Smells like a Breakthrough Workout to Me

I woke up this morning a little earlier than I would have liked, but still got 7.5 hours of sleep, which is about enough for me lately. Muscularly, I felt great, which is awesome considering I put in about 11 hours Monday-Friday, and 10 is the threshold where I start to feel generally tired. But I had a slight headache, and it didn't look like it would get warm enough for me to ride outside until later than I wanted to go (and need to wear a lot of clothes), so I decided to get on the trainer.

I just wasn't looking forward to 3 hours on the trainer, but knew I'd probably get it done anyway. All winter long, I've been watching Ironman races while on the trainer, but today I pulled out an old TDF. I hope that my memory would be correct in that it's better to watch people biking the entire time than the other color crap that is on most of the Ironman coverage.

My original workout called for a 1 hour warmup and then 1:30 of some intervals, which meant I'd need another 1/2 hour of something, and while doing the first hour, I thought about where I wanted to put that extra 1/2 hour. I decided up front, so I'd end the ride on the hard stuff.

Pretty much as soon as I started riding, Mr. Headache left me, and my legs felt pretty darn good. But of course, you can't judge how you feel when you are riding easy. I took a short break at 40' in to do 50 pushups, 50 crunches and 15 pullups so I wouldn't forget to do them later. I decided my extra 1/2 hour would be at 80-85% most of the time. Well, that felt pretty good, too, so then I got to thinking how the original main set would feel and could I do it? Turns out, oh yeah! Here's the full workout I did:

WU: 60' @ 65-70%, 2x(12'@80-85%,3' Easy)
MS: 3 x (18' @ 85-90%, 6' @ FT, 1' @ 105%, 5' Easy)

I ended up with a TSS of 187, which ain't bad considering the first hour was fucking easy.

Next, it was time to run. Last week, I was Ms. Bonk on the run, but it was my own fault. Today I made sure to take in sufficient calories while on the bike that I should be OK. I ran outside, and as soon as I took off (after about a 5' transition), I was like fuck, my legs feel awesome! I was running uphill into a headwind and feeling great! So of course I wondered how long that would last.

I kept running into the wind so I'd have it at my back on the way home, and I never did experience what I like to call "brick suck." You know what I mean--that point in a brick run where you just feel like shit. I thought it would happen today especially since I had ended the ride going pretty hard, but no! I also noticed that I felt very light on my feet which tells me I'm just about at perfect race weight (maybe 111 now which is just fine). I negative split the run by a good amount (which was what I was supposed to do).

I'm sitting here thinking that today showed me several things:

1. I have absorbed a lot of the intense stuff I was doing over the 8-week period where I was doing those 4 sprint races
2. I have ramped up my volume (I'll hit almost 16 hours this week) safely
3. It was a good idea to drop a few pounds
4. I must be taking good care of myself to feel this good

I feel really ready to bust out a solid 60+ mile ride as soon as it's warm enough, hopefully next weekend. And that is when the real fun begins--next week I will also move my long run to Thursday morning (before work--so I'm a little zombie-ish for a few hours afterwards) so that I can get in 2 long rides on the weekend. I should hit almost 17 hours next week, which means, guess what? I'm in an Ironman build, only this one is for Triple T.

I'm optimistic that I will have a good long run tomorrow, too, and since I have no schedule constraints tomorrow, I might just wait until it's warm enough for me so I can avoid the treadmill.

I am always grateful for a workout like today, because much of the time I feel like I suck, and then something like this happens and I think maybe not.

And now I must try and nap before an appointment in a few hours. Happy Saturday!

More Thoughts on Coaching

There are a few different types of coaches, and what they offer is typically driven by their pricing model. You want a cookie-cutter plan? That in and of itself doesn't constitute coaching. Writing training plans is not that difficult if you are good with Excel. Building training plans for a person like me who has a few actual key races but then wants to mix in all this other ridiculous (to some people) stuff is a little more complicated, but I've learned how to do it. Has the fact that I've chosen to add these other things to my schedule impacted my ability to race to my alleged potential? Probably, but it's also made me strong and able to keep pushing my own envelope. OK, that was an aside...

