Exam season, not much time for posting.. but if anyone needs some inspiration to hit the gym, check this video.
Training Widget
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
University of Windsor Triathlon Club
One of my biggest problems in training has been finding people to train with. Its strange because I know a lot of people who do Tris, Run, Swim or cycle but I can't never seem to co-ordinate with them enough to get a full time training partner. I sometimes go to the gym with friends but never anyone who really pushes me to the limits or who can spot me during weight training. Even while I was getting coaching last year they recommended to me to find someone to train with. Training with people is honestly one of the most beneficial things you can do to improve your results. Not only does it improve your how much effort you will put into your workout but also the social benefits are great! You make new friends or strengthen old relationships all the while watching results with someone else. My goal all along has been to meet new people through this and I have made many friends in the Triathlon/ Running communities. Although I've never met too many cyclists or swimmers I knew a lot of swimmers back in Highschool and had a great time competing with them.
The other day while at my school gym I saw a sign for a University Triathlon club. Me and a few guys I met from the Triathlon store in London I go to a lot were planning on starting a club but it looked like someone beat us to the gun. I let them know about it and gave the organizer a call. Turns out one of the coaches of the football team here recently got into sprint triathlons and was looking to start a club. I met with him and a few girls who were all aspiring triathletes like me. Strangely I had probably the most Triathlon experience of anyone there! But everyone seemed great! One of the girls named Lauren was like me and had been a competitive swimmer in Highschool and was just revving to start training the run and bike. We decided not to start the club until January which works well for me as I really want to get a lot of training in before then. Hopefully these guys from London will sign up too and get a size able club going.
In other news Im now searching for a bicycle trainer. Its bringing to light a whole bunch of new questions about cycling stuff for me I had never asked before. Hopefully Ill be able to talk about my purchase after and give anyone who wants to train their cycle at home some heads up on stuff. The stationaries at the school are just not cutting it anymore. I hope to blog soon also about diets. Its easy to see lots of people talking about IDEAL diets in stuff, but when it comes down to it, being a student means money is tight and time is tight and No one ever eats as well as they should. Ill talk about my diet and how I "think" im doing compared to what I should be and weather or not it is sufficient anyways!
Thanks for reading! Wish me luck!
Cheers
The other day while at my school gym I saw a sign for a University Triathlon club. Me and a few guys I met from the Triathlon store in London I go to a lot were planning on starting a club but it looked like someone beat us to the gun. I let them know about it and gave the organizer a call. Turns out one of the coaches of the football team here recently got into sprint triathlons and was looking to start a club. I met with him and a few girls who were all aspiring triathletes like me. Strangely I had probably the most Triathlon experience of anyone there! But everyone seemed great! One of the girls named Lauren was like me and had been a competitive swimmer in Highschool and was just revving to start training the run and bike. We decided not to start the club until January which works well for me as I really want to get a lot of training in before then. Hopefully these guys from London will sign up too and get a size able club going.
In other news Im now searching for a bicycle trainer. Its bringing to light a whole bunch of new questions about cycling stuff for me I had never asked before. Hopefully Ill be able to talk about my purchase after and give anyone who wants to train their cycle at home some heads up on stuff. The stationaries at the school are just not cutting it anymore. I hope to blog soon also about diets. Its easy to see lots of people talking about IDEAL diets in stuff, but when it comes down to it, being a student means money is tight and time is tight and No one ever eats as well as they should. Ill talk about my diet and how I "think" im doing compared to what I should be and weather or not it is sufficient anyways!
Thanks for reading! Wish me luck!
Cheers
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Time Management
Its hard to believe sometimes how much time we eat up every single day. For me a workout takes up only 2 hours of my life with travel time and cool down taken into account. Out of 24 hours what happens to the other 22 hours? I'm going to take this chance to walk through my day and hopefully find ways to improve my own time management. Its too easy to dwindle time away and then not get enough done when in reality there is all the time we need and more each and everyday for things like working out, studying, having a little downtime, work and getting a proper sleep(the hardest 1 for me at least).
