Training Log (Jan 20-26)

Well week three is in the books and it seemed to come a little easier than last week. We skipped the Tuesday night track session to recover from a big week and bumped up the swim days to four. The goal is to continue to gradually increase swim volume and get to 5 days week totaling around 15-20k. The swim is by far my weakest of the three sports and after taking a whole month off, surprisingly I didn’t lose as much fitness as I thought I would. I contribute that to improving my technique. We do 1-2 technique focused swims (3k) and 2-3 Masters swims (4-5k) a week. Over the past several years, my strong bike and run workouts never correlate to race-day. I attribute that to lack of swim fitness. By the time I get to the bike I am gassed and don’t ride to my potential and that just carries over to the run which often times I’m in survival mode. So needless to say, I need to swim A LOT. It drives me crazy when triathletes dismiss the importance of swimming since it is significantly shorter than biking and running in a race. Imagine running an all out 1.2 mile race when you’re in terrible running shape then getting on the bike to race 56 miles. You wouldn’t ride to your potential. I feel the same way about the swim. I plan on getting to the bike fresh this year and ready to hammer! Here are my workouts for the week: [hr]

Monday: 2 workouts

Masters Swim: 1 hr / 3k
500 wup
6x150 on 2:15
5x
100 on 1:30, 50 on 1 min
500 w/fins unstructured
c/d to 3k

Post workout notes: I was pretty smashed from the weekend so I was excited that we were only doing 3k today. I cruised through the 150’s. Then we did the 100’s/50’s (x5). The goal was to come in more like around the 1:20 range on the 100’s and then just recover for the 50’s. 1:20’s just aren’t there for me yet. I came in right around 1:25 each time and was definitely feeling it towards the end.

Bike: 1:17 / 17.3 miles / 1k climbing / 13.5 mph

Flanny’s workout: All I am looking for is 75-90 minutes of easy Zone 1-2 riding. You’re coming off of a solid week.

Post workout notes: Legs were dead, I just cruised around wine country in my small ring, keeping cadence high, did a little climbing. Active recovery.[hr]

 Tuesday: 1 workout

[caption id="attachment_2589" align="alignright" width="225"] Late trade show. At least I got to hang out with Shawne Merriman![/caption]

Steady State run: 1:15 / 8 miles / 9:30 pace

Flanny’s workout: Zone 2+ for 75 minutes. Dont give it too much gas as I want you to nail the next 2 days work

Post Workout notes: I had a late night trade show that night so I got up at 4:15am and got this in. Flanny asked me what the heck was wrong with me because of the slow pace. There’s something about those 4:30am runs. I just feel old, tired and slow! I kind of run with what I’m given and don’t force it. I was clearly still tired from the week prior but didn’t stress it. Run done![hr]

Wednesday: 2 workouts

Masters Swim: 1:30 / 4k
500 wup, 10x50 on 50
2k Mainset all on 1:30b:
500,400,300,200,100 w/a 100yd recovery in between each one on the 2mins
500 kick
400 on 1:30b Indian Style
100 c/d

[caption id="attachment_2594" align="alignright" width="225"] Masters with 2 of my awesome lane mates Heather and Tom![/caption]

Post workout notes: This was the first time I had done 4k in awhile. I barely made all the sets on the 1:30, especially towards the end. I’m really starting to learn how to focus when things get hard in the water. Before, my form would break down and I would try to force it. Now, I’m treating it like when I start to hurt during a run where I really focus my mind, body and form to get through it. Not surprisingly it works great for swimming too.

Bike Trainer: 1:15 / 24 miles / 19.2mph

Flanny’s workout: 3 x 3 min & 2 x 5 min Z5 VO2
20 minutes Zone 2 Warm Up
4 x 30 sec spin ups (get cadence over 100 rpm) on 30 sec recovery
1 min Easy
3 x 3 minutes Zone 5 on 2 minutes easy
2 x 5 minutes Zone 5 on 3 minutes easy
Zone 2 to finish out the session.

