Goals for June 2012

In my last post I evaluated how well I attained my May fitness goals and my self-grade was a C. The whole point in working out is self-improvement, so I want to get a better grade in June! So here is my plan:

Events:

• June 9-10: Bike MS Escape to the Lake. This is a fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society that hundreds of thousands of cyclists do all across the country. This will be my first year participating. I've chosen a 137-mile route from near Pittsburgh to the shore of Lake Erie.

Monthly Goals:

1. Cycling. Obviously I'll do at least 137 miles, since that is part of the Bike MS event. I am also planning a 25-mile ride with my parents at the end of the month. Adding another 50 miles in weekly rides (this would be closer to 80 if I weren't planning to be out of town for some of the month), that gives me a realistic goal of 212 miles. If I attain this, it would be the second month where I rode more than ever before.
2. Running. This goal is easy to set. I want to run more this month than in any other before it. That sounds dramatic, but given my low running totals, it's completely attainable. Besides, I can run anywhere, even if I'm out of town.
1. I will run 22 miles in June.
2. I will also make sure that at least one of my runs will exceed 4.8 miles (my un-met goal from last month) 
3. Swimming.
1. I will swim 11.3 miles in June, which is an average amount.
2. I will make sure 4 of my swims are an hour in length.
3. The majority of my swims will include: (1) diving, (2) 125 yards of straight butterfly, (3) at least two 100 IM. Practicing my dives will help me spend more time in the air. I need to build endurance in the butterfly. My best friend does a lot of IMs and that's inspiring. I want to see if I can do what he does (eventually).
4. Bird Hikes. I think four hikes with bicoculars this month is not unreasonable, and I always enjoy it.
5. Weight-Lifting. Last month I said I'd do a workout 3 times per week. That still seems reasonable, but in reality I did just 3 workouts in the entire month. 
1. I will do 6 workouts in the month. 
2. I will start most of these workouts with leg raises as a warmup, since my swim coach wants me to work on building my abdominal muscles.
3. My biceps circumference will increase 0.20 inch to 11.5 inches.
4. My forearm circumference will increase 0.25 inch to 11.25 inches.
5. My chest size will increase 0.25 inch to 43.25 inches.

Fitness Grade for May 2012

At the end of April I set some goals for myself to attain in May. Let's see how well I did:

1. CYCLING = A+

I said I would ride 160 miles on my bicycle, which would include commuting to work whenever possible. I did this, and in fact rode 166 miles in the month of May.

2. RUNNING = C

I said I would run 21 miles but I only did 19 miles. That's 90% of my goal. However, I had two other goals that I also did not reach. I said my longest run would be 4.8 miles (but I only did 3.74). I said I would experiment with interval training...and I did not, so I drop a letter grade!

3. SWIMMING = B

I said I would swim 10.25 miles and I swam 13 miles. But my grade was dragged down by the fact that I did numerous short workouts rather than less numerous long ones. I also had a very specific 8-point plan for each day. I fulfilled 5 out of 8 of these on most days. I did not do as much diving, or butterfly, or IM distances as I said I would.

4. BIRD HIKES = A-

I'm not sure what to give myself in this area because I did go on 4 different walks totalling 10.5 miles, but my goal was mostly social and not birding.

5. WEIGHT LIFTING = F

I said I would lift weights three days a week during the month of May. Instead, I recorded 3 workouts for the entire month (grade = 25%). I saw my bicep size decrease (minus 10), my forearm size stayed the same, and my chest size increased (plus 10). I did follow through with the committment to do leg raises as a warmup each time, so plus 10. My grade is calculated as follows: 25-10+10+10 = 35%.

These grades average out to a C grade. Tomorrow is June 1. I'll come back and post some goals for June tomorrow.

Trek 700 "overhaul"

I own two bicycles and the oldest is a 1990 Trek Multitrack 700. Back in 1990, the concept of a hybrid bike--the combination of road bike and mountain bike--was fairly new, so I think they named this particular model "Multitrack" to help people understand why it was different. Today my bike is different not because it is a hybrid but because it is so old.

