Coffee for the Brain

Board of Inspiration 2.10.12

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:36:00 +0000

156 Days - Friday Swim Workout #3, bike repair, and looking ahead

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:07:00 +0000

I was back in the pool again this morning. Since my riding on my bike has been very limited to almost nothing I have really kicked up my swimming. I was not sure how the body was going to respond to another big swim workout, but with a little mental toughness I completed another great workout - probably my best one of the week. My legs were sore from the run yesterday, but they loosened up once I got going.

I shared a lane with Brian who attends the Tri Swim club once a month with Coach Stacey and Tara. It was nice to share a lane with another tri guy. He also competed at the Muscatine Indoor Tri and he took off over a minute off his swim time from last year. When I started to doubt and almost quit the workout today I would see him swimming hard and that helped me stay motivated.

Warm Up
200 Free
200 Pull
100 Kick

4 x 25 gradual build - I swam each one at 15-16 secs with a short rest so I was going every 30 seconds. The plan called for @40, but that was too much rest. I felt good and I was happy to keep this pace for four sets.

2 x 300 @ 6:15 - I was not sure on my time at first, but after the first set I was way below the 6:15. I swam the first 300 in 4:55. The workout called for no more than 15 second rest. I rested slightly longer to get the clock at an even time. I took off again and swam the second set in 4:50. I was very happy with this time. I need to start to write these down on a chart so I can dial in my swim targets when I put the workouts together

4 x 200 @ ? - I cannot remember what the workout called for, but I know I only rest 10-15 seconds and my time was ahead of the planned workout. I swam each one between 3:05 - 3:10. After the second set I was dead tired and thought about quitting. I was very close and then I just forced myself to push off the wall and go again before I convinced myself. These sets were hard for me. I had to really dig. It was not hard physically, but mentally. My legs were quite tired by the third set, but I just kept trying to get in a calm and relaxed pace that allowed me push. I was glad I did not quit.

4 x 100 Pull - I was once again way ahead of the scheduled time. I swam these around 1:30 - 1:35 with 10-15 second rest. I really focused on rolling my shoulder out. Today I felt like I could actually feel myself roll. I don't know if I actually was or not, but it sure felt like I was getting more roll and not being so flat. I was really focused on my arm and making sure I had a bend when pushing back. I felt good during these sets.

This was a tough workout and I feel best about accomplishing this particular one as it was my third big workout of the week and the hardest mentally. I am glad I did not quit and fought through the mind games.

Total Yardage: 2400 yards in 50 minutes

Stepping back to last night I headed to Healthy Habits Bike Shop after basketball practice to have my bike examined. I should have listened to my wife and Jeff Paul way back when I first tuned up my bike because I might not be in my current situation. The first thing the guys at Healthy Habits fixed was my bike seat. The seat had dropped over a inch since the initial tune up a few months back. Yes, I should have marked the seat position. No, I did not do that. Yes, I have it marked now and now my wife gets to chant, "I told you so" over and over.

That change in itself lead to a much more comfortable ride. I cannot believe how high my seat has been raised. It looks crazy, but feels so much better. He also adjusted my cleats in my shoes. This is all new territory so I had no idea what I was doing. Last, he double checked my knee and hip alignment and put everything back in balance. I rode for about 5 minutes afterwards pain free. I have not ridden pain free in quite some time. I hope this fixes the issue.

Coming home I was exhausted. Not sure if I did not eat enough or it is one of those weeks, but after dinner, time with the kids, and putting them to bed, Amanda and I found ourselves once again sleeping at 8 pm. We both needed a workout, but we told ourselves to relax for 5 minutes and the next thing you know it is 11 pm and Ava crying. Needless to say I did not get a bike ride or TRX in last night. Perhaps that was for the best.

Tonight I am going to test the bike out with a 30 minute ride of 100 cadence in a Zone 2 range. If all goes well I will then do a 60 minute ride on Sunday. I will get in my TRX workout tonight and again either Saturday or Sunday to maintain my training plans. I also need to get one more run in this weekend so I will run one loop with the Leadville guys. I am starting my base small and will gradually build myself back up. It is hard because I was doing so much more a few weeks back, but I need to play it safe right now and build slowly on all three sports.