After a 30 min warm up on the trainer I want you to do 6 x 3 min big gear (hard enough to slow your rpm's to 40-50 as long as the knees are not strained) with 1 min of high cadence spinning between (100 rpm+). Ride the remaining time in Z2

Post workout notes: My legs were finally fully recovered and I took advantage of that for this workout. This was probably the most I’ve ever hurt in a trainer session so my legs went from fully recovered to destroyed in just 75 minutes. Again, maximizing the amount of time I have with QUALITY work.[hr]

Thursday: 1 workout

[caption id="attachment_2590" align="alignright" width="300"] Fueling with Amy's GF crunchy quinoa chocolate bars![/caption]

Run: Tempo session - 50 mins / 7 miles / 7:15 pace

Flanny’s Workout: Warm Up 20 minutes Z2 and then give me 20 minutes of high Z3 Tempo (5:50 pace) before bringing it back down for an easy 10 minutes of Cool Down

Post workout notes: I had an early breakfast meeting in the morning for work and the pool doesn’t open until 5am. So I was left with just one workout. After an 11 hour day at work, the last thing I wanted to do was a tempo run. I know most of us reading this go through the same exact scenario. It’s late, you’re tired, hungry and all you want to do is to go home and see your family. I look at this as a short term commitment. I’m not going to be training like this forever. This is my shot, my chance to do something great and I can’t let those excuses get in the way of my dream. So I knocked it out. Didn’t feel great after last night’s trainer session, but I got the work in and as always – I was glad I made that decision.[hr]

Friday: 2 workouts

Swim: Masters - 80 mins / 3500 yds
500 wup, 4x100 on 1:40, 4x50 on 50
Main set (broken 1500 on 1:30b)
2x400
2x200
2x100
2x50

4x200 with fins breathing 3,5,7,9 every 50
8x25 all out with 30 sec recovery
C/d

Post Workout notes: This was a big confidence builder for me. We made the main set all on the 1:30. We were coming in between 1:20-1:25 with about a 5 second recovery. Total time was 22:50 which converts to 23:17 for meters (according to some random calculator website). My PR is 24:19 so I am very pleased with my progress in the short two weeks I’ve been back at it.

SRM Bike Trainer: Optional Easy recovery spin – 1:04 / 16 miles / 15mph

Post workout notes: On Wednesday, the SRM Power meter came in. By Friday, The Bike Shop had it installed and ready to go! I am beyond excited about this. For the past three years I’ve been racing and training all on a guessing game. My bike workouts, although they have been specific – have all been based off of rate of exertion. The SRM takes away that guessing game. It will provide me with the most accurate data on the market and hold me accountable when I’m going to hard or too soft. This is going to be a game changer for me this year and KEY for me racing Ironman.[hr]

Saturday: 2 workouts

SRM Bike: 2:30 / 44.5 miles / 17 mph / 3k climbing

Flanny’s Workout: During this ride I want 3 x 8 minutes of either sustained seated climbing or Big gear low cadence work. These are to be done controlled Z3 and not attacking the hills. This is about Strength.

Post workout notes:  I was excited to go outside and test the Power Meter out. I tried to ride like I normally do without looking at it too much just so Flanny can get an idea of my style of riding – especially with all the hills around here. I have no idea what the numbers mean, but here’s the ride data:

 

For the three hill efforts, my avg watts were: 205, 252 and 213. So yeah, all over the place. Although I did jump on a group for that 2^nd one.

Brick Run: 20 mins / 2.3 miles / 8:50 pace

Flanny’s workout: EZ run off bike, Z2

Post workout notes: First brick run of the year. Let me make a confession. I absolutely HATE brick runs. I don’t know what it is. It’s probably the fact that I’m tired from a long ride and I just want to go home, eat, shower and hang out with the family. BUT. I know they are necessary and I always feel like I accomplished something big after I’m done with it. Whereas, if I were to skip it, I’d feel like I cheated myself for the day.[hr]

Sunday: 2 workouts

Swim/Technique session: 1 hour / 3k

Post workout notes: We only had time for one technique session this week. I knocked it out first thing in the morning as Sunday’s are big family days.

Run - Track session: 80 mins / 10 miles

Flanny’s workout:
20 minutes of Z2 Running
15 minutes @ Half Marathon Goal Pace (5:45 pace)
Easy 5 minutes recovery
Stop Watch and get in 4 x 50 m strides to get some pop in legs
Easy 5 minutes to get back into it
10 minutes @ 5-10 sec per mile faster than half marathon goal pace (5:35 max)
15 minutes cool down



