Thursday, April 9, 2009

Building Up the Library

Five years ago we blew out the back of our humble abode and added on 1200 sq. feet of living space. Part of this remodel was to turn our then dining room into a library.





Having a library was a wish of my wife and I for a number of years. We knew this would instill reading into our son and also serve as a place for all of our books. The Boy®, who will turn nine on Friday, is reading at a sixth grade level. And the oldest whippet likes to laze on the recliner...and added bonus.

I've got my own section. It contains my prized Gardner Dozois Year's Best Science Fiction Series. Every single volume that began back in 1984 is at my finger tips.

I also have a plethora of training guides. Probably too many. But there's always the need for more, right? So I have ordered three new tomes to give me some light reading on how to address the three disciplines of triathlon. They are:

  1. Workouts in a Binder for Indoor Cycling - Wes Hobson
  2. Run Workouts for Runners and Triathletes (Workouts in a Binder (TM)) - Bobby McGee
  3. Workouts in a Binder: Swim Workouts for Triathletes - Gale Bernhardt

Triathletes who hope to improve their disciplines too often mix and match workouts or workout segments with no particular goal. With the Garmin purchase, I now have the ability to track my heart-rate zones. In that regard, I hope to stave off recurring injuries as I think I've been too often training in Zone 3 and 4 when I should be having an 'easy' day and training in a Zone 2 zone.

I also plan to get my VO2 Max tested. VO2max is the maximum amount of oxygen in millilitres, one can use in one minute per kilogram of body weight. Those who are fit have higher VO2max values and can exercise more intensely than those who are not as well conditioned. Numerous studies show that you can increase your VO2max by working out at an intensity that raises your heart rate to between 65 and 85% of its maximum for at least 20 minutes three to five times a week.

At least, that's the plan. Until something shinier comes along to grab my attention. Look! Squirrel.....

2 comments:

Vagabond said...

Wow. Thats a library. FYI, Once a Runner was just re-released. If you don't already own it.

Adam Beston said...

Two things: If you can go do a practice session with the headgear before you go in. Also a treadmill is supposed to be better then the bike. I did mine on a bike and runs tests are supposed to be 7-12% higher based on research.
Two: Manually check grade using the lap function and the top and bottom and calc it on your own or go back into the graphs. EVERYTHING instantaneous on the Garmins sucks. Look at data that is not statiscally smoothed.