I don't know how many miles are on this bike. In the last 22 years I've had at least three bicycle computers, and as each one fails, it loses the odometer reading. My current odometer is around 600 miles. The last cycle computer didn't last long because a squirrel chewed through a wire and there was no way to repair it. But at that time (2006) I was regularly commuting to work on that bike and doing some other rides, too. So I easily had anopther 500 miles on it. In high school (1990-1992) I rode a lot, then I only did scattered rides in my college and grad school years. So adding another 800 miles I get a sum of at least 1900 miles. That's actually not a lot of miles at all for a 22 year old bicycle.

But it is a lot of miles for the drivetrain, specifically the chain. I didn't know chains could wear out until last year when someone at my bike shop told me I had a worn chain. According to Todd Downs, "as the chain wears, the inner surfaces of the chain's pins are slowly ground away, effectively increasing the center-to-center distance between the pins" (p.174). This causes the chain to elongate and not fit into the teeth of the cogs that make up the chainset and rear cassette. As I said, I hadn't noticed this until someone pointed it out. But upon inspection, I saw daylight between some chain links and my cog's teeth where there sould be none. So, off to the repair shop for a replacement chain!

Rear Cassette

I also read in Todd Downs' book that "putting more than 1,500 to 2,000 miles on a single chain and cogset will most likely [result in the] need to replace the entire cassette and chain at the same time" (p.164). Uh-oh. I put a new cassette on the list for my bike shop to tackle. I was concerned that the front chainset would also need to be replaced, as I saw the middle chainring had some broken teeth. To my surprise, the bike technician said the chainring had always been that way. The design includes having the middle chainring with a couple ground-down teeth so that the chain shifts more easily from one chainring to another. Well I'll be. I learned a lot today at my bike shop!

I still had two more items for the bike technicians to fix. First, I complained that the rear brake squealed whenever I used it, and it didn't seem that strong anymore, either. Remember, this equipment is 22 years old! The technician looked at my brake pads and didn't see excessive wear, and the rubber still seemed pliable. So he said they'd adjust them. I note on the work order that he didn't mention the squeal, so I hope they fix that.

The last thing on my list was the shifter. I showed them how the left shifter tended to skip the middle chainring so that I would downshift straight from gear 21 to gear 7 (rather than 14). When riding, this causes me to lose a lot of speed as I approach a hill. I can get to gear 14 by gently pressing the shifter, but not always. Hmmm. The technician diagnosed the problem quickly. There is some tiny part inside the shifter that is broken or otherwise not functioning right. He said they's take a look and see what they could do, but otherwise the only solution would be to replace the entire shifter/brake lever. "That would be really expensive," he said, and he seemed to dismiss that possibility outright. I appreciate his honesty and respect for my wallet's resources, but I wish I had pressed him on what "expensive" really meant. In my mind, I had already saved some expense by him telling me that my chainset could be spared. He had also relieved a concern I had about my bottom bracket, and he didn't think my brakes needed to be replaced, either. I entered the bike shop thinking my bill would be about $200--about half of what it would take to replace the entire bike with a new one. I left the bike shop with an estimate of $100. So expensive or not, I was actually ready to pay for a new shifter if he had given me that choice. Ultimately, I may have to do that anyway, but in the meantime I'll see what they can do.

Something I crossed off my list before getting to the bike shop was an adjustment to the kickstand. My kickstand was loose on the frame and while I can temorarily fix that by tightening the bolt, it always gets loose again. Yesterday I took off the kickstand, cleaned it, and tightened the bolt again. I noticed the washer that goes on the bolt was cracked, so I assume that is the problem. It is not producing enough friction to hold the kickstand mounting bracket in place. I felt kind of silly asking the bike shop to replace a washer for me, so I've elected to do that myself when I get the bike back.

They had to order a part, so the shop will have my bike for about 10 days. Meanwhile, I've got my Trek 1.5 road bike to keep me happy.

