One Week from Today!!

One week from today and the great morning workout begins.  I'm so excited!!

Training this past week was awesome. All parts are working/moving great.  No knee pain, no planter's fascitis...nothing!!  On 3 of the days I did 2 blocks.  I also ran my old capital hill neighborhood loop 2x. This was my first run on the course this year.  Actually haven't ran it since June of last year. There is a 5 minute hill climb that is brutal and my record to date on the climb was 4 minutes, 52 seconds and low and behold, this year on the second loop, I timed it and I got 4 minutes, 15 seconds.  I couldn't believe it.  I thought remote chance I'd beat 5 minutes, but not a personal best.  I had my iPhone w/ me for music, so I video'd at the top of the hill.  I'll get the clip on here later.

On Friday I had a 90 minute bike ride in and then did one beacon hill loop (run) afterwards and was excited that the run was breeze...not the typical lead legs for the first mile.  At top of steepest hill on bike my heart rate was 182.  That was a manual check.  Finally learning heart rate monitors don't work well on me....mine said 135.

Did one hour hard spin yesterday and then 2 mile swim.  Swim specs are below for me to have for reference later.

1/4 swim - 7:46, 7:05, 6:59    1/2 swim  14:15, 13:58 (personal best on last 1/2 mile)

Wind'n 'er down.  P90X is at Day 87.  I haven't missed a day yet.  What an incredible experience with that program.  Can't wait to try some of there other programs after this one!

Stay healthy over the next week for everyone doing this crazy race!!

First Lake Swim (Bhhrrrr) and Another Personal Best in the 1/4 Mile Swim

Yesterday I had my first swim in Lake Washington and as expected, it was sooooooooooo cold.  My lips were numb for the entire swim.  I was thinking the temp was probably around the typical 44 degrees for this time of year, but just checked online and it is 51, so now I'm a tad bit freaked, as Alcatraz will probably be around 52-54 degrees.  This just means I need to start cold showering it, sleeping w/ the windows open and a few more lake swims to acclimate to the temp.  This is something I maybe should have started doing a month ago considering the race is in a week and half.

Pics at bottom of this post are of Walter pre swim and me post swim w/ purple lips. Isn't Walt styl'n in the googles?

And here's the GREAT NEWS, on Sunday I broke my personal best on the 1/4 mile swim.....again.  About two weeks ago I broke it w/ 6:52 and on Sunday I shaved off 12 seconds bringing it down to 6:40.  Thank you to P90X again.....seriously.....no other explanation as I am not swimming any more than usual.  I've actually been swimming less and P90X is making up for it AND more.  I've also been getting emails from people inquiring on the specifics of how I've been implementing P90X w/ a tri training program.  It's been a combo of people, some already tri training wanting to get stronger core and would like to implement P90X and then there are some who have just ordered or are currently doing P90X and would also like to do a triathlon this summer and are curious to know how to combine the two.  Send an email to me and I'll share the goods w/ you.  Sjogren@gmail.com.  I'm also a coach now for P90X (still learning the ropes), but you can check out my page, as well as the programs and products through this link.

For those of you doing the race, good luck w/ the rest of your training, stay injury free and we'll see you in 11 days at Alcatraz on the side of that boat.

Personal Best on 1/2 Mile Swim....Another Thanks to P90X!!

Yesterday was the first day back in the pool after a 12 days of no swim due to me being out of town and not close to a pool.  Well, the incredible news is that I beat my 1/2 mile swim record ever....once again....unbelievable. How in the world does this happen when you haven't been training in 12 days??? I honestly can't believe it and if you've been reading my previous blogs over the past month, you'll know I have only one thing to attribute this too and that's P90X!! 

I've been dedicated to the P90X program and am currently at Day 77.  A few of you have emailed me inquiring on P90X  to find out the detailed specs on how I've been coordinating it w/ the tri workouts.  If you're interested, please send me an email and I'll provide you w/ all info.  sjogren@gmail.com. The physical transformation to the body is also incredible as well.  I'm now seeing abs I thought I never had.  P90X Day 90 will be four days before the race...perfect to end w/ the tri taper.

Below is more for my own record to reference down the road. My swim splits were as follows:

1/2 miie: 14:29

1/4 mile: 7:03

1/2 mile: 14:09 (THE RECORD SWIM FOR ME)

1/4 mile: 7:09

1/2 mile: 4:18 

I also ran 8 miles post the swim at Alki and that felt great as well.  Below is a bit of a clip on that run introducing my running partner Walter to you all.