that's more like it...

Monday evening:

After a day of solid rain and the cool front moving thru I choose to scrap my 6 mile outdoor run for the day to help recover my running legs plus the gloomy day had me highly un-motivated to get out and run in the darkness of the evening…I’m going thru a taper time frumpiness with my running attitude right now!

So I decided to get in a higher quality tri-bike ride in the comforts of home via my Kinetic trainer. So I threw in my favorite DVD from the mountain Stage 15 of the 2007 Tour de France of the climb known as "Col de Peyresourde". This climb always provides me with great inspiration with my trainer bike rides since it’s an attack ride instead of a flatland tempo ride.

My cycling legs felt solid & strong throughout the 45 minute ride duration where I averaged 16.5mph and 12.4 miles in distance on this simulated hill climb. My average HR was at 112bpm with a max HR during a climbing sprint of 139bpm. My average cadence was great at 96rpm with a max cadence of 108rpm during an uphill power spin.

Now that ride was exactly what I needed as it is my last training ride before this Saturdays 10 mile cycling time trial…

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a tough spin...

Sunday morning:

Decided to ride my tri-bike via the trainer in the house early morning Sunday to get the workout in the books for the day so I could do the rest of my chores around the homestead that day. So I put in a cycling DVD in the recorder and started to spin away for my one hour recovery, endurance ride as prep for this coming Saturdays 10 mile cycling time trial.

My legs felt heavy during the whole ride duration so I decided not to push the envelope and just kept spinning easier gears. I covered 14.5 miles during the 1 hour ride which means I averaged 14.5mph…simple math. My average HR was 93bpm and only a max HR at one point of 116bpm which told me I was still recovering from the 12 mile run the day before. My average cadence for me was low at 89rpm with a max cadence at about minute 12 of 102bpm.

It was a good recovery spin as I really had to focus on just getting the ride in the books…

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a couple special guests...

Sara and Ryan Hall

Saturday morning:

Early Saturday morning K & I headed down to Lake Michigan to run with our Chicago Marathon Training group known as CARA (Chicago Area Runners Association) which met's at Montrose Harbor along the lakefront path. We had a couple very special guests whom were there to send us off at 6am in complete darkness...I'll dicuss more about the "Halls" alittle later in my story.

I ran with the 8 minute pace group for the 12 miler as a tester for my legs towards the Chicago Marathon in two weeks time. The air was cool at 65 degrees at 6am but the dew point & humidity were very high this morning with no wind movement. The run went fairly well for myself but by mile 8 the tightness in my lower back, glutes, ham's and calves returned even with the proper hydration. We ended up running the 12 miles in 1:37:05 which is a mile pace of 8:05 with an average HR of 137bpm plus a max HR about mile 7 at 150bpm as our pacer was a little to quick during this mile...

I'm still taking just one run at a time to see what pace I might be able to run at Chicago...

Me - b and Ryan Hall

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As you can see by the pictures I have provided above CARA had brought in two special guests to our Saturday morning run...Sara and Ryan Hall. It's not often you get a chance to talk with some of the USA's highest caliper athletes especially so soon after Ryan Hall finished 10th Overall at the Beijing Olympic's. Ryan spoke to us all just before our 6am group headed out on the run and stated he was very inpressed with our dedication towards training so early in the morning towards the Chicago Marathon...he said they don't start training till 8:30am out at Mammoth Lake. After our run a group of us had a chance to speak with Sara & Ryan which was very nice...they are both very nice individuals :-)

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It was a very inspiring morning down by Lake Michigan...

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friday swim...

Friday noon:

Quick 800 meter pull-buoy swim at the health club during my lunch today...nothing special just trying to stay used to the water indoors prepping for the winter season ;-)

Tomorrow is our CARA 12 miler by the lakefront at 6am sharp...

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watchout for that critter...

Thursday evening:

After feeling guilty for missing a critical speedwork session the night before I decided to run a different type of run tonight based on a one hour time frame at whatever pacing felt good to me to relieve some of this running stress while tapering for the Chicago Marathon. I wasn’t able to get out the door until after 7:30pm which means I ran in total darkness last night within our neighborhood region. I’m forced to run a lot of my distance on the sidewalks during the night due to the motorists in our area…safety reasons.

Also I saw a lot of rabbits as usual in our neighborhood but I always need to keep my eyes open for the random skunk so wouldn’t you now it at about mile 6 walking across the street and right in front of me on the sidewalk was a larger size skunk staring me right in my face as I stopped very abruptly about 30 feet from the creature whom has their tail raised and ready to go…luckily I was saved by my quick reaction to turn around and basically choose a different running direction…that was too close…whew!!!

