P90X Vacation

I didn't plan it this way but last week wound up being a P90X Vacation. I didn't do a single workout. I did put the DVD's in the player several times but never got around to doing the routines. I was supposed to do a recovery week this week anyway and just wasn't motivated. I can attribute some of this to the arrival of the new time trial bike I bought a few weeks back. Between getting the bike fitted and test rides and tweaking, I just didn't find the time or motivation to "Bring It!" But that isn't to say I didn't work out. I got in three quality runs, fives swims, and almost eight hours on the bike. And I went to Yoga. We'll have to see how I feel this week. This is the beginning of the last phase the P90X program for me. I can say that I'm happy with the results. (I plan on posting my photos at the end of the program.) From my experience the program works exactly as it is promoted to. You put in the time, you get in shape. And honestly, right now I can say that I am in shape.

Well, well, well, Chrissie Wellington

Okay for those of you who don't know the story yet, it can be found here.

What happened in the Pro Women's race at the Hawaii Ironman in Kona this year was nothing short of incredible. The gist is basically this. Chrissie Wellington turns pro at the beginning of 2007. Does her first Ironman in Korea about 7 weeks ago and wins. As a result she gets a coveted slot in Kona. Said triathlete then goes on to win the World Championship by almost 6 minutes over a stellar field with a 2:59:57 marathon finishing in 9:08:45.

It just doesn't get any better than this...

For more about Chrissie, here is a link to her blog.

Bike review - 2007 Felt B2

This bike is fast. And it looks like a stealth bomber. It is priced around 3,400. Need I say more?

I assume the reduced price is meant as a consolation prize to those whose wallets can't or won't support the next bike up in the Felt TT food chain the DA. Long story short was I really liked this bike. I liked the way it felt and handled. And did I mention that it was fast? Okay so on my tests which controlled as much as possible except for wind this bike really stood out. Solid turning, quick acceleration and adequate climbing. The bike is also very aero with many of the components being smooth-faced or tucked out of the wind to reduce drag. The bike was definitely well thought out. So why didn't I buy it? It came down to some small things really. And that isn't to say this isn't a good bike for someone but these are three things I didn't like.

1. Well it wasn't that I didn't like the price. What I didn't like was how the price was achieved. $3400.00 was quite a bit less than I thought I'd be spending on a TT bike. In fact this amount left ample room for some really good racing wheels. And I think this is what the folks at Felt had in mind. Give folks a quality frame at a price point that puts some quality aero wheels in range, perhaps even buy them the same day with the bike. That being said, in order for them to do that you get a mish-mash of components ranging from Dura-ace rear derailleur, to Ultegra freewheel, to an FSA crank and bottom bracket set. So while your frame looks like it came straight from NASA or JPL, your components are from Frankenstein's lab. Honestly I think this was born out by the shifting which I felt was a huge disappointment.

2. For a carbon bike, this bike was heavy weighing in at about 18 or so pounds. Again, we can probably trace some of that weight back to the components.

3. Another good/bad thing really. This bike was really, really stiff. Probably a factor of the high modulus carbon and the lay up. The good news is this makes climbing and accelerating on this bike very lively and responsive. You step on the pedals and you just go. The bad is that the bike ride felt rougher than I would have imagined. Honestly, I could have been on an aluminum frame with my eyes closed and wouldn't have known the difference. But I'm not a big guy. I would guess the ride would feel softer if I were a few pounds heavier. But that would also eat away at the responsiveness of the ride.

All in all if you aren't picky about your components and want a fast bike for your buck that leaves enough for good wheels, the Felt B2 is definitely worth a ride. Oh and as I was looking over the specs again I noticed the free wheel is a "tight" 12-23 and the crank is a 54/42. This probably accounts for the speed factor. What I mean is the gearing on the freewheel is going to be very consistent from gear to gear. That is awesome for a time trial because it means you won't have any dead spots where your gearing is either too hard or too easy for the terrain. But with the 54/42 on the crank, you need to have some strong legs because the 23 on the back is as small as it gets. Translation? Climbing in an area like Austin, say Bee Caves or the Dam Loop won't be easy. Normal gearing on bikes is usually something on the order of a 12-24 and a 53/39 crank. Just something to consider if this is going to be your main training bike.

Starting P90X Week 8

I started week 8. Technically that means going back into a recovery week. But I'm not doing that. Because I cut week 6 short (due to the knee thing) I'm going to repeat week 7. What that means is I have to do the one DVD I truely hate, Chest, Shoulders and Triceps.

I try to do something triathlon specific to warm up for the P90X workouts. Tuesday I did an easy hour and a half ride. My max heart rate for this was 150. My average heart rate for the whole work out was 127. Hopefully next time I do this workout I'll get out of the house a little earlier and can miss some to the morning rush hour traffic. I try to keep my heart rate from getting above 145 for these rides and when I'm really motivated (i.e. I ride by myself and don't have to worry about getting buzzed by big trucks), I can keep my heart rate below 135 for the whole time.