Post workout notes: Same workout as last Sunday. I was absolutely dragging before I started this session. After a 20 minute family nap, I got up with a full belly still from lunch and headed over to the track late in the afternoon to get the work done. Like a lot of us do, as I was warming up – I had my doubts about hitting the pacing and executing this workout. I was just tired and my mind was trying to talk me out of doing it! I just ignored all these thoughts and went forward with it. There’s just something about the track. As soon as I start an interval, I just get “in the zone.” No matter how slow or how poor I feel in the warm up, the pace just seems to kick up with ease. The same thing happens in the pool. I think it’s important to not pay too much attention to how you “feel” during a warm up for a workout or race. Warm ups lie! I ended up running well and felt even better than I did last week and executed right on plan.[hr]

Strength Training for the week: 1 hr. Pushups, and different variations of sit-ups.
I forgot to log this last week too. I started with 25 push-ups and sit-ups and this week I bumped it up to 30 and next week 35…etc until I reach 100/ea. I do this first thing in the morning. I wake up, brush my teeth and hammer these out before I start the day. It really is the only way I’ll ever have time or motivation to do any type of strength work. The goal is to just have a stronger core for Swim, Bike and Run; not necessarily IMPROVING in those three disciplines. And most of all, to try and remove the beer gut!

Totals (4 swims, 4 bikes, 4 runs)
Swim: 13,500 yds /4:50
Bike: 101 miles / 6:14
Run: 27 miles / 3:46
Strength: 1 hr
Total hours: 15:50

I tweeted last week about the idea of how it takes 6-8 months for a coach to get to know you. You abilities, your schedule, your tendencies, how long it takes you to recover, what your strengths/weaknesses are…etc etc. Flanny really has me locked in right now. He knows when I’m tired before I know when I’m tired. I can’t stress enough about how important it is to have “real” coaching and not a pre-written / one size fits all plan. Each of us are unique and won’t react to training stresses the same. I really feel like I am on to something big this year. Even though last year was a break through, I think it’s just begun and I can’t wait for the season to unfold.

It all starts this weekend, Super Bowl Sunday at The Surf City Half Marathon. It’s my first open half in two years. I ran 1:14 then and this weekend I am shooting for a 1:13. It’s my first test in my Kona Journey. Wish me luck!

You can read the LAVA Version HERE

Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Thanks for reading.

Being an "Ironmate" by Amy Adams

Guest Post by my wife, Amy Adams

Adjusting to having a husband training for triathlon wasn’t an easy transition at first; we had to find our rhythm. Now that we have, triathlon feels like a normal part of our lives. Our goal is always to spend as much quality time together as a family as possible so here are some things we have found that work for us.

Communicate-It’s the best thing we can do as a family to stay on the same page and make sure there are no unmet expectations for the day. We usually chat about the upcoming week to align our schedules. Then we talk each morning about what we have going on that day so that we can sync our days up to spend the most time together as a family.

Plan to be gone at the same time- If James has a long workout on the weekend then the kids and I will go for a run and then hit up the farmers market for a bit or we will go meet up at the park with friends for an hour and play while he finishes up those big training days. On weekdays, he’s usually up around 4:30am getting his workout in which has zero interference with family time.

Know why your spouse is training, it will help you be more supportive. Instead of just thinking of it as long workouts that take them away from the family, find out what drives this passion. Once James started sharing with me why he loves the sport so much it made me better understand why he does it and it helped me and the kids get excited about it for him as well. I run and our kids are very active too, so we understand why he loves it.

Share about your workouts, just not too much- As a non-triathlete I have no idea what cadences and aero means, I don’t want to know the nitty gritty about workouts but I do want to know how things went that day. James is really good about sharing his workouts with me in general terms (like it was hot and my legs were tired) rather then numbers and technical terms like blah blah blah!

Nutrition- What we eat around here has changed so much over the past few years and took some time adjusting. Although we were never big on eating out, we relied on a lot of convenience food. Preparing and cooking our own food takes a lot more time but is worth the effort. We share cooking responsibility so that when one of us is cooking the other is playing with the kids and vise versa. I also spend a lot of time in the kitchen with the kids. Most days you can find us in the kitchen mixing up bars, muffins or making granola. We have found tons of recipes that we love to make from triathlon magazines and blogs and love the inspiration that comes from them which translates to healthier choices in the kitchen.

Spend family time on what’s important to make the most of it- Instead of sitting around vegging out in front of the TV in the evenings, the TV stays off and we spend time reading books, building Legos together, playing games and Barbie’s. In the summer we hang out in the front yard while the kids ride bikes and scooters until it gets dark. Once the kids go to bed, we aren’t far behind them so that we can start the day off early once again.

