Yesterday's Workouts: Taper Madness Setting In

I was apprehensive going in to today's workouts. Tapering, you know. Part of me hates not working out so much and the other part of me recognizes that I need the rest. Regardless, I am eminently aware that tapering messes with your mind and body.

You are on this mostly regular schedule--for me, it's two workouts a day--and because of that you are eating certain amounts at certain times of the day, and let's just say it here, it keeps you damn regular. You get used to the ebb and flow of your energy level throughout the day. You know and expect what it's like to be tired at the end of the day because you trained hard. Your mind is accustomed to the break it receives when you work out and it views that as integral to its health. You are used to a certain level of endorphins which, face it, are the best drug. For me, since I typically do one workout in the morning and another later, this also sets the timing of my showers, so I get used to being grungy for only short periods of time. The end of the day fatigue sets in and you easily, and pleasantly, fall asleep, and deeply. You wake up the next day and you are already looking forward to your workouts.

Compare and contrast that with a taper: maybe I have to do one workout; maybe NONE. My eating and showering schedules are all messed up. I don't even think about eating much or else I obsess about how I can't eat so much because that would be stupid to put on weight now (how much does it suck to be tapering during Christmas and New Year holiday weeks???). Some of the workouts are so, well, SHORT, that I even consider what the hell, I could just skip it! I am not sure whether I'm tired and need to rest or lazy. My mind is not happy. It goes from thoughts of I've trained really hard I am SO ready for this race to I suck--exercise is just an excuse to not do other important things in my life. I forget to take my mid-day break from work, and because of that, am a little more ornery than usual. Working 8 straight hours in a row is not healthy for me! I think about other athletes preparing for the same event and wonder if they are laughing at me because, face it, I am a slow runner! My god some of them will be running sub-7:00 miles both days at Disney, and my lowly goal is to make it through both races in one piece, hopefully running the entire time maybe 10:00 miles! Then I have to slap myself and remember that this is ME, and my goals are different, and I am not a lifelong athlete, and I have come a long way, and oh by the way I've been training for an Ironman while training for this Goofy shit.

Much of this comes down to something that a runner at my Y shared with me a few years ago. This man runs marathons regularly. He's not ultra-fast, but he is faster than me, and he truly enjoys running. He and his wife run their own business, and a few years ago when I was tapering for something else, we were discussing tapering and all the stuff I just wrote about and he summed up my thoughts precisely: "Regular life sucks." I totally understood what he was saying. Not that the rest of our lives truly suck, just that if we didn't have our exercise and the accompanying good effects of it, well, what kind of life would that be? He further remarked that every single day, even though he enjoys the freedom of being his own boss, he looks forward to his daily run, and so when he is tapering it is just madness if he has a day off. I love this guy! Ever since then, all I have to do is tell him I'm tapering, and he just looks at me and shakes his head, and says, "You'll get through it."

Yesterday I had to do a swim TT (time trial) to establish my T-pace, which is threshold pace per 100 yards. This speed can then be used to calibrate subsequent workouts and also serves as a fitness test of sorts. My swimming has sucked the big one lately from the intensity of the strength work that I've been doing, and I just haven't been swimming much, so I wasn't optimistic. But I finally decided I had better get my sorry ass to the pool and do it and not worry so much about it, because I get another chance next week and I have months ahead of me to improve. I figured Friday before Christmas, pool can't be crowded, but I was WRONG-O.

12:25PM Swim 2250 yards in :45 as 200s, 200k, 1000s (TT), 300k, 500s, 50 easy. This wasn't exactly how I was supposed to do the workout because lots of people showed up. I ended up circle swimming with one girl who looked to be a college swimmer on break (oh, great) and this other guy who, based on my observations, is the fastest swimmer at this Y. This did not bode well for me, the slow one, being in the lane with them and getting a 1000f done. Oh well, I figured whatever I could do would be fine. So I cut my warmup a little short, and just went for it after 200k. I have to say it helped to have "sharks" in the water with me--they pushed me to swim really hard for once. I know I can, but well, I'm not a swimmer by nature (swimming since 2000), and whenever I'm tired, my swimming really suffers. But, I did have the previous day essentially off, and it had been 4 days since I lifted so I should have been able to swim at least "ok." College girl was actually drafting off me for a bit! I was totally shocked. She must have been doing an easy swim. Well surprise, surprise, I managed to hold 1:45/100. That's, I think, the fastest T-pace I've ever achieved. And I've been a slacker this fall, swimming-wise. So maybe there is hope. I would really like to get that down to 1:40 which would be flipping amazing for me. Slap on a wetsuit, throw me in some salt water, and maybe there's hope!