My days are always based around my school schedule. This semester means Im usually busy from 8:30-12:00 with class. Awake at 7:00am, snooze till 7:20. This is a habit I want to break, the snooze never really helps its just a procrastination technique. Getting ready for class is a standard procedure but none the less about 15 minutes is spent getting to and from class and 30 minutes eating. Generally each meal takes me about 30minutes.. not much time at all. So far eating breakfast, getting ready, going to class and eating lunch has only taken 5 hours out of my day. Lots of time left over for other things. I have another 1.5hours of class at 2:30 this gives me a 2:15minute break during lunch to get stuff done, unfortunately I never really get too much accomplished during this block. I might spend this time, blogging or playing halo or guitar. Today its currently 1:05 and I am blogging and playing guitar.. and just finished playing halo. Luckily I still have 1 hour and when this blog is done Im going to spend it studying French. After class is always workout time. Class ends at 3:50 and I can be at the gym by 4 I usually workout with the intention of getting home by 5:30 but sometimes I let myself be a little long and get home at 6:00. Dinner until 6:30 and technically I should have my whole evening to be productive. This could mean 4 hours of studying and still get a great sleep. For some reason this never occurs and this is the biggest part of my day that has to be fixed. Its so easy to waste time on face book or talking to friends or playing with your cat that you don't realize how efficient your day could be. The same thing happens when you let your sleep schedule get away from you. I find it is hardest to be efficient when I'm tired. I wish I could say "study's show" but I haven't read any. All i know is that If im trying to study from 10 to 12 i retain very little and If i go to bed after 12 i wake up exhausted. When I'm tired not only do i study less efficiently but my workouts suffer. Today I'm going to start establishing new habits. Firstly by putting my hobbys in the background. Giving 2 hours to my workouts and 1 hour to guitar and videogames and 3 hours to studying on top of class. Any extra time can be spent on extra work like doing the dishes and laundry. I really don't know exactly what to do, but dedication is what it really takes to stop wasting time and thats my goal for today! Time to get off the computer and onto my french studys. Thanks for reading :D
My days are always based around my school schedule. This semester means Im usually busy from 8:30-12:00 with class. Awake at 7:00am, snooze till 7:20. This is a habit I want to break, the snooze never really helps its just a procrastination technique. Getting ready for class is a standard procedure but none the less about 15 minutes is spent getting to and from class and 30 minutes eating. Generally each meal takes me about 30minutes.. not much time at all. So far eating breakfast, getting ready, going to class and eating lunch has only taken 5 hours out of my day. Lots of time left over for other things. I have another 1.5hours of class at 2:30 this gives me a 2:15minute break during lunch to get stuff done, unfortunately I never really get too much accomplished during this block. I might spend this time, blogging or playing halo or guitar. Today its currently 1:05 and I am blogging and playing guitar.. and just finished playing halo. Luckily I still have 1 hour and when this blog is done Im going to spend it studying French. After class is always workout time. Class ends at 3:50 and I can be at the gym by 4 I usually workout with the intention of getting home by 5:30 but sometimes I let myself be a little long and get home at 6:00. Dinner until 6:30 and technically I should have my whole evening to be productive. This could mean 4 hours of studying and still get a great sleep. For some reason this never occurs and this is the biggest part of my day that has to be fixed. Its so easy to waste time on face book or talking to friends or playing with your cat that you don't realize how efficient your day could be. The same thing happens when you let your sleep schedule get away from you. I find it is hardest to be efficient when I'm tired. I wish I could say "study's show" but I haven't read any. All i know is that If im trying to study from 10 to 12 i retain very little and If i go to bed after 12 i wake up exhausted. When I'm tired not only do i study less efficiently but my workouts suffer. Today I'm going to start establishing new habits. Firstly by putting my hobbys in the background. Giving 2 hours to my workouts and 1 hour to guitar and videogames and 3 hours to studying on top of class. Any extra time can be spent on extra work like doing the dishes and laundry. I really don't know exactly what to do, but dedication is what it really takes to stop wasting time and thats my goal for today! Time to get off the computer and onto my french studys. Thanks for reading :D
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Swim Training and Food!
