How to Get Stronger on the Bike

Or, my life the past 5 months...look here. I put this spreadsheet of my weekly long ride data together at the urging of my coach to take a look at things in a "macro" fashion to see what's been going on and how I got from A to B. "A" being I was a respectable rider but have a ways to go (or as I would call it, I sucked), and "B" being now, where I'm getting close to being a pretty good rider (and to round things out this spring/summer, I'll be riding with a very fast women's cycling team).

You all know by now that I train with power, and you know who my coach is. You've seen me throw numbers out on my blog here with me getting all excited about my FT, or Functional Threshold (really FTP, or Functional Threshold Power, in watts). The number has been moving up steadily through the fall and the winter.

Also during this time, I have lost 2 lbs. that I'm pretty sure were fat. I wasn't specifically trying to lose more weight, but I am always trying to be leaner. I think the weight drop had to do with all the running I've been doing. I am not yet half way through my season, and I'm already well over half the running miles I did last season. In the back of my head, I was after the weight I'm at now for a few years, but being already lean, I'd found it difficult to get leaner, but this drop has been a real gift.

Something else new this fall and winter is the intensity of my strength program. I'm using the same periodization that I've used for the past 5 years, but I am lifting heavier and doing twice as much core work. Still, it only adds up to maybe 1.5 hours per week, but it's 100% quality time. Whether or not you believe strength training is effective in a triathlon program, I will keep doing it because I am a) female and b) getting older, and I believe it helps me maintain my lean mass and keeps my metabolism revved.

Beginning in November, I made a commitment to improving my flexibility. My goal was to return to my former limber self that disappeared 8 years ago when I began endurance sports. I'm not quite there yet, but things have improved significantly, and I truly believe that this has contributed to my ability to manage a rather challenging training schedule for weeks at a time.

Finally, this fall I made an executive decision to remove as many distractions as I could from my training. The most important of these was to keep my "inner circle" comprised of only tough, dedicated, knowledgeable athletes who I believe are on a similar path as me. I have helped plenty of newbies and intend to keep doing so through posting to my blog, participating sparingly in a few triathlon forums, etc., but for right now it's time for me to be a little selfish.

Put all of this together, and it sounds good on paper, but ultimately one still needs to do the work of hard training. Partnering with my coach, Rich Strauss, who at times thinks I choose odd ways to test my fitness, we've built a progressive training program that, combined with my work ethic, self-care and attention to geeky details, has resulted in some huge gains on the bike. Granted, these are all measurements done on an indoor trainer, but we are pretty confident that when I "take it to the road" that I will be faster than ever before. Plus, I know that we will keep this same "character" to my outdoor long rides. I just don't like JRA (Just Riding Around) anymore. It's boring to me, and what is the purpose (except for the odd recovery ride)? I plan to keep updating the spreadsheet as time moves on as a way to motivate myself to keep things rolling, and also because, well, I just like studying my own data!

When you look at the spreadsheet, you will see I inserted some comments about what I think was going on, but they are just off the top of my head. Really, when you look at the numbers, what you see is that I've done progressively harder workouts, and improved my ability to work the entire workout at a higher IF (Intensity Factor, which is the ratio of Normalized Power (NP) for the entire ride to my FTP). The higher the IF you can work at, the faster you become across the board. Ride harder, and you get faster. Sounds easy, right?

Now those of you reading this who are big guys probably laugh at my watts. Keep in mind I am a female, age 49, weight all of 112 pounds. I should have posted my power to weight ratio (weight in kg) out to the right (that will be for version 2.0), so you can make more sense of the numbers. Right now, my power to weight ratio is 3.36, which is up from 2.93 a year ago, and up from 3.03 just 4 months ago. That's a solid improvement, I don't care who you are.

You can see the points where my FT increased--those weeks I did a test to prove where it is.

There's really nothing magical about this, so here I will quote Rich, because my data is like an ad for his words:

The bike goes faster because you do more work. The more work you can do, the faster the bike goes. Watts = work. More watts = more speed = more work. Want to go faster? Do more work/put out more watts. Think of it in weight lifting terms. If your current bench press is 200lb and you want to lift 250, you structure a plan based on your current strength and your goal strength. Most importantly, you put a known weight on the bar. You don’t guess, feel it, take your pulse, etc. You put 205 lb on the bar and lift it.

It really is "that easy." It's taken me about 2 years to really get the hang of this training with power thing, but now I'm deep into it, and that, coupled with my overall fitness and conditioning being at an all-time high, is very exciting. I don't know how I ever trained without power--I never had anything solid to base my self-assessment on.

Now, proof that all of this really works happens once I get outdoors and begin riding with others, and do some timed rides (for example, on the Ironman Wisconsin course) to get some speed measurements. I laugh when someone riding a trainer tells me how "fast" they were going. Fast doesn't mean too much on a trainer, and I'm actually happy that my speed sensor is on my front wheel so I have no idea about how "fast" I am going indoors. All I look at is my watts. And my top tube. Try as I might to pay attention to the TV screen while on the trainer, I can't--it's heads down work. And that is my idea of big *FUN*.

Weekly Workout Totals: 2/27/2006-3/5/2006

What can I say? Another HARDER, FASTER, TOUGHER, LONGER week for the Crackhead. And I got through it with flying colors. I just have to share my weekend festivities, because they were rather intense.

Saturday was a 2:30 trainer ride with a :40 brick run (race pace). The data from the ride is above (click on the picture to see it full-size). You can see the target intensities, watts, and time in the first 4 columns. The rest of the information you might not understand unless you have a powermeter and use CyclingPeaks software. Trust me, though, IT’S ALL GOOD NEWS! Frankly, I had a little trepidation going into this ride, because the HIM time increased from 1:00 last week to 1:20 this week, with :30 right at the end. But, the point was for this to be like a HIM race simulation ride, which normally I would do 1 or 2 of those prior to a HIM race. Considering it’s still snowing here, though, I’m still on the trainer. Even so, I know from the character of my long rides for the past 6 weeks that they are hard, physically and mentally. And this ride promised to put the hurt down. Not only that, but since my FT watts tested out 6 watts higher than before, guess what? I get to go harder.

I had a 2005 TDF tape in (the TTT was on), and every now and then I would actually look up at all the pretty bikes with disk wheels and nice asses (sorry, can’t help it) on them. But as is usually the case with my trainer time of late, I never did focus on what was on the TV, since I had a job to do, and the job was not to watch TV.

The :30 warmup was nice. And then it got hard, and pretty much stayed hard, but I knew it would. The intensity guidelines were given really to represent normalized power (NP) for each interval, but since the SRM (neither does PowerTap) doesn’t show you that number, I try and maintain my average watts within the range, which generally results in at least that much for NP (you can look at both columns if you like to see this). Believe it or not, the FT intervals weren’t as bad as the HIM intervals, just because they were short and sweet. It’s a lot harder to focus for :30 or :50 straight at a decent intensity (and I can pretty much cook on the bike in a HIM) than it is to focus for a measly :10.

The REALLY hard part was the last :30, not just because it was at HIM watts, but because I knew I needed to ride hard and then get off and run, and I KNOW what that feels like, and this was how it was supposed to feel, so let’s get it ON!

I started the run out easy for :10 and then quickly moved up to my target HIM pace. Now it felt like a race! I was on a treadmill, but too bad, I had to make some moaning sounds and the look on my face was not pretty. My legs felt fine, but if you’ve done a HIM and gone hard on the bike, you know the feeling—you are fighting yourself because it just doesn’t feel right to run, your stomach is doing flip-flops (I don’t care how careful your nutrition is—the sheer faster pace of a HIM just speeds up the stomach discomfort during the run), and it’s going to be a mental struggle to hold pace. But I did, and I ended up needing to explain to a woman next to me why I was moaning. I told her I was 3:15 into a workout—her eyes rolled back and all she said was, “That must be why you look the way you do,” as she looked me up and down. To which I replied, “Yes, this is exactly why.”

After I finished, I promptly began sucking down my Endurox R4, and I even managed to stretch another :16 (I had stretched :35 before I began the session). Once I got home, I literally spent the next 4 hours eating, a little at a time. First it was leftovers from dinner the night before (a small piece of broiled tuna, a decent amount of vegetables with butter sauce and some mashed potatoes), then it was a whole pile of Pringles, then it was some string cheese, then it was some jelly beans, then it was 3 eggs scrambled in butter with an English muffin buttered and jammed, then it was one lonely beer, and finally a Pria bar. In the process, too, I drank a whole bunch of water.

I know that sounds like a lot of food, but it really wasn’t enough, even though I hydrated well during the workout with Gatorade and Mountain Dew, had a can of Ultra Violence before I kicked it all off, a Power Bar and banana for breakfast. During last night, I woke up a few times and felt pretty hungry, but just drank water because I didn’t want to turn lights on to go get more food.