So I ran for one hour and 49 seconds as I covered 7.2 miles in that time for an average mile pace of 8:26 with an average HR of 126bpm. My max HR was some where within the last three miles at 138bpm as my running legs started to feel better towards the end of the endurance run…

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the big ring...

After Wednesday nights track workout was a no go due to the massive raining out in Palatine at Harper College plus lightening was striking all around the region which caused the College Soccer game to have a delay holding with 27 minutes left to play and the track has no artificial lighting(it gets dark at 6:45pm these days). I only got in a two mile warm-up run which was shortened due to the storm system so I waited around till 6:15pm before calling it a night…I know I wussed out but better to be safe than sorry plus my body appreciated the additional rest from running…

Thursday morning:

Rode the Tri-bike in the house this morning via the Kinetic rear wheel trainer as it’s getting closer to the cycling time trial event on October 4th 2008. I rode for 45 minutes with a couple big chainring pushes for 5 minutes each thrown in there for good measure. I covered 11.7 miles during this time frame with an average rate of speed of 15.6mph with a max speed of 22mph during a push. My average HR was at 103bpm and max HR during a big dig at 142bpm plus my average cadence was at an even 90rpm’s.

My legs felt good during this bike ride…I wish they felt this good while running ;-)

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Lance Armstrong to race with Team Astana...

**** Late breaking news ****

Cycling legend Lance Armstrong confirmed Wednesday that he would join Kazakhstan's Astana team for his competitive comeback.

"I will race in 2009 with Astana," he told a press conference in New York today. Armstrong said he would start with the Tour Down Under in Australia; would also compete in the 2009 Tour de France, which he has won seven times; and was interested in the Giro d'Italia.

Team Astana's Press Release:

http://www.astana-cyclingteam.com/news_press/teamarmstrongpressrelease.html

2009 will be an interesting year in the world of Pro Cycling...

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mugginess...

Tuesday evening:

Went out for a recovery run after work last night in the neighborhood region to get in some taper mileage. The weather was warm & muggy so I left some electrolyte fluid drink outside of the house so I could drink some every two miles. I ended up running 5.4 miles in 46:34 with an average HR of 131bpm. My legs were pretty sore and tired because of Sundays 20 miler plus then Monday night’s MAT treatment from the Sports Chiropractor. Afterwards my body was so over-heated from the mugginess I proactively took a 20 minute ice bath to cool down my body core temperature from a relatively short run.

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cycle spin...

Tuesday morning:

After a day of rest from exercising on Monday and my sport chiro appointment last night I was ready to get back to some training during this taper time period. I rode my tri-bike via the trainer in the house this morning for a very basic training ride to see how my body was feeling which turned out to be very well. I cruised for 45 minutes watching a burnt DVD from the 2007 TdF Stage 15 for motivation. I had two fans going on me since the humidity levels area still pretty high in our region including inside our house.

In the 45 minutes I covered 11.4 miles for an average pace of 15.1mph with a max at one point of 19.4mph. My average HR was 101bpm and a max HR during a 5 minute tempo pull of 126bpm which shows me my HR was recovered from Sundays 20 mile run. I spun an average cadence of 92rpm and a max cadence at about minute ten of 101bpm.

My cycling legs are feeling pretty good these days as I get ready for the cycling 10 mile Time Trial on October 4th 2008…my favorite cycling event of the season :-)

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taper time...finally...woohoo

Well it actually started yesterday ;-)

I’m hoping my body recovers (nagging injuries) some before Chicago so I can run the race at a pace I would really like to run it at ;-) to be honest I don’t feel really properly prepared to run Chicago at the pace I need to BQ because this season was a little different than past years due too the half Ironman I raced in early August... I know that training & race built up an awesome endurance base in my body but that was over three disciplines…how that might help me on marathon day I do not know just yet. The things I believe I’m lacking for a properly run Chicago Marathon is running mileage, tempo work and speedwork since post half IM I have been dealing with a lot of injuries.

Anyways last night I finally had my Sports Chiropractors Doctor appointment that I have been waiting for over the last 18 days. Dr. Egan is simply the best and it was well worth the wait to see her for last night’s appointment. She once again analyzed my problems, treated with the muscle activation treatment technique and provided me with some more exercises to do at home to help slowly correct my problems while running. She also informed me that during the off season she recommends that I try a lesser style stability running shoe than the current Asic Kayano 14’s I’m running in presently. I’m only able to get in another appointment on October 7th just before Chicago which is better than no visit at all. I always feel sooo much better after the appointments!

