Winning Makes Me Happy!

I don't care what anyone thinks--winning my AG in a race makes me happy!

Yesterday was my first race of 2015--a supersprint indoor triathlon, where you swim 10', bike 20' and run 15' on indoor track. In years past, I have won my AG for the series (at one time there were 4 races all 2 weeks apart; now there are only 3) 4 times. This year, I couldn't make the first race because I was starting the Tour of Sufferlandria, but I registered for the 2nd and 3rd races.

I have never done any semblance of a taper for these things because why would I? But I can recall that in prior years, I wasn't training as much this soon in the year. Why am I training so much now? Because I have a 1/2 Ironman in 6 weeks, and I don't want to suck!

Let me back up to the beginning of last week. I had just finished Tour of Sufferlandria, and on Monday I was completely and thoroughly shagged. One of the data points I keep in my massive training spreadsheet is a rolling 7-day training total. As of last Monday, I was at 19 hours. All I did on Monday was shovel snow for an hour (recall Chicago had its 5th biggest snowstorm the day before--I got 19.1" at my house!).

Since I didn't know if I'd even be able to finish Tour of Sufferlandria, the training I planned for last week was, shall we say, a "tad" aggressive. When it came time for me to ride on Tuesday, I was like FUCK THIS WORKOUT and I shortened it and had to go much easier than planned. Which was fine. I always need to respect the recovery process despite what training I've planned, and my bike legs just weren't recovered. Plus I had run 30' and swum 3000 in the morning before I biked, so that added to the fatigue. At the end of Tuesday, my rolling 7-day total was back up to 20 hours.

On Wednesday, I shoveled over an hour (we got another 2-3" overnight), then went and swam 3000 and ran for an hour, including some track intervals just for fun. I was surprised that my run legs weren't kaput. Rolling 7-day total still at 20 hours.

On Thursday, I figured I should get back on my strength training, so I got in about an hour of that, then hit the bike, and again felt like my bike legs weren't back yet, so I held down the time and intensity a bit, but my rolling 7-day total stayed at 20 hours.

On Friday, I finished my strength training for the week, about 45', then swam 3200 (that before work), and later I ran 40', pretty easy. Yay--rolling 7-day total finally dropped to 19.4!

On Saturday, I was thinking how should I adjust things if I expect to race decently, then I decided I didn't really care since eye on the prize--I'm training for a 1/2 Ironman. But in the back of my mind I'm thinking I still want to win the stupid race. In the end, I cut back my scheduled 2:45 ride to 2:40, and my scheduled :30 brick run to :25. Some reduction, huh? And my bike intensity was still not there, but I didn't really expect it to be. Rolling 7-day total now down to 19.1. Yay! After I finished working out, I ate lunch, stretched, bought groceries, and then gave myself the gift of laying around the rest of the day in the hopes I would gain some recovery for a race the next day.

When I woke up yesterday, I immediately felt nervous. When I am nervous, my stomach does flip-flips. This goes all the way back to childhood. I had slept well, and my legs didn't feel bad. Then I had to decide how much warmup for the race to do. In retrospect, I should have done more biking, but I'll fix that in 2 weeks.

At home, I ran 5', biked 5', ran 5', biked 5' and ran 5'. Most of that was fairly easy, with a few accelerations in the last 10'. I started in on a Coke, that I would finish on my drive to the club. After I put my crap into a locker, I went and scoped out the bikes. They were different than the ones I'd used the last time I did this series, which was 3 years ago (and I won my AG for the series that year). So I got on the one spare, which really wasn't a spare--someone had been a no show. Thank God I was able to try out one of the bikes, because stationary bikes are all geared differently, and the key to winning these races is ALL ABOUT THE BIKE! And I am ALL ABOUT THE BIKE! So I gauged what I should shoot for in the race. Then I went upstairs to the indoor track and ran an easy 1/4 mile, then another 1/3 mile. I could tell my run legs weren't going to be great, but whatever, right?

Then I just hung out until it was time for me to start. My massage therapist has students from his school at these races, so I availed myself of one of them to just work on my upper back, since it was gnarly from Friday's swim with paddles. She was like we're not supposed to work on anyone until after they race, but Mike came over and told her it was OK that I know what I'm doing. That felt so good!

My start time was 10:05. A guy I know who was the announcer while I biked was on deck and numbered me up and drew a shark fin on my calf. He said he wanted to do some art on me, so I asked for the shark fin. I got in the water, and it was pleasantly cool--I'm guessing 82 or 83. My home pool is always too warm--usually 85. So I was grateful for the cool water. I swam an easy 200, and again, I could tell I was still pretty well fatigued from the past weeks of training, but whatever, right? At least I got my own swim lane!

