My mom has multiple myeloma--the biggest problem is a tennis-ball sized tumor near her sacrum. She gets 9 days of radiation treatments, and the hope is that they will destroy this incarnation of the cancer and enable her to walk again. Then she moves to an assisted care facility for a few weeks. Then--who knows??? It's going to be one day at a time. The 5-year survival rate for this type of cancer is listed at 32%. My mom has been in bad shape for about 5 years, and this doesn't help any. But, it is what it is. My dad is doing the best he can to care for her. His best is not what I would consider THE best, but I believe it is not my place to meddle. I haven't understood my parents' relationship for the past 40 years, why would I understand it now?
It's funny how when these things happen you realize so fully that each of us ultimately goes through this thing called life alone--we can't be anything more than who we are to another human being. That makes life both beautiful and frustrating. It is beautiful when a person learns to be who they are unconditionally, and separates themselves from what they do, what they have, their physical body, their thoughts, etc. It's frustrating when either we aren't fully ourselves or when we are, when we interact with others who aren't. In some ways, the more I become who I am and less attached to other people, things, my body (we'll get to that later), my thoughts, the more I find it difficult, or maybe it's just fascinating, to deal with those are are much less so. I think that is the root of most failed relationships--people are at different levels of self-awareness. At least that is how I am currently experiencing things. I know it sounds very egotistical and conceited, but that is how it feels to me. The more I become aware of my own self, the more I want to take some people by the shoulders and shake them and tell them to wake the fuck up! But that is not the way to make it happen.
Now back to this physical body thing. I find myself somewhat conflicted in this quest for enlightenment, which includes (in some circles anyway) a move away from focus on the physical body. Yet when I look at myself, and I KNOW others look at me this way, it appears I am ALL ABOUT THE PHYSICAL. I guess I consider the care and use of my body to be the way in which I honor my own sacredness, if that makes sense. It brings out a passion in me that has guided me to this personal search for this Mind of Iron. My younger sister said she figured I would fall apart if I couldn't exercise. I listened to her say it, and wanted to lash out at her and say, "Well, what is YOUR excuse?" But I didn't. I just heard it and said that, yes, I would be saddened if I were unable to do ANYTHING, but that I planned to continue doing so until that eventuality. I hope it's because of death! I dunno--we are given this one vessel in which to house our brains, our spirits, our energy, and I just think it's a good thing to honor it. I've read about the running monks and such, and so I know there is precedent for being very physical yet very spiritual. And that is where I find myself right now.
I have to be honest, I am experiencing extra stress over my mother. Some of it is reconciling the unshakable reality that she is going to pass, and it could be soon. Some of it is me feeling selfishly how is this going to affect me? I have already been handed some guilt on a platter for proceeding with my travel and racing plans. Well until something happens that says I should not, I will keep going.
And that takes me back to my training. I hit things hard last week after feeling mostly recovered from my URI/cough thing. I still have the cough, but it is fading. I'm sure I sound horrible when I start choking while on the treadmill or hanging onto the pool wall, but too bad. I don't feel any shortness of breath or tightness in my lungs, and I sleep well and deeply.
This week I moved my long run to Thursday, i.e., TODAY. On Sunday I ran for 1:35, and I ran for 1:45 today. I forgot how tired that can make my legs. My legs really don't feel all that bad, mostly because I wisely cut my run short yesterday. But running 1:45 and then trying to stay awake at work is just not something I am good at.
I woke up about 5:20, had some coffee and a Power Bar, and managed to stretch for 13' before getting to the gym and ass on treadmill at 6:43. The first 30' of the run did not feel good--my stomach wasn't too happy to have to try and digest, but it will get used to it. I just can't do a workout on a totally empty stomach. While I was feeling this way, I used it as an opportunity to consider how "bad" did I really feel? My legs felt fine, my heart rate was fine. If I feel that "good" at Ironman Brazil on the run I will be just fine! After 30' easy, I started picking up the pace. My right piriformis is acting up a little bit (I think from my 6-day festival of running last Wednesday through this Monday and some intense bike workouts and a little extra stress), and I had a 1.5 hour massage Tuesday night and Wednesday it didn't feel bad when I ran--I was just tired, which was why I cut the run short yesterday. When I stretched this morning, I really focused on my iliopsoas, which is usually the culprit when my piriformis is acting up. I HATE that muscle! I now call it the sloppy muscle--look at an anatomy book to know what I mean. The thing is like this sloppy ropy thing that drapes down your back across your hip down to your groin, and I have no clue what is holding it in place aside from the origin and insertion points. It is the source of many people's back troubles, my own included.
Anyway, I didn't notice anything bad while I was running this morning, and after 1 hour I started drinking my Voodoo mix (1/2 Ultra Violence, 1/2 Gatorade), and that perked me up as expected, and my stomach felt fine, and I even enjoyed the remaining 45' of the run. I got in 20' at upper-steady and 15' at mod-hard, which was fine considering I just smashed a whole lot of training into not so many days (uh--coach knows about this sort of--I keep telling him to tell me what to do before I blow myself up!).
I stretched some more after the run and even got in 36' of abs/core work (in a semi-comatose state, I must say). So now I can head into the weekend with a nice 1 hour swim and 1 hour run tomorrow, and then oh joy, oh joy, TWO LONG RIDES THIS WEEKEND (one including a short brick run afterwards). I am waiting for guidance from my coach on the riding, but I will probably do (2) 2:30 trainer rides with lots of intensity, to get ready for Training Camp next week.
Yee-haw! I can't WAIT to get to South Carolina and meet up with Shelley again. It's been 5 years, both of us have gained tons of Ironman experience, it should be warm, and Brett may even come down to ride with us (of course, if he does, the Prime Directive will be to absolutely SHELL him). There will be plenty of Ultra Violence, beer, Cheetos, pasta and red meat consumed (when I get into the heavy training, I tend to crave big hunks of steak).
Shelley sent me a drawing of my idol, Natasha Badmann. She is lovingly hung on my bathroom mirror over my time goal sheet for Ironman Brazil. So every time I go in there I look at Natasha; then I look at my time goals, and I ask myself, "Am I doing everything I can today towards those goals?" So far has been so good. I don't think I could possibly do more. But now the push is on. I expect to be fatigued often. No problem. I have trained myself to go to sleep by 8:30PM now. So even as the sun comes up earlier and I will naturally wake up at 5AM, I can still get 8.5 hours a night, more on some days of the week. This is the part of the training cycle that I love. Literally all I am doing is eating to train, training, recovering and then that nasty little bit called work. I will do nothing that isn't necessary. Friends understand that I go underground until June. Exciting stuff! Bring it!
I WILL survive all of this.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Monday, March 20, 2006
Fashion Update
OK, so first off sometimes I call giving someone the general big picture, including any bits of gossip, a "fashion update" because it just sounds so much nicer than plain "news."
My mom is in a holding pattern. It's unclear now whether she definitely has cancer or not, but whatever it is, it's bad, and she needs copious amounts of pain medicine. In fact, yesterday, they had her so drugged up she didn't awaken, but that has been fixed today. She's once again alert and eating on her own. We thought the oncologist would have all the information assembled today; now that may or may not happen. I just want to know what the story is, you know? Until then, I am just taking things one day at a time.
In other news, I still have this damn cough. It's not bad, but it is annoying. But it is no longer preventing me from training. I pretty much hit it hard beginning last Thursday, and somehow managed to pull off 11.3 hours of training including almost 3 days of absolutely nothing. I shouldn't have run as much as I did in 5 days, but I did cut back my intensity somewhat. I was able to hit 98% of my FT watts for (2) 10' intervals on Saturday, so that was encouraging. I am going to go full-strength this week on training, and hope to bang out 15-16 hours. One day at a time.
Something that is very interesting about this time with my mom's health concerns is seeing my brothers and sisters assembled and it is just very painful for me to see how little regard for their own health they have. Youngest sister is probably 25 lbs. overweight and doesn't exercise enough. Thank goodness she gets an annual checkup, but at her rate she's headed for the typical lifestyle issues. And bonus she's very depressed. I help her whenever I can a little at a time. I gave her what she considered a "professional" quality upper back massage the last 2 days--I told her I picked up a lot from being a massage school guinea pig and being very observant during my own massages.
My older sister is probably 40 lbs. overweight, has knee problems (gee, I wonder why), yet she thinks she is in good health since she checks her blood sugar twice a week! Well, yes, at some point it will be out of whack from the excess weight and lack of exercise. She doesn't work, her husband makes tons of money, they own a spacious and beautiful home--I just don't get it. Her husband, on the other hand, is very paranoid about his own health after seeing his parents degenerate, and he is aware of genetic odds that he must face. He is quite thin and I believe he gets some degree of exercise.
The younger of my 2 brothers is maybe 20-25 lbs. overweight, has asthma, back problems, weakened lungs from pneumonia, but he maintains the best he can. He golfs a lot and tells me he does his back exercises, but still I think he could do better. Mike does take very good care of his family, though. His wife is obese, and they have a son who is autistic/bipolar that is also obese, which pisses me off since his mother didn't need to let him get that way, which just complicates any attempts for him to become integrated into society.
My remaining brother is 20-25 lbs. overweight, depressed, occasionally has a drinking problem, and I believe his blood pressure is high yet he won't seek treatment. He has a loving wife who is a nurse that I consider to be a saint!
Then there's me. My sisters agreed that my biggest problem (jokingly) is that I exercise too much. Thank you. I will take that problem any day. I suffer from occasional mild depression (don't we all), and hell yeah, I would enjoy the company of a male companion, but overall my life and health are quite good, despite a lack of cartilage in one knee and age-related disk degeneration in my back which for all I know is now gone. I don't have a spouse to lean on when I feel like slacking or getting all down on myself, and I certainly don't want the rest of my family to be concerned about my own health. Who knows what will eventually strike me down--but for the moment I intend to keep up what I'm doing and trying to be that good example to my siblings. If only one good thing rubs off on them, great!
The funny thing about all this is that my dad is in quite good health for his age. He tells me whenever he can about his workouts at the Y (I think he goes 4 times a week), especially on the stationary bike. And he lifts weights. And he's lost weight in the last year (all fat, from what I can tell), and he feels great, even though he's got 2 artificial knees. One of the things that seems to console him in this difficult time is talking with me about what he's up to at the gym. I didn't need to encourage him to keep going even as all this illness is circling around us. He knows that by being healthy that he has an edge on his mental health, and he knows from our conversations that I feel strongly the same way. Sure we will cry on one another's shoulders from time to time, but whatever happens, at the end of the day all we have is our health, and I am happy that my dad is making the effort to take care of his own.
My mom will be whatever will be. It's probably too late for her to have an impact on the rest of her life. It almost hurts me more to see my brothers and sisters doing so little for their own lives than perhaps the imminent end of our mom's.
I am being extra careful now with my own eating, since I am finding it hard to work up an appetite periodically. If I can't be strong for myself, how can I be strong for everyone else?
Every day, many times a day I get to make choices. I continue to choose health!
My mom is in a holding pattern. It's unclear now whether she definitely has cancer or not, but whatever it is, it's bad, and she needs copious amounts of pain medicine. In fact, yesterday, they had her so drugged up she didn't awaken, but that has been fixed today. She's once again alert and eating on her own. We thought the oncologist would have all the information assembled today; now that may or may not happen. I just want to know what the story is, you know? Until then, I am just taking things one day at a time.
