Weekly Workout Totals 03/31/2008-04/06/2008 and Bunch of Firsts

It didn't get quite as warm as I hoped today, but still, I rode outside. First outdoor ride of 2008! First outdoor ride of 2008 on LGL! First bonk! First bit of suntan on my face! First time cussing at cars (OK so it was under 5 minutes before the first F-bomb left my mouth)! Most amount of stretching I've done in a week this season so far! Did the 60 pushups to qualify for "excellent" status (it was actually easy)! Right now I'm eating some homemade spaghetti and meatballs, and I have to say it's my best version ever. Yesterday I made this Italian salad (recipe below) that is da bomb, and that will give me a few more lunches. Eating (and cooking) well is one of the perks of all this training.

I only took Gatorade with me on the ride today, and since it was still cool-ish, I didn't drink enough, and I should have supplemented with gels (or else used my custom Infinit which always gives me enough calories). As always, my first outdoor ride was a shock to the system, what with actual terrain, wind, needing to pay attention to cars and such. And then, there was the fact of what I did last weekend. And that I ran like a woman possessed yesterday. So my legs did not feel quite up to the task of a hard ride. But after an hour of noodling around (and removing a top layer as it had warmed a bit), I finally kicked in to some decent intensity and was enjoying it. Part of the ride ended up being recon, and man, some of the roads are in crappy ass shape after our snowy winter. It's like pothole city! One road on my interval loop is so chewed up that it caused an issue with my Nokon cables to surface--the rear derailleur cable kind of flops down after rolling over so many bumps and holes. I know my LBSG won't be thrilled when I ask him to remove a couple of the "links" in it so this doesn't happen. Good thing I noticed when I heard an unusual noise, which was the cable rubbing against the lower cog thingie.

When I got off the bike, I noticed my legs didn't feel too great. This wasn't entirely unexpected. I probably didn't need to do a brick run today, and it would have been better if I waited a few hours until I ran, but I didn't start riding until 10:15 since it dawned cold, and I had other things to do, so I suited up and took off. My legs felt at least as bad as they do when you start the Ironman marathon. This tells me that I am not in Ironman shape yet, which is fine, because I shouldn't be! I don't think I took in enough calories while riding, but no worries. I was supposed to run for :30, but I bargained with myself and instead decided to tough out 3 miles, which was plenty of running! After I finished, I wolfed down some of my Italian salad and an Endurox R4, and decided I needed a little lay down, which felt great.

After about :45 I got out of bed and started in on making the meatballs and sauce, and I'm eating now (and enjoying a Turning Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon--half of the bottle went into the sauce), but I must go and veg out for a bit now and call it a day.

Hope all you readers had as great of a weekend as I did!

Insalata russa con gamberi

Shrimp and Vegetable Salad

Serves 6 (allegedly)

Note: You can fudge on the amounts of each of the vegetables, and it will still probably turn out just fine. I am rarely precise in my use of ingredients, especially when it comes to vegetables or garlic!

1 lb. medium shrimp, unpeeled

1 TBSP. red wine vinegar

¼ pound green beans

2 medium potatoes

2 medium carrots

1/3 of a 10-oz. package frozen peas, thawed

6 small canned red beets, drained and dried on paper towels

2 TBSP. gherkins in vinegar, preferably French cornichons (available at Trader Joe’s), cut up

2 TBSP. capers, the smaller the better

3 TBSP. olive oil

2 tsp. red wine vinegar

Salt

2 ½ cups mayonnaise

Directions

1. Wash the shrimps. Put them, whole and unpeeled, in boiling salted water. Add the TBSP. of vinegar to the water and cook for 4 minutes. Allow the shrimps to cool; then shell and devein them and set aside.
2. Snap the ends off the green beans, pulling away any possible strings. Rinse them and drop them into rapidly boiling salted water. Taste them early and drain them as soon as they are tender but still firm, in as little as 8 minutes if they are very young and fresh.
3. Rinse the potatoes and boil them with the peel on. When they are easily pierced with a sharp fork, drain them and peel them while they are still hot.
4. Scrape or peel the carrots clean and drop them in boiling salted water. Do not overcook. Drain when tender and set aside.
5. Drop the frozen peas into boiling salted water and cook very briefly, not more than a minute or a minute and a half. Drain and set aside.
6. When the vegetables have cooled, set aside a very small quantity of each (potatoes excepted), which you will need later for garnishing, and cut up the rest as follows: the green beans into pieces 3/8 inch long; the potatoes, carrots and beets diced into 3/8-inch cubes. The peas, of course, stay whole. Cut up the capers also if these are not the very tiny ones. Put all the ingredients, including the cut-up gherkins or cornichons, in a mixing bowl.
7. Set aside half the shrimps. Cut up the rest and mix with the vegetables. Season with the olive oil, wine vinegar, and ½ teaspoon salt. Add 1 cup of the mayonnaise and mix thoroughly. Taste for salt and correct.
8. Turn the mixture over onto a serving platter. Shape it into a shallow, flat-topped, oval mound pressing with a rubber spatula to make sure the surface is smooth and uniform. Now spread the remaining mayonnaise over the entire surface of the mound. Use the spatula to make it as smooth and even as possible. Indentations or deep pockets will spoil the effect. You can omit this step and just scoop the salad into serving bowls.
9. Now decorate the mound. Here is one way of doing it. Place a thin carrot disk on the center of the mound. Put a pea in the center of the carrot. Make a rosette of shrimps around the carrot, placing the shrimps on their side, nestling one around the other. Over the rest of the flat surface scatter flowers made using carrots for the center button, beets for the petals, and green beans for the stems. Emboss the sides of the mound with the remaining shrimps, heads and tails imbedded in the salad, backs arching away. There are limitless ways in which you can use shrimps and vegetables to decorate this salad. Use your imagination! Caution: if you are preparing this many hours or a day in advance, decorate with the beets at the last moment before serving. Their color has a tendency to run. Note: Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

Weekly Workout Totals	03/31/2008-04/06/2008
Swim:	9600 yards (5.45 miles) in 3.45 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 1207 calories burned
Bike:	Approx. 94.79 miles in 5.42 hours; 36% of weekly workout time; approx. 2439 calories burned; Total TSS=347
Run:	Approx. 29.04 miles in 4.39 hours; 29% of weekly workout time; approx. 1987 calories burned
Strength:	1.75 hours; 12% of weekly workout time; approx. 438 calories burned
All Sports:	Approx. 129.28 miles in 15.01 hours; approx. 6071 calories burned
Sleep:	8.11 hours avg./night
Stretching:	2.63 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours

Spring...FINALLY!

I LOVE spring! I think I am probably loving it more than ever this year because the bulk of my Dominatrix duties are complete and it's been an uncharacteristically long winter--almost 6 months of (pick from 1 to 4 at a time) grey, crappy, snowy, cold.