Once again thanks everyone for the great notes and I’m still taking one run at a time ;-)

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the last 20 miler for this training session...

Sunday morning:

K & I ran in the CARA Nike Ready to Run 20 miler along the lakefront which ran from the north to the south next to Lake Michigan. This was our second year of running in this training event so we were better prepared on what to expect before, during and after the run which made for a smooth day. The only thing out of our control was Mother Nature once again where the start temps at my wave 7 time of 6:33am were at 73 degrees already with high dew points and close to 100% humidity.

That being said I attempted to run with my registered 8 minute mile group for the best that I could in the current state of my health condition. Everything was good thru mile 10 but I noticed my average HR was much too high for this pace and it was due to the weather conditions. As we were heading south just past McCormick Place I spotted Dave-O & GregC as I gave them a shout out as they looked so in control at their running speed. After that heading southward along the lake there is very little shade as I was starting to get too warm at the current pace I was running. At about mile 16 I purposely choose to slow down around a 8:30 pace just to save my body and energy for this training run to get to the end which helped me out alot. On the last mile I was able to pick-up my pace to where it was before and the finish line could not have come any sooner ;-)

As I waited for Kristen and all our friends to finish this challenging 20 miler safely we had pre-parked a couple cars there as the group of us went out for a much needed breakfast/luch at a Chicago establishment known as 11...that food never tasted better :-)

Below is a link to my HR graph and if you notice the chart this run was more of a LT burn training run for me due to the weather. Also I didn't get a positive 10 mile splits as I was shooting for and overall I ran this almost 5 full minutes slower than last years Ready to Run...

1st 10 miles - 1:20:45 - Average HR 142bpm
2nd 10 miles - 1:22:43 - Average HR 151bpm

Total run time was 2:43:28 for an 8:10 pace and an average HR of 147bpm with a max HR at one point at 157bpm...

Took a nap once we got home and a long ice bath after that...

Still just taking one run at a time...have my Sport Doc Chiroprator appt Monday evening...looking forward too that!

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Contador and Astana Win the Tour of Spain...

Team Astana and Alberto Contador made history today by becoming the only Spaniard to win all three (3 week) Grand Tours (Tour de France, Tour of Italy and Tour of Spain) and joined the likes of Anquetil , Gimondi , Merckx, and Hinault as one of only five men who have accomplished this feat – and he did it in the shortest time frame in cycling history in only a 14 month span...Bravo!!!

Here's who the Top 10 GC Finishers were:

1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 80.40.08
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0.46 seconds back...
3 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 4.12
4 Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia 5.19
5 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 6.00
6 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 6.50
7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 6.55
8 David Moncoutié (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 10.10
9 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 10.57
10 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre 11.56

And how the rest of Team Astana riders finished Overall:

20 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 25.13 minutes back...
22 José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Spa) Astana 28.26
26 Sergio Miguel Paulinho Moreira (Por) Astana 41.43
62 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Spa) Astana 1.30.06
95 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Astana 2.09.36
130 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana 3.06.52
131 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Astana 3.25.28

Congratulations to all on Team Astana on this fantastic result :-)

saturday brick...

Saturday morning:

After the 90 minute deep tissue massage after work on Friday I needed to test out my body early Saturday morning to see how my body felt before Sundays 20 miler. I rode the tri-bike via the trainer in the house for 30 minutes after a recovery pace of 13.6mph with an average HR of 93bpm plus my average cadence was 91rpm. My legs felt fine on the bike and I used this to warm-up for my short training run afterwards.

After changing then into my running clothes I headed out the door for a short recovery run of 3.2 miles. Immediately I noticed a good change in my running stride as the massage really helped work out my over-tightened lower back, glutes and all leg muscles. I ran at a very nice pace of 8:30 miles with an average HR of 125bpm with a max HR of 136bpm while I was running one of miles at a slightly sub-8 mile pace to test how I felt which was good...the massage really helped alot :-)

Now onwards towards Sundays last 20 miler...

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little swim time...

Friday lunchtime:

Walked across the street from work to the health club to get in some quick lap pool swimming during my short lunch time frame so I made it a quicker 800 meter tempo swim with the pull-buoy to de-activate my legs to focus on upper-body and cardio…felt good!

