Day 52: A Little Better than Whiskey

9:20PM

Knee Rehab and Yoga

I was so tempted just to have a glass of Jack on the rocks. Not sure why. I'm not even that much of a drinker but the last couple of days a little drink has sounded nice. Maybe its my way of "growing up" as I quickly approach the big 3-0.

I did 15 minutes of knee rehabilitation exercises followed by Yoga. The knee feels OK. There is a little stiffness in it but I think it might be because of the rain. Who knew that this knee injury would make me a human barometer.

My calves are a little sore. Definitely not used to absorbing the impact from my feet striking the ground. I'm glad it rained today because I would have been out there trying to run again. Got to keep on reminding myself these kind of things take time to heal.

GTD Weekly Review Day 2

Time to Complete: 1:07

I decided to get this done today since I may be hitting the road tomorrow. It took me a little longer to finish than I'd like considering I felt like I did it pretty quickly. This is one of the problems that causes people to get off their weekly reviews. Leo Babauta over at zenhabits writes:

It’s one of the reasons we put off GTD’s Weekly Review: because it can take so darn long. Many of my reviews have come in at 2-3 hours, and if I get interrupted a number of times, even longer. When something takes so long, and we are so busy with other projects, no wonder many people skip this critical component.

He goes on to list several solutions on how to improve your weekly review. I recommend the read if you have the time. The weekly review is a pretty critical component of GTD.

For me I found that I should review my action lists more often, get more things off my brain and into my inbox, and clear out my inbox daily. Another one of Leo's tips is to reward yourself after your done. I was half tempted to eat a S'more or some ice cream but I have to do some yoga before the end of the day.

[Source: zenhabits]

Day 51: I'm Back! (Well Sort of)

4:00PM

Fun Run

For those of you who've been following my knee injury I thought a make believe Q&A would be best for this post.

• What? Didn't you complain about knee pains this past week? Are you just a big wuss? Its true, my knee was hurting. It recovered fairly quick so I have a suspicion that it was a separate strain and not something from the original injury.
  
• Are you sure its not too early for you to be back? I looked at my old posts and I found that I originally injured my knee about six weeks ago. I didn't run for five of those weeks so I think that be plenty of time.
  
• You're an idiot! You should be resting your knee more. I mean you tore your meniscus. This is true. I am an idiot. Its been so long since I hurt it and I just wanted to see how it felt. I like to have answers right away. I'm just impatient. Today we had perfect running weather so that was a big plus.
  
• Fair enough. So how far did you go? How fast? I was really trying to hold back. I went out there really believing I was just going to do 10 minutes. I even wore my vibrams just to hold myself back even more. I ended up walking for the first couple of minutes and started out at a very light jog at 10min/mi pace. That felt great so I started focusing on my form and cadence. Still felt good. I looked down at my watch and I was pushing a 7:30min/mi pace. Whoa! Baby steps Ryan, baby steps. I brought it back down as much as possible and even threw in some walking at the end but you know I was smiling all the way. I ended up doing a mile and a half in a bout 15 minutes.
  
• Big Question: How does the knee feel? Surprisingly it felt good during the run and it still feels good. I came home, stretched, and did some rehabilitation exercises. I heard both of my knees pop a little bit but I think that's more from stiffness. More than anything my calves were sore. This is obviously because they haven't had to absorb any impact from running in several weeks. I'm not in the clear yet. I'll monitor it over the next couple of days but it looks like I can start running again. Yay!

Yesterday's Babies R Us Marathon

I was half tempted to label this as part of my Exercise Streak. We were in Babies R Us for at least two and a half hours and by the time we left we were quite exhausted.

The plan was simple. Go to Babies R Us and select the car seat, stroller, and pack n play for the baby registry. I had already selected which brands we were going to go with so it was just a matter of trying out the products. That kind of job only takes about 30 minutes, right? Wrong!

