Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Training Camp Updates

I'll put this post together so readers can get an up close look into what goes into a training camp for Jeff Paul. First off, I call this a training camp because the only real goal is to pile on the volume as high as possible without getting injured. The quality of workouts this week gets trumped by sheer volume. The idea is that I tear myself down physically and mentally this week before allowing my body to adapt to this load with a very easy week next week. I also have lots of fun testing myself to see what I'm capable of putting my body through. I'll update this post daily through the week by adding to the entry below with each day's camp activities. The camp is free so if you are in town and want to join me for part of it let me know. It would be great to have company.



Sunday: The last day of Training Camp finally has arrived. I got a good night of sleep after suffering through day 6.


Bike: Began the day riding home on TOMRV. What a difference a good night of sleep makes. I felt awesome riding today. There were some really long and tough hills going out of Dubuque but I felt really strong on them. Adam and I moved at a really good clip today. We skipped some of the aid stations to keep the ride moving. Adam stopped near his home town and I finished the ride on my own. I added some miles so I could get over 100 miles for the 2nd day in a row. I finished the ride at 101 miles today.


Run: Tonight I finished camp with a 12 mile run followed by speed drills and strides. My legs felt surprisingly pretty good. I kept thinking I hope they feel like this in Madison for Ironman in less than 3 months.


Day 7 Total Training Time- 6 hours 35 minutes


Saturday:
Day 6 of Training Camp can be summed up in 2 words: Friggen Brutal!! I was hoping to tear myself to shreds this week before letting my body adapt to the volume and today got me there...problem being I still have 1 day of camp left and I'm 93 miles from home with only a bike for transportation which makes it tough to skip.
Run: I began camp with a morning road race. I was supposed to be warming up and cooling down long to get some extra mileage and then running with Jen at what she said would be "6:30 pace". It was her 1st race back off missing a couple months with a bad achilles tendon. I ran 8 miles total and pushed the kids in the double running stroller for the 5k while Jen went on to win. We finished together as a family. She was 18:40. I was 18:22 because I had to stop and tie my shoes at one point before catching her and I stopped the watch.
Bike Ride: This was the killer. Day 1 of TOMRV was 113 miles almost entirely north with a wind out of the north. It wasn't a strong wind but on tired legs from camp I was absolutely cooked! It was one hill after another and I was feeling terrible. Luckily for me Adam joined me for the ride when I went through a town near his house and he came the rest of the way with me. We had a great dinner with a lot of local QC guys who didn't have any trouble with the ride. I'm not going to lie...this was one of the toughest rides I've ever done. It took me about 6 hours and 15 minutes of riding time to get here. The circumstances with camp this week are undoubtedly what made it so tough. I have broken myself down...I need to bike 91 miles home tomorrow and then try to run 10 miles to finish camp. Off to bed...I will have no trouble sleeping.

Day 6 Total Training Time- 7 hours 15 minutes

Friday:
I got started with camp early on Friday. Payton woke up puking at 2:30 and after getting her fixed up and back to sleep I was wide awake so I drove into the high school to start camp at 3:45 a.m.
Weights- 1 hour 5 minutes with 2 sets of 10 on all my lifts at my heaviest weight of the week. Finished with lunges, plyometrics, jump rope, and core work
Run- 5 miles on treadmill in weight room as there was another super intense thunder storm outside.
Swim- 1 hour workout with 2,700 yards with my swim coach beginning at 7:00 a.m. It was nice to get some valuable feedback on my stroke. 14 days swimming in a row.
Nap- 2 hours
Swim- A 2nd swim to get to my weekly goal yardage of 20,000. I went 2,100 yards in a workout that only lasted 40 minutes. I followed this with core work
Nap with Payton- 1 hour
Bike- 55 miles. It was really nice out. Cool temps and little wind. I got wet the last 32 miles.
Run- 10 miles. Began with 3.5 miles out easy and then saw lightning close by so I turned around and headed back to school fast at sub-6 pace. Finished the last 3 miles inside school.
Tomorrow I am off on a bike ride from the QC to Dubuque known as TOMRV (Tour of the Mississippi River Valley). I'll be staying in a hotel in Dubuque and riding back on Sunday. It is about 110 miles tomorrow and 90 on Sunday if I don't add any to the ride. I'll report from the hotel tomorrow night.