The knee is feeling slightly better. I head to Kaminski today to get it worked out again. I hope by this time next week I am feeling back to at least 90% with stretching, lifting, and taking the work load nice and easy these next few weeks by building my aerobic base.

I am going to end this first week of my "real training" on a good note. I have a lot to still get done, but I will be GETTING IT DONE! I hope to get a few things up and posted soon on the blog. I have some exciting things to share so when the time is right I will let you know. Until then, keep focused on your goals and striving to make yourself the best you can be.

What to do when you forget your GU?

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:57:00 +0000

Sometimes I oversleep

Sometimes I forget to set my alarm

Sometimes I need a little energy boost before my 5 am workouts

Sometimes I don't have the stomach for GU in the morning

Sometimes I need something fast and quick that won't kill my gut

Sometimes I just snarf down a package of fruit snacks.

Not perfect science, but they do the trick when in a pinch

What about you? What do you go for when in a pinch?

Board of Inspiration 2.8.12

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:04:00 +0000

Board of Inspiration 2.9.12

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:04:00 +0000

157 Days - Thursday Run - No Crazies, but 6 B4 6

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:01:00 +0000

Darn the alarm clock! I did not turn the alarm on. So, I woke up at 5:05, said a few choice words, dressed quickly and was out the door at 5:09. I missed the meetup with the CRAZIES. I have missed the Thursday run the last few weeks due to injury or oversleeping. I was quite mad at myself. I took off from my house hoping that they were running a pretty typical course that we run. I ran it backwards thinking I would cross their paths. However, today they took on a new route. I don't blame them as it is good to run something different. I did not meet them, but I did get my run in.

It was different running solo. I have not ran solo in quite some time. It has been a long time since I have not ran with other people to distract the mind. I felt pretty good. My knee was very sore this morning when I woke up. I am sure the TRX workout and the stretching and foam roller made it more tender than usual, but once I started running and warmed up the pain went away. After about the first mile my knee felt great.

I ran a pretty good split. The run felt rather easy and I never felt labored or tired during the run. I started at a 8:37 mile pace and slowly brought the time down each mile finishing the last mile in 7:16 to get my average mile pace at 8:00. I added an extra .25 mile to the run. I hope to add another .25 next week to the Thursday run to make it 6.50. I think it will be important to slowly add my mileage up. I had some long runs the past few weeks, but I think I need to scale things back and slowly build up again for the sake of my knee.

Tonight after practice I head to Healthy Habits to get my bike looked at to see if there is something that can be fixed on either the bike or my riding form or possibly my shoes. I also hope to see if they have any specials/deals going on with the tri bikes. I would like to invest in a new tri bike, but the budget is tight and I have to be crafty with my purchase.

After the run my knee went back to being sore. I did the foam roller again after the run and that is pure torture. It hurts from hip to above the knee so bad while I roll. Perhaps that is why my knee hurts. I hope this will help. I have been told that stretching is the only thing to make the IT band better. The clicking in my knee sure is a lovely sound.

I hope for good news at the bike shop so I can get in a bike ride tonight and another TRX workout to get back on track.

Happy Thursday!

158 Days - TRX Training Wake Up Call and IT Band Stretch

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Here is the plan I did last night during halftime of the Duke - North Carolina game. I busted out my TRX to work on some strength. I have neglected this for quite some time and it was very obvious during the workout tonight.

The focus of the workout today is functional strength. Ensure you maintain controlled movements and only continue each exercise while you can maintain perfect form. Do not rush the exercises and focus on total core and specific muscle recruitment. Ensure you warm up with 5 - 10 minutes of light cardio activity and dynamic stretching to prepare the body for the routine.

Repeat 3 to 4 rounds with 1 to 2 minutes of complete rest between exercises. Remember, perfect form throughout.

