WOWs were the usual deal back in the day but nowadays any 'typical' running workout has been a rarity. Simply because there is some much other things to take care of. But that's a different story.
Back to today's agenda. Due to the relatively harsh weather conditions we ran (A and I) the Ironman tempo run later in the evening. Temperature was lower but the humidity was 90% which sucked. Now it did not worry me since IM tempo run is not full steam workout, it is just long. It's mentally rewarding 85 minutes with a good company.
We ran the legendary 20 km out and back route from Raisio to Naantali at controlled pace. The outcome was a successful WOW. Average HR was 150 and the pace was just below 4:15/km. Now I'm waiting that the sleepiness would arrive soon. Taxicab will pick me up in 4.5 hours...
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
No swimming or riding in Philly
My forthcoming trip to Philly will interrupt my IM preparations pretty efficiently. I won't be riding nor swimming during next week. In Philly I will just run when I have time and energy for it. Finland, especially Turku area, is hot as hell, but Philly won't be so much better what comes to the weather. It's hot and humid over there.
Initially I planned to run a long tempo run in Philly but instead I will join Ami in his 20km tempo run late tomorrow evening. Then I have about 50 hours (2 nights of sleeping and a full day of traveling) to recover from it. In Philly I try to run at least one long run and some shorter workouts in order to get my legs more familiarized in running on asphalt. Simple plan for a simple man.
This morning I did my longest open water swim: an hour in the sea. Even if the temperature was close to 30C I had my wet suit on. Just to entertain. After the swim I ran back home.
Now I start feeling strong.
Initially I planned to run a long tempo run in Philly but instead I will join Ami in his 20km tempo run late tomorrow evening. Then I have about 50 hours (2 nights of sleeping and a full day of traveling) to recover from it. In Philly I try to run at least one long run and some shorter workouts in order to get my legs more familiarized in running on asphalt. Simple plan for a simple man.
This morning I did my longest open water swim: an hour in the sea. Even if the temperature was close to 30C I had my wet suit on. Just to entertain. After the swim I ran back home.
Now I start feeling strong.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Back at it
After Joroinen our family unit traveled to Barcelona for four days. That was brilliant getaway for us. I had an opportunity to run up and down Montjuic mountain, the home base of 1992 Summer Olympics. I shared the same road where "raasto" was born 22 years ago (see the video 2:03:00 ->). After this emotional moment I ran back to the beach and swam in the ocean.
Now we are back at it. On Friday I joined Arttu and Karri for 2.5 hours easy bike ride which lead to Ankkalampi and back. Ankkalampi means a short dip in a tiny tiny tiny pond which is a nice intermission in warm weather.
Yesterday I ran my 3rd (!!!!!!!!) long run (only 22km) for this summer. Among other things my experience in Joroinen teached me that I should get more familiar with running longer. There's not so much to do at this point but I'll make the best out of it. This morning I rode 3 hours and did 3x15min. strength intervals.
Now we are back at it. On Friday I joined Arttu and Karri for 2.5 hours easy bike ride which lead to Ankkalampi and back. Ankkalampi means a short dip in a tiny tiny tiny pond which is a nice intermission in warm weather.
Yesterday I ran my 3rd (!!!!!!!!) long run (only 22km) for this summer. Among other things my experience in Joroinen teached me that I should get more familiar with running longer. There's not so much to do at this point but I'll make the best out of it. This morning I rode 3 hours and did 3x15min. strength intervals.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Scared little man, mental meltdown and bouncing back
The title sort of sums up my weekend. My debut in half IM didn't go as expected.
I was physically prepared for the event, but didn't realize that my worst enemy would be me and my negative thoughts. All kinda started already before the swim when I was standing in a bathroom line and realized how hot the day will be. I couldn't resist the repulsive idea of running a HM in hot weather. But the full tidal wave of negative attitude and pure unwillingness the accept that I'm not functioning as easily as I was hoping for started already after 20 minutes into biking. I had hard time to ride among so many riders and didn't understand the way how to ride in a group and enjoy the embedded advantage without drafting. Now I know how important this is. Then I started to think about that how in hell I can manage to run a HM in hot weather. Bad mistake. Instead, I should have had to focus on biking and let the rest of the day just be there.
My mental meltdown peaked at T2 and kept pushing me down during the entire run. The only thing that kept me going was pure hate against giving up. It was around 30C and I was shivering quite many times during the run. To me this is a sign of physical malfunction. I didn't focus on anything else but looking forward for the next water stop enabling me to throw cold water on myself or those two tiny hills which I allowed myself to WALK. Oh yes, I walked. And I walked even more.
