Tuesday, October 27, 2009

quick update


just a quick update for everybody. My wife went into labor on sunday morning and we had a beautiful little girl who we decided to name Kiera Paige Mellet. She was a healthy 7 lbs 7 oz and both my girls are doing great. I will get back into this when we get home from the hospital on thursday.

jason

Friday, October 23, 2009

Hammer's Wrap Up!

Workout details from Oct 17, 2009 to Oct 23, 2009

DateTypeHrs:MinsMilesPaceEst. CalsCum. Pace
1 - Sun Oct 18, 2009BIKE3:3057.0016.3 mph228016.3 mph
2 - Tue Oct 20, 2009OTHER0:303.106.2 mph-6.2 mph
3 - Wed Oct 21, 2009BIKE1:0020.0020 mph80017.1 mph
4 - Wed Oct 21, 2009SWIM0:381.2530:0650030:06
5 - Thu Oct 22, 2009BIKE0:4515.0020 mph60017.5 mph
6 - Thu Oct 22, 2009WEIGHTS
7 - Fri Oct 23, 2009OTHER1:0220.0019.3 mph-15.1 mph
Swim Distance: 1.25 milesSwim Time: 0:38Swim Calories: 500Swim Pace: 30:06
Bike Distance: 92 milesBike Time: 5:15Bike Calories: 3680Bike Pace: 17.5 mph
Other Distance: 23.1 milesOther Time: 1:32-Other Pace: 15.1 mph
Total Miles: 116.35 milesTotal Time: 7:25Total Calories: 4180-



So these are my workout details from this past week and i thought that maybe every friday i will give you a run down and we can compare how the week went and maybe what i want to accomplish in the week ahead.

So as you can see this wasn't a crazy week however you can see last sunday i did clock my biggest mileage yet when i completed 57 miles in a single ride up in Van Alstyn with my tri club. Frisco Triathlon Club. I only got one swim in this week but is was a good 1.25 mile swim and i am going to be building on that over the next few months so that i can start competing in the olympic distance next season and also that 70.3.

You will also notice that there was no running. As some of you are aware i'm just getting over my knee injury and am on a no running regiment at the moment. Monday is the big day and will be doing a short run to see how things go. Basically what happened is that i got an over-usage injury from bumping my mileage up from 4 miles to 6 miles without taking it slowly. I was kinda dumb and it was my own fault that it got injured. Anyways, lets hope monday goes well. Maybe i will do it on the treadmill so that is the minimum amount of impact as possible.

The "other" that you see on the Tuesday is my time i spent on the rowing machine at the gym. Im going to add that to my weekly training as well as it is such an awesome total body workout and kills millions of calories at the same time. Im trying to lean up a little bit and maybe loose a few % body fat and build lean muscle for next season. And then Fridays "other " was the time i spent in the spin class this morning which i did because i felt like getting a good group workout in to spice things up a little bit.

So basically my goals for this week would be to swim at least twice this week and try and clock 100 miles on the bike. If all goes well with the knee i am going to try and run twice this coming week and take it slow, so maybe a total of 4-5 miles.

So tomorrow which will be saturday i will try and get a swim in and then sunday i will be doing 40-50 miles on the bike which i will calculate into this weeks amounts for next fridays Hammers Wrap Up!

p.s. Oh and my wife is going to have a baby this week, so i might not do any of what i just spoke about.


Thursday, October 22, 2009

Winning my age group

So the end of the day is drawing near. Todays weather has been miserable. I hope the weather is better in austin this weekend for the longhorn 70.3 triathlon. Go Frisco triathlon Club. This year as far as my introduction into triathlon is concerned has been ok, if not pretty good.

Halfway through the year i decided to get a bicycle to find a different way to keep fit. I ended up getting a mountain bike as i didn't really know what i wanted to get and it seemed the most practical choice.

About a month after that a friend of mine convinced me to train alongside him for a sprint distance triathlon about 6 weeks down the road. Well, it wasn't long after that i realized the mountain bike just wasn't going to cut it. So off i went back to the bike shop hoping i could get a trade in. Lucky for me they said it was ok and before to long i was out on the streets on cruising along on my road bike.

So i started piling on the miles in the pool as well as on the road. And as race day came along i was feeling pretty confident but had no idea as to how i was going to fare against all the other athletes. It turned out i wasn't all that bad and the training was paying off.

In my first tri, in my 30-34 age group i came 11th and in my second which was the US open i came a very competitive 5th in my age group. Whilst i am still at the sprint level the US open was a long sprint which included a 800m swim, 40km bike ride and a 5km run. Finishing on a cold, wet and windy day in a time of 2:03:07. I think i will transition into the olympic distance quite well and am looking forward to next year's triathlon season.

In fact i am more than just looking forward to it, I want to win my age group as often as i can next year. I know its going to take a lot of hard work and dedication but who knows, it might just happen.

Here's to a short winter and some serious work in the gym and out on the road.

New SpringWidget

still raining

So the weather was awful this morning again. Once again the weather man got it wrong. Thursday was supposed to be partly cloudy. Rain was supposed to end on wednesday night. However, it was still raining when i woke up thursday morning.

So it was off to the gym as apposed to doing speed work on my bike around the lake. So anyway i am recovering from my knee injury as well. So i spent a little time stretching. I have found that to be more and more important every day. Worked on some core exercises, a little bit of leg strength and also some shoulders. I am hoping it dries out a little more as i want to ride my bike today still.