So tomorrow morning I shall spin for a half hour on my tri-bike in the house and then go out to run a couple or three miles to see how my body is feeling after that because our last CARA 20 miler is on Sunday down along Lake Michigan via the "Ready to Run" event…

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a short bike spin...

Friday morning:

After a much needed day of complete exercise rest on Thursday I woke-up this morning feeling refreshed and partially recovered. So before heading out the door to work I rode the tri-bike in the house via the Kinetic trainer for 45 minutes to test out my legs and getting in some cycling conditioning towards the October 4th 2008 10 mile cycling time trial I’m racing in a few weeks time.

Back to the morning training ride as I covered a comfortably paced 11.3 miles which averaged to 15mph in that timeframe with an average HR of 101bpm plus a max HR during a push at 125bpm. My average cadence was right at 90rpm and a max cadence at one point of 98rpm. If was a very controlled spin on the tri-bike this morning which is what I planned and the most amazing part is that the pains I feel while running are not at all felt while I’m riding my tri-bike…maybe I should become a pure cyclist ;-)

After work I have my re-scheduled deep-tissue massage which I’m very much looking forward too!

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the best i could do...

Wednesday evening:

I went to the track workout last night out with the group at Harper College in Palatine, IL afterwork for some interval repeats. The group was running 10 by 800 meter Yasso repeats with a recovery 400 meter lap in-between each as it was the group’s final big workout test for the Chicago Marathon next month. I ran a solo 2.7 mile warm-up before hand and I also only did 4 – 100 meter stride-outs as the group did eight of them.

Below are my repeat times with average and max HR values per each one:

400 meters – 1:56 – AHR 125bpm – MHR 133bpm
800 meters – 3:39 – AHR 134bpm – MHR 144bpm
800 meters – 3:39 – AHR 137bpm – MHR 149bpm
800 meters – 3:32 – AHR 140bpm – MHR 157bpm
800 meters – 3:34 – AHR 141bpm – MHR 154bpm
800 meters – 3:38 – AHR 141bpm – MHR 151bpm
400 meters – 1:55 – AHR 131bpm – MHR 142bpm

To be honest my running has been suffering more & more as each day goes by so I went out to the track workout not forcing myself and just running some repeats safely so I do not injury myself further. Playing it cautiously during running at this time is the way I have to take each run at the current time. I will take a complete rest day on Thursday and then bike & swim Friday with my massage on Friday evening that was canceled last Saturday due to the flooding in our region. Next Monday evening I’m seeing my Sports Chiropractor to see what’s going on with my body ;-)

I’m still just taking one run at a time though...

I covered 6.9 miles with my warm-up, strides, repeats, recoveries and cool-down…

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the plain basics...

Tuesday morning:

Before heading off to work I rode the tri-bike via the trainer in the house for 35 minutes to help flush out the legs from the long run the evening before. Recovery pace at 14.6mph average and an average cadence of 92bpm…but I forgot to write down my HR info…oh well.

Tuesday evening:

Simple 4 mile recovery run outside in the neighborhood with an average HR of 122bpm.

Perfect evening for a run…

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felt guilty...

Monday evening:

Due to Mother Nature issues over the weekend which were out of my control I was feeling very guilty yesterday for missing out on my weekend Chicago Marathon long training run. So after I got home from work and made sure our home plus my parent’s home were ok from any threat of flooding I decided to head out on an extended neighborhood region run based on a two hour time frame to get in a long slow endurance distance run in the books. Since the temps were nice at 60 degrees but the humidity was at about 100% I decided to run with my Salomon water belt which I had 36 ounces of electrolyte fluid in the two bottles. I ran with the fuel belt for two reasons; the weight of it keeps my pace down plus I wouldn’t have to stop at home all the time for fluids.

I ended up finishing the run about 8pm as I ran through neighborhoods I haven’t run through in years. As I was at about 87 minutes into the run I had enough of carrying the heavy Salomon water belt as my lower back was killing me but a lot of that had to due with all the sandbagging we were doing on Sunday. Immediately I noticed a big difference running as I was able to run the last miles within the 8 to 8:15 per mile zone. I ended up running for 2:03:18 for which I covered 13.4 miles. My average HR for the run was at 125bpm but the last 36 minutes of the run I was in the 140bpm zone constantly with a max HR of 148bpm. It sure was a nice 3/1 style LSD run…

I felt much better having that run in the books plus I slept like a baby last night as a benefit...