TRX Squat - This felt good to get back in lifting mode. This is just body weight, but it felt good

TRX Single Leg Squat - Wow! I could not maintain balance even with the TRX as a balancing tool. This was wakeup call as to why maybe my knee hurts. I need to get my body tuned up. Glad I started this.

Hamstring Curl to TRX Hip Press Combo - This one kills me. It really puts some major stress on the hammies and the knees. The key is good form. This was was brutal.
TRX Situp - Felt good here, but still tough.

Hamstring Curl to TRX Hip Press Combo - Yes, again!!!!

Atomic Push Up - This one makes you sweat for sure. Great challenge

Power Pull - Great way to end the circuit.

I only did two rounds. I did not want to overdo it for the sake of my knee. Two rounds was plenty and I was done in 15 minutes. Glad I forced myself downstairs to get this done.

I did some stretches for my IT Band

Sitting IT Band Stretch

Foam Roller Stretch -Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

Flattening Classrooms Engaging Minds - Video Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:16:00 +0000

I am published in a textbook!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:52:00 +0000

Here are some quick page shots of a textbook that I was published in. Despite being published in the book I have to tell you that this is an AMAZING read on how to flatten your classroom and connect your students with the world. I have worked with these authors through some projects and also became Flat Classroom Certified. Without a doubt this is one of the most important textbooks/books to come out to help teachers and students learn how important it is to knock down the classroom walls and start to think globally. I have a book review coming out either later tonight or tomorrow. It is a video review and will be posted to YouTube tonight.

158 Days - Swim Workout #2 of the Week

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:43:00 +0000

Another great workout from the swim coaches today. I was up on and off all night with Ava. I don't know what her deal is, but if she does not start sleeping through the night soon I am not sure how much longer Amanda and I will survive. We put the kids to bed a little after 8 pm and next you know we are snoring two minutes later. We are both quite tired.

I woke up a little earlier than normal to finalize the swim workout. I added a few extra laps to the warm up again to make sure I was ready and to also get in some more distance. Here is what I knocked out today.

Warm Up
200 Free
200 Pull
200 Kick

I did all 600 yards without a break except to quickly grab the necessary gear. I swam nice and easy to get loose. I sometimes start too fast and I think that is why my shoulder was hurting on Monday. I made sure to properly warm up and it worked.

8 x 25 Drill Set
3 Kick Switch, 6 Kick Switch, Left Arm, Right Arm, Fingertip, Fist, Flicker, DPS

5 x 100 Kick Set @ 2:00
I really had to move. For some reason I struggle with this set. I was barely making the time. By the end I was able to have about 7 seconds rest. This was a good little workout. The key is keeping form when tired.

Main Set
100 fast - I swam hard, but making sure to keep good form. I did not want to kick and shorten my stroke for the sake of speed. I felt good about my form. I finished the 100 in 1:15. I was happy with this time. I am not sure where I was before, but I know I was not swimming this fast.

200 Moderate - I was supposed to have a 20 second rest, but I extended the rest to make sure I started at the top of the clock. I did not want to have to do a bunch of math early in the morning. I swam this 200 yard above moderate, but not going all out. I felt really good during this set and felt like I could have maintained this pace for a while longer. I finished in 3:05

300 Moderate - Once again I tried to keep a constant rate of swim while keeping form. I lost count during the swim, but I think I figured it out all out. I felt good during this as well. My conditioning has really come a long way. I finished in 4:45

400 Moderate - I cannot remember my time right now, but I know it was 6 minutes and some change. I felt great during this and kept thinking I hope I feel this strong come race day. Things just seemed to go together nicely today.

5 x 100 Pull Set @ 2:00
I ended up adjusting the time to 1:45 to make it more challenging. I felt good during this finishing between 1:30 - 1:35 each time. I really tried to work on extending and rolling. I started to get tired towards the end so I know it was not as good as I would have liked.

50 Cool Down

To my surprise I swam much more than I thought. I thought this was a 2550 yard swim, but when I counted up the yardage it was 2850 making it my biggest swim workout yet. I feel really good.

