Metamorphosis

I thought I should write something quick about how my physique has changed through the years of doing all this nonsense.  I began triathlon (2000) in a sort of pudgy state--not fat by normal standards, but carrying a decent amount of weight that wouldn't do me any good biking or running.  I erroneously thought I could eat whatever I wanted, and we all know that just isn't true no matter how much training you do.

Fattie! Crackhead's first Ironman--Lake Placid, 2001.


I naturally began dropping some fat off as I continued to train, mostly due to becoming stronger and working at a higher intensity (note to people trying to lose weight by staying in their "fat burning" zone--that's a crock of shit--work hard!).  By 2004, I'd become fairly lean, and had gotten my eating habits back under control--mostly by monitoring quality of intake, but again, I was also upping the intensity.

Here I am at Ironman Canada 2004.  Who would have predicted I'd be swimming the full length of that lake 6 years later in Ultraman Canada?

Here I am finishing IMLP 2009, pretty much as lean as I've ever been, but there was some seriously muscle going on there, too. FYI, that is the time to beat at Ironman Canada this year, and hopefully by 20+ minutes!

I maintained through about 2008, perhaps leaning out just a tad more, but nothing too noticeable.  In 2009, I stepped up my training again, and as expected, it was reflected in my body comp.

Next, I began the Ultraman training cycle--lots more swimming, more strength work, and I decided no good would come from me obsessing about how much fat I was carrying--I might even need it for the race!   The one thing that did change, though, is my upper body became bigger from all the swimming.

My hips remained boyish, my ass remained huge, but I got me some shoulders, and put on a bit o' fat.  All good.

Since then, I've watched my diet more carefully to keep the fat off and improve my health, and it showed in recent blood work I had done.  Great cholesterol readings, fasting glucose, liver/kidney function.  All of it.  Doctor pronounced me pretty damn healthy for 55 years old.

During 2011, I only raced twice, and somewhere along the way, I decided I should up the weights.  It was time to revamp the strength training anyway.  The net result is interesting.  Yesterday, I dropped off Skull Kingdom for her annual tuneup and had my guy, Rich, look at me on her.  I haven't ridden Skull Kingdom since last September.  Between then and now, I kept up my heavier weights and did a boatload of swimming.  The result?  The only way I could describe it was that I felt "pinchy" in my chest/lat area.  Lo and behold, and I've known this for a few months, my pecs and lats are bigger than ever, and especially the lat development has necessitated a few changes in my bike fit!  I asked Rich what he did, and he moved my saddle back 5mm and my bars down maybe 2.  I told him that I am pretty sure that after I ride it for a few weeks that I will want the bars dropped some more.  I was really happy I had him check me out again, and I'll be back in probably a month for a re-check.  I don't have a picture to show for this, but will get one in a week when I pick up Skull Kingdom.

I also just got some more swimsuits (I know I don't NEED them!), and I've thought my existing ones were fitting me differently.  Well it's a fact.  I ordered up a size thinking it was my huge ass making them tighter, but it's not.  It's my upper body again!  The new suits are still pretty snug in my upper body, and I wish they were tighter in the ass area, but oh well.  I may still order my next ones down back to my normal size and just suffer with them being skin-tight. 

Aaaaaaaaaanyway...I find it fascinating how my body has metamorphosed throughout the years.  As of today, I can say with confidence that I will be shedding much fat--it is already difficult for me to shovel in enough calories, and I'm putting in some good intensity, too.  It will be interesting to see how I look just 8 weeks from now.  I've changed up my strength training again (as per coach), and I am still retaining solid pecs/lats work but now adding lots of lunges, so maybe my legs will look decent!  I know I shouldn't care what I look like but rather how I perform, but I can't help it--it makes me feel good to look good.  I've never thought I was particularly "face" attractive, so all I've got is this stinky old body to work with.  It has served me well, and I'm not forcing it into any particular shape--it will be whatever is the result of what I am doing now.  I promise to feed it well first for performance, but no worries I am getting plenty of flavor and enjoyment out of my food!

Here We Go

A few people have asked me why I decided to work with a coach again.  Here's why:

• To take my training to the next level.  More of the same would not have worked for me this year.  It was time for a big change.
• To perhaps take my results to the next level.  I have some serious goals for the year (PR at Ironman Canada; perform strongly at Ultraman Hawaii), and I couldn't afford to mess around in training in order to achieve those goals.
• To learn a bunch more training techniques.  I've learned about and adopted certain styles that have worked well for me in the past, but again, time for some changes.
• To take some pressure off myself.  Now all I have to do is show up and do the workouts!
• To have an objective third party looking in on me.  Lord knows I can lose perspective in terms of how much I'm doing (too much; not enough), how well or how poorly I'm doing (I am a tough critic of myself).  Coach does have access to my full history in black and white, and numbers don't lie.  She gets to interpret them, though, and set a course for improvement.

I couldn't have picked just any old coach, either.  I know many wonderful coaches, both locally and across the U.S., and there were several I considered, but it was really important for there to be a good personality/style match.  I'm not sure Joanna gets all of me, yet (I've been asked whether she reads my blog and my response is GOOD GOD I HOPE NOT--just kidding), but I think we are both the type of people who can size up others pretty quickly.

Last week was my last week of self-coaching for awhile.  I had a great week--partly because I came off those hard sprint races, and partly because this is exactly where I expected to be at this time!  I'm typically in this shape in mid-January, but that would be for a July Ironman, and this year's isn't until August, so I am more or less right on schedule.  I knocked out a 3-hour ride on Sunday where I hit all my power numbers and then some (hit the 56.1 mile mark at 2:33 in--at that point I'd done 30' easy, 1 hour at 80% FTP, and 2x(18' @ 85-90%, 6' @ FTP, 1' @ 105%, 5' easy), and then yesterday I had a solid 2:05 run with building pace, and got in 13.3 miles.

I am always surprised because it seems like all of a sudden I feel really fit, but it's all very much planned, and I shouldn't be surprised, but I think my brain enjoys the feeling of SURPRISE!  So I'm not going to question it.

I got my first 2 weeks of training from JZ and let's just say it's going to be awesome!  Good thing I'd been training like a Crackhead for the last few years, because if I wasn't, NO WAY would I be able to tolerate what's coming up.  So maybe it's a test to see if I can handle it--we will see.  All I know is I need to be religious about going EASY when that is what I am supposed to do, because there is plenty of HARD stuff where I will need to HTFU to get it done.  It's been a few years since I've been challenged in this way, and it's exactly what I need--not that I didn't challenge myself in training for my first Ultraman--that was a huge challenge and stretch, but now I've had another year for my body to really absorb all that and kick it up a notch.

On that note, I must go and get some training done.  This ain't no party, and this sure ain't no fucking disco!

Another Journey Begins

This past Sunday, I made a big decision to enlist the help of a triathlon coach. Joanna Zeiger (Shenk).  I'd been thinking about this for a few months (can't find the prior blog post where I said I was considering it), and I think it was because I believe I've licked the whole low back/hip/foot issue thing and feel healthy that I figured I was in position to actually EXECUTE on the training I had planned for myself, that I thought, hey, I might be aligned for a really stellar year.  But I also thought this might be the perfect time to seek outside help from someone who I believe would be able to understand the peculiar combination of my athletic history, past training style, results, lifestyle, goals for this year, blah, blah, blah, and maybe take me to another level.

It is odd to be 55 years old and thinking about an Ironman PR and another Ultraman.  I don't know too many other women like me.  After last year's time off (which despite how much I needed it caused me intense mental pain), I really wasn't sure I wanted to "keep this up," as is how some other people put it.  But I figured what the hell, I don't really suck that much, let's see what I can do, and I know I'm at a stage where I do need to employ some different training protocols to improve.

I can see the impact of aging year by year, mostly externally (skin, hair, where fat likes to go), but in terms of SBR, I haven't slowed down all that much.  It was time for a change on the training front, and I really don't have time to do a whole bunch of research and figure it out.  I have been training like a 40-something Crackhead, but now it's time to train like a 50-something Crackhead, and the outside view will be really helpful to me.  Now, I'm not your average 50-something Crackhead--I can still kick it and fully intend to do so this year, but I want to do it on the knife's edge with someone's guidance.

I wasn't even sure Joanna had bandwidth to coach me, whether she'd laugh at me and my goals, or as has been the case for some coaches in the past, not even bother to respond.  So I was so happy to get an email from her and then we talked on the phone Sunday, and we are going to start things up this week.

