get there. I'm really frustrated since everyone with the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation rants and raves about the new gym and rec center and how it is the standard for all new gyms in Europe, but it doesn't have any sort of pool. I used to complain a lot about the pool at Leavenworth being crowded but that sure beats not having a pool

The main workout.Swim workout explained:

German Beer of the Week

I think I'm going to do a post on whatever new German Beer I discover each week. This week it goes to the Hefe WeisseBier from the Weihenstephaner Brewery in Freising, not too far from Munchen (Munich). The Weihenstphaner Brewery claims to be the oldest brewery in the world and they, as well as most other German breweries, claim to brew their beer according to the Reinheitsgebot or Bavarian Beer Purity Laws of 1516. Basically it means that beer can only have three ingredients: water, barley, and hops for a bottom brewed beer or Lager. When it comes to a Weisse bier that is actually made from wheat it must be top fermented like an Ale. Compare that to a Bud Light which also uses rice, supposedly to create that "crisp" taste. While I like Bud Light I am really liking German beers.

Here is the Hefe Weissbier that I had. I need to work on my pouring. When a Weissbier is poured in a restuarant the head goes all the top of the glass without going over. I only got a little bit of head when I poured this one for some reason. Overall the beer was pretty good and I'll probably have it again after I get done sampling other beers.

Something else I've learned about German beers is that each type of beer gets only different glass. That's a post for another day as I gather more info about that. Besides this post is long enough and I've probably butchered my description of the Purity Laws anyway.

Long Ride Sunday

I'm begining to think that the long run late yesterday afternoon in the cold wasn't a good idea. My nose is running like an open faucet and I seem to be sneezing all the time. I did go inside today for my long ride/sping. 30 miles or 90 minutes. I had no issues until about the 75 minute mark and those last 15 minutes where a struggle. I was also a little more balanced on time in Zone 3 spending 2/3 of my time with only 1/3 out of it. Here's the data:

Zone 1: 3:30
Zone 2: 4:17
Zone 3: 1:00:22
Zone 4: 22:28

It's Long Run Saturday!!!!

Did I say that I had to do 8 miles today. I lied, I actually had to do 10 miles. It's been awhile since I've been in double digits and I really wasn't looking forward to this workout for a myriad number of reasons. But in the end I gutted it out.

Here's the data: The pace is going to seem pretty slow but in order to keep my heart rate in Zone 3 with the temps hovering in the mid 20's that's what I've got to do.

Distance : 10:02mi
Total Time: 1:51:37
AVG Pace: 11:08
Total Calories: 1575
AVG HR: 155 bpm
Max HR: 170 bpm
Pace:
Mile 1: 11:52
Mile 2: 11:17
Mile 3: 11:17
Mile 4: 10:55
Mile 5: 11:12
Mile 6: 11:04
Mile 7: 11:25
Mile 8: 10:44
Mile 9: 10:45
Mile 10:10:27
Zone 1 Time: 0:09 Distance: 0ft
Zone 2 Time: 0:47 Distance: 337ft
Zone 3 Time: 1:24:32 Distance: 7.6 mi
Zone 4 Time: 28:24 Distance: 2.5 mi
Zone 5 Time: :0 Distnace: 0ft

It's An Off Day

And boy did I need it. After a full day at work yesterday in the first time in forever as well as the workouts my brain and muscles were exhausted.

That means no workout posts today and I'm too lazy to come up with anything else to post about. So see you tomorrow after my 8 mile run.

I Remembered Everything This Morning

And I got up on time to go to the gym. I did have some issues during the spin with hitting the wall at the 45 minute mark and I finally stopped at the 60 minute mark, cutting off 15 minutes from the total workout. Oh well it will even out in the end.

Here's the data:

Zone 1: 2:04
Zone 2: 1:58
Zone 3: 37:59
Zone 4: 17:58

I Got Up This Morning.......Just Barely

I got dressed, making sure I put on my tri shorts so I'd have a little padding while doing my 75 minute bike workout, made sure I had on my HR Monitor and that I had my iPod and walked out of the hotel room to walk to the gym and totally didn't realize I had left my water bottle on the TV cabinet. Damn It! The last thing I wanted to do was a 75 minute spin without any water especially when I'm normally really dehydrated when I first get up. So I ended up scratching the 25 mile or 75 minute spin for the 3mile/4x100 sprint. I did it on the treadmill so I had no issues with 3 miles staying in Zone 3, other than the normal "I'm really bored being on the treadmill watching the numbers go up issues".

I'll do the 25 mile spin in the morning and I'll do it wearing my new USA bike jersey.

I bought this jersey so I can proudly sport the US colors while doing European triathlons. I've still got the Army tri jersey that I used last year but wanted something a little different. The only difference between this bike jersey and my tri jersey is that the pockets are across the back instead of on the sides. That doesn't matter to me much since I normally only put a couple of gel packs in the pockets anyway.