First up was the car seat. We were choosing between Graco and Chicco models. Both seats were virtually the same in weight and car base size. We ended up going with a Chicco because we were told that they fit into shopping carts and they also include a nicer padding for newborns. Time playing and deliberating over car seats: ~ 30 minutes.

Next we had the strollers. The choice here was a standard travel system that can be packaged with the car seat versus smaller stroller bases that the car seat can just slide in to. (SIDE NOTE: I am probably going to get a jogger stroller but I didn't do enough research prior to going to choose one.) The major upside for the smaller stroller bases is that they weigh about 10 pounds less than the travel system. At least that's what it felt like. The major drawback about the smaller stroller bases is that they don't have a reassuring 'click' sound when the car seat is inserted into them. This is because they are usually built by a different manufacturer and there is no universal standard for car seat bases. After testing inserting car seats into the strollers, how they fold up, tipping them over, and crashing them into aisle ends we decided to go with the smaller stroller base. (We didn't actually do the last thing but in retrospect it would have been fun and a nice stress relief). Time playing and deliberating over strollers: ~ 30 minutes.

Last thing we had was the pack n play. With us having to move and the multiple trips we're supposed to take this year we decided that a pack n play was essential. Like with the other items we had already narrowed it down to a couple of items but wanted to 'play' with them before deciding. First up was the Chicco. That thing took me forever to break down. Once I was able to, it took another significant amount of effort to wrap it up for its travel container. I was physically worked up. I even had to go to the bathroom to take off some layers. If it was that frustrating to play around with I couldn't imagine having to do that with little sleep and a crying baby in the background. We ended up going with the Graco. After messing around with the Chicco, breaking down and packing up the Graco was a walk in the park. Time playing and deliberating over pack n plays: infinity.

Right now as I write this I'm getting exhausted just thinking about it. Be warned. If you have to go shopping for these things expect some frustration but it is for a great miracle. We have friends who did all their baby shopping in one day and I have a new found respect for their tolerance.

If anyone is interested in specific links for what we chose let me know in the comments and I'll be sure to post them.

Day 50: I Can't Feel my Toes

8:00AM

Team Bike Ride

Hooray! Today was my first day of the year I got to ride my road bike outside. It was a frigid 35 degrees when we started. (SIDE NOTE: Its funny because all my SD people on the West Coast were bundling up for their 50 degree day. Coldest February day since 1911 they said. Wimps. Love you guys!) Everyone on the team was freezing. For me, it wasn't too bad. I think this might have been from being acclimated to the temperature from my Mountain Bike classes.

Getting on the road bike after riding a mountain bike all winter was rather weird. The first thing I noticed was that it was much harder to clip into my peddles. I also noticed my self wobbling my handle bar a lot more. This is because with a mountain bike you actually use the handle bar for quite a bit of handling where as with a road bike its more of a full body lean.

The ride itself was fun. I did two sets of moderate efforts for about ~6 miles each.

Day 49: 25 fast, 25 fast, ..., 25 fast

6:00AM

Optional Swim

I got to the pool and man was I spent. All the lanes were filled and the person I was meeting had not shown up yet. I thought to myse.f, "maybe I can just go back home." Then Marco walks in. Crap!

The warmup for this swim felt great. It seemed like I was moving through the water very efficiently. My kicking on the side drills are still not going the way I'd like them to but that's why we work on technique, to improve in these areas. The breath away drill is improving so thats good news.

The main set consisted of a bazillion 25s at a fast pace. These didn't hurt too much as we had a decent amount of rest between each 25.

One thing that I realized is that I've probably lost the rhythm in my kick. This is something that worked on quite a bit last year but I may have lost it as I took several weeks off from swimming. I guess I'll some 2-beat and 3-beat kick drills into my next swim.

Very Quick Aqua Run

I only did this for about 5 minutes. I was worn out from our main swim set and I also didn't have that floating run belt on. Its crazy hard without the belt! My left leg felt kind of tight, but thats probably because its the only leg I'm using to push off the wall.