As per my sidebar, my "big" events are still Triple T, Ironman Canada and Ultraman Hawaii.  Those, in and of themselves, comprise a fairly big schedule, no?  Although I won't be so much racing Triple T, as testing my Ironman fitness (that statement was not coach approved!).  There are a few other things I've registered for that I hope are still good with her.  As performance/results oriented as I am, I still love, love, love training and need a dose of a few other non-race events to keep me mentally balanced (if there is such a thing!).  Those would include Horribly Hilly 200k followed by another 200k the next weekend, a silly half marathon in 2 weeks, and maybe a trail marathon in October.

The challenge here still remains how do I train for a PR at Ironman Canada while being prepared to train for Ultraman Hawaii.  Even though now I'm technically "just" training for an Ironman, the looming Ultraman cannot be ignored.  At least that's how I see it.  I've shared the ATP I made for myself with Joanna, and I hope we have some fun discussions about Ultraman training, because as I've already told her (and I am sure she was aware anyway), there is NO SUCH THING as a template for Ultraman training, at least not for a working stiff like me.  Sure, if you don't work full time and can train 25-30 hours a week, there are some best practices there (crap I need to find that Endurance Corner article), but the way I see it (if you aren't trying to go in and WIN Ultraman), you need to capitalize on your strengths (although biking can NOT be shorted) and just have a superior endurance capacity coupled with outstanding nutrition/pacing knowledge to get through it.  How one assembles a training plan to accomplish that is an art.  I learned a ton from doing it to myself 2 years ago, and will learn more this year.  I still get a chuckle at looking at what I initially THOUGHT I could do in training in 2010.  It was psycho.  I would have needed to quit my job and be 20 years younger to do it!  But I settled on something that ended up working, probably in large part to my overall endurance base and will to push myself for many hours.

There is still a bit of fear in turning over the reins to Joanna.  I would be lying if I didn't admit to that.  But what balances that out for me is that I suddenly feel like one element of self-induced stress has been removed--that of me being simultaneously the coach and athlete for once, especially with such high expectations.  Could I do this year without a coach?  Yes.  Might I do even better WITH a coach?  Definitely.  We get to see how things work as I ramp up for Triple T.  I am sure it will be OK.  I did my homework on Joanna--obviously she has a world-class athletic resume, but what settled me on her was when I started reading her blog, but then the clincher was actually talking to her.  She will be good for me.  I might hate her at times, but I've hated my former coach a lot more at times!

Oh and while I am embarking upon a coaching relationship, I am designing what I am doing with my family room.  Mostly the bar.  It is going to be awesome.  The hood is going to be covered with this, the bar top is going to be granite (haven't picked out that yet--probably copper-ish with flecks of gold and blue), and the front and side will be glass blocks.  There will be some LED lighting involved.  I think it's going to kick ass.  The storage behind it will be reconfigured, and I have already gone through all my bike and run stuff and organized it so it will be nicely put away when this is all finished.  I had my new 42" TV mounted on the wall yesterday, although it will be taken down when construction begins, my old TV is upstairs in my bedroom now, and next step is to find the replacement furnace, humidifier and water heater--those go in in a few weeks, and remodeling commences mid-April.

I am excited about SO many things right now, and I think that has been part of my issue with sleeping.  But it seems that settling on a coach has been one of the pieces of the puzzle, and I am beginning to sleep a bit more already.  All to the good.  2012 looks to be one helluva year for me!

It's a Sweep!

I did the 3rd and lst indoor tri today, and even though I haven't seen final results, I'm sure I won my AG which means I swept the series!  This is the 4th time in 8 years that I have won my AG for the series--2004, 2009 and 2010.  There were a few years in there where I didn't race at all or was still grieving for my parents and could not perform well.

Today's race had me with my highest ever score, due to the bike.  In talking to other athletes, some are able to spin at 140+rpm, which seems to give an advantage on the bikes we used, but it is physiologically impossible for me to spin that high.  I comfortable run at 100-105 during my typical warmups at home, and during the race I was mostly between 115 and 120.  I also saw some major heart rate!  But I do have this ability to push myself pretty hard on a bike, and was happy for how I did.

My swim was fine--1:54/100 pace, and I wasn't pushing it at all--I was just swimming steady, and I can swim several thousand yards at that pace.  My run was no better than 2 weeks ago, but this was a conscious decision.  I knew I'd left it all out there on the bike, so I decided to just run steady, and that was fine for today.  Considering I biked faster than 2 weeks ago and did not slow down on the run, I'm happy with it.  I think I just need to get back used to brick workouts, a la this article.

I had the most awesome massage, lomi lomi style (2 people working on me at once!), and was told I have very nice scapulae, but of course I already knew that.  Nah, we were just joking around, but my upper back is easy for someone to work on as it's pretty cut up and you can just grab any particular muscle.

After that, a great breakfast (or was it dessert???) at Moondance Diner with Kevin and Marla, and all is well.

My lower abs/psoas feel just fine, thanks, even though I biked 2:20 yesterday and almost an hour today.  The massage peeps commented on how great my muscles felt considering I'd just raced.  I've been giving them lots of loving care this week as is necessary while I pick up training volume and intensity.

Wow--I remember before the first of these races having trepidation that maybe I suck and this will be a horrible year, but I guess that is not how things will go!  12 weeks until American Triple T, which although a race, I am using mostly as big ole fun training weekend!  Still, I need to be in Ironman shape to get through it well, so here comes some big training!

It IS All About the Bike

I have been struggling with what I perceived to be running issues since late 2009.  Curiously enough, that is the time when I got fitted for Skull Kingdom, and the fitter changed the configuration of my bike shoes--inserts, insoles, etc.  I began my bike training with the revised shoe configuration in October, 2009.

I first had an issue in May 2010 that manifested itself in sharp pain on the underside of my right foot while running, and it seemed that taking time off from running plus new orthotics corrected it.  I got the new bike (with shorter cranks than my other 2 good bikes) in late June (way later than I expected), and I got through Ultraman Canada with a degree of paranoia.

Fall 2010 I was not feeling good running.  It was subtle, but I just couldn't pinpoint it.  Of course, I continued to think that running was the root cause.

Early 2011 I still wasn't feeling right running and my feet didn't feel right biking, and I blamed running and took serious time off from running and biking.  After that, I reintroduced biking, mostly on Skull Kingdom, and seemed fine.

Last fall, I decided I was good to go, had a good 55-mile run week in October and then 60+ just 7 weeks ago!  In late October, I had my left bike shoe re-shimmed, after being evaluated by my bike shop and looking at an old pair of shoes.  One of the things they did to me back in fall 2009 was remove the shims from my left shoe.  Turns out I needed it--my left leg has no ACL, and it causes me to hike my left hip severely on the bike without the shim.  So I began riding with this configuration and felt better on the bike.

Last early December, I began noticing an unusual amount of tightness in the lower abs/groin area, bilaterally.  I wasn't doing any more abs work than normal.  I attributed the tightness to the amount of running I'd been doing, including a bout of faster than normal running at the Ride 'n Tie race in mid-November.  This tightness persisted, but either I got used to it or it may have abated somewhat.

4 weeks ago I did my first indoor tri, and my run sucked donkey balls, but I had a decent swim and great bike.  The lower abs tightness reared its ugly head again, and I grew concerned about it, but my bike workouts were going great, and I was running OK.  I started doing track workouts, and I could bang them out, but the tightness seemed to worsen a bit.

Last weekend, I did a 2-hour run on Saturday--1 hour on the treadmill and then the rest outside.  My right foot was bugging me, on top in the same area as where I had the issue in 2010, and I was not feeling good about that.  Later that day, I found this awesome site for low back issues.  It includes a psoas stretch that I immediately tried (best psoas stretch I have ever found--DO THIS ONE!).  Well, FUCK ME doing it I could tell both psoas muscles were tight as drums--more so on my right side.  I thought maybe it wasn't my lower abs after all, and hoped that the foot pain was low back nerve related.  Now why would I think this?  Because I could feel the extreme stretch in the rectus femoris (also a hip flexor) as well as the psoas, and the opposite leg's hamstring. AKA low back is fucked up because psoas attaches to lumbar spine as does QL as does bunch o' erector spinae, and Mr. Sciatic Nerve comes out of there and will get pissed as hell if any of those muscles are out of whack, and then it will precipitate to piriformis and lower leg pain, blah, blah, fucking blah.  So I thought I'd found the solution.