Set time aside for just the two of you- Marriage is beyond important, don’t treat it lightly! Make sure that your spouse knows that they are more important to you then the sport. As a stay at home mom to a 3 year old and 5 year old, I know it can be hard to get away on date nights but make it happen whenever you can! When that’s not possible at least set aside some time at home connecting and talking to each other. I cherish the quiet moments we get together to just reconnect.

These are just a few things we do to make triathlon a fun part of our lives instead of a burden on family time. It takes a lot of work at first but once you find your groove it becomes easy! It takes us to destinations we normally wouldn't have visited, we've met a lot of new friends and it’s inspired me to become a better runner.

Training Log (Jan 13-19)

Last week was a pretty solid week for me and I have a feeling that it was mild compared to what is to come. The best news was that my finger checked out enough for me to get back in the water swimming after a full month off. I'm scared to death of smacking it on the lane line or wall but so far so good.

This week's focus was to gradually get my swim volume back up and feel for the water without diving in too fast. The bike and run proved to be really challenging with each workout (for the most part) providing some intensity and purpose.

Challenges for the week: I had to commute Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during the weekdays and for the weekend we had our kids in the Legoland 1 mile race on Saturday with a family birthday party that night. Sunday was Amy's half marathon - which she pr'd by 16 mins! So getting in my workouts on a strict/planned schedule proved key.[hr]

Monday: 2 workouts

Swim: 2000 yards / 45 minutes
4x500:
1 - ez/wup
2 - pull
3 - IM pace
4 - pull

Post workout notes: Got in the water with my BlueSeventy goggles at 6:30am before I started my work day. Today was all about just getting back into the water, ignoring the clock and making sure that my finger wasn't going to be effected by the water or chlorine. I put some second skin on it and it was good to go. I actually felt a lot better than I thought I would after taking a month off. I contribute that to loosing some of my holiday weight, eating healthier again and being in a lot better bike/run shape than I was a month ago.

Bike Trainer: 6x3 minutes Z5 VO2 / 90 minutes

20 minutes Zone 2 Warm Up
4 x 30 sec spin ups (get cadence over 100 rpm) on 30 sec recovery
1 min Easy
6 x 3 minutes Zone 5 on 3 minutes easy
Zone 2 to finish out the session.

Post workout notes: After work, threw my bike on the trainer and hit this up before dinner with the family. My SRM Powermeter is in the mail as I type this - so for this workout, once again was all about going as hard as I could on the Z5 intervals. My legs actually felt great and it ended up being a great session.[hr]

Tuesday: 2 workouts

Bike Trainer: 60 minutes Z2 easy recovery

Post Workout notes: 4:30am wake up call, on the trainer getting in an easy spin to clear out the legs from last nights workout and to prepare for a tough session on the track that night.

Run: Track session / 1 hr, 7.63 miles

1.5 wup including strides, plyometrics
4x1000 w/200 jog ~1 min recovery splits: 3:41, 3:33, 3:28, 3:26
4x300 w/100 walk recovery splits: :56, :54, :53, :52
1 lap jog recovery
1 mile: 5:21
cool down
Data:
Post workout notes: I hit this up after an early wake up call and a long day at work. It's always hard to get motivated to hit a hard track session after a day like this but I've always said to myself, just start running and you'll start feeling better! It really helps on nights like this to run with a group - which is my case is the San Diego track club. My legs didn't feel as good as they did last Tuesday but I was still able to hit pacing that I'm looking for in two weeks at the Surf City half ~5:40 pace. The 300's were fun to get in a little extra speed work and as always we always finish up with a strong effort mile to finish off the workout which I hit in 5:21 and felt so-so. [hr]

Wednesday: 2 workouts

Swim: Specific Technique work / 1 hr / 3k

Post workout notes: Another early 4am wake up call to get in the water. As much as I love our SoCal weather, there really aren't many indoor pools out here which is pretty rough in the "winter." So getting in at 4:30 when it's 38-40 degrees outside can sometimes be hard. But again, I just tell myself - start swimming! Sure enough, it's never as bad once you get going. I debated whether or not to post all of the drill/technique work that Flanny had me do, but it was pretty long. Unless I get some comments asking me to post next time I won't do it. I felt surprisingly good in the water and really don't feel like that month off had any effect on my form. GOOD NEWS.