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one workout weekend...

Saturday afternoon:

After not being able to make it to the lakefront for my weekend long run due too the massive raining and flash flooding in our neighborhood plus the sewage back-up in the house I was able to get in a short tri-bike workout via my Kinetic trainer in the afternoon as I needed to burn-off some exercise energy. The house was humid due too all the rain that day even with the two fans I had forcing a false breeze at my face.

I rode for an hour straight focusing on some pushing each 30 minutes selecting a tougher rear cassette gear every 5 minutes. I only covered 14.7 in that timeframe but I used this training ride as if I was climbing hills so my average speed was 14.7mph with a max speed of 20.6mph. My average HR for the ride was 106 with a max HR happening during the big chainring push at about minute 47 into the hour ride plus my average cadence was good at 93rpm and a max cadence of 104rpm.

Afterwards I felt better getting in some sort of workout for the day at least before going back to dealing with the water issues in our home…

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ps...I was not able to get in my 14 mile long training run this weekend...oh well...

a bit of a very rainy weekend...

Well it was not a good exercise weekend for me at all unless you count hauling sandbags exercise. Since Friday our area got hit with 12 inches of rain till it finally stopped Sunday at around 6pm. The most rain happened all day Saturday at 8 inches! Our neighborhood was so flooding on Saturday as the streets had so much standing water on them in both directions you could not drive thru them so we stayed at home with the house all day. We were fortunate compared to some homes, we did have sewage back-up in our bathrooms which we were able to contain before any really damage had occured...not a good day.

On Sunday I got an early morning call from my brother over at my parents house near the Des Plaines River that the river & sewer water was slowy working up the street towards my P's house. K dropped me off over there as she stayed home to take care of our house if any further problems happened. When I got to my parents house it was like re-living the big flood of the Des Plaines River from 1986 over again. All of the neighborhood by my P's worked as a big team helping each house as sandbags were delivered and we built walls of sandbags to protect each home. This went on from early morning till about 6pm non-stop as it was a great team effort to save the homes before they flooded. As the City had ten huge portable pumps taking the water from the city drain pipes and flowing the water into the Des Plaines River the flood water started to finally start receding from my parents street arount 5pm...their house was fine as well as the other homes we worked on to save...

Exercise can always happen later as sometimes in life there are much more important things to take care of...

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Attack on the Angliru: Contador takes control...

The 23.5% percent climb section...ouch!

Stage 13: Team Astana Alberto Contador pushes through the steep corners and crowds on Angliru to take the win and current overall lead with the 1km to go marker on the right of this video snapshot...

Velo News website story link about how this great stage played out today...

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http://www.velonews.com/article/83128/attack-on-the-angliru-contador-takes-control

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Saturday is a very big day at the Tour of Spain...

...after todays rest day for the Pro riders in the Vuelta a España because tomorrow is the grand daddy of all mountains climbs in this tour - San Vicente de la B. - Alto de L´Angliru...more like a goat climb with some pitches at 23.5% !!! and these men do not use a triple crankset...below are some pictures & graphs from the brutal stage 13 location in Spain...can't wait :-)

Here's a great website article previewing the stage...

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=6285&status=True

Team Astana is sitting pretty good in the race for GC Overall but some strong attacks will come over the next couple of days of racing in the mountains...

General Classification after Stage 12:

1 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 45.48.33
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0.11
3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0.29
4 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 1.38
5 Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia 2.10
6 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 2.23
7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 3.22
8 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 3.40
9 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre 4.09
10 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 4.10

Team Astana on GC:

18 Andreas Klöden (Ger) 10.17
21 José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Spa) 12.08
37 Sergio Miguel Paulinho Moreira (Por) 24.53
64 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Spa) 41.43
97 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) 1.06.23
118 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) 1.37.30
121 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) 1.54.52


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cross training day of sorts...

Thursday morning:

Rode the tri-bike via the trainer in the house this morning just to flushout my running legs from the night before at the track session. It was just an easy recovery ride for 40 minutes using some easy gears during the timeframe. I covered 9 miles during that time for a pace of 13.5mph and a low average HR of 90bpm plus average cadence of 92rpm. My legs felt fine while I was cycling but I never felt to desire to push the pace while I’m healing up from these injuries…

Thursday mid-day:

Went over to the health club pool at lunch to get in a quick swim during limited time. Got in 800 meters in this way…

10 laps with pull-buoy
10 laps with pull-buoy and hand paddles

Tempo paced the swim for an upper-body workout and cardio benefits.