My volunteer dude (who follows you around and tallies your laps and mileage) was Walt. A nice man, who plays tennis as his primary sport. He was a pretty quiet man, but smiley, and I appreciated that. I tend to joke a lot when I am racing--it helps me to calm my nerves. With my cumulative fatigue, I decided I would just swim steady and not try and punch it. I felt great, felt like my stroke was the best ever, and didn't feel like my heart was going to jump out of my chest as I exited the water.

In years past, I'd wear a 2-piece bikini to swim in and keep the top on and just change into bike shorts, but this year I've been feeling flabby and that I wouldn't look good enough in a bikini, so I wore a one-piece suit, my lucky suit:

The ladies in the locker room were all commenting on my cute suit. Until I stripped it off and then warned everyone I was going to start swearing pretty fast while I put on my bike shorts. Some of the ladies were watching me strip or something, and someone commented on how great my abs look. I shrugged it off, saying that I was a little fat, and one of them said she hadn't been as small as me since she was 13, and someone else said NEVER. It's all relative, right?

I managed to get my CwX tri shorts over my fat ass, got my socks and shoes on (I put talcum powder into my socks just like in longer races because it dries up the excess water in a flash), and headed out to the bike. I had Lane 1 in the swim, but Bike 2. WTF, right?

I was ready to suffer on the bike. I figured this couldn't be as hard as the shit I'd done the prior week, and I felt VERY well prepared. There was a guy in my wave that had his name on his tri suit, so I figured he was a player, and I was right. There was another young man that also looked to be quite fast, and I was right about him, too. But I was the fastest female biker in my wave, and also the oldest. I tested out my "system" for achieving maximal bike distance, and I know I can go faster in the next race. I just love crushing people on the bike! Especially people younger than me! After I finished, I threw my towel on the floor and laid on it for a few seconds. I figured my run was going to suck, but them's the breaks sometimes, right?

I went upstairs to the track and jogged around once. I decided I wasn't going to look at my watch, and I was just going to try and run steady, which is what I did. There was a girl in front of me for about 4 laps that I figured was going to crap out, and I did pass her. The speedy young dudes were just flying. Since it's been a long time since I've gone so totally anaerobic like I did on the bike, I was pretty sure I was going to puke my guts out when I finished. It was all I could do to not slow down on the run. I'm not happy with my run, but I've learned that for me to run effectively, I DO actually need a taper--swimming and biking not so much!

I managed to hang on and not slow down, and I did puke (it was all water) in a bucket, and it felt good! At least I knew that I had gone as hard as I could on the day! First order of post-race business was to go and get a massage. They had pizza, fruit, water, Gatorade, sandwiches and energy bars for us. I longingly looked at the pizza, which I couldn't have, because I still had to run another hour. But I ate 1/2 banana and grabbed some water, then went and got an awesome leg massage.

I had forgotten that at this club they don't let you use the treadmills because they are inside the track and don't want people in there. So I decided that since I was going to run real easy anyway, that I'd do some of it on elliptical. I did 15' on there while one of the waves was going. It was way more motivating to do that than just on my own. I hate elliptical. The other people on the machines were giving me weird looks because they could see I'd already raced because of my sweat and the numbers on me. I was still working harder than they were!

After that wave finished, I went and ran 1/2 mile on the track real easy, and could tell I was thoroughly shagged, but I still had more running to do. I saw another racer on a treadmill, and I figured if he could do it, then I should be able to. I asked someone who works at the club, told him I promised I wouldn't die, and he said it was OK. It was really cool to be on the treadmill with the music blaring (they have awesome DJs at these events) and people literally running circles around me! It made the suckage of running 40' on the treadmill not so bad.

But then I was FUCKING DONE! I went back downstairs with one thing in mind: PIZZA! I don't eat pizza very often, but this was well deserved. I think I inhaled the first piece of sausage, then they laid out some fresh ones that were pepperoni, and I ate 2 slices of that. I drank another bottle of water, then went and got my 3rd massage of the day! My legs were a bit more gnarly than immediately post-race because I'd run more, so it really helped to get another massage.

Then, of course, I had to go and check results. While there was at least 1 more woman in my AG that wasn't yet posted, I'm pretty sure I won. I actually placed pretty well in the overall rankings, too, for an old lady.

For the next race in 2 weeks, I am going to shuffle my bike training so I don't do 3:30 the day before! Even though I might still win my AG after that, I want to have a good run, and so I will limit my biking to 2 hours the day before, and we'll see how it goes.

I was so shagged yesterday after I got home that I immediately changed into pajamas (2:30!), and alternated laying in bed watching TV and/or reading with eating and drinking beer. This morning, as soon as I woke up, I thought, "I fucking won that race yesterday!" and got the biggest grin on my face. I know it's not much of a race, but still, it felt good to do that on top of all the training I've been doing, and it was a great way to kick off the 2015 racing season. I did do a happy dance in my living room. Now I have to keep up the momentum and not burn myself out, as my A-race, Ironman Louisville, is still 8 months out.