April 2012 Report and Goals for May

In April 2012 I logged a total of 140 miles in running (17 miles), swimming (9 miles), and cycling (107 miles), plus a few random hikes (7 miles). My overall total of 140 miles is the second-highest monthly total in the last year, and this is due to well-above average running miles and my highest monthly total of miles on the bike since this time last year. My April totals include two competitive swim meets and one 5K running race. At my swim meets I broke three personal short-course yards (SCY) records: (1) 100-Fly in 1:23.58, (2) 50-Back in 0:39.25--as part of a relay, and (3) 400-Free in 5:53.02. My 5K performance was stellar (for me), as I did it in 25 min at an 8:05 pace. This completely shattered my personal best pace of 8:54 in October 2011.

I'm doing the butterfly stroke during the 100-Fly event at one of my swim meets.

So that's pretty amazing, isn't it? I'm only talking about my personal improvements here, as I know there are plenty of people who go more miles, swim faster, and run faster. But overall, for me, I was pretty hot in the month of April.

I want to continue this into May...and add to it. Here are my goals:

1. Exceed 160 miles on the bike (a 50% increase). I need to train for a 2-day bike excursion in early June that will total 150 miles. It's part of the "Bike MS" program of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. I plan to commute to work by bicycle whenever the weather cooperates.

2. Exceed 21 miles running (a 50% increase). I want to do an Olympic-length triathlon later in the summer, which means I've got to work up to a 10K distance. Therefore, sometime this month, my goal is to do a single run that exceeds 4.8 miles. This represents a 10% increase over the longest run I've ever done. On a separate day, I want to try to do intervals--running fast for a short burst and then running slow to recuperate before repeating the cycle. Doing intervals will increase my speed over time, but I'm more interested in increasing my distance at this point.

3. Swim an average amount: 10.25 miles. My competitive swim season is over, so I don't really need to have a stellar month of distance swimming. However, I do want to revamp my workouts and make them more thoughtful and strategic. Once school is out, I will do longer workouts (60 min) at least three times a week.  These will include:

• 1x500 warm-up
• 6x50s freestyle concentrating on posture
• 2x50s breaststroke rest :15
• 2x50s backstroke rest :15
• 2x50s butterfly rest :15
• 4x100 IMs rest :30
• 2x200 free cool down

I will end each extended practice with some dives to increase the distance I travel in the air while horizontal.

4. I still plan to go on some hikes, specifically to look for birds, which is my other hobby.

5. Weight-lifting. I want to start this up again. In fact, my goal for May is to lift 3 days a week for >20 min (not including warm up). I always make weight-lifting goals and then renege on them. So with maybe with such a timid goal as this I will be able to keep it up. One problem with the above goal is that there is no reward it I attain it. With running and swimming and biking, I can measure my progress in terms of pace. I could certainly express weightlifting goals in terms of maximum pounds lifted, but I don't yet have a sense of satisfaction with that. Besides, I tend to hurt myself if I max out the weights. So, I'm going to step out on a limb and make the following measurable goal that will make me feel really good if I attain it. I will seek out bigger muscles. This strategy seemed to work for me in 2008-2009 when I saw a 1-inch increase in biceps circumference and chest size.

Today's measurements
Upper Arm = 11.5 inches. Goal at end of May: 11.75.
Lower Arm = 11.0 inches. Goal at end of May: 11.25.  (I'm measuring my left arm, prior to any workout, at the thickest point near the elbow)
Chest = 42.25 inches. Goal at end of May: 42.5 inches.

I will add leg raises to every weights workout, as this will strengthen the muscles I need to maintain proper swimming posture.

Use it or lose it

I had a conversation with one of my students today. It started with him asking if I planned to go running today. He reasoned that the weather was nice, so given my triathlon training, I would probably be taking advantage of it. He's certainly got a point. However, I didn't run today. I didn't intend to. The last run I did was a 5K race on Saturday (4 days ago), and today is the first day I haven't felt really sore (delayed onset muscle soreness). But now I feel a bit guilty that I didn't run. If the soreness is gone, it's time to push forward!

I shifted the conversation with my student to what physical activity he did on a regular basis. He said "I really want to, but not much at all these days." He used to be a body builder in high school and that carried into his freshman year of college. I remember that. I had him as a freshmen in his first semester, and he was very well muscled. He told me today that since his freshman year, he has lost 25 pounds. Much of that was muscle loss because he stopped lifting weights. He said his arms are 8 inches smaller in circumference and his maximum bench press had decreased from more than 300 pounds to 225 pounds. Now what you need to know is that this student is short, so the fact that he can still bench 225 pounds is impressive to me. I'm more than 12 inches taller than he is, and my maximum bench press is around 145 pounds. At least it used to be, a couple years ago.

