A week ago, I did yet another 7,500 yard swim on Friday, and it was my 12th swim of 6,000+ yards. In building up these long swims, I have needed to adjust my thinking about them in terms of nutrition and hydration, both before, during and after.
Before I began this UMC preparation season, I'd swum 5,000 yards at a pop maybe 3-4 times before my last 2 or 3 Ironman races. This came about once I discovered the outdoor 50-meter pool a few years ago, which made it easy and even pleasurable to swim longer.
Up to about 5,000 yards (but just once a week--not like I was swimming that much each swim), I didn't need to do anything differently nutrition or hydration-wise, but that may have been that I was already doing them during an Ironman build phase, where I've already kicked up my calorie intake in general.
But I also think that you can wing it on almost any workout that is about 1.5 hours in duration, provided it's not an all out effort. If your longest workout is 1.5 hours, and you do that every day, you have a bigger margin of error on your nutrition and hydration. Here I think the post-workout nutrition is most important--you know, some mix of protein and carbs right away.
Move that time up to 2 hours and things get interesting. 2-hour workouts day in and day out seem to require that my tank (glycogen) is full when I start, and I can't have a lot in my stomach when I begin, whether it's a ride, run (especially!) or swim. If it's the only workout I'm doing that day, I can fudge on the during workout nutrition as long as I do a good job once I'm finished.
It's at 2.5 hours where things demand you do things right across the board (for me), and while I've had plenty of years to get that right for biking and running, this season is the first time I'm swimming that long, too.
I can do 2.5 hours a day, even on some work days. If it's split into 2 or 3 sessions, it just means I need to keep eating a couple hundred calories every few hours, but mostly carbs, because fat and protein will take too long to digest before my next workout (although a piece of string cheese or a hardboiled egg doesn't upset my stomach too much between workouts). Most of my fat for the day will come at dinner time, after all the workouts are done.
If I do a 2.5 hour session on the weekend, I'm careful to load up on calories beforehand, during, and I will always have a complete meal afterward.
I don't often do 2.5 hour workouts on work days, though, or at least I don't usually until I am close to an Ironman and doing 2.5 hour runs on Thursday mornings. So it's a new phenomenon to be already doing 2.5 hour workouts (swims) on work days in the winter, and I guess I'm just an old dog learning new tricks, but it's taken me a few tries to get it through my thick head that I need to be as good about my nutrition for them.
The really long swims I've done on Saturdays or days off from work trigger the same preparation as any long weekend workout, making sure I eat plenty the day before, take in maybe 600-700 calories before I begin working out, good nutrition during and after. Why I wasn't doing this for these long swims on work days I have no idea--habit, I guess!
So Thursday I made sure I drank plenty of water and other fluids, ate a pile of carbs and began my shutdown procedure (you know--like shutting down a computer for the day--mine includes preparing my workout gear for the next day and any special nutrition and loading the coffee pot) early enough in the evening so I'd sleep well. Wanting to get as much sleep as possible, I set the alarm for 5AM on the nose. I woke up, fixed one cup of coffee, had a toasted English muffin with orange marmalade (I love jam, sorry I know it's sugar, but oh well I'm not perfect), at 5:30 I drank 200 calories of Ultrafuel and then I suited up and headed for the pool with 2.5 hours worth of Infinit (573 calories) mixed in 64 oz. of water.
I started my swim at 5:55AM and finished about 8:28. I didn't quite drink all the Infinit--but I did get down 486 calories in 54 oz. of water, which is more than I have ever taken in during one of these long swims. Since yesterday's swim was all about getting the nutrition (hopefully) right, I did 10x750 (sort of--the last 3 repeats were 5x150), stopping around every 15 minutes to drink. Now, during UMC I won't want to stop that often for nutrition--maybe every 20 minutes--but this is a start.
I showered and stretched a bit in the sauna and then went home to start my work day. When I got home, I drank my usual Endurox R4 recovery drink and had 2 servings of oatmeal. Again, while I would like to go to non-instant oats and all that stuff, I can't make the time for that so it was Quaker Oats Raisin, Date and Walnut. Yum! So that was about 540 calories post-workout.
I still felt tired after the workout and really wanted to lay down for about an hour, but I couldn't do that because of work and wanting to be done by 5PM for the day. I had stuff oozing out of my eyes most of the day (damn chlorine), but other than that, I felt better than I had the week before, and this morning I feel pretty good, unlike last Saturday.
My next experiment will be in a few weeks when I will once again combine the long swim and ride on Saturday, which means I will get Friday off! It will be a train-through thing, to see if it's any worse to just do both the same day with a day of rest vs. doing the big swim on a work day. What will be key here is keeping up my calorie intake on Friday. For me, the stimulus to eat comes from working out, so if I'm not working out, my appetite just isn't there.
Now that I think about it, my appetite isn't what I would expect it to be. I'm not ravenous, but I also don't feel my workouts are being compromised, so I must be doing OK. I do know that I will start eating more pasta--it seems to be the best way for me to get in more calories without adding significant volume (which is why I don't eat it when I'm not training very much because I will overdo it). As it is, I'm a rice-a-holic, love the fruit and salads, but I need to kick it up a notch.
Once again I find it comical that the issue for me is not in doing the workouts--it's the nutrition and all the other stuff. I have never had issues being motivated to do the work. Since I think I've eaten pretty well to support my training in the last 10 years and am finding I need to work harder at it now, it makes me wonder how many people are really sabotaging their training with crappy diets. Certainly for Ironman training, it's beneficial to be somewhat lean, and if you want to be able to do any intensity in addition to volume, you had better be eating right. Although, I understand one man's idea of hobby is another woman's (!) obsession. I remember back to the first year I trained for an Ironman and did many things wrong, and I suffered because of it. I was overweight, didn't eat right (thought I could eat anything because of how much I was training), looked like crap, and sucked. My how things have changed!
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Friday, February 05, 2010
Inside the Monastery
I have recently started telling people that I am living like a monk. Well, not exactly a real monk, but I am forgoing many things in the name of this Ultraman campaign. Why? Even though several ultra-friends keep telling me that the training is "not much more than for an Ironman," the impact of "not much more" on me is huge.
I am not a lifelong swimmer, and the specter of swimming 10K and then biking (and biking more the next day and running a lot the next) has me wanting to be prepared. Just like it's advisable to go into an Ironman having trained well enough to know that the 2.4-mile swim won't trash you (although there are plenty of people who still do Ironman that are crappier swimmers than me, and I am just MOP, OK?), or at least for me it is, I want to go into Ultraman knowing I won't be lying on the beach moaning for 15 minutes after I get out of the water.
So I am swimming a lot, and I'm not that fast, so the yardage takes me longer than it would for a faster swimmer. But I am OK with that. Funny thing is, acclimating to the swimming I'm doing now is a trick considering I am also keeping up the same or more amount of biking and running than I would be doing this time of year. I am playing with nutrition, since I am just not used to thinking of swimming as a big calorie burner for me, and finding I need to fuel while swimming (the long swims) just like I would if I were biking or running. And hydrate! Even more! I was already used to swimming 1 to 1.5 hours before work 3 times a week, but Fridays are 2.5+ hours, and it's just a completely different animal. I just want to be prepared.
And then there was all that running I did from September through the beginning of January. And then I am doing extra "core" stuff (planks mostly) and pushups and pullups that I presume are helping to support the additional swimming at least, but also running and biking (the core stuff, silly!).
Then there's the job, which has become a little more intense in the last year. Now take all that training, add in :30 of stretching 6 days of the week, 1.5 hours the 7th day for a massage, and consider that I am trying to do, on average, 2 hours more of training a week than I did the prior season.
That 2 hours (even it were just one it's significant because I was already training a lot) is translating into a need for more sleep and more precise nutrition. I am lowering my caffeine intake (except for during training), increasing my fluid intake, increasing my calorie intake, and rarely eating anything remotely resembling junk food. I am cutting down my beer consumption now (it needed to be done anyway), too. I am to the point where I can wake up and be training within an hour, which includes driving to the Y. Once I am running outdoors more, the driving will be eliminated, but then I will be running more anyway! If there's anything I can do to sleep more at this point, I will do it!
So those 2 extra hours of training are giving rise to lots of other changes that require additional time on my part, to think about what I need to do, plan for it, execute it, take notes on it (in case it doesn't work), and most of all, RECOVER FROM IT!