Bike Trainer: Big gear work / 90 minutes

After a 30 min warm up on the trainer I want you to do 6 x 3 min big gear (hard enough to slow your rpm's to 40-50 as long as the knees are not strained) with 1 min of high cadence spinning between (100 rpm+). Ride the remaining time in Z2

Post workout notes: As soon as I get home from my commute, I kiss the family and immediately jump on the trainer before dinner. I LOVE big gear work. Something about it. For some reason it reminds me of when you were a kid and had a loose tooth. It hurt so good to pull and yank on that thing. Weird right? Legs felt tired, yet strong - good day of work. [hr]

Thursday: 1 workout

Run: Tempo session - 50 mins / 7 miles

Warm Up 20 minutes Z2 and then give me 20 minutes of high Z3 Tempo (5:50 pace) before bringing it back down for an easy 10 minutes of Cool Down

Post workout notes: Got the morning off to sleep in today. Hit this tempo session on the way back home from work on the trails (Lake Hodges). My legs felt really heavy during the warm up and wasn't too sure how it would go. For some reason I've always hated tempo sessions, even in hs and college. Something about them. Maybe it's because I only like either going really hard or really easy, nothing in between. I know these are key sessions though so I take them VERY serious. Here's how it went down:

[hr]

Friday: 2 workouts

Bike outside: Easy recovery spin -80 mins / 20 miles

Post workout notes: Woke up early, bundled up and rode through wine country watching the sun come up.

Swim: Masters - 75 minutes / 3500 yds

500 wup, 10x50 on 50
Mainset (everything on the 1:30b):
2x25,2x50,2x75,2x100,2x125,2x150,2x125,2x100,2x75,2x50,2x25
(1700 total mainset)
500 w/fins breathing every 3rd stroke
300 pull c/d

Post Workout notes: So it was my first time back with the group and was a little nervous of how I'd do. I just jumped right back into my same lane as always and ended up being fine and hitting all of the intervals. I started fading a little bit on the last few but that is normal because of my lack of volume. This was a huge confidence booster when my swim confidence has been lacking. [hr]

Saturday: 1 workout

Bike outside: 2:30 / 42.5 miles / 2k+ climbing

During this Ride I want you to get in 3 x 10 minutes of solid Z4 Threshold riding. Take 5 minutes of rest between efforts and dont start them until after the first hour of riding is complete.

Post workout notes: After watching the kids run their first mile race (which was so fun), we went over to the EXPO for Amy's half marathon. After she checked in, I suited up in my sweet Wattie Ink kit, Rudy Project helmet and glasses and hit the coast for some easy spinning and then hit the San Luis Trail for the 3x10 minutes while they went and hung out at the beach. My legs were dead tired today and was only able to average 21.6, 21.9, 22.5 mph for my three intervals. Some days you just don't have it. My HR felt low and my power felt low but I just did my best and got the work in - nothing else you can do![hr]

Sunday: 2 workouts

Bike Trainer: 1 hour easy spin

Post workout notes: Flanny orginally wanted this after my run but with Amy's half marathon that morning I had no choice but to get this in early in the am. Legs were dead!

Run - Track session: 80 mins / 9.5 miles

20 minutes of Z2 Running
15 minutes @ Half Marathon Goal Pace (5:45 pace)
Easy 5 minutes recovery
Stop Watch and get in 4 x 50 m strides to get some pop in legs
Easy 5 minutes to get back into it
10 minutes @ 5-10 sec per mile faster than half marathon goal pace (5:35 max)
15 minutes cool down

Post workout notes: Sometimes your commitment level is tested. This was one of those days. You're tired from waking up early, playing race sherpa, football and beer surround you but you need to get out the door and get the work in. I always take a reality check in situations like this. What is your main goal this year? It's not to watch football or drink beer or nap, it's qualifying for Kona! So I headed to the track and got the job done. Here's how it went down:

The splits are a little funky. My garmin doesn't calculate the track very accurately with laps. 1 mile usually equals ~ .98-.99. My first 15 minute interval falls on Splits 4-7. My 2nd inteval falls on splits 9-10. Running on tired legs is like Flan50ny's mantra. I hate it because I like to run fast and my legs to feel good. The problem with that is, it's not how your legs are going to feel in a 70.3 or IM. He's training me to run fast with good form and execute when my legs are smashed. It's working, I nailed this workout and am extremely pleased with the week and my progress. [hr]

Totals
Swim: 8500 yds
Bike: 150 miles
Run: 24 miles
Total hours: 15:07 [hr]

Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Thanks for reading.