Day 5 Total Training Time- 7 hours 20 minutes

Thursday:
I waited for the storms to clear this morning and then got on my bike at about 9:15 to ride for 3 hours. It was pefect out. I decided I was going to go 80 miles. There was no wind, cool temps, overcast skies...absolutely perfect...until I got a phone call at mile 17 that Payton had an earache and I needed to pick her up from daycare. This would throw a major wrench into day 4 of Training Camp but it serves as a good reminder to me what is most important in my life. Being able to balance triathlon training, a full-time job, being a father of 2, and a husband is perhaps what makes my journey as a professional triathlete most unique. I got 35 miles outside and another 10 miles (30 minutes) on the trainer while Payton and I watched Pocohontas
Swim: 1 hour 10 minutes with 3,500 yards
Run: Here is where I began to bonk...it was evening and I was pretty tired already and I had to go treadmill again due to T-storms outside. I was at 3 miles and feeling really weak, lightheaded, and super hungry. I stopped and stretched for a bit and tried to get the weak feeling to go away. I got back on and made it 2 more miles but felt like I was going to fall over. I stopped and did push-ups, claw drill, and core work and cut my losses for the day. Tomorrow was supposed to be my 1 day of lower volume but it looks like I got that today. On the positive side my muscles actually feel really recovered and fresh...I'm just lacking something that is making me feel really naucious.

Day 4 Total Training Time- 4 hours 10 minutes

Wednesday:
Began camp with a 4 mile morning run. It was supposed to be 10 but I felt like the Tin Man and everything hurt. I had to stop and walk 8 minutes in. I had terrible abdominal cramping and the heat was pretty bad. I managed to suffer through 30 minutes.
Weights- 1 hour 5 minutes. Did 2x 12 on all my upper and lower body lifts and then finished with lunges, jump rope, plyometric stair hops, and core work
Swim- 1 hour 25 minutes with a 4,100 yard workout.
Bike- 45 miles. This was supposed to be the weekly Wednesday night group ride but I realized I forgot my shoes right before I pulled in so I had to drive back home to grab them. I attempted to drive back to catch them where they start going hard (about 7 miles in). Right as I pulled to the spot I saw the peloton fly by and I assembled my bike as fast as I could and then tried to get my bento box on the bike but had problems so I left it. I lost 3-4 minutes on the group and set out on a ferocious time trial to see if I could catch them. I went through 13 miles at 25.3 mph and still couldn't see them so with my legs fried I settled into a normal training ride for the rest. I only had 1 bottle of water and the heat index was near 100 degrees. When I got to Riverdale High School I saw a door open and went in where they were having volleyball camp. I saw a big jug of gatorade and I filled my bottle without being spotted and slipped out the door and got out of there. Riverdale moved up on my "Favorite High School" list!
Run- 6.5 miles. With storms looming I opted for the treadmill tonight. I went through periods of good and bad but made it 6.5 miles.
The heat is supposed to break tonight and I can't wait!!!
Day 3 Total Training Time- 6 hours 10 minutes

Tuesday:
Began the day with a 50 mile bike ride and it was already super hot, humid, and windy!
Swim- 1 hour 15 minutes totalling 3,800 yards. Main Set was 8x 200's alternating swim and pull on 3:20 for 4 and 3:10 the last 4. This was my 11th day in a row swimming and I'm feeling great despite being tired. Averaged 2:41 on the swims and 2:47 on the pulls.
Run- Ran 3 miles with Jen at West Lake Park in the heat of the day before our "Live Uncommon" photo shoot. This run sucked. I was light headed and hungry.
Run- Ran 10.5 miles tonight mostly after the sun went down and I felt awesome. Amazing what 10 degrees difference does for the body.
Misc.- Did core work twice, claw drill and 3 sets of 25 push-ups
The good news is the heat is supposed to break tomorrow night. I expect tomorrow will be my toughest day of camp as I'm really tired and it is going to be 100+ heat index again...I can't wait til the big storm rolls through tomorrow to cool things down.
Day 2 Total Training Time- 5 hours 35 minutes

Monday:
14.5 mile run started at 5:30 a.m. Great way to kick off the first Training Camp week of the summer. Followed it up with speed drills and strides.
Weight Room- 1 hour of 2 sets of 15 on all my upper and lower body lifts. There are 20 lifts that I do. I finished the session with lunges and jump rope. I have gotten stronger doing single leg jump rope this year.
Swim- 1 hour 15 minutes with 3,900 yards. Mostly drill and technique work today with a long swim of 1,500 yards. Some old guy at the Fitness Center stoke my fins while I was on my long swim and he left me his which were way too big and caused me to get blisters on my feet.
Bike- 55 miles with Adam Bohach. It's nice having Adam around. He's a great triathlete coming off his 8th place overall amateur finish at Ironman St. George. It was nearly 100 degree heat index for this ride.
Run- 3.5 miles before bed.
Core work- did this twice today.
Day 1 Total Training Time- 7 hours 20 minutes

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