I have spent the day working on my computer and cant wait to get outside and build up a good sweat. It is killing me that i cant run at the moment but if all goes well i will be back at it next week.

Why you say. Why is it such a big deal to train every day. Cant you miss a few days. Or cant you skip it this morning.

Well here is the answer


Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Base training

So what is base training. From the little bit of reading that i did. Base training is pretty simple. Its the basic training that you do on a day to day basis. Its racking up the miles on your bike or trainer. Its endless laps in the pool. Its mile upon mile in your running shoes. Its you getting fit, slowly, over time.

So this would partially be what my base training schedule looks like for this month so far.

Swim Distance: 6.26 milesSwim Time: 3:07Swim Calories: 2504Swim Pace: 29:53
Bike Distance: 211.67 milesBike Time: 12:04Bike Calories: 8466.8Bike Pace: 17.5 mph
Run Distance: 4.67 milesRun Time: 0:38Run Calories: 467Run Pace: 08:05
Other Distance: 13.1 milesOther Time: 1:19-Other Pace: 10 mph
Total Miles: 235.7 milesTotal Time: 17:08Total Calories: 11437.8-


It is the day to day, month to month grind of your training.Base training doesn't concentrate on specifics like technique etc. Its rather a place where you practice your technique.

The other side of the coin is when you concentrate on strength training, drills, technique etc. and that would not be considered as base training.

For running you might go to a track near by your house and work on running drills like your A, B and C's. Swimming drills might include using a kick board to strengthen your legs and cycling might include one leg drills on a trainer or spin bike.

Either way, base training is not as complicated as it sounds, just get on your bike and ride.....

Fear of the unknown

Fear of the unknown i guess sums up ironman for a lot of people. With that if you don't have professional triathlon trainers and dietitians there is also a fear of the unknown. what i mean is, every day you are questioning yourself about your training schedule. your diet. your sleep, etc. For me, alot of the time if i dont know what to do, my attitude is just get out there and do something that will make you sweat.

I try not to stick to one workout in the gym. As whilst i am undiagnosed. i might just be A.D.D. So i mix things up. This morning i was really looking forward to riding my bike so when i woke up and saw the rain i headed off to the gym and hit the spinner for an hour. But yesterday i was on the rowing machine, which, in fact, i have heard is the second best calorie burning machine in the gym. behind the mighty treadmill used at an incline. Apparently number 3 behind them is the elliptical. So i would say it is important, even thought triathlon is 3 specific disciplines, keep mixing it up, oh and sweat a lot.

So anyway, at the moment i am in recovery from a slight knee injury so i am not doing any running or doing anything that will impact on my knee. Doc said cycling is still fine as well as swimming. I was planning on doing a half marathon towards the end of this year ( which was actually a new years resolution that i forgot about during the middle of the year ) so i have put that on hold till next year when i will hopefully incorporate it into my 70.3 training.

So now comes the questioning part. Can my body handle it? Do i have the self discipline? Do i have the courage? And most importantly, with little baby girl showing up next week, Do i have the time and freedom?

My 1 concern so far is looking over the past 3 months of my training/ working out i have averaged about 20 hours of training a month and have covered from 200 to 300 miles in swim, bike and run all put together. Im sure that that number will drop over the next few weeks due to baby. So with about 250 odd days to the buffalo springs 70.3, the question is how much training should i do. I know with winter coming on now i will probably work on something called BASE training. I think that is your base distances. Get to a point where you are comfortable with them and then work on making them faster, through drill, strength training etc.

I will consult youtube guru later and fill you in on base training. Thanks to the few of you that have been reading this blog and for your responses. I don't pretend to know everything, in fact i know very little about this sport and your input is much appreciated. I am a beginner triathlete with some lofty goals. Watch out Chris & Craig........






Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Youtube Triathlon guru lesson

So im sitting at lexus getting a new battery for our car and thought i would use the time to add 1 piece of advice i am going to follow for my 70.3 training.

Basically youtube guru said, do not use spin classes as a form of training and fitness building.The reason for this was that your average heart rate is too high and whilst you will get fit quick, it does not carry though and last as long as if you gain your fitness slowly over time.

Rather youtube guru said we should train at a lower heart rate unless of course you are doing intervals etc.

So basically on your long rides and sessions on the trainer keep your heart rate at about 130bpm.

keep checking in as we learn from the all knowing youtube.

Monday, October 19, 2009

My dream of a 70.3 half ironman


Well i have nothing but time on my hands. The business is taking its time to get off the ground and i find myself looking for things to do to keep myself busy. Naturally there are things for me to do in the babies room. A few things to paint downstairs and the computer room to clean out as mom is coming to visit on the 13th of November.

Baby seems to be still about 11 days away and Jennifer and i are both getting very impatient but maybe this is my way of handling the stress.

Anyway so as i have completed a few sprint triathlons this year and am dreaming of bigger and better things to do, i am thinking of doing a half ironman 70.3 next year. I thought it might be funny if i get the majority of my training advice from youtube, just as an experiment. I am a member of the Frisco triathlon club here in Dallas texas and there seems to be a wealth of experience in the club as many people have completed full ironman events as well as all the other distances.

In posts to come i will discuss what i have done so far and my achievements as well as what i am planning to do next year. This naturally is taking into account that we are having a baby in 11 days and who know how that is going to affect things.