I won't sacrifice sleep (9 hours a night, sometimes more, baby!) for something that is optional. I know this will all be over in 6 months anyway, so that isn't too long of a time to live like a monk, is it? Actually I don't care what anyone thinks. I suppose it's possible that I look back on this someday and think of it as a waste of time, but I doubt it. I'm doing something that for me, right now, is very hard. It is a ton of work and requires much vigilance. But I do get to experience good doses of joy in the process, too.
Really, I'd rather work out than work any day. I know that if I had the means (or lack of concern, anyway) to quit my job and just train, I would be doing even more. There are some people who say I should do less because I will burn out or the stress will get to me. I do have my moments, and I keep learning along the way what I can and cannot tolerate, but I will keep going. For example, I took a rest day on Monday. Wise move on my part! I am also, for the first time in years, going to do a deliberate cycle of 3 weeks build 1 week step back. I have a feeling my body would force me to do it anyway, but I am going to take the chance that I will, in fact, be stronger for it.
Someone asked me today whether I had anything "fun" planned for this weekend. My response was, "besides what I normally do? No." For now, I have some free time on the weekends to, um, relax, and fit in necessary errands and stuff that came up during the week but didn't attend to. So I don't plan for much more besides grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, reading, taking my sweet time doing whatever else needs doing, and then maybe getting an extra hour of sleep. Exciting, huh? On the plus side, I am starting to think about "what happens after Ultraman?" There will definitely be a vacation that does not have a race attached to it. As to triathlon, I can't say just yet. I'm sure I'll find out for sure in 6 months, though!
I am not a lifelong swimmer, and the specter of swimming 10K and then biking (and biking more the next day and running a lot the next) has me wanting to be prepared. Just like it's advisable to go into an Ironman having trained well enough to know that the 2.4-mile swim won't trash you (although there are plenty of people who still do Ironman that are crappier swimmers than me, and I am just MOP, OK?), or at least for me it is, I want to go into Ultraman knowing I won't be lying on the beach moaning for 15 minutes after I get out of the water.
So I am swimming a lot, and I'm not that fast, so the yardage takes me longer than it would for a faster swimmer. But I am OK with that. Funny thing is, acclimating to the swimming I'm doing now is a trick considering I am also keeping up the same or more amount of biking and running than I would be doing this time of year. I am playing with nutrition, since I am just not used to thinking of swimming as a big calorie burner for me, and finding I need to fuel while swimming (the long swims) just like I would if I were biking or running. And hydrate! Even more! I was already used to swimming 1 to 1.5 hours before work 3 times a week, but Fridays are 2.5+ hours, and it's just a completely different animal. I just want to be prepared.
And then there was all that running I did from September through the beginning of January. And then I am doing extra "core" stuff (planks mostly) and pushups and pullups that I presume are helping to support the additional swimming at least, but also running and biking (the core stuff, silly!).
Then there's the job, which has become a little more intense in the last year. Now take all that training, add in :30 of stretching 6 days of the week, 1.5 hours the 7th day for a massage, and consider that I am trying to do, on average, 2 hours more of training a week than I did the prior season.
That 2 hours (even it were just one it's significant because I was already training a lot) is translating into a need for more sleep and more precise nutrition. I am lowering my caffeine intake (except for during training), increasing my fluid intake, increasing my calorie intake, and rarely eating anything remotely resembling junk food. I am cutting down my beer consumption now (it needed to be done anyway), too. I am to the point where I can wake up and be training within an hour, which includes driving to the Y. Once I am running outdoors more, the driving will be eliminated, but then I will be running more anyway! If there's anything I can do to sleep more at this point, I will do it!
So those 2 extra hours of training are giving rise to lots of other changes that require additional time on my part, to think about what I need to do, plan for it, execute it, take notes on it (in case it doesn't work), and most of all, RECOVER FROM IT!
I won't sacrifice sleep (9 hours a night, sometimes more, baby!) for something that is optional. I know this will all be over in 6 months anyway, so that isn't too long of a time to live like a monk, is it? Actually I don't care what anyone thinks. I suppose it's possible that I look back on this someday and think of it as a waste of time, but I doubt it. I'm doing something that for me, right now, is very hard. It is a ton of work and requires much vigilance. But I do get to experience good doses of joy in the process, too.
Really, I'd rather work out than work any day. I know that if I had the means (or lack of concern, anyway) to quit my job and just train, I would be doing even more. There are some people who say I should do less because I will burn out or the stress will get to me. I do have my moments, and I keep learning along the way what I can and cannot tolerate, but I will keep going. For example, I took a rest day on Monday. Wise move on my part! I am also, for the first time in years, going to do a deliberate cycle of 3 weeks build 1 week step back. I have a feeling my body would force me to do it anyway, but I am going to take the chance that I will, in fact, be stronger for it.
Someone asked me today whether I had anything "fun" planned for this weekend. My response was, "besides what I normally do? No." For now, I have some free time on the weekends to, um, relax, and fit in necessary errands and stuff that came up during the week but didn't attend to. So I don't plan for much more besides grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, reading, taking my sweet time doing whatever else needs doing, and then maybe getting an extra hour of sleep. Exciting, huh? On the plus side, I am starting to think about "what happens after Ultraman?" There will definitely be a vacation that does not have a race attached to it. As to triathlon, I can't say just yet. I'm sure I'll find out for sure in 6 months, though!
Monday, February 01, 2010
Stinky Little Race Report
Yesterday was the first of the indoor sprint triathlons. Last year there were 4 of them spaced 2 weeks apart; this year there are only 3 because one of the clubs “didn’t see hosting as within their vision” or some bullshit like that. The races benefit the Multiple Sclerosis Society, and are very beginner-friendly, so how that club came to that conclusion befuddles me.
Anyway, last year I won my AG at all 4, which made me the series winner. I did really well at these last year, and I think this year is the fourth time I'm doing them. Format is 10' swim, 10' T1, 20' stationary bike, 5' T2 and 15' track run. Scoring is based on distance covered, so it favors bikers, and then runners. A very short race indeed! I do them just to get in some speedwork, benefit a worthy cause, kill off some of the winter blues, get a nice little massage afterward, and actually feel like a triathlete!
When I registered, at first I thought the first race was only 2 weeks after Goofy Challenge, in which case I would skip it (or not, who knows?), but I was experiencing calendar dyslexia, and was happy to realize it was THREE weeks after Goofy. Still, I wrote on my training calendar, "I might really suck" since this time around I am training harder than ever, and well, it is 3 weeks after a marathon.
On Friday, I had a pretty good 7500 swim, although I felt like a truck had run me over the rest of the day and into Saturday morning. I conferred with some of my ultra friends, and reviewed what I thought I may have done wrong and here's the analysis:
Are we seeing a pattern here? I swear, the eating thing is HUGE! So that is the plan from now on, eat more, drink more, especially before/during/after big workouts.
I got on the trainer Saturday morning and wasn't sure what I would be able to accomplish, but the plan was to ride for only 2 hours, so I figured I could manage that, even if it was just easy spinning. But it turned out I was able to put out some decent power, then I took my time in changing into running clothes and heading to the Y for a short little transition run. I only ran for 20', but it felt good.
When I finished all that, I still wasn't feeling all that great, so instead of trying to accomplish all sorts of things, I basically rested, but managed to go to the grocery store, stretch and fix dinner. I got myself organized for yesterday, since I'd be doing a good warmup, the race, and then running more afterward.
I had a little trouble falling asleep, and I awoke at least an hour before the alarm went off, but didn't feel particularly bad. I just reviewed the situation, though, and decided I didn't have high expectations for the race.
I got to the club, checked in, and they give us a booklet that talks about the race, sponsors, and then they list the AG and overall winners from the previous year. I did get a nice smile out of seeing my name in there!
I headed upstairs to the treadmills and got on one and started out real easy and it felt REALLY slow, so I guess that was a good thing. I did 10' on it and then since the first wave wasn't yet on the track, I ran a few laps quickly. The stationary bikes were set up inside the track (which is 8 laps to the mile), and I got on the spare bike to warm up. I pedalled really easily for 10' and it didn't feel at all bad, but knew from years past how "not good" the bike would feel during the race.
I went back to the locker room to put on my swimsuit, and walked out on the pool deck, got body marked (yes, even for this they follow the tradition!), and when the previous wave was finished, I jumped in. Wow, a nice, COLD pool! I did like a 300 warmup, but it takes me like 800-1000 yards to warmup, so whatever. While warming up, I could feel a cross current that was pushing me into the ropes. Oh well.
