Now I am Training

Yesterday marked the beginning of my full-on training plan for 2015. I had (still do) some residual fatigue from Triple Dog Dare, but felt good doing some easy workouts--a 1-hour drill session in the pool, :35 of strength work and a :30 easy-peasy run including strides. I'm fortunate to have all the weights in my home office and can sneak in parts of my strength work between/during conference calls or as "smoke breaks."

I did have to nap in the middle of the day, as I worked from 3-5AM, and the swim and weights tired me out! I don't usually go down for 2 hours, but yesterday I did, and it felt absolutely glorious! Running felt just fine, and I stretched out well before having dinner.

I still have about 5 lbs. of leftover water weight (at least I hope it's that!) from TDD. After thinking about this for a bit, I've come to the conclusion that this is because I haven't been regularly exposing myself to 5+ hour workouts including sodium supplementation. I believe that once my body is once again used to regular 4+ hour workouts ("regular" meaning at least once a week then more like twice a week), that I will no longer puff up after them. This is what happened to me the first time I did an Ironman, the first time I rode my bike for over 8 hours, and a few other events like Triple T.

Nevertheless, I need to get my body comp straightened out, and in contrast to what a lot of people do, I'm getting it done between now and 1/1. I just need to watch the snack and beer intake, and go a bit lower on the starchy carbs at dinner.

I like to establish goals for myself, both short- and long-term. I haven't yet done enough measurement to predict race paces for the coming year (except that I want to win my AG at as many of them as I can), but I know that correct body comp is critical to that. I need to do my easy workouts easy so I can do my hard workouts hard. I need to keep my laser focus on the bigger goal, which is Ultraman Hawaii in 2016.

I have a large mirror in my bedroom that used to be mounted on the wall at the foot of my bed, but when I got a new flat screen TV last year, I had it moved to over the head board, just because I like mirrors, and it's a high quality mirror that was in my upstairs bathroom before I had it remodeled in 2008. When the mirror was on the wall where the TV is now, I used to write things on it to motivate me, so this morning I decided it was time to do that again:

So now every time I look up there I will see this. #1 is important, #2 is because I think I should be sleeping more, but that may be self-adjusting as I add in high intensity workouts. #3 is because, well, it is very important, and #4 is a reminder to perform well at everything I do.

Time to see how it goes!

No Apologies

Every morning now I wake up and I think I LOVE DOING THIS. I love being on a path to achieve something bigger that is somewhat scary. I love gathering my true supporters around me, especially those who have their own scary goals. I love bringing others along for my ride, even if it's just to watch and think "she's nuts." I love that I know so many amazing people who are equally or more nuts.  I love my non-triathlon friends who accept me just the way I am and understand that this is all about passion. I accept when I fail along the way and learn from it and move on. I tune into my body and my mind, checking it constantly to see what it needs--am I giving it enough? Too much? Every single day I decide what is necessary for that day in the context of yesterday and tomorrow and my goals. I make sure I find time to give away my knowledge, because knowledge is energy, and everyone can use more of it. I ask for help from others when I need it because none of us can do this alone. Sometimes I don't ask for help soon enough, and then I ask for help in flagging when I need it!

I make no apologies for my own high expectations of myself and those around me. This is how I need to be. Should the universe intervene and toss me yet another monkey wrench, I will reevaluate the goal.

So far, so good.

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!

A Late Post-Season Analysis

I lifted these questions off of a Jim Vance blog post and thought it was about time I did some reflection on my 2008-2009 training and racing season. Here goes:

1. Season Goals - What were they? Did we achieve them?
My season goals were to enjoy one more year of Ironman level training and racing, hopefully culminating in a best-ever performance at IMLP and to avenge the poor season I had the year before (which couldn't be helped following the death of my Dad, but still...). In the back of my mind from the get go was that I was going to be done with Ironman in some shape or form.

Did I achieve this? Hell yeah. I felt so free from the bulk of the work in administering my Dad's estate, it felt like a get out of jail free card. I also had much of my house remodeled at the start of the season, so it was like I was set for a new beginning. I almost pinched myself when I also began a new relationship that I enjoyed in so many ways, and even though it ended, I didn't let it stop my momentum.

IMLP was nearly a perfect race for me. I made one rookie mistake on the run which was to wear something for the first time (hey, but the pirate thing looked cool, didn't it?) that caused me some GI distress, and then I was so stubborn in doing what I should have done earlier (puking). Still, the thing I am most proud of was that I was very much aware of how much physical pain I was in by going for the PR, and I moved through it just fine.