It's what goes along with the training plan, be it cookie-cutter or customized to you, that constitutes the actual coaching. What can that person teach you about how to manage yourself to go along with the training itself that will enhance not just your performance, but your progression in sport and life, assuming you've chosen to adopt triathlon/endurance training as a lifestyle? There are many aspects to that lifestyle, including but not limited to:

• Nutrition
• Body composition management
• Technique (swimming, especially)
• Recovery management (stress management, stretching, massage, general rest)
  
• Season planning
• Cultivating resiliency (which to me would include things like supplemental strength or functional training)
• Mental focus
  
• Race execution
  
• Injury prevention and management
  
• Equipment choice and maintenance
  
• Measuring, monitoring and goal-setting
  

It all depends on how geeked out you want to be. It's entirely possible to train for and compete in triathlons without being overly geeked out, but you can't avoid the geekiness altogether simply because you are doing three sports and it's not just as simple as running, biking and swimming. I often laugh at someone who claims to be "relaxed" about their training, since what it takes to get to that stage is a pretty good dose of geekiness!

Now, there are many good sources of all that extra information--books, the Internet, triathlon clubs, your friends--but when you are first starting out, getting a handle on it all can be a daunting task, so it really helps to have someone who can act as a mirror to you so you can have an idea of how you are doing and know when to integrate the various facets of geekiness.

What it comes down to if you are going to work with a coach is understanding what beyond the basic season planning and training plan construction you can expect. Also, know that almost any change in your training stimulus is going to make differences in your performance. You only get faster and stronger by continuously changing things up, and then there comes a point at which you've achieved your, let's call it "allowable," maximum speed, and from there on out you mostly just want to remain uninjured. Like me, for example, I can't and don't expect to get much faster at this point, and my objective is to not slow down too much for another few years.

Now, to expect one person to teach you and give you guidance on all those other geeky things is probably unrealistic. It would require almost daily contact, at least in your initial stages. This is why all these forums and websites have sprung up to preach the gospel of equipment this and nutrition that. Which is a good thing! But it does pay to have someone help you synthesize all that information into something meaningful for you. There is no one-size-fits-all.

I guess what I'm saying is that you need to decide how geeked out you want to be and then how long you want to take to get there, and then through a combination of self-study, mentor identification and possibly coaching, ramp yourself up and see what happens. So to me this is really about studying your body and your mind and putting it all together in a way that supports a particular type of sports habit. So decide how much you want to invest in yourself and then have at it.

When you look around at other athletes, you will notice that those you would consider successful are, in fact, quite geeked out, at least about themselves. They understand that there's a lot to this and that the training part is just a small piece of the equation, and they see this as a holistic effort.

When a person says they are unhappy with their coach, what it means is that, like in any business, their expectations weren't met. You need to be very clear with someone who says they are going to coach you as to what they specifically will be able to deliver to you vs. what you are going to need to do on your own. Your ultimate success or failure (however you define it) is going to depend on the sum of those two parts. And then there's personality and your own style of learning. Some people are OK with "DO THIS." I needed (and got) "DO THIS BECAUSE..."

There are all kinds of coaches out there, and even if you use one, remember that you are going to need to do a lot of work on your own, that no single person can know or teach you everything, and that you should seek out your personal Zen masters to show you the way.

Enough for now. Not that I'm geeked out or anything like that...

Everyone's a Fuckin' Coach

Recently I've noticed a lot of people hanging out shingles and claiming they are triathlon coaches. Some of these individuals have only a few years' experience at the game, and yet feel eminently qualified to tell other people how and what to do. Some of this may be being driven by the poor economy (extra cash on the side!), or maybe it's just a reflection of just how narcissistic triathletes are in general that most of them think they are know-it-alls, and the best sport for a know-it-all is telling someone else what they know and how to apply it!

Fact is, it's pretty easy to set up a website and then mine the Internet for all sorts of amazing content, such as which stretches to do, beginner training plans, the latest gizmo that will make you faster, the latest non-tri exercise trend, etc. It's a good thing that we all have access to amazing amounts of information, and it is true that it can be helpful to have it summarized for you by someone else. But that doesn't make that person a coach.

It's also pretty easy to take a beginner triathlete who has no clue about much at all, and give them a very basic training plan and presto, they will improve at S/B/R because, well, they just went from fucking aimless to a modicum of discipline.

Another form of "coaching" consists of telling a person to actually write down what they are doing and keep track of things like heart rate, pace, feelings of fatigue, etc. And by virtue of writing down things and being able to look at one's history, certain truths pop out, which of course, can only be analyzed by said coach. I am going to write a book called Keeping Track of Shit for Dummies. Chapter 1 will begin with the line: It is important to write things down. Please grab a pen and paper and write down that you just bought this book.