My knee felt fantastic in the water. However, out of the water my knee is killing me. It hurt when I woke up and it is very sore today. I am trying to stay positive, but it sure is frustrating. I am thinking maybe one of those IT Band support braces might help. Hopefully tonight I can get to the store to see if that will help.

159 Days - Bike Test and Run with Crazies

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Today I woke up earlier than normal. I woke up at 4 am to attempt to ride the bike. I have been battling a knee that continues to lock up in massive pain when I try to ride my bike on my trainer.I cannot get my bike retuned until Thursday to see if there is an issue since it was tuned a few months back. I need an answer, but in the meantime I will continue to be stubborn and try riding.

My knee felt really good after taking most of last week off completely from running, biking, and swimming. I was only able to bike 2 miles last week when I tried before feeling some serious pain in my knee. This morning I was able to ride a little longer. I was able to get in 9 miles in 31 minutes. I rode very slow and took it quite easy. The last 10 minutes my knee started to hurt. I had no intentions of riding more than 30 minutes so it felt good to finally meet a goal on the bike. I am still frustrated considering where I was in my bike training a few weeks back to now only being able to ride slow for 30 minutes and having pain. I think this aspect of my training is going to be slow and tedious to make sure I slowly build up the stamina in my knee and ensuring I don't overdo it on the bike and cost me precious training in the other disciplines.

GU, feel free to contact me about a
sponsorship for my triathlon.
I consume your products like water.

I finished up my ride at 4:46, quickly changed clothes for a run and headed to the Y to meet the Crazies for our usual Tuesday run. I was excited to be back in the company of great people after missing last Thursday and also not running with the Leadville crew over the weekend. I felt really good on the run. I took a Peppermint GU on the drive and around 5 am we headed out. Chad, Katie, Jane, and Nick were all set to head out. The weather was great.

We had another great run. We took off at a faster than normal pace and continue to chip away time. We averaged under 8 minute miles for the run. The great thing was that it felt easy. I never felt winded or that the run was too tough. I need just easy miles at this point in my training. This may have been a little too fast than prescribed, but I never felt labored. It is great to see my fitness really hitting some major strides. I hope to continue to make strides and really do some damage come race season.

After the run I did stretch out a little bit. My right hamstring feels a little tight/pulled and my knee is a little tender. I really pushed my knee today by doing two workouts, but I was curious on how it would hold up. I am back to the pool tomorrow so I can give the knee a rest.

Last night I came across some images of me running in my jammers at the Muscatine Tri. Whew! those are not some pretty images. However, I was able to gain some motivation to get back to some training of my body. Training as in weights. I am going to start to use my TRX again. I have a plan that I am going to follow. I hope this will help with my joints, staying healthy and injury free, and to help tone up the body a little bit. I hope to get a TRX workout in tonight. I will keep you posted on how this goes.

I feel good about today. Despite some soreness in the knee afterwards I feel like I am slowly getting back to normal. I am glad I have decided to take on a 31 week training plan where I am starting nice and easy to help get my body aligned with where I need to be.

I came across the following quote this morning. There is a lot of truth to the statement. My knee is a problem. I have accepted it and hope to remedy this problem soon. Without setbacks there can be no growth. I hope to have gained some valuable learning from my current dilemma. Otherwise, all this frustration is a waste. I just hope that all I burned off a few of the 200 cookies I ate during parent teacher conferences last night. Darn chocolate chip cookies!

“The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.” -Theodore I. Rubin

As Coffeechug Continues the Journey of Ironman....

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:49:00 +0000

I pretty much took my title from the blog post of one of my favorite blogs: http://lovingtherun.com/kelly/as-a-runner-ages

The link above is the post that has provided the insight for my post. I love reading the insights of Kelly. This post today cracked me up and made my brain start to think about my own training and life.

Without further ado, here is my list of....

As Coffeechug Continues the Journey of Ironman....