This morning my stomach was settled down and I didn’t feel like I needed to eat the entire refrigerator. I had my usual Power Bar Triple Threat for breakfast and about 32 oz. of water to chase my coffee. And I shot an Espresso Love Gu and headed to the Y to run and swim, after stretching for :15.

Other than feeling just slightly tired, I was amazed at how “not bad” I felt. But we would need to wait and see until I began running. On Friday, when I saw I was supposed to run for 1:00, I figured Rich had made a mistake—why would he increase my Friday run AND my Saturday run AND my Sunday run? I was going to ask him about it, but then I thought, “Nah, I am freaking CRACKHEAD, I can do this.” So here comes a 1:50 run on the heels of a race-pace brick workout and an extended run on Friday. That's 3:30 of running in 3 days, for those of you playing at home.

When I started, my heart rate was totally in the dumpster, and my legs felt tremendous. All floaty-like and loose. There really is something to how it feels to be at low body fat and also be stretching a lot. It’s pretty amazing. EVERYONE should try it at some point in their life. All I can say is WOW. I feel AWESOME. The run starts out with :25 easy and :30 steady. That went by rather quickly, and I did have to pee, but I held on and figured I would do my :20 upper steady before getting off. Man, the upper steady felt totally easy. I kept thinking when will my HR go up into range? But I didn’t care; I am super fit, so I’m not obsessing about it. It’s just a number.

Made a quick pit-stop and hopped back on for the remainder: :05 steady, 2x12’ (2’) tempo, and then end with 4’ easy. Gosh, it just didn’t feel that hard. WTF??? There you go, I’ve done MORE than a HIM in 2 days. All I have to do in 2 weeks is do it all in one day. I almost ran a full ½ mary today.

I topped it all off with 1,000 yards pull in the pool. You know, it’s funny, but I was almost swimming at a normal pace. I was smiling, playing YOU SUCK with the woman next to me, especially since I’m thinking I ran almost 13 miles right before I did this!

Well next week I get to do this weekend gig all over again. I sure hope it goes as well as it did this time. Simply amazing that my last 7 weeks of training hours have been 13.05, 14.34, 14.73, 14.79, 15.04, 13.11 and 15.33 hours, respectively. I guess 13 hours is a "rest week" for me. Normally, 13-15 hours per week doesn’t feel like that much to me, but this season these weeks have been really loaded with intensity, so they seem to count for more effort. Whatever. I am way more fit (except for a temporary lack of bike endurance) than I’ve ever been in my life. That alone is very satisfying, and no matter how the rest of my 2006 races go, I cannot be disappointed in my training achievements. I do love training. It seems I do a lot more training than racing :)

As I finish writing this, I have to say I am tired. Not like I didn't expect it, and nothing that a solid 8-10 hours of sleep can't fix!

Here are the details from the week that was:
Swim: 9,750 yards in 3.45 hours; 23% of weekly workout time
Bike: 5.00 hours; approx. 88 miles; 33% of weekly workout time
Run: 5.25 hours; approx. 33.7 miles; 34% of weekly workout time
Strength: 1.63 hours; 11% of weekly workout time
Total Hours: 15.33
Approx. Calories Burned by Exercise: 7,010
Average Sleep: 8.57 hours/night
Stretching: 3.11 hours <--MOST EVER

Goals from Last Week:

• Average 8+ hours of sleep per night. DONE
• Stretch 15' per day. DONE
• HIT 170 watts as new FT in Tuesday’s workout. BEAT IT BY 1!!
• Keep the momentum and mental focus going. YEAH, BABY!!! This week was harder than last week—long run increased by 10’, brick run increased by 10’, long ride intensity bumped way up. Strength is now in maintenance mode, and I could really feel it while swimming—my upper body just didn’t have any excess fatigue. I also naturally spent some more time stretching, which contributed to feeling great and not buckling under a good amount of work stress. I also feel like I’m at an all-time low of bodyfat, judging from my appearance, and I’m working extra hard to ensure I stay adequately hydrated and fed.

Accomplishments This Week:

• Met all goals.
• Assimilated a new Collective member, Scott. He really has it going on, mentally and physically. That's what the Collective is all about. GO SCOTT!
• Got an “AWESOME” from my coach. I tell you, there is nothing like that. He doesn’t coddle me in the least, so when I get a virtual high five from him, it is truly meaningful to me.
  

Goals for Next Week:

• Average 8+ hours of sleep per night.
• Stretch 15' per day.
• Hang tough. Believe it or not, I’ve got one bike workout on Tuesday that is harder than ever (stay tuned). The rest of the week is a repeat of this past week, except I get a day off on Thursday due to business travel. So I just need to stay with it, hold my fitness steady, and then I get to taper down for Ralph’s.
  

Workouts Completed this Week

Monday: Swim 3,300 yards in 1:12; Strength 1:08; Run :50 including strides

Tuesday: Bike 1:15 including 2x20’ FT test—new FT=171 (sorry, I just have to say FUCKIN A’ here)

Wednesday: Swim 2,650 yards in :57; Run :55 including :25 tempo

Thursday: Strength :30; Bike 1:15 including 2x15’ @95-100%FT, watts=168, 168, and 8’@105%FT watts=183 (actually 107%!!)

Friday: Swim 2,800 yards in :58; Run 1:00 easy to steady

Saturday: Bike 2:30; brick run 40’.
Sunday: Run 1:50, including 20’ Upper-Steady and 2x12’ Tempo; Swim 1,000 yards in :20

Whose Legs are These???

I LOVE Coughing Up a Lung

First, I must say that there is nothing like a really hard workout to shake off the mental gremlins and assorted stresses brought about by a rough day at the office (and some personal mental gyrations, bonus!). I was reminded by Collective member (please note we have a newcomer, too--Scott) Brett that Buddha admonishes us to first take care of our OWN enlightenment so that we can help others along. So today I focused on ME (except for having to do my job, but still I was looking out for #1).

Since MY coach decided I'm so freaking awesome for my ability to increase my FT watts so much in so little (relatively) time, of course he is giving me some harder bike workouts. And why not? One of the things I love about this sport is the number of times I get to do something I've never done before. Especially when that thing seems harder than anything I've done in the past. Whenever I do that, I get a little extra burst of adrenaline, a sense of curiousity (how will THAT feel?), a teensy bit of dread (what if I SUCK?), and then ultimately, I dive right in and get it done. And I become a better athlete in the process.

Believe it or not, in the course of my training over the past 3 years especially, I've done things that are harder to me than an actual Ironman race. Based on what, you might ask? Based on how trashed I am afterwards. For example, 2 years ago when I first rode the Horribly Hilly Hundreds 200K ride (link on my sidebar), I felt like I had been run over by the proverbial truck the next day. I haven't felt like that after an Ironman in years. In fact, in 2004 about 1 hour after I'd finished IMC, I'm back in my hotel room packing my bike back in its box, on the phone with a friend, and she reminds me I should drink my Endurox! And the next morning I'm carting my bike and luggage around airports in Penticton and Vancouver like it was just another day.

I did Horribly Hilly last year, and once again, the next day I was pretty wasted. But not as badly as the year before. Why? Because I had learned some important things about how to get through an event like that both with a good time on the clock AND my body not being so beaten up by it. And I went into it fitter than the previous year. This is the cool thing about fitness. It's also why as you move up the echelon of fitness (I think I'm about a 9.5 out of 10, 10 being my maximum potential fitness), that you need to keep upping the ante in order to get benefit AND SPEED. And the more fit you are, the more you have to push the envelope to see gains. It's an interesting game, but one that I'm willing to keep playing for a few years at least. When you just start out and you suck, you can do almost ANYTHING and improve. But if you actually SEEK OUT the improvement, you have to be satisfied with whatever gains you make. This is why whenever I read or hear about someone who consistently does not improve that I question their methods--is that person REALLY doing what it takes? Does that person REALLY realize how much effort you need to put in to make gains?

Now, today's bike workout was certainly not in the category of an Ironman or Horribly Hilly, or Goofy Challenge, and in the big scheme of things, I have never done anything that I remotely consider extreme. I never considered Ironman "extreme." I remember when I first had the thought of doing one that it was something where I knew that if I prepared well in an appropriate timeframe for my then fitness, that I could definitely conquer it. Well, my first few times out, I wouldn't call it exactly "conquering" so much as just finishing. Now I am getting ready to RACE the damn thing! How exciting is that??? My very first coach told me right off the bat that it takes at least 5 years for most people, even very fit, fast people, to RACE an Ironman, meaning you are trying to be in the competitive ranks. I sure hope I'm there now!

