Len Joy's Blog, page 3

Countdown to Tuscaloosa: 15 Days!!

I can't count. When I started this countdown on April 21 I figured there were 40 days until the first race on May 22. I was off by 10 days. I guess I should have used a calculator.

Yesterday afternoon we had our speed workout: 5 half-miles at an average pace of less than 7:45 with 2 minute recovery between laps. I knew it was going to be a struggle. I felt a little off - a little low energy. Maybe it was the gloomy day or the indoor bike workout in the morning.

I managed to make the goal pace on the first four laps, but on the last lap the coach changed the course - she added a turnaround instead of a straight 1/2 mile shot - and I temporarily lost my focus and didn't recover. It's a good lesson as those kinds of things happen in races all the time, and it's important to not let a glitch detrail you.

Countdown to Tuscaloosa: 26 Days

On Mondays I have an early morning personal training workout. Today we focused on stability and balance. My coach, ,Heather Collins, is demonstrating a single-leg dead-lift holding a 25 pound kettle ball by a strap. The strap makes it more difficult because the weight swings around. The purpose of this exercise is to develop the balance and stability of the planted leg. Notice how her left side is in almost perfect alignment from heel to knee to hip to shoulder. It doesn't look that hard, but she has me use the 12 pound weight as she doesn't believe I'm ready for the heavier weight. She's correct.

Even Godzilla the cat can see that my alignment is not so great. But my heel didn't touch and I got better when she put the camera down. A year ago I wouldn't have been able to even balance on one leg even without the weight. I'm a work-in-process.

Countdown to Tuscaloosa: 27 Days

Yesterday morning (Saturday) I had my long run workout. We ran six miles on our "hilly" Sheridan Road / Tower Road course. There were many runners, walkers and cyclists out taking advantage of the beautiful weather.

Today I don't have any scheduled workouts, just my CARS exercises. CARS stands for controlled articular rotations. These are active, rotational movements that move specific joints through their entire range of motion. I have CARS for the neck, shoulder, scapula, hip, ankles, thoracic spine, knee, and toes.

When I am not working out, I spend many hours leaning over my laptop, crafting inspired prose.

My coach, ,Heather Collins, has suggested I buy a standing desk, as she is concerned that all that inspiration will make me more slumpy (a technical coaching term) than I already am. Actually, she says that she not only wants me to buy the desk, but also use it.

It's a great suggestion and someday I am sure I will follow it. Until that day arrives, I will work on the thoracic spine exercises and the foam roller.

Russell is bored with most of the CARS exercises, but he loves the foam rolling.

Countdown to Tuscaloosa: 29 Days

Thursday afternoon, after my morning tempo ride and swim lesson I had a tempo run workout of 4 x 1 mile to be run at my 10K goal pace of 9 to 9:30. A two minute recover between each mile.

I ran along the lakefront and it was perfect conditions. Felt surprisingly good, despite the bike workout in the morning. I was able to run all 4 miles at well under the 9 to 9:30 range and my heart rate remained in range, so an encouraging run.

Countdown to Tuscaloosa: 30 Days

This morning I had an indoor training tempo ride. I had planned to ride indoors on Tuesday and outside today, but I switched it based on the weather forecast. Kudos to the weather forecasters as Tuesday morning was sunny and mild and this morning it was low 40s and rainy. Happy to ride indoors. It was a challenging, but not too excruciating tempo ride.

Right after the tempo ride I had my swim lesson. I am taking lessons with Craig Strong. His goal is to make me more streamlined. He wants me to think about swimming like I'm in a tube, so I keep my arms and legs and feet aligned. He is not expecting me to have a super powerful kick, he is just trying to keep my feet and legs from being an aerodynamic drag.