At the finish I was done. Totally done. I got burned. But I finished. And this simple fact makes my half IM debut awful but an important learning experience. This is not a running race. I'm not competing against anyone else than myself. And that makes this sport a challenge. Lucky thing is that I can share these thoughts and experiences with sweetie and rest of TuUL team. That makes this much more enjoyable.
Summary:
Swim: Goal was 38 minutes. I swam 35:37.
Bike: Goal was 2:30. I biked 2:35.
Run: Goal was 1:30. I ran/walked 1:50.
Finishing time: 5:09:06
I was really disappointed that I lost the race to myself. So yesterday I was selling my bike and my IM registration. For really cheap price. But today I'm more that ready to continue. I have five weeks to go before IM Copenhagen. Bring it on!
Photos by Kaisa Utriainen
I was physically prepared for the event, but didn't realize that my worst enemy would be me and my negative thoughts. All kinda started already before the swim when I was standing in a bathroom line and realized how hot the day will be. I couldn't resist the repulsive idea of running a HM in hot weather. But the full tidal wave of negative attitude and pure unwillingness the accept that I'm not functioning as easily as I was hoping for started already after 20 minutes into biking. I had hard time to ride among so many riders and didn't understand the way how to ride in a group and enjoy the embedded advantage without drafting. Now I know how important this is. Then I started to think about that how in hell I can manage to run a HM in hot weather. Bad mistake. Instead, I should have had to focus on biking and let the rest of the day just be there.
My mental meltdown peaked at T2 and kept pushing me down during the entire run. The only thing that kept me going was pure hate against giving up. It was around 30C and I was shivering quite many times during the run. To me this is a sign of physical malfunction. I didn't focus on anything else but looking forward for the next water stop enabling me to throw cold water on myself or those two tiny hills which I allowed myself to WALK. Oh yes, I walked. And I walked even more.
At the finish I was done. Totally done. I got burned. But I finished. And this simple fact makes my half IM debut awful but an important learning experience. This is not a running race. I'm not competing against anyone else than myself. And that makes this sport a challenge. Lucky thing is that I can share these thoughts and experiences with sweetie and rest of TuUL team. That makes this much more enjoyable.
Summary:
Swim: Goal was 38 minutes. I swam 35:37.
Bike: Goal was 2:30. I biked 2:35.
Run: Goal was 1:30. I ran/walked 1:50.
Finishing time: 5:09:06
I was really disappointed that I lost the race to myself. So yesterday I was selling my bike and my IM registration. For really cheap price. But today I'm more that ready to continue. I have five weeks to go before IM Copenhagen. Bring it on!
Photos by Kaisa Utriainen
Friday, July 11, 2014
My black suit is made from rubber
The recovery from the Olympic distance race was fast. It was slightly faster than the recovery from my longer bike ride on Saturday. I have done couple of ez runs after that and both of them have been stiff and focused on pedestrian pace.
Yesterday I ran a steady state minimus, a short steady state run (@~4:00/km), in order to get our car from the car repair shop before it was closed. Legs were pretty okay and stomach did not bother me at all even if I started to run right after a dessert and a steak. When I got back home, I jumped a bike oand rode with my fellows to Kakskerta to do an open water practice. It was pretty awesome even if I'm a decade slower swimmer than the others. But I sort of PRed during the workout since my 1000m lap was now sub 17:00. I'm okay with that.
Tomorrow morning's workout will be the last tougher one before the Half IM waiting me and 1.300 other triathletes on 19th of July in Joroinen. Oh, I really hope that the water temperature is enough cold to justify the use of wet suit. If not, then I'll live through the longest morning ever.
But tomorrow the plan is the ride a group tempo for 45 min. followed by tempo intervals (5x3min., slightly faster than my race pace at Half IM). It's gonna fun and relaxed one.
Yesterday I ran a steady state minimus, a short steady state run (@~4:00/km), in order to get our car from the car repair shop before it was closed. Legs were pretty okay and stomach did not bother me at all even if I started to run right after a dessert and a steak. When I got back home, I jumped a bike oand rode with my fellows to Kakskerta to do an open water practice. It was pretty awesome even if I'm a decade slower swimmer than the others. But I sort of PRed during the workout since my 1000m lap was now sub 17:00. I'm okay with that.
Tomorrow morning's workout will be the last tougher one before the Half IM waiting me and 1.300 other triathletes on 19th of July in Joroinen. Oh, I really hope that the water temperature is enough cold to justify the use of wet suit. If not, then I'll live through the longest morning ever.