Here's a few more pictures from the week:

[caption id="attachment_2569" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Kids before the big race![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2570" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Finished up a cleanse which included zero alcohol and coffee. Tough but I feel great![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2567" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Homemade Plantain Chips with Sea Salt that Amy made. Soooo good![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2573" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Tea replaced coffee and it's growing on me more and more and doesn't give me the big crash[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2571" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Carlsbad Beach riding[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2572" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Temecula winery riding. Life is good![/caption]

To see the post on LAVA's site, click HERE.

The Details + Training Log (Jan 6-12)

Here we go!

First The Details. I understand that everyone reading this is not in the same situation that I'm in. Everyone reading this will come from different backgrounds, different families, different structures. But the cool thing about triathlon is that we ALL started somewhere. Every single one of us at some point could barely make it 25 yards across the pool. Or barely made it up that first hill on that $100, super heavy Target bike. Maybe  we even walked/jogged that 50 pound overweight body for a run. Just over three years ago, all of these things I just mentioned were true. I started there and now I am here - trying to qualify for the biggest stage in triathlon. Kona. It's really important that people know I didn't get to the fitness level I am at right now off of talent. It was all work, early morning wake up calls and BELIEF & DESIRE to get fast.

I'm going to give you an overall idea of what my day-to-day is like without giving away my whole life. I really want to translate the whole family-work-workout ratio. The sacrifices made, the times I screw up or lost focus and hopefully inspire some out there to try and do the same so they can reach their goals.

So here's the details:

Family: I have a beautiful wife of 10 years, Amy - who you will see a few guest blog posts in the future from. She'll tell her side of the story and maybe give you some more insight to what REALLY goes on around here haha. I have two kids - a daughter that is 5 and a son that is almost 4. Amy is a stay at home mom.

Career: I'm the Director of Marketing and Business Development for a company down in San Diego. It's an hour commute each way. For three years I made that commute each day and as of about a year ago I am able to work from home 2-3 days a week now. Don't kid yourself though, I don't have it easy because of that. I'm often attending late night functions, all day golf outings and trade shows which is not ideal for training for an Ironman.

Finances: With only one income - triathlon is a probably one of the worst hobbies I could have picked! With a SoCal mortgage, a family to care for, bills and races/hotels to pay for - needless to say money is tight. I debated whether or not to include a "Donate" section on my website because it can come off tacky - but I really don't care. If you want to help contribute to my Journey, you can donate HERE. And thanks for considering!

Structure: If your situation is anything similar to mine then you know you have to make quite a few sacrifices to make it work. For me, getting up early is key which means getting to bed early is important. So I basically structure my day around getting to bed by 9pm. I need those 8 hours of sleep otherwise I usually get sick or see a decrease in performance. I'll discuss this more on Thursday's blog post.

[caption id="attachment_2558" align="alignright" width="225"] Rocking the Wattie World Championship Kit![/caption]

So there you have it. Hopefully this gives everyone an insight to what I'm up against each day going into these workouts. As far as training goes, some days I can get in a double workout, some one, some none. I imagine most of you out there are the same: each week is so different with family/work schedule which makes it even more difficult to stay consistent. Every Saturday is not going to be a long ride or every Wednesday a Masters swim - which can be a good in a way because you're always shocking the body and switching things up. Doesn't make it easy though. That's why I've learned to just take things day by day and not have a schedule etched in stone because things come up and you have to be willing to adapt and be as consistent as possible - key in triathlon!

I'm still toying with the idea of the best way to post my workouts. For now I'm going to write out everything and then highlight/take screen shots of my key workouts of the week. Eventually I might link up my Garminconnect account or maybe Strava. In the meantime you'll just have to trust what I put down is what I'm doing. There's no reason to lie about what I'm doing - it's just a hobby! lol. I have no shame or anything to hide, hopefully this gives you some insight!

January 6-12
Things to note: If you saw THIS post you'll know that I cut my fingertip off on Christmas Eve so I haven't swam in about a month. So this was another week of just riding and running. My wife and I also celebrated our 10 year Anniversary so we left the kids with the grandparents and headed up to Yosemite for the weekend. This weeks focus was all about trying to get in some good quality sessions while staying healthy before heading out of town.[hr]
Monday: Fri-Sun of last week was pretty brutal so Flanny and I decided to make this just a single day.