1. Like Kelly, my back is also sore every single morning. I have never had any back pain, but since I started this journey, my lower back has been one that makes it a little more difficult each day to get out of bed.

2. I wish you could just buy a new joint at like a Target or Walmat. Go to the store, buy a knee, unscrew the back panel of the knee, take out the old part(like a battery), replace with new joint, and continue on.

3. I am now getting comfortable in super short running shorts. Yes, the ones that I ripped on for my entire life as I sported my big and baggy basketball gear........which leads me to believe

4. I am getting old. As I continue down this new path of training and sport, I cannot get away from the fact that I am aging. For example, Addy yesterday talked about what she was going to do in 14 years. In 14 years

Aiden will be 21 and we will hanging out together like buddies
Addy will be 19 and off to college leaving us with only one child
Ava who will then be almost 15 years old and ready to drive.

Scary to think how quickly that will be while now

Aiden in 7 and loving just playing with Legos and bugs
Addy still loves to snuggle and watch cartoons
Ava crawls and poops her pants

5.Chocolate will forever be my weakness and no matter how great of self control I have, chocolate will bring me to my knees and destroy any potential of eating clean.

6. I start to panic if I am up past 9:30 knowing I have to get up at 4 or 4:30 to get my training in. Late nights seem like punishment to me.

7. Why am I hungry all the time?

8. Sometimes I believe it is actually impossible to swim without having your legs feel like dead weight. How does ones actually keep their legs up at the top of the water?

9. I am addicted to training. I actually get rather cranky and irritable if I don't get in a good sweat. My poor family has to endure my "pity parties" as they like to call them when I cannot train. Yes, the last few weeks with my knee pain has been one big party at our house.

10. Each day I more thankful of my awesome wife who endures it all. I sometimes think living with someone who is training for a 70.3 Ironman or full Ironman has more training than the actual person. She is great and without her I would be fat and sloppy and cranky.

Happy Morning To You Courtesy of Ava

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:08:00 +0000

Here is a picture of Ava that I snapped yesterday morning. She is one who smiles and just sets the tone for the day. Enjoy!

Board of Inspiration 2.7.12

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:02:00 +0000

Looking for my first Tri Bike - Any thoughts or advice?

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:05:00 +0000

I have had some knee issues as of the last few weeks while riding my bike. I have purchased a Fuji Road Bike and been feeling good about the purchase, but as I continue to increase my workload and aim for a good time in my first Half Ironman I keep thinking about moving to an actual tri bike. I have bigger goals of just finishing, but I want to provide a good time.

I know that my current bike will get me from point A to point B. However, I want a little more. I also have the same issues as many of you out there - I don't have a lot of funds. I am teacher, parent of 3 children, and the bills of daily life and daycare suck the money out of our account faster than a two year sucking on their own snot.

With the knee issues I have experienced lately I thought that now would be a good time to purchase the bike, get properly fitted and get moving in the right direction.

So, here is where you all come in - what do you suggest? Do you know of any deals?

I am tall so I need about a big of a bike as possible. I stand about 6'3'' - 6'4'' and weigh around 210.

Healthy Habits, a local bike shop in my town has the following bike on sale - http://healthyhabitsqc.com/about/2009-specialized-transition-e5-comp-pg648.htm

I honestly know very little about bikes so not even sure if it is a decent buy or not.

I am not picky, but just need to keep things at $1500 or less. $1500 would be stretching it quite a bit, but I could make it work if need be.

I know this does not give me many options. Perhaps one of the bike companies would just like to send me one to test and review. That sure would be nice!

Board of Inspiration 2.6.12

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:49:00 +0000

160 Days Remaining - Swim Workout

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:45:00 +0000

Today is the start of my new 31 week training plan. You can check out the prior post to read why I have chosen 31 weeks as starting point.

