MAF Test and THE "Project"

Parental Discretion Advised! The above cartoon has nothing to do with this post and the video for that matter of fact, just had me laughing for a bit, so I thought I would share.

******
This run challenge has been going well so far. I find it nice to track your progress, it is a great motivator to see your numbers drop. I personally track my runs on an excel sheet. It allows me to run the "numbers." Yeah, I am number junkie when I actually record my stuff. It allows me to see what my average mileage is, average heart rate, etc. The challenge for me will come later on when my improvements are far less. So far, I started at 8:30+ miles on my daily runs. Over the past 3 weeks, I am now into the 7:45ish range, not a bad improvement for me. As much as I want to believe that this is fitness gains, the reality is that this is merely a gain of just getting back to baseline. Right now, I have ran 26 runs in 25 days. My unpublished goal (well I guess you can called it published now ;) ) is to run 34 runs in 31 days, we'll see if I get there. My two-a-days are unplanned. If I happen to get an early run in the AM and I have the opportunity or feel the need to get out and exercise, that is usually when I get my second run in. I am only swimming 2 times a week right now and have been lucky to get out on the bike once a week since IM Canada. I told myself that I was giving up the bike in exchange to run, and that was to run often. Over the past few years, I have realized that I have a difficult time trying to do a specific sport focus while maintaining all 3 sports, so that is why I have decided to give one up, cycling for now.

It has taken my 3 years to finally be somewhat motivated to train my run. Quite honestly, I hate running. Talking with my brother 100 millions times about my run in general and trying to assess why I am poor at, I have come to at least one conclusion. So here goes my ramble....if you are sick of listening, I would suggest to scroll to the numbers NOW :)

In the beginning when I started triathlon "seriously" in 2001, my motivation to train was often fueled by positive reinforcement. I was reasonably successful in the North Carolina Triathlon Series (NCTS) in my age-group. For 3 years, I was on the podium probably 90% of the time that I raced. I had a goal by the time I was 25 that I wanted to race in the NCTS elite category and I did. Let me tell ya, that was a tough year for my head. Going from good results to well, uh......Anyways, it was a big jump going from age-group to the elite wave. We have some very competitive elite age-groupers here in NC, which makes it fun to race now, not back then. My motivation to train was much different than the first 3 years....DON'T BE THE LAST ELITE GUY and don't get "chicked." Needless to say, I think I was the last elite a couple of times (well, more than just a couple) and I was "chicked" probably in almost every race. Not cool in the "The Cool Book of Triathlon."

My second year as an elite was a tad better. By this time, I had some minor success in the swim. I wasn't getting smoked from the get go and I was able to get out onto the bike towards the front of the race. During the first few races while towards the front, I wasn't able to stay with some of the uber bikers, so it quickly became motivation to become fast on the bike. My thought was simple, if I can continue to improve on the swim, then get out on the bike in the lead, THAT would be COOL and I could re-establish my "coolness" according to the "The Cool Book of Triathlon." As this was occurring, I wasn't really paying much attention to my run, doing the bare minimum and at times running hardly at all. My motivation solely for the last 2-3 years was to keep getting faster on the swim and bike and just hold on for the run. While this bipolar approach has its ups and downs, its not all that stable for results. I have been lucky enough to do well in a few races because I have had a descent swim/bike combo and held on for the run, but I am over that. I think the reason I hate running so much is that I have poor results as a result of my poor training. If I would just put in par training for the run as I have for the swim and bike, I might feel much differently about running. After all, results are a great motivation for me.

So what the hell does all this "ramble jamble" have to do with my running....well here I am today, 26 runs in 25 days later, 6 years after I have started triathlon, attempting to give myself a chance. I have spent much of my triathlon race days always looking behind me, waiting for the inevitable, THE PASS in hopes that my S/B combo was enough to hold them off. I have done 6 IM's, never breaking 4 hours in the marathon. How could I ever expect anything better than a 4 hour marathon when I have never come close to putting in the time that it would require to run less than 4 hours, I surely have catered to my swim and bike and I have seen results. Hopefully this season my site will stay in front of me, no more looking over the shoulder.

So I will go ahead and create that public expectation of myself, something that I think many of us fear. We fear because we are worried that we may not deliver what we say. My plan is to finish this month of 31 runs in 31 days and continue on into November with the same challenge. Jeff has challenged the TriCoWS in the month of November to be a swimming month. 30 swims in 30 days. Each swim must be at least 2K to count. My run challenge in October defined a run as 45 minutes. The November 30 runs in 30 days run will be defined as at least 60 minutes. In October, I have been training around 10-11 hour a week, mostly running. Next month, I hope to see 14-15 hours of training per week spread between swimming and running.

Here are the last few runs since my last post and my MAF results. Comparing my MAF test which was right before I left for Canada, I ran 7:51, 8:02, 8:05 at the same HR of 155 for miles 1, 2, and 3 respectively.


Run//Time//Avg HR//Distance (miles)//Avg pace
====================================
18//40:16//158//5.4//7:27
19//51:05//149//6.44//7:56
20//44:42//163//6//7:27
21//50:33//159//6.44//7:51
22//1:04:55//150//7.82//8:18
23//57:39//154//7.58//7:36
24//50:00//155//6//7:48
25//50:00//154//6//8:14
26//49:01//151//6.1//8:00
******
MAF Test - Run 24
LAP // TIME // AVG HR
==================
1 // 7:37 // 155
2 // 7:56 // 155
3 // 7:50 // 155

Until next time my friends,
J