Trainer Threshold intervals (copied/pasted from Training Peaks account):
30 minutes WU
3 x 10 minute Z4 (Threshold)
5 min recovery between efforts
Let your legs recover fully during the 5 minutes between intervals so you can ride consistently.
4 x 20 sec right leg, 20 sec left leg, 20 sec both legs
Z2 remainder (total 2 hours)
Post workout notes: I don't have a power meter yet (very soon!) so it can be really hard to gauge my effort levels. I basically go as hard as I can without slowing down to much. This workout crushed me. I'm on Season 3 of "Walking Dead" via streaming Netflix and I felt like I was a "walker" after this. One thing to note: I do not watch TV which frees up an amazing amount of time in your life (more on this later). The only time I'll watch is when I'm on the trainer - just not during intervals-music for that! And I also watch the Charger games, although no more games this year :( [hr]

Tuesday: Again, without swimming - we have another single day. I work in San Diego on Tuesdays and hit this workout on my way home at night.

Group Track workout: At Cal State San Marcos with the North County San Diego Track Club.
20 min up, 2 laps of stride the straights, jog the curves.
2x1200 @ Half mary pace w/60-90 sec recovery (avg'd 5:50, 5:40 pace)
2x800 @ 5k-10k pace w/60-90 sec recovery (avg'd 5:19,5:11)
2x400 @mile pace w/60-90 sec recovery (avg'd 4:54, 4:56)
1 mile at 5k-10k pace (5:16)
c/d (total 1 hour)
Post workout Notes: I'm happy with the way my running is coming around. I led this workout even after four hard days in a row. I've seen some big gains lately which is perfect timing with the Surf City Half Marathon coming up in three weeks. [hr]

Wednesday: With the anticipation of me leaving town that weekend we had to get in a big day today.

3 hr Long ride: 2:53, 51.5 miles, 1500 ft of climbing - AVG 17.8mph
Easy run (non brick): 40 mins, 4.28 miles - AVG 9:28 pace

Post workout notes: I worked from home so I got up at 5am, worked from 5-9 - then rode 3 hours. Ate a big lunch, worked from 1-5, then put in a 40 minute easy run. Something to note: my easy runs are sloooooow. I don't even look at the watch, it's usually in the 8-10 minute mile range. I just go off of feel, with nothing to prove, all to gain. Kenyans do the same thing. After dinner, playing with the kids, reading stories...etc I had 30 minutes where I put in some stretching, foam rolling (something I'm trying to do more of). Some alone time with the wife, packed for our trip and then it's lights out at 9pm (about the same every night).[hr]

Thursday: Single day. Thursdays I work in San Diego. Today my boss let me off a little early to get a head start on our Anniversary weekend. After putting in final prep plans for the weekend I jumped on the trainer for some big gear work:

Big Gear Trainer session: After a 60 min warm up on the trainer I want you to do 5 x 3 min big gear (hard enough to slow your rpm's to 40-50) with 1 min of high cadence spinning between (100 rpm+). Ride the remaining time in Z2 (total 2 hours)

Post workout notes: Again, another QUALITY session. Flanny doesn't put a bunch of fluff or extra miles in. I have a limited schedule so each workout is planned with a purpose. I have a sick love for big gear intervals. I love the burning legs feeling - this is bike specific strength training.[hr]

Fri: We got up at 3am and drove 7 hours to Yosemite. After checking into our hotel, we hiked 6 miles and climbed up to three different waterfalls. Breathtaking! [hr]


Saturday: Flanny had a specific running workout for me, but with the trip it just wasn't going to happen. This weekend was all about celebrating our 10 year Anniversary. So we woke up, had a huge breakfast and hit a big day on the trails. Normally I would never input "hiking/jogging" miles into my log but this one was actually pretty difficult. We ended up hiking/jogging over 9 miles with 3k+ of climbing in altitude. It was one of the best days of my life. We were surrounded by beauty and on our way down it got misty and foggy and we ran most of the way home in this dream-like setting. Unreal. Something I'll never forget![hr]

Sunday: After traveling back home I got in an easy 40 minutes of running to shake the cob-webs out as my legs were pretty sore from that hike! 4.5 miles, 8:53 pace.[hr]

Totals:
Bike: 121 miles
Run: 16.4
Hike/Jog: 15.1
Total hours: 14:47 [hr]

So overall it was a great week. Our little getaway felt like it recharged us for the year! I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store and excited that you can follow along with me.