It looks like its going to be beautiful in the RVA this weekend. I can finally take my bike out onto the road. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Day 48: Mini Mini Brick

I've decided that my post titles for my training streak are pretty bland. Plus its not a training streak because I'm not training for any races at the moment. 'Exercise streak' seems like the appropriate label so that's been created.

2:00PM

Bike

With my knee being sore the last several days I decided to remain somewhat cautious. I got on the trainer/bike for enough time to build a sweat. This felt decent. It was purely a continuous effort which I haven't done in a while.

Swim

From there I hopped into the pool and swam a couple of laps. My flip turns actually felt really good! That last strong pull is really the key.

Aqua Run

To finish things off, I did some steady state aqua running while focusing on my cadence. This went well as I don't recall breathing that hard at all while still maintaining a decent cadence.

We'll see how the knee feels tomorrow. I might have to find ways to back off even more.

Training Streak: Day 47

Bummer. Its been four weeks since I hurt my knee and therefore four weeks since I've last had a good run. I was pretty sure things were improving until yesterday. I've been feeling pain on the outside and right above my knee. Hopefully this is just a tendon pain and I didn't do something to injure my meniscus further.

6:00AM

Team Technique/Intensity Swim

We had a great workout this morning. One of the elite youths was in our lane and he was kicking our butts. I have a decent kick in the water but I'm starting to notice I'm not as effective with it on my side. I just have to work on those drills some more I guess. Another drill that I've been struggling with is the one arm breath away. Last year I felt so much more comfortable with it while today I took in quite a bit of water. I guess I have a mini todo list for the next time I get into the pool.

6:00PM

Rock Climbing Wall

This is something that I've wanted to take up for a while. I stayed semi cautious because my knee is still giving me some pains. The highest grade I did was a 5.6. It can get quite technical! I had a lot of fun and I think I might be hooked. I'm taking the belay certification class sometime in the next couple of weeks. Who's coming with me?

The Importance of Run Mechanics | USA Triathlon

I had to post this because I know a lot of people who read this blog are just starting out in running. A question that they often ask is about their form and if they are doing something wrong. I typically avoid answering that question because 1) I'm not a coach and 2) becoming an elite runner is not really what their goals are.

But I was wrong. Jesse Kropelnicki writes:

Running mechanics is a topic that many athletes feel is of little consequence. But, running mechanics can mask an athlete’s true fitness and speed potential, especially at longer distances where many of the supporting muscle groups become so fatigued late into the race.

He's got a pretty cool video in the link explaining the principles, so I'd suggest checking it out if you want to improve your running form.

[Source: The Importance of Run Mechanics | USA Triathlon]

Training Streak: Day 46

7:00AM

Team Technique/Intensity Bike

I was kind of scared of this workout because I had some out of town guests over the weekend. This resulted in me not really sleeping or eating well for several days straight. I figured I was going to pay for it with my harder workouts. Everything ended up fine.

I felt pretty strong during our workout. I guess I can attribute it to the Yoga I did yesterday. We did a VO2 Max set. It was pretty straightforward. Instead of going all out for an x amount of time we did very small chunks of max effort (ie - 20 seconds) for a specific duration. I think I've always been good at the all out stuff. It might be from my experience as a sprinter in high school. But one thing you learn with all this training is that its easy to go all out or super slow. It takes real discipline to find the in between paces and stick with them.

GTD Weekly Review Day 1

I've been a practitioner of Getting Things Done (GTD) for about 4 years now and I still haven't gotten my Weekly Review to the point where I do it every week. There have been instances where I didn't do it for weeks. I've tried just about everything to make the Weekly Review happen regularly. I've set aside time in my calendar, tried to simplify my review process and even started a pseudo streak tracking how often I do them.