So the horn goes off and we are going. I felt good, felt like my stroke was good, but I just didn't have any speed (500 yds. WTF???). Oh well, at least I didn't suck any worse! The young man who was counting laps for me (although I count myself) had asked me before I started how much I thought I'd do and my response was, "I just don't want to suck!"
Despite not swimming very fast, the effort got the lactic acid going (and yes, I got pushed around by the current and the guy swimming breaststroke next to me), but I had to move on, so I showered quickly, and changed out my swimsuit bottom for bike shorts, socks and shoes, a hat (token-I rarely actually wear it). I was drinking Infinit for this, so I got in a couple of swills, and then got on the bike.
The evil bikes. I was relaxed about it, figuring I'd do whatever I was capable of doing, I would work hard, and it would be what it would be. It was good in that my wave had a bunch of youngsters in it, which to me is more motivating than racing against just my own AG, since I tend to be at or near the lead. I was on bike #5, and started out easy for maybe 30 seconds and then started into intervals. I have found that these bikes favor high RPM's, and in fact one of the men who does really well puts the thing at like Level 1 and just spins his brains out.
Anyway, in this wave, I was not the first to make 1 mile--I was 5th, but that was OK, they were all far younger than me. In watching the time and my mileage, I realized I wasn't doing that poorly, but it still sucked--I HATE those Precor bikes! In the end, I ended up at 6.01 miles, so I was at least glad I hit 6, although last year I almost hit 7.
When I got off the bike I just wanted to lay on the floor for a few seconds, so I threw my towel down and did just that. Of course, someone asks if I'm OK, and yes I am, just leave me be! I found my run lap counting volunteer guy, and I figured him for a triathlete himself due to his lack of fat and general build. He asked how many I thought I'd do, and I chuckled, but before I knew it, we were lining up and the gun went off.
I decided to just run, not look at my watch for lap splits or anything, try not to go out too hard, and just suck it up. It's only 15 minutes, right? Good thing they had one of the back doors open as you'd round the third turn, and that cold air felt really good! I had no idea how fast I was going, but I was behind the young speedsters, and after 1 lap began passing others who had taken off way too fast.
My lap counter guy sensed that I was "not bad" and with maybe 2 minutes left started yelling at me to pick it up a little, and I actually did! I'm sure I scowled at him, but even as bad as it felt, I did pick it up just a little and he even ran out to me the last minute to get me to hit 3/4 lap. I ended up at 14 3/4 laps, which is 8:08 pace, don't laugh I know I am slow! Still, I was surprised, and felt like I'd accomplished one goal for the day which was to not totally suck!
After walking a bit and nearly puking (I got asked yet again if I was OK--so OK I know I am not good looking or anything but do I really look that bad?), I decided I had better go and get my run on before I bagged it and just got a massage right then.
I changed out my top, grabbed some Gatorade, and went back upstairs to the treadmill. Oh boy, this is the part I hate! 2 years ago was the first time where I'd race and then continue running afterwards. I ended up doing 1:15, Z1-Z2, and was ready for a massage, so I headed back to the track for that, then I showered up and changed into regular clothes and went to watch a wave where I knew a few super fast people.
Before leaving, I thought I'd go ahead and check the results, just to see how bad I'd done. They had little strips of paper pinned to a bulletin board, and I guess I thought they were in rank order, as I quickly spotted myself down in 3rd place. But then I looked at the actual results and saw I was actually 1st! I jumped up and shouted, "YESSSS!" I'd actually not done nearly as bad as I though I might do, and it was all sweeter to me considering how hard I've been pushing myself lately.
But then I thought, crap, now I have a streak going, so I am going to have to work hard in 2 weeks at the next race! And I will, as long as it's within my power.
The interesting thing yesterday was going in with no expectations, but knowing that I could push myself anyway. I'd done it Saturday and I did it again yesterday. I remember vividly during both the bike and run (I just can't do it swimming) thinking it's hard, it sucks, but I can do it.
Last week saw me put in um...17 hours of training. This morning I decided I've earned a rest day, so I let myself sleep a bit more. I may still lift weights, but am not going to swim or run. And I think I'm going to do that after the next 2 races. Something tells me I need to back off a little...still complete my long swim, bike and run workouts, but the rest will be what it will be.
Anyway, last year I won my AG at all 4, which made me the series winner. I did really well at these last year, and I think this year is the fourth time I'm doing them. Format is 10' swim, 10' T1, 20' stationary bike, 5' T2 and 15' track run. Scoring is based on distance covered, so it favors bikers, and then runners. A very short race indeed! I do them just to get in some speedwork, benefit a worthy cause, kill off some of the winter blues, get a nice little massage afterward, and actually feel like a triathlete!
When I registered, at first I thought the first race was only 2 weeks after Goofy Challenge, in which case I would skip it (or not, who knows?), but I was experiencing calendar dyslexia, and was happy to realize it was THREE weeks after Goofy. Still, I wrote on my training calendar, "I might really suck" since this time around I am training harder than ever, and well, it is 3 weeks after a marathon.
On Friday, I had a pretty good 7500 swim, although I felt like a truck had run me over the rest of the day and into Saturday morning. I conferred with some of my ultra friends, and reviewed what I thought I may have done wrong and here's the analysis:
- Did I eat and hydrate properly the day before? Yes.
- Did I take in sufficient calories and hydration during the swim? No. My pool was warm (85-ish?), and even though I thought I drank enough, in reality I didn't, and even though I think I'm not burning that many calories swimming, I am, so I will fix those things this Friday.
- Did I replenish my calories sufficiently when I finished? No. Turns out I need to have like a full meal of like 600 calories right when I finish. Ideally, I'd take a nap or at least lay down for an hour, too, but unfortunately this is all happening by 9AM on a work day, so no chance of nap! Although I will try and find a way to at least lay down for 1/2 hour this Friday.
Are we seeing a pattern here? I swear, the eating thing is HUGE! So that is the plan from now on, eat more, drink more, especially before/during/after big workouts.
I got on the trainer Saturday morning and wasn't sure what I would be able to accomplish, but the plan was to ride for only 2 hours, so I figured I could manage that, even if it was just easy spinning. But it turned out I was able to put out some decent power, then I took my time in changing into running clothes and heading to the Y for a short little transition run. I only ran for 20', but it felt good.
When I finished all that, I still wasn't feeling all that great, so instead of trying to accomplish all sorts of things, I basically rested, but managed to go to the grocery store, stretch and fix dinner. I got myself organized for yesterday, since I'd be doing a good warmup, the race, and then running more afterward.
I had a little trouble falling asleep, and I awoke at least an hour before the alarm went off, but didn't feel particularly bad. I just reviewed the situation, though, and decided I didn't have high expectations for the race.
I got to the club, checked in, and they give us a booklet that talks about the race, sponsors, and then they list the AG and overall winners from the previous year. I did get a nice smile out of seeing my name in there!
I headed upstairs to the treadmills and got on one and started out real easy and it felt REALLY slow, so I guess that was a good thing. I did 10' on it and then since the first wave wasn't yet on the track, I ran a few laps quickly. The stationary bikes were set up inside the track (which is 8 laps to the mile), and I got on the spare bike to warm up. I pedalled really easily for 10' and it didn't feel at all bad, but knew from years past how "not good" the bike would feel during the race.
I went back to the locker room to put on my swimsuit, and walked out on the pool deck, got body marked (yes, even for this they follow the tradition!), and when the previous wave was finished, I jumped in. Wow, a nice, COLD pool! I did like a 300 warmup, but it takes me like 800-1000 yards to warmup, so whatever. While warming up, I could feel a cross current that was pushing me into the ropes. Oh well.
So the horn goes off and we are going. I felt good, felt like my stroke was good, but I just didn't have any speed (500 yds. WTF???). Oh well, at least I didn't suck any worse! The young man who was counting laps for me (although I count myself) had asked me before I started how much I thought I'd do and my response was, "I just don't want to suck!"
Despite not swimming very fast, the effort got the lactic acid going (and yes, I got pushed around by the current and the guy swimming breaststroke next to me), but I had to move on, so I showered quickly, and changed out my swimsuit bottom for bike shorts, socks and shoes, a hat (token-I rarely actually wear it). I was drinking Infinit for this, so I got in a couple of swills, and then got on the bike.