I've probably shrunken a bit as well. I stopped weightlifting because it was more work than fun, I never had a goal, and I often hurt myself to the point where I'd have to take 7-10 days off to heal. It was definitely a case of "two steps forward and one step back," and I'm not even sure if I netted one step forward. Regardless, anything I gained in strength or physique is gone. My upper body is really quite slim.

Maybe I'll work on it again next month when I'll have more time to lift weights. I'll have the whole summer to get stronger and maybe make weightlifting part of my habit again. I'd like that. But I'll still need a goal--something attainable, something safe yet challenging. For example, maybe I could work on my arms and increase my upper arm circumference by an inch (to 12 or 12.5 inches). Obviously I'd work other muscle groups, too.

Or maybe my goal shouldn't be in terms of size, but rather in terms of strength or accomplishment. For example, I'd like to be able to do a lot of pull-ups (10 in a row?). I think doing pull-ups would do a lot for my upper body strength, and it would help with my swimming strokes.

Speaking of swimming, I'd like to set some goals for that, too. My best friend trains in the pool by doing 400 IMs (individual medleys) over and over for a total of 2600+ yards. My workouts are shorter and are composed of mostly freestyle. There is no reason I can't match what he does in the pool.

Except, I lack the motivation at times. I find that a lot of my blog entries have this theme. When things are going well, I don't tend to post to my blog. So my readers are likely to have a much dimmer picture of my life of fitness. Sorry! The reality is that I usually have good motivation, so the goals I set forth above are realistic and I think I will in fact work toward them. Let me end with a list of all the great things I've done...rather than a list of things I wish I had done.

Accomplished so far in 2012:

1. I have run 37 miles. This is an increase of 264% compared to last year during the same time period.
2. I have swam 48 miles. This is an increase of 77% compared to last year...
3. I have bicycled 189 miles. This is an increase of 497% compared to last year...
4. I have set 10 personal bests in swim competitions including: 25 Free, 50 Free, 200 Free, 500 Free, 25 Fly, 50 Fly, 100 IM, 25 Back, and 50 Back. Even the number of personal bests is up this year compared to last year (10 versus 7).

5. 

   Competing in the 100-yard butterfly event at a Master's Swim Meet.

   I competed in one additional swimming competition and beat a college student half my age by a significant margin in the 400 Freestyle. I did it in 5:53.02, which was well below the 6:03 I was expecting.
6. I have done one 5K run so far this year and my 8:05 pace crushed my old personal best of 8:54 (set in November 2011). My average running pace today is an improvement of 19% over the average pace I had in April 2011.
7. I have done 13 weightlifting workouts (despite what I report above, I haven't actually given it up entirely). This is exactly half the number I did in 2011 during the same time span, but something is better than nothing.

Joy of a Longish Bike Ride

I rode 14.7 miles today at an average pace of 15.1 mph with a net climb of 1,650 feet. This is the longest bike ride I've done since at least October 2011. This is not to say that I haven't been on the bike recently. In fact, I've logged 189 miles in the last six months...but mostly this has all been in 5-mile increments. So I celebrate!

I'm also going to have to come up with a longer course for next time. Until now, I've had a few smaller loops that I take, and for today I combined them all into one big loop. It will be fun to add a little more distance the next time. And there will be a next time, because I've got some training to do:

1. The Bike MS ride is coming up in early June. I'll be riding 150 miles over two days.
2. The Pittsburgh Triathlon is July 27th, and I am planning for this to be my first international-distance race. The bike portion is 40 km.
3. I'm doing another couple sprint triathlons in August, including one with an 12-mile bike race August 12th...
4. ...and one with a 13-mile bike race on August 25th.