But the next day, I got on my bike for 2:30, and then Monday when I ran, I still felt the lower abs area tightness.  Fuck.  On Tuesday when I got on the bike, it occurred to me that I still didn't feel "quite right" in my bike shoes and spun some thoughts.  I pulled out my box of insoles/pads (I have quite the collection since early 2010), and dredged up the original arch supports I used to use in my bike shoes.  I put them into my bike shoes and first off, I noticed I had more room in the shoes.  Hmmm.... this feels better.  But then I got on the bike and could tell it was if I'd shortened the cranks by just a hair.  I measured that fucking hair later--it is maybe 1.5 millimeters.  While I was on the bike, I could tell I didn't feel as closed up, and what do you fucking know, when I got off, no more tight lower abs!  I was cautiously optimistic.

On Wednesday, I had a long run (1:40) planned.  I started at 5AM, and felt just great running.  No weird foot pains, abs felt fine, stride felt fine.  I swam afterwards.  Feeling good.  Thursday get on bike again.  Although I was tired (because I've been having trouble getting enough sleep which is another topic), I got my bike workout in, and once again I noticed how "normal" I felt on the bike--nothing going on in my feet, hips squared, all good.  Oh I forgot--the other reason I was tired for my ride was because I ran again in the AM, and even did some track repeats!  Those went really well, and I felt just great.

OK, this is looking good now.  Yesterday morning I ran again (this is now 8 days in a row of running), and did a couple 1/4 mile repeats at the end, and it felt great--nothing going on in my feet or abs.  As I type this post, my lower abs are just great.

So so far, so good.  I'm not saying I have the full solution, but I think I'm close.  My next challenge will be to see how all this goes when I get on Skull Kingdom.  I am just so happy that I can ride LGL feeling great again.  I have a feeling that the same adjustments will carry over to Skull Kingdom, while even though she has shorter cranks than LGL, my feet have never felt quite right, so the 1.5mm adjustment may be just what the doctor ordered! 

So, stay tuned...the point of this discussion is that bike fit can have a HUGE impact on your low back health and consequently, ability to run injury free.  If you are having running issues, consider whether your bike fit is spot on, and perhaps experiment with very small adjustments in saddle height, etc.

I sure as hell hope I've got this solved.  Thing is, I had everything working just perfectly in 2009, when I had a banner year of PR's all around and no injuries.  Got a new bike, fucked with bike shoes, and all hell broke loose.  I am not blaming the fit of Skull Kingdom--the frame, etc., is perfect--but just remember that if something doesn't feel right after someone tells you to change something, maybe your system was just fine.  If it wasn't broke, don't fix it!

The Official Guide to Rating Your Workouts and Races

Some of you who read my blog may be perplexed when I say things like, "I suck," or "my workout was pathetic."  Late last week I was thinking about how I rate myself, and what the full scale would look like so that I could just show it to others.  At first, I came up with this:

I posted it to Facebook, and got some comments, mostly from a guy named Sean, and we came up with some more refinements, and this is what we ended up with:

 

I really like this scale, because 0 corresponds to PATHETIC, and 10 corresponds to MASSIVE PR.  So now you know that when I say my performance was pathetic, that I can't really imagine doing any worse.  If I just sucked, well, it wasn't even OK, but it could have been even worse!

In my day to day training, my intent when executing a workout is to hit at least WELL.  WELL means I feel rested, not too much accumulated fatigue, and I can execute to specs for my current fitness level.  WELL is a 6 on the scale, and even though it's in the middle of the scale, it doesn't mean it's "average."  It's just that I have high standards, and do not adhere to scales where the middle is average.  To me, middle/average would be just OK.  Like I was able to do the workout, maybe I was tired going in, maybe I knew I was underfueled--typically an OK workout/race for me is one where I go in knowing it won't be a spectacular performance, I will get it done, I won't experience a setback by doing it, and I will be all right with my performance.

By comparison, I COULD DO BETTER, would mean that I felt better than on a day where I might just be able to do OK, was expecting to do NOT BAD or even WELL, but I just couldn't cut it.  Maybe I just didn't have my mental mojo dialed in.

Funny thing is that since I came up with this scale, I've been incorporating it into my workout notes.  I think this could serve as a subjective rating scale for Training Peaks!

This scale is pretty much how I think when I'm asked to do a self evaluation at work, and it always perplexes my manager, because to me, doing what I'm capable of doing and doing it well qualifies as WELL, and so on the scale of 1-5, I call that "3."  But I have learned that I should consider where I think I stand compared to others, and I am typically told I'm a 4 or a 5.  That's nice for work, but if every day in training I think I'm at the top of my scale, then what would motivate me to improve?  Nothing.  So I will stick with my 0-10 scale, where 6 is "meeting expectations," more than 6 is fucking fantastic, and less than 6 is not my best work!

Second Indoor Tri--Another Win, but I Still Suck

Yesterday was the second of the 3 indoor tri series races, in Glen Ellyn.  For the 3 days prior, I wasn't feeling right.  Not just my sleep being off kilter (which it still is, but getting better), but I was feeling quite fatigued.  Some of you reading are thinking, "Well, that's what you get for training like a Crackhead" (oh and speaking of crackheads, a famous one just passed away), and that's a true statement, but this is the time of year when I typically catch my annual virus.

I learned another lesson in scheduling my training this past week and that it's tough to cram 11.5 hours of SBR (heavy on the B and R) plus heavy duty strength training into 5 weekdays.  I figured I might pay for it, and on Friday, I curled up in bed with my laptop, as sitting up was just too much effort, even though I swam and ran first thing in the day.

I took my temperature, and it was a normal 97.1, so no fever.  Also no cough, no post-nasal drip, just more than the usual fatigue, and I did feel a little short on breath and that my heart rate just did not want to go anyplace.  No muscle aches, so probably not the flu, no swollen lymph nodes in my throat or neck, so I concluded just some virus plus stupid training tricks.

Side note: there have been a few times when I've felt like this that I've gone to the doctor, and they just about laugh at me.  "Oh--so you're a little tired?"  I've even had them check my lungs, and had her tell me they are just fine, all clear, but I can tell when I'm the least bit "off."

Anyway, on Saturday, I still felt a bit dizzy, but couldn't tell whether it was real or if it was just because I'd lazed around all day Friday and gotten a good night's sleep.  I wasn't sure about getting in my 2:15 ride, but I had to get at it because I'd planned on going TV shopping (I haven't bought a new one in I hate to say it over 20 years, but the old one still works fine and will get moved upstairs now) in the afternoon with my brother Mike.  I decided that I should not try and push it on the bike, but I truly hate so-called "spinning."  It is better for me to just skip a ride than deal with the mental anguish of just ambling.  Seriously!  I can do that for maybe 30 minutes tops.

So I got on the bike, and ambled in the SCR for 30 minutes, and it felt fine, I had good RPM's (in the 100's) and speed (18.5mph), so I switched into the BCR, worked my average mph up to 19, then I went over 20 the next 30 minutes and ended up at 21.2mph for 2:20, not bad for feeling maybe sickly.  I hurried up and showered so I could get to Mike's so we could get to eating lunch!

We ate at Buffalo Wild Wings, and I had a big Leine's, and that was good, but it hit me like I hadn't had a drink in years.  Still, it took the edge off, which helps when I go brick and mortar shopping, because I really don't like doing it.  I'd measured and done some research on TV's for what I needed, and Mike showed me all the ones in his house, which was helpful, and we headed to Sam's to buy.

Despite the fact that I've worked in high tech for like forever, I am typically behind on acquiring technology for myself.  I still don't use a smartphone, I was slow to adopt CD's way back when, and well, the TV thing.  So it was fun to get this done (I got a 42" LCD to be mounted on the wall downstairs where my treadmill and bike trainer are), and now I just need to get my guy to come over and mount the thing.

After I stopped briefly at Mike's to drop him off, I realized I was pretty tired, and went home with the intent to get my grocery shopping done, but truly I was too tired to do it.  So I layed on the couch and read, maybe I napped a bit, and got to sleep early.

Yesterday I woke up after a solid 8 hours of sleep, and felt better than the day before, so I figured it was a go to race.  I even had some adrenaline going, and was excited to see what I was going to be able to do.  But I had a sneaking suspicion that running was not going to be fun.  It's no big deal for me to go hard on a bike with a virus, and even swimming wasn't that bad on Friday, but running not so much.  Still, I warmed up 15' on the treadmill and then 20' on the bike at home, packed up and headed to the race site.

I ran another 5' on the track and biked 10', but only had time for 200 yds. swim warmup and then we were off.  The pool wasn't cold enough for my liking, but I didn't want to push it too much since I knew I was battling something.  I swam 500 yds. in 10 minutes.  Crappy, but no worse than last week, so whatever.