Needless to say, getting that swim done under those conditions made me feel pretty good, and so I looked forward to my little run. I decided I would run outdoors, as it made it to 41 degrees, so there was really no excuse, and besides, I'm sick of the treadmill. So I put on my new pair of Running Funky tights, hot pink with black zig zags, and headed out.

2:41PM Run 44:23 about 5.2 miles. The route out my front door is fairly challenging. Mile 1 is flat, then there's a gradual uphill for a mile, then a mile of good size rollers. I hadn't run this in about 2 months, so it was interesting to see how it would feel. Well, I was so happy to be outside, and I actually overdressed slightly on top, but I knew I wasn't running very long so it would be fine. Oh my the looks I got wearing those tights! Not that they were unexpected. There was no way anyone could miss me in them! I totally enjoyed this run, and I could have run a little easier, but it was good to see there's some speed (for me, anyway) in these old legs!

Today I only have to ride 1:30 and then run :30, gotta go and get ready to do it.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Yesterday's "Workout"

It's taper time, and I didn't really have to do anything yesterday, but I felt like such a slug that I went ahead and did my 30' abs and core routine late in the day.

It sucks to be tapering through the Christmas and New Year holidays! The last thing I want to do is put on weight, yet all I can think about is cheese and cake and champagne. Oh well, I know it will still be there after Goofy. And I can have a little bit of those things anyway.

Hope everyone is enjoying either a slow day at the office or a great day not working!

My Abs and Core Routine

Click on the post title and follow the link. Attached to it are word documents that describe and/or link to pictures and/or videos of the exercises that I do. There are a few that I can't find duplicated currently on the Internet; when I make my "Crackhead Iron Abs" video, I'll be sure to market it here :)

I think I am honest when I state that I have well-developed abs. Remember, though, you need to be fairly lean to see the result of your exercise. I believe the number is 18% bodyfat for women and 12% for men when you can begin to see that 6-pack.

Once your abs and core are strong, they will support your triathlon training quite well. A strong core helps you rotate effectively when swimming, maintain a more aggressive aerodynamic position when cycling and ward off hip flexor fatigue when running.

Happy Holidays!

Today's Workout: It's Officially Tapir (er--taper) Time!

As of right now, I am officially tapering for Goofy Challenge. Today was the longest single workout I will do until next year!!! Unfortunately, that next workout won't be beginning with a nice warmup swim, like Mr. Tapir over to the right here.

11:41PM Run 2:00. This run was structured much like Sunday's 2:10 run. Can you believe doing 2 of these 3 days apart? I sure can. Last year during my Ironman training, I did this 4 times. It sure makes your legs tough. I have to say my legs felt just fine, my heart rate was low, and I could have run longer again. Feeling so good the day after another breakthrough bike workout--PRICELESS!!! Mr. Tapir would be very proud.

Now some of my Goofy friends (Joe B. and Steve N.) have done back-to-back 18 to 20 mile runs in preparation for Goofy. Those guys are serious runners--the sorts I like to call "track stars." They will race both the 1/2 and full marathons in Disney. I'm not sure what my approach is going to be--ideally, I'd like to hold a moderate pace for both days, and then be able to say I ran both days. I know if I wanted to I could PR seriously at the 1/2 mary, but then I would be trashed for the full. And I do have this pesky triathlon training that I need to get back to quickly after the event.

But for now, it's Tapir/Taper Time. Tomorrow I am going to do a nice and easy 30' abs and core workout and that's it. AND I get a 1.5 hour massage. How good is tomorrow going to feel?

Life is good!

Flippin' Cool Trinket

I received this beauty today from Shelley. He he--a bike AND poodles, and *PINK* beads.

The poodles will be explained sometime in the future. Just remember there are TWO of them. Poodle-poodle.