Back to today's bike workout. Sorry, I keep getting off track. My main set was: 2x15' (6') at 95-100% of FT watts, 2' easy, then 8' at 105% of FT watts. Holy crap! So on paper, I knew that if I could hit that 105%, it would be something I'd never done before. I've played with the watts at the end of my FT test workouts, but this would be an exercise in sheer will, or so I thought.

I settled in for the first 15' interval, and I actually cut myself some slack today. I decided that since my main concern was to hit the 105% on that last interval, that it would probably be good if I didn't go for the full 100% on the first 2 intervals. So I hit 168 watts, which is 98% of my FT watts now, for both of the 15' intervals. I was totally fine with that, and don't tell my coach but it almost felt EASY.

Thanks to Shelley, I was watching a very nice DVD of the 2005 Hawaii Ironman (Natascha Badmann is my idol), so I was plenty fired up to do some work. But really, when I'm on the trainer, I can't pay attention to whatever I'm running on the DVD player because I need to be so focused, and thankfully, the sessions aren't long enough for me to get bored (Side Note: I have no idea how people can actually watch a movie on the trainer--me--it's heads down in the aerobars staring at my top tube mostly--even for the rare 3-hour trainer ride).

Anyway, I click back into the BCR and start the pain. 105% of my FT watts is 179.6, round to 180. To get an average wattage of 180 for 8' I need to keep my watts (which fluctuate--nobody is THAT good to keep up a single number) OVER 180, more like shoot for 185+. Fuckin' A. Those are HUGE numbers for a yard gnome like me.

But I put the Bitch into the 12 cog and here I go. And I manage to keep my cadence around 90 (it's useless for me to do these intervals at low cadence--there will come a time in my training to do low cadence work, but it's not now!). And my first thought is, "It's only 8 minutes." I mean, what the hell, I can do ANYTHING for 8 minutes, right? So then I think when do I want to check my average watts? Usually I like to look after I'm 1/3 done with an interval, but this is a short interval, so I decide on 5'. Since I keep seeing numbers in the 180's and up, I'm just fine. After the 5' I'm averaging 182, so you know what that means? Come on, I have MORE TO GIVE. So I decide for the last 2 minutes I'm going to hit 200+ watts. What the fuck, I have no idea what that feels like, so I just do it and voila! I ended up averaging 183, which is 107% of my FT watts. But it was only 8 minutes--sheesh, again, DO NOT TELL MY COACH, but I think I could have gone 2' more (I swear if he reads this blog I am a dead woman).

And then I switched back into the SCR to cool down and coughed up a lung. WILLINGLY. It makes me wonder if I'm getting to the point where I can push myself SO HARD in a race that I will finish it (FAST!) and need an IV. I think that would be totally cool. I just hope they tint the saline and/or glucose *PINK*.

Kicked My Own Ass and Took Names and Monthly Training Totals

I finished another FT watts test on the bike about 1 hour ago. My objective was to meet or exceed 170 watts average for each of the 2 20' intervals. I averaged 171 watts for each one, and my normalized power is about that. That puts my power to weight ratio (weight in kg to normalized power) at about 3.36, solidly in the "good"/Cat 3 range for women (based on FT alone; obviously I'm not training the other power measures used by pure cyclists).

This is an increase from 165 just 3 weeks ago, and yesterday I did 3 workouts (3,300 yard swim, 1:08 of strength and a :50 run). I'm feeling strong, fit and like I have more in me, which is good, since I haven't done an Ironman race yet this year!

This is week 7 of 8 weeks of pretty high intensity work that I've survived by eating well, stretching plenty, getting a weekly massage and getting lots of sleep. So even though I sometimes joke about training hardcore, it's those "extras" that are enabling me to train at this level, and so far, I'm very pleased with the results. Running is strong and faster, and swimming is finally coming around since I've added a 4th workout (and some yardage), which is necessary for me, since I've only been swimming for 6 years.

I am pretty stoked right now, yet I realize this is just one moment in time; I have to prove this stuff in a race, but at the same time I am just very, very blessed to be more fit than I've been in my life at the ripe age of 49 going on 50! I feel great.

Unfortunately, the new FT watts means I get to work harder on the bike. But my coach already thought I must be improving my fitness or else I've been working too hard, so maybe not so much.

I had a solid February of training:
Swim: 14.02 hours; 39,700 yards
Bike: 20.39 hours (all on the trainer)
Run: 18.09 hours
Strength: 6.83 hours
Total Hours: 59.33
Total Hours Stretching: 9.8 (avg. :21/day)
Average Hours Sleep/Night: 8.9

3 more weeks (2 more intense training) and I get to see how this all works under race conditions, although I'm going to Ralph's just to get in a good, solid workout and have some fun. Then it's nose to the grindstone, just add volume, to get me to Ironman Brazil.

What fun!

Weekly Workout Totals: 2/20/2006-2/26/2006

Since people are always asking me whether I actually have a job, I thought I'd include this photo of me wearing my corporate starched shirt. Please notice that my company doesn't let me carry a gun while on the premises (this was taken in the Minneapolis office last Thursday). A friend of mine thought it would be funny to have the sign in the background. Priceless! You can't tell, but I'm wearing my Ironman bling--I have gold M-dot earrings and a gold Big Island with an M-dot cutout pendant. When I qualify for Ironman Hawaii, I will have the "dot" replaced with a diamond.

In other news this week, I am not sure what age group I am in. I know that USAT changed the rules so that you are in the group including your age as of 12/31 of the year, which puts me in 50-54 (my 50th birthday is in October). But I'm not clear on what the Ironman races are doing, and then I'm doing a 70.3 race in 3 weeks as well. Bueller??? I did write Ironman Brasil (it is pronounced bra-SEAL) to ask formally what they are doing, since they are not a part of IMNA. Thank God for that! At least my medal won't have FORD all over it!!!

Training-wise I had a good week. A little bit of a volume decrease, which was nice. But not so much decrease in intensity! I always find it amusing that when I get some "rest" that I feel incredibly tired. I think this is because usually we are so used to how we feel and we are anticipating our next workout which keeps the adrenaline flowing.

I did my last huge strength workout--this week I go into maintenance mode. I had a great swim TT on Tuesday, good running all week, a killer brick workout on Saturday and capped it all off with a fine, fine long run and recovery swim today. I got plenty of sleep, which is key when trying to keep up the level of workouts I've been doing.

Yesterday's brick workout wasn't epic in length, but the intensity on the bike, which is close to my actual HIM intensity (and longer than the 56-mile ride should take me in the race in 3 weeks, fingers crossed!), was high, and coming off of solid training for the past 5 weeks I felt a little cooked afterwards. Not to mention I didn't start the workout until 12:30, so by the time I finished and showered, it was close to 5PM, and I hadn't yet eaten lunch. So I did what I had to do--I ate for 3 straight hours! And I mean I ATE. Big bowl of stir-fry over brown rice, then about 10 oz. of Porterhouse steak, a few beers, Gummi Bears (many bears were decapitated), string cheese and pecans. I went to bed with a full stomach, so of course I tossed and turned for a few hours as my body valiantly elevated my core temperature while processing all that food and kicked off residual heat from the workout. I was a little concerned how I'd feel running today, but I made sure to get a ton of sleep (10.5 hours) so at least I'd feel semi-recovered.

I felt just fine running today, starting at my usual 10AM (so I finish when lap time starts at noon). My heart rate was pretty low again, which tells me I'm VERY fit. And, you know the drill--I need to run faster next week.

I had a chat with my coach on Wednesday to discuss how the training for the next 2 weeks would roll in preparation for Ralph's. When I heard him say, "Let's just keep it rolling through the 12th," I about crapped my pants. Why? Because whenever he says "keep it rolling," it means NO BREAKS FOR ME HERE IT COMES UP MY BUTT. So 2 more weeks of putting the hurt to myself. That will make EIGHT STRAIGHT WEEKS of solid volume and increasing intensity. Holy hardcore training, Batman! Once again, it absolutely ASTOUNDS me that I am able to keep up this level of work. My coach and other people keep telling me I'm incredibly fit, and I guess I must be. But this is H-A-R-D, HARDCORE H-A-R-D, the kind of thing that most 49 year olds aren't stupid enough to do. The kind of thing that most age-groupers don't do. I guess it's the kind of thing that you do if you are training at a level knocking on the door of Kona, or at least getting very close to that door.

Today, when I got out of my car to go into the Y to run and swim, I even cried for a couple of minutes. Just to acknowledge to myself that what I am doing is hard. Not that it makes me a better person than anyone else (it doesn't), not that I'm truly suffering (I'm not), not that I couldn't just ease off on what I'm supposed to do (I won't), not that this is as hard as it will get (it's not)--just that for those few minutes, I let myself acknowledge the effort I have been putting out. It's something I let myself do every now and then as a stress-reliever.