Today I headed to the pool for a swim workout. I was just in the pool yesterday for a great Tri Swim Class at Augustana. Stacey Zapolski, Tara Christensen, and Lisa Lammers helped guide a group of us towards swimming better in preparation for triathlons of all sizes. The group has continued to grow and grow. I always walk away from the class with some new things to work on, a few more drills to implement, and a better gauge on what has improved and what still needs work. I know that after class yesterday I still need focus on my arm position in the water and to continue to work on rolling out so I am not so flat in the water. These are my two key points that I am going to focus on the next month to see if I can improve these elements.

This morning I took one of the workouts that Tara put together for the group. I added a few more distances to the warm-ups to get in 2450 yards today.

Warm-Up
200 free
200 pull(I really focused on rolling as much as I could)
200 kick

Drill Set
6 x50 @ 20 second rest

I ended up barely resting just to keep things going at a good pace. I swam slow, but did not waste time between sets.

Set 1: Kick on side working on really extending the length of the pool
Set 2: 6 Kick switch still working on rolling and stretching
Set 3: Flickr - this is a new one and a drill I will do more often. It has you flick the water back at the end of your stroke. It is over exaggerate but helps with pushing all the way through the stroke and not ending early. If you can gain 3-4 inches per stroke because of this in the long run you are saving some major energy in a long swim.
Set 4: Fist and Fingertip - Fist swimming kills me. This drill is perfect for working on my arm position. I did the fist the first 25 and fingertip drag the last 25
Set 5: Head Up(Tarzan) - we did this drill at the clinic yesterday. It is tough. Swimming a 50 is a good workout for sure.
Set 6: DPS - Counting my strokes. When I started swimming I was around 18-19. Lately I have been at 14-15. At the clinic yesterday I was down to 13 for 3 x 25's. Today I was back at 14-15, but I know my kick was not as powerful as yesterday so that had to be the difference.

Main Set 1
6 x 100 Free @ 15 sec rest

I swam all of these at 1:30. I felt good about this. I was not tired and did not feel worn out either. With the shorter rest I was not sure how I would hold up, but I felt fine for all six of these. I have made some major improvements in my swim time. This was a great pace. I would say I was swimming at just a little over moderate pace. I never felt tired during the swim and felt comfortable.

Main Set 2
6 x75 Pull @ 1:30 - I started out too slow on the first set, but soon dialed it in finishing these in a little over a minute the last five giving me plenty of rest. My right shoulder started to feel a little sore at this point, but I don't believe it is anything major.

6 x 75 Kick with fins @1:40 - I actually moved this up to 1:30. I had to really get kicking to make the time split each time. I only had about a 5 second rest at the 1:30 pace time. This was a good workout. My legs were tired by the end.

50 yard cool down with fins to end the day.

Total: 2450 in 50 minutes

This was a great start to my 31 weeks of training. I hope to have more days like this. I need to get in some TRX training tonight. I have parent teacher conferences so this may not happen until tomorrow. I also need to get on the bike. Maybe a miracle will occur and my knee won't hurt so I can get back on track. Here is to a great week.

Triathlon Training: Back To The Straight And Narrow

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:25:00 +0000

I have taken things nice and easy for four days. I had my knee bother me earlier in the week when I tried to ride my bike and decided to just take a few days off. Two days turned into four days and I think it was best. Now, I did eat like a slob and just not worry about anything and I am ready to return.

I have not quite figured out my knee issue yet. I have an appointment for my bike on Wednesday to see if something is not properly aligned, but I need to start with my training. I have gathered the plans for a 30 week Ironman training. I am not signed up for a full Ironman, but the plan works perfectly with where I am on many levels. The plan calls for a Half Ironman on week 22 and that just so happens to be the exact week of my half Ironman in Wisconsin. At that point I can decided to continue the training for a full or shift gears.

By starting the plan now it gives me direction and a focus. The last few weeks I have been following a plan, but in the back of my mind knowing it was not leading anywhere but building a base. This gives me a real purpose. My total training will be 31 weeks starting tomorrow, February 6th. This gives me one week to repeat a week of workouts when I head for vacation and will not have access to a bike.

I feel good. I need to get back in training mode. Taking four days off has been almost too much time. I get cranky and frustrated by feeling sloppy and out of shape.

