Aug 31: Swim@50m pool, 6:15-7:15pm

Target: 300m x 4 laps

Even with my knee pain I thought it wouldn't hurt me to do swimming, but when I kick the water with my left foot, the pain comes back. Hence naturally, I use more of my left foot, and use less of my right. There's no other problems to swim. The pool is pretty empty today and it's easier to swim. The courses are split into slow, mid, fast paced lanes. I can swim in mid pace up to 200 meters, but after that, I move to slow paced lane.  The issue here is that my front crawl is slow so people end up catching up with me who are behind me. Today wasn't too bad since it was pretty empty, I'd start swimming leaving about 40 meters from the person in front.

Started to swim slowly for about 300m, took 5 min rest, 300m, 7 min rest, and then 300m. It was pretty smooth but the pool was going for a rest time so had to end after 200m. After the rest, I swam 300m, 200m and finish.

Result: 300m, 300m, 300m, 200m, 300m, 200m, with 10min breaks, in an hour I swam 1.6km.
I guess I can say I've achieved my target. My next month's target is 400m x 3. I'm going to focus on swimming hoping that my knee will recover.

Aug 31: My knee pain

I stopped and took some rest from last night's running due to a small pain in my knees, but today more pain is there and I'm having trouble walking especially in the stairs.

From now on, I'll focus on swimming and will see a doctor in the weekend and find out my new plans. I'll also check if cycling influences on knees or not, and if it does I'll stop but if it doesn't, I'll train my legs by cycling the mountain course.

It's such a shame but I feel like the triathlon has gone a little further. I still can't completely give up. If there's even a small chance, I want to take this challenge.

To reflect, it's not good to suddenly start the exercise. I should have a light exercise or preparation so that the body gets warm and then slightly increase the workload.

My pain log:
1. July 25th: Around 2km point during the running in the park forest course, I felt a small pain in my knees. The ground is soil but it's not flat so it gives some pressure to the knees. When I ran with a full speed, it happened. Afterwards, I didn't feel any pain. Since I've ran 3 times already, I thought it was ok - and that was wrong.

2.  Aug 25th: After work, I used to run from the local bus stop to home (300m) - to prepare my legs. On this day, it was after the business trip and I ran in a full speed with a heavy bag. When I was running it was ok, but the next morning, with knee pain I couldn't bend them. At that time, I forgot about running from the bus stop, and couldn't tell what the reason was but I guess I know now. The pain went away in around 2 days.

3. Aug 30th: The knee pain was still lightly there but since I was so looking forward to running with my nephew, and I wanted to know any changes in my fitness so I decided to run. I tried not to give any pressure on my knees by running in small steps but felt some pain at some stage so decided to stop.

4. It's painful whenever I move my knees from the morning. Even when I walk I cover the pain and stairs are very difficult.

Aug 30: Run@6:30am

Target: run 2.5km in 6min/km pace
Result: As I thought, it's much nicer to run in the wide green rice land rather than residential area. It's pleasant to run seeing Chokai Mountains and Gassan (Mt) in Yamagata. Also, I've noticed that after running with my nephew, running with someone else is much more fun and I can try harder. But my knees started to hurt so decided to stop at 1.6km.

1. 1.6km in 10'39"

My knees:
From a couple of days ago, it was feeling something. Even this morning, the small pain is still there. The first time I felt the pain was the 3rd day after running in the park. 3 day ago, when I woke up my knees started to hurt, and it was difficult to get up.

Aug 26: Swim@25m pool, 3-4:40pm

I'm currently on a business trip but the tests were postponed to tomorrow so I have some free time. Turns out thtere's a community pool nearby so headed that way.

Target: 300m x 4 laps

Result:

lap 1: 300m 6'30'' - interval 3'30''

lap 2: 300m 6'40'' - interval 7'40''

lap 3: 300m 6'20''

then 200m, 300m, 200m

Total: 2km

Water was clean and the pool was empty - it was very pleasant!

Aug 23: Run@5:15am, 28℃

Usually, I do both cycling and running on Sundays but since I had some tiredness from yesterday so took it easy today. I have a business trip from tomorrow until Friday so I can only exercise today. To maintain my body strength, I went jogging before heading to work.

Target: 3 laps - 6 minutes each

Result:

lap 1: 5'14'', pulse ave: 115, end: 125

lap 2: 5'11'', pulse ave: 130, end 131

Total: 10'25'', max 135, ave 123

The breathing becomes very difficult so I've dropped my pace from the 2nd lap using wider steps trying to keep my speed. But couldn't manage the 3rd lap.

My body seems still asleep so I should do pre-exercise before I run. Also my heart rate is too slow in the beginning. From next time, I shall do a quick exercise before I run.

Aug 21: Swim@25m pool, 7:30-8:45pm

Target: 300m x 4 laps

Result, 300m, 300m, 300m, 300m

I've done it!!!!

But it took me 7'30'' to swim 300 meters, and each interval was about 10 minutes. Since I've managed to hit my target in 25m pool, I'm going to try this in 50m pool!

Aug 19: Swim@50m pool, 6:10-7:45pm

Target: 300m x 4 laps

Result: 300m, 100m, 100m, 200m, 100m, 200m, 100m x 5, Total: 1.5km

Again, I get tired so quickly. I feel the limit of my body strength. I have to stroke 48 times to swim 50 meters.