The weekly review can be challenging because you do it weekly rather than daily, making any hope for consistency challenging. Also, it just seems like such a monumental task compared to all the other things you might have on your Next Actions list. Life always seems to get in the way and I am at fault for letting that be my execuse for not doing my Weekly Review. Well no more!

I've gotten consistent with my Training Streak so lets see if we can make the same thing happen with my Weekly Review.

The Rule

The weekly review must be completed every week on Tuesday before midnight.

First Pass

Time to Complete: 1:06

This was hard. I haven't gotten a lot of sleep the last couple of days and combining that with a pretty heavy lunch had me pretty drousy this afternoon. I managed to let myself get distracted a couple of times during the process (ie - taking phone calls and randomly browsing web pages) so I'm pretty confident I can get this under an hour. The good news is that I was able to do it in a respectable time so I still consider it a win.

Are there any other GTDers who read this blog? Do you complete your weekly review consistently?

Tagalog: Conversation from 2/15/11 Part 1

Vocabulary

• din - "too"
• hapon - "afternoon"
• umaga - "morning"
• gabi - "night"
• kahapon - "yesterday". To say last night you would prefix "gabi" with "ka", "kagabi"
• punta - "to go" (v)
• nagpunta - "went" (v, past tense)
• masama - "bad"
• ramdam - "felt"
• pakiramdam - "feel"
• sayaw - "dance"
• sumayaw - "to dance"
• sayawan - "dancing"
• Nasa bahay si Ryan - "Ryan is home"
• Nasa bahay si Ryan niyon - "Ryan is home now"

Quick Trivia on the Philippines

The Philippines consists of thousands of islands. The main islands are Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The capital city, Manila, is located on the island of Luzon.

Ryan Hall: Just As Sweet as Winning

Awesome excerpt from Ryan's Hall book:

But all of us, fast and slow alike, can experience something that is just as sweet as winning. My message is that even if you don’t land on the podium or run a personal best, even if you have a bad workout or are struggling with an injury, you can experience joy to the fullest.

This just shows that even the best in the world have to remind themselves to enjoy their craft.

[Source: Just as Sweet as Winning]

Training Streak: Day 45

Right now

Yoga

A little bit of a different format today. Decided I'd write about the exercise before doing actually completing it. I had some out of town guests so its thrown me a little bit out of my rhythm. But the streak must continue!

I'm also glad to hear that my crazy conversations with myself are starting to inspire others. A friend of mine decided to start his own streak. If you have the time check out his blog and show him some love in the comments. Getting started with something new can be challenging and the more support you get, the more likely you are to keep on doing it. I'm all about the positive karma.

UPDATE: I was able to get the Yoga done. When I can't make it to a class, I like to use Candlelight Yoga on Netflix. It's kind of basic but I'm am no advanced Yoga practitioner and with the amount of training I do every bit of stretching helps.

Training Streak: Day 44

3:00PM

Swim Warm-up

I did 250m which actually felt really good. I completely abandoned the bilateral breathing for the day and my flip turns were somewhat easy. The key with them is to get a really big last pull so that you can use the momentum in your flip.

Aqua Running

This was just a continues 32 minute aqua run. I noticed that my cadence had dropped considerably in the water. I usually have a cadence in the 180s but I think I was down to the 140s. Since I can't focus on speed or distance in the water I'm going to focus solely on cadence until I get back on running on land.

The weather has been perfect in the RVA the last several days and I'm really starting to miss the running. I can't wait to get back into it; I know it'll hurt for the first several weeks but I'm really looking forward to running again.

Training Streak: Day 43

2:00PM

Mountain Biking

It was a beautiful day today in the RVA! Today was our last day for our Saturday Mountain Biking class so we hit the trails in Deep Run Park. I had a great time. I've gotten better at popping out the wheelie to get over roots and fallen trees. I cleared some pretty big obstacles today but did crash a couple of times. Its like I told one of my teammates, "one of the most fun things about life is picking yourself up after you've fallen down."

