Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Triathlon Training Day 46: 3.1 Mile Run + ARX

I couldn't get out of bed this morning to do my run. I tried but was sleeping so good I just couldn't do it! So, when I got home from work today I planned on running outside but the severe thunderstorms made me go to the gym and hit the treadmill.

I actually had an enjoyable treadmill session today. I had my iPod and the TV in front of me had Hannity interviewing Rush Limbaugh so I was able to read the text as I was running. It was enough to keep my ADHD self from getting bored soI got in a solid 5K.

Being that I am not a Treadmill person I never know what speed to start with. Today I started at 6.6 mph. I did this for about the first mile and realized I could go faster so I bumped the speed up to 7.4 mph. I did this until about 2.4 miles and still was feeling good so I ended up turning it up to 8.0 mph and eventually finished on 8.4 mph. My total time on the treadmill was 26:53 for 3.1 miles. I was feeling really good but had to go home and eat dinner. Instead of doing another mile I went to the back of the gym and did Ab Ripper X. And as usual, kicked the crap out of ARX. Just for fun I did 35 reps on every exercise!

My running is getting much better since I scraped the "run in your aerobic zone technique". The theory behind this was that if I ran within my Aerobic zone (148-155 BPM) that my time would get better and better. So, if I was running 5K in 30:00 minutes in this zone after a couple of months I'd still be in the same zone but my time would be a 24:00 minutes and would keep going down. I tried this for 40 days and did see some time gains. But the gains were too minimal for my liking so now I am just running until it gets uncomfortable and then I will push it even a little more. This aerobic running would be the way to go if I was training for a marathon but I am training for a triathlon, completely different. Time to change my mindset and start bringing it.

I am an athlete and I am in good shape and I'm going to run like that from now on. Screw you "aerobic zone", we are no longer friends. I am leaving you for your much hotter friend "Anaerobic Zone".

Tomorrow is swimming again and I am gong to continue to time myself and do interval laps.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

4 comments:

  1. LOL!!! I love it... "screw you aerobic zone". That's great!

    I like your approach... yes, you are an athlete now. You know, if everything goes as planned I get to call myself a "triathlete" soon. I even like the title, "multi-sport athlete".

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  2. Patience Grasshopper....aerobic training doesn't feel like it's working but stick with it and it will pay off in the end. Tri's are a grind and completely different than football or any other stop and go sport. Give it some more time. Here's a pretty good explanation why. http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/triathlon-training/aerobic-base-training-going-slower-to-get-faster-001091.php

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  3. Todd...that is an excellent article. Thanks.

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  4. Todd, That is good read. If i decided to do another Tri (which I probably will) I will do the base training. I bet doing the base training during Nov-Dec-Jan would a good time. And then when the season starts up again I will be primed.

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