"Coach Paulo really knows what he's doing, I couldn't be more impressed with his knowledge and high performance mind." -Simon Whitfield
Not that I needed any justification about my choice of coach but some validation from a 2x(1 Gold, 1 Silver) Olympic Medalist sure doesn't hurt...
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
More pics from Maui
Last night here in the Rocket City it was about 45F w/ 15-20mph winds and I had a 10 mile run on the schedule. The weather only accentuated the desire to be back running under the sun through the cane fields rather than through cold, dark neighborhoods of suburban southeast Huntsville. So since thats not going to happen... the next best thing... pictures!
Here we are practicing our beach starts:
Kyle, me, Sam, Kathy, Austin, Andrew, PJ (from left to right) at the beginning of our ride:
Later in the ride, as we are cresting a small hill. Yes, that is the ocean and the other side of the island in the background:
Swim practice done:
Sunday morning, gathering for the tempo run:
Me, Kyle, and Simon (left to right) cruising along through the cane fields:
Here we are practicing our beach starts:
Kyle, me, Sam, Kathy, Austin, Andrew, PJ (from left to right) at the beginning of our ride:
Later in the ride, as we are cresting a small hill. Yes, that is the ocean and the other side of the island in the background:
Swim practice done:
Sunday morning, gathering for the tempo run:
Me, Kyle, and Simon (left to right) cruising along through the cane fields:
Monday, January 25, 2010
Jan18-24
S: 24,000 yds
B: 8h 37min
R: 5h 10min
Total: 20h 6min
After spending last week in paradise, this week it was back to the real world. I did get to get outside on the bike both days this weekend but instead of 80F and sunny, it was more like 52 and raining both days.
Coincidentally, this is also the start of a new training block which will bring new swim workouts and some intensity in the running workouts. While doing only easy runs has been fun, I'm signed up for a half marathon on Feb 14th so its probably about time to start hitting it a bit harder a few days a week.
B: 8h 37min
R: 5h 10min
Total: 20h 6min
After spending last week in paradise, this week it was back to the real world. I did get to get outside on the bike both days this weekend but instead of 80F and sunny, it was more like 52 and raining both days.
Coincidentally, this is also the start of a new training block which will bring new swim workouts and some intensity in the running workouts. While doing only easy runs has been fun, I'm signed up for a half marathon on Feb 14th so its probably about time to start hitting it a bit harder a few days a week.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Jan11-17
S: 28,100 yds
B: 12h 29min
R: 7h 7min
Total: 27h
What can I say... it was a great week with the ITU guys and gals (and Sam) which included plenty of intensity and plenty of fun. Most importantly, though, it was great to be able to just focus on training and not have to worry about anything else. Of course I couldve done this anywhere but it was much more effective in the presence of other like minded individuals and in a place without any other distractions.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Maui Pics
Whew! The week has flown by! I'm tired but am still loving every minute of it. Its amazing how much more and higher quality training can be done when all you are doing is eating, sleeping, and training. Of course it also helps to have people to push you every step of the way!
Well, time for bed. Only two more days left... better make them count!
Enough of the talk... here are some pictures from our 3h ride on Friday.
And here we are at the start of the point to point open water swim:
Well, time for bed. Only two more days left... better make them count!Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Checking in from Maui
Two days and 7 workouts down and so far I'm still feeling pretty good. Yesterday was pretty chill as it was only me, Simon, Sam, and Andrew. The rest of the crew arrived last night so their coach, Phil, wanted to let them have a pretty easy day. We started with an easy run through the cane fields before heading to the pool for a nice solid 5k swim. For the afternoon, we had a nice 1.5h ride through the hills and some incredible scenery. After that Paulo wasnt really satisfied so he suggested I do a little 20min tempo run + 10min cooldown run off the bike. The day ended with some tasty Mahimahi in Paia and a chocolate chip pumpkin muffin.