Training Streak: Day 42

3:30PM

Technique/Endurance Swim

This swim didn't go too well. My flip turns during the warm-up were kind of crooked (ie - my legs were flipping to the side instead of over my head). During the endurance set I felt a tweak in my right arm so I had to throw in some breaks.

There were several things that could have contributed to me not feeling to great about this workout. For one, I didn't exactly eat well throughout the day. I also haven't been sleeping well. My body is used to waking up every morning at 5:30AM but for some reason I've been waking up at 3:30AM. It could also be because I did this workout later in the day and my motivation can fade as the day progresses.

Training Streak: Day 41

3:00PM

Swim

This was just a warm up swim for my aqua run. My goal was to get 7 flip turns in a row which equates to 200m. I only got to 5 and the 5th one was really sloppy. For some reason it also seems as I'm moving through the water at a slower pace. I'm not sure if this is because I have more control and therefore more comfortable going slow. It could also be soemthing wrong with my form. Not sure.

Aqua Run

I now have a sense why people always suggest music for aqua runs. The place was empty. I think the lifeguards were so bored they started to stare at me as I treaded through the water. The workout was a ladder set of intervals so it wasn't too boring. I still haven't found my different efforts with aqua running. Its either been go all out or go slow. Nothing in between.

Tagalog: Conversation from 2/12/11

I'm starting a new topic today. As I alluded to in a previous post, I wanted to start writing reviews of some of the conversations that I have in Tagalog with my Mom. Here, she'll be able to correct some of the things that I misunderstood. I also hope that writing about it will help me build a stronger understanding of the rules/phrases and not have to ask my Mom to explain the same thing over again.

Phrases and Vocabulary

• Magandang umaga po - "Good morning". The "po" is to indicate respect similar to Sir and Mam in English.
• Paano sabihin ... - "how do you say... ?" This is a phrase that I use often to ask how to say something in Tagalog.
• lakad - walk (n)
• Kamusta ang lakad sa Reston? - This litterally translates to "How you walk in Reston", but "lakad" is used in phrases when you have something to do or somewhere to go. So I believe This phrase means "How was the trip to Reston?". If I wanted to say "How was your trip to Reston?" it would be "Kamusta ang lakad mo sa Reston?"
• May lakad ako - "I have somewhere to go."
• lalakad ako dito - "I am going to walk here"
• lalakad ako - "I am going to walk"
• lalakad ako duon sa park - "I am going to walk at the park." This is a little bit of Taglish which is a mixture of Tagalog and English. Sometimes its just easier to use the English word.
• Anong niluluto mo? - "what are you cooking?"
• ang mga damit - "the clothes"
• lahat ng damit - "all the clothes"
• Magdadamit ako - "I am going to wear clothes"
• ako may dadamit - "I am going to wear clothes now"
• Anong damit ang susuotin mo? - "What clothes are you going to to wear?"
• suotin - "to wear"
• susuotin - "going to wear"
• azul asul - "blue". NOTE: There is no 'z' in the Tagalog alphabet
• kulay - "color"
• may - "with", "has", "have"
• Anong ginagawa niyo? - "What are you doing?" (plural)
• Anong ginagawa mo? - "What are you doing?" (singular)
• Para saan? - "what for?" This phrase is particular because "what" is "ano" but for this phrase "para" (where) is used instead.
• tabi - "side"
• itabi - "set aside"

UPDATE: I made all the corrections my Mom suggested. Thanks Mom! Love you.

Training Streak: Day 40

6:00AM

Technique Swim

Well that was a deceiving workout. It clearly said all technique work and no main set so I thought it would be a piece of cake. After kicking for 12 50s straight I realized I was wrong. I liked the workout overall. That phrase is starting to sound redundant as I like just about every workout that we do. But hey, why in the world would you wake up at 5:30AM every morning if you're not going to enjoy the experience!