It is definitely a long term process, but I'm making progress. Here is a video of what Craig described as my best one lap swim ever. It's a start anyway.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/bbb2b7_81c216cb429046168eada1b204ad0113/144p/mp4/file.mp4

Countdown to Tuscaloosa: 31 Days

Tuesday afternoon I had my run workout: 6 repeat hills. We don't have a lot of hill options in the Evanston / Northshore area. Our best option is a road at the intersection of Tower Road and Sheridan Boulevard that leads down to the lakefront. It is .16 of a mile with a 7.2% grade.

After a warmup of about a mile, my coach, Heather Collins and I jog down the hill and then run up at a controlled pace. Then we loop around the parking lot at the top of the hill and jog back down. It takes about three minutes for that recovery run and what we are looking for is to have my heart rate recover. According to the Garmin data, at the end of each recovery jog, my heart rate had returned to 97 to 98. It was hot in the afternoon, almost as hot as it will be in Tuscaloosa, so it was a good test.

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Countdown to Tuscaloosa: 32 Days

The coaching plan calls for me to do my long ride on Thursday morning and then follow that in the afternoon with a tempo run. But the weather looked iffy for Thursday and it was perfect today, so I switched and did the long ride this morning.

I followed my usual route, cycling from my home in Skokie over to the lakefront and then up Sheridan Road to Fort Sheridan and back. I remember riding this route last April after the shelter-in-place order was imposed. It was eerie. There was no traffic, (except for a few Amazon delivery vehicles) – just bikes and runners. It felt post-apocalyptic, and I guess it was.

Today there was traffic. It felt good.

Countdown to Tuscaloosa: 33 Days

Swimming. My races in Tuscaloosa are duathlons so there will be no swimming. But I still have swim workouts so I can be ready for triathlon competition later in the season. When the McGaw YMCA closed last April because of the pandemic I transitioned to Lake Michigan. That worked until the end of September, when I lost interest in swimming in the lake.

There was a group that continued to swim or at least get wet all through the winter. Even without wetsuits (although they did wear knit caps). It appeared from the photos they posted that most of them were women. That's because women are tougher than men. Or crazier.

The YMCA reopend for swimming on a reservation basis. You have to reserve your lane a week in advance and the reservations go fast. However they have special times for the "vulnerable population," of which I am a proud member and those are easier to secure.

Countdown to Tuscaloosa: 34 Days

I don't have scheduled workouts on Sunday, just mobility exercises, which I will describe in a later blog.

In 2012, when I completed my only Ironman competition, I weighed 190. A few months after that event, my coach, Heather Collins, of Heather Collins Training, suggested I track my food consumption on MyFitnessPal so I would have more awareness of what I was consuming. She added, to give me more incentive, that I might be able to run and cycle faster if I was carrying around less fat. My focus was not to lose weight, but to increase consumption of protein and nutirionally dense foods like vegetables.

After six months of tracking, I weighed 172. I stopped recording, but the process did raise my awareness level and allowed me to make better choices. Not great choices – I love wine and cheese and pizza and cheeseburgers – but at least now I knew what they “cost.” I have tried to eat more vegetables, not always successfully.

During the pandemic I found that my wine and cheese consumption increased. My weight was bumping up closer to 180, and Heather suggested I resume tracking food intake and try again to increase protein and those nutrionally dense foods she loves so much.

I’ve been back on MyFitnessPal now for a month. Haven’t eliminated the wine and cheese, but I have cut back. And the other day I had some broccoli. It wasn’t awful.

Here are my weekly averages for the last month. The numbers in parentheses are Fitnesspal’s estimates of what my daily consumption for each category should be. Need to do better on the protein consumption and continue to work on the vegetables. I'm told potatoes don't count. Figures.

Countdown to Tuscaloosa: 35 Days

Saturday is long run day. I often run with my coach, Heather Collins of Heather Collins Training. This picture is from the Milwaukee Marathon run that we ran in a few years ago. We alternate between runs along the Evanston lakefront trail and a more hilly venue north of Evanston.

Today we ran 9 miles along the lakefront trail. We run in the morning at an easy pace where it is possible to talk. Mostly I just listen.

It was great to see so many of our training friends out running and biking today. It’s like the world is coming back to life again.