It's Official

I signed up for the Prague Marathon this evening. I had some problems using Activeglobal.com but finally got through the actual Prague Marathon website.

I'm really looking forward to this and even if I can't beat my personnel record it will be good to get out do an event like this in what I've been told is a beautiful city. I'll see if I can remember to take my camera with me during the race.

Speed Workout Day

Today was the speed workout day again and I was feeling the effects of the last few days training with a little soreness in my bad knee and running out of gas about a half mile before I was supposed to finish the workout.

2 miles Goal Pace/ 2 miles Tempo Pace/ 2 miles Goal Pace

My goal pace is a 9:13 and my tempo pace is a 8:30. Like I said I completed the workout but really ran out of gas at the overall 5.5 mile mark.

On the plus side I did get up at 5:20am to get the workout done. That will continue to get better with time just like the workouts.

20 Miles or 60 Minutes On The Bike

I was feeling pretty good today for my spin. Here's the data:

Zone 1: 1:10
Zone 2: .17
Zone 3: 21:51
Zone 4: 36:07

I'm still spending too much time in low Zone 4 and I'm actually going the wrong way compared to last Wednesday where I was about 50/50 now I'm about 60/40. I've really got to work on that.

Only 116 days until the Prague Marathon and only 133 days to Ironman 70.3 Austria. I start work this week and I should have a better idea if I'm going to be able to sign up for those races after a couple of days of work and "regular" Army PT.

Training Plan Week 2

Here is Week 2's training plan: I'm still looking for a pool. The mileage on the weekend goes up this week. Time to start buckling down
Swim workout explained.

Bike 25 Miles or Spin 1hr15min

That was today's workout. On Wednesday when I spun I had a little bit of a problem at the 45min mark. I think I'm starting to get back into the groove as I blew through the 45 min mark with no issues and didn't start to wear out until the last 5 minutes. Here is the data: I'm still staying at the low end of HR Zone 4 a little more than I want:

Zone 1: 0:16
Zone 2: 0:22
Zone 3: 18:42
Zone 4: 55:42

It's Time For A Cold Budweiser From.......

The Czech Republic. I bet you thought I was going to say St. Louis, Missouri. Well there is a Budweis, Czech Republic and there is a brewery there that uses the name Budweiser Budvar for it's beer. There have been lawsuits between them and Anheuser-Busch you can read about the lawsuits and Budweiser Budvar here.

I picked up a six pack of Budweiser Budvar the other day just to give it a try even though I normally don't drink beer that comes out of green bottles. For some reason I'm just not a fan of green bottled beer. I didn't think it was too bad. I'll probably give it a try again and at $4.60 a six pack you can't beat the price.

I tried some of the other German beers they had in the shopette here the other day. A Bock and a Pilsner from the Dinkelacker-Schwaben Brewery in Stuttgart. Both were pretty darn good and they were only a $1.00 for .5 liter. That's cheaper than a 20oz Diet Pepsi.

If you've seen the post on the family blog you saw that I've also indulged in wurst, kraut and a weis bier this weekend. At this rate I'm really going to have to rack up the miles to keep the pounds off.

8 miles Today After Being a Bum

I missed Thursday's workout as I took the USAEUR drivers test and picked up the car, so now we finally have wheels and can get out and about. Friday was an off day and since we could get out and explore a little bit I did that instead of making up Thursdays workout.

I was talking to a friend of mine last night and he thought I had laid out a pretty aggressive race schedule. He's right I have but I'm unsure as to what triathlons I want to do. I know I'm running the Half Marathon and the Marathon, but if I can't find a pool close by then I'm going to have issues with a 1.2 mile swim. I'll leave everything on the schedule and then pare it down after I get more familiar with everything.

Despite all that today was an 8 mile run and I did get back on track with that this afternoon, here's the data, I only hope the calories burned cover the wurst, kraut and weissen I had for lunch, more on that later:

Distance : 8:02mi
Total Time: 1:27:53
AVG Pace: 10:53
Total Calories: 1257
AVG HR: 160 bpm
Max HR: 171 bpm
Pace:
Mile 1: 10:44
Mile 2: 10:26
Mile 3: 10:46
Mile 4: 10:47
Mile 5: 10:48
Mile 6: 10:50
Mile 7: 10:51
Mile 8: 10:49
Mile .2: 10:49
Zone 1 Time: 0:06 Distance: 0ft
Zone 2 Time: 0:41 Distance: 223ft
Zone 3 Time: 26:06 Distance: 2.4 mi
Zone 4 Time: 1:02:05 Distance: 5.8 mi
Zone 5 Time: :07 Distnace: 58ft

Today's Workout

Today was supposed to be a 20 mile bike day with a 3 mi run/4 100 m sprints.