Friday night I had some fun, too. I got together with my women's cycling team to shoot the shit and talk about some rides and races. Unfortunately, I won't be able to race with them too much, but I do plan on doing a 4-man 60K TT in September, and I'll be riding with these ladies once or twice a week. It was so much fun to get together with a bunch of really fit, competitive women. I was tickled late last summer when they asked me to join their team (Team Apache). I only got to ride with them a few times, but this year I am going to make it a point to drill myself at least once a week with them. This should be the prescription that cures what my coach calls my "only cycling weakness." That is, the ability to ride ultra hard in a group setting beyond my comfort level for long periods of time. After all, you get fast as a cyclist by going fast. That's why I've been doing all the intensity work on the trainer, but very soon it will be time to take it to the road. I am very excited to see how well my indoor fitness gains will match up against this great group of women roadies!

Here are the details of the week:
Swim: 9,000 yards in 3.12 hours; 24% of weekly workout time
Bike: 4.92 hours; approx. 86 miles; 38% of weekly workout time
Run: 3.77 hours; approx. 25 miles; 29% of weekly workout time
Strength: 1.3 hours; 10% of weekly workout time
Total Hours: 13.11
Approx. Calories Burned by Exercise: 5,885
Average Sleep: 8.96 hours/night
Stretching: 2.37 hours

Goals from Last Week:

• Average 8+ hours of sleep per night. DONE
• Stretch 15' per day. DONE
• BEAT 165 watts during all FT intervals. DONE
• BEAT previous 1,000 yard TT time. DONE
• Keep the mental focus. DONE
  

Accomplishments This Week:

• Met all goals.
  

Goals for Next Week:

• Average 8+ hours of sleep per night.
• Stretch 15' per day.
• HIT 170 watts as new FT in Tuesday’s workout (GULP!)
• Keep the momentum and mental focus going. While I got a little bit of a break this week in terms of volume, there was more intensity (oh joy!), and there is more in the next 2 weeks.
  

Workouts Completed this Week
Monday: Strength 1:18
Tuesday: Swim 2,000 yards including 1,000 TT @1:41/100 yds.; Bike 1:05 including 2x15’ FT, watts=173, 173
Wednesday: Swim 2,700 yards in :58; Run :52 including :25 tempo
Thursday: Bike :50 including :20 HIM watts (had to catch a plane today so cut the workout short and eased off on the intensity so I didn’t projectile vomit my breakfast)
Friday: Swim 3,100 yards in 1:05; Run :40 pretty quick pace because it felt good (was supposed to do strides)
Saturday: Bike 3:00; brick run 35’. Felt sick when I began to run (this isn’t unusual after a hard ride), but legs were working just fine. A girl on the next treadmill forced me to play “You SUCK,” and she gave up after 5’.
Sunday: Run 1:40, ending with 20’ Upper-Steady and 25’ Tempo; Swim 1,200 yards in :24

You SUCK

Ever play this game with someone while swimming, biking or running?

Rules:

1. You never actually let on that you are playing the game. It's all in your head.
2. You must be faster than the other person or willing to pick up the pace significantly so that you are moving faster for a decent period of time.
3. You are not allowed to play with someone that you are working out with unless you've agreed with one another that if either of you begins playing the game, nobody gets offended. For example, you are swimming intervals together. Most likely each of you is playing against the other anyway. Or you are near the end of a run. It's only natural to behave like it's the end of a race and go for it! Or you're riding together and you spontaneously decide it's time for a sprint.
4. There is no starting gun or clock. You may begin the game at any point during your workout. The word "GO" is never to be uttered aloud.
5. The game continues until you've conclusively decided the other person sucks.
6. You can play against as many others during a workout as you like, or against the same person more than once. Look at it as a fartlek session.
7. If you are running or biking, you are required to at least smile as you pass the other person, and why not you are faster than them! Extra points for saying, "Looking good," "Way to Go," or "Have a Nice Day." If it's someone you know and you are absolutely sure they are OK with it, you can go ahead and say, "YOU SUCK!"
8. If because of playing the game, you blow yourself up and someone you were playing with goes past YOU, then you need to tell yourself that YOU SUCK. Don't worry--you'll get over it!

How to Play
You swim, run or bike faster than the other person. When playing in the pool, it's even better if you give the other player a head start at the wall, say like 15 seconds. When running or biking, slow down a bit to let the other person gain some time on you, otherwise they might catch on that you are fast or are about to sprint. Because then you can play YOU REALLY SUCK, depending on how much of a head start you gave them.

Once you decide it's GAME OVER, you are allowed to pump your fist in the air, smile gleefully or jump for joy, but you are not actually allowed to yell, "YOU SUCK" unless it's against your friend. Friends understand this because it goads them into training harder!

I haven't had the opportunity to play on the bike yet, but it will happen as soon as I get outdoors. More likely, I'll be the victim of someone else who's secretly playing WITH ME! I've played in the pool today and Wednesday. Sometimes I play on the treadmill, just by going faster than someone for a bit.

My FAST

My FAST is competitive.
My FAST sometimes races against others when they don't know it.
My FAST requires high octane fuel to work properly.
My FAST doesn't appreciate extra junk in the trunk--slows her down.
My FAST knows there are others with faster FAST, but that there are plenty slower.
My FAST understands that plenty of rest is necessary.
My FAST knows she needs to be revved up regularly or else she gets slower.
My FAST requires regular tuneups to keep her running efficiently.
My FAST likes her ego stroked with positive affirmations.
My FAST gets all riled up when I tell her she sucks. And then she makes me prove I'm wrong!
My FAST works best when her mind is freed of fear and expectations.
My FAST likes to LOOK FAST.
My FAST loves being timed.
My FAST likes to help others find their FAST.
My FAST is very happy I found her.
My FAST has a name--Sheila.

Twofer--I DON'T SUCK!!!

And also I received some prizes in the mail today...he he...these things got me through two great workouts today.

Why does every day feel like a time trial to me? Oh yeah, because IT USUALLY IS. At least when I ride my bike or swim or run tempo. Let's see, that would be 5 out of 7 days per week. No wonder I've been a little frazzled.

Yesterday all I did was my last, mega, hurt-every-single-muscle strength workout, nothing else. Today I thought was swim time trial day, so I got mentally prepared for that, but then when I looked at my schedule, I saw it was really scheduled for Wednesday. Oh well, I'M DOING IT TODAY, DAMMIT, since it would be a short swim and then I'd still need to do a bike interval workout.

As I exited my house, I saw in my mailbox a package that I knew was from Shelley, and I knew what was in it (see above), but I didn't open it--I decided just knowing it was there would give me some more motivation in the pool.

I warmed up, did some fast 50's, and it was GO TIME. My upper body and arms felt the effects of yesterday's strength workout, but too bad, here it comes,1,000 yards. The last time I did one of these I sucked at 1:47/100 yards, and that was when I unilaterally decided I needed to be swimming at least 10,000 yards a week. Yes, I do drills every workout, too, but at some point you need to be in the pool a lot to have more "feel for the water," and I find that for me 3 solid swims of about 3,000 yards plus one or two more of 1,000-1,500 yards is perfect. So I started doing that, and I could see as the weeks were going by that I felt stronger in the water, definitely, but with the strength training peaking as well, not so much faster, but a little bit, you know?

So I swim, and I feel like I've got a good pace going, and several times during the bout I'm thinking to myself, "I can't let the Collective down." Man, we are all ON FIRE lately, and here was another chance for me to come through. I finish the 1,000 yards, feeling like I put out a good effort, and I look at my time. Now, I was a math major in college, but sometimes for the life of me I can't do simple arithmetic when my heart is jacked up after fast interval work. So for about 2 minutes, I'm like, "Wow, I still suck." And then it hits me, DOH!!! I figured wrong, and I DO NOT SUCK! I screamed at the top of my lungs and pumped my fists in the air, "YEAH, BABY!!!" My time was 16:52, which is 1:41/100 yards. Now I am no Brett or Shelley, but that is a solid time for me, and that will get faster as my training marches on, especially since the strength training drops off next week.

I AM SO HAPPY!!!! So I am so excited when I get home and I open the package, and I was expecting the Collective beads, but then I also get BUTT MODEL!!! He he...I'll be wearing these pretty much all the time except during swims. They seem to be pretty powerful.

But wait, there's more. Act now and you get this fine set of Ginzu knives.

I had to do a bike workout, including 2x15' at FT watts. As you may have seen from my goals last week, I upped the ante, and now it's not good enough to "meet" my current FT watts--I need to BEAT them. So I power up the bike and get in a solid warmup and then here we go. I always "work into" the watts, because you can't just explode into an effort like that (except, well, when I do a sprint race and then pretty much it's balls out as soon as my feet are clipped in). Since I have a luxurious 15 minutes, I go relatively easy for the first 5, and am averaging 167. That would be fine (current FT is 165), but hey, I can do better. The Collective knows that! So I march on up to 173 after 10', and decide that's plenty good enough, and then I just hold it.