One of the things I've learned living here all my life is that it's good to forget a bunch of stuff over the winter, because when spring arrives and you remember, it just enhances the feeling of rebirth. For example, I typically forget just how many beautiful flowers I've planted over the years in my yard, and so when I see them poking up out of the dirt and remember, it's a great feeling. I get some of that feeling when I browse through the seed and plant catalogs, but it's not the same as seeing something in your own little plot. Now I'm looking forward to the succession of blooms--hyacinths, daffodils, tulips, lilacs, peonies, roses, and the list goes on and on.

Yesterday I had a spectacular long-ish run (1:40 worth) in Waterfall Glen. I almost could have worn shorts, but when I hit the few shady areas, I was glad for the tights. I was happy to re-experience parts of the trail as if they were all new again (they were new to my quads, that's for sure). Even as I kept trying to let myself run easily, I ran a surprisingly fast pace for me--which is pretty good considering what I did last weekend. I did a short recovery swim afterwards, and while this guy, Mike, that I know who swims mid-day on Saturdays was into his usual rant (for some reason the Saturday noon lap swim has been usurped by people mostly playing around), I kept on my positive bent. I was a little tired after the run and swim to get out and do yard work, but that's OK, I did a pretty good job of cleaning up my flower beds last fall. I did finally break down a bunch of cardboard boxes from all the things I ordered online during the winter plus the new snowblower I bought, which gave me a jump on the annual cleaning of the garage (which I totally hate doing--I guess that is reflective of my "girly" side).

Today promises to be warmer than yesterday, and so...I'm riding OUTDOORS!!! So that means I needed to fix a few bike bottles, and again, I forgot about my hot pink ones from IMLP 2007! As much time as I'll spend fixing and washing bottles from now through September, for today, at least, it is a pleasure. Since I'm still in a purge/reorganize mood, I pulled all my sleeveless bike tops and kit shorts out of their current locations so I can find a better home for them. Right now there's a huge pile of spandex/lycra on the floor of one of my bedrooms. But at least it's colorful and loaded with potential fun!

This coming week I plan to move my long run from Saturday to Thursday (meaning I will need to do it BEFORE work--OUCH!) in preparation for double long rides on the weekends--yet another sign of spring and ch...ch...ch...changes. Too bad it's not light yet when I'll need to start the run--meaning treadmill. No, I don't own a headlamp. But the days are getting longer and longer, and soon enough it will be light at 5:00AM. I guess it's a good thing that I am waking up on my own just before 5:00 already. Body knows that workouts are getting longer and longer, requiring more and more time, and I just don't like having my workday end much after 5:30PM. Since I've been watching less and less TV, it's been no problem for me to be asleep between 8:30 and 9:00PM (loser that I am), so I'm still getting plenty of sleep.

And with the double long rides on the weekends, it means I need to get hyper efficient in the use of my weekday free time, since it's tough to get much done after 4+ hour rides on the weekend, especially if travel time is involved. But I'm fortunate in being able to work from home, so that if I need a short break, I can get something done that needs doing.

I read on various triathlon forums and blogs how everyone talks about the sacrifices they make for Ironman training. I don't know if these people train more or less than I do, but I don't think of it as a sacrifice--I think of it as fun, and it builds mental toughness in me. I just happen to really like riding my bike, swimming and running outdoors. OK so maybe most of the people I hang with are also athletes, but so what? For right now, I still can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing, which reminds me of this verse from the Faith-Mind Sutra (thanks to Brett for this particular translation):

If you wish to abide in Tao, do not dislike the world you now experience.
Indeed, to see there is no difference between Tao and world is Enlightenment itself.
The wise man expends no effort.
The foolish man ties himself in knots.

Recovery is going well

When I woke up yesterday, my calves were still pretty fucked up from the elliptical and other stuff. They felt better than the day before, but when I first walked downstairs in the morning, I was saying "Ow, Ow, Ow" whenever I stepped on my left foot. I played with my walking gait to see how I could walk without it hurting.

I did a :35 abs/core workout early in the morning, but eventually, I had to decide if I was going to run. As soon as I put on my running shoes a little after noon, I guess the extra arch support (I use orthotics) was enough to correct whatever was making my calves hurt.

I still felt pretty fatigued, considering I did a really hard bike workout on Wednesday, and I knew I'd run a pretty good pace if I ran outside (it was a nice day), so in the spirit of continuing my recovery from NothingNess, I JFR'ed 7.5 miles. The nice thing about my run training over the winter is that longer runs are no big deal anymore.

My calves actually felt better for the run, which confirmed what I thought which was that they needed me to not be flat-footed, and with my new ultra lightweight running shoes, I spend more time on my toes, so it all worked out.

I got a massage last night--first one in 20 weeks! Yikes, that's a long time between. Yet, I've been doing fine, muscle-wise, until I a) started this NothingMan nonsense and b) started running on the roads. The massage was absolutely wonderful, and I'm going to get back on a schedule of every 2-3 weeks, just because it hurts so good. Turns out I had boatloads of trigger points from my left glutes all the way down (DUH, no wonder my calves felt fucked up), and in the vastus lateralis on both legs. My massage therapist did a new move on me which allowed him to really whale on my vastus lateralis, which I nicknamed the Vast-ectomy. If you saw how it was done, uh, let's just say if you were a guy you might think you were getting the other kind. My therapist also does some assisted stretches on me, and it was cool to see just how flexible my hamstrings are (or should we say overly flexible?). He did the stretch where I'm lying on my back and picks up one leg (straight knee), and gently pushes it towards my head. I achieved about a 120-degree angle with each leg! So I guess despite my crazy training lately, I've been improving my flexibility despite myself.

This morning when I woke up my calves felt pretty much back to normal. Surprisingly, I swam pretty well this morning, even though I felt worked over from the massage and the preceding training events. I'm about to repeat Wednesday's bike workout, and I hope I can nail it even better this time.

Tomorrow is supposed to be really nice, spring weather, and I'm going to treat myself to a long run on a trail I haven't been on since last August. I'm also looking forward to putzing around in the flower beds and getting really dirty!

Getting the Lead Out

It would be an understatement for me to say I have been pushing myself in training. Now that I find myself having done 2 HIM's (effectively) in 3 weeks (not recommended for those without significant base), I'm really feeling it.