Yesterday was my first day back in the pool in quite some time :) I swam 2.5km in 55 minutes which wasn't bad considering I've been out of the water for a while. Strangely my triceps were the most sore after this swim. In general ive always considered swimming the hardest yet most satisfying of all the disciplines in triathlon. The only problem is the advantage given to strong swimmers is negligible compared to being a strong cyclist. Some people I beat out of the water by 5 - 10 minutes in my last race.. in a 15 minute swim that should be a huge deal, but when the bike takes you an hour its easy for fast cyclists to catch. Basically what ive discovered is that in the swim endurance is key but once you hit a certain speed its not really worth it to get alot faster. Generally I would like to be able to go about 3km /h or 4km/h for a faster shorter swim. After that the gains you get are really not worth it on race day. Swimming is still excellent for conditioning regardless of your sport! But because of all of this my winter is going to be dedicated to really becoming a stronger cyclist rather than a better swimmer.. throwing in these workouts is really just to get back into a good shape for the swim and it doesn't hurt the aesthetics :)
Today will be a cycling day. But today im also working on my Halloween costume. Im making a boba fett mask and going to wear a suit.. badass i know. For anyone who wants to make their own Boba-Fett mask see this youtube video and follow the links he has posted. My only change is instead of using a latex puddy I used paper mache, the spackling really didn't work too well on mine and almost ruined my helmet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdGo26rtqho
Before I end my post I wanted to talk a little bit about nutrition and food. I ate some awesome Ethiopian last night at this restaurant called Marathon house or something. It was great, try it out if you enjoy foods from around the world. I will be doing a post in a few days about a "real" diet. Everyone always has these Ideal diets for training but my experience is that despite dedication diet is somehow the hardest thing to nail down. Ill discuss what I eat compared to what I should eat and what i use to subsidize and stuff like that. Being a student a proper diet is really hard to afford but that doesn't mean you can't still see great results with hard training and a regular diet. Anyways thanks for reading stay tuned!
Cheers!
Today will be a cycling day. But today im also working on my Halloween costume. Im making a boba fett mask and going to wear a suit.. badass i know. For anyone who wants to make their own Boba-Fett mask see this youtube video and follow the links he has posted. My only change is instead of using a latex puddy I used paper mache, the spackling really didn't work too well on mine and almost ruined my helmet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdGo26rtqho
Before I end my post I wanted to talk a little bit about nutrition and food. I ate some awesome Ethiopian last night at this restaurant called Marathon house or something. It was great, try it out if you enjoy foods from around the world. I will be doing a post in a few days about a "real" diet. Everyone always has these Ideal diets for training but my experience is that despite dedication diet is somehow the hardest thing to nail down. Ill discuss what I eat compared to what I should eat and what i use to subsidize and stuff like that. Being a student a proper diet is really hard to afford but that doesn't mean you can't still see great results with hard training and a regular diet. Anyways thanks for reading stay tuned!
Cheers!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Ads on my page
Although counter productive I was just looking at an ad that says 5 foods not to eat and has a picture of a banana maybe implying you shouldn't eat bananas... don't click that ad.. bananas are awesome for you :). They are super high energy and make for good eats before or after or even during a workout. I never do a long cycle without one! Also they taste great!
lol my rant turned into a daily fitness tip :P
Cheers!
lol my rant turned into a daily fitness tip :P
Cheers!
Training Schedules!
Not much time for a very long post this morning! About to go write exams but i figured I would write down my weekly routine and see if I can get some comments from people who know better.
At the moment it looks like this
Mondays - Weight Training as well as a 1mile run
Tuesdays - Interval Run training .. 45 minutes to an hour
Wednesday - Swims 1 hour probably about 4km
Thursday - Endurance Run and a short bike.. run for an hour 20, bike for 20 minutes
Friday- Swim again 1 hour
Saturday - Long bike and short Run
Sunday - probably a break day
This is a pretty basic breakdown, quantities aren't very much.. hopefully this will go up as I get into better shape. My interval run yesterday was a lot easier than i thought it was going to be. I went 5.5 miles in 50 minutes. Pacing 5 minutes at 6mph, 10 minutes at 6.5mph 15 and 7.5 and 15 at 7 with a 5 minute cool down. Next time Im going to try for 6.5 7 8 7.5 cool down.