It was a good day of cross training…

Friday is my scheduled rest day…Saturday after my long run I scheduled a massage which is greatly needed at this point :-)

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back to the track...

Wednesday evening:

Track workout night out with the group at Harper College in Palatine, IL after work for myself during recovery time. The group was running 8 by 1000 meter repeats with a 1 minute recovery walk/jog in-between each as I choose to run only 5 - 800 meter repeats at what was my cruiser pace, not LT pace. After I ran a solo 3.1 mile warm-up I also only did 4 – 100 meter stride-outs as the group did six of them.

Below are my 800 meter repeat times with average and max HR values per each one:

800 meters – 3:38 – AHR 133bpm – MHR 141bpm
800 meters – 3:36 – AHR 134bpm – MHR 146bpm
800 meters – 3:46 – AHR 136bpm – MHR 144bpm
800 meters – 3:42 – AHR 137bpm – MHR 147bpm
800 meters – 3:34 – AHR 140bpm – MHR 152bpm

Cardio wise the running felt fine but my legs just didn't want to move at the normal pace I usually run my 800 meter repeats at which is frustrating and quite a challenge. So I realized this right away and took it easy while I was out there last night...still just taking one run at a time...

I covered 7.1 miles with my warm-up, strides, repeats, recoveries and cool-down mile…

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cool weather running...

Tuesday evening:

Last night with the nice running weather we are experiencing right now I decide just to run for a one hour timeframe and run how my body felt during my recovery. I didn’t want any added pressure of having to get in "so many miles" per a specific marathon training schedule. I have not done this type of run in a very, very long time and it was just what I needed.

The only thing I had planned was to stop by our home to get something electrolyte solution to drink at the 30 minute mark and the whole run was based on perceived effort level. So I just took off running in our neighborhood on an un-coursed route pattern. It was nice to get out and just run with no real specific’s at all, very nice indeed. So when I got home after my 59:56 run I downloaded my info to find out my run was 7.1 miles for an average pace of 8:26 plus an average HR of 130bpm and max HR at 139bpm. It was a nice way to run once again…

I would like to say my body is healing but unfortunately it really is not hence why I’m not forcing the running right now. Besides the left heal injury and PF issues even with the new shoes, my late spring/early summer injury has re-surfaced. My lower back pain thru both glutes were killing me plus my hamstrings, quads and calves are as tight & painful as over-tightened piano wire. I took a 20 minute ice bath after this recovery run which helped for the night.

I have an appointment on the 22nd of September with my Sports Chiropractor Doctor (earliest I could get and she is well worth the wait) to address these issues. Plus late last week I ordered some Kinesio tape for my pains…I’m taking it one run at a time right now…

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a steelhead pic to share...

Well I finally snagged a photo from our group post race dinner after the Steelhead 70.3 race from my friend Jim whom raced it also...his wife Chris had it hidden on their digital camera :-)

L to R: me B, Patty, K and Jim

Jim, Kristen and I all work at the same company but it different departments (thank goodness )...Patty trains with Jim at their Masters swimming training group at the YMCA they belong to down by Westmont. She has also run Boston the last two years with very good success! plus we all race the Oly tri two weeks after Steelhead also...I can blame Jim for getting me re-addicted to triathlons once again :-)

The post race dinner celebration has alot of fun as it's always great to get together with friends after a race :-)

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some more bikin...

Monday night:

Well it was pouring when I got home from work last night so I scraped the run and went with another nice 30 minute recovery ride on the tri-bike via the trainer. Cruised in an easy 6.8 miles with an average speed of 13.8mph plus an average HR of 93bpm and average cadence on 94rpm...

Really needed to run but that had to do for the evenings exercise ;-)

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cycling is back in the game...

Monday morning:

Last night I finally converted back my tri-bike from race trim form to training trim form since the last time I rode the bike was at the Olympic Distance Triathlon on August 17th 2008…It had been 3 weeks of no biking and I was starting to miss it finally. So I hooked-up the tri-bike to the Kinetic rear wheel trainer in the house to start spinning once again to cross-train from running.

