Sunday April 27, 2014 4x11's Mountain House Trail, Wachusett Mountain State Park
5.0 miles 88 minutes 2250 ft elevation gain
My racing buddy and teammate Dave Mingori suggested I do hill repeats instead of running up and over the mountain a couple times. Starting at the first trail junction to the summit road is 0.65 miles, which is approximately 1 kilometer. Here were my 4 splits during each ascent:
Tested out Cliff Shot Blocks which worked out great eating half the package 1/3 into the workout and the rest at 2/3 to keep my energy needs high. This was such an intense workout and overall very pleased with the results. I believe I could have kept on going for another two sets but will add those later on. I presume though, I will loose another 20 seconds or so in the next two sets. As long as I can repeat two in a row at pace, I am happy with that duplicate effort without fading. I was still hurting from the previous days long arse of a paddle.
Saturday April 26, 2014 Paddling the Blackstone River, South Grafton to Blackstone Gorge.
17.8 miles 194 minutes, Medium level 3.5ft Northbridge Gauge.
Having a strong foundation in training for the first event will allow me to go the distance for the AEC in Sweden. Nice to transition from the bike to a long paddle I knew would exceed 3 hours. Chose the Pyranha Speeder today, give the X5 a break and the Speeder is easier to get in and out of knowing that there would be several portages and a number of trees/strainers that I would have to briefly portage. Huge effort today, great form all the way into mile 13 then started breaking down. Last 4 miles were sustained pace but every stoke was grueling as the next. I thought it would go away or perhaps, shake it off. Nope. Made a mistake choosing too much mileage, too soon today, one that hopefully does not come back to haunt me.
Saturday April 26, 2014 Sport Cycling Blackstone, MA to South Grafton, MA
15.2 miles 52 minutes
Another paddle day planned but I did not want to paddle on the lake again. Needed something different.
Called some friends to run a long shuttle with me and get out on the local river for a good effort. Nobody available. So I decided to run my own shuttle via bike. Dropped the gear off at the put-in (and bike locks), drove to the takeout and rode the 15 miles back. It was raining lightly and 42 degrees. It was a cold spring day. I was chasing sunset getting on the bike around 3:00pm. Pushed hard for the put-in, 15.2 miles in 52 minutes on the mountain bike not too shabby and worked up a good, sustained heart rate.
Tuesday April 22, 2014 Paddling on Lake Quinsigamond
9.1 miles 107 minutes
Really windy! Taking the X5 was the right choice today but it was still getting blasted in a strong, cross wind to it was difficult to maintain a steady course. Form broke down multiple times on this paddle. I just wanted to crack. I could not quit and just kept paddling. Once I pulled around at about mile 5 I recorded negative splits to the finish. 4 consecutive miles with the wind behind me I was able to recover and finished feeling strong.
5.0 miles 88 minutes 2250 ft elevation gain
My racing buddy and teammate Dave Mingori suggested I do hill repeats instead of running up and over the mountain a couple times. Starting at the first trail junction to the summit road is 0.65 miles, which is approximately 1 kilometer. Here were my 4 splits during each ascent:
- 11:10
- 11:13
- 11:30
- 11:33
Tested out Cliff Shot Blocks which worked out great eating half the package 1/3 into the workout and the rest at 2/3 to keep my energy needs high. This was such an intense workout and overall very pleased with the results. I believe I could have kept on going for another two sets but will add those later on. I presume though, I will loose another 20 seconds or so in the next two sets. As long as I can repeat two in a row at pace, I am happy with that duplicate effort without fading. I was still hurting from the previous days long arse of a paddle.
Saturday April 26, 2014 Paddling the Blackstone River, South Grafton to Blackstone Gorge.
17.8 miles 194 minutes, Medium level 3.5ft Northbridge Gauge.
Having a strong foundation in training for the first event will allow me to go the distance for the AEC in Sweden. Nice to transition from the bike to a long paddle I knew would exceed 3 hours. Chose the Pyranha Speeder today, give the X5 a break and the Speeder is easier to get in and out of knowing that there would be several portages and a number of trees/strainers that I would have to briefly portage. Huge effort today, great form all the way into mile 13 then started breaking down. Last 4 miles were sustained pace but every stoke was grueling as the next. I thought it would go away or perhaps, shake it off. Nope. Made a mistake choosing too much mileage, too soon today, one that hopefully does not come back to haunt me.
