Group Swim Training - May 27th

My bad habit of not referring to my training manual was almost going to get me in trouble, but luckily Bora called and gave me a heads up to be there are 5:45, instead of the usual 6:45 time to try out our wetsuits. I was very excited, because we had ordered these nearly 2 months ago, and they were custom designed for us.

It took me a little while to slide the suit up my legs, and a fair amount of pulling and stretching to get it around my shoulders. I was sweating before my suit was even on, and the coach was also hard at work trying to pull the suit around my shoulders. The idea was that suit should be tight, yet allow full motion of the shoulder to be able to get the stroke right. The suit was absolutely skin tight, and I felt like one of the marvel super heros...."Seal Man"....however I am open to suggestions on names! ;)

It felt really different, although not necessarily weird. When I got in the water, I realized the suit was not water proof, which was good, since it allowed lubrication as well as helping in cooling the body some. We were supposed to do 200 yd warm up and see how the suit felt...and...the suit felt AMAZING!!!!

I was flying through the water, and my strokes as well as the rotation was sooo much better. It was similar to swimming with a pull buoy between the legs, except that it gave better streamlining since it was a full body suit, and helped lift the upper body up as well.

Our excitement was short lived, because the coach wanted us to do a 1650 yds time trial, withou the suit!! :(

I chose to share the lane with Bora, as he is good at keeping count of the number of lengths, as well as keeps me going since he is a fast swimmer. The first half seemed to go well, and Bora seemed to be gaining on me to lap me, but I was determined not to let that happen this time. I focused on my form, and while I increased my speed, it was just enough to keep me going without my breathing getting too heavy. At one point I was gaining on Bora, but I think that was primarily because Bora stopped to adjust his goggles. I had to take a 5 sec break to get rid of my swim cap which was coming off, as well as adjust my goggles, which meant doing a speed length to get back in position to where I was without Bora breathing down my neck.

We did an amazing run, and I clocked in at 33 mins, a full 2 mins better than my last best time!!

This will translate into about 28 mins with the wet suit on, so I am definetly kicking butt!!! :)

Personal Swim Training - May 25th

I had been taking it easy on the leg as well as trying to recover from the allergies/cold issues for most of last week, which is why there has been a gap in my blogging :(

Anyways, I decided to shake some rust of those muscles by going for a mile swim and see how it feels. I started out with 200 yd (4 lap) warm-up, and it kinda felt good to get in the water. I planned on completing the mile, but not at a fast pace, but rather a more regular one. The primary reason for this was to do form correction, to keep me more streamlined during the entire length of time, than focus on making good time.

I did not time myself, but I probably did a little bit slower than how I usually do, by maybe 5 extra mins. I did however keep a consistent form for most of the 66 lengths, and as a matter of fact I sped up on the the last 10 lengths or so.

Overall it felt good, and I did not feel too exhausted by it, and that by itself was a moral booster to see that even though I had taken almost a week off, the body was still responding well to the demands! :)

Personal Swim Training - May 18

I have been sick most of last week, so I have not been trying to get into any serious training lest, it make my condition worse. I had planned to go swimming with Kerem the day before, so we ended up heading to the Troy Community Center. Unfortunately I forgot to bring a towel along with me, since I have been going to Lifetime lately, and they provide the towels. Anyways, not wanting to be deterred, we decided to improvise once we got out of the pool. We started with a 4 lap warm up, and the next step was to do a 1/2 mile run. Considering the pool was smaller, we needed to do 22 laps (44 lengths) of the pool.

While I was not keeping time, the first one seemed to take longer, and we also ended up sharing the lane for a bit with another lady. I sped up towards the last few laps, but I saw Kerem keeping pace with me, which was good for building his stamina, and motivation for me to keep the pace.

The second one seemed to go much faster, and I tried to pick up the pace even more, somewhat alternating with a speed lap, followed by a couple of regular pace laps. I know Kerem was struggling a little behind me, but I give him credit for putting in the effort to keep up. I may have lapped him once, but that did not deter him from picking up the pace. In all fairness, I have been doing a mile so regularly than I do not really even feel it that much. I did 2 speed laps towards the end, and that wrapped up our training for the day. It most definetly felt good, and i did not feel too exhausted.