I took Sunday off. On Monday I did an easy 2800 yard drill workout, and then I lifted for an hour. The swim felt good and there was no way I could have done a hard workout. The lifting is not a cardio workout, so no problem there, but in retrospect I should have dropped weight on each exercise for this week only--not like I'd lose any strength there. I woke up at midnight and had to eat something, so I had 2 slices of toast and a chicken leg. Apparently, I was still catching up on my calories from the weekend, although I estimated I burned 3,000 on Saturday doing the workouts, and add in another maybe 2,000 for my RMR, I needed about 5,000. I definitely took in at least 4,000, but sometimes on days when I don't workout, like Sunday, I don't eat enough. Which is why I'm waiting for a personal trainer I know to hook me up with someone who can measure my RMR exactly so I know how much I need to eat. I'm pretty sure it's more than I am customarily eating.

I began paying for that weight workout yesterday. I was supposed to run for 1:15 easy, but my legs were telling me NO, NO, NO. But I figured I could do elliptical. I ended up doing 1:05 of some course called "Around the World." The screen looked like Space Invaders. I had no problem doing the workout, and when I got the machine to tell me my HR, it was perfect for a solid, easy aerobic workout. But when I got off the machine, I had jelly legs something fierce. Probably because my calves had stopped working.

I stretched out really well last night, but when I woke up today, I could still feel my calves being all tight. So I decided to do a pulling workout this morning instead of my scheduled workout, because kicking would just not be happening. Turns out that I swam strongly, so the extra pushups I've started doing must be helping out there . I'm working my way up to the EXCELLENT rating for this test, so I need to get up to 60. I can do 40-50 easily, which already qualifies as excellent, but I want a 100%, and to be able to do a full 60 every day. I am not sure why, but it can't hurt me, right?

So I do the pull workout (with fine, fine scenery in my lane, thank you) and later, I look at my scheduled bike workout:

WU: 15' wup, 3' spinups
MS: 3 x 2' (1') @ 105%, 2' Easy,
4 x (6' @ FT then 2' @ 105-110%, 3' Easy),
8 x 30/30'
CD: 4' Easy

I wasn't sure I'd be able to manage it, but turns out I did just fine. Well, for the first 3 of the FT intervals I was fine...the last one I lost a little power on, but overall I was surprised to be able to nail this. Trust me, it's a hard workout! My calves still haven't settled down, but I think it's still after effect of the elliptical, so they should be fine by tomorrow.

So now that I've confirmed my legs are working again, perhaps with a good night's rest I'll be able to bust out a nice tempo run tomorrow. I'm looking forward to running, and now that the weather is approaching reliable for outdoor running, even better.

On the tapeworm front, I continue to be on the Food Channel since the weekend. I laughed and told my lane mate this morning that I was going to start bringing cheeseburgers to the pool! Somehow I have managed to eat only a handful of those crack-loaded Doritos Hint of Lime chips. Last night I ate until I was almost uncomfortably full, and even after eating a light breakfast and drinking Gatorade during my swim workout, I felt pretty underfueled. But that must just be the recovery fatigue talking. My weight hasn't budged.

I have a massage scheduled for tomorrow, and for the first time in several months, I feel like I really need it.

I'm not on drugs (wish I were)...

Brett asked me to write up the story behind these Boohbahs. Head on over to his blog for his story (whenever he gets around to posting it), since he's now the proud owner of one.

It was 2004, and I was in a hotel room in Racine, WI preparing for a HIM the next day with a former (I hate saying it, but it's true) friend, killing time before race checkin and channel surfing. What should come on the tube but Boohbah! I didn't know it at the time, but it was the successor of Teletubbies. I've seen Teletubbies, and in my opinion, Boohbah is a lot better.

Anyway, you need to actually watch an episode of it (I own the Hot Dog episode, which is a classic) to believe it, but the first time I saw it, I had no idea it was a kid's show, and thought I might have stumbled onto the drug channel. It wasn't until weeks later that I encountered another reference to the show, and found out they made these animated and other versions that you see in the picture. It is just so screwball that I had to buy them, and then I decided they needed Ironman clothes, so I doctored up some infant T-shirts for the larger ones. The big ones are about 12" tall, and they "dance" and make Boohbah noises. The smaller yellow one can be squeezed to make noise, and the small blue one is for travel, although it's been replaced by shark and octopus Beanie Babies on my car's dashboard. The one with the baby PeopleSoft hat--PeopleSoft is the name of the company that I used to work for. It no longer exists. When we were transitioning to the new company, someone left a box of these baby hats in the public kitchen area, and I snagged one.

I know it's silly that I own these things, but hey, I'm silly that way. Sometimes I fire up the dancing ones (I usually only keep 2 on top of the TV) right before I do a trainer workout. It sort of signals "game on."

Last week, Brett tells me his kids are starting to watch and enjoy Boohbah, and he doesn't get it--he also thinks it has something to do with drugs. So I sent him some Boohbah stuff and one other thing, which when he gets around to posting, you'll see.

Oh--I'm going to try and run today and see how that feels. A real easy run. I'm still enjoying the fact that I've effectively done 2 HIM's in 3 weeks. That's something I'd never done before!

If you've never seen Boohbah before, check out this perfect sendup of the opening sequence:

Weekly Workout Totals 03/24/2008-03/30/2008

It doesn't look like a lot of volume, but it was a lot of work. I've been tired all day, as expected. I expect I'll still have some residual fatigue tomorrow, but I need to get back on the training horse. I just don't feel right not working out, though I did get a bunch of errands and chores done today. Did I say I'm tired?

Weekly Workout Totals	03/24/2008-03/30/2008
Swim:	9200 yards (5.22 miles) in 3.1 hours; 21% of weekly workout time; approx. 1085 calories burned
Bike:	Approx. 100 miles in 5.47 hours; 37% of weekly workout time; approx. 2460 calories burned; Total TSS=417
Run:	Approx. 30.4 miles in 4.54 hours; 30% of weekly workout time; approx. 2055 calories burned
Strength:	1.87 hours; 12% of weekly workout time; approx. 468 calories burned
All Sports:	Approx. 135.62 miles in 14.98 hours; approx. 6068 calories burned
Sleep:	8.57 hours avg./night
Stretching:	2.15 hours. Massage: 0 hours

Double or NothingMan Race Report

Pics are here.

Race Format: 2 Olympic triathlons done back to back, where the order of the sports in the first is the traditional swim/bike/run, and for the second it’s bike/swim/run. This is the Saturday portion of Triple T, only for that race, you have a few hours between the 2 races. Between driving back and forth to the Y twice, and changing clothes every time I switched sports, I spent a little over 2 hours in transition, including a near-fatal Coke/Fuel Belt malfunction, which caused a delay of :45 between the last swim and the last run. Oh well. I won’t bother to list the transition times because they are just ludicrous. But, spreading the effectively 6 workouts with all that transition time made this plenty difficult, much like Saturday of Triple T, because you need to keep fueling during transition or else you risk a ginormous bonk.

