Beetsdown Mania

I don't know about the rest of you, but I really enjoyed Jay Unver's interview of Annabel Lavers. She is an interesting woman with a strong resume. Presently, Bel is the Association's only international athlete, but Dr Nomann assures me that will change soon. I saw Jay the other day when I went into a convenience store to buy some Oatmeal Cream Pies, and he told me he is attempting to contact Justin Nunnery. Future interviews of Big ASS athletes are forthcoming. Yeehaa.

The week of 9/8 - 9/14 was one of my best ever Beetsdown training cycles. I bet Randy Beets felt that rear-kicking all the way to North Carolina. Usually I do the day-to-day report with a total at the end. For this post, I am going to put the summary up front, in case that's all you want, and then add the daily details.

For the week, I

ran 31.59 miles,
lifted weights one time,
walked 5.56 miles,
swam 28,121 meters, and
biked four miles.

I don't care who you are, that's good training. The week consisted not only ample volume, but real quality as well. Monday I started with the idea of busting it in the water. I met John at the pool and swam

2,500
30 X 100 @ 1:57 (first nine @ 1:56)
14 X 50 @ 1:30 breathing every five
400 small paddles
total: 6,600 meters.

That filled my afternoon and Comp I filled my early night. After work I went out for a run. The air was cool, and I felt really good so I did 8.75 with a straight 2.37 miles of tempo. After that I added some more pickups. I am running on a different level than I was just a week ago. Running is like that. You train and train and you stay the same and then BOOM! everything is different. I noticed last Saturday that even though I had run eight miles the day before, I still felt like running and I ran a bit quicker. Monday night was confirmation. My tempo pace was a full minute per mile faster than it was Friday. It was cooler and that makes a difference but not that much.

Tuesday was another Beetsdown day. John  was out of town, so I went to the pond. The plan was to swim and run until I couldn't do it anymore. However, I was in a state of general fatigue from Monday and could only muster 2.81 miles in D6 (it has been re-pumped) and 2.55 miles of running.

John was still out of pocket Wednesday, and I was a little late getting into the water. I warmed up with 1,300 and then decided to see how long I could go @ 1:55. After nine reps, I tapped out. Then I was invaded by kids. WHAT!?!?! Starting last week, John and I have had the pool to ourselves with the lifeguards being laid off for the year. Not Tuesday. So I finished with only 2,200, but at least there was some quality in those 2,200. That evening I ran an easy 4.14 miles.

John and I were swimming by 1:30 Thursday. I did

3,500
2,500 countdown set
7 X 100 @ 2:30
total: 6,700

The kids invaded again. I hate that. Whoever heard of kids swimming. Don't they have some computer games to play or some cookies to eat? Why can't they leave me alone?

Friday morning I ran an easy 4.36 and met John at Twin Rivers a little after 1:00 pm. I made up my practice as I went along and what I did was

1,000 easy
6 X 100 @ 1:54
1,000 easy
7 X 100 @ 1:55
1,000 easy
2 X 100 @ 1:56
1,000 easy
10 X 50 @ 1:15
1,200 small paddles
total: 7,200 meters.

Saturday was the most pleasant day, weather wise, we have had here since last autumn. I toyed with the idea of going to the pond. I also thought about going to the pool and staying close to home. I settled on the idea of not swimming at all since I already had 28,000 in. Running, weightlifting, and college football seemed like a good plan. The cats liked that, and when I left them to go outside and run, it was so pleasant out that I ran nine miles instead of my planned two. Later that afternoon, I did a monster upper body lifting session. I was spent by the time I did my last rep, and the cats love me to be tired because I nap a lot and don't move much. Cats aren't very tolerant of moving humans. They want people to be as still as statues. When I exercise to the extreme, I can give them what they want.