In other news, I still have this damn cough. It's not bad, but it is annoying. But it is no longer preventing me from training. I pretty much hit it hard beginning last Thursday, and somehow managed to pull off 11.3 hours of training including almost 3 days of absolutely nothing. I shouldn't have run as much as I did in 5 days, but I did cut back my intensity somewhat. I was able to hit 98% of my FT watts for (2) 10' intervals on Saturday, so that was encouraging. I am going to go full-strength this week on training, and hope to bang out 15-16 hours. One day at a time.
Something that is very interesting about this time with my mom's health concerns is seeing my brothers and sisters assembled and it is just very painful for me to see how little regard for their own health they have. Youngest sister is probably 25 lbs. overweight and doesn't exercise enough. Thank goodness she gets an annual checkup, but at her rate she's headed for the typical lifestyle issues. And bonus she's very depressed. I help her whenever I can a little at a time. I gave her what she considered a "professional" quality upper back massage the last 2 days--I told her I picked up a lot from being a massage school guinea pig and being very observant during my own massages.
My older sister is probably 40 lbs. overweight, has knee problems (gee, I wonder why), yet she thinks she is in good health since she checks her blood sugar twice a week! Well, yes, at some point it will be out of whack from the excess weight and lack of exercise. She doesn't work, her husband makes tons of money, they own a spacious and beautiful home--I just don't get it. Her husband, on the other hand, is very paranoid about his own health after seeing his parents degenerate, and he is aware of genetic odds that he must face. He is quite thin and I believe he gets some degree of exercise.
The younger of my 2 brothers is maybe 20-25 lbs. overweight, has asthma, back problems, weakened lungs from pneumonia, but he maintains the best he can. He golfs a lot and tells me he does his back exercises, but still I think he could do better. Mike does take very good care of his family, though. His wife is obese, and they have a son who is autistic/bipolar that is also obese, which pisses me off since his mother didn't need to let him get that way, which just complicates any attempts for him to become integrated into society.
My remaining brother is 20-25 lbs. overweight, depressed, occasionally has a drinking problem, and I believe his blood pressure is high yet he won't seek treatment. He has a loving wife who is a nurse that I consider to be a saint!
Then there's me. My sisters agreed that my biggest problem (jokingly) is that I exercise too much. Thank you. I will take that problem any day. I suffer from occasional mild depression (don't we all), and hell yeah, I would enjoy the company of a male companion, but overall my life and health are quite good, despite a lack of cartilage in one knee and age-related disk degeneration in my back which for all I know is now gone. I don't have a spouse to lean on when I feel like slacking or getting all down on myself, and I certainly don't want the rest of my family to be concerned about my own health. Who knows what will eventually strike me down--but for the moment I intend to keep up what I'm doing and trying to be that good example to my siblings. If only one good thing rubs off on them, great!
The funny thing about all this is that my dad is in quite good health for his age. He tells me whenever he can about his workouts at the Y (I think he goes 4 times a week), especially on the stationary bike. And he lifts weights. And he's lost weight in the last year (all fat, from what I can tell), and he feels great, even though he's got 2 artificial knees. One of the things that seems to console him in this difficult time is talking with me about what he's up to at the gym. I didn't need to encourage him to keep going even as all this illness is circling around us. He knows that by being healthy that he has an edge on his mental health, and he knows from our conversations that I feel strongly the same way. Sure we will cry on one another's shoulders from time to time, but whatever happens, at the end of the day all we have is our health, and I am happy that my dad is making the effort to take care of his own.
My mom will be whatever will be. It's probably too late for her to have an impact on the rest of her life. It almost hurts me more to see my brothers and sisters doing so little for their own lives than perhaps the imminent end of our mom's.
I am being extra careful now with my own eating, since I am finding it hard to work up an appetite periodically. If I can't be strong for myself, how can I be strong for everyone else?
Every day, many times a day I get to make choices. I continue to choose health!
Thursday, March 16, 2006
I'm on the Mend
After 5 days of almost no workouts (I did slip in strength training; after all it's mainly anaerobic, so I didn't need my lungs to do it!), and coughing up NOTHING at all, I began feeling much better yesterday, so I attempted a run. Goal was 1 hour, but I made it 30' and felt dizzy.
Well this morning I found the dizziness culprit--the lovely inhaler I was using to help me over the hump of this cough thing. One of the signs to me that I am coming around is that drugs do weird things to me. So while the inhaler was good for a few days, I'm done with it. Even though I didn't go to California to race, I decided it would be good to take the 2 days off from work that I had planned, to have more time to visit with my mom and also to just not have to focus on work nonsense while trying to get better.
Today I managed a 1 hour run and a 1:15 ride. Now, I'm sure that sounds like a lot for someone coming off a URI, but I know many athletes who wouldn't have rested as much as I just did feeling even worse! Coming back from something like this is where I actually pay attention to my HR (generally I don't). Since I effectively had a taper, my main concern was to not jack up my HR too much, with the knowledge that things are still in a weakened state. Heck, today was the first time my chest muscles (intercostals and pecs) didn't hurt from all the coughing. But I knew my leg muscles should still be in fine shape.
I capped my run RPE in the steady to upper-steady area. I didn't try and run tempo or anything. But I did throw in 10' of strides, which let me run fast for 30" at a time, and it didn't hurt or anything. Actually, running felt quite good. No dizziness, and I hardly coughed at all.
I had about 45' after running before I got on my bike. I knew that trying to do any FT intervals today would be ridiculous, as I generally get my HR way up there to produce those watts--"way up there" meaning higher than I hit at my running tempo pace (word to the wise out there--I can push REALLY REALLY HARD on the bike). But I thought that I would be able to hit HIM watts, which for me are around 88-93% of FT watts. I figured a workout like this would ease me back into the FT stuff either Saturday or next week. I decided to do an extended warmup, just to feel out my legs and lungs and watts to see what I might be able to do today. I did a 30' warmup, then 3' spinups and 9' of the Z3 stuff from my usual warmup. And then I thought I'd do either 3x10' or 2x15' at HIM watts with 2' rest in between, and then cool down. I got to 10' and didn't feel like I needed to stop, so I went to 15', and that was OK, too, 20' fine, and then I figured I might as well go 30' straight, which I did. It felt challenging, but not particularly hard (again, because I've effectively had a taper), but at the end of the day, my HR was up where it usually is when I'm producing FT watts, but my RPE was lower than my HR indicated. So I think I made a very wise decision to hold my watts back. It will be fun to hit those FT watts again at the same HR I was seeing today. I know from coming back after Goofy Challenge that my watts recovered and IMPROVED rather nicely within 2 weeks. So I think I'll be full-strength again next week.
Now some of you may think, "wow she probably still could have gone and raced this weekend." NOPE! I am not 100%, and a couple of airplan trips plus a full HIM effort this weekend would not be a good idea. I will be monitoring my recovery very closely the next few days, and even though I may still get in a decent week of training, the body was telling me to rest, and there is no way I will hit the hours I was at 2 weeks ago this week, and taking the race off the table will enable me to march right into a solid week next week, which in the end, will be a great setup for the training camp to follow the next week.
I can't believe it, but I'll be doing an Ironman in TEN WEEKS!!! I could be freaking out of my head right now, but I'm not. Do you know why? Because of my MIND OF IRON. It is what enables me to make good decisions about what is best for me right now, what is most important, remember to stay in each and every moment, even the uncomfortable ones that I've had in the past few days. Every time life throws me a curve ball nowadays, as it's coming at my face I recognize that there will be lessons for me to learn from it and strength to be gained after it passes.
I knew when I got sick last week that it might mean not racing, but I just accepted it and instead adopted a perspective that the rest will probably do me good. Lord knows I've been pushing the envelope. But then when I learned about my mom's condition, as much as that saddened me, I felt good knowing I would be here through the worst of it. And in talking to my younger sister, I am finding that I must have acquired some sort of wisdom about finding one's way out of depression and appear to be able to help her start to see herself for the beautiful person that she is, independent of what she has or does. If I can help just one person find inner peace that helps them find their path in life, that is enough justification to me for my own existence. I consider myself far from enlightened; yet I believe I am further along than most and I see myself now able to help others. I hope that doesn't sound conceited of me; well, truthfully I don't care what anyone thinks of me anymore. We are all here to help one another; the trick is being of the right mind, in the right place at the right time with the right tools to provide that help, and to jump when opportunity presents itself and the other person is receptive. It is always true that you can't help someone that doesn't want to be helped.
Enough of that. It sure felt good to get in some solid working out today, and also to be NOT WORKING. It just goes to show you that I really do love training. Racing is nice and fun, and I'll get that in, too, but training is where it's at in my life. Oh--and I've got some eating to do. I dropped about 1.5 lbs. from the evil no-phlegm-at-all cough. I lose my appetite when I'm sick AND not training. Chicken soup and crackers, while tasty and comforting, just don't pack much of a caloric punch, even with all the butter I was putting on the crackers! That 1.5 lbs. was probably just my muscles letting go of glycogen and the accompanying water anyway (1 g glycogen is held in muscle by 4 g water, didya know?), so as I pick up training again, my muscles will suck up glycogen and water, and the weight will be back in a flash. I'll know I'm really 100% when I crave a big, juicy steak.
Namaste!
Well this morning I found the dizziness culprit--the lovely inhaler I was using to help me over the hump of this cough thing. One of the signs to me that I am coming around is that drugs do weird things to me. So while the inhaler was good for a few days, I'm done with it. Even though I didn't go to California to race, I decided it would be good to take the 2 days off from work that I had planned, to have more time to visit with my mom and also to just not have to focus on work nonsense while trying to get better.
Today I managed a 1 hour run and a 1:15 ride. Now, I'm sure that sounds like a lot for someone coming off a URI, but I know many athletes who wouldn't have rested as much as I just did feeling even worse! Coming back from something like this is where I actually pay attention to my HR (generally I don't). Since I effectively had a taper, my main concern was to not jack up my HR too much, with the knowledge that things are still in a weakened state. Heck, today was the first time my chest muscles (intercostals and pecs) didn't hurt from all the coughing. But I knew my leg muscles should still be in fine shape.
I capped my run RPE in the steady to upper-steady area. I didn't try and run tempo or anything. But I did throw in 10' of strides, which let me run fast for 30" at a time, and it didn't hurt or anything. Actually, running felt quite good. No dizziness, and I hardly coughed at all.
I had about 45' after running before I got on my bike. I knew that trying to do any FT intervals today would be ridiculous, as I generally get my HR way up there to produce those watts--"way up there" meaning higher than I hit at my running tempo pace (word to the wise out there--I can push REALLY REALLY HARD on the bike). But I thought that I would be able to hit HIM watts, which for me are around 88-93% of FT watts. I figured a workout like this would ease me back into the FT stuff either Saturday or next week. I decided to do an extended warmup, just to feel out my legs and lungs and watts to see what I might be able to do today. I did a 30' warmup, then 3' spinups and 9' of the Z3 stuff from my usual warmup. And then I thought I'd do either 3x10' or 2x15' at HIM watts with 2' rest in between, and then cool down. I got to 10' and didn't feel like I needed to stop, so I went to 15', and that was OK, too, 20' fine, and then I figured I might as well go 30' straight, which I did. It felt challenging, but not particularly hard (again, because I've effectively had a taper), but at the end of the day, my HR was up where it usually is when I'm producing FT watts, but my RPE was lower than my HR indicated. So I think I made a very wise decision to hold my watts back. It will be fun to hit those FT watts again at the same HR I was seeing today. I know from coming back after Goofy Challenge that my watts recovered and IMPROVED rather nicely within 2 weeks. So I think I'll be full-strength again next week.