The evil bikes. I was relaxed about it, figuring I'd do whatever I was capable of doing, I would work hard, and it would be what it would be. It was good in that my wave had a bunch of youngsters in it, which to me is more motivating than racing against just my own AG, since I tend to be at or near the lead. I was on bike #5, and started out easy for maybe 30 seconds and then started into intervals. I have found that these bikes favor high RPM's, and in fact one of the men who does really well puts the thing at like Level 1 and just spins his brains out.
Anyway, in this wave, I was not the first to make 1 mile--I was 5th, but that was OK, they were all far younger than me. In watching the time and my mileage, I realized I wasn't doing that poorly, but it still sucked--I HATE those Precor bikes! In the end, I ended up at 6.01 miles, so I was at least glad I hit 6, although last year I almost hit 7.
When I got off the bike I just wanted to lay on the floor for a few seconds, so I threw my towel down and did just that. Of course, someone asks if I'm OK, and yes I am, just leave me be! I found my run lap counting volunteer guy, and I figured him for a triathlete himself due to his lack of fat and general build. He asked how many I thought I'd do, and I chuckled, but before I knew it, we were lining up and the gun went off.
I decided to just run, not look at my watch for lap splits or anything, try not to go out too hard, and just suck it up. It's only 15 minutes, right? Good thing they had one of the back doors open as you'd round the third turn, and that cold air felt really good! I had no idea how fast I was going, but I was behind the young speedsters, and after 1 lap began passing others who had taken off way too fast.
My lap counter guy sensed that I was "not bad" and with maybe 2 minutes left started yelling at me to pick it up a little, and I actually did! I'm sure I scowled at him, but even as bad as it felt, I did pick it up just a little and he even ran out to me the last minute to get me to hit 3/4 lap. I ended up at 14 3/4 laps, which is 8:08 pace, don't laugh I know I am slow! Still, I was surprised, and felt like I'd accomplished one goal for the day which was to not totally suck!
After walking a bit and nearly puking (I got asked yet again if I was OK--so OK I know I am not good looking or anything but do I really look that bad?), I decided I had better go and get my run on before I bagged it and just got a massage right then.
I changed out my top, grabbed some Gatorade, and went back upstairs to the treadmill. Oh boy, this is the part I hate! 2 years ago was the first time where I'd race and then continue running afterwards. I ended up doing 1:15, Z1-Z2, and was ready for a massage, so I headed back to the track for that, then I showered up and changed into regular clothes and went to watch a wave where I knew a few super fast people.
Before leaving, I thought I'd go ahead and check the results, just to see how bad I'd done. They had little strips of paper pinned to a bulletin board, and I guess I thought they were in rank order, as I quickly spotted myself down in 3rd place. But then I looked at the actual results and saw I was actually 1st! I jumped up and shouted, "YESSSS!" I'd actually not done nearly as bad as I though I might do, and it was all sweeter to me considering how hard I've been pushing myself lately.
But then I thought, crap, now I have a streak going, so I am going to have to work hard in 2 weeks at the next race! And I will, as long as it's within my power.
The interesting thing yesterday was going in with no expectations, but knowing that I could push myself anyway. I'd done it Saturday and I did it again yesterday. I remember vividly during both the bike and run (I just can't do it swimming) thinking it's hard, it sucks, but I can do it.
Last week saw me put in um...17 hours of training. This morning I decided I've earned a rest day, so I let myself sleep a bit more. I may still lift weights, but am not going to swim or run. And I think I'm going to do that after the next 2 races. Something tells me I need to back off a little...still complete my long swim, bike and run workouts, but the rest will be what it will be.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Ultraman Training is a Full Time Job
Wow, I keep learning things all the time in this adventure.
Once again, I felt trashed after my swim on Friday. I felt just fine doing it, swam pretty well, in fact, but the rest of the day I just wanted to lay down and die. Now, part of this is that it's not customary for me to be doing 2.5 hour workouts before I start my work day...although I work up to long runs that long in the spring and summer that I do before work on Thursdays (but who knows what will happen this spring?). But it is only just about February, so guess I'm not quite ready for that yet.
Now that I review my training, I'm seeing that this phenomenon applies to swims of over 2 hours done on a Friday. When I did the 9,000 or whatever it was and the 11,000, I had a day of rest the day before and didn't work the day of.
Then I read in my handy book on long-distance swimming that I should be drinking 8 oz. of fluid every 15 minutes! So I need to up my fluid intake in these long swims, especially since my pool is usually too hot (85-ish).
So I think what's happening is I'm getting dehydrated and not really taking in enough calories during and right after these big swims. In my head, I'm thinking, "It's just swimming," and that I'm not burning so many calories, but in reality I am.
I felt great Monday-Thursday of this week and during the 7500 swim on Friday, so I think in general I am doing OK on my calorie intake, but need to be extra careful on Fridays, especially since I am also training long on Saturdays and Sundays. Funny thing is when I do the 5+ hour workouts, I am like clockwork in terms of my day before, pre- and during- workout nutrition. It needs to be a daily thing now.
I have to find a way to shove more calories in before my morning workouts, but yet still be able to take them in just an hour before liftoff, because I can't sacrifice sleep.
I think maybe I will set an alarm so that I eat at least 200 calories every 2 hours during my workdays. I just have to stuff in the food! I bought some more fruit at the grocery store today--dates and figs--that pack lots of calories in low volume, so that will help me boost things up. And then I need to get on a rigid schedule of when I do my mid-day workout, because this game is really about eating to train.
So it's wake up, eat breakfast, train, eat a snack, train, eat lunch, eat a snack, stretch, eat dinner, eat another snack and pass out. And that's on Monday-Friday!
I have an indoor triathlon tomorrow and now that I'm feeling a bit better, I'm looking forward to it. But it will just be part of another big training day--I will warm up thoroughly for the 1 hour race, do the race, then run for about 1:20 after. This should be interesting, now that I'm doing the big swims on Fridays.
I always get a kick out of my massage therapist, Mike, telling me about what he notices in my body in terms of my musculature. Most of the time I think he's just being nice to me and giving me these compliments because, hey, that's a nice thing to do. This past Wednesday he said he noticed how "full" my upper back muscles are, and as usual, I thought he was just being nice to me. But today, when I got to the Y to run and I looked in the mirror, well, hell, I could tell that I no longer have the just skinny/cut upper back, but there is some meat back there now. Since I haven't put on any weight, that muscle has to come from somewhere so I guess I am leaner someplace else! Maybe my face!
I am reading "Once a Runner" and getting into it. Even though I don't consider myself a runner, I can relate! Why am I doing this? When I'm in a race, I think, "What the fuck am I doing here?" But it's all good, and on that note, I am going to get some food in me and chill out before tomorrow's big day.
Once again, I felt trashed after my swim on Friday. I felt just fine doing it, swam pretty well, in fact, but the rest of the day I just wanted to lay down and die. Now, part of this is that it's not customary for me to be doing 2.5 hour workouts before I start my work day...although I work up to long runs that long in the spring and summer that I do before work on Thursdays (but who knows what will happen this spring?). But it is only just about February, so guess I'm not quite ready for that yet.
Now that I review my training, I'm seeing that this phenomenon applies to swims of over 2 hours done on a Friday. When I did the 9,000 or whatever it was and the 11,000, I had a day of rest the day before and didn't work the day of.
Then I read in my handy book on long-distance swimming that I should be drinking 8 oz. of fluid every 15 minutes! So I need to up my fluid intake in these long swims, especially since my pool is usually too hot (85-ish).
So I think what's happening is I'm getting dehydrated and not really taking in enough calories during and right after these big swims. In my head, I'm thinking, "It's just swimming," and that I'm not burning so many calories, but in reality I am.
I felt great Monday-Thursday of this week and during the 7500 swim on Friday, so I think in general I am doing OK on my calorie intake, but need to be extra careful on Fridays, especially since I am also training long on Saturdays and Sundays. Funny thing is when I do the 5+ hour workouts, I am like clockwork in terms of my day before, pre- and during- workout nutrition. It needs to be a daily thing now.
I have to find a way to shove more calories in before my morning workouts, but yet still be able to take them in just an hour before liftoff, because I can't sacrifice sleep.