I hope by the end of the week to have answers to my knee in either a bike adjustment, a knee brace of some sort, or a new bike by going with a tri bike. I need an answer, but just don't have enough knowledge to figure it out on my own. I have gathered outside guidance through Kaminski ART, Healthy Habits, and talking with others. I am eliminating my negative thoughts and thinking positive that by the end of the week I will be back on track. If not, then I will continue to train for my swim and run until I figure it out. It has been frustrating to say the least. I have made some major gains and advances in my training and to have this minor setback frustrates me to no end. I don't have patience for this type of thing, but I know things happen for a reason and there is a lesson to be learned.

Starting tomorrow the "official" training begins. I will keep things nice and easy and do it right from the start. It will be hard to fight the urge to push forward too soon. 31 weeks is a long time and I need to remind myself that this is a long journey. Pushing too soon will only lead to more injury.

GETTING IT DONE! takes off tomorrow. I look forward to this next phase of the journey. I hope you follow along. Here is to a day. Coffeechug is ready!

What Is Live Uncommon?

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:45:00 +0000

Board of Inspiration 2.2.12

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:36:00 +0000

Triathlon Training: Week 10 - Thursday Workout.....NOTHING

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:28:00 +0000

Rest day.

The body feels tired, battered, and bruised.

It is time to recover and heal.

I slept in. I feel better. My knee is getting back to normal.

I have plans to have my bike, shoes, and cleats checked to see if there is an error in my riding.

I am good. I am good without working out today where that normally drives me crazy.

I take that as a sign that the rest was needed.

GETTING IT DONE! sometimes means doing nothing. Some instances doing nothing is best.

Week 10: Triathlon Training - Monday Night Knee Pains to Wednesday Swim

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:51:00 +0000

Life has jumped in the way of any free minute to blog let alone finding time to do much of anything else. I have found a few minutes and therefore need to get myself updated with my training so far this week.

Monday morning I had a good swim workout following the my first triathlon. Monday night I jumped on the bike for a bike workout while Amanda ran on the treadmill. I had planned on a 85 minute ride with 5 x 3 minute speed intervals in the main part of this ride. I never made it that far as only a mile or two in my right knee started to flare up like it did last week when I experienced the worse pain ever.

I jumped off the bike and stretched, checked my bike for measurements and tried to ride again. After 4 miles I had to call it quits. It just hurt too bad. I am questioning whether I have a knee issue or a bike issue. When I competed in the triathlon I was pain free. I had no issues whatsoever with my knee. The minute I jumped on that bike the pain started. Perhaps it is time for a new bike as my $80 road bike is just not serving the proper purpose. I don't know. I don't have enough knowledge with bikes and this type of training to diagnose the issue at hand. Needless to say the cycling is done for until I solve the issue. I have about 2.5 weeks to find a solution before my Half Ironman Training Plan begins and I need to be ready to rock.

Tuesday morning I woke up with the knee feeling a little tender, but nothing major as I assumed it was just a lasting effect from the bike. I met up with the CRAZIES, but we were not so crazy being 45 degrees outside in January in Iowa. We took off on one of our usual routes. We started off nice and easy around a 9 minute mile pace and gradually picked up the pace. You can see from chart above we kicked it into high gear towards the end. It is weird how when one person starts to go it just takes off. We ended up running the final .6 miles at a 6:50 pace. It was a good run. It really worked me out. I was quite sore starting this run from my Triathlon on Sunday. This run worked out the soreness, but I think gave me a whole new load of lactic acid and soreness after. It felt good to get out and push, but I wonder if it was too much too soon with the push in the race and the push in this run. My body felt worn out the rest of the day. During basketball practice I jumped in and ran some of the drills and scrimmage to show the players how to push hard and aggressive. When I got home my body felt depleted and sore. My knee hurt and I was ready for bed.