The next challenge was figuring out how to dry myself without a towel on hand, but thanks to modern science, the hairdryer was there for the rescue! ;)

Personal Run Training - May 15

I was not feeling too great in my legs for some reason, partly because I had stopped taking some of the anti-inflammatory medication that the doc had prescribed for the tendon that was giving me trouble behind my left knee.

I had also bought a fuel belt to aid in hydration during the 6 mile run, and only used two of the bottles of water instead of all 4. I had not used the belt before, so I was not sure how it was going to be turning out, but no time as now to find out. Bora was part of the group too, and one of the guys I ran with last week Chris was out there as well, so it was nice to see some familiar faces. Bora gave me a heads up that he would be picking up the pace, and I was really not in the mood or the condition to try to keep up with him. I started running solo behind the group, and Chris caught up eventually as he had forgotten something in his car. Between stopping at a couple of lights, we ended up being the tail end of the group. I did noticed that the fuel belt made it running a little different and it took a little while to get used to the bouncy feeling of the belt and the bottles. The good thing is, I would rather try this out now, rather than do this during the actual race.

About 3 miles into it, I started having an uncomfortable feeling in my ankle, although generally my left knee starts complaining first. I was not sure what the issue was, but it got progressively worse, and I was just glad when we finally got done, since my paw area was feeling agonizing. We apparently did fairly well with running 6.2 miles in 57 mins, definetly a record time for me by any means. I need to pick up on my pain medication, as well as wear an ankle brace for the next couple of days and see how it feels.

Group Swim Training & Swim Videos - May 13

I took a couple of days of rest to get over the fatigue, but apparently I got zapped by the changing weather and ended up with a cold. My throat had been keeping me up last night, so I figured if I tired myself out in the water, I would be too exhausted to feel my throat and stay asleep.

We all met up at Center Line High School, my least favorite place to swim, because their locker rooms are in terrible shape and we always have to set up the lines in the pool. Anyways, we also had the addition of another member to our team Kevin. He's a nice chap, and got along well with the rest of the group. Today's session consisted of a 300 yd warmup, followed up by 4 x 1/2 mile timed runs.

I was sharing the lane with my regular swim partner Bora, who is good because he is fast and also because he can keep track of the number of laps, while I can try to focus on my stroke and form. The first 12 lengths I went easy and felt good when I got done. We immediately started on our first 1/2 mile run and about halfway through it my stomach started contracting. Apparently the anti-allergy medicine I took was not in the mood to part of this activity. I was having trouble keeping my breathing consistent and keeping a steady pace with Bora. He had a length lead and I kept it steady at that. I had to take a break for the rest room and just walk around because my stomach was cramping up bad. Suffice to say the coach was not too happy about it, but oh well.

The second set of 1/2 mile, I was lapped by Bora once and I picked up the pace after that. We did not take too much of a break on the third set, and set off. I had lost some speed, while Bora had picked it up, so he ended lapping me twice this time around, which brought my overall time down.

We had about 10 mins left for our last 1/2 mile run, so we got at it, and was only able to complete 9 lengths before we were ordered out of the pool. This concluded our swim training for the week, but the coach took videos of how we were doing, so we could gauge it against our videos from earlier during our trainings, as well as the professionals doing in.

My average time for half miles was around 17 mins, which adds up just about right to where I should be.

Here are the links to the videos from our swim training:

Aamir's Swim Link 1

Aamir's Swim Link 2

Group Bike & Run Training - May 10

I took Friday off to get some rest considering I had done all that running yesterday. My legs were still feeling achy, but it was not bad enough not to be able to make it to the group training today. I also went to sleep early last night, so I was well rested in terms of sleep. I had loaded the bike in the car last night, so I just had to get my bag ready to head out. The drive was fairly open, and it took a little over 30 mins to get there, less than the usual 45 mins.

I found the rest of the people had already arrived, and were gearing up for the ride. Stu had invited Mike, a nutritional expert, to give us some background on how we should be eating/drinking before, during & after each training session. Essentially he said he prefers liquid nutrition over solids, with gels being better than beans. Also there should be a 1 to 4 protien/carb mix in the drinks. He handed out some mixtures to us, but I still have not had a chance to try it out yet.

