Started with two easy miles (7:52, 7:37) and then ran a couple of miles where I jogged the length of a soccer pitch and “sprinted” the widths (7:15, 7:00). Finished off with two more miles on the longer grass of the high school cross country course (7:25, 7:15).

Legs felt fatigued throughout the run and overall it was quite a sluggish workout. Not sure if the fatigue is due to Sunday’s 14 miler or if I’m just trying to do too much too soon. At least the foot is still feeling good I guess.

I wouldn’t mind driving down to First Landing State Park after work tomorrow to run a few miles on the main trail. See how I feel in the morning before making any plans though….

Time to relax in my Zensah’s…..

The first four miles was a moderate effort at conversational pace (great way to catch up on the day’s gossip from my wife) which came in at 7:10 minutes/mile pace.

I jumped on her Cannondale mountain bike for about 20 minutes (after raising the saddle slightly of course), before setting off on a four mile tempo run.

I’d almost forgotten the feeling of trying to run after riding a bike and it took a good quarter mile to feel anywhere near normal. During the run I wasn’t aware how fast I was running but was pleasantly surprised with the following splits:

6:49 6:27 6:40 and 6:34

It wasn’t an easy four miles, but my effort was probably in the 80% range and I still had plenty in reserve at the end of the 75 minute workout. Good times….

I made each 10 minute period slightly more intense than the previous one (harder gear on the bike and faster speed on the treadmill) and by the end of the hour was working quite hard.

It was good to mix things up a bit and definitely gave my legs a rest from all the road pounding/racing I’ve been doing lately. Actually, I think today was my 18th straight day of running and I’m still feeling pretty good on it!

Finished off the hour with 10 minutes of basic abs work, just to keep the momentum going in that area too.

1. 1st 8 minutes – easy gear, high cadence with 30 seconds out of the saddle every 2 minutes.
2. 2nd 8 minutes – medium gear, medium cadence with 30 seconds out of the saddle every minute.
3. 3rd 8 minutes – hard hear, low gear with 15 seconds out of the saddle every minute.

The short “out of the saddle” sessions really worked my quads and with my heart rate still elevated, I changed shoes and jumped right onto the treadmill. The idea behind the quick bike/run transition (BRICK) is to teach your legs and body to switch as fast as possible and as efficiently as possible between two very different kinds of effort – exactly what will happen in a multipsort event such as a duathlon or triathlon.
The duathlon I’ve signed up for is only 6 weeks away, so I really need to step up the amount of time in the saddle before race day.

I kept the speed consistent throughout the 30 minute treadmill run – sounds boring I know, but it wasn’t. Every minute I increased the incline until it got to 10%, then I dropped it back to 1% for a couple of minutes as a recovery period. It really felt like I was flying after gutting it out at the steeper inclines.

The 30 minutes passed quickly and at the end of the workout I felt quite fatigued. I’m sure my quads won’t thank me in the morning and I hope I haven’t done too much damage as the clock ticks down to 3 races in 3 days over the weekend.

I started with 20 minutes on the bike – a nice easy gear at quite a high cadence – which elevated my heart rate and primed my legs for a brisk 20 minute run. I quickly changed shoes, ramped up the treadmill incline and was soon on my way again.

The 20 minutes passed really quickly and after another shoe change, I was back on the bike – this time a harder gear at a lower cadence, with the odd “out of the saddle” effort. This session made my quads burn, and to be honest, it took my legs a couple of minutes to adjust to the running action when back on the treadmill.

So, all in all, a solid 1 hour 20 minutes of exercise, which I followed up with 10 minutes of abs work. 34 days to go until the Shamrock Marathon and I hope my legs continue to feel this good as I attempt to keep racking up the miles.

I started with 45 minutes on the indoor trainer. Riding inside is not the most exciting activity, so I usually follow one of Troy Jacobson’s excellent Spinervals workouts – today I decided on his 13th DVD, Tough Love. Unbelievably, Tough Love is a 3 hour workout, which makes it a really useful training tool for a century bike ride or Iron Distance triathlon. I remember doing the whole 3 hour workout a couple of times when I was training for Ironman USA back in 2004. I can assure you Tough Love is a perfect title for the DVD!

Tonight I was very pleased to be just riding the first 45 minutes. After a quick warm up, the workout progressed into 3 x 10 minutes sessions with a couple of minutes recovery thrown in for a good measure. For the first and third 10 minute block, Coach Troy has you alternate between a minute in an easy gear/high cadence (number of pedal strokes per minute), and a minute in a tougher gear/low cadence. The middle 10 minute block alternates between a minute seated in a hard gear, with a minute standing in the same gear – this one is a real quad burner!

As soon as the 45 minutes were over, I traded my SIDI cycling shoes for my New Balance running shoes, hit play on the DVD player and hopped on the treadmill. The Time Saver II DVD features 3 x 30 minute speed workouts designed to improve speed and form. I chose Workout C which is called the “Speed Combo” and includes several 30 second intervals at a high speed and elevated incline. The recovery time is quite generous and allows your heart rate to recover nicely, but before you know it Coach Troy tells you to crank up the speed/incline for several one minute speed blasts.

I think the 30 minutes finishes with a couple more 30 seconds intervals, but I must be honest, I was quite fatigued, zoned out and just following the DVD towards the end, so I can’t really remember specifics of the workout. I do know I needed 5 minutes of cool down just to get my heart rate down to a comfortable level

After a refreshing drink of ice cold water, I decided to finish the evening off with another Essential Abs workout – this time Week 4, Workout #2, which is made up of 17 reps of the following exercises:

Hip Up
Reverse Crunch
Crossover
Oblique Crunch
Crunch: legs up
Crunch: feet first
Superman

All in all, a challenging but enjoyable 90 minutes of exercise and a great start to the week. The Spinervals and Runervals DVDs are a great series of indoor workouts, and will really bring out the best in you!

I must say, I felt stronger on the bike tonight and was able to push a bigger gear for a longer time. The treadmill was good too, and I was able to crank up the speed and increase the incline quite dramatically.

The hour went surprisingly quickly and it was nice to finish off with a 10 minute ab workout – week 3/workout 3 comprising of Hip Ups, Reverse Crunches, Crossover Oblique Crunches, Crunches: legs up with several Supermen to finish.

Rest day tomorrow and then I’m looking forward to a couple of solid runs on the weekend.

I started with 10 minutes on the bike trainer, switching from easy gears (the small chainring) to harder gears (the big chainring). In no time at all it was time to jump off my bike, lace up my running shoes and hop onto the treadmill for 10 minutes of progressive running. I set the incline to 1% (I never run at 0%) and gradually ramped up the speed until the 10th minute where I eased off slightly and prepared myself for another session on the bike.

I repeated the 2 x 10 minutes three times to finish with a solid hour of exercise and a beneficial workout for my planned duathlon in March. I recognize I have a lot of work to do on the bike, but the treadmill running felt really good tonight, almost to the point I was holding myself back. Very encouraging….

After grabbing a quick drink of water, I decided to take the opportunity to complete Week 2 of my Essential Abs program. I’ll probably begin Week 3 on Sunday afternoon which will give me a couple of days to recover from this weeks core work.