Shelley rocks, and we have selected our mega-training weekend for the end of March/first week of April. I pretty much have an agenda in mind--let's just say there will be a LOT of biking, a good amount of running, and some swimming. This "epic camp" will help us prepare for our first A races of the year--Ironman Brazil for me, and Ironman CDA for Shelley.

There will be more on the poodles, and they (and other forms of them) will be appearing at our "camp." Poodles are kind of hardcore, don't you think?

GO HARDCORE OR GO HOME!!!!

Today's Workouts: I Broke 160 Watts FT Today!

I woke up feeling SO tired today after that big lifting session yesterday. No surprise there. But in terms of soreness (DOMS), really just my upper body, especially those puny guns of mine, were feeling it. And I had to swim today. I knew I was tired because I ended up sleeping 9.5 hours. When I woke up, of course it was dark, and I figured it was 5:30, but NO, it was already 6:30, meaning I had better hop to to get some coffee, something small to eat and maybe a little stretching so I would get in the pool by 7:45.

I ARRIVED at the pool on time, but ran into a friend, and I wanted to catch up, so I dilly-dallied. It wouldn't kill me to start work a little late today (still working now, actually).

8:15AM Swim 2700 yards 1:00. The pool was warm, and my arms weren't working well at all. My triceps were sore, my upper back was sore, my legs, while not sore, didn't have much kicking power (do they ever???), so I set low expectations for myself. The actual movement through the water felt fine, though. By the time I got to the final 500 yards straight, I actually felt good, and was almost operating at a normal pace. What the hell, a workout is a workout. I have a time trial to do on Friday, and that should go well--no lifting the day before, actually a rare DAY OFF!

2:20PM Bike 1:15 the infamous FT test protocol of WU: 15' warmup, 3 x SpinUps. Then 3 x 2' (1') Zone 3 MS: FT repeats: 2x20' (2'). In aero bars, normal TT cadence. CD: 6' Easy.

MY FT IS 162 WATTS!!!! This is up 10 watts over just 5 weeks

OK this is not a big number to you guys, but for me this is a big deal. 162 puts me solidly in the "good" range of power to weight ratio. That is up from around 150 as of 10/1. That is tested the day after a monstrous lifting session (and a short 45' run) which was preceded by a 2:15 run on Sunday (with a lovely tempo finish) that capped off a 15-hour training week.

My coach was encouraging when I spoke to him yesterday, because he said there's "indoor" and "outdoor" watts. Theoretically, I may be able to bust out a bigger number outdoors. I sure can't wait to try!

What's funny about this is where my bike and trainer are, downstairs in the family room, there's a bar (mostly unused, sadly since I began endurance training) with 3 shelves filled with full bottles of beer (a collection of sorts) and 2 other shelves with assorted glassware (the bottom shelf has all the liquor bottles--nice collection).

I have music cranked down there, and it resonates the glass and I can hear clinking, and I am always wondering if something will break. So far it hasn't. I do check that none of the glasses or bottles are touching one another periodically. But at the end of my 2nd 20' interval today, I was putting out about 190 watts, and then the clinking increased a lot--I think something about the sound combined with the magnetic rotation and output caused more resonance? Physics geeks?

And lastly, an exercise physiologist explained to me (and I later read about it in my own exercise physiology book) that dry heaves at the end of a workout are usually caused by acidosis, which briefly is an accumulation of H* (hydrogen ions), and one way your body tries to clean up the mess is by vomiting/coughing, hence dry heaves, I LOVE THEM!

Unfortunately, I am going to have a little break in my biking for a week for Goofy Challenge, but the rest (relative) may be just what my biking legs need!

And I'm really excited--Shelley and I are scheming to put together a mega-cycling training happening in the spring.

This is all just great stuff. Once again, I attribute some of it to serious training, but I'm feeling like my mind is lining up with my body really well now. The FT intervals didn't hurt today--sure there was discomfort--but I really welcomed it.

BRING IT!!!!!

Yesterday's Workouts

I was so exhausted after all this yesterday that I didn't bother to post last night.

8AM Lift 3x12 1:14. Increased weight on every single freaking exercise where I use either dumbbells or my Parabody machine. Felt just fine doing this, but my that was a long workout.