To me, a true coach is a person whose goal is to enlighten you to enlightening yourself. You are only as good as what you know about yourself. You are the one who wakes up every day and decides whether it's going to be a good day or a bad day, and this should not be based on what someone (even you yourself!) wrote down in a plan. A true coach should only be a guide who nudges you in one direction or the other so that you learn how to bring out the best in yourself. In that regard, I have many, many coaches.

I enjoy surrounding myself with people who seek to perfect themselves through both sport and the burning desire to know themselves better, and I take bits and pieces of their learnings and decide whether I want to apply them to myself. Someone whose sole focus is to simply excel at a particular sport and quote their PR's is of no interest to me. Or a person who says "I just do this for fun." Not that there isn't a place in the world for these people--they just aren't my cup of tea. Or a person who is a complete follower and takes learning from others to such an extreme that they lose the ability to make decisions about their own course of action.

My first triathlon coach's purpose was to show me how little I knew about the sport and teach me that it's fucking hard to do well at Ironman while holding down a conventional job and maintaining some semblance of what is colloquially called "having a life." He did a great job of this, not so much by what he told me to do, but what I observed him doing. Did I think he had a life? Not really. Do I think I have one now? Yes--but the life I have chosen might appear to someone else as not having a life. I'm OK with that.

I could never have respect for a coach who isn't in it or doesn't look the part. I would not stand for some out of shape loser trying to tell me how I should modify my nutrition to achieve excellence because hey, obviously he/she isn't doing it so how could he/she possibly demonstrate to me how it works? I don't want to get into a discussion about how someone need not have experience in a sport in order to coach it. While I see that as possible for team sports, on an individual basis, I think not so much.

My next triathlon coach's purpose was to teach me some methodology that I could use to coach myself. Did he know this at the time? Not right away, but I think it became apparent pretty quickly that I was in this to add another facet to my life's journey, and that I was going to soak it up. I never studied sports or was even what I would call athletic until maybe 15 years ago, and while I needed to be told what to do for awhile, after a bit I was able to do it for myself.

Now, as far as making a plan to get me from Point A to Point B in terms of triathlon, I'm the coach. But I tweak and tweak and pay attention to people around me, and am very fortunate that I seem to attract very like-minded people who understand that while it's good to have a guide, even what appears to be an anal-retentively-developed-humongous-training-plan-in-a-spreadsheet guide, that at the end of the day it's about what did I learn about myself, what awesome ideas did I get from others and when might I be able to apply them to myself, and how much fun did I have in the process?

The down side of surrounding yourself with a bunch of driven, hyperactive Type A's (and you know who you are!) is that, well it's natural for us to all be the know-it-all at one time or another and say, "Why don't you do this?" or "Why won't you try that?" And it makes me smile to know that I know these people and while I often have to say "I don't have room for that right now in my life," that I am always banking these ideas for a time when I know it will be right to incorporate them.

In the business world, when I conduct an interview, what I'm expecting the interviewee to reveal to me is "This is what's so fucking great about me and why you should hire me." I suppose that I tend to apply this to real life as well but with a twist: "This is what's so fucking great about me and why you should want to associate with me," and because of it I can be accused of having impossibly high standards. Oh well.

Cuz you know, everyone's a fuckin' coach anyway.

First Outdoor Ride on LGL in 2009!

Aw, man...68 degrees sunny and windy...I was in HEAVEN! Rode for almost 1:45, and wanted to just keep going, but work calls...

I didn't ride with a plan other than to go as hard as I could up any hill in my path. The wind helped me keep my effort up, too. As you can see from the pic above, my legs are in no danger of becoming skinny, but they will brown up one of these days.

It's supposed to cool off again tomorrow, so I won't get outside on the bike again until maybe Saturday, which may prove to be too cool anyway. That's OK, it's only March, and I am happy to be getting outdoors more, even if it's just to run.

But boy, I still love LGL. Her stiffness is especially appreciated when riding through all the potholes created by our snow-filled winter. Stiff is good!

Progress to Date

OK, I guess I figured I may as well take some pics of myself. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm so vain, blah, blah, blah.

I have to say that my back feels really, really solid. There is almost zero hitch in it anymore from any angle, twisting, nothing. So 4 months after injuring the hell out of it, I'm healed! I think the extra core stuff helps, so I need to thank a few people for inspiring me to change things up a bit: Brett for the jump rope and Louis (no I'm not yet training for a Murph!) for the pushups and pullups. The extra abs work was my own idea because I needed to change things up there.