Onto the bike.  My goal was 7.25 miles in 20', and I made 7.2, so that was good.  That was my best ever in these races.  As usual, when I finished, I laid on the floor for about 30 seconds to catch my breath.  I felt pretty wasted, and knew the run was going to suck.

I didn't bother looking at my watch while running, because I didn't want to get depressed.  I managed 8:47 pace, a bit faster than 2 weeks ago, but nowhere near what I am capable of (8:15 would be more like it).  Still, I shouldn't complain, right?  I worked harder on the bike than 2 weeks ago, still ran a bit faster than 2 weeks ago, still handily won my AG and placed decently overall, it was my best score EVER in these races over the last 5 years, so what the fuck am I pissed off for?  Because I need to get on my running.  This is what 2 years of not running fast did to me.  But I think I can get it back in the next few months.  Maybe it's just my top-end speed that is off, though, as I've had some good long runs and ran decent paces for my 55th birthday week festival, so maybe there's hope for me!

But hope is not going to make me faster, so it's nose to the grindstone this week.  While I feel like I've purged the virus from my system (but it's replaced today by a hangover achieved by just 3 beers after I puked my guts out right after I finished racing yesterday!), I will need to train cautiously today and maybe not do 3 hours!  We will see what I can manage on Wednesday when I do my first formal track session.

Weekly Recap, and IT BEGINS!

I had a pretty good week, but I knew the weekend would be critical, in terms of posting up a solid long run and ride, since this week I need to shuffle things around in order to race on Sunday.

I had 2 solid weekday bike workouts, and this is what they were (it's been awhile since I wrote actual workouts here, but what the hell, right?):

Warmup: 15' easy, 3' spinups, 3x(2' 85-90%, 1'CD)
Main Set: 4x(6' @FT, 2' @105-110%, 3' easy), 10x30/30

Pool time was good, more work with the paddles and pull buoy.  One of the guards, who gives me tips occasionally, asked me about my paddles!  For the record, they are TYR Catalyst, and mine are like 8 years old and I still love them. Mine are black, but now they are made in different colors for different sizes.

I had that good track workout on Wednesday, and running was feeling great.  On Friday morning, I headed to the Y where I first did chinups and dips, then I ran for 25', then I swam 3,000.  My interval times were a bit slow from the additional weight I'd unloaded from the assisted chin/dip machine, but at least I knew that's why I was swimming a bit slower.

A few hours later at home, it was time to finish up my strength training for the week and do squats and calf raises. I am a firm believer that calf raises have something to do with me never experiencing calf cramps in racing or training (except if I run or bike right before), so I continue doing them.

For squats, I supersetted air squats (4x15), barbell squats (2x15) and dumbbell squats (2x8).  I added a few small plates to my barbell, and in retrospect, I shouldn't have done so many reps with the new weight!  Oh well, it's not like I was racing this week, so no matter.  I've decided I am going to buy a squat rack for downstairs once I get the remodeling done.  No sense getting it now, since it will just be something else to relocate while construction proceeds.

After the squats and calf raises, I did my knee stability exercises on the floor with the ankle weights on.  I do some basically isometric things for my VMO and adductors that seem to help keep my knees happy, but they felt a little tough after all the squats.

I got a massage after work, and it was much needed!  I hadn't had deep tissue in 3 weeks, and when I wait that long, it can sometimes result in some soreness the next day.  Indeed, when I woke up Saturday morning, I had some slight all over soreness, but my adductors were screaming!  But that was from the squats, not the massage.  I was pleased, though, that my glutes were just fine.  Oh--my massage therapist commented on how my glutes are developing!  I now have a big ass!  That's what a full year of more squats will do to you!

I had to do a 2:30 ride on Saturday, and was really wondering how I'd fare in terms of power output with the sore legs.  But I've surprised myself many times, so I just hopped on at about 8:30 (I got my grocery shopping done first).  Warmup was fine (30'), then popped into the big chainring to go at 80% for 30', and that felt fine.  The last 90' was done as 3x(17' 85-90%, 6' FT, 2x30/30, 5' easy) and the first interval went well, hit watts just fine, although I was on the low end of my FT for the 6' part.  For the second 30' stretch, I went a little harder, and the third 30' interval was the best of all!

I got off the bike and put on my running shoes.  I was not looking forward to running off the ride I'd just done.  It's been ages since I did this, what with Ultraman training where there was no need for me to do brick workouts, and then basically a year off racing.  So I let myself run super slow, just to remember how it feels.  My legs were fine, actually, but that old familiar sensation in my stomach of wanting to puke was front and center!  I really enjoy all the different sensations I get to experience in training and racing--things that if you've never done triathlon training, you would never get to experience.  I know that sounds weird, like why would you want to feel like you are going to puke, but it has meaning!  The meaning it has is that I rode hard (53.5 miles for 2.5 hours, not bad with an easy warmup!), and that made it all worthwhile.

I only ran for 20', since that's all I needed to do, and predictably, even though I knew I needed a ton of calories (I'd worked out on only Gatorade plus some peanut butter/cheese crackers), I wasn't hungry right away.  But I drank a big glass of water, quickly showered, grabbed a bottle of Endurox R4 out of the fridge, and headed to Subway.  I decided to get Subway so I had a pre-made sandwich ready for Sunday that I could take to the Y to eat right after my workouts, since I was going to do a presentation for a triathlon class immediately after my workouts.

Sometimes it can be difficult, in a way that is funny to me, to hide my feelings of hunger when I am waiting for food to be delivered to me.  I would like to see video of myself trying to be patient while a very nice young man is patiently making my sandwiches! When he finished, as is the usual, he asked if I wanted cookies or chips, and I said no, paid, and drove home quickly, and laid into 6" of beefy goodness plus 1/4 of the foot long turkey breast. Then I had a beer while I stretched, ran some more errands in a haze, including stopping in at a nearby triathlon shop just to see what they had (even though I don't need A SINGLE THING right now), then went home and got my shit organized for Sunday, ate dinner around 5:30 and was asleep by 8:00 (don't ask--my sleep schedule is way off kilter, but it will right itself once we go back on DST, I'm sure).

I slept really soundly Saturday night, and when I woke up, I noticed my adductors were still a bit sore, but now also my quads!  Fuck yeah!  But I was still way better off than 2 weeks ago after my stair climbing festival.  I got my swim and run stuff ready, loaded a small cooler with one can of Coke, 48 oz. of Gatorade, a bottle of Endurox R4 and my sandwich, packed up my laptop and headed to the Y.

I swam first, although I prefer to do my short weekend swim AFTER I run, because the triathlon class would be occupying the pool from 10-11.  A woman I know was in the water, and I've given her some swim tips, and since I had about 10 minutes before I absolutely had to be swimming, I spent some time with her, showing her one drill and how to do planks on deck.  Then I swam 1500, and it sure felt nice to swim with my legs being a bit crunchy.  I stretched my upper body for about 5' in the sauna, then suited up to run.

On tap was a 1:45 run, and while I thought I would try and put some tempo work in there, it was just not to be, as my legs were not up for it.  Still, I got in 11.5 miles, including about 5' of track work where I was able to knock out 2 1/3 mile repeats at sub-5K pace after already running for 1:30, so that was good!  After I finished, I stretched for 10', headed to the locker room to shower and get dressed, then I took all my crap to the conference room where I'd be giving a presentation.

I started pounding down the Endurox R4 and setting up my laptop when Jessica (the class instructor) came in all breathless telling me they had about 10' more of biking to do and then they would be up in the conference room and that she brought chocolate chip cookies in case I was hungry and it was fun for me to listen to her talking really fast and all excited which must be just how I sound when I am in that state!

Luckily I had my cooler with me, as I used it to prop the projector up so my slides would be large enough for easy viewing from the back of the room.  There were about 15 people who attended my presentation called "Triathlon Nutrition 101."  I had a blast giving it, as I am very comfortable delivering presentations, and have given some for 500+ people in my professional life.  I know my content, which frees me from constantly looking at the slides and I can inject my usual energy and animation into the show, and yesterday was no exception.  While I've read numerous books on nutrition and have, of course, experimented on myself to find what works best for me and observed other athletes and their successes and mistakes in the nutrition department, my presentation was about boiling it down to "best practices," to use a business cliche.  The students are training for a super sprint triathlon, and I am sure many of them will move on to bigger and better races, and while I am pretty geeked out about many things to do with triathlon, when it comes to nutrition, I try and keep it simple, and this is what I wanted to convey to these people.  I didn't have time to get into details about meal timing and which carbs are better at what times, etc., but I covered the basics of hydration and nutrient intake.