Now some of you may think, "wow she probably still could have gone and raced this weekend." NOPE! I am not 100%, and a couple of airplan trips plus a full HIM effort this weekend would not be a good idea. I will be monitoring my recovery very closely the next few days, and even though I may still get in a decent week of training, the body was telling me to rest, and there is no way I will hit the hours I was at 2 weeks ago this week, and taking the race off the table will enable me to march right into a solid week next week, which in the end, will be a great setup for the training camp to follow the next week.
I can't believe it, but I'll be doing an Ironman in TEN WEEKS!!! I could be freaking out of my head right now, but I'm not. Do you know why? Because of my MIND OF IRON. It is what enables me to make good decisions about what is best for me right now, what is most important, remember to stay in each and every moment, even the uncomfortable ones that I've had in the past few days. Every time life throws me a curve ball nowadays, as it's coming at my face I recognize that there will be lessons for me to learn from it and strength to be gained after it passes.
I knew when I got sick last week that it might mean not racing, but I just accepted it and instead adopted a perspective that the rest will probably do me good. Lord knows I've been pushing the envelope. But then when I learned about my mom's condition, as much as that saddened me, I felt good knowing I would be here through the worst of it. And in talking to my younger sister, I am finding that I must have acquired some sort of wisdom about finding one's way out of depression and appear to be able to help her start to see herself for the beautiful person that she is, independent of what she has or does. If I can help just one person find inner peace that helps them find their path in life, that is enough justification to me for my own existence. I consider myself far from enlightened; yet I believe I am further along than most and I see myself now able to help others. I hope that doesn't sound conceited of me; well, truthfully I don't care what anyone thinks of me anymore. We are all here to help one another; the trick is being of the right mind, in the right place at the right time with the right tools to provide that help, and to jump when opportunity presents itself and the other person is receptive. It is always true that you can't help someone that doesn't want to be helped.
Enough of that. It sure felt good to get in some solid working out today, and also to be NOT WORKING. It just goes to show you that I really do love training. Racing is nice and fun, and I'll get that in, too, but training is where it's at in my life. Oh--and I've got some eating to do. I dropped about 1.5 lbs. from the evil no-phlegm-at-all cough. I lose my appetite when I'm sick AND not training. Chicken soup and crackers, while tasty and comforting, just don't pack much of a caloric punch, even with all the butter I was putting on the crackers! That 1.5 lbs. was probably just my muscles letting go of glycogen and the accompanying water anyway (1 g glycogen is held in muscle by 4 g water, didya know?), so as I pick up training again, my muscles will suck up glycogen and water, and the weight will be back in a flash. I'll know I'm really 100% when I crave a big, juicy steak.
Namaste!
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Not racing this weekend and RANT
Unfortunately, I will not be competing this weekend. I still have a deep chest cough that begs me to keep resting.
I had this feeling Monday and Tuesday that there was something else going on in the universe that wasn't quite right. I wasn't feeling sorry for myself for being sick. But I knew something else was wrong. I thought about it--was I sad that I wouldn't be racing? No. Was I upset that I was losing some money on this trip? No. Yet I sensed this sadness.
I called my parents several times yesterday, and nobody was home. This is odd. I figured they must have been visiting doctors, as my mom is in fragile health. At about 7:45PM my phone rang, and I actually hoped it was my dad, as I had wanted to talk to him just the other day, but my voice was too trashed from all the coughing. He told me my mom is in the hospital. He had been out for an hour or so and returned home to her sitting on the floor unable to use her legs to get up. She's been experiencing all sorts of neurological problems related to being diabetic (adult onset), so this wasn't too surprising. Turns out she's had another mini-stroke. So far, they don't know what the cause of the loss of her ability to use her legs is. But what upsets me is how the paramedics treated her. My dad says they said to her, "Well, you're just old." What the fuck is that? Getting old doesn't imply the loss of the use of your legs.
I can tell my dad is upset. I'm pretty upset, too, especially since today I am still too sick to go visit mom in the hospital. But I will go tomorrow, even if it means I am wearing a face mask. So far they haven't figured what's going on with her. In my heart, I've known it was just a matter of time before she becomes wheelchair-bound.
To any of you out there who are 10 or more pounds overweight, consider yourselves warned. Excess weight, particularly belly fat, has been shown to be a marker for adult-onset diabetes. While the symptoms of the disease itself can be treated with medicine, you can guarantee there is already damage done to your cardiovascular system by the time it is diagnosed, and the damage continues as long as you have the disease, even with treatment. And it's ugly. Whatever excuses you may have for not losing weight, well I'm not buying them. Get off your fat ass, stop stuffing your face and take care of yourself. Oh, so you have problems? Try not being able to walk. Try having to be on 15 different medications because you couldn't be bothered to eat right and exercise in your youth. Oh, so you're a triathlete now, huh? Well the fitness you get from exercising is not erasing the problems you are causing yourself by being overweight. Anyone who has the economic means to belong to health clubs and pay to race has no excuses for not eating healthfully and maintaining a healthy weight.
I mourn the loss of my youthful, happy mom, who when she was first diagnosed with Type II diabetes that could have been controlled with weight loss and dietary changes, couldn't find it within her to make simple changes to prevent the full bloom of this disease. I know we all die of something, but it is really hard for me to watch the progressive degeneration of a person. My mom will never see me race; but I hope she remembers how much I loved riding my bike to the pool as a kid. Every summer morning I would jokingly ask her, "Mom, when does the pool open?" Every summer morning she would give me the same answer, "1:00. You can leave right after lunch." I think I will remind her of that tomorrow.
I swim, bike and run BECAUSE I CAN. And I hope I can keep doing it for a long, long time.
I had this feeling Monday and Tuesday that there was something else going on in the universe that wasn't quite right. I wasn't feeling sorry for myself for being sick. But I knew something else was wrong. I thought about it--was I sad that I wouldn't be racing? No. Was I upset that I was losing some money on this trip? No. Yet I sensed this sadness.
I called my parents several times yesterday, and nobody was home. This is odd. I figured they must have been visiting doctors, as my mom is in fragile health. At about 7:45PM my phone rang, and I actually hoped it was my dad, as I had wanted to talk to him just the other day, but my voice was too trashed from all the coughing. He told me my mom is in the hospital. He had been out for an hour or so and returned home to her sitting on the floor unable to use her legs to get up. She's been experiencing all sorts of neurological problems related to being diabetic (adult onset), so this wasn't too surprising. Turns out she's had another mini-stroke. So far, they don't know what the cause of the loss of her ability to use her legs is. But what upsets me is how the paramedics treated her. My dad says they said to her, "Well, you're just old." What the fuck is that? Getting old doesn't imply the loss of the use of your legs.
I can tell my dad is upset. I'm pretty upset, too, especially since today I am still too sick to go visit mom in the hospital. But I will go tomorrow, even if it means I am wearing a face mask. So far they haven't figured what's going on with her. In my heart, I've known it was just a matter of time before she becomes wheelchair-bound.
To any of you out there who are 10 or more pounds overweight, consider yourselves warned. Excess weight, particularly belly fat, has been shown to be a marker for adult-onset diabetes. While the symptoms of the disease itself can be treated with medicine, you can guarantee there is already damage done to your cardiovascular system by the time it is diagnosed, and the damage continues as long as you have the disease, even with treatment. And it's ugly. Whatever excuses you may have for not losing weight, well I'm not buying them. Get off your fat ass, stop stuffing your face and take care of yourself. Oh, so you have problems? Try not being able to walk. Try having to be on 15 different medications because you couldn't be bothered to eat right and exercise in your youth. Oh, so you're a triathlete now, huh? Well the fitness you get from exercising is not erasing the problems you are causing yourself by being overweight. Anyone who has the economic means to belong to health clubs and pay to race has no excuses for not eating healthfully and maintaining a healthy weight.
I mourn the loss of my youthful, happy mom, who when she was first diagnosed with Type II diabetes that could have been controlled with weight loss and dietary changes, couldn't find it within her to make simple changes to prevent the full bloom of this disease. I know we all die of something, but it is really hard for me to watch the progressive degeneration of a person. My mom will never see me race; but I hope she remembers how much I loved riding my bike to the pool as a kid. Every summer morning I would jokingly ask her, "Mom, when does the pool open?" Every summer morning she would give me the same answer, "1:00. You can leave right after lunch." I think I will remind her of that tomorrow.
I swim, bike and run BECAUSE I CAN. And I hope I can keep doing it for a long, long time.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Maintaining Your Body
My second article for trifuel.com is here: http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/endurance-files/maintaining-your-machine-001272.php
I hope you can find something in it that you can use to enhance your training!
On a health note, I am quite ill with a virus that I've had since last Friday. It is mostly a dry cough, and I have been resting and resting, and I think I've gone through 2 cans of chicken soup a day! I'm feeling marginally better today, but am not sure whether I will be going to California on Thursday or not. Since Ralph's is not an A race for me, there is no reason for me to subject my body to more airplane travel and a race when my business right now is getting healthy again. I am no Lisa Bentley or Chris Legh, who keep going even in the face of obvious health problems. To me that is not a heroic effort--it's pure stupidity.
I want to live (healthily) to race another day, and so until further notice, I'm not training! I know that I will be stronger for the enforced rest, and that I am doing the right thing for myself right now.
I hope you can find something in it that you can use to enhance your training!
On a health note, I am quite ill with a virus that I've had since last Friday. It is mostly a dry cough, and I have been resting and resting, and I think I've gone through 2 cans of chicken soup a day! I'm feeling marginally better today, but am not sure whether I will be going to California on Thursday or not. Since Ralph's is not an A race for me, there is no reason for me to subject my body to more airplane travel and a race when my business right now is getting healthy again. I am no Lisa Bentley or Chris Legh, who keep going even in the face of obvious health problems. To me that is not a heroic effort--it's pure stupidity.
I want to live (healthily) to race another day, and so until further notice, I'm not training! I know that I will be stronger for the enforced rest, and that I am doing the right thing for myself right now.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Sick Bike Workout, Workout Levels and Good Stuff
This is the sick bike workout that I did yesterday:
WU: 10' warmup, 3 x SpinUps. Then 3 x 2' (1') Zone 3
MS: FT repeats: 2 x 20' (8' @ 65-70%) @ 95-100%, 2' CD, 1 x 8' @ 105%.
CD: 5' Easy
It was what I call "challenging." I have an internal scale that describes how I think about my workouts. The scale goes like this:
There are levels within Hard, like hard, very hard and fucking hard, but I don't dwell on those. I prefer the bulk of my workouts to be Challenging. Challenging is good. It is never boring. It lets me see if I can push the envelope a little bit. Hard once or twice a week is good. Easy once or twice a week is good. Wimp is not something I like to do very often, and in fact I don't, maybe during a taper.
I used to only do 1 or 2 Challenging days per week. Now I have them 4 out of 7 days, plus 1 Hard and the other 2 are easy. But I guess it's a matter of perspective. Stuff that I consider Challenging now I used to consider Hard.