I substituted 1500 yards for 1500 meters in the swim (my pool is SCY), got as close to 25 miles for each bike leg as I could, and replicated the Triple T run distance which is 6.5 miles per race. The swims were at the Y, the biking was done at home on the trainer, and the running was outdoors as out and back starting at home. With the outdoor temperatures what they were and the variation in the pool temperature between early morning (pretty nice) and afternoon (warm), another challenge element was added to the day as my body was forced to deal with big temperature swings.

Why? Traning for Triple T, and I must be psycho. While I never once had the thought, “Why am I doing this?” I did think several times, “I can’t BELIEVE I’m doing this.”

Executive Summary

	Race 1	Race 2	Total
Swim
Yards	1500	1500	3000
Time	0:27:52	0:28:10	0:56:02
Pace/100 yds.	1:51	1:53	1:52
Bike
Miles	25.04	25.05	50.09
Time	1:17:06	1:17:30	2:34:36
Avg. Speed	19.46	19.35	19.46
Avg. Cadence	95	95	95
NP	159	159
IF	0.7756	0.7756
TSS	99	99	198
Kcal	805	806	1611
Run
Air Temp.	30	40
Mile 1	8:51	9:05
Mile 2	9:18	9:25
Mile 3	9:27	9:24
Mile 3.25	2:17	2:22
Mile 3.5	2:07	2:11
Mile 4.5	9:22	9:16
Mile 5.5	9:09	9:26
Mile 6.5	8:48	8:46
Total Time	0:59:19	0:59:55	1:59:14
Overall Pace/Mile	9:08	9:13	9:10
Total Time	2:44:17	2:45:35	5:29:52

Last night

First, I have to tell you that doing a Sprint first thing in the morning and then not being able to drink a beer until much later in the day (with work in between) sucked. I always want a beer after a race, I don’t care how early it is, although I usually wait until at least 11AM, because, well, I’m not that big of a lush.

I ended up finally having a beer at 4PM after knocking off work. And then I went grocery shopping, and bonus, my buddy Lila, the booze sample lady, was there. So I partook of several samples of straight up rum, and a mojito mix. Even though all I had done was a sprint and then a :35 abs/core workout, I was tired and needed the painkillers!

I ate the filet part of a Porterhouse steak and a rather big pile of pasta with my walnut pesto sauce (I think the recipe is on the blog somewhere). I ate until I was quite full, knowing what I was doing the next day.

Today, Pre-Race

5:15AM

I woke up before the coffee pot (was set for 5:05AM), really about 3:30AM. Yes, I went and looked at a clock. I went back to bed, and within minutes, my body is telling me I need to go take care of something RIGHT NOW. It made me smile, because while what I’d be doing today is not a real “race,” my body and mind were taking it quite seriously!

I went and did my business (in the dark), and then got back in bed. I let my mind scroll a bit, thinking about what I’m going to be doing today, how nice it will be to get back in bed after I’m finished today, what I want for dinner, etc. Nothing truly stressful. But I knew my body and mind were ready to get up. When I got out of bed it was 4:30AM. Close enough!

I fired up the coffee pot and started putting together my clothing for the day. Even though I stretched well last night, my legs felt the effort of yesterday’s sprint NothingMan.

I had already made a plan as to where I needed to be when based on my anticipated speed, a little driving, and changing clothes. I chose all my outfits and laid them on the living room floor and took pics of them in case I didn’t get someone to take one of me in each one.

I almost should have consulted one of my infamous race checklists, but I have a lot of that stuff in my head now. I prepared all my race nutrition (fluids) yesterday. I pumped the rear tire of LGL on the trainer, placed the remotes on the stool next to her, picked CD’s to play while riding, bagged the clothes that I needed to take with me to the Y, and finally, sat down to have a few more cups of coffee.

Good thing I got up earlier than intended since there were quite a few things to do this morning! I just appreciate being able to relax a bit before a race, such as it is. I’ve watched other people getting ready in the morning of a race who have “the look” on their face the entire time. Well, yeah, I get “the look” at times, but anyone who has followed my training and racing for the last 2-3 years knows that I pretty much manage to keep things pretty light.

I think this is why there’s an adage that says it takes about 5 years to get Ironman “right.” For most people, it takes that long to be able to internalize all the little details that when once internalized, allow you to take the day as it comes and have a good performance. I’ve read other people writing about being worried that if they get fast that they won’t enjoy it anymore, and I think that’s total crap. I don’t consider myself fast, but I’m pretty good for my age group, and have won hardware here and there. I get pretty intense once it’s game on, but I always try and find ways to interject fun into things. I think that part of my secret is the ability to selectively tune out all the external stimuli. Think about it—for many people, racing is stimulus overload. You’ve got people crowded together, spectators, timing devices, weather, taper-induced paranoia—for a person who can’t tune out a lot of that stuff, it’s distracting.

If you’re familiar with the “flow” concept (see this book) and you understand the conditions required to enable it, then you approach every race, or even every training session as an opportunity to experience this most wonderful of sensations. You need to be proactive in order to experience flow—you need to have trained properly, have confidence in your training, be able to retreat inside your own head and enjoy being there, be concerned with only yourself and not your competition, and be adaptable. There are other things that come into play, too, but those are the basics.

Once you have all those skills, then you understand that it’s not necessary to have all that “actual race” stimuli around you in order to have a flow experience. This is why it’s no big deal for me to make the leap from actual race to NothingMan. Once you remove the externals from it, racing and NothingMan are exactly the same to me! And I think that’s the coolest gift I’ve given myself, since it’s representative of how I like to live my life now. Don’t get me wrong—I totally enjoy and suck up external stimuli as well (and am even known to dish it out quite heavily at times)—but it has its place and time, and more and more, I realize those are, indeed, very fleeting moments, and that where it’s at is inside my own head.

5:45AM I drank 300 calories worth of Ultrafuel. Yes, it made me gag.

6:10AM IT’S SHOWTIME! And it’s only 21 degrees (F) outside. Perfect! I brushed my teeth, put my contact lenses in, got dressed and off I went. The same woman who was there 3 weeks ago when I did a ½ NothingMan was at the front desk, and she was nice enough to take a picture. I didn’t even tell her what I was doing today—I don’t think she’d be able to comprehend it.

Since it was pretty early, there was nobody else in the locker room, so I headed out on deck and who should be there but AJ, the same guy who was at the pool 3 weeks ago when I did the ½ NothingMan. He recognized me, I told him what I was doing today, and he extended a hand out to shake mine. He was done swimming, so he took a great pic of me right before I got in to swim.

Swim 1

My swim pacing plan was, well, just swim easy. Don’t totally lollygag, because I have a schedule to keep.