I still have a little over a pound of weight to lose, and hopefully it will be fat, just as I'm pretty sure the other 2.5 have been. And then once I've achieved that, I will reassess and figure out what's next. I tell ya, it doesn't get any easier to stay in shape as each year passes, although the cardiovascular stuff isn't that hard, and I haven't slowed down there yet. But maintaining lean mass is a little more challenging, and gosh, I'm just so used to having some muscle and do not want to lose any.

Well, here I am:

Pics!!!

Shelley has been bugging me to post some, so here you go.

First, proof of my little fat trimming exercise:
And yes I have a bruised toenail on my left big toe from something stupid.


Yesterday I held a baking and cooking orgy--here are pics of the roll of one batch of cookies I made and then the finished product of both cookies. There is a secret ingredient in them, and they turned out really well!


No pics of moi until I feel like it. Since it's warming up and I'm getting outside and starting to brown up, I'll wait until I no longer feel like I'm pasty white.

Weekly Workout Totals 03/09/2009-03/15/2009 and Miscellaneous Stuff

I had a good week of training last week. In looking at the hours below, it doesn't include all my extra stuff, so in reality I put in about 16 hours, which is cool! I'm feeling strong--I am doing 50+ pushups a day now, and yesterday for the first time I did 7/6/5 chinups, so I may be closing in on the elusive 10 chinups straight, which will be a real marker for me.

On the weight loss front, I am at about 111.5 lbs. now, down from 114 just 2.5 weeks ago, so all is well there. In terms of where the weight is coming off of, it's a little around my belly and then it must be pretty equally everywhere else, because the only measurement on me that has gotten smaller is 2" below my waist and maybe 1/2" off my butt and hips. But that's exactly what I wanted. Another 1.5 lbs. and I'll be at my fighting weight of 110, and I don't feel skinny at all. I may even go splurge and get a precise bodyfat measurement done just so I know what's going on.

My diet is still far from clean...I like beer (1 a day most days) and some days I just have to reload all the calories I've burned off lest I feel like crap. Even though I've been eating below my needs at least 5 out of 7 days in the week, I don't usually feel especially hungry, but I am becoming aware of the need for more carbs as my training load is increasing steadily. The one thing I have done without for 2 weeks is any sort of candy (I have a special bag of jelly beans with my name on it for 2 weeks from now) and chips most of the time, although on Saturday after 3.5 hours of training, I had to have some Pringles, but just one serving, so not like I'm binging on them. I baked some cookies yesterday and had 2 of them, and the rest of them are being given away otherwise I'd eat them all!

As my training load increases, I am beginning to have cravings for things that I typically want during heavy training--rice pudding, massive amounts of sushi, Pringles, Cheetos, gummi bears, spaghetti carbonara (made with prosciutto) and big hunks of meat. In other words, I am about to make a 6 month guest appearance on the Food Channel!

But I am going to try and keep it fairly clean except for 1 or 2 days each week through next week, which was the promise I made to myself and want to keep. Once I am officially at 16+ hours per week (TWO WEEKS AWAY!!!!), though, all bets are off, and you'll hear me periodically chanting, "SUGAR, SUGAR, SUGAR" or "MEAT, MEAT, MEAT" or "FAT, FAT, FAT" depending on what my body is craving.

Did I say I love food? And exercise?

Spring is in the air now here. There are fat robins everywhere, birds singing early in the morning, I saw the migrating Sandhill cranes overhead yesterday, and the mallards are starting to get sexually aggressive. Tis the season!

Weekly Workout Totals	03/09/2009-03/15/2009 This week's totals are sponsored by the coming of spring!
Swim:	9800 yards (5.56 miles) in 3.43 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 1202 calories burned Canadian: 8961.12 meters
Bike:	Approx. 99.96 miles in 5.68 hours; 38% of weekly workout time; approx. 2870 calories burned; Total TSS=325 Canadian: 160.87 kilometers
Run:	Approx. 30.33 miles in 4.6 hours; 31% of weekly workout time; approx. 2085 calories burned Canadian: 48.81 kilometers
Strength:	1.33 hours; 9% of weekly workout time; approx. 333 calories burned
All Sports:	Approx. 135.85 miles in 15.04 hours; approx. 6490 calories burned Canadian: 8.07 kilometers
Sleep:	8.07 hours avg./night
Stretching:	2.37 hours. Massage: 1 hours