I got one interesting statement from a young man afterward that long distance triathlon is not healthy.  I wanted to hear his point of view, and I just smiled and said that I believe some people are just wired to pursue this stuff, and that it is still healthier than sitting on a couch and becoming fat!  It was interesting to hear this from a person who says he is swimming 2 hours a day, though!

When I got home after all that, I ate the remaining 6" of Subway, as I was starving.  I did not partake of the cookies during the presentation as I didn't really want one at that point, plus I knew I was going to be baking my own later on.

I baked a dozen muffins for my breakfast, about 5 dozen awesome oatmeal/coconut cookies, all but 3 of which will be winging their way to Afghanistan today, then chopped onion and minced garlic for my dinner stir fry.  I got most of the dishes washed as I was baking, and all of this by 4:45PM.  Some days I don't know how I squeeze all these things in.

Next up I loaded the rice cooker with jasmine rice (I know--it's white, but it's SO good), and turned on the Super Bowl, but since kickoff wasn't going to be until 5:30, I went ahead and cooked up my stir fry of thinly sliced flank steak (that had been marinated in sherry overnight), chopped onion, lots of garlic, tons of snow peas, some baby corn, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, all in a light sauce of chicken broth and sambal oelek (I can't get enough of that stuff!) thickened with cornstarch.  The rice finished cooking just ahead of the stir fry, and then I piled a plate with about 1.25 cups of rice, and scooped a bunch of the stir fry on top, and then settled in for a little Sunday newspaper reading and Super Bowl watching.

The food was awesome, and once I finished, it was lay on the couch with legs propped up, and hang out until Madonna was on for the half time show, which I really enjoyed, and then off to bed for a little reading (I am rereading "Born to Run"), and then to sleep.

This morning my legs feel pretty good, which is good since I have to fit in 2 1:30 hard bike rides, a 1:40 run, 3 swims, 3 more runs, and about 1:30 of strength training between today and the end of Friday!  Then I have another little race on Sunday.

So I have to say that this week it begins--it is this sort of training that begins to test my ability to string together a bunch of serious workouts that are designed to whip me into some semblance of speedy shape because I only have about 2 months of this before I start piling on the volume again to get ready for Triple T and Ironman Canada.

Have I ever said how much I love this stuff?

Cautiously Amped

I think it's taken a few weeks to come down from my high volume mid-December to early January training, and I feel settled, rested, and fucking awesome.

Yesterday I did my first official track workout--5K and 10K pace intervals.  I was bummed after my dismal, pathetic run in the indoor tri last Sunday, but I felt ready for this.  My schedule (stupid coach!) didn't have me doing track work until 2 weeks later.  I've been barely training for the last 3 weeks (about 12, 14 and 13.5 hours), which was most definitely called for, but come on, I can only go low for so long. 




Ludacris: How Low (Official Video) from DTP TV on Vimeo.

I was hitting sub-8's on the 5K intervals, and right around 8's for 10K, which is the fastest I've gone in a few years.  And they didn't feel that bad (although I was grimacing and cussing on my last laps of each repeat), so fingers crossed, I will go faster.  We will see on Sunday when I slam some serious tempo work into my long run.  While I felt predictably beat up yesterday (I did a hard 2200 swim right after the run), I feel absolutely awesome today.

My swim experiment with daily (whenever I'm swimming, that is) paddles and pull buoy seems to be working.  I am able to swim really fast (for me) with them, and it is showing in my non-toy swimming speed during warmups, and while I still swam my usual pace on Sunday, it was solid, really not much effort.  The experiment is teaching me to be OK with a higher heart rate while swimming, which is tough for me being so bradycardic.

Biking is also coming along in a huge way.  Racing on Sunday again reminded me of just how hard I can go, and that is showing up in my workouts this week.  I did laugh during the race on Sunday, since I could see my heart rate on the bike, and it was good 'n high for me (high 130's), but my sense of it was "it's just a number."  That's why I no longer use a heart rate monitor--at some point, I would become concerned over seeing the high numbers.  Fuck that noise.

Now comes the really fun part. Last year, while I was "resting," (and I do mean that figuratively, since WTF 780 hours is not exactly slacking), I decided I needed to move heavier weight in my strength sessions.  I had experience with the heavy stuff, but it can be dicey mixing high volume triathlon training with heavy lifting sessions.  So last year was perfect for going a little bigger. While I did my really long stuff in December/early January, I had to back off the weights, because that is just what you do if you are going to pile on the endurance training.  But now, I am back on them, and this week I am noticing that I might be able to dump on even more weight very soon!

I suppose my evolution as a triathlete, which has occurred over only 11 years, at an advanced age, is probably right on schedule, in terms of being able to truly handle the high volume, and now, possibly also much heavier weights.  Plus a good dose of high intensity work! Is that cool or what?

Hence the title of this post. Whenever I feel like this, I have a bit of a sense of foreboding that things may come crashing down on me at any minute.  But I am being very watchful of how my muscles feel, and they seem fine.  My only concern is the inability to sleep for more than 7-8 hours a night.  This may be due to the lessened volume, underestimating my metabolism (which, of course, was seriously jacked up a month ago), my recurring winter darkness confusion (this has happened to me before I began training so much), my age or hormonal factors (but come on, I am done with that shit I thought) or some other factor.  I do sleep quite well for the first 7 hours, and if I can't fall back asleep, I force myself to stay in bed for at least another hour.  I am not yet at a point where I feel like I should see my physician, although I did ask her to write me another scrip for sleeping pills, and she asked whether I was OK, extra stressed, etc., and I said NO. So unless something else rears its ugly head, I have to just roll with it.  If any of my three blog readers have ideas about this, please pass them along.

First official triathlon of 2012

I've done the MITCS series 5 or 6 times, and have won the series of 3 or 4 races (there were 4 up until a few years ago; now there are only 3 races spaced 2 weeks apart) 4 times, the last time being in 2010. I didn't have expectations going in here yesterday, seeing as how I've not been doing much of any speed training for running, only a few weeks on the bike, and really only a few weeks on the swim.  I just hoped to not suck too much!

I warmed up at home first on the treadmill, then on my bike, drank a Coke on the way to the venue, and when I was exiting I355 and waiting at a stoplight to turn onto Roosevelt Road, I saw a pair of coyotes on the hill supporting the tollway.  They looked to be in good health, with a nice, bushy winter coat.  I watched one then the other capture and eat some sort of small rodent, using the pouncing method.  I was so glad I got to see that!  It makes me sad that many people think ill of coyotes, but I applaud the fact that they have become at home in the suburban ecosystem, and I can only guess that they are doing a good job in keeping the mouse/vole/miscellaneous rodent population under control.  Some people are concerned about their dogs and cats, but cats should be indoors (to limit impact on songbird population), and as to small dogs, well we are only renting our land from the wild animals, who have every right to seek out their prey. The more wild animals I encounter near where I live, the happier I am! With the exception of deer--not a big fan of them coming into my yard and eating my flowers, but there aren't too many near me.  Still, if I lived in an area with a lot of deer, I would just have to accept it.

When I got to the race venue, I had just enough time to do a quick warmup--5' on the track, then 10' on the stationary bike.  This year they have Life Fitness bikes, and I've used them a few times at my Y and they seem to be geared more or less like a real bike.  I say that based on the fact that I can hit the same speed on it as I do on my real bikes with about the same effort.  I made a note of the saddle height, back to the locker room to put on my swim stuff, and got to the pool deck with just enough time to get in a 250 warmup.

The pool was nice and cold, and a few people commented it was TOO cold.  Not for me!  My Y's pool is usually 84-85, so this one seemed around 81, which was fine by me.  Unfortunately, I got the gutter lane, but it wasn't too bad.

It was funny to me that even though I'd warmed up everything, that I still had some race jitters in me!  Ah, my old friend! When the horn went off, I took off in my usual long distance pace, and felt pretty good.  The woman sharing my lane was a decent swimmer, and we were neck and neck for maybe 150, and then I pulled ahead of her.

Even though I've started doing a lot of hard intervals in the pool (starting 1/1), I still am not a fast swimmer or sprinter.  I managed 525 yards in 10', but know I can get to 550 or maybe 575.  On a good note, at least I have not slowed down in 5 years!