4:17PM Run :45. Mostly easy to steady. Felt fine doing this.

I am, in fact, starting a taper this week. Although my coach changed things up on me for this week--word to the wise--coaches are human and they make mistakes. I looked at what Rich scheduled for me this week and next, and while part of it made sense, the running did NOT. So I emailed him early yesterday and then we talked about it and fixed things up. The nice thing about this week and next week is that I get TWO WHOLE REST DAYS EACH WEEK! Those of you following along with the Crackhead Chronicles know that rest days are not common occurrences here, but for once I am truly looking foward to them.

I was supposed to have a rest day yesterday, but on Thursday I have to go to the dentist AND get a massage, so Thursday is going to be the rest day, meaning I moved Tuesday-Thursday workouts to Monday-Wednesday. I can tell you right now that come Thursday I am going to need the day off! Although in reality I will be doing a 30' abs and core session, which really, is rest to me. It will make me feel like I did something yet will not impact my recovery in the least.

Speaking from today, I have to tell you that strength sessions really take it out of me when the weights or reps or sets are increased. Some days I still can't believe the number of exercises I do in a full strength session (58 for a full session; 25 of which get repeated a second time during the week for my abs and core session and those are 2 sets of 15 reps always). I always do things circuit style and you can probably tell from the amount of time it takes me that I do not rest very much at all between sets Plus the workouts are in my house and there's no waiting for equipment.

But oh, am I tired and sore today. I guess yesterday would have been a good day for a rest day, but I'll catch up on Thursday. I see Ultra Violence before my bike workout this afternoon!

What is the Big Deal with Ironman Triathlon?

There have been some posts and comments on some other blogs, and they got me to thinking.

Ironman training and racing (and there is a big difference in showing up and doing it vs. actually trying to race it) is a vehicle that I have come to know and love as a way for me to explore my inner depths. Period. It could have been something else, I suppose, and I honor the many different paths people take to find themselves and work towards whatever state it is they think they are working towards.

The state I am working towards is a perfection of mind and body. Not in the sense that I want to be perfect; rather I am seeking to get that connection where mind is body and body is mind and everything is clear and I can practice my little piece of serenity in modern society while setting a good example to others of how they might be able to use the same vehicle to do the same. If anyone can learn from me and how I'm approaching my life work, great; if not, well spend your valuable time someplace else!

So I understand that my particular approach might not apply to those who don't take the whole training/racing so seriously. That is a perfectly valid choice. Sometimes when I read about others struggling to fit in their training, what I think is why isn't that person content to be good at the other things in their life? Be content and proud that you are a great parent; be content and proud that you are a good student; be content and proud that you are a wonderful employee; be content and proud that you are just a great person?

I am a good employee and think I've gotten as good as I can at it, especially considering I only have a few years left in me to do it. I will never be a great parent--I do not have children. I believe I was a good student; now I am a student of life. I work continuously at being a great friend. I believe that when I've been in the position that I am a great lover.

I believe that to be truly happy, you have to be content with the trivialness that is daily life. So why do I seek to push myself physically and mentally? I guess I don't have a lot of the other distractions that many others have--children, formal studies, etc. I have just always been driven to try and excel at whatever it is that caught my fancy at the time. I got pretty good at playing the piano. I can sew really well. I can cook really well. I've done pretty well in my career. Every time I push myself to excel at something I learn something new about myself, and it sure makes the daily trivia a bit more exciting!

Is Ironman itself a big deal? It can be. In the big scheme of athletic pursuits, it's a fairly big deal. But it's nothing compared to preparing to successfully climb Mt. Everest. Without oxygen. You could argue that rich people pay an entire team to get them up there, but you do have to use your own legs :) Yet I really believe that anyone in reasonable health that wants to commit to a long stretch of training can complete an Ironman triathlon. It might take several years, but it can be done. If I really want to climb Mt. Everest, I know I can do it. I just don't really want to (yet). But if I decide I want to, then I will prepare like nobody's business, because that's just how I personally do things. I don't believe in half-ass commitments. All or nothing, baby. That is how I got the name Crackhead.

