Keiler Land-Pils

This weeks review is for the Keiler Land-Pils. It's brewed by the Lohr Brewery in Lohr am Main about halfway between Wurzberg and Frankfurt, give or take a little. It come in the traditional flip top bottle, that I must say I'm fascinated with since most of the beers I've tried have had.

The Land-Pils had a rich golden color and had a good head, in fact I screwed it up pouring it into the bottle and got a little too much head. The head was also that thick soft foamy head I've talked about previously and I'm beginning to wonder if that's not indicitive of a Bavarian pilsner. This pilsner was not nearly as bitter as the Ayinger Premium Pils I had last week, being just a little more mellow. I thought tit was pretty good and since it's a new offering from the Lohr Brewery I hope they keep brewing it. I don't think I'll be visiting this brewery for a tour, if they give one, unless we can find a winery or some other touristy thing to do in the vicinity. But once again I've found another family of beers that needs further exploration

Slow Run To Work Out the Lactic Acid from Yesterday

Another slow run day. I got the run in but had to pack my bags for the training exercise so I didn't get the spin in.

I'll be out of the loop for the next three-four weeks. I've got a couple of beer reviews that will pop up on Sundays but no scheduled workouts. There might be a few opportunity workouts and I'll post them as they occur.

See everyone in a few weeks.

Cool Training Device

I got my USA Triathlon Life Magazine today from USAT and inside there was an advertisment for a swim trainer, the triton swim trainer . I'm highly intrigued. If you know me you know that I'm a strong swimmer but I lack form in a major way, my friend Andy compares my stroke to someone trying to beat the water into submission. Couple that with the fact that I don't have immediate access to a pool here like I would in the states and I think this is something I might look into investing in, especially if it does what it says it does. How crazy would that be if I could train for all three events in the basement/garage/spare room of my house. Talk about brick workouts. Check out the video below.

Goal Pace/Tempo Pace/Goal Pace

The commander wanted me to run with him today and for once that coincided with my speed/pace day, so I actually got a really good workout in leaving Chuck and the commander at about the 4 mile mark to finish over 8 miles, short of the 9 miles I was supposed to do but an improvement over the 7 I did for the same workout last week. Here's the data:

Distance : 8:18mi
Total Time: 1:14:35
AVG Pace: 9:07
Total Calories: 1250
AVG HR: 167 bpm
Max HR: 183 bpm
Pace:
Lap 1: 2mi AVG Pace 9:27
Lap 2: 2mi AVG Pace 8:08
Lap 3: .25 mi AVG Pace 8:25 (Supposed to be a quick cool down reset prior to the 2d Tempo. I didn't hear the alarm and maintained a faster pace)
Lap 4: 2mi AVG Pace 8:25
Lap 5: 1.93 mi AVG Pace 9:18 (I cut this one short mainly because I wussed out because it had started to rain)
Zone 1 Time: 0:14 Distance: 111ft
Zone 2 Time: 0:06 Distance: 36ft
Zone 3 Time: 13:39 Distance: 1.4 mi
Zone 4 Time: 51.26 Distance: 5.7 mi
Zone 5 Time: 11:42 Distance: 1.3 mi

When compared to last week this was a great run. I went a mile further and my pace was better and when you look at the HR data I flipflopped my Zone 4 and Zone 5 distance and times. I really hope I don't lose too much ground in the next 3 weeks since it looks like I'm starting to get in the groove.

Monday's Workout

I headed to the gym with Chuck to get a good spin in only to find that all of the spin bikes with seats on them were taken and the gym staff wouldn't get any of the seats for the oh say 20 or so other spin bikes out because 1. I might hurt myself and 2. I might break a spin bike. What a load of crap.

So instead I forced to do the stair climber for about 10 minutes which helped work out the calves from yesterdays long run and then we found a couple Concept C2 rowers that were open and put in almost 5000m. That was the first time I've ever used that piece of gear and was actually impressed with it.

No HR data or anything like that just a simple workout report.

Week 7 Workouts

I'm going to keep posting the workouts, but let's be honest; I'm not swimming and if I have to drop a workout I drop the bike/spin sessions. So in truth I'm really only doing the run workouts. Finally I'm going to take a 3 week break this week as I head out for a 21 day field training exercise. I talked about this earlier in the year but we'll see how it affects my workout, since I will have a Half -Marathon 2 weeks after I get back. I'm going to try and get a couple of runs a week in while gone but the battle rhythm is pretty full so I doubt I'll get any runs of significance in. I definitely won't get any beer drinking done, that's not allowed. I do have a couple of beer reviews that I'm going to try and schedule to post while I'm gone. We'll see if that works. If not I'll get caught up when I get back.