Onto the bike, where I thought, based on my 10' test, that I'd do pretty well. I was in a wave with a bunch of old farts like myself, but hoped someone would challenge me, not that you can actually challenge someone on a stationary bike!  I went relatively easy for the first mile, then changed to intervals of .5 mile hard/.25 mile easier.  I managed 6.93 miles in 20', and my goal for the next race is 7.25, which I think is very doable.  I expected to see high bike totals for everyone based on how the bikes are geared, so even though this was the best I've ever biked in terms of distance, it is almost apples and oranges, but still I know I worked really hard, and as is typical for me, when the bike was over, I dropped down to lay on the floor for a few seconds.

My hamstrings hurt a little from the god awful saddles on those bikes, but I walked it off and got ready to run. Everyone in the wave ushered me to the head of the line, even though I don't consider myself a good runner at all.  We took off, and there was one girl much younger than me that seemed to be running a good pace, so I stayed just off her shoulder for much of the time.  Looking back, I held back too much, and the pace was TOO comfortable, although I ran the most distance in the wave, but my pace was a craptastic, pathetic 8:50.  I will fix that, though, and would expect to get down to 8:15 or even 8:00.

Still, as crappy as I ran, there was only one other woman in my old lady age group, and I crushed her.  But when I was looking at the posted results, I would have placed 2nd or first in many of the lower age groups. Biking IS my strength!

Now the good thing about all of this is that I worked out for 3.5 hours on Saturday, so it's not like I was rested up or anything.  But I'm looking at my training schedule, and it appears it's time for Wednesdays to become track workouts.  I was going to wait 2 more weeks to begin that, but fuck it, I'm all recovered from all the November-December volume festival, and know I'm ready for serious track work, as I've been doing a little of it here and there.  Again, I was shocked at how slowly I'd run, but only because I wussed out and hung with someone else instead of pushing myself.

After the race, they had both acupuncture AND massage, and I was in heaven!  I got a little massage first, and then got some basic acupuncture, and I have to say, I feel pretty good this morning!  I hung out to cheer on some friends, made a new one, and then they brought out the sandwiches (I was finished at 9:30 but was hungry go figure!), so I had a couple of those.  I needed to kill some time anyway waiting for my bike shop to open so I could get my other shoes shimmed up.

So I went to The Bike Shop and hung out and chatted, and it turns out they are getting a shipment of the new shoes I really want--the Sidi T2, pictured above.  I don't really NEED new bike shoes, but I've learned now to periodically check Sidi and Castelli for cool new designs, and I really like the silver shoes (they're sparkly!), and I don't really need any other gear this year, so what the hell.  I will pick them up in 2 weeks after I've done my second indoor sprint that I better go faster at and win my AG again!

By the way, I wore my magic running shoes (shown above), and I definitely had the best looking shoes!  I did see a girl with the new Asics Gel Noosa Tri shoes, but the New Balance rainbows are cooler looking.  Sadly, I can't find them anymore, and don't think NB is making this color any longer.  I hope they do something similar next year.  These are the best shoes ever!

On another note, I am not sleeping enough.  I may just be in "confused winter mode," which has happened to me before with all the darkness, and my sleep schedule gets way off kilter.  I am going to ask my doctor for a refill on sleeping pills, because OTC just isn't doing it. Last time I did that, pretty much as soon as I got the prescription, I began sleeping well again.

I was just so happy to race again yesterday!  The adrenaline coursing through my veins, holding off the urge to hyperventilate during the swim, pouring it on during the bike, the sensation of wanting to puke while running, thanking all the volunteers, reconnecting with tri peeps.  I think I was smiling ear to ear the entire time except when I felt like puking.  Ah, racing---whenever I talk to someone who works out a lot (swim, bike and/or run) but doesn't race, I just don't get it.  I don't do it so I can beat other people (well most of the time anyway), but just so I can see how I perform under pressure and enjoy doing it with others.  The word compete comes from the Latin verb competere, which means to seek together.  Even us introverts can enjoy doing a solo sport in the presence of others!

And so, it's officially ON!  I feel healthy, strong, and ready to work my ass off (and on, as I've been doing lots of squats) and see just what I can accomplish this year!

Surf and Turf

To follow up from my weekend, on Sunday I ran for an hour, but not very fast. I had a bunch of leftover sushi from Saturday (I purposely ordered extra), and had a bunch more for lunch, watched some football, but seemed to be in a perpetual state of hunger the entire day.  I have no idea how many calories I burned on Saturday, but as far as I could tell, I was stuffing my face and still felt constantly hungry.

On Monday, I woke up with non-functioning legs!  I could barely walk, as my calves did not really want to work, and my quads now hurt like motherfuckers.  Going downstairs (I live in a split level), I had to hold the rail and take one step at a time sideways.  I decided I better not try and run on ground, so after I swam (where it hurt a bit to push off the wall), I did a water running workout, and even that was tough on my calves, but it felt just fine aerobically.  Since my legs were trashed, I figured I'd get most of my upper body lifting done, and there were no problems there.

The remainder of the day, I sort of hobbled around wearing compression socks, and slept fitfully, since any contact with my legs was a bit painful.  But I knew I'd get over it.  On Tuesday, I headed to the pool again in the morning for another water run, which felt better than on Monday, did some more lifting, then got on my bike in the afternoon.  I knew I wouldn't be able to work too hard on the bike yet, so I opted to just spin in the small chainring.  This makes me more nuts than blasting out lots of watts, so I quit after 50 minutes, I was SO BORED!  But my calves seemed to be coming around, and also my quads.

Sometime during the middle of last night, I noticed that when I got up to pee I could almost walk normally!  Plus, I ditched the compression socks because too much of that is not good for the muscles, either, based on my experience.  When I finally got up this morning, I walked downstairs in a normal fashion without holding on to the rail!  I was so happy, that I decided to do part land running and part water.

I got to the Y, and got on the treadmill.  The new treadmills they just got have the ability to switch the display to a number of different languages, so today I chose French (Sunday was some sort of Arabic--I'm not sure which country exactly!).  I began warming up easy, and my legs felt GREAT!  There was still some residual soreness in my calves, but nothing like on Sunday, and I was smiling from ear to ear!  I only spent 15 minutes on the treadmill, and when I hit the STOP button and the stats screen came up in French, I noticed that the button which reads EXIT in English now said QUITTER.  AWESOME!!! I laughed my ass off at that.

Next I headed to the track, and I ran 3 1/3 mile repeats, not at top speed, but I just wanted to see what I had.  I did pretty well considering, then I ran another 1/4 mile easy, but it was still a good pace.  I followed that up with a hard 2400 swim and then I did some water running for :32.

I am really pleased at how I chose to recover from the unplanned assault on the stairs, and am pretty confident I will be completely back to normal tomorrow, including hitting the bike hard.  I still need to do a bit more running today, and will do it on my at home treadmill, and some easy biking. 

But now I am REALLY looking forward to being able to do lots and lots of squats tomorrow! Also I have a little indoor sprint triathlon on Sunday, so I'm thinking I should be in decent shape for it.

I love this stuff!

Stair Climbing Fun and Weekly Summary

This week was supposed to be another easy-ish week.  I still have a bit of running and a short swim to do today.

My swimming experiment seems to be working.  Lots of paddle/pull buoy work is filtering back into my speed without them.  I’m doing lots of intervals at good paces, leaving me breathless hanging onto the wall.  One of the guards cautioned me against all the work with paddles, but I reminded him that I’ve done as much as 4,000 yards at a pop with them, so I’m not worried about my shoulders.

Biking is really starting to come around.  I am getting glimpses of my decent FTP and associated power to weight ratio that I had in 2009-2010. I remain optimistic that I will be a beast out the door in April!

Running is coming around, too, although I still am not doing any formal pace workouts.  But I do what I feel like on any given day, although I will start seeing actual speed work soon enough as I begin on the indoor super sprint triathlons next week.  This week I did a mix of easy treadmill, ½ mile repeats on the indoor track and Cybex 750AT (Arc Trainer).  The AT is an awesome machine.  If you really crank up the resistance, it’s like you are doing squats AND running uphill at the same time.  Seriously, I am not a big fan of anything resembling an elliptical trainer—not that you can’t get a workout on one—but the leg motion of many just doesn’t come close to anything “normal.”  But I am liking the AT, and think I may just keep doing some of it at least once a week.  All I can say is I get on there, I get my HR up pretty high and hate myself.  Which means it’s awesome!