Anyways, Stu had us set up a run transition area before hand, so that we get used to the idea of quickly leaving our bikes, and putting on running shoes. His son was going to watch our bikes while we went on our run. After getting our individual areas ready we headed out of the parking area on our bikes, and passed the marathon group training for their 22 mile run. I figured we would run into them eventually anyways, given we have to run 4 miles after our bike ride as well. Stu changed our bike route due to construction, and we had to do 2 loops in the metro park area to make up for the mileage. On the second one, I also took a detour with Brad & Ron down the big slope right by the canoe launch area, and man was it beautiful or what. There was a bike display event going on, so there were a lot of people testing out bikes, and there was a lot of traffic, so we had to be careful around that area. The second loop was not that bad, and I felt I had gotten into a good rhythm with the biking.

The challenging part was doing those big hill duo, after we got out of the area to head back to the parking. I had to switch to my lowest gear just to keep the bike moving at about 3 mph!!

The good thing is, all this training will come very handy when doing the actual triathlon. We have been told the Philly course is mostly rolling hills with a couple of big hills in between, so this is a good way to practice changing gears and keep the momentum going. Nick & Kevin were the first to finish the course, with Ron close behind. I took a short detour to hit the rest room before I went into the transition area. I decided to make a couple of changes to how I was doing things before. I did not take my ipod this time (besides the fact Christy asked for my earphones), and I added a full bottle of water as well as a packet of sport beans to the mix. I popped a few beans in my mouth before I started, and drank a little bit of water to wash it down. The first mile was not bad, except that I did not have as much speed as I generally do. Part of the fact is the hilly course in Kensington, but from a training perspective, its good for building endurance. I reached the 2 mile mark just about the same time as Carl, and took that oppurtunity to pop the rest of the beans and down it with some water. I was not able to increase my speed significantly, but atleast I was being consistent with my running. While I finished strong, I would have been able to do the full 6 miles if I wanted to today. That's good for me, because I had considered the running as one of my other weakness after swimming. I believe I broke those mental barriers last week, and that has really propelled me in making progress faster and faster! :)

Personal Run Training - May 8

I decided I had done enough of procrastinating, and that I as going to join the TNR (Thursday Night Run) group. I texted Bora to find the time and location, and also texted Stu to find out if he was coming.

I reached the parking lot of farmers market and found 3 souls bearing the chilly breeze by the front door. I went and introduced myself as one of the members with TNT training for the Philly Tri. Just about that time Stu showed up, and I did not feel like a total stranger anymore. A bunch of other people started showing up and before long there were a good group of more than 10 people. We started running with Stu and a couple of others in the lead. I fired up my ipod, oblivious to all the other runners, which I realized much later was somewhat rude, so I will have to keep that in my car next time. I overtook a bunch of people to keep pace with Stu, and was doing good till after about 2 miles, by which time either they had picked up the pace, or I just could not get comfortable with following them. I started trailing them, but trying to keep them in sight. I tried to catch up with a sprint, but that got me even more winded, so I just slowed down and picked a pace that seemed to be in line with the breathing.

Eventually the group behind me caught up wtih Jayanne, and I started running with them. Apparently I was more tried than I thought, so I ended up lagging behind them eventually too, only to have the last group catch up to me. The good thing was I made conversation with a bunch of new people, including Chris who is running the Bayshore marathon in two weeks. He gave me a tip to take shorter steps which is easier on the knee as well as to keep pace. I had originally anticiapated running with the 4 mile group, but I ended up running the entire 6 miles, and eventually Chris informed me, that we actually ran about 6.4 miles, more than a 10K (and my first)!!

I was exhausted, dehydrated, but high in spirits for having accomplished this. I also believe my pace was about 8:30ish/mile, nearly a minute faster than my pace has been in the past. I think I broke multiple barriers with this run, and is a major milestone for me. If I continue the same run over the next few weeks, I will be in great shape for the run!!!

For all of you supporting me, it has really helped me to know people have so much faith in me, and I am trying to deliver on all those expectations! ;)

Personal Swim Training - May 7

I had planned to go work out with Ann tonight, but she was planning on arriving later than I wanted to go. I decided to head out early and do a 1 mile run in the pool and then top it off with a workout.