Long Slow Run For the Weekend

We went down to Munich yesterday so the Long Slow Spin got canceled in favor of the run. Here's what it looked liked today when I started

That's right huge snowflakes that eventually turned to sleet, then to mist and then finally the sun came out for a few minutes on the last mile of the run. A wonderful day for a scheduled 15 miler.

OK I didn't get there though. This was a big jump in mileage and I haven't gone over 12 miles since the Gobbler Grind Half Marathon last Thanksgiving. To put it mildly I was hurting at about mile 13.5 with the knees and hamstrings aching and Mother Nature starting to put out a call. I called it quits at mile 14.50 since that would have involved going away from the house and I was already right there. I know wussy!!!! Here's the data:

Distance : 14:43mi
Total Time: 2:34:32
AVG Pace: 10:42
Total Calories: 2225
AVG HR: 151 bpm
Max HR: 168 bpm
Pace:
Mile 1: 12:44
Mile 2: 10:32
Mile 3: 10:28
Mile 4: 10:11
Mile 5: 10:17
Mile 6: 10:38
Mile 7: 10:21
Mile 8: 10:27
Mile 9: 10:44
Mile 10: 10:00
Mile 11: 10:18
Mile 12: 10:27
Mile 13: 10:56
Mile 14: 11:00
Mile .43: 12:31
Zone 1 Time: 0:11 Distance: 3ft
Zone 2 Time: 5:17 Distance: .4 mi
Zone 3 Time: 2:12:18 Distance: 12.5 mi
Zone 4 Time: 18:55 Distance: 1.7 mi
Zone 5 Time: 0:00 Distance: 0ft

From the data it looks pretty good I spent most of the time in Zone 3 and the majority of the splits were under 10:30. I just started off slow and then faded fast at about mile 13. Not a bad run.

Ayinger Premium PIls

I knocked out two birds with one stone this weekend and picked up my first Hard Rock Cafe Pilsner glass in Europe, from Munich, and tried a new beer.

I tried the Ayinger Premium Pils it's brewed just south of Munich in a small town called Aying. It had a bright golden color much different from the pale golds of the Weiss beers and the dark browns of the Bocks I've been drinking. There were two things that really stood out about this beer. It was much more bitter than what I'm used to in a pilsner and the head was really soft thick foam, almost resembeling a foam shaving cream or even a cotton candy. It's hard to describe but it was much different from the head you get from a draft beer in the States. Overall I thought it was pretty good but probably not a beer I'm going to go looking for. What I think I have discovered is another brewery to add to my list of places I want to go tour before we leave and another family of beers to sample from.

Change to Today's Workout

Today was supposed to an 80 minute run in zone 3, but the commander came in this morning and wanted to run with both me and Chuck so off we went on a little 5 mile run at his pace. My commander is recovering from knee and back surgery but he's still pretty comfortable running a 9:30 mile which is still faster than my zone 3 pace. So here's the data

Distance : 4:97mi
Total Time: 46:27
AVG Pace: 9:20
Total Calories: 754
AVG HR: 170 bpm
Max HR: 188 bpm
Pace:
Mile 1: 9:20
Mile 2: 9:04
Mile 3: 9:44
Mile 4: 8:55
Mile 5: 9:38

Zone 1 Time: :04 Distance: 39ft
Zone 2 Time: :36 Distance: 299ft
Zone 3 Time: 7:51 Distance: .8 mi
Zone 4 Time: 21:07 Distance: 2.3 mi
Zone 5 Time: 17:11 Distance: 1.8 mi

Slow Run To Work Out the Lactic Acid from Yesterday

Not a bad run today. Chuck went with me again. I think he's confused, yesterday I wanted to go fast for a long distance. Today I wanted to go slow for a short distance. We'll see what he thinks of the LSR tomorrow. I skipped the spin session tonight I was wipped out by spending all day in meetings and I really ust wanted to go home. Oh well. Here's the run data from today.

Distance : 3:12mi
Total Time: 35:49
AVG Pace: 11:25
Total Calories: 482
AVG HR: 158 bpm
Max HR: 179 bpm
Pace:
Mile 1: 12:39
Mile 2: 11:00
Mile 3: 10:42
Mile .12: 10:40

Zone 1 Time: 1:42 Distance: 115ft
Zone 2 Time: 1:06 Distance: 213ft
Zone 3 Time: 10:57 Distance: 1.0 mi
Zone 4 Time: 22:00 Distance: 2.1 mi
Zone 5 Time: 0:25 Distance: 201ft

By looking at the data it wasn't a good run. But Once again we will losing traction by running on snow and ice and it was actually about 15 degrees outside while we were running. Probably way too cold to be running but I did it anyway.