I think maybe I will set an alarm so that I eat at least 200 calories every 2 hours during my workdays. I just have to stuff in the food! I bought some more fruit at the grocery store today--dates and figs--that pack lots of calories in low volume, so that will help me boost things up. And then I need to get on a rigid schedule of when I do my mid-day workout, because this game is really about eating to train.
So it's wake up, eat breakfast, train, eat a snack, train, eat lunch, eat a snack, stretch, eat dinner, eat another snack and pass out. And that's on Monday-Friday!
I have an indoor triathlon tomorrow and now that I'm feeling a bit better, I'm looking forward to it. But it will just be part of another big training day--I will warm up thoroughly for the 1 hour race, do the race, then run for about 1:20 after. This should be interesting, now that I'm doing the big swims on Fridays.
I always get a kick out of my massage therapist, Mike, telling me about what he notices in my body in terms of my musculature. Most of the time I think he's just being nice to me and giving me these compliments because, hey, that's a nice thing to do. This past Wednesday he said he noticed how "full" my upper back muscles are, and as usual, I thought he was just being nice to me. But today, when I got to the Y to run and I looked in the mirror, well, hell, I could tell that I no longer have the just skinny/cut upper back, but there is some meat back there now. Since I haven't put on any weight, that muscle has to come from somewhere so I guess I am leaner someplace else! Maybe my face!
I am reading "Once a Runner" and getting into it. Even though I don't consider myself a runner, I can relate! Why am I doing this? When I'm in a race, I think, "What the fuck am I doing here?" But it's all good, and on that note, I am going to get some food in me and chill out before tomorrow's big day.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Need to get More Regular Here
If you read my last post, you probably figured out that I'm on a pretty tight schedule during the weekdays. And then on the weekends, even though I'm not doing really long workouts yet, my "spare" time gets filled with errands and stuff that some people manage to get done on weekdays, but not me.
I came across the blog of a woman who did Ultraman Canada in 2009. I think I have read it cover to cover, and it both validated some of the thoughts and experiences I've had to date, and it also scared the shit out of me! It sounds like she trained a whole ton, and I have decided that all I can do is do as much as I can while recovering and staying employed and not having my life fall apart!
Well let me step back. I am doing enough swimming, although I would like to do more, but I have to allocate my time and as long as I'm getting more than 10,000 yards per week, I think that's the best I can do.
Ideally, I'd be running 40-50 miles per week every week, but that means for me 6+ hours of running a week, which I can do, but then I also have to bike (see where I'm going with this?).
My experience with Ironman training is that I can manage the 5-hour run weeks with about 12 hours of biking and 4-5 hours swimming for only 6-8 weeks at a time. So I have to play with the mix.
I did decide one thing today, which is that I will start to add some fast walking/hiking weekly, and it's just going to be whenever I can, and of course, as it warms up I will do more. This helped me a ton training for North Face, so I figure it can't hurt, as long as I don't consider it as a replacement for any planned training--it will just be "extra," much like my Monday and Wednesday pre-swim core festivals are "extra."
I saw someone jumping rope at the Y the other day and I wished I had time to do some of that, too. Thing is, if I didn't have a job, I'd be happy as a clam training like 4+ hours a day (with a nap in there). Swim some, bike some, run some, do some weights, skip, jump rope, whatever. When I'm at the Y and I see all the different types of equipment, I want to try it all out!
I laughed the other day because while I was running, my bra top was just digging into my rib cage, so when I got home, I pulled out a tape measure and measured my chest, and sure enough, it's an inch bigger than my biggest over the last 5 years. So then I thought, what the hell, put on a bra (I wear them VERY infrequently--no boobs--why would I?), and it was hysterical because while, of course, my actual boobs haven't gotten any bigger, I could tell the underlying pecs did. Yippee for lots of pushups and yards of swimming! I think also my traps have become bigger, which is why my newer swimsuits don't fit right anymore--oh well!
Sometimes I think maybe I have become too lean for my own good, but it's not like I'm trying to be so lean--it just happens. I only have so much time for eating, and I'm so used to eating just a little at each meal that maybe I should try harder. I don't think I've lost any muscle mass and I might just go and get a DEXA scan to see where I am for the hell of it.
This Sunday I get to do an indoor sprint triathlon, and that should be fun. I might suck because I am not lessening my training any to do it, but that's OK by me. It will be a nice little speed session, and I get food and a massage afterwards!
Also, Sunday marks exactly 6 months to race day. Fucking Yikes!!! On the bright side, only 6 more months of living like a freaking monk, and that is something I can stomach. Kind of like studying for a big test. Only the test is 3 days long. And I don't have a full crew.
Even though it seems that every other day I am experiencing some inner turmoil about what I am doing, I have made smiling around others a priority. People who know what's up and care to ask me how I'm doing are great, and I'm talking mostly about people at my Y, since I'm there every day sometimes twice. Apparently I'm a hot topic, as someone I hadn't seen in months knew what I was up to through the grapevine. It made me wonder how many people that belong to YMCA's in the US have done an Ultraman...my guess is not very many! And in one conversation I realized why I get some of the reactions I do. I mean how many people do YOU personally know who are doing or who have done Ultraman or beyond? It's not very common. Kind of like saying you are going to climb Mt. Everest or K2. Speaking of which, last week in a work meeting (over the phone), we played "two truths and a lie." My truths were that I have a collection of Barbie dolls and that I have 4 bikes with one on the way. My lie was that I was planning to climb Everest in 2 years. I stumped most of my colleagues! Most of them thought the Barbie collection was the lie! And just so you know, I have no intention of climbing mountains, although I have read several books by climbers (I need to refresh my stock) and understand why they do it. I could see myself moving to the mountains somewhere--Colorado or Kona--because they are very spiritual to me.
Normally this time of year I would be lusting over catalogs of flowers and other things I would like to plant come spring, but I am going to have to let that go this year because I just won't have time for additional planting. Actually I slacked last spring, too, I guess because I ended up training a little more than I had in the past. I will probably cave on some annuals, though, while doing my grocery shopping. I think I can manage a couple of hanging baskets and some planters on the patio.
I no longer subscribe to any triathlon magazines, although if I run across them at a store, I might pick one up. Not like you are going to find "tips on training for Ultraman" in there, anyway! I have almost finished the stack of books I got back in October, so it will be time to hit amazon.com, only different subject matter. Instead of escape, I will be looking for books about people completing physical challenges--maybe some mountain climbing, that sort of thing.
Well I spent too long on this post already because I need to get back to work and get in one more workout (finish my strength training for the week) before I can go and crack a beer, stretch, organize dinner, fix bottles for my big swim tomorrow, load the coffeepot, pack my swimbag, set the alarm, eat dinner, relax a little and then lights out!
I came across the blog of a woman who did Ultraman Canada in 2009. I think I have read it cover to cover, and it both validated some of the thoughts and experiences I've had to date, and it also scared the shit out of me! It sounds like she trained a whole ton, and I have decided that all I can do is do as much as I can while recovering and staying employed and not having my life fall apart!
Well let me step back. I am doing enough swimming, although I would like to do more, but I have to allocate my time and as long as I'm getting more than 10,000 yards per week, I think that's the best I can do.
Ideally, I'd be running 40-50 miles per week every week, but that means for me 6+ hours of running a week, which I can do, but then I also have to bike (see where I'm going with this?).
My experience with Ironman training is that I can manage the 5-hour run weeks with about 12 hours of biking and 4-5 hours swimming for only 6-8 weeks at a time. So I have to play with the mix.
I did decide one thing today, which is that I will start to add some fast walking/hiking weekly, and it's just going to be whenever I can, and of course, as it warms up I will do more. This helped me a ton training for North Face, so I figure it can't hurt, as long as I don't consider it as a replacement for any planned training--it will just be "extra," much like my Monday and Wednesday pre-swim core festivals are "extra."
I saw someone jumping rope at the Y the other day and I wished I had time to do some of that, too. Thing is, if I didn't have a job, I'd be happy as a clam training like 4+ hours a day (with a nap in there). Swim some, bike some, run some, do some weights, skip, jump rope, whatever. When I'm at the Y and I see all the different types of equipment, I want to try it all out!
I laughed the other day because while I was running, my bra top was just digging into my rib cage, so when I got home, I pulled out a tape measure and measured my chest, and sure enough, it's an inch bigger than my biggest over the last 5 years. So then I thought, what the hell, put on a bra (I wear them VERY infrequently--no boobs--why would I?), and it was hysterical because while, of course, my actual boobs haven't gotten any bigger, I could tell the underlying pecs did. Yippee for lots of pushups and yards of swimming! I think also my traps have become bigger, which is why my newer swimsuits don't fit right anymore--oh well!