The water was pretty nice, and I had a lane all to myself. I didn’t really think about much of anything while I was swimming (remembered to count laps, though), just sort of cruised along. At one point I’m coming to the wall and some man on deck about to get in thinks he knows me or something and he’s saying, “Good morning” to me, and I’m thinking what the fuck, but then I figured he must have spent a little bit of time gazing on my CRACKHEAD ass because he sure had a big smile on his face!

Other than that, the swim was quite uneventful. I finished, got out, and had the guard (same guard as 3 weeks ago for ½ NothingMan) take a couple of pics. Of course I had to have her shoot my butt with my custom CRACKHEAD on it. The guard commented that I had the coolest suits (well, yeah—Splish, baby!)

Transition 1

I took a leisurely shower, after waiting for the hot water to come on, and then got to changing into my clothes for the first bike leg. I asked a woman to shoot a pic of me, and she actually understood how to use the digital camera, which was nice.

Off to home to ride the bike.

Bike 1

My bike pacing plan for both bike legs was to use ½ Ironman watts. Since it was split into 2 Olympic races, though, that meant a :15 warmup easy, and then move right into ½ Ironman watts. Just like for ½ NothingMan, I was aiming for about 80% of FTP.

For the first bike leg, once I finished the warmup, I just popped into the BCR and stayed in the same gear the entire time. For some reason, it didn’t feel that boring since I knew I wouldn’t be on the bike that long and I was looking forward to running outside. I could feel the effort from yesterday’s sprint, but nothing too terribly bad.

Transition 2

I toweled off as much sweat as I could since I was going to be going outside and didn’t want immediate evaporation/cooling.

Before I changed into my run clothes, I checked my outdoor thermometer that’s in the shade to determine if I needed to change my original clothing selections. Yep. The weather forecast said it would get to the mid-40’s, but just before 9:00AM, it had only made it to 30. So I ended up dressing like the cat burglar.

Run 1

My run pacing plan for both run legs was ½ Ironman pace or slower. Really, I just wanted to run easy and not take any walking breaks. I totally achieved that for this run. Even though it was still chilly, the sun was shining brightly. I was happy the predicted wind patterns were holding, since I ran out against the wind and home with it.

The wind was rather biting on the way out, but I knew I’d be fine on the way back. Nothing of note happened during the first run except for the fact that I peed behind a dumpster at the grade school 2 miles from home. The run felt pretty good, and my legs still felt pretty good except for a little residual soreness from yesterday’s sprint.

Transition 3

Changing into biking clothes for the second time (this was my shortest transition—about :15), I was well aware that things were going to begin hurting for real rather quickly.

Bike 2

While it was pretty easy to settle into a good easy pace for warmup, my quads and calves were really starting to talk to me. And they were not saying nice things. It was something like this:

Quads: What the fucking hell what kind of race is this? It’s not even a duathlon, fuckhead, where you run/bike/run. What the hell is bike/run/bike?

Calves: You stupid motherfucker. All of our fast twitch fibers are toast. Good luck putting out any semblance of watts.

One of the things I expected was that on this second bike I would have muscle fiber recruitment issues. What I mean by this is that depending on what watts you are trying to hit and how fatigued you are, you will have different gearing/cadence preferences, and I believe this to be caused by selective muscle fiber fatigue. At least I find this to be the case for myself. So in this situation, where I’ve already biked at a respectable effort and run, I’m finding that the gear I want to be in is not the same one I was in for Bike 1. That’s OK, though—it just means I will need to mix up gears so that I’m able to force different muscle fibers to be recruited at different times so some get to rest while others are working. I find this to be true primarily for my calf muscles. I can “feel” a particular wattage/gearing/cadence combination in my calves—my quads could care less.

So I ended up doing 6 repetitions (10’ each) of an up and down ladder, moving up in gear and watts and then back down. This seemed to keep my calves happy.

I am so amazed that my first and second bike legs were so incredibly close to one another in time and all other measures! I didn’t know it until I finished everything for the day, because all I cared about on the second bike was hitting 25 miles, and then I hit a split on my watch and got the fuck off the bike! I was looking forward to swimming, since I hoped that by swimming with a pull buoy, my legs would get a little bit of rest. Besides, having done Triple T last year, I knew that there was no way I could kick in the pool after what had gone on before—I would cramp up something severe—mainly in the calves.

Transition 4

I don’t remember much of this except it involved stripping off my bike clothes, putting on a swimsuit, putting clothes on, getting in my car and driving to the Y. AGAIN. Once again, I conned an innocent bystander into taking a pic of me in my swimsuit. I don’t know—you be the judge—but I think I look kind of pumped up in the second suit. Been using lots of muscles, I guess!

Swim 2

Now I was going to be swimming with lots of people in the pool at mid-day. Fuuuuuuck. When I got on deck, I had to decide which lane I was going to invade and force the current population of 2 swimmers to circle-swim. I chose the slower lane, because I know the really fast guy in the other lane, and I didn’t want to mess up his workout, and besides, I’d be passing the 2 guys in my lane.

Well, these 2 men didn’t quite understand the concept of circle swimming, and it took about 500 yards for them to sort of get it. One of the guys had asked me initially to go in a different lane, and I told him I was sorry, but this was going to be my lane. I could tell he didn’t like the fact that I was swimming faster than him and constantly passing him. Oh well, get over it.

My arms did not feel at all fatigued while swimming, and the pull buoy was a nice touch. The water was pretty warm, but even still I felt fine aerobically.

Transition 5

When I finished and got out, I was starting to simultaneously look forward to my last leg of the day but also realize it was going to be difficult and probably painful.

I took a nice, long, hot shower, and even spent a few minutes in the sauna because I figured it was still cold outside, and now I’d be transitioning from a pool to outdoor running, and that could make for some uncomfortable core body temperature gymnastics. So I tried to get myself warmed up, because even though the pool was warm, it still probably depressed my core temperature a bit. My normal oral temperature is 97, so it’s easy for me to become hypothermic, and I didn’t want that happening.

Shuffling around in the locker room and changing into running clothes was not enough to reveal the state of my legs. It wasn’t until I got back home and negotiated some stairs that I knew what was in store.

Once again, I checked my in the shade outdoor thermometer and it had only made it to 40 degrees. Crap! Oh well, so I grabbed some alternate tops and went with my sushi toque instead of a regular running hat.

I took off, and the fuel belt bottles are leaking all over the place. I guess the big bottles didn’t fully defizz or something. No matter. I went back in the house and poured 12 oz. worth into a small Gatorade bottle and went back out after changing from blue gloves to pink ones that I had worn in my full NothingMan last fall. I suppose I looked pretty goofy with the sushi hat, black and blue tights, a blue top and pink gloves! But hey, I’m Crackhead, people, and at this point I don’t give a flying fuck what I look like.

