11.30.09 - Monday

Alastair:

Flying to Memphis

Scott:

5 mile run in about 47 minutes

Paul:

12 miles on the bike

2,200 Meters in the pool (800 warm-up, 200 catch-up stroke, 200 kick, 8x25 @ 20sec, 4x50 @40sec, 2x75 @60, 1x100 @1:22, 50 cool down, 200 catch-up stroke, 200 warm-down)

11.29.09 - Sunday

Alastair:
Packing for Memphis...

Scott:

In-transit (sitting on a plane), so nuthin.

Paul:

12 Miles Bike Ride

11.28.09 - Saturday

Alastair:

Horizontal

Scott:

Zilch

Paul:

37 glorious miles on the bike today! Perfect weather and a smooth as silk ride out of the Look 566 full carbon frame. Don't tell my Cervelo, but there may be two-wheeled competition for the love of my biking heart.

11.27.09 - Black Friday

Alastair:

Zzzz...

Scott:

Nope

Paul:

The mobile couch got all the exercise today... driving to Auburn to pike up my new Look 566! Yipee, I'm looking forward to some non-TT Bike miles. :-)

11.26.09 - Thursday

In honor of the national day of gorging, no training was had... unless Alastair snuck some in. ;-o

11.25.09 - Wednesday

Alastair:

Scott:

Nada

Paul:

14.5 Miles on the bike. Tired legs. A break may be in store and guess what?... tomorrow's Thanksgiving!

11.24.09 - Tuesday

Alastair AND Scott:

Ran 5.5 in 53 mins, in Seattle, at 8am, joined by Francoise. We are not going to gloat.

Paul:

I'm going to gloat... 63 degrees Fahrenheit and not a cloud in the sky!

Who knew one could be wearing shorts and no gloves this late in November. :-)

26 Miles of casual biking were in order today. Down here in San Jose, city riding is stinky versus the open roads of Marin. There were all the classics: nearly getting hit by a right turning ding-bat talking on the phone in her Benz (What part of the hands-free law don't you understand Maria?), disappearing bike lanes dumping into expressways (doh), diagonal ungraded train track, massive pot hots, etc. Even after all that, it was a great day for a ride!

1.0 Mile plod. The knee is more sensitive again... bummer.

Heading to the pool shortly, for my 20 Minutes of lane time at 24 Hour Fitness. You know, Marin doesn't look so bad from a training ground perspective. ;-o

11.23.09 - Monday

Scott:

Ran 5.5 mi in about 53min.

Alastair:

Swam 1900m.

250 warm, 250 legs, 500 arms, then 5 x 100 at 1.40 with 20 seconds rest. Rested for about 2 minutes before 4 x 50 at .45 with 15 seconds rest. 200 cool down. I had fun!

Using legs (float board for arms) I can't seem to break 35 seconds for 25m. I must be doing it wrong!?! What's weird, is that I can do the breast stroke kick (with float board) also in 35 seconds!? You'd think the freestyle kick would be considerably faster...

Paul:

What a gorgeous sunny and roughly 60 degree day! Too bad I only manager 15 very casual miles on the bike in the twilight... doh. Tempting the knee, a one mile trot was had, then a very abbreviated swim. During the lackadaisical ride, of course I was making mental "training deals" with myself, basically trading riding effort for swimming to come. Once at the 24 Hr Fitness Pool in San Jose, they have a 20 minute max, which equates to just getting things started when at home. So, 800 warm-up, 100 kick, 100 stroke, two 25's on the 16 and a 50 warm-down just to say there was one. Yikes... just 1,100 meters. Oh well, there are months to go!

Big "A", ditch the kick-board my man. Work on doing 5 butterfly kicks under water, come up for a breast stroke breath, then repeat. On the way back, do 4 breast stroke kicks under water (without arms), breath and repeat. Breaking the kicking up into 25 meter chunks, switching strokes allows for maximum focus and a more consistent effort. If you want to work on free-style kicking, put in an extra strong kicking effort when doing "catch-up" arm drills. It will help you roll from side to side, increasing your glide, as you switch arm pulls. I love that you are having fun!... and your interval times rock. :-)

11.22.09 - Sunday

Alastair:

Ran 5.2 miles. Meant to do 6 x 400m speed repeats on the track, but track was closed. So after a slow 2 mile warm up in cold and wet conditions, I ran 6 x 90 seconds, with 90 seconds recovery in between each. The final 90 seconds was fastest (I know this as my GPS watch said I went furthest). Mile cool down.