Strength work continues to go really well.  I’ll be back on heavier weights next week after taking 5 weeks easier while I did my Ultraman prep madness.  I am feeling strong, and that manifests in how well the SBR is going.  Also I can tell from my physique and I am fairly lean, continuing to weigh in at 113 pounds, although of course I would like to whittle off maybe 2-3 pounds of fat, but that will happen on its own without me making too much of a concerted effort.

I am doing pretty good on my diet, although I could drink less beer, which is always true! I’m pretty sure that if I gave it up, I’d drop 2 lbs. of fat in a hurry, so it’s my own damn fault, right? Aside from that, I am eating pretty damn clean.  Here’s an example of a typical weekday for me, with the workouts interspersed:

·         Breakfast: hardboiled egg, homemade banana/wheat germ muffin, coffee with creamer. Yes there is some sugar in the muffin, but not too much, and the creamer I use has some sugar in it.  I could do better here.

·         AM workout: 1 hour swim M/W/F or :45 strength or run on Tu/Th, with 20 oz. Gatorade

·         AM snack: 1-2 pieces fruit, 1 piece string cheese

·         Mid-day workout: :45-1:15 run M/W/F or 1:30 bike Tu/Th with 20-32 oz. Gatorade depending on time.  Immediate recovery drink 1 scoop Endurox R4.

·         Lunch: approx. 300-calorie Lean Cuisine.  I prefer the ones with rice.  Again, I could do better here and have, say, tuna with vegetables, but this works for me so that I can have it done while I get back to work.

·         PM snack: small handful of nuts, maybe another piece of fruit.

·         Dinner: Huge salad of greens, cherry/grape tomatoes, possibly avocado (it would a whole one sliced), possibly pimiento stuffed green olives, liberal dousing of olive oil and Cream of Balsamic, with maybe a sprinkle of grated Parmesan or Romano.  4 oz. chicken breast or fish, occasionally a lamb chop or piece of steak.  This is my usual dinner when I am training under 15 hours per week.  When I go over that (or sometimes even at 14 hours), the salad goes bye-bye and is replaced with 1-1.5 cups of rice (usually brown or jasmine made in my rice cooker) topped with one of my various stir fry concoctions (really heavy on the vegetables; turkey, beef, chicken or shrimp-based) out of the freezer.  I typically drink one beer prior to dinner while I am stretching.

·         If I am still hungry an hour after dinner, I will evaluate how much I think I’ve burned vs. eaten for the day, and at that point I may have 1-2 Fig Newtons, a few Pringles (OH NO!!!), pretzels, a Tiger’s Milk Bar (I know—no different than candy, what can I say?), more fruit.

When I am training 15+ hours a week, what usually happens is that Thursday-Sunday I will either eat more rice, more snacks, and/or have a pasta-based dinner rather than rice prior to my big training days (3+ hours).  When I get around 17+ hours per week, all bets are off, and I allow myself to have candy (usually Gummi Bears), maybe even Cheetos.  Of course, I eat out every now and then with my preference being sushi, but on huge training days I allow myself pizza or whatever I want that same day and leave myself wiggle room the next day or two.  But the longest amount of time I will ever let myself completely slack on my diet is maybe 3 days after an Ironman or longer.  Otherwise I will feel like complete and total crap.

Now onto the stair climbing.  I was doing some work on the AT this past week to prepare (sort of) for the inaugural stair climb right in my town that happened yesterday.  The event was not timed, and they said we could climb up AND down as many times as we liked.  I had made plans to do this with my friend Jamey, and we arbitrarily decided to do 10 repeats of the 17-floor climb (375 stairs per floor).  Jamey is formally training for Hustle Up the Hancock, which I’ve done several times in the past, so he’s already “in shape” for stair climbing, whereas I just figured I’d go with my current cardiovascular fitness.  I shouldn’t have to actually train for something like this, right?

I got in one repeat up and down before Jamey arrived. We settled on doing 10 total reps together at a moderate pace, although somewhere along the way we did some calculations and decided we should do 11, since, hey, this thing goes up to 11, plus that would give us at least double the number of stairs in the Hancock climb. We laughed and talked and I occasionally swore, but I apologized if I swore near one of the volunteers, and we just cycled up and down, up and down, with almost no resting at all. There were a few people who did maybe 2 or 3 reps, but after that, it was just Jamey and me.  The volunteers were amazed at us, even though if we were stupid, we would have gone even longer.  We didn’t want to make anyone stay TOO long just to wait on us.

I decided that for my 11^th rep (and Jamey’s 10^th), that it would be NO TALKING and I would go for time.  I did the 17 floors in 2:53, which is equivalent to a time of 16:20 for the Hancock (96 floors), assuming the floors of both buildings are equivalent, but who knows.  Anyway, I thought that was a pretty good time considering I’d already done 10 reps, and I hadn’t trained specifically for this.  When we reached the top, I ceremoniously dropped onto the floor.  I really didn’t need to, but I did have jelly legs, and I was laughing hysterically while laying there.   

But I got back up quickly and we headed down. Jamey was going to do his 11^th rep all on his own, with a goal of going up and down in under 5 minutes.  I knew he could, and actually he did it in 3:25!  After he quit coughing, I asked him what he did, and my guess is he went up in around 2:30 but literally flew down the stairs.  He did say he was almost sliding down!

I wish we had recorded our conversation while we did this.  We were laughing so much and there were a number of “that’s what SHE said” moments, especially in reference to “going down.”  At one point, I remember asking us figuratively why we were doing this, and there was something about the stairs getting lonely and needing someone to use them like whores.

My total time spent climbing up was 37:16 for 187 floors or 4,125 stairs, and I counted this in my training records as running time, and 35:56 going down, which I counted as walking.  Much more than the :20 run which was the original plan in my training plan for yesterday!

We both had twitchy calves, and that sensation didn’t leave me for over ½ hour. But when I got home, I needed to do a 2:15 ride. I put on compression calf sleeves, but after 30 minutes I took them off because they made me too hot.  Let’s just say that the slowtwitch fibers in my calves seemed to be worn out, and while I could exert force on the pedals, my typical RPM’s (I will average about 98 most indoor rides) were nowhere to be found. I was OK with that, and not hitting my target watts for the day.

This morning, both my calves and quads are not surprisingly sore, but I am still going to try and run for an hour and then do a ½ hour swim.  The swim will not involve any kicking! I think it would have been hilarious to try and swim yesterday. It would have been cramp city!

Last night, I took myself out to eat for sushi, and I polished off at least 20 assorted pieces along with 2 big Sapporo beers.  You would think that would have replenished me, but fuck no!  It still feels like I have a hole in my stomach or a tapeworm or something, so I guess it’s pound lots of calories again today, and hopefully I will be back to normal tomorrow.  I should end this week’s training at 14.5 hours, which is not a lot for me.  My metabolism is in ferocious mode now, so I expect I need to increase my carb intake next week.  Tough problem to have, but I’ll manage!

Race/Event Calendar for 2012

I updated my sidebar links so you can see all the races and major events (century rides, etc.) that I plan on doing in 2012, so if you are doing any of these and want to meet up or train together, let me know!

Goal 3 of Ultraman “Test” Training Complete

The plan for this week was to run 60 miles, just to get in a lot of run mileage.  I didn’t think it would be THAT hard considering I’d run 55 in late October for my birthday week. The plan further called for doing 10 miles a day for 6 days straight, and then a rest day (today).

I was surprised that on Monday my quads felt sore right away.  I hadn’t run much the prior week or biked. Maybe it was from all the kicking I did during my 15,000 yard swim?  I don’t know, but whatever, I knew that the soreness was OK (oops now that I think of it it may have been from lifting!), and that I was good to go. I also didn’t have any aspirations as to pace for this, although I didn’t want to run slower than 10mpm.

Monday I swam first and then ran, and gosh I was fucking tired after that!  Imagine that—I’d swum 15,000 just 2 days before and I was still a little crunchy? LOL I kill myself. Turns out doing a hard 1-hour swim directly followed by a 10-mile run 2 days after a 15,000 swim feels a bit tough.

Tuesday no swimming, but I got to the Y at a decent time to run. We’ve been having nice weather in Chicago for winter, but the reason I decided to do this week on the treadmill is that a) it will help me hold my pace DOWN (I always run faster outdoors) and b) as long as I’m running indoors, even though I have a treadmill in my house, I’d feel more motivated with others around me. But I digress. When I arrived, a friend of mine, Jamey, was on a treadmill, so it was nice to pass my first hour chatting with him. And I mean CHATTING! We were into some deep shit, and I am sure others around us were like what the fuck is wrong with them. Again, my legs felt sore, but nothing that stopped me from getting in my 10. Later in the day I did some strength training for about :41.