Teaching Yourself How to do Flip Turns

I could have sworn that I posted this before but maybe it was just on twitter. Here's a playlist I created of the videos I found most helpful for teaching myself how to do flip turns.

[Source: youtube]

Understanding Lactate Threshold Heart Rate Training

USAT has an excellent article on Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR) and how it can be incorporated into training. This is something the coaches at Endorphin Fitness hammers into our brains all the time and the kind of workouts they make us suffer through. BUT it pays dividends!

Marty Gaal states that improving lactate threshold involves

1. increasing your aerobic endurance by
   

   completing workouts involving aerobic exercises (swimming, biking, running, rowing, cross-country skiing, and so on) at an easy to moderate effort level. Over time, your ability to continue the exercise will improve through physiological adaptations to the specific exercise.
   

2. improving your LTHR by
   

   completing easier training sessions like the above, plus including more challenging workouts that raise your heart rate.

Click the source link for more information about LTHR. It also gives a workout to help you find your threshold as well as some workouts for increasing your LTHR.

[Source: usatriathlon.org]

Training Streak: Day 39

6:00AM

Team Technique/Intensity Bike

We had a tough one this morning. A set of about 13 varying times all at max effort. Of course, with the shorter times it doesn't feel too daunting but it still takes quite a toll on the body. I was a little lightheaded from the oxygen deprivation. It was good class and a good group overall. I got to meet one of the new athletes named Brian.

7:15PM

Strength Class

Went to EF for strength class. I couldn't do half the drills (burpies, mountain climbers, squats, etc.) because of my knee. Instead, I did a lot of things that worked my core. These feel kind of low key since its a build up phase so I may just start doing them on my own for a little while.

Some Found Challenges in Learning Another Language

The past several months I've been trying to learn Tagalog. Its one of the many dialects in the Philippines but its considered the national language so it is also known as Filipino.

I wanted to pick it up because we are expecting our first child and I figured learning my parent's language would help preserve our culture.

My progression has been conte conte unti unti (little by little). My wife gave me Rosetta Stone which I tried for a couple of weeks but got disinterested by the repetitive nature of some of the exercises. Next, I tried to read an actual grammar book but did not progress very far. Most recently, I've been spending every morning talking to my Mom in Tagalog for about an hour. This has helped the most but I think we may have hit a wall.

I guess maybe the main challenge has been that most of what I learn daily just goes into short term memory. I've been trying to brainstorm of a couple of ways to make the learning more consistent and easier.

So far this is what I've come up with:

• Record our conversations and review them later: I use Google Voice to record what our calls.
• Start using Rosetta Stone again: This focuses on associating words with images. At the very least I think this will help me expand my Tagalog vocabulary.
• Blog about what I've learned: I think this would be the coolest one as other people can come here and learn too!

Well that's all that I've come up with to expedite this learning process. Anyone else ever have to learn another language? What did you do to make it "stick"?

UPDATE: The phrase "Little by little" is actually "unti unti". Not sure where I got "conte" from.

Training Streak: Day 38

9:00AM

Swim

Did a couple of laps. I tried to push off the wall with one foot but it felt awkward after flip turns. I'm not sure if it was because I wasn't warmed up but initially my form felt really sloppy. I guess that's why they make swimmers swim 24/7 so that their swim form is engrained into their muscle memory.

Aqua Run

I "ran" for about 25 minutes straight in the pool. It hardly felt like an effort but maybe that's the way its supposed to be with aqua running. I would have been bored out of my mind if the wife wasn't swimming next to me.

Programming Language Comparison

Its opinionated and somewhat biased to scriptol but I found this to be one of the better descriptions of why one would use one programming language versus another.

[Source: scriptol]

Communicating in Relationships: "I" Before "You"

Its Valentines Day and my buddies often call me seeking relationship advice so I thought today's posts could have a relationship improvement kind of theme.