I started with a 8 length warmup, and took a breather before I started my 1 mile run (66 lengths). I had gotten to 28 laps, when a person by my lane informed me that a masters swim class was starting and that I needed to move over to another lane. I had to break the momentum and switched over to the other lane, but did not want to interrupt the person who was already swimming in it. I waited till he returned the second time around to ask him if I could share his lane. He just said ok, before he dove back in the pool. I carried on around on my side for the remainder of the 38 lengths. I was starting to struggle with my form and breathing, and was not sure what the issue was, but I did try my rotation more consciously to help my form. I think the break in the swim upset my rhythm and now I was having trouble finding it. In any case I finished the remaining laps, and got out of the pool to cool down.

I had barely been sitting on the bench 2 mins, when I saw Anne poking her head out to tell me she had arrived. We decided to meet upstairs in a few minutes, and I went in to change. I did a 5 min warm up on the elliptical, not that I needed a warm up, and started doing some of the workout routine Ann had been dictated by her trainer.

I replaced the lunges with deadlifts on the free motion machine, but I did the rest of the bosu ball, with the shoulder raises and the rest of the abs workout. I decided to do some lat pull down, and did a couple of sets of those till I felt I was about running out of fuel. I did some additional ab workouts, till I felt my abs were gonna break or something. Instead of interrupting Ann, I decided I was going to do my cool down in the pool, and that Anne just grab me when she gets done with her stretching routine.

The idea was to do maybe 8 lengths max, till Anne came around, but apparently she must have been kicking butt upstairs, as I ended up doing 38 lengths in the pool, which is more than 0.5 miles...talk about a cool down!!!

I decided todays workout was more than enough for me, but there was a good sense of accomplishment that my body was able to deal with all the exercise I threw at it today!

Group Swim Training - May 6

Our swim training was at the JCC, which is one of the nicer pools that we have been too. I arrived there on time for a change, and was informed that we were doing 0.9 miles time trial. I was sharing with lane with Bora & Ron, both familiar faces, so it was going to be a fun session.

We started off with a 200 yd warmup, then a 200 yd with pull buoy, and 200 yd kicks (of which I only did 50 yd). We took a short breather for a minute before Bora took the lead for the time trial. Since he had the stopwatch, I asked him to time me as well when he gets done. Another reason I keep behind Bora is because he is able to keep track of the number of laps we are doing. This really helps, since I always screw it up. We started out with a fast pace, but eventually it became steady. Bora was a length ahead of me, and we kept on passing each other during the half pool line, so I knew I was keeping the same pace. I think at some point Bora picked up the pace and lapped me, but I was determined not to be left too far behind, so I picked it up too. By this time I had become fairly comfortable in the water, so it was easier to get my breathing and stroke right. Ron unfortunately was having some trouble tonight, considering he is one of the faster swimmers, not sure what it was, but I am sure he prolly worked out real hard or something earlier.

Anyways, I had a lap more to go when Bora finished, and my final time was 35 mins flat, the best I have ever done. It was better than the Coach Ray 's estimated 37 min time!!

We ended up with a 300 yd warmup and skipping some of the drills, but the coach was really happy to see our progress. I have to admit, I have not seen the coach that nice to us ever, so he must be proud or just woke up on the right side of the bed this time! ;)

Personal Bike Training - May 4

An email had floated around for a bike training in Hines Park for Monday at 6:30 pm, so I had signed up to attend it. I reached the park promptly at 6:30 to find Courtney, Mia and Chrissys car there, but no sign of the people. I figured they arrived early, or never got my email that I was coming. In any case I changed and got on the familiar road that we had just done a day ago. I eventually ran into the trio at the 7 mile mark heading the opposite direction. I waved a hello to them and continued my pace. I tried to keep going at an average of 18 mph, at times hitting sustained 22 mph. I also tried to keep pace with a cycling group that seemed to be in tight formation and going at 22 mph as well. That did not last for long, as I was out of panting and unable to keep up for long.