While I was ecstatic about my IMLP result, it was eclipsed by what happened next, which was a decision to just go for it and try double IM distance over 4 days as a training exercise, which got me to thinking that maybe I should register for Ultraman, and well, we all know how that turned out! I surprised myself by completing ROTPM in style and faster than I had dreamed possible.

2. What was the highest point of the season, the thing you were most excited about?
The highest point of the season was a couple of weeks before IMLP when I sat down and calculated what time I thought I could finish in. And I wrote the numbers on the big mirror in my bedroom so I could look at them every day and let them sink in together with a few inspirational quotes, the most notable one being (and it's still on there): "There is still pain but it does not bother you." And I wasn't very far off from the time prediction in the end except for my misstep on the run. In a way, it was this "knowing" that was even more exciting to me than the race itself. Knowing, believing and seeing that all the signs pointed to being in my best shape ever.

3. What were the misses this season? The things we didn't accomplish or missed out on.
My only real miss was at Triple T, in that I got sick and couldn't do the 1/2 Ironman. But at the time I knew that I had exceeded my own stress threshold, and in a way, it was a good thing, because I took some corrective actions right after that to get me back on track.

4. How did you feel about your fitness this year? What were the biggest strengths?
I can't remember ever feeling as fit, and it was evidenced in my race/event performances. My biggest strength continues to be my cycling, but I worked extra hard on my running this season, too, and saw some good improvements there, particularly in my ability to withstand more intensity and duration than in years past.

5. What in your training brought about the strengths?
Some of this may have been due to achieving an all-time low race weight but adding extra strength to the mix, so that I am certain I did not lose muscle mass. And it wasn't intentional. I had just been trying to shed maybe 4 lbs. of winter weight (having someone guess that you weigh 10 lbs. more than you do can help kick start change!) that I added due to some poor (but fun!) eating habits. At any rate, I found I was able to run faster and farther with seemingly no ill effects, and I did not lose any power on the bike. The other thing that may have helped is taking an unintentional break after jacking my back in November. Who knows about that, though?

At any rate, I biked harder and farther sooner in the training season than normal, and I ran hard whenever I felt like it and also added distance to my long runs over years past. Whether the ability to do this was based on my weight/body comp or accumulated experience or a slight rest in November doesn't really matter. The point is I could sense that I was able to push things more and so I did.

Also, right after Triple T, I began getting more sleep than I usually do in the traditional 8-week leadup to Ironman. And I believe that is making a huge difference in my ability to recover from very hard training.

6. What were your weaknesses in fitness?
Swimming. While I swam a decent amount for a triathlete, I just didn't push myself in the pool as I have in years past. I didn't really get any slower, but I didn't get any faster, either.

7. What could have been done to address these weaknesses in fitness?
Um...swim more and with more focus. Like I'm doing now! Get some swim coaching.

8. If you could change one thing about the season, what would it have been?
The only thing I can think of is that I should have realized my need for more sleep earlier on.

9. Based on this season, what are some initial goals for next year?
Well we are already in next year, aren't we? The big goal is to finish Ultraman Canada. In order for that to happen, I need to feel mentally and physically confident about the distances and the mental fortitude to do and absorb a greater amount of training than I've ever done while staying employed and not letting the rest of my life (relationships, house, R&R) go to hell. And making sure I continue to have fun training. Because I really do love it! Since I really won't be doing many races before UMC, the mental aspect is going to be even more pronounced, and I am already working on improving my mental strength and visualization. And I am finding and leaning on anyone I can to help me along the way to UMC with pep talks, training advice, inspirational stories, and a shoulder to cry on when it all stresses me out.

The other big goal is to figure out what I want to do after Ultraman. I am sure the journey will lead me to the answer to that question!

I could talk about some other life goals I've got going, too, but this is supposed to be about triathlon, isn't it?

10. Anything else you want to discuss about this year and next year?
Yes. I want to discuss how grateful and tickled I am to find myself doing what I am doing at this stage of my life. Knowing that it's not for everyone, and that it doesn't make me any better of a person than anyone else, but I can't help but feel excited and maybe obsessed. Is that such a bad thing? I don't know. I do know that my time here on Earth is limited, and I have no idea how long I will be this fit and healthy, so the time is now to do something with it, eh?