Oh--I had my lungs checked out and they are FINE! The tech at the hospital agreed with me that because I'd had my house all sealed up that my allergies had flared, and possibly I had an infection that the steroids helped clear up. I told him that usually after a really hard effort I have a coughing fit, and since I've been regularly using the albuterol before workouts that doesn't happen so much. I just realized that even though I puked after the race yesterday that I didn't have a coughing fit!

I also had my yearly mammogram, and this time it was 100% normal without a follow-on diagnostic, so that made me happy, too. Now I am just waiting to see the higher dose of Synthroid kick in (I don't think it's quite there yet), and then I will see if I feel even better. I decided to stop taking the CoQ10, because I think it's contributing to my lessened sleep and/or weight gain, so we'll see how that experiment goes.

So all in all, the physical systems are in good shape, I'm training like a maniac and WINNING! I couldn't be happier today, even though I am so tired it's crazy! But today is a rest day, unless I decide to try a short swim (which I think would be helpful). And I am HUNGRY!

LIFE IS OUTSTANDING!

Recovery (continued)

So yesterday morning I was on my way to the Y to do a track workout, and I didn't realize until I was out the door just how much snow had fallen--about 2". Which meant I had to move it. It was pretty fluffy stuff, and I didn't feel like firing up the snowblower and smelling all like gasoline/oil and stuff, so I just shoveled. I think it took me about 1/2 hour to do it, and then I was off to run.

The warmup piece on the treadmill felt fine, except that I was nearly overheating from my little shoveling warmup. Then I moved onto the track where it wasn't as cool as it usually is, but still fine. I had brought a can of Coke (poured into a bike bottle) to drink.

When I did the piece of the warmup that included some 5K pace work, I just took off and was enjoying the fast running, but I ran faster than I needed to, and it was just enough to make me realize I was still a little tired. I did the first 10K/5K interval exactly to pace, but was disappointed because last week I had run faster, because I was definitely fresher last week, and yesterday I didn't have a full 24 hours between a hard bike workout and a hard run workout, which is significant for me.

I completed the second 10K/5K interval exactly like the first one, only it hurt more to do it. I figured I'd slow it down slightly for the last interval, and I did, but not by much. Still, all things considered, it was a decent workout.

Around noon, I took a short break from work and worked my bis, tris, delts and chest. It only took 20 minutes, but I was feeling it.

I was invited to do a "spin" session at my bike shop that began at 6:30PM. I wasn't too sure it was a good idea to do it after having done a track workout, but whatever, it's all good training, right? Just see what I can do...

I loaded up a bottle with a can of Ultra Violence Voltage flavor cut with grape Gatorade, since I knew one way or the other, I'd need a boost to get through a hard bike workout in the evening (I rarely do evening workouts--I'm usually down for the count stretching about 6:00PM followed by general relaxation and vegetating).

I set up my bike and trainer next to the owner's bike, because I know him, and thought we could chat whenever our lungs weren't burning. Our instructor, Anthony, was facing us barking out gearing and effort levels. I was OK with most of the workout except for pretty extensive bouts of standing, where I took the opportunity to ride seated if I felt I needed to. I did the 3 isometric squats (a la Troy Jacobsen in Spinervals) just fine, and was kicking out good power for the duration. When it was over, either I was a slacker or I am just used to the hard workouts, I shouted, "Next time make it harder!" And well, I got my wish, as I have been asked to lead the next session in 2 weeks! I'm looking forward to putting something together that will be challenging, yet fun.

A few of us went out for beers and burgers afterwards, and when I got home, I was so tired I didn't even shower (I had towelled off at the shop) and just went straight to bed. I was a little pleased with myself that I was able to get through it, but knew it really wasn't a good idea for me to have done both a track workout and hard bike on the same day. Whatever, if I need to adjust after the fact, that's fine.

This morning all I had to do was a short (2200 yards) swim workout, and that went well, except for my throat being a little scratchy, which is just a sign that I had better watch it or I could get sick. I am still going to try and do the remainder of my strength work today which is LEGS!!!! My legs actually don't feel too bad right now, but I know from past experience that sometimes you feel your strongest and best just before you are about to go over the edge and get sick and need a day off. I'm already mentally prepared to take a sick day tomorrow if I at all feel less than 100%, and all I have planned is a swim which can go out the window, too.

I'm sure other people have to put up with a lot of other interferences to their training than I do--the only reason I write about this stuff is because sometimes I go back and read it and learn from it, and other times I find out just how strong I am and achieve a breakthrough by doing something that I thought might be a stupid idea!

Recovery

A friend asked me about consuming alcohol and its affect on recovery. I ended up stating that I believe that as long as you have a good diet and are getting sufficient sleep, that a few beers or glasses of wine shouldn't affect you too much. If you are really going for a Kona slot or you just want to see how you perform without any alcohol, go for it.