Wish me luck! Have a great day to everyone who reads this! I know I sure will.. kick off the day with a bowl of cheerios and a FInance Exam!
At the moment it looks like this
Mondays - Weight Training as well as a 1mile run
Tuesdays - Interval Run training .. 45 minutes to an hour
Wednesday - Swims 1 hour probably about 4km
Thursday - Endurance Run and a short bike.. run for an hour 20, bike for 20 minutes
Friday- Swim again 1 hour
Saturday - Long bike and short Run
Sunday - probably a break day
This is a pretty basic breakdown, quantities aren't very much.. hopefully this will go up as I get into better shape. My interval run yesterday was a lot easier than i thought it was going to be. I went 5.5 miles in 50 minutes. Pacing 5 minutes at 6mph, 10 minutes at 6.5mph 15 and 7.5 and 15 at 7 with a 5 minute cool down. Next time Im going to try for 6.5 7 8 7.5 cool down.
Wish me luck! Have a great day to everyone who reads this! I know I sure will.. kick off the day with a bowl of cheerios and a FInance Exam!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
My Gear
So to start off today I'm going to layout my gear for you guys, why I use what I do and some of the stuff on my wish list. Most of my stuff is pretty basic so anyone else just starting Triathlon can get a good idea of what you need to start out and maybe some more experienced guys could comment on my stuff and let me know what they think!
Ill start at my feet and work my way up.
On my feet I have 2 pairs of shoes for different situations.
http://www.kswiss.com/item/11.11/02225-630/Men/Footwear_Running/K-Ona_S/Truered_Slvr_Whtironman.html
The K-Ona by K-swiss were a shoe I didn't know about at first but it was love at first wear. These are seriously the best shoes I have ever run in. They are a little bit minimalist but still have great support for long runs. A very moderate tension across the sole and they look awesome to boot! I wear these shoes for almost all my distance run training and whenever i find myself at the gym.
My other shoes are these
http://zootsports.com/spring2010/product/m-ultra-race-2?category=mens:tri-footwear
Zoot Ultras, mine are not exactly like this as they are from 2 years ago.. bright yellow, absolutely incredible shoes as well but totally different from anything ive ever warn before. They are the lightest shoe ive ever had, they weigh almost next to nothing. They are extremely flexible and very easy to put on. But because of the lack of support I don't enjoy wearing these shoes for long runs... contrary to their design. I wear them mostly for short runs and speed/agility training as well ive warn them in a sprint tri and they worked rather well since they don't require socks.
I tend to wear regular shorts, regular shirts and regular socks for all my running, nothing too special. I do have a pair of compression pants which i wear when its cold or if im going for long runs. I also sometimes wear these when im cycling. it always feels good to get a little bit of compression going during exercise.
Onto Cycling now.
My bike is
http://www.louisgarneau.com/ca-en/product/308145/1303031/Performance/AXIS_SL1_BIKE
Its a pretty average bike. I bought it on cost rather than efficiency and since i bought it have replaced the pedals with a set of clips and shoes and this summer I am going to replace the bars by adding some tri extensions. I will do a more in-depth post on my bike later. I don't know what helmet i wear :(
As far as swimming goes I usually rent a wetsuit. Ive been a swimmer since the beginning of high-school and made the mistake of believing i could do my first tri wearing a regular race suit.. boy was I wrong. When your in 65 -75 F water the benefits from a wetsuit are un-believable. I will never do a tri without 1 again. As far as training goes I use standard speedo shorts and googles and a zoot cap.
Lastly and most importantly out of my gear is my watch.
http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/products/get_active/running_multisport/RS100
my watch is a Polar RS100. Although a very entry level watch this has been one of my most important training purchases. Besides being an awesome watch it also acts as a heart rate monitor which is extremely useful for a lot of interval training and other things. Throw in a fuel belt and a discovery channel cycling jersey and that is pretty much it for my gear. It covers all the bases and will hopefully be upgraded as my training continues. Im going to try and take a picture of everything at once to post later :)
Cheers
Thanks for Reading
Ill start at my feet and work my way up.