Goal Pace/Tempo Pace/Goal Pace

That was the workout for today. The other Major in my unit wanted to go on a run with me today and I think he found out it was little more than he wanted to do so he dropped out in the middle of the tempo pace part to go the gym.

I was supposed to do 2mi GP (9:00 - 9:30)/2 + 2mi T (8:30 - 9:00)/3mi GP (9:00 - 9:30). I cut one of the 2mi tempos since I had an early meeting this morning. Here's the data.

Distance : 7:32mi
Total Time: 1:08:24
AVG Pace: 9:20
Total Calories: 1116
AVG HR: 180 bpm
Max HR: 191 bpm
Pace:
Lap 1: 2mi AVG Pace 9:04
Lap 2: 2mi AVG Pace 8:46
Lap 3: .25 mi AVG Pace 11:20 (Supposed to be a quick cool down reset prior to the 2d Tempo. I looked at the watch saw I was going to be late for the meeting so I cut the 2d tempo)
Lap 4: 3 mi AVG Pace 9:44
Zone 1 Time: 0:09 Distance: 0ft
Zone 2 Time: 0:15 Distance: 50ft
Zone 3 Time: 2:33 Distance: .2 mi
Zone 4 Time: 13:38 Distance: 1.4 mi
Zone 5 Time: 52:23 Distance: 5.8 mi

I made the pace for the first GP and the first T and I was just a little off the pace for the second GP. Not too bad considering I've been LSRing most of my runs staying in HR3 and only averaging a 10:40 pace. I would have liked to have seen a lower HR but I was really stepping out. Another thing to consider today was that there was about an inch of fresh snow on the ground and it was almost like running in sand. Not a very energy efficient run. Dry pavement might have actually had me in the target pace for the last GP segment.

I also used the workout function for the first time ever on my Garmin Forerunner 305. It worked like a charm. I can't believe I've had the thing a year and half and never used that function.

The Wheels On The Bike Go Round And Round.....

Round and Round. At least that's what it feels like when you spend 75 minutes on the spin bike. I had a pretty good spin with the only bad part being when I left one of my favorite camelbak bike bottles in the locker room while I was changing clothes. Of course it was gone when I went back to get it. Here's the data:

AVG Heart Rate: 140
Max Heart Rate: 155

Heart Rate Zone 1: :21
Heart Rate Zone 2: :49
Heart Rate Zone 3: 1:08:02
Heart Rate Zone 4: 5:44

Lots of time in Zone 3. I'm really starting to get that under control and it's looking good.

I signed up for a half marathon today but had some issues paying for it. I signed up for the Kallmunzer Fruhlingslauf , Kallmunz Spring Run Half Marathon, in Kallmunz, Germany, a small town about an hour south of Vilseck. Well I guess Europeans transfer money back and forth between banks pretty easily, but it's a little harder to transfer from an American bank to German bank. The race director called and while he spoke better English than I do German (All I know now is "einz bier bitte!" lol) I still had issues trying to get his mailing address so I could send the race fee through the German mail system to him. We finally started corresponding through email and managed to make our points understood using yahoo babel fish translation service and the bottom line is I'm registered and it will be official when he gets the entrance fee after I mail it him. I really need to learn some more German.

I'm Not Alone Out There

One of the reasons that I came up with the Beer Drinker with a Triathlon Problem moniker is when a friend of mine and I joined a local triathlon club and during our first meeting both of us were the only ones to order a beer with dinner, even though the club picked up the tab for the first drink. If I remember correctly Brian's comment to me was that we were a little "different" than the rest of these hard core triathletes who wouldn't drink a beer during racing season.

Well I found another blog the other day, or rather it found me, The Beer Runner as part of The Draft Magazine's website. After a quick perusal it looks like The Beer Runner is also a Beer Drinker with a Running Problem (Yes, I knew Brian and I weren't the only ones out there! Sorry Andy you don't count since you are such a freak of physical ability..lol) and he reviews running races as well as craft beers, and it looks like he gets paid to do it! Damn why can't I have that job?

Speaking of beer reviews. I know I'm behind in my weekly reviews of German beers but since that headcold from hell wrecked my training for two weeks, I also didn't really feel like drinking beer, so no new reviews. Additionally I had hoped to post some pics from the Hofbrauhaus in Munich, that's the home of German Oktoberfest in case you weren't tracking, as well as add to my Hard Rock Cafe Pilsner Glass collection but the snow this weekend kept us home since we still really aren't comfortable getting out on the Autobahn. Shantel has promised we'll get down there before I head off to Afghanistan. I'm going to hold her to it.