Wednesday I swam right before I ran again, as I knew that the swimming (as long as it was some reasonable amount less than 5,000 yards LOL) would not impact the running plus it helps me recover from running (I think), and once again my legs were still a bit sore, but not too bad, plus I had an awesome swim! I forgot to mention that Monday’s swim was great, too—ya think from all that swimming I’d been doing the prior weeks?

On Thursday morning I was all ready to go to the Y, got in my car, turn the ignition and nothing. I figured it was a dead battery, and it almost started, but then I just smiled and thought I’d deal with it later, so I went back into my house, put on some walking shoes and walked my ass to the Y.  It was a gorgeous morning, albeit pitch black, and I laughed that I should run outside, but I wanted to get the run done NOW and I don’t particularly like running in the dark.

Friday I’d scheduled the day off from work, knowing I’d be pretty worked over by this time and could use a lack of stress from work.  Still, I awoke by 3AM, which has been happening a lot the last 3 weeks, forced myself to stay in bed until 4AM, got up, and got ready to hit it again. I swam only 2300, but swam hard, and it felt good, and then I ran again, ending on the track where I was really kicking it! I wore my new magic shoes, which explains it. They are the best shoes EVER. While I can’t find the rainbow ones anymore, I have another pair of “regular” colored ones and I think I’ll buy some more, they are the most awesome shoes I’ve ever run in.  I got a massage at 2PM and really needed it, even though I stretched after the swim and the run just because I had the day off, and stretching as soon as I finish a workout is the way to go when I have the time.

I think I went to sleep by 6:30 on Friday I was so tired out. But I woke up by 3AM on Saturday just rarin’ to go, knowing this was my last run for the week. I swam another 2200 just to get my swim yardage over 10,000 for the week, even though I’d planned only like 6,000. But since I’ve become a much stronger swimmer, it is no big deal, and I want to keep up at least 10,000 per week. My legs felt pretty good, no doubt from both stretching and massage in the same day, but mentally I was a little toasty.  Good thing a great runner I know, Larry, showed up and got on the treadmill next to me. We had a fun conversation, and at one point he told me that if a Kenyan trained me they wouldn’t make me lose weight!  I have been feeling like I’m in pretty good weight/muscle mass right now, although I know there are people who would call me skinny.

I was so happy to do that last run, but then when I figured how much I’d done for the week it came to 63.8 miles, and I was thinking that today maybe I should “even it out” so I got to 65. But, today was supposed to be a rest day, and so it is, and I need to be off my feet. Although I have been baking since 8AM and still have something else to cook today, did 3 loads of laundry, miscellaneous cleaning, other personal stuff and I’m pretty tired.

I forgot to mention last night I took my brother out for sushi for his birthday. I was so hungry I think I ate enough for 2 people easily, even though just 2 ½ hours before I had to get a 6” Subway sandwich even though I ate a huge salad for lunch. Yes, my metabolism is totally jacked up, but I have to be watchful now since I am going to take a good rest week now and then I won’t be going nutso on the volume for awhile.

I’m pretty happy with what I’ve accomplished, training-wise, in the last 10 weeks, and think it has helped me build additional mental and physical toughness. I know several people doing 100-day challenges and run every day challenges, but I am not on that train because I know when I need to take rest days and give myself some time to do other things. Hard to believe it’s 2012, but that means I am now officially training for an Ironman, and I’m pretty darn sure I’m going to pony up for Ultraman Hawaii, assuming they let me in!  It’s all very exciting, and I am so grateful that I am able to do all of this at this stage of my life.

I hope everyone has had a wondrous, magical, fulfilling weekend!

Goal 2 of Ultraman "Test" Training Complete and Annual Totals

Yesterday the plan was to head to the Y and do a 15,000 yard swim, or whatever I could accomplish.  Originally, I was going to start at 9 after Masters, but I figured there wouldn’t be too many of them there and I wouldn’t need to stop, so instead I got started by 6:35.  This is the first time I can remember that the Y would have so many hours of lap swim available.  I could have kept going until 2PM, but was glad for when I did start.

I’d done a 9 and a 10 3 and 4 weeks ago, but before that not too much.  My longest swim ever was 13,500 about a year ago, so I wanted to go further this time.  I knew 15 would be a stretch, but since I’d tapered down both my biking and running this past week, there was no reason I shouldn’t be able to swim long.

As usual, when I wake up the day of these long swims, I had to think how I was going to break it down.  I’m not one of those people who does 100x100 or such, even though sometimes during really long swims I will do 20 or 30x200 if I feel like it.  15,000 is a lot, and initially I thought I’d break it into 6x(2300swim, 200k), but as I got going (in a lane all to myself!), I went 2500 before my first stop, then I did 200k.  I felt good to go another 2500 straight, this time with paddles on—in retrospect I should have waited until later for the paddles, but oh well!.  Next I did 300k, another 2500, then 500k, with some just on my back to give my pecs a little stretch.  At this point I’m up to 8500 with 6500 to go.  Sounds pretty daunting, doesn’t it? I decided since I had lots of available pool time that I’d break the remainder up as 1000swim, 200kick, which is basically what I did.

When I was up to 6500, the Masters people showed up (one of them had swum beside me for about 1000 before the other 2 showed), and I said I’d move over a lane, which they were OK with.  After my next 2500, I stopped to chat with them briefly, as I know one of them.  He asked what I was training for, and I said an Ironman and an Ultraman.  He said, “A WHAT?”  So I had to explain what Ultraman is and that I’d done one in 2010 and they got some interesting looks on their faces.  I told them I was going 15,000 today “just because” and let them get back to their workout and me to mine.  Once they finished, one guy, who’s really good and fast, told me he’d attempted Big Shoulders, which is a 5K swim in Lake Michigan in the fall, but was too cold after one lap.  I surmised he hadn’t worn a wetsuit (not that he’d need one), and that was true.  I would go hypothermic without a wetsuit in water below 75 if I was in there any amount of time.  He told me I was doing well, and that gave me a huge smile and impetus to keep on going.

With maybe 2500 to go, some guy got in the lane with me who really can’t swim.  He doesn’t put his face in the water, his hands are balled up into fists, but he sure is trying.  I had to watch out so he wouldn’t smack me, even though I could tell he was trying to hug the wall.  I wanted to stop and tell him to PLEASE get some lessons, as it’s painful for me to watch what he’s doing.  Painful, said the woman who is over 12,000 into a swim…

I actually sped up a bit as I marched through the 1,000’s, not sure why.  I got the whole swim done in 5:04, thanks to some use of fins.  I ended up kicking quite a bit, so it surprised me that I got it done in that time (I did exclude the yakking with the Masters time).  

Of course, the shower after was the best shower ever.  I know I was moaning in there, and I don’t care who heard me.  It was a big effort, and I was hungry, but wanted to stretch in the sauna before I left.  My arms were fine, which is good, if my stroke is OK, then my arms shouldn’t hurt—it should all be in my back and pecs.  Which it was.  Once I was home, I basically ate until I fell asleep—maybe 8PM.  I know I am such a wuss, but I fully expected to be tired out.

So that was all she wrote for 2011.  Below you can see my training numbers including 2011.  As you can tell, I had a dip last year.  If you understand periodization, you can see that it was a good idea I stepped down.  I was worried I wouldn’t even hit 5,000 miles of biking for the year which I would consider pathetic for me!  But I did, and I’m shocked at how much running I did considering I didn’t run AT ALL for 12 weeks.  Still, the rest year will turn out to be a great thing.  I feel somewhat renewed, as I had a great summer of biking a lot, including a lot with my brother Mike, and laid off the heavy swimming and running for awhile.  Although since I’ve been back at it, I have been putting up a whole lot of training hours.  But it’s time to kiss 2011 good bye, and look towards the new year.

I am kicking off 2012 with a week of running.  60 miles starting tomorrow.  I’m going to run 10 miles each M-Sat. and take Sunday off.  I’m going to swim, but not a whole lot.  I might do one ride.  Believe it or not, 60 miles will be the most I’ve ever run in a calendar week.  I did that 55 mile week 10 weeks ago for my birthday week, so 60 won’t be anything.  After that, I resort to regular volume (for me) Ironman training for 8 months!  And no swims over 4k until June!  Although something tells me I just might get a bug up my ass to swim longer every now and then.

So there it is.  I think if you track your training and ever think you’ve “wasted” a season or whatever by resting when forced down by injury, when you look at the big picture you will see it was probably a good thing.  I managed to not run a marathon or do an Ironman in 2011!