So those are my goals; I just have to keep going. I wanted to write this little post so that I remembered the good feelings I had to day after my ride. I felt energetic. I felt I had better concentration after the ride when I was at work. I felt endorphins. I was pain-free, which is significant given that my shoulder has been sore from swimming and both knees felt kind of achy--also from swimming (breaststroke). The next time I say to myself "Maybe I should go on a bike ride...no, I don't feel like it," I want to remember the good feeling I get after it's over. And of course, it's fun during the ride, too, or at least interesting--

• How fast can I go down the first big hill?
• Will I have to stop for the traffic light in the first little town I ride through? (I actually like to stop at the traffic light, as this gets the attention of people in the restaurant at the intersection. I'm glad to give them something to talk about)
• Can I manage the slight incline out of town without downshifting to my lower bracket?
• How winded and tired will I get climbing the beast of a hill that comes next? How slow can I go without having the bike fall over?!
• I always enjoy the horse pasture and broad view at the top of that hill.
• I enjoy that wide, smooth road near the airport that never has any traffic.
• I enjoy the extra risk I take past the airport where the country road becomes narrow, steep (up and down), and traction is reduced due to all the black sealant applied to the road surface. Some of those hills are so steep going down that I have to ride my brakes all the way, so as not to exceed 35mph and/or lose control.
• I like the forested patch of road I encounter after crossing the highway.
• I like the open view I find at the top of the next hill by the cemetery. In fact, by the time I get there, it seems like it's all downhill from there. I zoom more freely down the next road that goes past the lake.
• I zoom around the traffic circle and then relax as the paved shoulder expands and I can take my time going up the last climb.
• Lastly, I enjoy crossing from the right side of the airport road to the left in order to use the left turn lane onto the road that takes me home. I'm amazed that the road sensors there are sensitive enough for my bicycle to trigger the traffic light.

--That's a long list of interesting things along my 14.7-mile cycling route. Now think of how many more things I can add to this list as I lengthen the route and cycle for longer periods of time.

Competitive Swim Season Ends

My Master's Swim Team season is wrapping up for the year. We had our last regular meet yesterday, and only the championships remain on the schedule for the end of the month. Today as I write this I am feeling the "let down" that comes after a big undertaking. And my body is sore from my racing.

I did four events:

(1) 500-free in 7:27, which beat my old record set last October by 22 seconds. Ha! This was the most fun I've had in a while, as I was neck-to-neck with the guy in the adjacent lane for the whole race. And then I gave it everything I had and beat him in the last 25 yards. He finished in 7:29. This finish was almost as good as Ryan Lochte squeaking out a victory over Michael Phelps in July 2011 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2018900/Michael-Phelps-beaten-200m-freestyle-Ryan-Lochte.html). Of course, the key word here is 'almost.' I should note that I really like how professional swimmers greet one another at the end of the race before they get out of the water (see photo). We don't do that at the Master's meets because we have to clear the pool for the next heat to take place.

(2) 50-free in 30.47 seconds, which beat my old record of 30.60 seconds. I wanted to break the 30-second barrier but I'll take the incremental improvement and break it next time.

(3) 100-breast in 1:29. I failed to break my old record of 1:27.70.

(4) 25-back in 17.7 seconds. I had not done this event before so I have no old time to compare. This was another race where my lane neighbor and I were swimming at the same pace; in fact, we tied.

This last swim meet coincides with the end of the "marathon swim," which involves logging all the yards swum each day from the start of the season in early September to the end of the season, March 4, 2012. There are several levels of recognition: 176,000 yards (=100 miles), 120,000 yards, 75,000 yards, and 50,000 yards. Last year I was somewhere around 70,000 yards at the end of the season, so I missed out on the "silver" award that is passed out for 75k. This year I was headed for a similar nearly-there sum of 110k yards and then decided in the last week that I really wanted to reach 120k. So I swam everyday for 1500-2200 yards and finally reached the "gold" level of 120k exactly one day before the deadline. Whew! I was physically and emotionally tired and I remain so after this swim meet. I have a forced vacation from the pool now for a week, as my college's pool is closed for spring break. This break from swimming will be good for me, I'm sure.

Someone asked me what I'll do  with my time this week instead of swimming. Answer: cycling and running. In my effort to get ahead with the swimming, I let those two other activities slide. The weather is forecast to be fair and warm for the next 3-4 days, so I plan to enjoy them. Of course, I still have to go to work and earn my pay...