So this morning I took it easy on the tri-bike for a 35:00 minute recovery spin to help flushout the tired leg syndrome from the 20 mile run this past Saturday. I focused on a quicker cadence in some easier gears to re-adjusted myself to riding once again and take it easy on my recovering body. The ride felt really good and was just what I needed during this time of injury recovery. I only covered 8 miles in 35 minutes for an average speed of 13.8mph with an average HR of 96bpm plus my average cadence was right where it needed to be at 93rpm…

I’m glad to bring back the biking into my training program…plus I signed up for my favorite 10 mile cycling Time Trial over the weekend which will be on 10.04.08 :-)

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how Team Astana sits after Sundays Tour of Sain stage 8...

After the second day in the mountains of Spain both Leipheimer & Contador have moved up in the Overall Classification for Team Astana...

General Classification after Stage 8:

1 LEIPHEIMER, Levi - USA-AST28:20:03
2 CONTADOR, Alberto - ESP-ASTa 21
3 VALVERDE, AlejandroESPGCEa 49
4 SASTRE, CarlosESPCSCa 1:27
5 MOSQUERA, EzequielESPXAGa 1:59
6 ANTON, IgorESPEUSa 2:12
7 MORENO FERNÁNDEZ, DanielESPGCEa 2:23
8 VAN GOOLEN, JurgenBELCSCa 2:43
9 GESINK, RobertNEDRABa 3:11
10 BRUSEGHIN, MarzioITALAMa 3:35

Team Astana on GC:

19 KLÖDEN, Andreas - GER a 9:25
23 RUBIERA, José Luis - ESP a 10:45
40 PAULINHO, Sergio - POR a 20:40
73 NOVAL, Benjamín - ESP a 39:03
123 VAITKUS, Tomas - LTU a 1:04:21
150 BAZAYEV, Assan - KAZ a 1:17:05
159 MURAVYEV, Dmitriy - KAZ a 1:22:55

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return to the long run...

Saturday morning:

K and I headed down to Lake Michigan as early as ever for our CARA Chicago Marathon training runs. Since I have barely exercised at all over the last two weeks since my last 20 miler I decided to run with the 9 minute mile pace group to play it safe. The weather was good but the humidity was high from all the rain we had in our region over the last several days.

My new Kayanos helped out today with making the run more bearable especially with the left foot heal pain but both achilles tendons were tight even after stretching them out at water stops. I ran with the pace group through mile 11 when I kept running after they stopped for another water break (i carried my own fuel belt as always for this reason). I attempted to pick-up the pace on the final nine miles but my body would only allow me to run so fast today...I have become pretty de-conditioned over the last two weeks on non-exercising due to injury.

I finished 20 in 2:57:49 with a negative split on the finally 10 miles. My average pace was at 8:54 being conservative since both hamstrings and glutes were tight during the whole run duration. Also my average HR was at 134bpm with a max HR near the end of 154bpm. Just to give you a comparision...two weeks ago before this injury hit me I ran 20 miles six miles quicker with a lower average HR in hotter/more humid conditions.

Oh yeah...I past quick running Schuey just north of Lincoln Park as he was heading the other direction...he was smokin' up the path in a big way!

Well I'm happy the run is in the books...so I'm taking one day at a time right now as I do my final gear-up towards the Chicago Marathon...

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new shoe test run...

Friday night:

Went out for a test run tonight in the new Kayanos for 2.3 miles in 20:30 with an average HR of 119bpm. The new shoes help with the foot support as I thought they might but I still took the run conservatively with the hammies and glutes feeling achy...tomorrow will be a long test run on my health...

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the new kayano's have arrived...

...and will trashed after tomorrow's 20 miler at the graveling Lake Michigan lakefront path...

tour of spains 1st rest day today...

...as they prepare for the first mountain stage tomorrow stage 7 above...here's where the GC attacks will start!

General Classification after Stage 6:

1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 17.35.35
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0.10
3 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.26
4 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0.57
5 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 1.37
6 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas 1.42
7 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 1.44
8 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank 2.01
9 Dominique Cornu (Bel) Silence - Lotto 2.06
10 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.20

Team Astana on GC:

34 José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Spa) 3.52
48 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Spa) 5.07
54 Andreas Klöden (Ger) 5.27
75 Sergio Miguel Paulinho Moreira (Por) 8.06
126 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) 19.05
147 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) 27.19
163 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) 33.11

energy to burn...

Thursday lunchtime:

Ok...so I have not swam (or biked also) since the Olympic Tri on 08.17.2008 which feels like an eternity ago already! I have sooo much cooped up energy since I have not been training properly over the last two weeks time that I decided to burn some of that energy off in the pool at the health club at lunch...it was a simple workout but effective...