One interval down, one to go. When I start my second interval, it always feels harder to keep the same cadence, so I tend to shift into one higher gear. This was no exception. After 5', I'm only up to 165 watts, though, so I am going to need to work. I think back on my awesome swim TT and fire up my legs (which by the way are still sore as hell from yesterday's strength workout), and just let it all hang out, and watch the watts tick up until I hit 170 after 10', but no, I need to meet the FIRST interval, so I push extra hard for the last 5' and get back to 173 watts.

I have to go get a well-deserved massage now, over and out, I tell ya the Collective is a force to be reckoned with! Tomorrow I will just relax through my 3,100 yard swim workout and an easy 1:05 tempo run.

LIFE IS AWESOME!!!

Good Riddance, Evil Strength Workouts!

Finally, I'm at the end of the really hard strength training.

Today I had no scheduled triathlon workouts, so I did my last really big strength workout today, and starting next week, I go into maintenance phase (2 sets of 12 reps).

I've been doing this strength program for 4 years, and it still kicks my ass! I use the periodization from a Mark Allen/Paula Newby-Fraser program; however, the actual exercises I do are a combination of moves I know and love from my old bodybuilding days, various books I've picked up over the years and guidance I've received from a few awesome personal trainers I've encountered. I do one full-body workout per week, and then I repeat the abs and core exercises a second time in the week. Here's the breakdown by body area of the number of exercises I do:

• Abs: 5
• Core: 8
• Legs & Glutes: 15
• Arms (Bis and Tris): 11
• Shoulders: 11
• Chest: 4
• Back: 5

So my first strength session of the week, the full-body workout, has 59 exercises in it (which I typically split across Monday and Tuesday), and then my repeat abs and core workout has 13 exercises (which I typically fit in on Thursdays). Good thing I have all the equipment in my house--it would take a LONG time to do all of this in a gym! I pretty much execute the routine circuit-style, and from week to week, I never do the exercises in the same order, which keeps my muscles alert and prevents mental or physical staleness. So for those of you who have studied my physique, you see that in reality I don't do a lot of abs work, but I certainly think my power and endurance in all 3 sports benefit from the level of strength training that I do. And it helps to keep my muscle mass up while doing all the cardio, which ultimately contributes to my lean-itude (I just made that word up). One of these days I'll get someone to photograph my upper back--it's totally cut, but USEFUL--it's what drives my ability to swim without fatigue.

The periodization I've followed this year (the beginning weeks are flexible, depending on how I ended my previous triathlon season) goes as follows, except for most of the abs and core exercises, where I always do 2 sets of 15 reps:

• 1x15, 2 weeks (my solo marathon on 10/2/2005 was in here)
• 1x12, 2 weeks
• 1x12, weights up, 1 week
• 1x12 at new weight, 4 weeks
• 2x12, 2 weeks (my solo indoor 1/2 Ironman was in here)
• 2x12, weights down, 1 week
• 3x12, 2 weeks
• 3x12, weights up, 1 week
• 2x15, weights down, 1 week
• 2x20, 2 weeks (Goofy Challenge was in here)
• 3x20, 1 week
• 2x6 Power, 2x20 Endurance (about 1/2 the exercises for a body part are at high weight/low reps 2x6; other 1/2 are at lower weight/high reps 2x20) 1 week
• 2x8 Power, 2x20 Endurance, 1 week
• 3x8 Power, 2x20 Endurance, 3 weeks

And that brings me to today! Next week and for the duration (except that I will only do abs and core or perhaps not even that during a race week, and prior taper weeks I might scale back to 1x12), it's 2x12, and that will feel AWESOME (ask Brett--he's followed my evil periodization plan).

I know I added some exercises this year, but I didn't really keep track. You've seen from my weekly workout summaries that the percent of my training hours devoted to strength isn't very high, and will go down even further as my sports volume increases, but I do believe that it builds a solid foundation that enables me to pile on the volume in the springtime with less risk of injury. Add to that the consistency of stretching I've been following, and I am very pleased with these "extras" that I incorporate into my training.

What's so funny to me is that before 1998, I was really into the bodybuilding thing, and just LOVED pumping iron. I would do about 4 hours per week, and in the summer I would take my bench and free weights out into my garage (yes, hauling all that weight down a flight of stairs and 30 feet down a driveway was a workout in and of itself), and I'd work out outside in my driveway. I loved pumping iron, and I couldn't imagine not doing it.

Then I started running, because you know, it's important to do cardio, too (I can hear all the snickering going on), but I wasn't ready to give up my beloved strength routine. Back then I did a split routine where each body part got worked twice a week, but not nearly as much abs and core work, so I figure I was doing as much or more exercises per body part as I am doing today. Once I started running, though, I scaled things back to 2 full-body workouts per week, and still carried a hefty (pun intended) load of strength work.

The thing was, if you had asked me at the time which I enjoyed doing more--running or lifting--hands down it was pumping iron. I loved the way it felt deep in my muscles while doing it--almost as if I could feel my muscles growing (which we all know isn't true--they grow only when you are resting), I loved DOMS, I just loved having muscle.

Then, the triathlon bug bit, and again I had to make a compromise to my strength training. It was tough, because not only did I not have enough time to do all the lifting I wanted, but it compromised (initially) my attempts to add more volume to my weekly workout time. So I had to scale back again. In the process, I rediscovered how much I loved riding a bike (which I had done plenty of as a kid, non-competitively), how much I sucked at swimming (here I thought I knew how, but NOOOOOO), and how running when you have all these other things to do is not so enjoyable.

Fast forward to today, though, and because I've learned how to take care of myself and how to balance the sports training with the strength training, and I've designed a strength program that works well for me with my triathlon training and racing schedule, and I have to say that I enjoy the sports more than I do pumping iron.

But there is still a special place in my heart for it, because I know that without it I would probably be a big blob of unattractive fat, which does not work for me. And while I no longer subscribe to Muscle & Fitness magazine, occasionally I will pick up Oxygen, because I just think these women who shape their bodies (to a point) are gorgeous (no, I'm not gay), and since they also do plenty of cardio, other than the weird dieting they go through for a contest, they are pretty healthy and inspirational. I read in Oxygen the other day a weight chart that was supposed to show whether your weight for your height is under, within or over where it should be. Their chart said I am UNDERWEIGHT. Ha ha. Funny coming from a magazine that is geared to women who are trying to get their bodyfat percent down to 7-8 (me, I'm a whopping 11 or 12, possibly lower, possibly higher, who knows?). Oh well, it just goes to show you there are many different standards out there.

That picture of Arnold? That's on the back of the door in my home office/gym. While I have a new found appreciation for the triathlete physique, I still have a soft spot for a buff guy with a little more muscle. Not too much, though, but Arnold? He's still a hottie in my book. And I think it's hilarious that years ago I taped "GET HARD" to that picture. I think I just came up with a new Crackhead motto: TRAIN HARD, GET HARD, GO HARD. You can interpret that how you like. Works for me!

Weekly Training Report: 2/13/2006-2/19/2006

This was another intense week, workout-wise. Intensity increased in tempo run, long ride and long run. Duration increased in long ride. Next week I do a swim time trial (only 1,000 yards, which is adequate for a HIM) and back off the run volume slightly. But I am going to jack up my bike volume just a bit more so that I feel confident in my endurance heading into Ralph’s. I fully intend to negotiate with my coach for a little more volume than he planned for me; then again maybe not! All I know is I have a scheduled rest day tomorrow—but I will knock out my entire strength workout anyway. At least I get to sleep in on a Monday, which is rare for me!

My long run today was not a piece of cake after yesterday's brick, but then again, I didn't expect it to be. I decided I would forego the Ultra Violence so that I will sleep like a rock tonight, and while my legs felt pretty good except for a little quad tightness (gee, what a surprise there, huh?), I could just feel the accumulated fatigue of working out hard pretty much every single day this week AGAIN! And I did something silly--I knew I would be oh-so-close to 15 hours of training for the week on the nose, but not quite there, so I ran a few extra minutes. Am I retarded or what? When I read about other people doing that, I generally laugh, so go ahead, laugh at me, I won't mind! And I must tell you that those 4 extra minutes of running were difficult, even though I ran at my easy pace. Guess I had exactly 1:40 of running in the tank for today, NOT 1:44. Now that, my friends, is what I call measuring your effort with 100% precision! Just like in a race!