Sometimes I think maybe I have become too lean for my own good, but it's not like I'm trying to be so lean--it just happens. I only have so much time for eating, and I'm so used to eating just a little at each meal that maybe I should try harder. I don't think I've lost any muscle mass and I might just go and get a DEXA scan to see where I am for the hell of it.
This Sunday I get to do an indoor sprint triathlon, and that should be fun. I might suck because I am not lessening my training any to do it, but that's OK by me. It will be a nice little speed session, and I get food and a massage afterwards!
Also, Sunday marks exactly 6 months to race day. Fucking Yikes!!! On the bright side, only 6 more months of living like a freaking monk, and that is something I can stomach. Kind of like studying for a big test. Only the test is 3 days long. And I don't have a full crew.
Even though it seems that every other day I am experiencing some inner turmoil about what I am doing, I have made smiling around others a priority. People who know what's up and care to ask me how I'm doing are great, and I'm talking mostly about people at my Y, since I'm there every day sometimes twice. Apparently I'm a hot topic, as someone I hadn't seen in months knew what I was up to through the grapevine. It made me wonder how many people that belong to YMCA's in the US have done an Ultraman...my guess is not very many! And in one conversation I realized why I get some of the reactions I do. I mean how many people do YOU personally know who are doing or who have done Ultraman or beyond? It's not very common. Kind of like saying you are going to climb Mt. Everest or K2. Speaking of which, last week in a work meeting (over the phone), we played "two truths and a lie." My truths were that I have a collection of Barbie dolls and that I have 4 bikes with one on the way. My lie was that I was planning to climb Everest in 2 years. I stumped most of my colleagues! Most of them thought the Barbie collection was the lie! And just so you know, I have no intention of climbing mountains, although I have read several books by climbers (I need to refresh my stock) and understand why they do it. I could see myself moving to the mountains somewhere--Colorado or Kona--because they are very spiritual to me.
Normally this time of year I would be lusting over catalogs of flowers and other things I would like to plant come spring, but I am going to have to let that go this year because I just won't have time for additional planting. Actually I slacked last spring, too, I guess because I ended up training a little more than I had in the past. I will probably cave on some annuals, though, while doing my grocery shopping. I think I can manage a couple of hanging baskets and some planters on the patio.
I no longer subscribe to any triathlon magazines, although if I run across them at a store, I might pick one up. Not like you are going to find "tips on training for Ultraman" in there, anyway! I have almost finished the stack of books I got back in October, so it will be time to hit amazon.com, only different subject matter. Instead of escape, I will be looking for books about people completing physical challenges--maybe some mountain climbing, that sort of thing.
Well I spent too long on this post already because I need to get back to work and get in one more workout (finish my strength training for the week) before I can go and crack a beer, stretch, organize dinner, fix bottles for my big swim tomorrow, load the coffeepot, pack my swimbag, set the alarm, eat dinner, relax a little and then lights out!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Ramblings
I keep wanting to write a blog post, then I think what I'm thinking is stupid, mundane or uninteresting, so I don't. But I write this stuff as much for myself as for my alleged readers, so here goes.
Goofy Challenge was good, recovering from it not so much. Not physically, but mentally. Maybe I was doing so much that I really needed a good rest or maybe I have short-term memory. I could go and look at past years to see how I recovered from it, but this time was different because I'd trained a whole lot more before it, not just running, but swimming, too. So I guess a comparison would be apples and oranges. And then I worry it's because I've gotten older. Which sucks. I really have no clue as to whether what I am experiencing is age-related or not. Hey, I got faster at Goofy, so that's good, right?
I am fortunate, in a way, that I wasn't athletic as a child, teen or during college. Some of the people who were burn out and have to face that slowing down thing much sooner than me. I only started this stuff 12 years ago, and current indications are that I am not really slowing down yet. Maybe I just haven't reached my maximum speeds!
I am sleeping a lot. A LOT! For this season (which began on 8/31), I am averaging 9 hours a night. That feels about like what I need, and I hope I can keep that up. But since 3-5 days a week I have to be up at or before 5AM, that means I need to be asleep at 8PM. It seems some people are curious as to my lifestyle now--at least those that can fathom Ultraman and the fact that I am training even more now (on average--not right at the moment) than I ever did for an Ironman.
My typical weekday is like this: wake up at 5AM, have 2 cups of coffee and breakfast which is usually a hardboiled egg with a toasted English muffin with about 1 tsp. of jam, try and wake up, then leave home at 5:45 AM so that I can be in the pool at 6AM (M/W/F). Except that if it's Friday, I am swimming long, and so I'm up before 5 depending on how long I swim (with an aim to finish by 8:30 on Fridays, and 7:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays). On Mondays and Wednesdays, I do about 20 minutes worth of core stuff before I get in the pool.
Begin working, by 8AM most days, maybe 9AM on Fridays. Have a couple of bananas and whatever other snacks I think I want before my second workout, which is usually around 11:30AM. If it's Tuesday or Thursday right now, I would have lifted in the morning, and my second workout would be a ride of about 1:30. If it's M/W/F, my second workout is a run of :50-1:15 in duration (yes, even on Fridays after a 2+ hour swim).
After that second workout, it's time to drink the Endurox R4 and eat lunch, which is some sort of Lean Cuisine (they are fairly healthy) that includes rice. I really like the pot stickers the most. I am already working while eating lunch, and have meetings many days that begin right after my second workout. I am usually in a good mood!
I work until 5 or 5:30 (whatever gets me to 8 hours), and then I'm ready to crack a beer while I stretch for about 1/2 hour. Unless it's Wednesday, in which case I go and get a 1 hour massage at 4PM and then come home and work some more.
After I stretch, I get my dinner prepared, which is usually a salad or a side of rice with something that I've microwaved that had been in the freezer, having been prepared on a weekend when I actually have time to cook. I usually sit down to have dinner while watching something stupid on TV about 6:30PM. Maybe I read a newspaper or magazine that I subscribe to.
7PM is decision time--is there anything else worth watching on TV or not? The answer usually is NOT, and so I head upstairs and get into bed to read for up to an hour before going to sleep at 8PM or so.
Pretty boring, huh? Right now, I can sleep in on weekends, because my workouts are only 3-4 hours each day, so I can start whenever I like since they are all indoors anyway. And that's when I get miscellaneous things done like laundry, fixing bottles (for swimming and recovery drink), dishes, messing around with my training schedule (which is far more malleable this season than ever before!), trying to keep my house organized and relatively clean.
And of course, I have to fit in things like regular haircuts and waxing (!). At the end of each year, I make a schedule for like the next 8 months and hand it off to my girls, and they are cool with it, then I get the times I want that fit into my schedule.
I have a few things working for me in this madness--I'm single and not in a relationship (and have been told by many that I am not even desireable because of my insane training so there you go), I work at home and I live .6 miles from my indoor pool/gym. Oh and I have free weights and a weight machine at home so there is absolutely no excuse for me not to use that stuff and I can sneak in that time whenever the opportunity arises--sometimes even during work meetings where I am just listening in!
As much as I dislike winter where I live, at least there is no yard work to be done, except for snow removal, which I actually sort of enjoy--it's like another strength workout! Plus I'm outside! Somehow, during spring through fall, I find time to mow my lawn, tend to all my perennials and the odd home maintenance thing, although I usually pay someone else to do those things.
And yet, I get people asking me why I am doing what I am doing. In a way, I understand it, because I am not shy about saying that it is a challenge just to do the training I do while working fulltime. And yes, Ultraman will cost me a ton of money. But what else would I be doing with it? This is the first time that I have felt like I am sacrificing ANY semblance of a social life in order to do this, but I also know that it is temporary (at least unless I decide I want to keep doing it), and that soon it will be time for me to consider retiring from my regular job which would change things up a whole lot.
I still don't think I am doing anything amazing. I know people who are doing far more than me. What I don't get is how people react to me saying "This is hard." Like hard is a bad thing. I guess it is for many people. I think society, and I'll say American society, has conditioned everyone to think that life should be easy, and that is why, I think, there is an epidemic of obesity. Hey, I worked 8 hours--exercising is like more work, why would I do that? And food is really plentiful and relatively cheap here in the U.S.