Run 2

There’s a ¼ mile hill right from my house, and oh boy, I could feel it in my legs. I just thought to myself that I should keep up an easy shuffle and not worry about it. The run course at Triple T, while hilly (3.25 miles up and then back down) is at least on trail, so since I was running on asphalt, it just added to the pain on the day. But I expected it, so too bad. The pain will stop when I’m finished!

At this point I was a little pleased with myself for having completed what was already done. I don’t know why, but there’s just something perverse about doing this all by yourself and not giving a shit that there are no spectators. It reminded me that yesterday when I was talking to the woman at the front desk of the Y, she had asked me who was going to time me. I just showed her my watch! Like is it really that difficult for a person to wear a watch and hit splits? I guess it must appear that way to some people.

Side note: It’s 5:30PM and I am JUST NOW drinking my first post-race beer. What is wrong with me? I’ve already wasted several valuable hours where I could have been taking in painkiller.

After that ½ mile uphill, the road (after a left turn) flattens out for the remainder of the first mile, and this was highly appreciated by my now fucked up legs. On the plus side, my hip flexors weren’t cashed like they are in an Ironman marathon, but still, this was a bizarre workout no matter how you cut it.

The next ½ mile is still flat, but there’s hardly any shoulder on the road, so I’m a bit careful here because some cars just don’t like giving me any berth. But that only lasts for about ¼ mile and then I’ve got a nice, fairly wide boulevard-like road to run on. After ½ mile, there’s a ½ mile uphill. It’s a gentle grade, though, but at this point, anything non-flat is a little hard. Still, I’m not giving in to that little fucker in my head that’s telling me to walk. Nope! Not yet.

Mile 3 begins with a very short uphill and then the rollers begin, but the primary direction is down. At least downhill running is not feeling bad, and I’m very grateful for this. I ran on a mix of sidewalk and asphalt, as the way back on this mile has a nice shoulder where I can stay off the sidewalk totally.

The ¼ mile to get to 3.25 miles is uphill again. Damn it! Oh well, I need to keep keeping on, and no walking. And I know once I’m at the top and turn around, I’ll have the wind at my back. The headwind seemed stronger on Run 2 than Run 1, but now the sun is up higher, so as soon as I have the wind at my back I begin to notice how sweaty and disgusting I am.

The ¼ mile run downhill was nice. Now it’s time to take it up the butt on the 1-mile climb. At this point, I do not wish to be bothered or annoyed in any fashion. I saw a woman with a baby stroller ahead of me and it annoyed me. I saw men casting into a retention pond and it annoyed me. I saw a man walking a dog, wearing running clothes (and yet I could tell he wasn’t a runner), and letting his dog take a shit on some lawn and he didn’t pick it up. Since I was annoyed, I called him on it. He lied and said his dog didn’t do it. Lying motherfucker. The dog shit was almost steaming.

But then I realize the reason I’m annoyed is because of all the climbing, and before I know it, I’m to and past Shannon (fucking) Lakes Road, which signals that the worst of it is over. I don’t feel that bad because now I am heading home, and the pain will stop.

When I finish this mile, I’m surprised I didn’t run it much slower, because I certainly felt like I was running in slow motion.

The next mile is gently downhill for ½ mile and then it flattens out (reverse of the out part, see?). When I do training runs, I typically charge the 1-mile uphill and then I slow down on the downhill. Odd, I know, but at least today, I was pacing the uphill section properly so I didn’t have that problem.

All is about to be good with the world because I’ve only got 1 mile to go. It isn’t really sinking in all what I’ve done today—I just want to be done. With about ¾ mile to go, what song should come on the radio but “Footloose.” Well, you know what that means. It means I must do some fancy footwork. And I did. And I didn’t care how it looked to anyone since, well, as you know by this time I’m deep into Nothingness and it’s all in my head. I was actually happy for the chance to do a little dancing and that I was able to do it!

The last .4 mile starts a gradual downhill until I get to ¼ mile from home which is all downhill. Now I’m feeling pretty good because it’s all going to end.

Transition 6

OH YEAH, BABY, I’M DONE!!!

My first thought was that I am sick of clothes. I stripped off everything, and just sort of walked around naked. I wasn’t cold, and I wasn’t really hungry, either, because I had fueled really well in terms of calories And since I had been running in cool temperatures, I didn’t stink like I do when running in heat. So I rinsed out all the fucking bottles I had used, and then I took a nice shower, and all I could think was how many showers did I take today? For all I did, it was just 3, so no world record was set on that account.

But now I am still all wired from all the caffeine I took in today, but I feel really great. I mean, what the hell! I did it, I did it in style, and now it’s time to take some recovery (and more painkiller). I definitely had a lot of flow time today. I let my transitions be transitions, and when I wasn’t doing that, I kept to my planned race pacing. Can’t do better than that!

A Little Bit of Nothing, or Sprint NothingMan

Pics are here.

I had a blast! OK, not as much fun as an actual race outdoors in the summer, but still, it was fun. And while in my training plan I had written to do this "easy," well, that did not happen. I mean, how are you supposed to go easy for a sprint, no matter what you did the day before or you need to do the day after?

I did not get enough sleep yesterday. Not sure why, but I was wide awake at 2:30AM and couldn't get back to sleep. In retrospect, that was good, because instead of shelling myself on the bike yesterday, all I did was ride for :50 easy, which was probably the right thing to do anyway. So I guess I did have a taper after all!

I slept well last night, but again I woke up what I assumed was early. I told myself not to go "clock surfing," (meaning walking around in the dark until my eyes acclimated and I could see a clock but not really looking for one). But I guess I was a little excited, so in a grand reversal, I turned on the lights in the bathroom to see it was 4:00AM, which was close enough to time to wake up. Besides, it's a race day, right?

I got the coffee going, changed my mind and decided I'd wear a one-piece swimsuit instead of two-piece, organized some bike ride information, ate my usual Power Bar Triple Threat (I know they are like candy bars, but oh well), fucked around, listened to some White Zombie and Green Day, and got my shit together.

I had wanted to be swimming at 6:30AM, but I guess I fucked around a little longer than I should have. When I arrived at the Y, the front desk person, Mary, asked me if I had any races coming up. I said, "Yes." She asked when. I said today. She asked where. I said HERE. She asked when. I said NOW. And she graciously took a picture of me.

I headed to the locker room and put my crap out as if I had an actual transition area. I didn't, because I had to put everything in a locker, because I don't trust anyone. I've had stuff stolen from an unlocked locker before, so I take no chances.

I asked a woman I regularly see in the morning to snap pics of me in my swimsuit. She was cool about it. She was done working out already.

Start Time: 6:42AM
Swim: 500 yards in 9:15

My swim was piss-poor, but not as bad as I thought it would be. The swim was not wetsuit legal. I did not warm up. I jumped in, hit my watch and took off. At least now I know I can swim harder, and I could have gone faster, which is good. Since I'm bumping up against 10,000 yards+ per week now, things can only get better. But I did feel like I was racing. The water was a bit warm, too.