Saturday April 26, 2014 Sport Cycling Blackstone, MA to South Grafton, MA
15.2 miles 52 minutes
Another paddle day planned but I did not want to paddle on the lake again. Needed something different.
Called some friends to run a long shuttle with me and get out on the local river for a good effort. Nobody available. So I decided to run my own shuttle via bike. Dropped the gear off at the put-in (and bike locks), drove to the takeout and rode the 15 miles back. It was raining lightly and 42 degrees. It was a cold spring day. I was chasing sunset getting on the bike around 3:00pm. Pushed hard for the put-in, 15.2 miles in 52 minutes on the mountain bike not too shabby and worked up a good, sustained heart rate.
Tuesday April 22, 2014 Paddling on Lake Quinsigamond
9.1 miles 107 minutes
Really windy! Taking the X5 was the right choice today but it was still getting blasted in a strong, cross wind to it was difficult to maintain a steady course. Form broke down multiple times on this paddle. I just wanted to crack. I could not quit and just kept paddling. Once I pulled around at about mile 5 I recorded negative splits to the finish. 4 consecutive miles with the wind behind me I was able to recover and finished feeling strong.
Sunday April 20, 2014 Indoor Triple Session
Sunday April 6, 2014 Trail Workout at Wachusett Mountain State Park
6.3 miles 42 minutes Concept II Rower
3.0 miles 45 minutes Treadmill, 5%-12% Grade Intervals at 4mph
15 miles 45 minutes ProForm Spinner, Strength Intervals
Did not have the opportunity to get outside. Time limited but after multisport racing two weekends in a row I just did not have the motivation to micromanage all the gear again today. Its nice to have the option to resort to the winter routine on occasion, even when the weather starts breaking and temperatures are near perfect.
3.0 miles 45 minutes Treadmill, 5%-12% Grade Intervals at 4mph
15 miles 45 minutes ProForm Spinner, Strength Intervals
Did not have the opportunity to get outside. Time limited but after multisport racing two weekends in a row I just did not have the motivation to micromanage all the gear again today. Its nice to have the option to resort to the winter routine on occasion, even when the weather starts breaking and temperatures are near perfect.
5.4 miles 93 minutes 1690 ft elevation gain
After racing in the Berkshire Pentathlon this was a good primer to test the legs for the hiking leg in the Tuckerman Inferno. Last minute addition to the Waters team forces my legs to get active again. Felt really good and strong in the knees, decent pace and controlled heart rate. Tested out new PowerBar Perform Energy Blends. Sucking each of them down both times I reached the summit. They tasted awesome (if you like apple sauce) and I will be using them during transitions at the Tuckerman Inferno! Perhaps this might get contagious and get me moving under foot again and great excuse to break in the Salomon XZ Pro 3D Ultra 2 GORE-TEX.
Route: Parking at base lodge take the fire road to the Balance Rock Trail cross another access road onto Old Indian, right onto Semuhenna, left onto West Side, right onto Old Indian and on your way to the summit. Take Pine Hill steep descent (approx 600 feet in 0.5 miles) to Park HQ. Reverse direction up and over back to base lodge.
Next time I will take Mountain House down to Bicentennial and over to Park HQ. Turn around and come back. This will increase the mileage some for the sake of less impact coming down Pine Tree.
Wachusett Trail Map
Tuesday April 1, 2014 Paddling on Lake Quinsigamond
3.8 miles 44 minutes
Most of this workout hurt like crazy trying to get the form and some moldy muscles working again. Took the West Side X5 out for a spin. Needed to get the first day in the slightly tippy boat which forces you to maintain decent pace, speed = stability. Going to take a few more sessions to get it right but time is not on my side with races the next two weekends. Looks like some on the job training :-) Toughest part about this workout the pack ice on the lake blew in about 1/5 mile and got stuck. Had to take out early of the car. Would have gotten closer to 4 miles in otherwise. Funny looks carrying the wild water racer down the walking path in Worcester.
Most of this workout hurt like crazy trying to get the form and some moldy muscles working again. Took the West Side X5 out for a spin. Needed to get the first day in the slightly tippy boat which forces you to maintain decent pace, speed = stability. Going to take a few more sessions to get it right but time is not on my side with races the next two weekends. Looks like some on the job training :-) Toughest part about this workout the pack ice on the lake blew in about 1/5 mile and got stuck. Had to take out early of the car. Would have gotten closer to 4 miles in otherwise. Funny looks carrying the wild water racer down the walking path in Worcester.
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