Here are the details from the week that was:
Swim: 10,100 yards in 3.57 hours; 24% of weekly workout time
Bike: 4.92 hours; approx. 86 miles; 33% of weekly workout time
Run: 4.82 hours; approx. 30 miles; 32% of weekly workout time
Strength: 1.73 hours; 12% of weekly workout time
Total Hours: 15.04 (see here I even went OVER the 15.0, ha ha)
Approx. Calories Burned by Exercise: 6,448
Average Sleep: 8.82 hours/night
Stretching: 2.45 hours

Goals from Last Week:

• Average 8+ hours of sleep per night. DONE
• Stretch 15' per day. DONE
• Meet or beat 165 watts during all FT intervals. DONE
• Meet or beat 100 and 200 speeds in all swim workouts. DONE
• Keep the momentum going. DONE
  

Accomplishments This Week:

• Met all goals.
• Weathered some stressful events by continuing to focus on good nutrition, adequate sleep/rest, plenty of stretching and rolling with the punches.
• Did not wimp out on any workouts, even as there was more intensity in running, more intensity and volume in biking, and more of an endurance focus in swimming.
  

Goals for Next Week:

• Average 8+ hours of sleep per night.
• Stretch 15' per day.
• BEAT 165 watts during all FT intervals.
• BEAT previous 1,000 yard TT time and do it with the wetsuit on (I need to see if the darn thing still fits!)
• Keep the mental focus. Hard training has taken its toll this week mentally, but resulted in a spot-on brick workout yesterday. Try and duplicate that this coming week. Last week of strength/endurance strength workouts. YIPPEE!!!!!
  

Workouts Completed this Week
Monday: Swim 3,100 yards in 1:06; Strength :51; Run :50 including strides
Tuesday: Strength :21; Bike 1:05 including 2x15’ FT, watts=172, 170
Wednesday: Run 1:05 including :30 tempo ; Strength :32
Thursday: Swim 2,800 yards in 1:00; Bike 1:05 including 3x10’ FT, watts=169, 170, 165 (I was a little off for this workout)
Friday: Swim 3,100 yards in 1:05; Run :40 including strides.
Saturday: Bike 2:45 (see yesterday’s post for stats); brick run 30’. Entire workout felt great!
Sunday: Run 1:44, including 20’ Upper-Steady and 25’ Tempo; Swim 1,100 yards in :22

Awesome Workout Today

I've been struggling this week--I think part of it has been the steady increase in intensity week by week, and also with the mandate to "always be pushing" on the bike, I've been really trying to push those watts every time I ride. This is week 4 of 5 weeks of 14-15 hours of training, which really isn't a lot of volume for me, but with all the intensity it's a tough schedule. Add to that a little "I wonder if this is the week I lose my job or have to switch to a position that's more than 50% travel" stress, plus friggin' crazy strength workouts (they taper off in 2 weeks, which is my intended periodization to achieve maximal strength AND rest before Ralph's), and it didn't surprise me a bit that this week I just felt mentally and physically off.

Tuesday's bike workout went just fine, but it felt like more of a struggle than usual (if you can believe that!) to push out the watts. I guess that the higher the stakes, the harder it gets, eh? Believe me, I feel that adage, "it doesn't get any easier, you just get faster," and I've never felt so strong or fast ever, and while my training volume isn't huge, it's been a steady push of intensity. But I just felt "off" on Tuesday.

Wednesday morning, I was up in plenty of time to get my swim workout in before work, but I just felt like I needed to not go, and instead do something non-training in the early hours. I've always been an early bird (relatively), and used to enjoy doing all sorts of things before I would begin my workday. So I skipped the swim and enjoyed almost 3 hours of NOT TRAINING before work. It was really nice to do my tempo run in the middle of the day not having swum, and feeling all nice and peppy. Man, my HR was low even as I kept pushing my pace.

Of course, my work ethic got the better of me, so I figured that since I had skipped my swim that I should probably do my Thursday core workout on Wednesday. So I did that after I finished working for the day, and I noticed that my upper body was carrying a lot of stiffness and soreness, which I attributed to the stress of that day, when luckily, I wasn't ordered to change to the big travel job (thankfully, another coworker volunteered for it). With a sigh of relief, I relaxed that evening and decided I would get up early on Thursday and see if I felt like swimming.

I am so used to 2 workouts a day that if I only do 1 I feel out of sorts and/or I do not feel as mentally engaged at work. Thursday morning rolled around, and I had slept well, and the coffee was good as always (I brew my own Kona every day), and I decided I'd do my shorter, Friday swim this day, since I had a tough bike workout for later in the day. The swim workout went really well. My upper body soreness seemed to have dissipated (stretching before swimming as I always do never hurts, either), and I felt pretty strong in the water. The Master's coach gave me a little objective criticism, which I thanked him for, and when I told him about what some other swimmer had said about me he just rolled his eyes and said, "No, you do NOT do that." Ha ha. Maybe that was a married guy's way of flirting with me by telling me my form was so off? Whatever. I "only" did 2800 yards, and felt ready for my bike workout.

Well, Thursday's bike workout included a measly 3x10' at FT watts, and even though my objective for the week was to meet or beat current FT (165), in reality I wanted to see numbers over 170. What is my problem??? Oh, yeah, coach said, "Always be pushing," so I have interpreted that to mean, "Go for +5 watts over FT until the next test." That is certainly one way to push up my FT watts! I felt like I was putting out good power, but the watts I wanted weren't there, yet I still achieved the objective, but was disappointed. I figured perhaps swimming in the morning sapped a little energy, and even though I shouldn't have been phased by the workout results, again, I felt like the week just wasn't going like I would prefer.

Friday I got up early enough to swim again, so guess what, I ended up not skipping any swim workouts after all! I did my Wednesday workout, which included a main set of 6x300, 15" RI. Now if you know anything about swim workouts, you know this is an endurance set--not much rest at all. The first 3 were 1-3 descending, then the last 3 were negative split. My swimming speed still isn't where I want it, but what the hell at least I could see what's going on endurance-wise. Yup, I've got plenty of that! The entire workout was 3,100 yards, and it went by in a flash, and I wasn't the least bit tired or fatigued. Just takin' care of business. Then later all I had to do was an easy 40' run including 10' of strides, no problem, I can do that half asleep. The day almost ended with a fire drill at work, but luckily, the situation was confirmed under control by 5PM, THANK GOD! I have had plenty of late Friday afternoon fire drills, and they are no fun at all, not to mention they have a way of putting a dent into the weekend.

So through Friday, some good, some not so good workouts, plenty o' stress at work, but good Olympics action so the net net as of this morning was I shouldn't be so concerned about how the weekend workouts go. But you know that isn't me--I want to nail everything. And I had decided to increase my bike workout today by another 15', to get it up to 2:45, which is close to what I usually ride in a 1/2 IM, so that I don't feel like a total loser when I show up at Ralph's in 4 weeks. Last week I did 2:30, and I added intensity, and I felt pretty shelled after that plus the brick run afterwards, so I was careful about what kind of intensity I added for today's bike workout.

It was -9 here in Chicago when I got up this morning, and I keep my heat set to 67 so that the main floor is reasonable, upstairs is about 69-70 (and I'm usually burning up at night--I guess this Iron physique really kicks out the watts at night!), and then I don't spend much time except on the trainer downstairs--it's pretty cold down there. When I fired up the SRM the temperature was 60! Perfect for an indoor ride, but I started with a long sleeve t-shirt on because I was so chilled. I usually wait 10 minutes before I turn on the fan to blast me in the face, and I thought maybe I wouldn't need it today, but I did, but I felt pleasantly "not too hot" for the entire ride.

And I had watts and watts and WATTS today, EASILY! After all the other nonsense this week, I was pretty relaxed about things and figured I'd do whatever I could, and I did push and I just totally exceeded my expectations at every work level! I am not going to use this to justify even harder efforts next week, but it tells me that I'll be plenty ready to push my FT watts up to 170 in a few weeks, and then go beyond that well before IM Brazil. Yip-fucking-ee!!!!

I will say that while I was doing the FT interval, man could I feel the lactic acid in my calves--they were screaming at me, but my quads felt like huge, strong pistons that were transferring all this power down my legs and too bad if the silly little calves were objecting a little bit! As an aside, I am developing those biker calves--nice little teardrops in the gastrocs and my soleus muscles are ripped and visible on the sides. It's the least my body can do for all the hard work!

When you look at the data points above, you will see that I got STRONGER on the HIM intervals and did not lose much power at all on the Steady intervals. You may also notice, though, that my HR did go up across those intervals, which is not at all surprising. See this is where having a power meter really pays off. The HR data to me is just "interesting," but if I worry about my HR then I will not push the watts I know I can. So I added 15' to my ride today, and it was all intensity--no extra lollygagging! And I felt great right through to the end--I felt like I could have continued cruising at HIM watts for awhile. This is good, since I have an actual HIM in 4 weeks, huh?