The post title does not mean "buy myself stuff first". In marriage and in relationships communication serves as one of the cornerstones for a successful partnership.

One concept that my wife and I learned in marriage counseling and found to be immensely helpful is the "I" before "You" principle. We all know the sting of "you" statements. "You didn't do the dishes", "why do you always disagree with me", and "you're not paying attention". As these examples portray they always come off with an accusatory tone and as anyone who has been on the receiving end of these knows, the first instinct is to get defensive.

Instead, one can more effectively communicate with their partner using "I" statements. As Marcia Berger writes:

Marriage partners who communicate as equals are likely to have a good relationship. "I" statements provide an easy way for a husband and wife to honor their own and their mate's individuality. Those who converse with "I" statements are taking responsibility for their own thoughts, feelings, desires, and behaviors. The opposite of an "I" statement is a "You" statement, which tends to come across as judgmental or blaming.

This is something that I struggle with daily but that's what the harder part of relationships are all about, putting work in to make sure your relationship is a success.

How are you doing with these concepts? Got any relationship communication tips?

Training Streak: Day 37

7:00AM

Technique/Intensity Swim

Finally a team workout! This swim was the end of Endorphin Fitness's immersion week. Coach Whitney went through a complete breakdown of our strokes emphasizing a different component with each drill. At the end of it we did a 300m time trial. I felt strong in the time trial, I was able to improve my 300m time but I'm still a little off from the pace I was doing last year. Overall, I thought this workout was great. Doing different drills to work on the various aspects of my stroke really seems to help me get going. By the end of the drills I really felt like I was smoothly swimming at the top of the water.

Training Streak: Day 36

8:00AM

Strength Workout

Did a strength workout consisting of push-ups, pull-ups, and core exercises. I need to get more consistent with my strength training so I'm going to start doing it twice a week even if that means I have to do it on my own. I like a little structure with my workouts so I decided to go with the one hundred pushups and the fifty pullups programs. Yeah!

Training Streak: Day 35

7:00AM

Yoga

I had my second class today. Since day one was so taxing on my brain I figured Yoga would be the best way to prepare for the second day. One thing to note was that my knee had a slight pain. I need to start pushing off the wall in the pool with just one leg.

Training Streak: Day 34

7:00PM

Pool Swim

I got in a 30 minute swim at my hotel. It was a great day to unwind from a day full of mind blowing learning. The pool was short so I just worked on my flip turns and breathing. The key with learning flip turns for me has been that it has to be broken down into steps: 1) Flip, 2) Plant feet on wall, 3) Make sure arms are lifted above head, 4) Push off wall, and 5) Spin onto stomach.

Training Streak: Day 33

7:00AM

Pool Swim

I just did a brief 200m swim. I realized that my swim has been really inconsistent the past several weeks and its in part because I've been incorporating a new breathing pattern and flip turns into my swim. With swimming you've always got to keep things simple. Learn one thing at a time or else it will all get messed up. I've decided I'll just throw in at the most two breath every three strokes into a swim of the full length of the pool. The rest of the time I will breath every two strokes. This way I'll be receiving oxygen more consistently.

Aqua Running

At the orthopedic yesterday, I got the second opinion on my knee. He strongly suggested that I avoid the Prolotherapy and PRP that the sports doctor recommended as both are unproven. The basic prognosis is that the meniscus is torn but it should be able to heal on its own. He gave me an actual aqua running plan that would challenge me and maintain my run fitness.

The workout was pretty intense. I'm sure its mostly because I'm not used to running at a hard effort in the pool so it messes with my breathing quite a bit. I got about 34 minutes of actual running in and my body felt quite fatigued in the process. A great workout overall!

Training Streak: Day 32

6:00AM Technique/Intensity Bike

As I mentioned yesterday its immersion week at EF. Its a time when new and old members of the training team start to gear up for the season. Today we went over a lot of concepts of bike technique. At the end there was a test for everyone's current fitness level. It was essentially an all out 20 minute effort. I felt relatively strong during the effort. I was able to get an idea of what my current max heart rate is as well as the steady state for my heart rate at that intensity.