Without my bike and my cadence counter I can't tell how far I go with my garmin and the gym here only has recumbent computerized bikes. The spin bikes don't have a computer so thinking that I used to average between 19-21 mph I did a 60 minute ride on the spin bike. I haven't been on a bike since September, so this was a little more difficult than I thought especially at the 45 minute mark. I probably didn't do 20 miles, but 60 minutes isn't bad for the first ride in several months. Here is my HR data trying to stay in Zone 3

Zone 1: 2:57 (Probably the first 2:57)
Zone 2: 6:00 (A mix of a little at the beginning and a little at the end)
Zone 3: 25:16
Zone 4: 25:38

I had no idea I spent that much in Zone 4 and looking at my graph in Garmin Training Center it shows that the time in Zone 4 was at the low end of the Zone, which isn't as bad as I thought at first glance.

Now for the second part of the workout. I just didn't do it. I had to go to pick up all of my issue gear today and it was about a mile walk over there and a mile walk back with a 50lb+ rucksack on my back and a 50lb+ duffle bag sometimes laid on top of the rucksack or carried in my hand. Pretty exhausting and I think it should count for some sort of work out.

I'm still having trouble getting my butt out of the bed in the morning to do the workouts. It's only a 5 minute walk to the gym but I just don't have the motivation at 5:15am to do it in the cold to get on the spin bike. I can't wait to get my bike here so I can set it up on the trainer and do the workout without going out into the cold.

Look for some posts this weekend about beer. I intend to get some good German beers to watch the American football playoffs with and I'll share my thoughts about them with everyone.

Speed Workout

It has finally stopped snowing in Bavaria but I went inside to hit the treadmill for today's workout.

2mi Goal Pace/2mi Tempo/2mi Goal Pace

The Goal Pace is a 9:13 good enough for a 4 hour Marathon.

Tempo Pace is 8:30.

One of these days I'll figure out where the pool is. Until then it's all about the cardio.

It's A Snow Day

That's what it was when I got up this morning to go to the gym to hit the spinning bikes. Post was on a 2 hour delay so the gym didn't open at 0530 like I needed it to, so I could get a workout in before starting inprocessing. Then I tried to ride the bus with Shantel and Macen to the big PX at Grafenwoefr so we could see it and get some things we needed. Needless to say the snow made the roads bad so the bus wasn't even running. Overall a very productive day. Sarcasm definitely intended.

I still haven't found a pool yet so no swim workouts either. I'll just have to pick up the workouts tomorrow.

Training Plan Week 1

Ignore the date at the top of the weekly workout I mislabeled it when I saved it as a JPEG. But that is the overview of my weekly workout. I'll post results daily. As I mentioned in the previous post I'm going to have to do some of it on a stationary bike and I need to find an indoor pool since there isn't one on my post. I've been told there are some in the local area.

If by chance anyone is looking for just a marathon training plan, you can drop the bike and swim workouts and just do the run workout in order to be ready for a marathon.

In order to give credit where credit is due I took the half ironman training plan from trinewbies.com and then cut the run portion and added a marathon plan from Runners World. A friend used the half ironman plan with great success last year and I used the marathon plan for the Omaha Marathon and a 4:20 PR. So I know the plans work.

Week 1 swim workouts explained

Time To Get Busy

It is only 118 days until the Prague Marathon and 140 days until Ironman 70.3 Austria. So it's time to start the workout program. This year's goals are for a 4:00 - 4:30 Marathon and a 5:45-6:30 70.3. I also need to drop my weight back down to about 190. I don't need to get down to the 180 I was last summer, I just want to stay between 190-200.

There are several obstacles, I mean opportunities to overcome, in order to accomplish these goals. The family and I have just moved from Kansas to Germany and we are currently living in temp lodging until a house opens up on our Army Post. We also don't have any of our stuff yet, which means none of my bikes are here. I'm going to have to use the stationary bikes in the gym until we get our stuff. I'm also starting a new job as a Squadron Executive Officer for a unit that is getting ready to deploy sometime sometime this summer, after the races. Before we can deploy though we have to go through a 3 week Mission Readiness Exercise, during which I won't be able to workout like I want to. Finally we have moved to Germany, the home of good beer and if you've noticed the title of the blog I LIKE beer, so I'm going to have to watch my consumption. All this means I need to make sure my goals are realistic. If I reach the upper end of my goals I will set personal records for both the marathon and the 70.3 and if I only make the bare minimum I will be just slightly slower than my current personal records of 4:20 and 6:08. The bottom line here is I just want to race and see some of Europe.

I've Been Horrible

And I haven't run since my last post. Oh well we are in the midst of a complicated move from Kansas to Germany. Check out the story here. Plus the temps in KS/MO are hovering around 0. Way too cold to be out running. I amost can't wait to get to Germany where it is about 30, yeah a heat wave.

Only two more weeks until my Half Ironman workout program is supposed to start. I'll actually start the diet when I get to Germany.