But then, I wondered how would it feel to run? Doesn't matter if you can go faster or push higher watts on the bike if you are then destroyed once you begin to run. Last week's brick run did not feel too good. It didn't feel too bad, either, but certainly nothing to write home about. I got on the treadmill after a frigid walk from my car (it got to an amazing 5 from -9), and wow, nothing! I mean it felt easy! What happens when it feels easy? I need to push harder. A sad, but true, occupational hazard. I figured this is good timing to up the stakes on the run with a race coming up. I was singing, my stride felt all loose and easy, breathing was easy, it was all FUCKING GREAT, I mean I haven't felt that good like EVER! I had a split second thought, "What if I'm blowing my wad RIGHT NOW and have nothing on race day?" I've come to learn that thoughts like that mean I am peaking right on schedule, and I hate to say it, but the peaking is almost better than the damn race sometimes! Because it usually happens all of a sudden, usually after I've had a crappy week or been really tired or both, and then, BANG!!! HERE IT IS, ENJOY THE RIDE AND SUCK IT UP. And then, the truth is, you just have to accept it for what it is, and then no matter what happens on race day, you KNOW you had the goods. So if race day turns out to not be your day, no big deal.

Man, that was so much fun and I felt so joyful the entire time--if I could bottle the sensation and sell it, it would be more precious than gold or the best champagne in the world! My long run tomorrow might suck, or it might not, but right now, everything is right with the world.

Clocks Rule

I began writing something to Jen in response to the stress she experienced today while having her proposal evaluated, and then I thought, hey, this pertains to everyone, so here goes.

At the end of the day, it is YOU who controls how YOU feel about YOURSELF. If you think you did a great job at something in the work environment or some other arena, then even though those seeds of self-doubt creep in (we are all human, after all) when you don't receive 100% positive feedback on your efforts, you still have to go to bed at night feeling good about yourself. This is one of the biggest lessons I have learned from sport and general physical fitness. It helps you feel good about yourself in a way that you have 100% control over. See if you are strong and healthy and you know it, nobody else can take that away from you EVER. When you look in the mirror and see that strong, fit, healthy person, who is to take that away from you? And you can take that into any life situation, since clearly if you have the conviction to excel at sport, then you naturally apply that to any endeavor.

So if on a day at "work," you get criticized or your ideas are rejected or someone creates grief for you, does that mean when you look in that same mirror at the end of the day and see that same strong, fit, healthy person that all of a sudden that person sucks? Hell no. In the job and life arenas, we are always being evaluated and judged by others. It's the nature of the beast, and like it or not, part of the society we live in that demands that we be better than someone else or better at convincing others to accept our creative ideas.

Life is never as simple as a clock at the end of a race that says, "YOU WENT THIS FAST." Hey, that clock doesn't lie, it isn't passive-aggressive, it doesn't have a hidden agenda, it doesn't care who you are, who did their presentation or wave before you or after you or give you style points--it's just a freaking CLOCK! I suppose that's why I've always enjoyed being timed--it's such a pure experience, and you always know how you did. And then it's your choice whether you compare yourself against someone else's time on that same clock or whether you compare yourself against your own clock.

The motto of the Olympics is CITIUS, ALTIUS, FORTIUS--Faster, Higher, Stronger. If you can apply that in one area of your life, you've got it everywhere, regardless of how you are judged. Cultivate your strength in sport and resist those who try and bring you down in other arenas.

This is the concept behind Mind of Iron. Build a strong body and mind. Resist invaders! Use your strength to guide you in every aspect of your life. Speak the truth, know yourself, even toot your own horn when necessary to get what you need. But always come from that strong center that is infallible. It will carry you through so much more than just a race!

Musings

I'm sad that a friend has to put her dog down.
I'm sad that Bode Miller got DQ'ed from the Nordic combined.
I'm sad that Chad Hendrick won't be able to get 5 gold medals.
I'm sad that a bunch of people lost their jobs last week where I work.
I'm sad that my mom has discovered yet another health problem that is so far undiagnosed, but that causes her more pain that she claims "is not too bad."
I'm sad that my best confidant coworker is leaving for another company.
I'm sad that I spent another Valentines Day alone.
I'm sad for all the people in the world that have much bigger problems than I do.
I'm sad that certain people can't take a joke and feel compelled to kill others over it.
I'm sad that some people don't know where to draw the line between satire and defamation, and that we can't all agree on where that line is.
I'm sad that people feel compelled to defend however it is they have chosen to live their lives, or even worse, when they forget that they have made a choice.
I'm sad that I sometimes get so wrapped up in this silly sport of triathlon.

I'm happy that I know several incredibly strong, intelligent women.
I'm happy that I know several kind, considerate men.
I'm happy when I see parents happy around their children.
I'm happy that I am basically healthy.
I'm happy that I am fit enough to do the training and racing that I do.
I'm happy that I feel like I've "gotten good" at triathlon and that I may be able to make a living at being a coach.
I'm happy whenever someone asks me for advice or guidance and they really want it.
I'm happy that a few people on this planet seem to benefit from my being here.
I'm happy that the Masters coach was nice enough to ask me if I wanted a stroke tip today, and he gave it in the context of me being a good swimmer.
I'm happy that despite the seeming prevalence of doping, that athletes still aspire to the pinnacle of getting to the Olympics.
I'm happy to watch an athlete winning their Olympic competition and getting all teary-eyed during the medal ceremony.
I'm happy that the days are getting noticeably longer and that before I know it, spring will be here, and I planted about 300 spring-flowering bulbs that should make for quite a show.
I'm happy that I've learned to not take too many things at work personally, even though because of my desire to be treated fairly and to do the best that I can, I still suffer stress reactions to difficult situations.
I'm happy and fortunate that I have the means to do neat things.
I'm happy that the Earth is still basically a beautiful and wonder place to live.
I'm happy that there are still little towns and villages all over the world that haven't "industrialized" or "modernized" too much, and I hope to visit more of them.
I'm happy that we are not all alike.
I'm happy that life can be so wonderful.
I'm happy when people collaborate and cooperate and come up with a good idea that is better than any one person's.
I'm happy that I have so much emotion in me and am unafraid to express it.
I'm happy that I'm more happy than sad!

Why, oh why?

Registration Details:
Event: Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge 2007
Total Payment: $199.50
Confirmation Number: 2228511
Time of Transaction: 2/15/2006 7:02:09 PM

I pulled the trigger last night while I was in a photograph-induced coma. I ordered my (ripoff) prints from asiorders.com and thought it was time that I posted this one of Joe and me. Joe is a very talented runner who provided me with much inspiration throughout my recent Goofy journey. He lives in Boston. I hope to get to Boston to hang with him and his wife, Julia, by qualifying for the marathon. Before we were ready to leave after the Disney marathon (which is where I first met him live), I asked his mom to take a picture of us to "prove that I had met Joe in person." Joe sent me this picture with an inspirational card that is now relegated to my "wall of fame" in my home office.

Are we blinged out or what? This sure brings back good memories, which I suppose is why I pulled the trigger again last night. It was so much FUN! Next year, though, I will go with the costume (not this same one, probably) for the half marathon, and I plan to be running for a PR during the marathon.

Here I had been saying to myself that I wasn't going to plan 2007 for awhile. But it can't hurt to begin next year with a good haul of running, right?

This is what I look like after a bike interval workout

See? If you could see up close, or maybe you can tell, my face is all flushed and ruddy and crappy looking. And the expression on my face is more or less, WTF???? I didn't think I could make it through today's workout, but I did, it was hard as always, and now I'm getting a massage. Happy Valentines Day to everyone out there, and if you run into a potential Mr. Crackhead, let me know!

Breakfast of Champions

After my AM swim, I cut open the bag. I haven't had any of these since late last summer. Boy are they good!

When I get sugar cravings, I know that I'm training hard. And I honor them, in moderation.

OK so now I just made myself feel bad--guess I'll go eat a banana. I need to run soon.

Sports Nutrition 101

Somebody (not saying who) thought that working out for 3.5 hours with no calories going in would encourage more fat burning. Uh-huh.

DOH! Here's how I lay it down. This is part (mostly) science, and part (also mostly) experience. I've been at this awhile, and think I carry some street cred. If you don't believe the science part, get yourself 2 books: Physiology of Sport and Exercise by Jack H. Wilmore and David L. Costill, and Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition by Monique Ryan (although there are other good sports nutrition books out there, but I will stand by Monique all the way). Read them cover to cover and then check back with me if you think I'm full of it. If you don't know what glycogen is, Google it and read all about it.