In other news, I did 2 workouts this AM since I'm leaving on a business trip. There were 2 peeps on adjacent treadmills while I was running (after I swam) trying to guess my bodyfat %. They both think I'm below 10%. The guy says I'm ripped. Then he asks me when is my next race. I tell him in about a week. He asks me what is my weakest sport. I told him I'm pretty good across the board for my age group. He asks me what is my age group. I tell him 45-49, that I'm 49 going on 50 this fall. He looks at me incredulously, and tells me I am "quite a specimen." I'm pretty sure I smiled back, and if I blushed, you wouldn't be able to tell because I was running tempo at the time. Both of these peeps are very fit. I appreciate a compliment much more from people like that. Good way to start the day!
WU: 10' warmup, 3 x SpinUps. Then 3 x 2' (1') Zone 3
MS: FT repeats: 2 x 20' (8' @ 65-70%) @ 95-100%, 2' CD, 1 x 8' @ 105%.
CD: 5' Easy
It was what I call "challenging." I have an internal scale that describes how I think about my workouts. The scale goes like this:
- Wimp: The workout is so easy, I'm not sure I'm working out. Example: Ride easy 2 hours.
- Easy: I feel like I'm working out, but there is no stress. Example: Run easy Z1-Z2 60'.
- Challenging: The workout has some aspects that force me to focus for various periods of time at moderate to high intensity. Example: pick any of my weekday bike workouts, also my long runs for the past 7 weeks (and about 6 weeks leading up to Goofy Challenge), a sprint race.
- Hard: The workout is not only challenging, but because of the amount of intensity or sheer time involved, I know that I need to be extra careful to take in sufficient calories, fluids, and really be sure I do everything right to recover for it and be ready to go again the next day. Example: the long ride plus brick run I did last Saturday (repeat this Saturday), Horribly Hilly Hundreds 200K ride, a HIM or IM race.
There are levels within Hard, like hard, very hard and fucking hard, but I don't dwell on those. I prefer the bulk of my workouts to be Challenging. Challenging is good. It is never boring. It lets me see if I can push the envelope a little bit. Hard once or twice a week is good. Easy once or twice a week is good. Wimp is not something I like to do very often, and in fact I don't, maybe during a taper.
I used to only do 1 or 2 Challenging days per week. Now I have them 4 out of 7 days, plus 1 Hard and the other 2 are easy. But I guess it's a matter of perspective. Stuff that I consider Challenging now I used to consider Hard.
In other news, I did 2 workouts this AM since I'm leaving on a business trip. There were 2 peeps on adjacent treadmills while I was running (after I swam) trying to guess my bodyfat %. They both think I'm below 10%. The guy says I'm ripped. Then he asks me when is my next race. I tell him in about a week. He asks me what is my weakest sport. I told him I'm pretty good across the board for my age group. He asks me what is my age group. I tell him 45-49, that I'm 49 going on 50 this fall. He looks at me incredulously, and tells me I am "quite a specimen." I'm pretty sure I smiled back, and if I blushed, you wouldn't be able to tell because I was running tempo at the time. Both of these peeps are very fit. I appreciate a compliment much more from people like that. Good way to start the day!
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
How to Get Stronger on the Bike
Or, my life the past 5 months...look here. I put this spreadsheet of my weekly long ride data together at the urging of my coach to take a look at things in a "macro" fashion to see what's been going on and how I got from A to B. "A" being I was a respectable rider but have a ways to go (or as I would call it, I sucked), and "B" being now, where I'm getting close to being a pretty good rider (and to round things out this spring/summer, I'll be riding with a very fast women's cycling team).
You all know by now that I train with power, and you know who my coach is. You've seen me throw numbers out on my blog here with me getting all excited about my FT, or Functional Threshold (really FTP, or Functional Threshold Power, in watts). The number has been moving up steadily through the fall and the winter.
Also during this time, I have lost 2 lbs. that I'm pretty sure were fat. I wasn't specifically trying to lose more weight, but I am always trying to be leaner. I think the weight drop had to do with all the running I've been doing. I am not yet half way through my season, and I'm already well over half the running miles I did last season. In the back of my head, I was after the weight I'm at now for a few years, but being already lean, I'd found it difficult to get leaner, but this drop has been a real gift.
Something else new this fall and winter is the intensity of my strength program. I'm using the same periodization that I've used for the past 5 years, but I am lifting heavier and doing twice as much core work. Still, it only adds up to maybe 1.5 hours per week, but it's 100% quality time. Whether or not you believe strength training is effective in a triathlon program, I will keep doing it because I am a) female and b) getting older, and I believe it helps me maintain my lean mass and keeps my metabolism revved.
Beginning in November, I made a commitment to improving my flexibility. My goal was to return to my former limber self that disappeared 8 years ago when I began endurance sports. I'm not quite there yet, but things have improved significantly, and I truly believe that this has contributed to my ability to manage a rather challenging training schedule for weeks at a time.
Finally, this fall I made an executive decision to remove as many distractions as I could from my training. The most important of these was to keep my "inner circle" comprised of only tough, dedicated, knowledgeable athletes who I believe are on a similar path as me. I have helped plenty of newbies and intend to keep doing so through posting to my blog, participating sparingly in a few triathlon forums, etc., but for right now it's time for me to be a little selfish.
Put all of this together, and it sounds good on paper, but ultimately one still needs to do the work of hard training. Partnering with my coach, Rich Strauss, who at times thinks I choose odd ways to test my fitness, we've built a progressive training program that, combined with my work ethic, self-care and attention to geeky details, has resulted in some huge gains on the bike. Granted, these are all measurements done on an indoor trainer, but we are pretty confident that when I "take it to the road" that I will be faster than ever before. Plus, I know that we will keep this same "character" to my outdoor long rides. I just don't like JRA (Just Riding Around) anymore. It's boring to me, and what is the purpose (except for the odd recovery ride)? I plan to keep updating the spreadsheet as time moves on as a way to motivate myself to keep things rolling, and also because, well, I just like studying my own data!
When you look at the spreadsheet, you will see I inserted some comments about what I think was going on, but they are just off the top of my head. Really, when you look at the numbers, what you see is that I've done progressively harder workouts, and improved my ability to work the entire workout at a higher IF (Intensity Factor, which is the ratio of Normalized Power (NP) for the entire ride to my FTP). The higher the IF you can work at, the faster you become across the board. Ride harder, and you get faster. Sounds easy, right?
Now those of you reading this who are big guys probably laugh at my watts. Keep in mind I am a female, age 49, weight all of 112 pounds. I should have posted my power to weight ratio (weight in kg) out to the right (that will be for version 2.0), so you can make more sense of the numbers. Right now, my power to weight ratio is 3.36, which is up from 2.93 a year ago, and up from 3.03 just 4 months ago. That's a solid improvement, I don't care who you are.
You can see the points where my FT increased--those weeks I did a test to prove where it is.
There's really nothing magical about this, so here I will quote Rich, because my data is like an ad for his words:
The bike goes faster because you do more work. The more work you can do, the faster the bike goes. Watts = work. More watts = more speed = more work. Want to go faster? Do more work/put out more watts. Think of it in weight lifting terms. If your current bench press is 200lb and you want to lift 250, you structure a plan based on your current strength and your goal strength. Most importantly, you put a known weight on the bar. You don’t guess, feel it, take your pulse, etc. You put 205 lb on the bar and lift it.
It really is "that easy." It's taken me about 2 years to really get the hang of this training with power thing, but now I'm deep into it, and that, coupled with my overall fitness and conditioning being at an all-time high, is very exciting. I don't know how I ever trained without power--I never had anything solid to base my self-assessment on.
Now, proof that all of this really works happens once I get outdoors and begin riding with others, and do some timed rides (for example, on the Ironman Wisconsin course) to get some speed measurements. I laugh when someone riding a trainer tells me how "fast" they were going. Fast doesn't mean too much on a trainer, and I'm actually happy that my speed sensor is on my front wheel so I have no idea about how "fast" I am going indoors. All I look at is my watts. And my top tube. Try as I might to pay attention to the TV screen while on the trainer, I can't--it's heads down work. And that is my idea of big *FUN*.
You all know by now that I train with power, and you know who my coach is. You've seen me throw numbers out on my blog here with me getting all excited about my FT, or Functional Threshold (really FTP, or Functional Threshold Power, in watts). The number has been moving up steadily through the fall and the winter.
Also during this time, I have lost 2 lbs. that I'm pretty sure were fat. I wasn't specifically trying to lose more weight, but I am always trying to be leaner. I think the weight drop had to do with all the running I've been doing. I am not yet half way through my season, and I'm already well over half the running miles I did last season. In the back of my head, I was after the weight I'm at now for a few years, but being already lean, I'd found it difficult to get leaner, but this drop has been a real gift.
Something else new this fall and winter is the intensity of my strength program. I'm using the same periodization that I've used for the past 5 years, but I am lifting heavier and doing twice as much core work. Still, it only adds up to maybe 1.5 hours per week, but it's 100% quality time. Whether or not you believe strength training is effective in a triathlon program, I will keep doing it because I am a) female and b) getting older, and I believe it helps me maintain my lean mass and keeps my metabolism revved.
Beginning in November, I made a commitment to improving my flexibility. My goal was to return to my former limber self that disappeared 8 years ago when I began endurance sports. I'm not quite there yet, but things have improved significantly, and I truly believe that this has contributed to my ability to manage a rather challenging training schedule for weeks at a time.
Finally, this fall I made an executive decision to remove as many distractions as I could from my training. The most important of these was to keep my "inner circle" comprised of only tough, dedicated, knowledgeable athletes who I believe are on a similar path as me. I have helped plenty of newbies and intend to keep doing so through posting to my blog, participating sparingly in a few triathlon forums, etc., but for right now it's time for me to be a little selfish.
Put all of this together, and it sounds good on paper, but ultimately one still needs to do the work of hard training. Partnering with my coach, Rich Strauss, who at times thinks I choose odd ways to test my fitness, we've built a progressive training program that, combined with my work ethic, self-care and attention to geeky details, has resulted in some huge gains on the bike. Granted, these are all measurements done on an indoor trainer, but we are pretty confident that when I "take it to the road" that I will be faster than ever before. Plus, I know that we will keep this same "character" to my outdoor long rides. I just don't like JRA (Just Riding Around) anymore. It's boring to me, and what is the purpose (except for the odd recovery ride)? I plan to keep updating the spreadsheet as time moves on as a way to motivate myself to keep things rolling, and also because, well, I just like studying my own data!
When you look at the spreadsheet, you will see I inserted some comments about what I think was going on, but they are just off the top of my head. Really, when you look at the numbers, what you see is that I've done progressively harder workouts, and improved my ability to work the entire workout at a higher IF (Intensity Factor, which is the ratio of Normalized Power (NP) for the entire ride to my FTP). The higher the IF you can work at, the faster you become across the board. Ride harder, and you get faster. Sounds easy, right?
Now those of you reading this who are big guys probably laugh at my watts. Keep in mind I am a female, age 49, weight all of 112 pounds. I should have posted my power to weight ratio (weight in kg) out to the right (that will be for version 2.0), so you can make more sense of the numbers. Right now, my power to weight ratio is 3.36, which is up from 2.93 a year ago, and up from 3.03 just 4 months ago. That's a solid improvement, I don't care who you are.
You can see the points where my FT increased--those weeks I did a test to prove where it is.