Sure, we are all entitled to, and even need, leisure time. It's what we choose to do with it that defines our overall satisfaction in this short life we have. I am so glad that I became unattached to TV a few years ago. I can take it or leave it, and now, I really need to leave it in order to take care of my body well enough to do the training necessary (or that I think is necessary) in order to do this Ultraman thing. But I won't sacrifice reading--it has always been near and dear to me (except for when my Dad made us read books and do book reports during the summer which I used to think was torture but it was actually brilliant, because I absolutely LOVE reading now), and it's the written word that, helps me stay up on current events, expand my imagination and sometimes just escape from reality.
How am I feeling? Pretty damn good, now that I feel like I am finally recovered from Goofy. You know what? I like to run. Almost every time I do it now, I enjoy it immensely. Go figure! I still don't consider myself a "real" runner--I just am not fast--but I like it now. I am really looking forward to getting to run for 2+ hours because that is when it feels really good to me.
I am at a slightly decreased level of training for a few weeks, and I needed it, but it's weird that I sometimes think how the hell was I doing so much before, and how did I fit it all in? But then I just ease on back into the old schedule, and I'll admit, I'm addicted to endorphins, and I find myself doing just fine.
I am sick of winter, mostly because there are quite a few gray days in Chicago, and I spend 8 good months of the year outside for many hours that it sucks to be inside so much. Then again, it makes me reduce my training somewhat which I know is a good thing. And running on the treadmill gives my legs, hips and back a break from the pavement pounding.
I am starting the indoor triathlon series (only 3 this time) next weekend, and that usually helps with the winter doldrums. Although normally I would expect to win my AG, I am not assuming that this time since I will be training a lot more than in years past. But they will be fun to get in a 1 hour speed workout plus a massage afterwards! Oh and then I do a long run afterwards, but I am used to it. I am doing a 1/2 marathon race in March, and that's all for races until Ultraman, but there are some "epic style" (I hesitate to use the word just "epic" because I might be admonished) weekends I have planned in May and June that will form the final buildup to Ultraman.
Yes, I am still appropriately fearful of Ultraman. I do appreciate it when people tell me they know I can do it, and I do think much of it is a mental exercise, but I am feeling pretty good about the first 2 days--it's that pesky 52.4 mile run on Day 3 that I have no clue about. But all I can do is to keep keeping on. So far, I have responded very well to the training I have done, and as long as that continues, I will know that I am doing all that I can do in order to achieve the goal, given that I am still a working stiff, you know. I have had many daydreams or visualizations about finishing Ultraman, which is a good thing, and as each week passes, I will be pushing aside more and more naysayers, as they have no place whatsoever in my training program!
I do not yet have my game face, but I think I am getting close to it. I have only 6 months left to prepare, and this is very serious stuff to me, and I don't take any of it lightly. I am looking forward to getting the new bike, even though I keep thinking I didn't really need to get one, but I know that just like when I got my Pinarello, it will push me to do it justice and represent well out on the roads!
My very most food weakness holiday is approaching--Valentine's Day. I don't much get into the Halloween candy anymore, and I'm not a chocoholic and don't succumb too much over Christmas, but Valentine's brings my favorite candy and I just can't resist them:
I have already eaten 4 bags of these things and you'd think I'd be fat, but um...nope. They are like filler extra calories that I need and they are my FAVORITE candy EVER. They work well as a pre-workout snack and also in the evening if I think I want a few more calories.
Other than the hearts, I am pretty good about my diet. I am eating lots of salad, which will eventually switch over to more rice and pasta. I need the greens, and I feel great eating a pretty spare diet, although I am sure I am getting enough calories or else I would have crappy workouts.
The eating thing when training like this is interesting. Even though I have talked about the candy, really I eat pretty cleanly most of the time. Why? Because there is always another workout looming and I need to be at my best not just for the workouts but also to maintain my job and have some semblance of energy left for other daily living activities. But I don't feel like I'm depriving myself of anything--I just do not (except for the candy, OK?) have cravings for junk food, and I'm on such a tight schedule most days that going out for crap just never happens. I still love to cook and do so on the weekends and freeze stuff because I have very little time on weekdays.
This whole experiment has been interesting so far. I wonder how I will feel in 3 months and then again in 6 months? If it's anything close to how I feel right now, it will be GREAT! Like I've tried to explain, even though this is a crazy-fucking-ass way to live your live just to do a BIG HUGE THING, I am really enjoying it, even though it puts into focus what other "normal" people may think about it and my own mental processes as far as believing I am capable and just as much thinking what the fucking hell am I doing.
Today is a good day and I am happy for it!
Goofy Challenge was good, recovering from it not so much. Not physically, but mentally. Maybe I was doing so much that I really needed a good rest or maybe I have short-term memory. I could go and look at past years to see how I recovered from it, but this time was different because I'd trained a whole lot more before it, not just running, but swimming, too. So I guess a comparison would be apples and oranges. And then I worry it's because I've gotten older. Which sucks. I really have no clue as to whether what I am experiencing is age-related or not. Hey, I got faster at Goofy, so that's good, right?
I am fortunate, in a way, that I wasn't athletic as a child, teen or during college. Some of the people who were burn out and have to face that slowing down thing much sooner than me. I only started this stuff 12 years ago, and current indications are that I am not really slowing down yet. Maybe I just haven't reached my maximum speeds!
I am sleeping a lot. A LOT! For this season (which began on 8/31), I am averaging 9 hours a night. That feels about like what I need, and I hope I can keep that up. But since 3-5 days a week I have to be up at or before 5AM, that means I need to be asleep at 8PM. It seems some people are curious as to my lifestyle now--at least those that can fathom Ultraman and the fact that I am training even more now (on average--not right at the moment) than I ever did for an Ironman.
My typical weekday is like this: wake up at 5AM, have 2 cups of coffee and breakfast which is usually a hardboiled egg with a toasted English muffin with about 1 tsp. of jam, try and wake up, then leave home at 5:45 AM so that I can be in the pool at 6AM (M/W/F). Except that if it's Friday, I am swimming long, and so I'm up before 5 depending on how long I swim (with an aim to finish by 8:30 on Fridays, and 7:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays). On Mondays and Wednesdays, I do about 20 minutes worth of core stuff before I get in the pool.
Begin working, by 8AM most days, maybe 9AM on Fridays. Have a couple of bananas and whatever other snacks I think I want before my second workout, which is usually around 11:30AM. If it's Tuesday or Thursday right now, I would have lifted in the morning, and my second workout would be a ride of about 1:30. If it's M/W/F, my second workout is a run of :50-1:15 in duration (yes, even on Fridays after a 2+ hour swim).
After that second workout, it's time to drink the Endurox R4 and eat lunch, which is some sort of Lean Cuisine (they are fairly healthy) that includes rice. I really like the pot stickers the most. I am already working while eating lunch, and have meetings many days that begin right after my second workout. I am usually in a good mood!
I work until 5 or 5:30 (whatever gets me to 8 hours), and then I'm ready to crack a beer while I stretch for about 1/2 hour. Unless it's Wednesday, in which case I go and get a 1 hour massage at 4PM and then come home and work some more.
After I stretch, I get my dinner prepared, which is usually a salad or a side of rice with something that I've microwaved that had been in the freezer, having been prepared on a weekend when I actually have time to cook. I usually sit down to have dinner while watching something stupid on TV about 6:30PM. Maybe I read a newspaper or magazine that I subscribe to.
7PM is decision time--is there anything else worth watching on TV or not? The answer usually is NOT, and so I head upstairs and get into bed to read for up to an hour before going to sleep at 8PM or so.
Pretty boring, huh? Right now, I can sleep in on weekends, because my workouts are only 3-4 hours each day, so I can start whenever I like since they are all indoors anyway. And that's when I get miscellaneous things done like laundry, fixing bottles (for swimming and recovery drink), dishes, messing around with my training schedule (which is far more malleable this season than ever before!), trying to keep my house organized and relatively clean.
And of course, I have to fit in things like regular haircuts and waxing (!). At the end of each year, I make a schedule for like the next 8 months and hand it off to my girls, and they are cool with it, then I get the times I want that fit into my schedule.
I have a few things working for me in this madness--I'm single and not in a relationship (and have been told by many that I am not even desireable because of my insane training so there you go), I work at home and I live .6 miles from my indoor pool/gym. Oh and I have free weights and a weight machine at home so there is absolutely no excuse for me not to use that stuff and I can sneak in that time whenever the opportunity arises--sometimes even during work meetings where I am just listening in!