Week 6 Workouts

Big jump in run mileage this week. This is going to suck after finally getting back on track with the workouts.

Long Run Day

I got my long run in today even though it was snowing outside. I felt good and here's the data.

Distance : 10:0mi
Total Time: 1:46:35
AVG Pace: 10:39
Total Calories: 1564
AVG HR: 156 bpm
Max HR: 181 bpm
Pace:
Mile 1: 11:09
Mile 2: 10:24
Mile 3: 10:36
Mile 4: 10:09
Mile 5: 10:46
Mile 6: 10:39
Mile 7: 11:07
Mile 8: 10:37
Mile 9: 10:23
Mile 10:10:40
Zone 1 Time: 0:01 Distance: 0ft
Zone 2 Time: 0:57 Distance: 326ft
Zone 3 Time: 1:06:36 Distance: 6.3 mi
Zone 4 Time: 41:20 Distance: 3.8 mi
Zone 5 Time: 0:02 Distance: 16ft

Snow Day Today

I got up this morning and had every intention of doing the 10 mile run for today but it was snowing again and I wasn't in the mood to knock out 10 miles with about 2 inches of snow on the ground. I'll knock it out tomorrow instead of the long spin. After all I'm only doing a marathon this year and not a triathlon so I need the running miles more than I need the bike/spin miles.

25 miles or 75 minutes on the Spin Bike

I got the spin workout in today. 25 miles or 75 minutes. I felt really good today so I must be getting over the head cold finally. I did skip the 3 mile run today since we had to go run some errands and it was late when we got home. Here's the data for the spin.

Zone 1: :37
Zone 2: 2:52
Zone 3: 1:06
Zone 4: 4:59

Day Off

I had to get up at the butt crack of dawn today and drive halfway across Germany for a class on Government Purchase Cards so there was no workout today. I'll push today's workout to Friday and call today the off day

Replaced The Speed Workout with a Pace Run

OK my commander wanted to run with me today so my 1 mile as fast as you can recover for 200m and repeat wasn't in the cards. We took off on a 5 mile run at his pace. I definitely spent most of the time out of the Zone 3 so I think you can chalk it up as a speed workout and I think we stayed close to my 4 hour marathon pace, but I can't tell you because I forgot to switch off of bike mode on the heart monitor so I don't get my normal by mile results. Here what data I did get:

Total Distance: 5:01
Total Time: 47:56
AVG Pace: 9:34

Zone 1: :08 Distance: 82ft
Zone 2: :15 Distance: 128ft
Zone 3: 6:36 Distance: .7 mi
Zone 4: 24:39 Distance: 2.6 mi
Zone 5: 16:57 Distance: 1.8

Let's Get Week 5 Started Right

OK they gave us the morning off today to recover from the Super Bowl, which didn't get done until about 4am our time. Did I watch the Super Bowl. Nope no interest in the two teams playing. But I did take advantage of the morning off to spend time with Macen and play with his train table. That meant no gym time. So I had to make up the cylce workout tonight at the gym. I didn't feel too bad after almost 2 weeks of no working out. Here's the data for my 60 minutes = 20 miles.

Zone 1: :09
Zone 2: 1:32
Zone 3: 48:18
Zone 4: 9:58

Week 5 Workouts

I'm late posting this. The last two weeks have been horrible between a nasty headcold and cough and moving into the house and getting our household goods I haven't gotten much in the way of workouts in so I'm wondering why I need a recovery week. Oh well I'll stick to the schedule.

Swim workouts explained.

First Real Workout In 10 Days

This headcold has been whupping my a$$. So it's a good thing that I got today and did 61 minutes of what was supposed to be a 70 minute run. Life is good, even I had a hard time managing my heart rate. Let's chalk that up to recovering from the cold. Here is the data:

Distance : 5:87mi
Total Time: 1:01:22
AVG Pace: 10:27
Total Calories: 922
AVG HR: 160 bpm
Max HR: 188 bpm
Pace:
Mile 1: 10:59
Mile 2: 10:13
Mile 3: 10:19
Mile 4: 10:06
Mile 5: 10:24
Mile .87: 10:40
Zone 1 Time: 0:38 Distance: 215ft
Zone 2 Time: 3:15 Distance: .3 mi
Zone 3 Time: 23:52 Distance: 2.3 mi
Zone 4 Time: 30:27 Distance: 2.9 mi
Zone 5 Time: 4:41 Distnace: .4 mi