On my feet I have 2 pairs of shoes for different situations.
http://www.kswiss.com/item/11.11/02225-630/Men/Footwear_Running/K-Ona_S/Truered_Slvr_Whtironman.html
The K-Ona by K-swiss were a shoe I didn't know about at first but it was love at first wear. These are seriously the best shoes I have ever run in. They are a little bit minimalist but still have great support for long runs. A very moderate tension across the sole and they look awesome to boot! I wear these shoes for almost all my distance run training and whenever i find myself at the gym.
My other shoes are these
http://zootsports.com/spring2010/product/m-ultra-race-2?category=mens:tri-footwear
Zoot Ultras, mine are not exactly like this as they are from 2 years ago.. bright yellow, absolutely incredible shoes as well but totally different from anything ive ever warn before. They are the lightest shoe ive ever had, they weigh almost next to nothing. They are extremely flexible and very easy to put on. But because of the lack of support I don't enjoy wearing these shoes for long runs... contrary to their design. I wear them mostly for short runs and speed/agility training as well ive warn them in a sprint tri and they worked rather well since they don't require socks.
I tend to wear regular shorts, regular shirts and regular socks for all my running, nothing too special. I do have a pair of compression pants which i wear when its cold or if im going for long runs. I also sometimes wear these when im cycling. it always feels good to get a little bit of compression going during exercise.
Onto Cycling now.
My bike is
http://www.louisgarneau.com/ca-en/product/308145/1303031/Performance/AXIS_SL1_BIKE
Its a pretty average bike. I bought it on cost rather than efficiency and since i bought it have replaced the pedals with a set of clips and shoes and this summer I am going to replace the bars by adding some tri extensions. I will do a more in-depth post on my bike later. I don't know what helmet i wear :(
As far as swimming goes I usually rent a wetsuit. Ive been a swimmer since the beginning of high-school and made the mistake of believing i could do my first tri wearing a regular race suit.. boy was I wrong. When your in 65 -75 F water the benefits from a wetsuit are un-believable. I will never do a tri without 1 again. As far as training goes I use standard speedo shorts and googles and a zoot cap.
Lastly and most importantly out of my gear is my watch.
http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/products/get_active/running_multisport/RS100
my watch is a Polar RS100. Although a very entry level watch this has been one of my most important training purchases. Besides being an awesome watch it also acts as a heart rate monitor which is extremely useful for a lot of interval training and other things. Throw in a fuel belt and a discovery channel cycling jersey and that is pretty much it for my gear. It covers all the bases and will hopefully be upgraded as my training continues. Im going to try and take a picture of everything at once to post later :)
Cheers
Thanks for Reading
Monday, October 18, 2010
Some Music
While im posting here im also going to include some content for some of my music! Here is a band i do some session work for! Derrick otooles Fantasical Musical Journey Machine! Check it out!
New Blog!
Hey Everyone!
I'm here to start blogging about my new journey to do an Ironman. After watching the 2010 Detroit Marathon I remembered how much i enjoyed competing in Triathlon (which i had given up to lift weights) and decided that Triathlon and running was really what I wanted to do. So basically this blog is going to cover all I learn and have learned in the past about Triathlon and will hopefully help me organize my thoughts as I find out what it takes to run an ironman (which was the goal of mine back when I did triathlon 2 years ago). Thanks for reading! Alot more to come! For anyone who uses Dailymile you can find me by searching for Mike Faul!
Cheers!
I'm here to start blogging about my new journey to do an Ironman. After watching the 2010 Detroit Marathon I remembered how much i enjoyed competing in Triathlon (which i had given up to lift weights) and decided that Triathlon and running was really what I wanted to do. So basically this blog is going to cover all I learn and have learned in the past about Triathlon and will hopefully help me organize my thoughts as I find out what it takes to run an ironman (which was the goal of mine back when I did triathlon 2 years ago). Thanks for reading! Alot more to come! For anyone who uses Dailymile you can find me by searching for Mike Faul!
Cheers!
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