There's really nothing magical about this, so here I will quote Rich, because my data is like an ad for his words:
The bike goes faster because you do more work. The more work you can do, the faster the bike goes. Watts = work. More watts = more speed = more work. Want to go faster? Do more work/put out more watts. Think of it in weight lifting terms. If your current bench press is 200lb and you want to lift 250, you structure a plan based on your current strength and your goal strength. Most importantly, you put a known weight on the bar. You don’t guess, feel it, take your pulse, etc. You put 205 lb on the bar and lift it.
It really is "that easy." It's taken me about 2 years to really get the hang of this training with power thing, but now I'm deep into it, and that, coupled with my overall fitness and conditioning being at an all-time high, is very exciting. I don't know how I ever trained without power--I never had anything solid to base my self-assessment on.
Now, proof that all of this really works happens once I get outdoors and begin riding with others, and do some timed rides (for example, on the Ironman Wisconsin course) to get some speed measurements. I laugh when someone riding a trainer tells me how "fast" they were going. Fast doesn't mean too much on a trainer, and I'm actually happy that my speed sensor is on my front wheel so I have no idea about how "fast" I am going indoors. All I look at is my watts. And my top tube. Try as I might to pay attention to the TV screen while on the trainer, I can't--it's heads down work. And that is my idea of big *FUN*.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Weekly Workout Totals: 2/27/2006-3/5/2006
What can I say? Another HARDER, FASTER, TOUGHER, LONGER week for the Crackhead. And I got through it with flying colors. I just have to share my weekend festivities, because they were rather intense.
Saturday was a 2:30 trainer ride with a :40 brick run (race pace). The data from the ride is above (click on the picture to see it full-size). You can see the target intensities, watts, and time in the first 4 columns. The rest of the information you might not understand unless you have a powermeter and use CyclingPeaks software. Trust me, though, IT’S ALL GOOD NEWS! Frankly, I had a little trepidation going into this ride, because the HIM time increased from 1:00 last week to 1:20 this week, with :30 right at the end. But, the point was for this to be like a HIM race simulation ride, which normally I would do 1 or 2 of those prior to a HIM race. Considering it’s still snowing here, though, I’m still on the trainer. Even so, I know from the character of my long rides for the past 6 weeks that they are hard, physically and mentally. And this ride promised to put the hurt down. Not only that, but since my FT watts tested out 6 watts higher than before, guess what? I get to go harder.
I had a 2005 TDF tape in (the TTT was on), and every now and then I would actually look up at all the pretty bikes with disk wheels and nice asses (sorry, can’t help it) on them. But as is usually the case with my trainer time of late, I never did focus on what was on the TV, since I had a job to do, and the job was not to watch TV.
The :30 warmup was nice. And then it got hard, and pretty much stayed hard, but I knew it would. The intensity guidelines were given really to represent normalized power (NP) for each interval, but since the SRM (neither does PowerTap) doesn’t show you that number, I try and maintain my average watts within the range, which generally results in at least that much for NP (you can look at both columns if you like to see this). Believe it or not, the FT intervals weren’t as bad as the HIM intervals, just because they were short and sweet. It’s a lot harder to focus for :30 or :50 straight at a decent intensity (and I can pretty much cook on the bike in a HIM) than it is to focus for a measly :10.
The REALLY hard part was the last :30, not just because it was at HIM watts, but because I knew I needed to ride hard and then get off and run, and I KNOW what that feels like, and this was how it was supposed to feel, so let’s get it ON!
I started the run out easy for :10 and then quickly moved up to my target HIM pace. Now it felt like a race! I was on a treadmill, but too bad, I had to make some moaning sounds and the look on my face was not pretty. My legs felt fine, but if you’ve done a HIM and gone hard on the bike, you know the feeling—you are fighting yourself because it just doesn’t feel right to run, your stomach is doing flip-flops (I don’t care how careful your nutrition is—the sheer faster pace of a HIM just speeds up the stomach discomfort during the run), and it’s going to be a mental struggle to hold pace. But I did, and I ended up needing to explain to a woman next to me why I was moaning. I told her I was 3:15 into a workout—her eyes rolled back and all she said was, “That must be why you look the way you do,” as she looked me up and down. To which I replied, “Yes, this is exactly why.”
After I finished, I promptly began sucking down my Endurox R4, and I even managed to stretch another :16 (I had stretched :35 before I began the session). Once I got home, I literally spent the next 4 hours eating, a little at a time. First it was leftovers from dinner the night before (a small piece of broiled tuna, a decent amount of vegetables with butter sauce and some mashed potatoes), then it was a whole pile of Pringles, then it was some string cheese, then it was some jelly beans, then it was 3 eggs scrambled in butter with an English muffin buttered and jammed, then it was one lonely beer, and finally a Pria bar. In the process, too, I drank a whole bunch of water.
I know that sounds like a lot of food, but it really wasn’t enough, even though I hydrated well during the workout with Gatorade and Mountain Dew, had a can of Ultra Violence before I kicked it all off, a Power Bar and banana for breakfast. During last night, I woke up a few times and felt pretty hungry, but just drank water because I didn’t want to turn lights on to go get more food.
This morning my stomach was settled down and I didn’t feel like I needed to eat the entire refrigerator. I had my usual Power Bar Triple Threat for breakfast and about 32 oz. of water to chase my coffee. And I shot an Espresso Love Gu and headed to the Y to run and swim, after stretching for :15.
Other than feeling just slightly tired, I was amazed at how “not bad” I felt. But we would need to wait and see until I began running. On Friday, when I saw I was supposed to run for 1:00, I figured Rich had made a mistake—why would he increase my Friday run AND my Saturday run AND my Sunday run? I was going to ask him about it, but then I thought, “Nah, I am freaking CRACKHEAD, I can do this.” So here comes a 1:50 run on the heels of a race-pace brick workout and an extended run on Friday. That's 3:30 of running in 3 days, for those of you playing at home.
When I started, my heart rate was totally in the dumpster, and my legs felt tremendous. All floaty-like and loose. There really is something to how it feels to be at low body fat and also be stretching a lot. It’s pretty amazing. EVERYONE should try it at some point in their life. All I can say is WOW. I feel AWESOME. The run starts out with :25 easy and :30 steady. That went by rather quickly, and I did have to pee, but I held on and figured I would do my :20 upper steady before getting off. Man, the upper steady felt totally easy. I kept thinking when will my HR go up into range? But I didn’t care; I am super fit, so I’m not obsessing about it. It’s just a number.
Made a quick pit-stop and hopped back on for the remainder: :05 steady, 2x12’ (2’) tempo, and then end with 4’ easy. Gosh, it just didn’t feel that hard. WTF??? There you go, I’ve done MORE than a HIM in 2 days. All I have to do in 2 weeks is do it all in one day. I almost ran a full ½ mary today.
I topped it all off with 1,000 yards pull in the pool. You know, it’s funny, but I was almost swimming at a normal pace. I was smiling, playing YOU SUCK with the woman next to me, especially since I’m thinking I ran almost 13 miles right before I did this!
Well next week I get to do this weekend gig all over again. I sure hope it goes as well as it did this time. Simply amazing that my last 7 weeks of training hours have been 13.05, 14.34, 14.73, 14.79, 15.04, 13.11 and 15.33 hours, respectively. I guess 13 hours is a "rest week" for me. Normally, 13-15 hours per week doesn’t feel like that much to me, but this season these weeks have been really loaded with intensity, so they seem to count for more effort. Whatever. I am way more fit (except for a temporary lack of bike endurance) than I’ve ever been in my life. That alone is very satisfying, and no matter how the rest of my 2006 races go, I cannot be disappointed in my training achievements. I do love training. It seems I do a lot more training than racing :)
As I finish writing this, I have to say I am tired. Not like I didn't expect it, and nothing that a solid 8-10 hours of sleep can't fix!
Here are the details from the week that was:
Swim: 9,750 yards in 3.45 hours; 23% of weekly workout time
Bike: 5.00 hours; approx. 88 miles; 33% of weekly workout time
Run: 5.25 hours; approx. 33.7 miles; 34% of weekly workout time
Strength: 1.63 hours; 11% of weekly workout time
Total Hours: 15.33
Approx. Calories Burned by Exercise: 7,010
Average Sleep: 8.57 hours/night
Stretching: 3.11 hours <--MOST EVER
Goals from Last Week:
- Average 8+ hours of sleep per night. DONE
- Stretch 15' per day. DONE
- HIT 170 watts as new FT in Tuesday’s workout. BEAT IT BY 1!!
- Keep the momentum and mental focus going. YEAH, BABY!!! This week was harder than last week—long run increased by 10’, brick run increased by 10’, long ride intensity bumped way up. Strength is now in maintenance mode, and I could really feel it while swimming—my upper body just didn’t have any excess fatigue. I also naturally spent some more time stretching, which contributed to feeling great and not buckling under a good amount of work stress. I also feel like I’m at an all-time low of bodyfat, judging from my appearance, and I’m working extra hard to ensure I stay adequately hydrated and fed.
Accomplishments This Week:
- Met all goals.
- Assimilated a new Collective member, Scott. He really has it going on, mentally and physically. That's what the Collective is all about. GO SCOTT!
- Got an “AWESOME” from my coach. I tell you, there is nothing like that. He doesn’t coddle me in the least, so when I get a virtual high five from him, it is truly meaningful to me.
Goals for Next Week:
- Average 8+ hours of sleep per night.
- Stretch 15' per day.
- Hang tough. Believe it or not, I’ve got one bike workout on Tuesday that is harder than ever (stay tuned). The rest of the week is a repeat of this past week, except I get a day off on Thursday due to business travel. So I just need to stay with it, hold my fitness steady, and then I get to taper down for Ralph’s.
Workouts Completed this Week
Monday: Swim 3,300 yards in 1:12; Strength 1:08; Run :50 including strides
Tuesday: Bike 1:15 including 2x20’ FT test—new FT=171 (sorry, I just have to say FUCKIN A’ here)
Wednesday: Swim 2,650 yards in :57; Run :55 including :25 tempo
Thursday: Strength :30; Bike 1:15 including 2x15’ @95-100%FT, watts=168, 168, and 8’@105%FT watts=183 (actually 107%!!)
Friday: Swim 2,800 yards in :58; Run 1:00 easy to steady
Saturday: Bike 2:30; brick run 40’.
Sunday: Run 1:50, including 20’ Upper-Steady and 2x12’ Tempo; Swim 1,000 yards in :20
Friday, March 03, 2006
Thursday, March 02, 2006
I LOVE Coughing Up a Lung
First, I must say that there is nothing like a really hard workout to shake off the mental gremlins and assorted stresses brought about by a rough day at the office (and some personal mental gyrations, bonus!). I was reminded by Collective member (please note we have a newcomer, too--Scott) Brett that Buddha admonishes us to first take care of our OWN enlightenment so that we can help others along. So today I focused on ME (except for having to do my job, but still I was looking out for #1).
Since MY coach decided I'm so freaking awesome for my ability to increase my FT watts so much in so little (relatively) time, of course he is giving me some harder bike workouts. And why not? One of the things I love about this sport is the number of times I get to do something I've never done before. Especially when that thing seems harder than anything I've done in the past. Whenever I do that, I get a little extra burst of adrenaline, a sense of curiousity (how will THAT feel?), a teensy bit of dread (what if I SUCK?), and then ultimately, I dive right in and get it done. And I become a better athlete in the process.