By the time I turned around and reached the parking lot, I found the trio pulling out, which seemed odd, considering the roundtrip was roughly 18 miles and there was still more to go. I continued ahead with the full course doing about 25 miles in total by the time I got back. I could have gone a little more, but it was getting dark and chilly, and I was not really in the mood to get sick, especially with the big swim training coming up tomorrow evening. The good thing is atleast I got my second bike session in for the week, so I am happy! :)

Personal Swim Training - May 3

I was motivated to get some training in today, and had been thinking about taking one of those fitness classes at Lifetime. I arrived about 25 mins before the class began, so I started with a 15 min warm up on the elliptical. That went well, and I ended up doing 1.5 miles on it...some warm up eh?! ;)

The class was at least 80% women, with only 3 guys (including myself). I originally was like, this should be a breeze. The class was full body conditioning, so it seemed appropriate, given the kind of training I have been doing. Well it started out with some dance kinda moves, and I was totally un-coordinated for it. I tried to keep pace, but I kept on losing the rhythm, but atleast I tried! :)

I did start doing better when they got to the weights part and on the ball, but I tell you, this stuff was hard. I broke out a crazy sweat 20 mins into it, so this was kicking my butt and giving my abs a run for the money!

I walked out of the studio with my abs hurting and my leg muscles fairly sore. Apparently there were still muscles in my legs that I had not hit yet with my training, but this took care of that!

I decided I was going to do a cool down with 0.5 mile swim, so I ended up hitting the pool and doing a race pace swim. At some point in time I remember Kimi by my lane saying hi, but I never saw her when I got done.

Today was a good training session, given that I was not planning on going this hard, but oh well! :)

Group Bike & Run Training - May 3

I personally am not a big fan of the early morning sessions on weekends, but I do understand the value in getting them out of the way so one can enjoy the rest of the day. I ended up arriving 30 mins late, part due to being lazy and the other part because of construction. Luckily Chrissy arrived 15 mins after me, so I did not feel as bad! ;)

I forgot my second bottle of water for my bike, which meant that I had to selectively hydrate myself. We also met one of our team members we don't get to see as often, Herb (the doc from A2). He has done the Philly Tri before, so it was good to have some experience on-board our team.

Well, we started off with Herb and Ron in the lead and I tried to keep pace with them, but after about 4 miles, they just were going too fast for me to keep up. However, I did not let them out of my sight, and eventually Stu also caught up with me. My next target then was keeping pace with Stu which I did for a good 15 mins, before he also sped up and joined the Ron/Herb group. I stayed with my strategy for atleast keeping them in sight, which helped me pedal real hard to do so. It seemed they were just cruising, while I was struggling to keep up. In any case, I lost them at one of the traffic lights, but I know I was going fast because I never really saw anyone else behind me even during the while I was waiting for the light to change. A couple of lights up, I was not sure what the right way was, so I ended up calling Stu to get my bearings right. It ended up I was on the right track, just that Stu was ahead of me.

I was definetly panting most of the way through the rest of it, especially with the rolling hills, which to me sometimes seemed to be a continous climb!

On my way back I saw Don heading the other direction and then the rest of the group followed. I pedaled hard to reach our parking area so maybe I could catch Stu for the run part. They had already left by the time I got there, so I just waited until Kimi and Chrissy came back from the bike run. We had apparently biked 29 miles!!!

I took a little breather and hydrated myself and ate some sport beans, before I hit the road for my run. We were running 4 miles today, so I was trying to keep my pace steady. The first 5 mins into it and my legs were cramping up (thus the brick workout), and just about that time I saw Stu running towards me. I stopped to listen, which really helped my muscles relax a bit. He told me to turn when we see the orange cone with the 1 mile sign on it, as that is our 2 mile mark. After I started back, my legs started to relax and the body seemed to get in the mood for the rest of the run. The run up to the cone seemed short, but ironically the run back to our starting point seemed longer, even though the distance was the same!

In any case, I made it back before the rest of the crowd, so I did not lose my position given the effort I had put into it. Suffice to say, I was fairly exhausted and the bagels & bananas were a pleasant reprise after our ordeal. Ron also informed us, that we had actually run 4.4 miles, 0.4 miles more than our original target distance!

There was definetly a sense of accomplishment, given that I had been worried about the run part, but apparently my body has been adapting to the beating it has been getting lately. :)

Personal Run Training - May 2

I was wanting to take it somewhat easy given that I have the group bike & run training tomorrow morning. Kerem was game to go running on the elliptical instead of outside (easier on the knees).