20 laps with pull-buoy at a tempo pace for a simple 800 meters total...I did feel better after the short workout though :-)

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still raining...

Well I never made it to the deep well pool the other night for the aquajog...just too tired. Those RX prescribed 375mg naproxen sodium have really been making me tired, can barely keep my eyes open at work and by the end of the day I'm totally exhausted.

I woke-up early this morning to run outdoors but it was raining quite abit so enjoyed some more much needed rest. I have not exercised since Mondays run down by lake michigan...I hope to get in a tester recover run tonight after work to see how the left heel is doing...

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Update after stage 5 at the Vuelta a España Pro Tour...

Astana's Levi Leipheimer took the win on Stage 5 during the individual 42.5k time trial...Alberto Contador (Astana) rode a new time trial position that he’s honed over the past few months to place a strong fourth at 49 seconds off his teammate’s winning time and settled into fourth overall at 47 seconds off the pace.

Here's how the Astana men are doing so far in the race Overall:

General Classification after Stage 5
1 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 14.16.11
5 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0.47

Team Astana on GC
37 José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Spa) 3.34
49 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Spa) 4.24
64 Andreas Klöden (Ger) 5.17
86 Sergio Miguel Paulinho Moreira (Por) 7.30
129 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) 18.29
147 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) 23.08
151 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) 24.54

(my rider Kloden lost just over 4 minutes yesterday while he was involved in a crash just outside the 3km nuetral zone...watch for his comeback when the mountain stages start this Saturday...)

Levi at speed...pure power!!!

ummm...yet another test run...

Monday morning:

Since K needed to get in a 8 mile 10k pace training run for her marathon training we headed down to Lake Michigan mid-morning during Labor Day. Of course I had to sample some running also to see where my body stood at this day but I had no idea how far I was going to run. I held my running in the recovery mode once again running at a pace that felt comfortable during this healing process. Just like the run on Saturday is how my body felt which was managable so I ran smoothly during this run. I ended up getting in 10.3 miles in 1:30:31 for an average mile pace of 8:46 with an average HR of 135bpm so it was more of a long slow distance run. I did notice that my right foot PF was slightly there the last couple miles but not too bad...not a bad run! I just need to not push the comeback to hard & quickly...pool aquajog on Tuesday night.

Afterward K and I lounged at the Foster St. beach for about 4 hours relaxing during this beautiful weather day. Lake Michigan was perfect for the post-run cold water baths also...

Last night I ordered a new set of Asic Kayano 14's just to be safe even though the ones I'm running in right now have less than 100 running miles on them...

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tester...ez recovery run...

Saturday morning:

As K went down to the lakefront to train with her CARA Chicago group I stayed back at home since there was no way I was going to run a 13 miler during my recovery from the feet injuries. After tinkering around the house I couldn't resist testing my body on a very easy recovery run to see where it was at...

I took it very easy during the run seeing where my body was at during this healing process. Right away I noticed my right foot PF was not painful anymore and my left foot bruised heal pain was not so severe...I'm healing slowly. My left leg calve, hamstring and glute were sore still but very manageable. I didn't push the pace as a ran for 5.1 miles in 45:10 for a mile pace of 8:51 with an average HR of 123bpm.

I was happy with the results from this test run as my body didn't feel that bad throughout the remaining portion of the day also...now its just one day at a time!

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Thanks everyone and an update...

I would like to thank everyone for their very nice words of encouragement especially during these challenging exercise times due to healing injuries...it is truely greatly appreciated :-)

As for the pool swimming the problem with our health club pool is the depth of the 20 meter pool is the same all the way around...4 feet deep so unfortunately I cannot aquajog in our HC pool but last Friday afternoon we had an early out from work as I went to my friends running/tri shop for advice on a deep well pool to swim in during recovery. I checked out the Arlington Heights park district pool which has a deep well zone for training & drivers. Since every indoor pool was closed this holiday weekend I will go there tonight to run in the pool with the Aquajogger belt I purchased on Saturday at a local swimmers store...very lucky to find one of these locally.

Also while at my friends shop I spoke with him about my Newton running shoes and he took them back to send back to Newton with my complaints so he can get credit back for them as a reseller. I received a full credit back for the shoes which was a very generous consideration. He also set me up with a warranty return on my new 2XU T:0 wetsuit that is falling apart only after 8 open-water swims in the suit...not good.

The RX med's are helping with the pain and inflamation which is helping to speed up my recovery with the added rest days...

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