When you are exercising, your body needs to burn carbohydrates. It can get those carbs from 3 places:

1. Glycogen stored in your liver (about 400 calories worth)
2. Glycogen stored in your muscles (1400-1800 calories worth)
3. Circulating glucose (sugar) in your bloodstream (depends on how much is there)

Exercising at less than 60% of Max HR (WHO DOES THAT???) will burn almost 100% fat.

When you exercise at 60-80% of your Max HR, about 50% of the energy comes from muscle glycogen and blood glucose, about 50% from fat, and a small amount from protein (muscle breakdown). The percentages of carbs vs. fats depends on the intensity.

When you exercise at over 80% of your Max HR, about 75% of the energy comes from muscle glycogen and blood glucose (fat can't be utilized effectively at this intensity).

Stay with me here, I'm getting to the point.

As a person becomes more fit, their body is able to burn a little more fat during aerobic exercise. This is accomplished by spending the bulk of the training time at 60-80% of Max HR.

A couple of things should stick out to you, but in case they don't, let me point them out (they are subtle but true):

1. If you spend too much time exercising at over 80% Max HR, you are teaching your body to burn glycogen preferentially for fuel. Your body just gets used to it. This is why I preach DO YOUR EASY STUFF EASY. There's a "dead zone" that is 80-85% of Max HR (depending on your fitness) that can be a waste of time to spend any of your training time in. Better to go easy or hard. And if you are going to go hard, GO HARDCORE AGGRO while you're at it!
2. If you put sugar into your bloodstream WHILE YOU EXERCISE, your body can use it pretty effectively.
3. If you don't put sugar into your bloodstream WHILE YOU EXERCISE, your body is going to exhaust its glycogen stores faster, which won't make you a better fat burner--it will just use up your glycogen faster, and if you exercise long enough, it will make you bonk faster!!!!

See if by not feeding yourself while you exercise you could make your body burn lots of fat, then why would someone eat during an Ironman? We all have TONS of potential fat calories (I, little Yard Gnome that I am, have over 43,000 potential fat calories) available. But like it or not, our bodies are going to go through that glycogen and whatever is in our blood before it starts tapping on those mega-fat stores. Our bodies need to preserve a few things: our brains, which live off of pure glucose (see this is why the first sign of impending bonk is that your judgment gets weird, or you get dizzy) and our internal organs. Our brains would rather shut down our muscles (i.e., make you stop moving) than risk injury to the internal organs. This is the extreme form of bonk.

Bonking occurs when your body cannot meet its carbohydrate needs during exercise from a combination of glycogen and blood glucose. But it's a little trickier than that. Let's say you exhaust your glycogen stores and then dump sugar into your bloodstream. It may be too late! You need to put so much in at a constant rate (generally to tolerance--my rule of thumb is to try and take in 50% of the calories I am burning, a little more while biking) so that your GI tract is able to process it and your metabolism keeps the "switch" turned on so that you keep using that circulating blood glucose for energy. You've all read or heard about athletes whose digestion shuts down, and that inevitably leads to a bonk or else they need to stop and wait it out until their GI tract recovers.

I ALWAYS take in sugars while exercising, even for as little as a 30-minute workout. Why? Because then I am always training my gut to process those sugars and send them to my working muscles. EVERY DAY. Now, of course that means that the stuff I take in during exercise counts towards my daily calorie needs, and of course it does, and maybe that means I get to eat less "food" than otherwise, but the tradeoff to me is clear. My body is trained to utilize fuel, and a side bonus is that I am not starving once I finish a workout (well, except when it's 2 or more hours, then pretty much I'm hungry).

How many people do you know who swear by "I just drink water when I train" and then watch them after a workout and they just undid all their hard work by pigging out? Not only that, but while they were busy exercising with no fuel, their brains figured, "Hey, we're being starved here," so the body went into fat preservation mode, NOT fat burning mode.

Even if a person is trying to lose weight or lean out, I would NOT recommend that they cut back on their training nutrition. Face it, if you are trying to be smaller, then you are going to need to get used to eating less across the board. Eventually, the calories you take in during training will need to drop as well, but initially the last thing you want to do is deprive your body of calories while training, which even MORE convinces it that you are starving it, and will slow your metabolism even further!

So if I were to state "Crackhead's Basic Nutrition Rules" they would be:

1. Eat frequently. 6 or more times a day.
2. Don't eat a lot of food, by volume, at any one sitting
3. Always be sipping Gatorade or your favorite training beverage during workouts, even if they are short. Do some math. Make sure you achieve proper fluid volume (4-6 oz. every 15-20 min., or 16-24 oz. per hour, adjust up depending on your sweat rate and heat), and that you are replacing 50% or better of your calories
4. Don't forget to include your training nutrition calories in your daily totals
5. Don't be afraid to be a little hungry when you aren't training.
6. You should NOT be hungry while you are training! If you are, pop a gel or something.
7. So that you teach your body to burn fat effectively, complete your workouts at the proper intensity. Don't be tempted to turn an easy workout into a hard one--it will do a number on your glycogen stores
8. Be sure to replenish after workouts. I use Endurox R4 on days when I train 1.5 hours or more, which is pretty much daily now. I drink it after my last workout of the day. You can also drink sports drink, but I think it's important to have some protein right away, too.
9. If you are trying to lose weight or just lean out, go a little higher on your protein calories and slightly lower on your carbs (but NOT DURING TRAINING!).
10. If you want to jump start leaning out, you probably should do some strength training. Lots of cardio has a way of making you want to eat to replace the calories you burned; whereas strength training helps you manufacture muscle and just burns more calories at rest.

Train (and NOURISH) on!

Weekly Training Report: 2/6/2006-2/12/2006

This was another intense week, workout-wise. Intensity increased in strength, tempo run, long ride and long run. Duration increased in long ride and slightly in strength. Sometimes I wonder how I am able to keep up this schedule. It seems like just yesterday I was relaxing after Goofy Challenge. Wow—that was just 5 weeks ago. I guess I’ve done pretty well on recovering from that and hitting it extra hard in the build for Ralph’s ½ IM! So much for relaxation! Except for my bike volume, I feel like I could reel off a decent Ironman race in just a few weeks. I have confidence in that I can build my bike endurance rapidly once that time comes. My run endurance is clearly already there, and my swim endurance is just about back to Ironman level. BOO-YAH! Am I allowed to say that not having been in the military? I don’t want to be or sound cocky, but things are moving along pretty well here on the Crackhead front. I will say that I am experiencing a moderate level of fatigue on a daily basis now, but once I begin a workout it’s all pistons firing to make it a great one. I expect my fatigue level to move up a notch this coming week, and then hopefully it will hold until I begin a taper (well, I hope my coach is giving me one) for Ralph's.

Here are the details from the week that was:

Swim: 10,100 yards in 3.57 hours; 24% of weekly workout time
Bike: 4.67 hours; approx. 82 miles; 32% of weekly workout time
Run: 4.75 hours; approx. 30 miles; 32% of weekly workout time
Strength: 1.8 hours; 12% of weekly workout time
Total Hours: 14.79
Approx. Calories Burned by Exercise: 6,381
Average Sleep: 8.82 hours/night
Stretching: 2.03 hours

Goals from Last Week:

• Average 8+ hours of sleep per night. DONE
• Stretch 15' per day. DONE
• Meet or beat 165 watts during all FT intervals. DONE
• Meet or beat 100 and 200 speeds in all swim workouts. DONE
  

Accomplishments This Week:

• Met all goals.
• Achieved breakthroughs in all 3 sports (Hat Trick!)
• Did not break down, even though strength workout added another set, Wednesday run workout added 5’ additional tempo work, Saturday ride increased by 15’ at HIM watts (which was noticeable, I might add), and Sunday run added 5’ additional tempo work
  

Goals for Next Week:

• Average 8+ hours of sleep per night.
• Stretch 15' per day.
• Meet or beat 165 watts during all FT intervals.
• Meet or beat current 100 and 200 speeds in all swim workouts.
• Keep the momentum going—long ride adds another 15’ at HIM watts; Wednesday and Sunday runs add 5’ more tempo time. The week following I get to hold everything constant!!!
  

Workouts Completed this Week
Monday: Swim 3,100 yards in 1:07; Strength 1:03; Run :50 including strides
Tuesday: Strength :18; Bike 1:05 including 2x15’ FT, watts=167, 171
Wednesday: Swim 3,300 yards in 1:10; Run 1:05 including :25 tempo
Thursday: Strength :27; Bike 1:05 including 3x10’ FT, watts=172, 173, 171
Friday: Swim 2,700 yards in :57; Run :40 including strides.
Saturday: Bike 2:30 including 20’ FT at watts=165; brick run 30’. The run absolutely sucked for the first 10’ and then I felt great, and the running felt easy
Sunday: Run 1:40, including 20’ Upper-Steady and 20’ Tempo; Swim 1,000 yards in :20