We ended up walking around the place to check out the crowd, as well as check some class schedules before we jumped on the ellipticals. I started out with a resistance level 10 and kept a pace of about 10 min/mile. I was sweating pretty hard, but I tried to keep my heart rate elevated as this would help build my endurance. My target goal for today session was 4.5 miles on the elliptical which I achieved in 45 mins (give or take 10 secs). I was in a total pool of sweat and feeling fairly fatigued. I should keep in mind to keep a water bottle handy to hydrate myself some every 1.5 miles. What did help however was the sports beans I took before I started the run, so I know they are effective in keeping energy levels consistent.

Anyways, the training was not exciting as some of the others, but its a training session for the triathlon nonetheless! :)

Personal Swim Training - May 1

I was supposed to go biking today with the TNT folks, but I got tied up in a meeting that lasted too long and I did not have enough time to go home, pack and head out there. Fortunately Kerem was a good sport to head out to Lifetime to check out his trial membership, and also get some swimming in.

We took a short tour of the facility (and the members), and did a quick change to get in the pool, as we saw a couple of lanes available. I started out with a 4 length warm up to get acclimated to the cold water, since it seems someone forgot to turn on the heat!

Anyways, we decided that we were going to do four 1/4 mile (16 laps) runs. We did the first one and took a one minute breather, before we started on the second one. Halfway through the second one, I got a pleasant surprise to see Bora standing by my lane. I just had a moment to say hi, and had to get back so as not to break my tempo. By that time Kerem had gotten a half length lead on me, so I thought nothing of it and kept on going. By the time we got done with 16, Kerem had already turned around for another lap, so I figured I must have screwed up a lap somewhere, and followed suit. When he turned around the next lap, I realized that there is no way I lost track of 4 lengths! Eventually Kerem stopped at 24 lengths, and he said he thought I was keeping track of it. We decided since we had come this far, we were just going to go to complete 32 and get the 1/2 mile in together, so we just kept at it. Surpisingly it turned out pretty good, and had I timed myself, I am sure I had done lot better than I have in the past. I just seemed to be in rhythm with my breathing and my strokes seemed stronger than usual.

We took another minute break, and started our last leg, which we decided to bump up to 20 lengths, just to make sure we pushed ourselves hard. Somewhere during the middle, I saw Bora again waving at me to let me know he was leaving. We still had a good 8 lengths to go, so I just did a quick wave back and kept on with our swimming. The last 2 lengths, I did a speed drill, which really elevated my breathing, but it was good to work my body hard.

By the time we got done, the pool was starting to get noticably crowded, and I was glad we were not sharing lanes with any of these people (you would understand if you were there)! ;)

Tomorrow will probably be rest day, unless someone absolutely wants to go out and do something. I may end up hitting some weights to get some strength training in too.

Tha...Tha...Thats all folks! ;)

Personal Run Training - Apr 30

I had originally scheduled with Bora to go running today, so I knew I could not be lazy with a commitment to the Mean Machine! ;)

I ended up a little bit later than when I was supposed to be there, but I got tied up with some stuff at home and did not realize the time. Either way, I got a grand tour of Bora's place when I arrived there, and met his cat, which totally reminded me of Garfield, except this one was white with gray stripes. His basement has been setup as the ultimate party stop, and we will be seeing an event there soon!

We drove out to another part of Royal Oak to use the course generally used by the TNR group. We started out with a 9 min/mile pace and were able to keep roughly around that for the most part. About 3.5 miles into it, Bora asked if I had any juice left in me for more, and surprisingly I was still good to go for atleast another mile if not more. We ended up passing my car to go down another 0.5 mile to a total of 4.5 miles! This is the most I have ever run, and our average was 9:30 min/mile which in my opinion is good, however prolly really slow for Bora. ;)

The interesting thing is, that I could have probably made it all the way to 6 miles if we had run more, but Boras professional advice was not to push it too hard right now, even though the stamina is there to do it, but rather stay with a gradual climb.

Today I felt a sense of accomplishment, because I had considered running to be my weaker sport after swimming, but it appears I have made progress, so keep cheering for me guys!! :)