Now something may come up in my life that makes it difficult to impossible to continue training at the level I prefer. When that happens, I will learn to stay content with what I can do and will take my experiences and bring them to that new table. If I thought all I'm doing right now was physical, well, hell, what's the point of that? It's the mental training that I'm after now. I really believe executing the physical training is easy. If you are training within your limits, and doing the other stuff well enough (nutrition, sleep, recovery, attention to technique), then you shouldn't feel badly doing the workouts. And if you've set them up to support an appropriate level of goals, piece of cake! Beyond that, it's mental. It's execution. It's commitment. It's desire. It's focus. It's what you are doing.

If Ironman isn't important to you, don't do it. If setting appropriate goals is beyond you, don't do it. If learning from the experience is not your cup of tea, don't do it. If you think it's all about bragging about how many hours of this and that you did, don't do it. If you think it's all about having the gear and being a member of an elite, don't do it. I think many people do it for the wrong reasons, but that's OK, because IMNA and others running races need the money to keep putting on races. There's nothing wrong with trying something out and then deciding it really just isn't your gig. It's not for everyone! But it's also not the greatest thing since sliced bread, either. It's is just a way, a Tao, and some people accept it like that and for others it's just a "hobby."

There's more than enough room in life for a myriad of approaches to the same thing, including Ironman. If I've made anyone feel that their way is less "valid," my apologies--accepting everyone as human and fallible and individual is one of the things I am working on every day. But by the same token, if you look at my way and don't like it, that's just fine, too. Be happy with your choice.

Whatever we are doing right now is our choice--it is of our making. I will honor your choice if you will honor mine.

NORAD Santa Tracking

This is such a cute website--poke around--lots of fun holiday stuff!

http://www.noradsanta.org

Today's Workouts and Weekly Totals: Call me Desdemona Tutu!

Yesterday afternoon I went in search of the perfect rhinestone tiara to wear during the Disney marathon in 3 weeks. I went to a local craft shop, Michael's, since I had been there several weeks earlier and looked briefly at their tiaras in the bridal area.

I narrowed down my choice to one that had both rhinestones and pearls (all fake, of course), and another one that was not as tall, but all rhinestones. I had to try them on, and then I went in search of a mirror. None to be found, but I finally located the ladies' room and went in there to try them on. The taller one weighed a little too much for my liking, and I wasn't sure it would stay on my head. The other one was actually meant for a "flower girl," i.e., a young girl, so it was smaller, yet it seemed a perfect fit for me. So it was the smaller one that I went with.

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home just to pick up a few staples for the coming week.

Of course, when I got home, I HAD to put the tiara on, rationalizing that I needed to get used to it. It is quite cute! I only left it on for about :30, though, as by that time I was extremely hungry (even though I had eaten about 2 hours before) and tired.

I did watch most of The Sound of Music, cutting it off at 10PM, after watching the VERY BEST SCENE where Maria has just come back to find out whether she's in love or not, the Baroness gets the heave-ho from the Captain, and then the very lovely scene by the gazebo where Maria and Captain Von Trapp kiss for the first time.

During commercial breaks, I was reading from a book I recently bought: How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life by His Holiness the Dalia Lama. This is going to be a book that I read slowly, because it's very "meaty." While I believe that I have made great progress since September on being in the moment, being more self-aware and more mindful, I also know I have a ways to go. First, I will seek to become more conscious of not practicing any of the 10 nonvirtues of Buddhism:

1. Killing
2. Stealing
3. Sexual Misconduct
4. Lying
5. Divisive Talk
6. Harsh Speech
7. Senseless Chatter
8. Covetousness
9. Harmful Intent
10. Wrong Views

I think I've got 1-4 and 8 pretty well covered, but I know that 5-7 and 9 and 10 need some attention. Sometimes I think blogging is "senseless chatter," but I am trying valiantly to not do that here.

At any rate, it was a nice evening to watch a happy movie and get a little enlightenment advice!

I slept like a log and awoke at 7AM. The day felt a little ominous, as this is the last big training day before I start to taper tomorrow. I had wanted to be running by 9AM, but I figured that wasn't going to happen with such a late awakening, but that's OK, I didn't have much planned for today except my workouts and some housework.