But then I got to thinking about the whole recovery thing, and there are so many factors that enter into it. What is recovery? I would define being recovered as:

the ability to train as hard as or harder than the most recent good, hard effort

where "hard effort" is a workout where you are able to do work at or above threshold/LT/FT pace, however you define it. If your most recent hard effort was a race, you are recovered when you can do a hard workout like the one before the race--nobody can just race and race and race! One reason that I am not an advocate of all long and easy "base" stuff in the "off season" is because it is too easy to slack on recovery like eating well, not putting on weight, sleeping well, etc., since you are not doing any hard efforts that truly test whether or not you are recovered!)

If I trained hard yesterday and all I do today is an easy (Z1/Z2) workout or two, then I can't say for sure whether I'm recovered. But the next time I try and do a pretty hard workout, I can sure tell.

Should we be striving for 100% recovery by the next day after a hard workout? If your job is to train, they I would say yes--otherwise, you need to get in touch with your own body so you know how many days you might need to recover from a hard or breakthrough effort.

For example, Sunday I did a 1-hour sprint race, and I also ran and biked easy afterwards. I did not expect to be fully recovered from that on Monday, and in fact, Monday all I had scheduled was a short, easy swim and an easy run. And I could tell I wasn't recovered. Yesterday, I had a hard interval bike workout to do, which I did after about 30 minutes of strength training. Did I execute well on the bike workout? I did OK, but I could tell I wasn't fully recovered from Sunday (sleeping less than 6 hours does that to me!). Still, I did the best I could, and knew that I it was critical that I focus on recovery last night. I got a massage, got to sleep early, and slept really well, and feel pretty good. But I won't really know until I do my track workout in a few minutes whether I am fully recovered.

If you don't know your own body well, you might start your next hard workout, notice that you aren't going to be able to hit the workout's objectives and bag it altogether or just turn it into an easy, aerobic workout. There are certainly times when this is the best thing to do. I know that for me, I am comfortable "doing the best I can" in the workout, and as long as I am close to the objectives, I am fine with it. I don't get down on myself for missing targets as long as it doesn't become habitual, and I keep pretty meticulous track of my workouts, so for example, on Thursday I am doing the same bike workout as Tuesday, and I should be able to perform it 100% to specs.

Now what about "recovery workouts?" I think this is highly individual. For some people, it's more of a mental thing to get back out there and do something, and our mental state affects our physical state so much, that if you think you will feel like a slacker if you do nothing but rest, then you are probably better off doing some sort of easy workout. But recovery is generally not doing, and for me that means sleep, massage, stretching, reading a book in bed, anything that gets me off my feet! Swimming can be recovery, too, but only if it's only about 1/2 hour or less and real easy.

All most age groupers can do to foster recovery is to pay attention to their bodies and to train at levels that can be recovered from. That is, I can train harder than some age groupers and not as hard as others. Plus, you need to take your goals into consideration. Generally speaking, my triathlon goals are to not suck in my races (MOP or better at any distance), do some really cool extreme shit, and have boatloads of fun while training hard a lot and still enjoying non-triathlon hobbies. Mostly I just like being highly fit! For other people, the goal might be general fitness, which allows for a lot of slack in how hard you train.

I think the key point is that recovery is relative to your goals. There's no need to worry too much about recovery if you aren't too concerned about being competitive, and if you aren't, then you are more likely to just bag a workout than try and execute it "as best you can." The more competitive you are, though, the more you need to pay attention to how your training plan plus recovery gets you there. A training plan is only as good as your ability to recover from it along the way. If you aren't recovering, you need to either scale back your goals (and your training) or bump up your recovery measures. There is no middle ground. And your ability to recover changes as you age, trust me I know!

A few other things post-track workout that I thought about...If you are feeling like you're not recovering, go through this list and see if any of them might be involved:

1. Sleeping long enough and restfully?
2. Executing good post-workout nutrition?
3. Taking in sufficient carbs to support your training load?
4. Eating a variety of foods, meeting your vitamin/mineral needs?
   
5. Minimizing life stress and performing rejuvenation techniques like stretching, massage, meditation?
6. Attending to lingering aches and pains before they turn into injuries?
   
7. Completing workouts at the appropriate intensity? In particular, are you going too hard when you don't need to?
8. Carrying an appropriate training load based on your history? I.e., if you trained 200 hours last year and this year's plan has you training 300 hours, it could be a recipe for disaster.
9. Reverse tapering (i.e., ramping back up after a race) appropriately?
   
10. Maintaining a healthy weight to minimize joint stress?

Those are some of the questions I ask myself or someone else if I/they are not feeling recovered.

I fucking love training hard, but I love my recovery, too!