Believe it or not, in the course of my training over the past 3 years especially, I've done things that are harder to me than an actual Ironman race. Based on what, you might ask? Based on how trashed I am afterwards. For example, 2 years ago when I first rode the Horribly Hilly Hundreds 200K ride (link on my sidebar), I felt like I had been run over by the proverbial truck the next day. I haven't felt like that after an Ironman in years. In fact, in 2004 about 1 hour after I'd finished IMC, I'm back in my hotel room packing my bike back in its box, on the phone with a friend, and she reminds me I should drink my Endurox! And the next morning I'm carting my bike and luggage around airports in Penticton and Vancouver like it was just another day.
I did Horribly Hilly last year, and once again, the next day I was pretty wasted. But not as badly as the year before. Why? Because I had learned some important things about how to get through an event like that both with a good time on the clock AND my body not being so beaten up by it. And I went into it fitter than the previous year. This is the cool thing about fitness. It's also why as you move up the echelon of fitness (I think I'm about a 9.5 out of 10, 10 being my maximum potential fitness), that you need to keep upping the ante in order to get benefit AND SPEED. And the more fit you are, the more you have to push the envelope to see gains. It's an interesting game, but one that I'm willing to keep playing for a few years at least. When you just start out and you suck, you can do almost ANYTHING and improve. But if you actually SEEK OUT the improvement, you have to be satisfied with whatever gains you make. This is why whenever I read or hear about someone who consistently does not improve that I question their methods--is that person REALLY doing what it takes? Does that person REALLY realize how much effort you need to put in to make gains?
Now, today's bike workout was certainly not in the category of an Ironman or Horribly Hilly, or Goofy Challenge, and in the big scheme of things, I have never done anything that I remotely consider extreme. I never considered Ironman "extreme." I remember when I first had the thought of doing one that it was something where I knew that if I prepared well in an appropriate timeframe for my then fitness, that I could definitely conquer it. Well, my first few times out, I wouldn't call it exactly "conquering" so much as just finishing. Now I am getting ready to RACE the damn thing! How exciting is that??? My very first coach told me right off the bat that it takes at least 5 years for most people, even very fit, fast people, to RACE an Ironman, meaning you are trying to be in the competitive ranks. I sure hope I'm there now!
Back to today's bike workout. Sorry, I keep getting off track. My main set was: 2x15' (6') at 95-100% of FT watts, 2' easy, then 8' at 105% of FT watts. Holy crap! So on paper, I knew that if I could hit that 105%, it would be something I'd never done before. I've played with the watts at the end of my FT test workouts, but this would be an exercise in sheer will, or so I thought.
I settled in for the first 15' interval, and I actually cut myself some slack today. I decided that since my main concern was to hit the 105% on that last interval, that it would probably be good if I didn't go for the full 100% on the first 2 intervals. So I hit 168 watts, which is 98% of my FT watts now, for both of the 15' intervals. I was totally fine with that, and don't tell my coach but it almost felt EASY.
Thanks to Shelley, I was watching a very nice DVD of the 2005 Hawaii Ironman (Natascha Badmann is my idol), so I was plenty fired up to do some work. But really, when I'm on the trainer, I can't pay attention to whatever I'm running on the DVD player because I need to be so focused, and thankfully, the sessions aren't long enough for me to get bored (Side Note: I have no idea how people can actually watch a movie on the trainer--me--it's heads down in the aerobars staring at my top tube mostly--even for the rare 3-hour trainer ride).
Anyway, I click back into the BCR and start the pain. 105% of my FT watts is 179.6, round to 180. To get an average wattage of 180 for 8' I need to keep my watts (which fluctuate--nobody is THAT good to keep up a single number) OVER 180, more like shoot for 185+. Fuckin' A. Those are HUGE numbers for a yard gnome like me.
But I put the Bitch into the 12 cog and here I go. And I manage to keep my cadence around 90 (it's useless for me to do these intervals at low cadence--there will come a time in my training to do low cadence work, but it's not now!). And my first thought is, "It's only 8 minutes." I mean, what the hell, I can do ANYTHING for 8 minutes, right? So then I think when do I want to check my average watts? Usually I like to look after I'm 1/3 done with an interval, but this is a short interval, so I decide on 5'. Since I keep seeing numbers in the 180's and up, I'm just fine. After the 5' I'm averaging 182, so you know what that means? Come on, I have MORE TO GIVE. So I decide for the last 2 minutes I'm going to hit 200+ watts. What the fuck, I have no idea what that feels like, so I just do it and voila! I ended up averaging 183, which is 107% of my FT watts. But it was only 8 minutes--sheesh, again, DO NOT TELL MY COACH, but I think I could have gone 2' more (I swear if he reads this blog I am a dead woman).
And then I switched back into the SCR to cool down and coughed up a lung. WILLINGLY. It makes me wonder if I'm getting to the point where I can push myself SO HARD in a race that I will finish it (FAST!) and need an IV. I think that would be totally cool. I just hope they tint the saline and/or glucose *PINK*.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Kicked My Own Ass and Took Names and Monthly Training Totals
I finished another FT watts test on the bike about 1 hour ago. My objective was to meet or exceed 170 watts average for each of the 2 20' intervals. I averaged 171 watts for each one, and my normalized power is about that. That puts my power to weight ratio (weight in kg to normalized power) at about 3.36, solidly in the "good"/Cat 3 range for women (based on FT alone; obviously I'm not training the other power measures used by pure cyclists).
This is an increase from 165 just 3 weeks ago, and yesterday I did 3 workouts (3,300 yard swim, 1:08 of strength and a :50 run). I'm feeling strong, fit and like I have more in me, which is good, since I haven't done an Ironman race yet this year!
This is week 7 of 8 weeks of pretty high intensity work that I've survived by eating well, stretching plenty, getting a weekly massage and getting lots of sleep. So even though I sometimes joke about training hardcore, it's those "extras" that are enabling me to train at this level, and so far, I'm very pleased with the results. Running is strong and faster, and swimming is finally coming around since I've added a 4th workout (and some yardage), which is necessary for me, since I've only been swimming for 6 years.
I am pretty stoked right now, yet I realize this is just one moment in time; I have to prove this stuff in a race, but at the same time I am just very, very blessed to be more fit than I've been in my life at the ripe age of 49 going on 50! I feel great.
Unfortunately, the new FT watts means I get to work harder on the bike. But my coach already thought I must be improving my fitness or else I've been working too hard, so maybe not so much.
I had a solid February of training:
Swim: 14.02 hours; 39,700 yards
Bike: 20.39 hours (all on the trainer)
Run: 18.09 hours
Strength: 6.83 hours
Total Hours: 59.33
Total Hours Stretching: 9.8 (avg. :21/day)
Average Hours Sleep/Night: 8.9
3 more weeks (2 more intense training) and I get to see how this all works under race conditions, although I'm going to Ralph's just to get in a good, solid workout and have some fun. Then it's nose to the grindstone, just add volume, to get me to Ironman Brazil.
What fun!
This is an increase from 165 just 3 weeks ago, and yesterday I did 3 workouts (3,300 yard swim, 1:08 of strength and a :50 run). I'm feeling strong, fit and like I have more in me, which is good, since I haven't done an Ironman race yet this year!
This is week 7 of 8 weeks of pretty high intensity work that I've survived by eating well, stretching plenty, getting a weekly massage and getting lots of sleep. So even though I sometimes joke about training hardcore, it's those "extras" that are enabling me to train at this level, and so far, I'm very pleased with the results. Running is strong and faster, and swimming is finally coming around since I've added a 4th workout (and some yardage), which is necessary for me, since I've only been swimming for 6 years.
I am pretty stoked right now, yet I realize this is just one moment in time; I have to prove this stuff in a race, but at the same time I am just very, very blessed to be more fit than I've been in my life at the ripe age of 49 going on 50! I feel great.
Unfortunately, the new FT watts means I get to work harder on the bike. But my coach already thought I must be improving my fitness or else I've been working too hard, so maybe not so much.
I had a solid February of training:
Swim: 14.02 hours; 39,700 yards
Bike: 20.39 hours (all on the trainer)
Run: 18.09 hours
Strength: 6.83 hours
Total Hours: 59.33
Total Hours Stretching: 9.8 (avg. :21/day)
Average Hours Sleep/Night: 8.9
3 more weeks (2 more intense training) and I get to see how this all works under race conditions, although I'm going to Ralph's just to get in a good, solid workout and have some fun. Then it's nose to the grindstone, just add volume, to get me to Ironman Brazil.
What fun!
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Weekly Workout Totals: 2/20/2006-2/26/2006
Since people are always asking me whether I actually have a job, I thought I'd include this photo of me wearing my corporate starched shirt. Please notice that my company doesn't let me carry a gun while on the premises (this was taken in the Minneapolis office last Thursday). A friend of mine thought it would be funny to have the sign in the background. Priceless! You can't tell, but I'm wearing my Ironman bling--I have gold M-dot earrings and a gold Big Island with an M-dot cutout pendant. When I qualify for Ironman Hawaii, I will have the "dot" replaced with a diamond.
In other news this week, I am not sure what age group I am in. I know that USAT changed the rules so that you are in the group including your age as of 12/31 of the year, which puts me in 50-54 (my 50th birthday is in October). But I'm not clear on what the Ironman races are doing, and then I'm doing a 70.3 race in 3 weeks as well. Bueller??? I did write Ironman Brasil (it is pronounced bra-SEAL) to ask formally what they are doing, since they are not a part of IMNA. Thank God for that! At least my medal won't have FORD all over it!!!
Training-wise I had a good week. A little bit of a volume decrease, which was nice. But not so much decrease in intensity! I always find it amusing that when I get some "rest" that I feel incredibly tired. I think this is because usually we are so used to how we feel and we are anticipating our next workout which keeps the adrenaline flowing.
I did my last huge strength workout--this week I go into maintenance mode. I had a great swim TT on Tuesday, good running all week, a killer brick workout on Saturday and capped it all off with a fine, fine long run and recovery swim today. I got plenty of sleep, which is key when trying to keep up the level of workouts I've been doing.
Yesterday's brick workout wasn't epic in length, but the intensity on the bike, which is close to my actual HIM intensity (and longer than the 56-mile ride should take me in the race in 3 weeks, fingers crossed!), was high, and coming off of solid training for the past 5 weeks I felt a little cooked afterwards. Not to mention I didn't start the workout until 12:30, so by the time I finished and showered, it was close to 5PM, and I hadn't yet eaten lunch. So I did what I had to do--I ate for 3 straight hours! And I mean I ATE. Big bowl of stir-fry over brown rice, then about 10 oz. of Porterhouse steak, a few beers, Gummi Bears (many bears were decapitated), string cheese and pecans. I went to bed with a full stomach, so of course I tossed and turned for a few hours as my body valiantly elevated my core temperature while processing all that food and kicked off residual heat from the workout. I was a little concerned how I'd feel running today, but I made sure to get a ton of sleep (10.5 hours) so at least I'd feel semi-recovered.
I felt just fine running today, starting at my usual 10AM (so I finish when lap time starts at noon). My heart rate was pretty low again, which tells me I'm VERY fit. And, you know the drill--I need to run faster next week.