But tomorrow the plan is the ride a group tempo for 45 min. followed by tempo intervals (5x3min., slightly faster than my race pace at Half IM). It's gonna fun and relaxed one.
Saturday, July 5, 2014
First 1/4 distance race and a long ride
A week has flown by pretty quick. The reason is that I'm on a vacation. That's the best time. 'Downside' is that I'm mostly offline all the time which is really invigorating. Just like Pepsi Max.
A week ago I raced my first Olympic distance triathlon. This took place in Kisko where I've been following others to race during the last years. This time I was able to be among them. Unfortunately, Lil' D was sick so sweetie couldn't start.
The race it short:
Swim:
Swim leg was shortened because of cold water. Instead of 1500m, we swam 1000m. And I still lost around 1000 minutes to my closest fellows. (As a reminder: I'm not racing anyone in this sport, because I am my worst enemy. Of course you always compare yourself to others, but I don't have plans to win anyone, I just want to conquer new experiences after 40.) Otherwise, swim was emotionless effort, but a good one. My own watch, awesome Garmin Fenix 2, showed that my time was 17:20. That's a PR.
Bike:
For unknown reasons to me, my triathlon biking leg is usually smooth, kick-ass -spirited effort with a decent speed. My biking effort has totally, albeit positively surprised myself and my fellows (those few who really have been interested). Maybe it is the fact my legs are outran by spending 25 years running, but the aerobic engine is still there. I dunno. I don't think about it too much. At least biking is easier than swimming for me and that is enough for me. In Kisko I was 9th fastest on a bike with average speed of 38kmh for 41km.
Run:
Of course, as a former competitive runner, one would expect that I would easily match others' pace on the road in a triathlon race. But those may not have experienced the pleasures of trying to run fast after ride a bike. But personally I have been learning this - how to start your running leg after riding your bike harder than you would imagine. This has been a fun process. In Kisko a hilly running course killed me - I ran 10km at 4:00/km.
In all, I was and am really happy with this race. The biggest learning experience is related to your heart rate. During a longer race (like in the Half IM in two weeks) I really have obey my HRM.
After the race I took it easy. Others ran and biked long distances right after the race. I did't nothing. Except on Wednesday when I joined group tempo workout. I thought that it was moderated somehow, but no. It was full steam right from the start and it resulted a 25km ride with an average speed of 40.4 kmh.
Today I biked back home from Sastamala. After sweetie had opened her racing season, I jumped on my stealth bike and rode 4.5 hours (147km). Now I'm sore.
A week ago I raced my first Olympic distance triathlon. This took place in Kisko where I've been following others to race during the last years. This time I was able to be among them. Unfortunately, Lil' D was sick so sweetie couldn't start.
The race it short:
Swim:
Swim leg was shortened because of cold water. Instead of 1500m, we swam 1000m. And I still lost around 1000 minutes to my closest fellows. (As a reminder: I'm not racing anyone in this sport, because I am my worst enemy. Of course you always compare yourself to others, but I don't have plans to win anyone, I just want to conquer new experiences after 40.) Otherwise, swim was emotionless effort, but a good one. My own watch, awesome Garmin Fenix 2, showed that my time was 17:20. That's a PR.
Bike:
For unknown reasons to me, my triathlon biking leg is usually smooth, kick-ass -spirited effort with a decent speed. My biking effort has totally, albeit positively surprised myself and my fellows (those few who really have been interested). Maybe it is the fact my legs are outran by spending 25 years running, but the aerobic engine is still there. I dunno. I don't think about it too much. At least biking is easier than swimming for me and that is enough for me. In Kisko I was 9th fastest on a bike with average speed of 38kmh for 41km.
Run:
Of course, as a former competitive runner, one would expect that I would easily match others' pace on the road in a triathlon race. But those may not have experienced the pleasures of trying to run fast after ride a bike. But personally I have been learning this - how to start your running leg after riding your bike harder than you would imagine. This has been a fun process. In Kisko a hilly running course killed me - I ran 10km at 4:00/km.
In all, I was and am really happy with this race. The biggest learning experience is related to your heart rate. During a longer race (like in the Half IM in two weeks) I really have obey my HRM.
After the race I took it easy. Others ran and biked long distances right after the race. I did't nothing. Except on Wednesday when I joined group tempo workout. I thought that it was moderated somehow, but no. It was full steam right from the start and it resulted a 25km ride with an average speed of 40.4 kmh.
Today I biked back home from Sastamala. After sweetie had opened her racing season, I jumped on my stealth bike and rode 4.5 hours (147km). Now I'm sore.
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