Tomorrow things promise to heat up a bit with a long swim in the AM and then some Zn3 fun on the bike in the PM. I'm sure there will be a run in there somewhere as well. The internet here is pretty limited, so I'll just leave with a little image of the coast:
Monday, January 11, 2010
Jan4-10
S: 22,900 yds
B: 4h 30min
R: 5h 52min
Total: 16h 24min
Another week with more time running than biking is something I surely cant complain about. Of course the week was really just my last chance to get ready for this week's training camp in Maui with the Canadians. Needless to say, after multiple runs in the snow last week this week in paradise came at just the right time!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Not that its snowing here or anything but...
3 more days!
maui 6th of jan 2010 from swhitfield on Vimeo.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Sunday cant come soon enough...
Today through Saturday I'm stuck here, in the abnormally cold southeast:
But come Sunday, I'll be here:
Needless to say, I'm ready to go!
But come Sunday, I'll be here:
Needless to say, I'm ready to go!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Dec28-Jan3
S: 28,400 yds
B: 3h
R: 5h 41min
Total: 16h 9min
While swimming outside in Orlando over the weekend was nice, the highlight of last week's workouts had to be the Thursday morning swim. Although I was heading down to Gainesville/Orlando for New Year's Eve celebrations later that day, I still had time to go to the pool for the usual AM swim. I figured the kids wouldnt have practice that afternoon and was hoping they'd be there for a tough morning workout. They were and Matt, the new coach, didnt disappoint.
After a 1200 yd warmup, Matt explained the rules of the game. Basically, it was a race to see who could complete ten 400s in the shortest amount of time swimming triathlon-style, snaking through 8 lanes fper 400. For the first 400 he lined us up slowest to fastest and sent us off in a time trial fashion. For each subsequent 400, though, we had to get out of the pool and roll a set of dice and, depending on the roll, swim our next 400 accordingly. Some examples included fly swim, backstroke swim, breast swim, "shower" (which entailed running into the locker room, getting wet, then running back out before starting the 400), kick, backwards (start at Lane 8 and swim "upstream" relative to everyone else), pull, swim w/ fins, etc. There were 11 options total (2-12) so in order to win you had to swim fast and roll well. Roll a kick rather than swim w/ fins and you've just tacked a few minutes on your time.
Being slow, I got to start close to the front and attacked from the beginning. I ended up rolling the "backwards" a few times which actually ended up being not too bad because once the game got going, things spread out pretty quickly. I also avoided the dreaded kick which was probably the reason I came out victorious. That and I didnt screw around any between 400s. Overall though, it was a lot of fun and a great way to get through 4000yds!
B: 3h
R: 5h 41min
Total: 16h 9min
While swimming outside in Orlando over the weekend was nice, the highlight of last week's workouts had to be the Thursday morning swim. Although I was heading down to Gainesville/Orlando for New Year's Eve celebrations later that day, I still had time to go to the pool for the usual AM swim. I figured the kids wouldnt have practice that afternoon and was hoping they'd be there for a tough morning workout. They were and Matt, the new coach, didnt disappoint.
After a 1200 yd warmup, Matt explained the rules of the game. Basically, it was a race to see who could complete ten 400s in the shortest amount of time swimming triathlon-style, snaking through 8 lanes fper 400. For the first 400 he lined us up slowest to fastest and sent us off in a time trial fashion. For each subsequent 400, though, we had to get out of the pool and roll a set of dice and, depending on the roll, swim our next 400 accordingly. Some examples included fly swim, backstroke swim, breast swim, "shower" (which entailed running into the locker room, getting wet, then running back out before starting the 400), kick, backwards (start at Lane 8 and swim "upstream" relative to everyone else), pull, swim w/ fins, etc. There were 11 options total (2-12) so in order to win you had to swim fast and roll well. Roll a kick rather than swim w/ fins and you've just tacked a few minutes on your time.
Being slow, I got to start close to the front and attacked from the beginning. I ended up rolling the "backwards" a few times which actually ended up being not too bad because once the game got going, things spread out pretty quickly. I also avoided the dreaded kick which was probably the reason I came out victorious. That and I didnt screw around any between 400s. Overall though, it was a lot of fun and a great way to get through 4000yds!
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