This makes the week's total running mileage 23.4 (most I've logged in a week in almost a year). Won't be running much before Seattle's half marathon next Sunday. Maybe a swim or two. And if Berto calls me, maybe a bike ride or two on the indoor trainer...

Paul: REST DAY ... hmmm ... off season. ;-)

11.21.09 - Saturday

Scott:

Alastair:

Here goes - my first blog.

Inspired by Paul's swim, I went for 2000m today. Longest I've ever swum in a pool - and it's taken me 3 weeks to work up to this distance.

250 warm up, 250 legs (25m fastest was 38 mins - how do you go so fast, Paul), 250 arms.

Then two ladders:

100 (on 1.40), 150 (on 2.35), 200 (on 3.30), 150, 100.

Rested, then second ladder:

50 (on .45), 100 (on 1.35), 200 (on 3.25), 100, 50. (Last 50 was on .40 totally flat out).

No time for cool down, as lane swim ended.

I'm happy with my visible improvement since my first ever swimming lesson 3 years ago (!) and yet recognize the clear need for more technical instruction so I can sound as cool as Paul talking about relaxing and stroke and technique (whaaaat?)

Paul:

39 degrees is just plain cold for cycling! I was spinning at 20 mph trying to get warmed up, while watching biker after biker head the opposite direction obviously freezing. One guy just road "hands free" hugging himself to attempt to collect warmth. In the midst of this, some crazy dude in boxer shorts and a long-sleeve t-shirt came flying past me, as if I were standing still. This guy was so nuts I thought it must be an apparition of Bob Roll. Talking with some bike friends this evening, apparently this guy if famous for his antics, including not wearing a helmet. Apparently, he's even more eccentric since crashing a year or so ago, including bouncing his unprotected melon off the tarmac. God speed dude!

On the workout front, it was only a 12 mile ride day and painfully slow. Time to just spin. In this "chill factor" time of year. 60 miles a week outside may just have to do for now.

11.20.09 - Friday

Scott & Paul at the 2009 Seattle Sea Fair Sprint Triathlon. Sadly, no Alastair pic.

(We need one of you big man!)

Scott:

Alastair:

Paul:

"Captain Excuses" decided that running in cold rain just didn't sound like much fun, so waited till the pool opened and did 2,000 Meters in the water, which somehow felt better... go figure. 800 warm-up, 200 kick, 8x25 (target 22 secs), 4x50 (target 44 secs), 200 catch-up stroke, 4x25 (target 20 secs), 2x50 (target 40 secs), 200 warm-down.

The hard part is trying to envision and execute smooth & loose. Whenever I start to "work" my times get slower... work on stroke technique and being loose and times are fast. Hmmm...

Thanks Lobster

I've been running somewhat regularly, plus Alastair took me to the indoor pool last week, and I'm liking it.

Bought a real swimsuit on speedo.com - half price too!

The bikes are in storage for the rest of the monsoon season.

I am going to buy a copy of Joe Friel's book on Triathlon, and I am happy to share.

Berto

11.19.09 - Thursday

Scott:

Thanks Lobster!

I've been running somewhat regularly, plus Alastair took me to the indoor pool last week, and I'm liking it.

Bought a real swimsuit on speedo.com - half price too!

The bikes are in storage for the rest of the monsoon season.

I am going to buy a copy of Joe Friel's book on Triathlon, and I am happy to share.

Berto

Alastair:

Paul:

A fridged 14.75 miles on the bike, including climbing out of Lucas Valley. Brrr... somebody thought it would be smart to wear shorts in 50 degree and shady weather.

Jogged 0.75 miles. The knee is holding together, but this is really pathetic. It must get better!!!

Swim in about an hour, likely an 800 meter warm-up, 500 of stroke work and 200 warm-down.

It is hard to feel like I'm training for anything in particular. Being the off season, Spring seems like a long time away, but Alastair has scared the poo out of me again with upping the ante to a 70.3 by mid-summer. Yikes! I mean Yipee!

And then there was life!

Someone asked, "Hey, wouldn't it be great to have a place where we could all keep track of our training?" ... that way we could encourage each other (or lay down the gauntlet) towards our 2010 goals. Where he we go! The 3trigeeks are Scott, Alastair, and Paul. This is our collective training log / blog.