I had a chat with my coach on Wednesday to discuss how the training for the next 2 weeks would roll in preparation for Ralph's. When I heard him say, "Let's just keep it rolling through the 12th," I about crapped my pants. Why? Because whenever he says "keep it rolling," it means NO BREAKS FOR ME HERE IT COMES UP MY BUTT. So 2 more weeks of putting the hurt to myself. That will make EIGHT STRAIGHT WEEKS of solid volume and increasing intensity. Holy hardcore training, Batman! Once again, it absolutely ASTOUNDS me that I am able to keep up this level of work. My coach and other people keep telling me I'm incredibly fit, and I guess I must be. But this is H-A-R-D, HARDCORE H-A-R-D, the kind of thing that most 49 year olds aren't stupid enough to do. The kind of thing that most age-groupers don't do. I guess it's the kind of thing that you do if you are training at a level knocking on the door of Kona, or at least getting very close to that door.
Today, when I got out of my car to go into the Y to run and swim, I even cried for a couple of minutes. Just to acknowledge to myself that what I am doing is hard. Not that it makes me a better person than anyone else (it doesn't), not that I'm truly suffering (I'm not), not that I couldn't just ease off on what I'm supposed to do (I won't), not that this is as hard as it will get (it's not)--just that for those few minutes, I let myself acknowledge the effort I have been putting out. It's something I let myself do every now and then as a stress-reliever.
Friday night I had some fun, too. I got together with my women's cycling team to shoot the shit and talk about some rides and races. Unfortunately, I won't be able to race with them too much, but I do plan on doing a 4-man 60K TT in September, and I'll be riding with these ladies once or twice a week. It was so much fun to get together with a bunch of really fit, competitive women. I was tickled late last summer when they asked me to join their team (Team Apache). I only got to ride with them a few times, but this year I am going to make it a point to drill myself at least once a week with them. This should be the prescription that cures what my coach calls my "only cycling weakness." That is, the ability to ride ultra hard in a group setting beyond my comfort level for long periods of time. After all, you get fast as a cyclist by going fast. That's why I've been doing all the intensity work on the trainer, but very soon it will be time to take it to the road. I am very excited to see how well my indoor fitness gains will match up against this great group of women roadies!
Here are the details of the week:
Swim: 9,000 yards in 3.12 hours; 24% of weekly workout time
Bike: 4.92 hours; approx. 86 miles; 38% of weekly workout time
Run: 3.77 hours; approx. 25 miles; 29% of weekly workout time
Strength: 1.3 hours; 10% of weekly workout time
Total Hours: 13.11
Approx. Calories Burned by Exercise: 5,885
Average Sleep: 8.96 hours/night
Stretching: 2.37 hours
Goals from Last Week:
- Average 8+ hours of sleep per night. DONE
- Stretch 15' per day. DONE
- BEAT 165 watts during all FT intervals. DONE
- BEAT previous 1,000 yard TT time. DONE
- Keep the mental focus. DONE
- Met all goals.
Goals for Next Week:
- Average 8+ hours of sleep per night.
- Stretch 15' per day.
- HIT 170 watts as new FT in Tuesday’s workout (GULP!)
- Keep the momentum and mental focus going. While I got a little bit of a break this week in terms of volume, there was more intensity (oh joy!), and there is more in the next 2 weeks.
Monday: Strength 1:18
Tuesday: Swim 2,000 yards including 1,000 TT @1:41/100 yds.; Bike 1:05 including 2x15’ FT, watts=173, 173
Wednesday: Swim 2,700 yards in :58; Run :52 including :25 tempo
Thursday: Bike :50 including :20 HIM watts (had to catch a plane today so cut the workout short and eased off on the intensity so I didn’t projectile vomit my breakfast)
Friday: Swim 3,100 yards in 1:05; Run :40 pretty quick pace because it felt good (was supposed to do strides)
Saturday: Bike 3:00; brick run 35’. Felt sick when I began to run (this isn’t unusual after a hard ride), but legs were working just fine. A girl on the next treadmill forced me to play “You SUCK,” and she gave up after 5’.
Sunday: Run 1:40, ending with 20’ Upper-Steady and 25’ Tempo; Swim 1,200 yards in :24
Friday, February 24, 2006
You SUCK
Ever play this game with someone while swimming, biking or running?
Rules:
Rules:
- You never actually let on that you are playing the game. It's all in your head.
- You must be faster than the other person or willing to pick up the pace significantly so that you are moving faster for a decent period of time.
- You are not allowed to play with someone that you are working out with unless you've agreed with one another that if either of you begins playing the game, nobody gets offended. For example, you are swimming intervals together. Most likely each of you is playing against the other anyway. Or you are near the end of a run. It's only natural to behave like it's the end of a race and go for it! Or you're riding together and you spontaneously decide it's time for a sprint.
- There is no starting gun or clock. You may begin the game at any point during your workout. The word "GO" is never to be uttered aloud.
- The game continues until you've conclusively decided the other person sucks.
- You can play against as many others during a workout as you like, or against the same person more than once. Look at it as a fartlek session.
- If you are running or biking, you are required to at least smile as you pass the other person, and why not you are faster than them! Extra points for saying, "Looking good," "Way to Go," or "Have a Nice Day." If it's someone you know and you are absolutely sure they are OK with it, you can go ahead and say, "YOU SUCK!"
- If because of playing the game, you blow yourself up and someone you were playing with goes past YOU, then you need to tell yourself that YOU SUCK. Don't worry--you'll get over it!
How to Play
You swim, run or bike faster than the other person. When playing in the pool, it's even better if you give the other player a head start at the wall, say like 15 seconds. When running or biking, slow down a bit to let the other person gain some time on you, otherwise they might catch on that you are fast or are about to sprint. Because then you can play YOU REALLY SUCK, depending on how much of a head start you gave them.
Once you decide it's GAME OVER, you are allowed to pump your fist in the air, smile gleefully or jump for joy, but you are not actually allowed to yell, "YOU SUCK" unless it's against your friend. Friends understand this because it goads them into training harder!
I haven't had the opportunity to play on the bike yet, but it will happen as soon as I get outdoors. More likely, I'll be the victim of someone else who's secretly playing WITH ME! I've played in the pool today and Wednesday. Sometimes I play on the treadmill, just by going faster than someone for a bit.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
My FAST
My FAST is competitive.
My FAST sometimes races against others when they don't know it.
My FAST requires high octane fuel to work properly.
My FAST doesn't appreciate extra junk in the trunk--slows her down.
My FAST knows there are others with faster FAST, but that there are plenty slower.
My FAST understands that plenty of rest is necessary.
My FAST knows she needs to be revved up regularly or else she gets slower.
My FAST requires regular tuneups to keep her running efficiently.
My FAST likes her ego stroked with positive affirmations.
My FAST gets all riled up when I tell her she sucks. And then she makes me prove I'm wrong!
My FAST works best when her mind is freed of fear and expectations.
My FAST likes to LOOK FAST.
My FAST loves being timed.
My FAST likes to help others find their FAST.
My FAST is very happy I found her.
My FAST has a name--Sheila.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Twofer--I DON'T SUCK!!!
And also I received some prizes in the mail today...he he...these things got me through two great workouts today.
Why does every day feel like a time trial to me? Oh yeah, because IT USUALLY IS. At least when I ride my bike or swim or run tempo. Let's see, that would be 5 out of 7 days per week. No wonder I've been a little frazzled.
Yesterday all I did was my last, mega, hurt-every-single-muscle strength workout, nothing else. Today I thought was swim time trial day, so I got mentally prepared for that, but then when I looked at my schedule, I saw it was really scheduled for Wednesday. Oh well, I'M DOING IT TODAY, DAMMIT, since it would be a short swim and then I'd still need to do a bike interval workout.
As I exited my house, I saw in my mailbox a package that I knew was from Shelley, and I knew what was in it (see above), but I didn't open it--I decided just knowing it was there would give me some more motivation in the pool.
I warmed up, did some fast 50's, and it was GO TIME. My upper body and arms felt the effects of yesterday's strength workout, but too bad, here it comes,1,000 yards. The last time I did one of these I sucked at 1:47/100 yards, and that was when I unilaterally decided I needed to be swimming at least 10,000 yards a week. Yes, I do drills every workout, too, but at some point you need to be in the pool a lot to have more "feel for the water," and I find that for me 3 solid swims of about 3,000 yards plus one or two more of 1,000-1,500 yards is perfect. So I started doing that, and I could see as the weeks were going by that I felt stronger in the water, definitely, but with the strength training peaking as well, not so much faster, but a little bit, you know?
So I swim, and I feel like I've got a good pace going, and several times during the bout I'm thinking to myself, "I can't let the Collective down." Man, we are all ON FIRE lately, and here was another chance for me to come through. I finish the 1,000 yards, feeling like I put out a good effort, and I look at my time. Now, I was a math major in college, but sometimes for the life of me I can't do simple arithmetic when my heart is jacked up after fast interval work. So for about 2 minutes, I'm like, "Wow, I still suck." And then it hits me, DOH!!! I figured wrong, and I DO NOT SUCK! I screamed at the top of my lungs and pumped my fists in the air, "YEAH, BABY!!!" My time was 16:52, which is 1:41/100 yards. Now I am no Brett or Shelley, but that is a solid time for me, and that will get faster as my training marches on, especially since the strength training drops off next week.
I AM SO HAPPY!!!! So I am so excited when I get home and I open the package, and I was expecting the Collective beads, but then I also get BUTT MODEL!!! He he...I'll be wearing these pretty much all the time except during swims. They seem to be pretty powerful.
But wait, there's more. Act now and you get this fine set of Ginzu knives.
I had to do a bike workout, including 2x15' at FT watts. As you may have seen from my goals last week, I upped the ante, and now it's not good enough to "meet" my current FT watts--I need to BEAT them. So I power up the bike and get in a solid warmup and then here we go. I always "work into" the watts, because you can't just explode into an effort like that (except, well, when I do a sprint race and then pretty much it's balls out as soon as my feet are clipped in). Since I have a luxurious 15 minutes, I go relatively easy for the first 5, and am averaging 167. That would be fine (current FT is 165), but hey, I can do better. The Collective knows that! So I march on up to 173 after 10', and decide that's plenty good enough, and then I just hold it.
One interval down, one to go. When I start my second interval, it always feels harder to keep the same cadence, so I tend to shift into one higher gear. This was no exception. After 5', I'm only up to 165 watts, though, so I am going to need to work. I think back on my awesome swim TT and fire up my legs (which by the way are still sore as hell from yesterday's strength workout), and just let it all hang out, and watch the watts tick up until I hit 170 after 10', but no, I need to meet the FIRST interval, so I push extra hard for the last 5' and get back to 173 watts.
I have to go get a well-deserved massage now, over and out, I tell ya the Collective is a force to be reckoned with! Tomorrow I will just relax through my 3,100 yard swim workout and an easy 1:05 tempo run.
LIFE IS AWESOME!!!
Monday, February 20, 2006
Good Riddance, Evil Strength Workouts!
Finally, I'm at the end of the really hard strength training.
Today I had no scheduled triathlon workouts, so I did my last really big strength workout today, and starting next week, I go into maintenance phase (2 sets of 12 reps).