I know a lot of folks would think I'm nuts for riding so slow. Especially if they knew what my max heart rate was. But from experience and what I've been reading lately, I'm finding that workouts like this really benefit my overall fitness. Why this works is a very important conversation to have about triathlon and endurance sports altogether, but I'll talk more on that in another post. Right now I want to let you get a feel for how my workouts are scheduled during a typical week so, this is what I've done so far:

Monday (P90X Recovery): Swim 30 min easy open water, 30 min easy run HR ave 145
Tuesday: Bike 1:30 HR ave 127, P90X Chest, Shoulders, Triceps 1:00, P90X Ab RipperX 00:15
Wednesday: Swim 30 min easy open water, Vinayasa Yoga 1:30, P90X Plyometrics 1:00

So right now I'm at 6:15 for the week. Here is what I plan to do for the rest of the week provided I feel up to it:

Thursday: Swim workout 1:00, P90X Back, Biceps 1:00, Ab RipperX 00:15, Run 30:00.
Friday: Swim 30 min easy open water, YogaX 1:30
Saturday: Bike 2:30
Sunday: P90X Legs, Back 1:00, Ab RipperX 00:15

So that's it. The whole week comes out to somewhere between 14 and 15 hours if I can do all the workouts and get enough rest. I take a lot of naps during the week to make this work. But I'm seeing the results I was looking for so I think it has been worth it.

P90X Week 7

So my knee healed and week 7 went by without a hitch. I got through all of the P90X workouts that I had planned and did most of my triathlon work as well. The only thing that I really noticed was how much I "HATE," and I do mean "HATE" the first workout of the week during this second phase of the program. Not that I don't recognize the benefit of said workout. It just really, really isn't one of my favorites.

The workout I'm referring to is the Chest, Shoulders, Triceps routine. Until I started this second phase of P90X, there really wasn't a lot in the program that I struggled with. Want me to do 100 pushups, 349 core/ab exercises, and 100 pullups with a bunch of other stuff thrown in for good measure in an hour and 15 minutes? No problem. There were some things I had to work at, but mostly I could handle whatever came my way. That was at least until I started doing the sadistic stuff on this DVD. OMFG! So what's the big deal you might ask? Well for starters a lot of these exercises are done to failure. FAILURE!!!

To be fair, Tony Horton calls failure by the PC term "maximum reps." Now while there is pain involved in doing workouts out like this, I'm not really sure this is why I hate doing it. Actually as I write this post I'm coming to understand my reluctance to put this particular DVD in the player comes more from my mental relationship to failure than it does to my ability to handle pain. Both of these things together (pain and failure) are really tough pills to swallow every Monday for three weeks in a row. So I find myself putting this workout off until I'm almost ready to go to bed. (There are some reasons this wasn't a very good decision -- namely it jacks up my sleeping pattern).

To give you an idea of what I'm talking about here, I'll describe a couple of the moves. The workout starts with what are called "3 in 1 Slow Motion Push Ups." So what happens is this: You start out in a wide hand position and go down very slowly on a four count and come up just as slowly on a four count four times. That is one set. The next set of the has you move your hands in a little closer to a standard push up and repeat the count. The last set is a Yogic or Chaturanga push up where the hands are close in to the side and the elbows graze the ribs. Then, immediately following those, as a bonus you get to do some standard push ups really, really fast at the end. Ugh.

The next killers are the Plange Push Up and the Pike Press. The Plange Push Up is similar to Chaturanga except that the hands are even further back. At the top of the push up you arch your back like a cat. The Pike Press is also sort of a push up with an interesting twist. Hands and feet are wide, like the Dive Bomber Push Up (or Hindu Push UP) but your body is in pike position shaped like an upside down "V". To do this movement you lower the crown of your head to the floor and back up. Like I said at the outset, a lot of these moves are performed almost to failure. So if you do not have a good gauge of where that point is, or are tired, you can face plant pretty easily. I have face planted a lot with this DVD.

Then there are the Floor Flys and Two Twitch Speed Push Ups. The Floor Flys are a combination chest fly and push up at the same time. Start at standard width with your hands then move the right hand out wide to the right, descend, then come back up moving the hand back to standard position. Four reps to the right side. Then do the same movement on the left side four times. Sounds simple till you get to about 12. From there on its a plain and simple gut check. The Two Twitch Speed Push Ups involve doing 4 fast push ups and 3 slow ones for one set. The slow ones are on a four count up and down like the Slow Motion Push Ups described earlier. Tony and his group do 4 sets. At present I am lucky if i make through 2 sets. This is another sure face plant for me weekly.

From there the workout moves to Side to Side Push Ups, One Arm Push Ups and finally ending with Clap/Plyo Push Ups. The Side to Side Push Up is one where you do a standard push up, then slide over to the right moving both feet and hands, then doing another push up before moving back to the starting position. We all know what One Arm Push Ups are. Nothing really to say about those except just like one arm pull ups, they are hard. And to be completely honest so are Clap Push Ups. Tony likes to show you what a stud he is here and does Plyo Push Ups for an advanced option. These are where he gets airborne with both his feet and hands leaving the ground, clapping while suspended in mid air.

Compared to this, the rest of the workouts for the week are a breeze. Tony likes to say that the Plyometrics workout is the mother of P90X workouts, but he is wrong. Plyo, while challenging, is no where near the psychological and physical drubbing handed out on this DVD. All I can say is I'm glad I had already gone through 4 weeks of P90X leading up to this. There is no way I'd have had the mindset to "Bring It" if this had been what we started off with. So as usual I have to complement Tony on a well designed workout series. Next week is a rest week, then pictures before moving into the final phase. And no more of this DVD for a while. Thank God.