T1: 10:33

I took a good shower and washed my hair to get the chlorine out of it, dryed off well, and put on my biking clothes. The same woman who took my picture before I swam took the pic of me before I began biking. So I guess she takes a good long time getting all ready for work!

Bike: 12 miles in 44:34

OK, I know that seems slow, but this is a Precor bike and they fucking suck! When I've done "actual" indoor sprint races on these things where the bike leg is 20 minutes (however far you go in that time), I've typically covered 5.7-6 miles in the 20 minutes, and with that I've won my AG and several younger and older than me. I haven't been on one of these fuckers since a year ago when I did a few of those races, so I was pretty indifferent to how long the 12 miles took me. I did try and keep up decent watts on the thing, and I knew I was going hard, and besides, I had to run a 5K afterwards, not just 15 minutes like in those actual races.

T2: 4:19

I took my sweet time, but what was funny was that I had forgot to move my running orthotics from another pair of shoes into the new, blue ones, so I couldn't run in those. So I'm going to run in these trail shoes that I have never run in before! It didn't really phase me, though, I figured, what the hell, do I really care how fast I run?

Run: 5K on indoor track (12 laps to the mile) in 25:16--splits 8:12, 8:09, 8:11, :44.

Hah! That's close to my 5K PR. I guess I should run in those trail shoes more often! Thing is, I can run faster. I didn't ever feel like I was going to puke, and I suppose if there were other people around me I would have run faster, but what the hell, I'll take it. I'm actually really pleased with this considering my run training was for shit until about 4 weeks ago.

Afterwards, I was going downstairs to hang on the chin thing and do a few hanging situps, and I saw a friend on a treadmill. So I'm talking to him, and this woman on a treadmill next to him with headphones on and WALKING, gives me a SHUSH sign. I'm thinking WTF we are talking about athletics here lady. Anyway, Larry rolls his eyes, and I continued on my way. I ran into one of the trainers I know and told him about this and we came up with better comebacks for me. Like, "Oh, I'm sorry. I see you are working really hard and I must be disrupting your workout." Or, "Oh, it must be really tough for you to hear over all the noise you are making going so FAST (NOT)."

I definitely raced this, and turns out I guess I'm fairly fit for March. I still have another workout to do today, but it's just a :30 abs/core routine. I need to figure out logistically how to finesse tomorrow's double Olympic. I've already defizzed Coke, but I need to mix up some Infinit and get all my costume changes ready. It's supposed to be a nice enough day for outdoor running, but it will still be a shock to my system to go from indoor trainer riding to outdoor 40's running.

Then again, this is not supposed to be easy, and I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow! If this little set of 3 races doesn't make me HTFU, I don't know what will!

It's SHOWTIME

Holding Myself Back Today

Today is one of those days where when I woke up, I just felt awesome. My DOMS is gone, I got 9 hours of sleep, I didn't feel particularly fatigued, didn't feel like there were a million things I should be doing--it just felt like a day with lots of potential.

As I got my day started--eating something, taking out the garbage and recycleables--I realized I was rushing for no good reason, so I told myself to relax, which was good.

So I went to the pool, and the water was warm, but I didn't care. I was part way through my main set, which I chose to do with Zoomers on, to make it easier on myself (even though at the time I was swimming hard for me), since that is the objective for day, and then my favorite scenery showed up. I finished my 8x150 as 100 hard, 50 easy, 15" RI, and then I just decided I had swam enough, so I noodled around, chatted with the scenery, took a nice, long, hot shower and headed home to work.

I kept up my non-rushing attitude, and it occurred to me that this is the same mindset I have while in transition in a triathlon. If you are all worried and herky-jerky you are likely to stumble, forget something, or just put yourself in a bad mental place. If you've planned ahead and you know you have what you need in your transition bags and you methodically go through them and remain (relatively) calm, you aren't going to be wasting any time. So I suppose that we "create" the ability to be relaxed by planning ahead a bit, but that doesn't seem like a paradox to me. The time to go fast in a race is when you are, well racing. That is when you are just using your body to do what you've trained it to do, hopefully in auto-pilot mode.

Transition, to me, is all about purposefulness and setting the tone for the next leg of the race. It's a bad time to think about what happened in the leg of the race you just finished--like you went too slow or you got hit or kicked or you were cold or hot. What's done is done. It's called transition for a reason. You are preparing for the next part.

There's a time to be in the present moment, to be in the now, and that is indeed, most of our day. I'm (fill in the blank)-ing. But I think it also pays to be mindful of all the transitions that occur throughout the day, as they are also golden opportunities for mindfulness. So the next time someone asks what you are doing or thinking about while you appear to be sitting quietly doing nothing, just say you are transition-ing--preparing for the next thing you will be doing.

I've got a number of other transitions to do today, and hope they are all as smooth as the ones that are already done!

Edit: I thought I should write this down since I found it quite funny. On the way into the Y, you can see down into the basketball courts/running track. I saw one of the trainers strapping a gizmo to a guy's back that was attached to a 25-lb. barbell plate on the ground. So I yell at them, "NIIIIIICE" and tell the guy to run hard. Of course I was thinking to myself, could I do that? Not sure I'd pull 25 lbs., but 10 wouldn't be too bad. Anyway, there was another woman going in right behind me, and she heard me and looked, and then she says to me, "That's crazy." I turn to her and said, "Honey, you're LOOKING AT crazy!" Meaning me. And I told her to ask the woman at the front desk why.

My run was glorious. It didn't get as warm as I hoped, but still, I didn't need gloves or a beanie, and I went commando under the tights. I ran into the wind first, but couldn't avoid hills--no matter which way I run from home they're there. I tried to stay relaxed and run easy, but I actually ran OK--no complaints. I'm feeling like my hill-running strength is returning, and it's all good.

Not Sick--Just Trying to Kill Myself

I was right on Sunday. I had a virus, but it is gone.

So I'm getting ready for a weekend of NothingNess x 3, and um...there is no taper involved. Taper-schmaper. Who needs 'em? I'm simply playing it by ear and doing what I think I can. Yes, I have a training schedule, but it was written by ME so it has a high probability of making me blow myself up, so I'm constantly reevaluating.

I started out Sunday evening by looking at the weather forecast. I am so fucking tired of running on the treadmill, but I'm also pretty wimpy when it comes to cold. 40's is OK for outdoor runs usually, but 50's is better. Plus there's the acclimation to the fucking pavement, and trying to become "unscared" of cars again. As each year goes by, I notice the progressively worsening habits of many drivers. It used to be people used turn signals (or as I call them, "blinkers"). Apparently, they have become optional. This year I'm noticing that stop signs have also become optional. Even when I'm in my car, I don't trust that someone won't just blow through an intersection without looking both ways.