I've been doing this strength program for 4 years, and it still kicks my ass! I use the periodization from a Mark Allen/Paula Newby-Fraser program; however, the actual exercises I do are a combination of moves I know and love from my old bodybuilding days, various books I've picked up over the years and guidance I've received from a few awesome personal trainers I've encountered. I do one full-body workout per week, and then I repeat the abs and core exercises a second time in the week. Here's the breakdown by body area of the number of exercises I do:
- Abs: 5
- Core: 8
- Legs & Glutes: 15
- Arms (Bis and Tris): 11
- Shoulders: 11
- Chest: 4
- Back: 5
So my first strength session of the week, the full-body workout, has 59 exercises in it (which I typically split across Monday and Tuesday), and then my repeat abs and core workout has 13 exercises (which I typically fit in on Thursdays). Good thing I have all the equipment in my house--it would take a LONG time to do all of this in a gym! I pretty much execute the routine circuit-style, and from week to week, I never do the exercises in the same order, which keeps my muscles alert and prevents mental or physical staleness. So for those of you who have studied my physique, you see that in reality I don't do a lot of abs work, but I certainly think my power and endurance in all 3 sports benefit from the level of strength training that I do. And it helps to keep my muscle mass up while doing all the cardio, which ultimately contributes to my lean-itude (I just made that word up). One of these days I'll get someone to photograph my upper back--it's totally cut, but USEFUL--it's what drives my ability to swim without fatigue.
The periodization I've followed this year (the beginning weeks are flexible, depending on how I ended my previous triathlon season) goes as follows, except for most of the abs and core exercises, where I always do 2 sets of 15 reps:
- 1x15, 2 weeks (my solo marathon on 10/2/2005 was in here)
- 1x12, 2 weeks
- 1x12, weights up, 1 week
- 1x12 at new weight, 4 weeks
- 2x12, 2 weeks (my solo indoor 1/2 Ironman was in here)
- 2x12, weights down, 1 week
- 3x12, 2 weeks
- 3x12, weights up, 1 week
- 2x15, weights down, 1 week
- 2x20, 2 weeks (Goofy Challenge was in here)
- 3x20, 1 week
- 2x6 Power, 2x20 Endurance (about 1/2 the exercises for a body part are at high weight/low reps 2x6; other 1/2 are at lower weight/high reps 2x20) 1 week
- 2x8 Power, 2x20 Endurance, 1 week
- 3x8 Power, 2x20 Endurance, 3 weeks
And that brings me to today! Next week and for the duration (except that I will only do abs and core or perhaps not even that during a race week, and prior taper weeks I might scale back to 1x12), it's 2x12, and that will feel AWESOME (ask Brett--he's followed my evil periodization plan).
I know I added some exercises this year, but I didn't really keep track. You've seen from my weekly workout summaries that the percent of my training hours devoted to strength isn't very high, and will go down even further as my sports volume increases, but I do believe that it builds a solid foundation that enables me to pile on the volume in the springtime with less risk of injury. Add to that the consistency of stretching I've been following, and I am very pleased with these "extras" that I incorporate into my training.
What's so funny to me is that before 1998, I was really into the bodybuilding thing, and just LOVED pumping iron. I would do about 4 hours per week, and in the summer I would take my bench and free weights out into my garage (yes, hauling all that weight down a flight of stairs and 30 feet down a driveway was a workout in and of itself), and I'd work out outside in my driveway. I loved pumping iron, and I couldn't imagine not doing it.
Then I started running, because you know, it's important to do cardio, too (I can hear all the snickering going on), but I wasn't ready to give up my beloved strength routine. Back then I did a split routine where each body part got worked twice a week, but not nearly as much abs and core work, so I figure I was doing as much or more exercises per body part as I am doing today. Once I started running, though, I scaled things back to 2 full-body workouts per week, and still carried a hefty (pun intended) load of strength work.
The thing was, if you had asked me at the time which I enjoyed doing more--running or lifting--hands down it was pumping iron. I loved the way it felt deep in my muscles while doing it--almost as if I could feel my muscles growing (which we all know isn't true--they grow only when you are resting), I loved DOMS, I just loved having muscle.
Then, the triathlon bug bit, and again I had to make a compromise to my strength training. It was tough, because not only did I not have enough time to do all the lifting I wanted, but it compromised (initially) my attempts to add more volume to my weekly workout time. So I had to scale back again. In the process, I rediscovered how much I loved riding a bike (which I had done plenty of as a kid, non-competitively), how much I sucked at swimming (here I thought I knew how, but NOOOOOO), and how running when you have all these other things to do is not so enjoyable.
Fast forward to today, though, and because I've learned how to take care of myself and how to balance the sports training with the strength training, and I've designed a strength program that works well for me with my triathlon training and racing schedule, and I have to say that I enjoy the sports more than I do pumping iron.
But there is still a special place in my heart for it, because I know that without it I would probably be a big blob of unattractive fat, which does not work for me. And while I no longer subscribe to Muscle & Fitness magazine, occasionally I will pick up Oxygen, because I just think these women who shape their bodies (to a point) are gorgeous (no, I'm not gay), and since they also do plenty of cardio, other than the weird dieting they go through for a contest, they are pretty healthy and inspirational. I read in Oxygen the other day a weight chart that was supposed to show whether your weight for your height is under, within or over where it should be. Their chart said I am UNDERWEIGHT. Ha ha. Funny coming from a magazine that is geared to women who are trying to get their bodyfat percent down to 7-8 (me, I'm a whopping 11 or 12, possibly lower, possibly higher, who knows?). Oh well, it just goes to show you there are many different standards out there.
That picture of Arnold? That's on the back of the door in my home office/gym. While I have a new found appreciation for the triathlete physique, I still have a soft spot for a buff guy with a little more muscle. Not too much, though, but Arnold? He's still a hottie in my book. And I think it's hilarious that years ago I taped "GET HARD" to that picture. I think I just came up with a new Crackhead motto: TRAIN HARD, GET HARD, GO HARD. You can interpret that how you like. Works for me!
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Weekly Training Report: 2/13/2006-2/19/2006
This was another intense week, workout-wise. Intensity increased in tempo run, long ride and long run. Duration increased in long ride. Next week I do a swim time trial (only 1,000 yards, which is adequate for a HIM) and back off the run volume slightly. But I am going to jack up my bike volume just a bit more so that I feel confident in my endurance heading into Ralph’s. I fully intend to negotiate with my coach for a little more volume than he planned for me; then again maybe not! All I know is I have a scheduled rest day tomorrow—but I will knock out my entire strength workout anyway. At least I get to sleep in on a Monday, which is rare for me!
My long run today was not a piece of cake after yesterday's brick, but then again, I didn't expect it to be. I decided I would forego the Ultra Violence so that I will sleep like a rock tonight, and while my legs felt pretty good except for a little quad tightness (gee, what a surprise there, huh?), I could just feel the accumulated fatigue of working out hard pretty much every single day this week AGAIN! And I did something silly--I knew I would be oh-so-close to 15 hours of training for the week on the nose, but not quite there, so I ran a few extra minutes. Am I retarded or what? When I read about other people doing that, I generally laugh, so go ahead, laugh at me, I won't mind! And I must tell you that those 4 extra minutes of running were difficult, even though I ran at my easy pace. Guess I had exactly 1:40 of running in the tank for today, NOT 1:44. Now that, my friends, is what I call measuring your effort with 100% precision! Just like in a race!
Here are the details from the week that was:
Swim: 10,100 yards in 3.57 hours; 24% of weekly workout time
Bike: 4.92 hours; approx. 86 miles; 33% of weekly workout time
Run: 4.82 hours; approx. 30 miles; 32% of weekly workout time
Strength: 1.73 hours; 12% of weekly workout time
Total Hours: 15.04 (see here I even went OVER the 15.0, ha ha)
Approx. Calories Burned by Exercise: 6,448
Average Sleep: 8.82 hours/night
Stretching: 2.45 hours
Monday: Swim 3,100 yards in 1:06; Strength :51; Run :50 including strides
Tuesday: Strength :21; Bike 1:05 including 2x15’ FT, watts=172, 170
Wednesday: Run 1:05 including :30 tempo ; Strength :32
Thursday: Swim 2,800 yards in 1:00; Bike 1:05 including 3x10’ FT, watts=169, 170, 165 (I was a little off for this workout)
Friday: Swim 3,100 yards in 1:05; Run :40 including strides.
Saturday: Bike 2:45 (see yesterday’s post for stats); brick run 30’. Entire workout felt great!
Sunday: Run 1:44, including 20’ Upper-Steady and 25’ Tempo; Swim 1,100 yards in :22
My long run today was not a piece of cake after yesterday's brick, but then again, I didn't expect it to be. I decided I would forego the Ultra Violence so that I will sleep like a rock tonight, and while my legs felt pretty good except for a little quad tightness (gee, what a surprise there, huh?), I could just feel the accumulated fatigue of working out hard pretty much every single day this week AGAIN! And I did something silly--I knew I would be oh-so-close to 15 hours of training for the week on the nose, but not quite there, so I ran a few extra minutes. Am I retarded or what? When I read about other people doing that, I generally laugh, so go ahead, laugh at me, I won't mind! And I must tell you that those 4 extra minutes of running were difficult, even though I ran at my easy pace. Guess I had exactly 1:40 of running in the tank for today, NOT 1:44. Now that, my friends, is what I call measuring your effort with 100% precision! Just like in a race!
Here are the details from the week that was:
Swim: 10,100 yards in 3.57 hours; 24% of weekly workout time
Bike: 4.92 hours; approx. 86 miles; 33% of weekly workout time
Run: 4.82 hours; approx. 30 miles; 32% of weekly workout time
Strength: 1.73 hours; 12% of weekly workout time
Total Hours: 15.04 (see here I even went OVER the 15.0, ha ha)
Approx. Calories Burned by Exercise: 6,448
Average Sleep: 8.82 hours/night
Stretching: 2.45 hours
Goals from Last Week:
- Average 8+ hours of sleep per night. DONE
- Stretch 15' per day. DONE
- Meet or beat 165 watts during all FT intervals. DONE
- Meet or beat 100 and 200 speeds in all swim workouts. DONE
- Keep the momentum going. DONE
Accomplishments This Week:
- Met all goals.
- Weathered some stressful events by continuing to focus on good nutrition, adequate sleep/rest, plenty of stretching and rolling with the punches.
- Did not wimp out on any workouts, even as there was more intensity in running, more intensity and volume in biking, and more of an endurance focus in swimming.
Goals for Next Week:
- Average 8+ hours of sleep per night.
- Stretch 15' per day.
- BEAT 165 watts during all FT intervals.
- BEAT previous 1,000 yard TT time and do it with the wetsuit on (I need to see if the darn thing still fits!)
- Keep the mental focus. Hard training has taken its toll this week mentally, but resulted in a spot-on brick workout yesterday. Try and duplicate that this coming week. Last week of strength/endurance strength workouts. YIPPEE!!!!!
Monday: Swim 3,100 yards in 1:06; Strength :51; Run :50 including strides
Tuesday: Strength :21; Bike 1:05 including 2x15’ FT, watts=172, 170
Wednesday: Run 1:05 including :30 tempo ; Strength :32
Thursday: Swim 2,800 yards in 1:00; Bike 1:05 including 3x10’ FT, watts=169, 170, 165 (I was a little off for this workout)
Friday: Swim 3,100 yards in 1:05; Run :40 including strides.
Saturday: Bike 2:45 (see yesterday’s post for stats); brick run 30’. Entire workout felt great!
Sunday: Run 1:44, including 20’ Upper-Steady and 25’ Tempo; Swim 1,100 yards in :22
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