Aug 16: Swim@25m pool, 7-8:15pm

Target: 300m x 4 laps

Result: 300m, 100m, 100m, 100m, 100m, 300m, 100m, 100m,

I get tired so quickly and had to drop my pace. It's not progressing.

Aug 16: Run@6:57, 28℃

This running follows after cycling.

Target: 1km in 6m

Result: km in 6'18'' (includes shoe changing time)

Pulse: ave 141, end 153

Aug 16: Cycle@6:41am, 28℃

Target: 1 lap of mountain course

Result: 6.3km in 14'39'', altitude difference 65m (measuring with barometric altimeter)

Pulse: max 158, ave 141

Upper hill is pretty tough. Same course as when I cycled on Aug 14th. Running follows right after this.

Aug 15: Run@7:37am, 30℃

Decided to run in the park since it was too hot.

Target: 3 laps

Result: 
lap 1: 6'47'', pulse ave: 119, end:129
lap 2: 6'27'', pulse ave: 140, end 142
lap 3: 6'42'', pulse ave: 141, end 147
Total: 19'56''

First I ran slowly protecting my knees. It's on soil but the ground is not smooth so it creates shocks to my knees. My tiredness got to extreme level after the 3rd lap also with the heat and I couldn't run anymore.

Aug 14: Swim@25m pool, 7:15-8:40pm

Target: 300m x 4 laps

Result: 200m, 300m, 200m, 100m, 200m

I had to lower my pace due to the tiredness. I suppose I need to manage the amount of daily exercise. Getting old seems to be a thick wall that blocks your challenge. I guess I'll need a clever management rather than just doing it. Need to be creative how I proceed!

Aug 14: Run@18:10, 28℃

Target: 2 laps of 1km course in 6 minutes pace

Result: 5'12'', 5'15''

My legs are heavy like lead. Still a long way ahead!!

Aug 14: Run@6:57am, 28℃

Running follows right after cycling.

Target: 1km (1 lap)

Result: 1 lap in 5'20''

Pulse: max 155, ave 144

After 1 lap I'm tired. It will take me a while to get to 5 laps...

Aug 14: Cycle@6:45am, 28℃

Target: 1 lap of mountain course

Result: 6.3km in 14'27'' - difference in altitude is 65m (using barometric altimeter)

Uphill is pretty tough. The course has uphill first then light downhill for a while afterwards. Then uphill again and then steep downhill. Then uphill, then light downhill. 

Right after cycling, I change my shoes and start running.

Aug 13: Swim@25m pool, 7:15-8:40pm

Target: 300m x 4 laps

Result: 200m x 3 laps, 400m x 1

I used Polar's pulse monitor and swam but with water resistance, my chest censor was dragged down. When I started slowly, it remains there. It seems my pulse is 135.

My coach (my old friend's wife who invited me to the triathlon) recommended me to buy a pulse monitor. I'll report my pulses from now on.

Aug 10: Swim@50m pool, 6:20-8pm

Target: 300m x 4 laps

Result: 300m, 100m, 200m, 200m, 200m, 100m x 5

I still have tiredness in my arm muscles from yesterday. Total 1.7km.

Aug 8: Swim@20m pool, 12-1:45pm

Since my body is tired, I haven't set a target and just swam to make an adjustment. Due to the tiredness, I couldn't swim more than 200m in one go. Swam 1km in total. 

It's going to be my challenge how to create a stamina that would enable me to finish all of these.

Aug 8: Run@6:17, 28℃

Trying to combine running and cycling.

Target: run 1km in 6 minutes (after cycling)

Result: 5'06'' (!!!)

With small steps, I keep my pace fast. After running for 1km, there's absolutely no energy left in me.

Aug 8: Cycle@6am, 28℃

Target: After cycling a mountain course (6.3km), combine it with running!

Result: 1 lap: 15'41''

It was tough on the up hill due to my out of breath but managed to finish it.

Aug 7: Swim@50m pool, 3-5pm

Target: 300m x 4 laps

Result: 250m, 200m, 250m, 200m, 200m, 100m x 5 laps

In the beginning I stopped at 250m point due to the crowd but seemed possible to do 300m with my energy. But from the second round it was difficult to breath and couldn't make it to 300m. I swam with my son and resulted in 2km.

Aug 6: Run@5:03am, 30℃

Target: keeping 6 minute/lap pace and run for 2 laps near my house

I run with small steps and faster pace. It was a bit tough at 500m point but even after running for 2km, I still have some energy. 

Result: lap 1: 5'33'', lap 2: 5'25'', Total: 10'58''

Aug 4: Cycle at 5:15am, 29℃

I cycled 1km near my house. There wasn't much time before going to work so I targetted to cycle 1 lap with fastest speed. At 700m point my legs got tired and I lowered my pace. 

Result: 1km 4'50''

Aug 3: Swim@50m pool, 18:20-19:45

Target: 300m x 4 laps

Result: 250m, 300m, 250m, 300m, 100m

First I swam slowly but the pool was a bit crowded so I got stuck at 250m. After I swam 800m, I took 10 minutes rest. It's still hard to swim 300m. I have to try so hard to get to 300m. I swam 1.3km in total today.

Aug 1: Swim@20m pool, 12-2:15pm

Today was just to adjust my body due to my tiredness from yesterday. I carefully swam not to get any cramps. I focused on my swimming forms and taught my son a swimming lesson and that was it for today.