7:15PM Strength Workout

Just focused on the basics of strength class. Push-ups, squat variations, and core work. Rusty explained the differences in our various phases of training. I can still do the power push-ups. Didn't try the behind the back clap though because of the last time when I fell on my face. Had to do the peg board at the end of class as well just to be sure I can still climb to the top.

Training Streak: Day 31

6:00PM Core/Yoga Workout

Did the usual weekly core work plus yoga. Its a immersion week at Endorphin Fitness so the place was packed. A lot of new faces. Its pretty exciting to think that I've been training with them for over a year. I've met a lot of really great people and am excited to make even more new friends.

Walls

"Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people." - Randy Pausch (1960-2008)

I often think about this quote when feeling worn down in a race or just encountering obstacles in life.

Last Monday I found out that my knee injury was a little worse than I had anticipated. I have a partially torn meniscus which means no running for me for a little bit. It bummed me out for the rest of the day but after looking at it from a different perspective I realized it could be helpful in the long run. On the days I'm supposed to be running I can instead work on my swimming which is my weakest of the three sports.

Have you encountered any setbacks in training or your life? Did you find something positive about it once you looked at it from a different perspective?

Training Streak: Day 30

7:00AM Group Technique/Intensity Swim

This was a tough one. I think I say that a lot about the swim. Our main set was 6 x 100m at maximum effort. This was the kind of set where your mind really starts to mess with you. It really simulates bonking. I got through it but I was pretty spent for the couple of hours afterward.

Training Streak: Day 29

2:00PM Mountain Bike Class

It was a wet one today. We had a light mist so the ground was muddy and the roots were slick. We took to the trails most of the day. I improved my wheelies a bit and then we got to doing more hard core stuff. Even though I crashed quite a bit I think I managed to get over quite a number of fallen trees and a rock garden. Most important lesson learned might be always stay straight over the roots. If you turn while your on them your wheels could slip, especially when the roots are wet.

Training Streak: Day 28

6:00AM Optional Swim: I had a much easier time getting to this swim and being motivated. Part of the trick was convincing several teammates to come meet me in the morning. The drills still felt tough but I handled the main set pretty well. 3 x 500m is probably a lot more than I've done in while. Today's swim gave me a little more confidence on how I will perform at our next swim time trial. The breathing and the flip turns kind of went out the window this round.

Training Streak: Day 27

6:00AM Technique/Intensity Bike: Did a race simulation on the bike. I didn't feel too strong during this but I think my heart rate was hitting the correct zones. The workout was pretty intense but short. I was spent afterward though, as I had to crash on the couch for a power nap.

Training Streak: Day 26

6:30AM Quick Swim and Aqua Running: The swim felt ok. I'm getting into a rhythm with using the mix of breathing every two combined with every three. Aqua running is interesting to say the least. I kind of thought it was fun but that might be because it was my first time. I think I got about 20 minutes in worth of running which is more than I've done in a long time. I'm excited to see the results it'll have once my kneel heals up.

Want to Get Beyond the Basics of Shell Scripting?

In this article, we will focus on writing programs for the Bourne shell and its descendants.

Great article on getting started with Shell scripting. Immensely useful for the Pragmatic Programmer approach Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY).

[Source: linuxjournal]

VIM has Wikipedia Support

Sweet! I can do all my mediawiki editing via VIM.

[Source: Wikipedia]

Training Streak: Day 25

6:00AM Technique/Intensity Bike: Great workout this morning. Really pushed us to our limits. I might of pushed it a little too much the first set because I really felt my mind and body fading during the second set. I'm excited to see how all this indoor training will affect my road times.

I told Coach Harlow about my kneed injury. He suggested some pool running which I'll try out later this week. I think I'm going to get a second opinion on the knee.