Month: June 2024

Let It Rip Wednesday!

The plan that I follow for triathlon training includes a bike workout immediately followed by a run on Wednesdays.  Triathletes call this type of workout a “brick,” which basically means two workouts stacked together, or the way your legs feel when you get off the bike and attempt to run on them.  It’s a tough workout, but by the end of the plan, you will be in a much better position to run well without the heavy legs you experienced initially.

The plan doesn’t say to go hard, but I always tend to let it rip.  I will push hard on the bike, quickly transition to running gear, and then head out for the short run.  It’s a good way to measure fitness and readiness for racing sprints.  Today was the first brick workout I have done in quite a while, and I really shouldn’t have pushed very hard, but old habits die hard with me.  I went hard on the bike for 12.6 miles, averaging 16.6 mph.  That average pace is a little slow when you factor in the many slowdowns and stops for road crossings on the local bike trail.  It’s probably more like 17-17.5 mph effort-wise.

The run was definitely a surprise.  After struggling with a 5-mile run on Tuesday and feeling sore, I began the 2-mile planned brick run just hoping to not ruin myself.  It started out as I expected with heavy legs and the overwhelming feeling that my calf muscles could go to Charley Horse mode at any time.  But I slowly moved along until I felt like I was out of danger.  The first-mile split showed a surprising 8:15 pace!  The route I took was a little downhill and I struggled a little more with the second mile running back home.  Again to my surprise, I ran an 8:11 min/mile.  Yesterday I was lucky to average a 9:30 pace.

Post-workout I felt pretty good, without any soreness at all.  Doing bricks and pushing pace is not something that I want to do more than occasionally, but I’m glad to see where I stand with my fitness, as I will do similar distances in the upcoming Forge off-road triathlon race next month.  Back to my regularly scheduled training!

READY, SET, TRAIN!

Today marks the start of training for the 2024 Chicago Marathon!  Sixteen weeks of training, and I kicked it off with a… swim?

Yes, I started with a swim.  I have had a fairly rough go with running this year and was forced to hit the reset button.  After taking basically two months off from running during March-April-May, I slowly started easing my way back into it.  But boy, has it been a slow recovery.

I was dealing with an injury that I self-diagnosed as high hamstring tendonitis, and took some time off from running to help my old tendons and muscles recover.  I have recovered enough now that I can do five miles pretty well, albeit much slower than I would like.  I ran eight miles the other day and felt pretty beat up afterward, so instead of starting training with a bang, I better ease into it.

In the past, I had used an advanced plan to train for the marathon and it worked pretty well for me.  But I really saw success when I was also training for triathlon, specifically Ironman.  My three best marathon times were all done in the same year that I had trained for an Ironman.  So I thought that maybe I might use the Ironman training plan to prepare me for the fall Chicago Marathon.

The main reason why following a triathlon-based training plan would be beneficial for me is because running is tough on my body, and at 60 years old, it isn’t getting any less tough.  By following the triathlon plan, I have to spread my workouts over three disciplines and not just one.  This should allow me to build cardiovascular conditioning through swimming and biking, as well as running, without putting all of that on just running.

To make it even a little less taxing, I will be following the “just finish” plan, which is a beginner-type plan instead of the advanced or competitive plan that I would normally follow.  I can always up the training another notch if I feel like it is going well, but I really don’t want to have to hit that reset button again.  Also, I have signed up for a sprint triathlon in July and I need to prepare for that too.  I must admit that I enjoyed my swim today, and I have really enjoyed the biking that I have done as well.

I’m not setting any time goals, or shooting for a Boston Marathon qualifying time – I just hope to run strong and finish well.  So, hopefully, all of this will work out and I will find some success in sixteen weeks.  Chicago Marathon 2024, here I come!