Aaaaaaaaaanyway...back to the weather. I figured for my 2 weekday runs I want to run outside, so I decided I'm running Monday and Wednesday and biking Tuesday and Thursday. I'm keeping my swims on Monday and Wednesday. By the way, the pool was niiiiiiiiiiice and cool again on Monday. Sadly, no scenery, but very nice for swimming.

I managed to sleep well Sunday night after my brick festival, and even though I got 9 big ones, I could feel the fatigue on Monday morning. Still, gotta swim--it will help me either recover or dig myself a hole--I really don't care which. Did that bitchin' 30x50 (odds hard; evens easy) with 10" rest workout, and my arms were screamin' MOMMA (not really--they were actually saying what the hell motherfucker why don't you just stop already), and actually did OK even though I was tired to begin with.

When it came time to run I knew a track workout would not work--legs too tired from Sunday--but odds are if I ran outside I'd go at or close to tempo pace. Given that, how long did I want to run? Well, I still want some decent volume this week, so at first I was like OK, 1 hour, but then it wasn't much farther to a landmark which out and back would give me 7.5 miles, so I decided to do that. It's a fairly hilly run, so my legs are toast, I haven't done much road running yet, it's not very warm (it was like 32 when I ran), and so what the hell. I slowed down on the way home a little, but well, I just didn't care. 1:07. I was cold the entire time, but I looked like I meant business--I was sporting my new sushi-print toque and my Cateye sunglasses, along with my Finisher jacked from IMLP 2007. While I typically don't wear all the Ironman crap frequently, there are times when I feel like it will give me a mental boost, and I needed it yesterday.

I stretched really well last night, since as the evening wore on, I knew I was on the verge of shelling myself. So this morning I decided, what the hell, may as well lift before I start work. So I did. 1 hour LARGE. I mean, since I do it at home, I'm cramming a lot into an hour, and I still have about 10 minutes to finish up tomorrow. I kinda had some DOMS going on from Monday's run, and I just added to it, since I wanted to get legs done today.

Well, then I needed to bike in the middle of the day. DOMS is really settling in big time now, and I'm thinking can I even manage a respectable workout on the bike? What the hell, it's only pain, right? My power may be down a bit, but what the hell. Since I had finished lifting, I am just wanting to eat everything in the house, but I was a good girl and had a glass of egg protein, 2 bananas and a slice of cheese (fat-free) in between lifting and biking. Healthy crap.

Gatorade on the bike and we get going. Mid-day news on for a few minutes, followed by some Teletubbies, and then my warmup is over and I fire up Ironman 2004 (the year I did it) on the VCR, just so I have a timing device staring me in the face so I don't need to have my head in my lap looking at the Ergomo screen. While doing my intervals, I had to rest a few seconds here and there because, well, my legs were toast. But I still got in a TSS of 104 in 1:20, which was plenty enough intensity for the day. I ate a Lean Cuisine and drank Endurox R4, and I'm wishing I had some chips in the house (I decided not to buy any last week) because I'm STARVING. But I'll be OK. I'm sorta trying to not go too nuts on carbs (I MUST HAVE a ROTISSERIE CHICKEN FOR DINNER) as a sort of modified carb loading thing for the weekend.

Tomorrow I swim and run (probably just an hour if I can be sane enough to limit myself) easy, finish up my lifting, and then Thursday is another trainer ride, which I should cut down to maybe 1:05 to 1:10, with just a few "bursts of flavor." And then Friday I do a sprint NothingMan. I'm going to do the whole thing at the Y because otherwise I'd spend more time transitioning than racing! And I don't really want to change clothes during it so I'll probably slap on a tri suit and freak everyone out at the Y when they see me on the stationary bike and treadmill in a swimsuit. Saturday is the day I double down and do 2 Olympics back to back.

Ah...the life of a Crackhead!

Tune in tomorrow to see if I'm surviving my training.

Weekly Workout Totals 03/17/2008-03/23/2008 and Miscellaneous Stuff

I know there are some people who have "feelings" towards the posting of the amount of time spent doing something. Feelings are good, but remember that numbers are just that--numbers--and if you choose to react to them in some way, I just hope that you enjoy your reaction!

I believe I have some sort of virus, but the good news is that I think I'm mostly done with it. I ended up not working on Tuesday because I felt so crappy, but I couldn't tell if I was partly overtrained or actually sick. Having a sinus headache for several days convinced me that I surely had something but that doesn't mean I wasn't overtraining, either. Every time I try something new to see how far I can push myself, well, there's always a chance of overdoing it. I think that when I wasn't able to kick out my usual intensity, the volume and sequence of workouts I was doing were just fine. But when I decided I could go full bore pretty much every day, well, guess what? Not.

So, lesson learned. At least once I knew I had a virus, I took things pretty easy. It was weird because I could do a workout and feel good doing it, but then a few hours later feel like crap. Such is life. Today I nailed a pretty good intensity bike and run (3 hours worth total), and while I am pretty wiped out and hungry as hell, I don't feel "sick." I only hope I wake up feeling this good tomorrow morning!

As is the case with any holiday now, I really missed both my parents. I had a short cry near the end of my run today, but I was enjoying running outside so much that it seemed like Mom and Dad would rather see me being happy doing something I love, so I just continued on.

IF I'm mainly recovered from my virus AND I get my workout sequence correct this week (meaning I need to actually take an EASY day tomorrow), THEN my plan for the weekend is to do a sprint NothingMan on Friday, and on Saturday do two Olympic NothingMan's back to back, same as like at Triple T, meaning the second one is bike-swim-run instead of the usual swim-bike-run. Of course, Sunday will be a rest day. It's still too cold for me to bike outdoors, but the weather is OK for outdoor running now, and if it's dry on Saturday, that will be excellent for a NothingMan. I guess if part of it is outdoors I should call it a half-assed double-roly-poly-Oly NothingMan. Try ordering one of those at Starbucks! NO FOAM, PLEASE.

Weekly Workout Totals	03/17/2008-03/23/2008
Swim:	8700 yards (4.94 miles) in 3.13 hours; 22% of weekly workout time; approx. 1097 calories burned
Bike:	Approx. 87.51 miles in 5 hours; 34% of weekly workout time; approx. 2251 calories burned; Total TSS=413
Run:	Approx. 28.45 miles in 4.43 hours; 31% of weekly workout time; approx. 2010 calories burned
Strength:	1.95 hours; 13% of weekly workout time; approx. 488 calories burned
All Sports:	Approx. 120.9 miles in 14.51 hours; approx. 5846 calories burned
Sleep:	8.39 hours avg./night
Stretching:	2.23 hours. Massage: 0 hours