This morning I considered having a rest day today, but decided against it and made my way to the pool. I performed a swim workout working a lot of drills and then some swimming build ups during the main set. I mixed some of the workouts from my swim coaches to keep things fresh and to keep me motivated. My workout called for 7 x 200's, but I knew there was no way I would mentally complete this set. I knew from the start I was not in the right mind frame to do this so instead I compiled the following workout.

250 free
250 pull
3 x 100 kick with fins @ 2:00 - This was much harder. I was barely finishing the set in 2:00 and had to turn around and go again. My calves started cramping during the third set.
100 right arm only
100 left arm only

Main Set
100 @ 1:30
200 @ 3:00
300 @ 5:00
400 @ ? I lost track of the time on this one, but I felt good

8 x 25 sprints with 15 second rest. Each one was around 15-16 seconds

100 kick with fins at 2:00

100 pull

Total 2400 yards

I jumped out of the pool and realized I did not pack a towel. Nothing like drying off with your shirt. My knee was killing me by the end of this workout. It hurt all around, sides, front, and back. My body just feels worn out. I am going to put in a rest day or two to get back on track.

I have had a good week of training so far despite no bike workouts. I have about 2.5 weeks of base building before I embark on my Half Ironman. I have been toying with the idea of taking the week off before to just let the body get back to normal and heal before I put it through 20 weeks of good solid training. I hope to finish this week strong, fix my knee and bike issue, and have one more good week before taking a short break as I prepare to truly live the GETTING IT DONE! mantra of my life.

Have a great Wednesday.

Board of Inspiration 1.31.12

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:57:00 +0000

Board of Inspiration 1.30.12

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:05:00 +0000

Triathlon Training: Week 10 - Back to the pool after first Triathlon

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron Maurer) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:02:00 +0000

Man, am I sore after my first triathlon yesterday. I am sore from the run as I have not ran that fast in a very long time. It was hard getting out of bed this morning.

I was sore. I was tired. My motivation was a little low after going hard yesterday. I managed to find my way to the Y ready to improve my swim.

I had a planned workout today of 2600 yards. I was not sure if I was going to be able to complete it or not, but I had the mindset to knock it out.

Here is the workout that I was planning on doing:

The warm up felt good to get loose again. It was weird being back in the pool again after less than 24 hours. I swam my usual free, kicks with board, and pull as warm up.

For my drill set I did one arm swim, kicks with arms at sides to work on keeping legs up and not dragging, and 6 kick swim, and one set of counting strokes(15 strokes).

I then moved right into the 8 x 100's at a moderate pace. I felt pretty good here. I swam the first four under 1:45 giving me a 15 second rest as I started at the top of the clock. I then picked up the pace a little bit without feeling tired knocking out the next three in 1:30 - 1:35. After 7 I stopped as Stacey and Lisa asked me to join them for a swim set. How could I say no to swim with two great swimmers and one being my coach? You don't, so I headed over to their lane for a circle swim and workout. Wowsers!

I am so glad they arrived when they did because I was in the process of talking myself out of the rest or my workout as I was not in the mood at all to do 8 x 100 sprints. With them I had no choice but to stay the course and push myself.

We did 2 x 200's. I don't remember what the time was, but I know I was gassed at the end of each of these. They had it all dialed in on time so I lost track, but I know I had to really push myself to stay strong. As I tired my kicks became bigger and Stacey reminded me to keep my kicks short and swift.

After the 200's we did 3 x 150's. I liked this distance as I find it much easier to push harder on this compared to the 200's. 200 is my enemy and I have not quite conquered this foe yet. I felt much better on the 150's, but I had to really dig to keep up.

Last we did 4 x 75's. I had two sets where I had to keep up with Stacey. This was no small feat. I held my own. The other two sets were more recovery sets which I needed as they were swimming IM's.

This was a perfect way to end my workout. I pushed much harder than I would have done on my own if I had even stayed. I am glad I was able to join them and finish with a great workout.

I ended up with 2350 yards in this workout and they were some quality laps. I am off to another great start this week.

The swim helped knock out some of the soreness and fatigue in my legs. Happy Monday to all!