Special Blogpost: Coach Robert Flanigan

James and I started working in late May of 2013 as he was coming off of a long period of illness. From the start it was very apparent that James was like most other high level athletes in that he was extremely motivated, self driven, and eager for success. These three traits are a blessing and a curse at the same time. Normally those traits are accompanied by a lack of patience, desire to do more, and the ego. Adams is thankfully an exception to this and from day one was eager to listen, stuck to his plan, asked questions when clarification was needed. He showed the patience needed to succeed.

This year’s development of James can be simply broken down to one word: Consistency. He has the tools required to succeed at Iron distance racing but needs more than anything consistency week after week, month after month, and beyond. His run ability is lethal but will do us little good if the 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bike put a dent in him that he cannot recover from. Volume and Training with Purpose will become his best friends.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Flanigan goes over a race plan with Adams and other athletes before Ironman 70.3 Worlds in Las Vegas (Pictured l-r Flanny, Denise Hiller, Taylor Jennings, James).[/caption]

In this early part of the season, we are going to keep the volume moderate and work on developing his threshold power on the bike (and thankfully his power meter will be under him shortly) while educating him on how to use power as a tool (and how to not become a slave to it), increasing run frequency and volume, and swimming as often as possible. A few swim sessions a week are dedicated to the development of his stroke while the others are Masters sessions to keep building his aerobic engine.

We will keep up this effort until we are ready for his build to Ironman CDA where we will then switch gears. His volume will increase to as much as he can maintain while keeping him married and remaining a good father. Tempo sessions will dominate where higher intensity work resided and we will teach his body to execute specific efforts on a very fatigued body. We will also be very focused on how he recovers from his efforts.

The last piece is the most difficult in my opinion. There are three types of people on the course at an Iron-distance race: those who participate, those who compete, and those who RACE. Learning to race that distance is very difficult, and requires a great deal of confidence, understanding of ones body and its limits, a mindset to push those limits, and execution of a proper race plan. This is where I think James has a big advantage over those he will line up against. I believe he has the tools to learn, absorb and retain what is required to not just compete … but to race Ironman CDA.

2014 Begins

It's officially 2014 and the real Kona Journey begins! Not only is it the start of more focused training but it is also the start of posting my workouts/blogs for Lava Magazine. I was pretty stoked to see myself on the front page on their website this morning. You can go to the direct link HERE.

Just to wrap up the 2013 season I thought I'd share my volume / hr totals from 2012 and 2013.

2012
Swim: 447,090 yards / 150 hrs
Bike: 5,459 miles / 318 hrs
Run: 1,010 miles / 135 hrs
xx amount of MTB, Strength training, races...etc
Total hours: 642 (AVG 12.3/week)

2013
Swim: 462,279 yards/ 158 hrs.
Bike: 5,203 miles / 297 hrs.
Run: 960 miles / 128 hrs.
xx amount of MTB, Strength training, races...etc
Total hours: 590 (AVG 11.3/week)

So the interesting thing about these numbers is that I went down in distance and time last year (except swimming) and still got faster overall. My 2012 season was no where near as successful as my 2013 season. It's crazy when you average out the hrs/week. If you asked me what my average weekly volume is - I'd say it is around the 15 hr mark. But it's easy to forget about all of those sick weeks and injuries when you took time away from the sport. I was littered with sickness the first half of 2013 which is why I think my numbers where lower. It also goes to show how specific QUALITY workouts can make you faster if you don't have 20+ hrs/week to train and have a family to support. Flanny and I focused on quality when I started working with him back in May after coaching myself for 6-7 months and this is what I found:

Self coached = 3 major sicknesses from Jan-May.

After coaching = 0 sicknesses since May (knocking on wood)

So, I have no doubt my volume will go up this year since I'll be training for my first full Ironman. The key is to stay healthy and injury free so I can be as consistent as possible in my build up to IMCDA. Not to mention - still be a great husband, dad and employee. I always try and keep myself in check with these priorities which will be part of the fun in this blog. Sharing my journey with you. I know I have a ton of work to do - and to see so many kind comments about this all really motivates me to want to be better. To do all the right things so I have a real shot at qualifying in June.

Thanks for the support and let this journey begin!