The one thing I had to do before I went to run was to sew my tutu. Can I just say that working with tulle is not easy? The stuff sticks to everything! Maybe you don't want to visualize this, but I had to remove my clothes so it would stop clinging to me. I had bought 4 yards of hot pink tulle, and it is about 64" wide, so my plan was to fold it in half lengthwise to yield a width of 2 yards, and then fold it twice on the width, giving me 4 layers of tulle in the finished product. Well, getting any of this stuff to stay where you want it is challenging, so first I just folded it in half crosswise, and then I basted through the center to hold the pieces together. Then I was better able to make one more crosswise fold, and then I sewed a tunnel on one edge for the ribbon to go through. Voila! I sewed one end of the ribbon to the tulle, but left the other side unattached so that I can fold this thing up since I have to take it with me to Disney. It came out great! I tried it one with my fuel belt, and I was ready to go run.

Needless to say, walking into a cardio room with hot pink top and shorts, a hot pink tutu and a small rhinestone tiara on attracts a little attention. Most people smiled, though. One of the trainers and the overall director asked me about the outfit and I explained it to them. A few people thought I was practicing for the Nutcracker ballet. What????? I wasn't aware that practicing for ballet involved running for several hours. Oh well, it was impossible to do anything but smile at anyone who asked about it.

I didn't defizz my Ultra Violence well enough, and when you fail at that, it has a sneaky way of finding its way out of whatever bottle you put it in, so while I was prepared to wear the Fuel Belt, I had to leave it off unless I wanted Ultra Violence all over my beautiful skirt! I did put the bottles on the treadmill, though, as I was definitely going to drink them.

10:54AM Run 2:10 as 30' Easy, 50' Steady, 20' Upper Steady, 20' Mod Hard. You will notice that that adds up to 2:00. I ended up adding 10' of Steady time on the end. More on that later.

As soon as I started running, I couldn't help but feel happy. I mean, how can you have any bad thoughts when you're dressed all in hot pink and wearing a tiara? Yet I knew this was going to be a run requiring lots of focus, so I just settled in.

About 1:00 in, I told myself to go inside my head and just enjoy it there. So I did. Even though I kept increasing the speed, my heart rate didn't elevate much out of my aerobic zone today. Guess I've gotten fitter! I kept doing checks on my leg conditions--they felt fine. So that's why when I got to 1:30, I decided I should probably add some time to the run in order to come down from the ending 20' of tempo work.

When I got to 2:00, I felt really good, and decreasing the speed felt nice, and then I thought, "hmmmm....I could run forever at this pace." That's a GOOD thing! I think that means I am about to peak just perfectly. At 2:10 I wanted to keep going, but that might be too much of a good thing, so I finished off by walking for 5'. I also did some stretching before heading to the pool.

2:35PM Swim 1300 yards straight pull, about 26' (not really sure; didn't time myself and I may have swam more anyway; it doesn't matter). The water was a nice 83 degrees, and it felt good to cool down. I could feel my body really cooling down; see this is why you wouldn't want to put a swim at the end of a triathlon--your body temp just starts heading down and cool water just accelerates the process. When I got out, I wished there was someone there waiting for me with a mylar blanket.

After the swim I hit the sauna for about 10', and that felt great. I have eaten some food now, but I know there are a bunch more calories due to be delivered.

Weekly Totals

Swim: 7,250 yards in 2.6 hours

Bike: 5.03 hours

Run: 5.58 hours

Strength: 1.65 hours

Total Hours: 14.86

Average Sleep: 8.86 hours per night

Stretching: 1.68 hours (I will do another 15' or so later today)

New Phenomenon: I can once again get my straight legs all the way over my head with toes touching the floor! My back flexibility has improved. This is important, as I don't feel too beat up from all the running I did this week, and that is what will get me through the Goofy Challenge.

Body Composition and Nutrition

I may have sent the attachment to this trifuel post to some of you who read my blog, but for the others out there, every time I get someone asking me about managing their diet and/or weight loss, I go back to this.

CLICK ON THE POST TITLE--IT'S THE HYPERLINK TO MY TRIFUEL POST AND IT CONTAINS MY DOCUMENT AS AN ATTACHMENT.