As much as I dislike winter where I live, at least there is no yard work to be done, except for snow removal, which I actually sort of enjoy--it's like another strength workout! Plus I'm outside! Somehow, during spring through fall, I find time to mow my lawn, tend to all my perennials and the odd home maintenance thing, although I usually pay someone else to do those things.
And yet, I get people asking me why I am doing what I am doing. In a way, I understand it, because I am not shy about saying that it is a challenge just to do the training I do while working fulltime. And yes, Ultraman will cost me a ton of money. But what else would I be doing with it? This is the first time that I have felt like I am sacrificing ANY semblance of a social life in order to do this, but I also know that it is temporary (at least unless I decide I want to keep doing it), and that soon it will be time for me to consider retiring from my regular job which would change things up a whole lot.
I still don't think I am doing anything amazing. I know people who are doing far more than me. What I don't get is how people react to me saying "This is hard." Like hard is a bad thing. I guess it is for many people. I think society, and I'll say American society, has conditioned everyone to think that life should be easy, and that is why, I think, there is an epidemic of obesity. Hey, I worked 8 hours--exercising is like more work, why would I do that? And food is really plentiful and relatively cheap here in the U.S.
Sure, we are all entitled to, and even need, leisure time. It's what we choose to do with it that defines our overall satisfaction in this short life we have. I am so glad that I became unattached to TV a few years ago. I can take it or leave it, and now, I really need to leave it in order to take care of my body well enough to do the training necessary (or that I think is necessary) in order to do this Ultraman thing. But I won't sacrifice reading--it has always been near and dear to me (except for when my Dad made us read books and do book reports during the summer which I used to think was torture but it was actually brilliant, because I absolutely LOVE reading now), and it's the written word that, helps me stay up on current events, expand my imagination and sometimes just escape from reality.
How am I feeling? Pretty damn good, now that I feel like I am finally recovered from Goofy. You know what? I like to run. Almost every time I do it now, I enjoy it immensely. Go figure! I still don't consider myself a "real" runner--I just am not fast--but I like it now. I am really looking forward to getting to run for 2+ hours because that is when it feels really good to me.
I am at a slightly decreased level of training for a few weeks, and I needed it, but it's weird that I sometimes think how the hell was I doing so much before, and how did I fit it all in? But then I just ease on back into the old schedule, and I'll admit, I'm addicted to endorphins, and I find myself doing just fine.
I am sick of winter, mostly because there are quite a few gray days in Chicago, and I spend 8 good months of the year outside for many hours that it sucks to be inside so much. Then again, it makes me reduce my training somewhat which I know is a good thing. And running on the treadmill gives my legs, hips and back a break from the pavement pounding.
I am starting the indoor triathlon series (only 3 this time) next weekend, and that usually helps with the winter doldrums. Although normally I would expect to win my AG, I am not assuming that this time since I will be training a lot more than in years past. But they will be fun to get in a 1 hour speed workout plus a massage afterwards! Oh and then I do a long run afterwards, but I am used to it. I am doing a 1/2 marathon race in March, and that's all for races until Ultraman, but there are some "epic style" (I hesitate to use the word just "epic" because I might be admonished) weekends I have planned in May and June that will form the final buildup to Ultraman.
Yes, I am still appropriately fearful of Ultraman. I do appreciate it when people tell me they know I can do it, and I do think much of it is a mental exercise, but I am feeling pretty good about the first 2 days--it's that pesky 52.4 mile run on Day 3 that I have no clue about. But all I can do is to keep keeping on. So far, I have responded very well to the training I have done, and as long as that continues, I will know that I am doing all that I can do in order to achieve the goal, given that I am still a working stiff, you know. I have had many daydreams or visualizations about finishing Ultraman, which is a good thing, and as each week passes, I will be pushing aside more and more naysayers, as they have no place whatsoever in my training program!
I do not yet have my game face, but I think I am getting close to it. I have only 6 months left to prepare, and this is very serious stuff to me, and I don't take any of it lightly. I am looking forward to getting the new bike, even though I keep thinking I didn't really need to get one, but I know that just like when I got my Pinarello, it will push me to do it justice and represent well out on the roads!
My very most food weakness holiday is approaching--Valentine's Day. I don't much get into the Halloween candy anymore, and I'm not a chocoholic and don't succumb too much over Christmas, but Valentine's brings my favorite candy and I just can't resist them:
I have already eaten 4 bags of these things and you'd think I'd be fat, but um...nope. They are like filler extra calories that I need and they are my FAVORITE candy EVER. They work well as a pre-workout snack and also in the evening if I think I want a few more calories.
Other than the hearts, I am pretty good about my diet. I am eating lots of salad, which will eventually switch over to more rice and pasta. I need the greens, and I feel great eating a pretty spare diet, although I am sure I am getting enough calories or else I would have crappy workouts.
The eating thing when training like this is interesting. Even though I have talked about the candy, really I eat pretty cleanly most of the time. Why? Because there is always another workout looming and I need to be at my best not just for the workouts but also to maintain my job and have some semblance of energy left for other daily living activities. But I don't feel like I'm depriving myself of anything--I just do not (except for the candy, OK?) have cravings for junk food, and I'm on such a tight schedule most days that going out for crap just never happens. I still love to cook and do so on the weekends and freeze stuff because I have very little time on weekdays.
This whole experiment has been interesting so far. I wonder how I will feel in 3 months and then again in 6 months? If it's anything close to how I feel right now, it will be GREAT! Like I've tried to explain, even though this is a crazy-fucking-ass way to live your live just to do a BIG HUGE THING, I am really enjoying it, even though it puts into focus what other "normal" people may think about it and my own mental processes as far as believing I am capable and just as much thinking what the fucking hell am I doing.
Today is a good day and I am happy for it!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
2010 Goofy Challenge Race Report
Go get a couple of cups of whatever is appropriate to drink!
Half marathon photos
Marathon photos
This is the third time I’ve done Goofy Challenge. The first time was in 2006 (inaugural year), then again in 2007. I thought I was done after those 2 episodes, but a friend convinced me to sign up again this year (or was it the other way around?), and it turned out to fit perfectly in with my Phase II training for Ultraman.
In 2006, I didn’t know what I was doing, and ran 2:07.17 in the half and 4:27.07 in the full. Total time: 6:34.24. It was near-record cold temperatures in Orlando, but comfortable—high 30’s and low 40’s.
In 2007, I thought I knew what I was doing, and ran 2:14.32 in the half and 4:31.13 in the full. Total time 6:45.45. It was hot and humid. I would rather run in the cold!
This year, I really thought I knew what I was doing, and I went in with the stretch goal of qualifying for Boston in the marathon (I’d need to go 4:05), and a secondary goal of beating my combined times of past years. I ended up going 2:06.00 in the half and 4:20.22 in the full. Total time 6:26.22. That’s 8 minutes faster than in 2006, when I was well-trained, only now I am 4 years older, and I have been training a whole lot harder overall this year than ever before.
Just 2 weeks ago, I did my first mega-swim/bike workout of about 5.4 miles swimming and 90 miles riding. That was a 20-hour training week that included a 15+ mile run, and was the beginning of my run taper.
One week later, I did my first 10K (11,000 yards) swim, and ended up at a 16-hour training week one week before Goofy Challenge! But I tapered down my bike.
Last week, I only swam twice, biked once and did 3 short runs and some strength training before I left for Orlando. My run legs were feeling good, and I had some swim breakthroughs to boot. So everything was looking good for some good running. Or at least strong running, which is really all I cared about.
At the beginning of last week, I started scoping out the weather for Orlando, and it looked like there would be record cold. Hearing my Floridian friends complain about it was entertaining! Meanwhile, Chicago teed up a big snowstorm to hit on the tail of a near-zero freeze pattern. On Thursday, I got about 6” and cleared it all from the driveway and thought we were done. But on Friday morning, another 4” had fallen, and I had to clear some of it just so the limo could get up my driveway. Nothing like a nice 30’ workout before boarding a plane!
Orlando weather in January is as changeable as Chicago in October, but it was definitely going to be cold, so all I’d packed was running tights and long shirts and pants for daytime. My flight out of Chicago was only delayed by about an hour, so it was good I’d scheduled an early flight so I could make it to packet pickup.
The schwag for this race is excellent. This time we got 3 technical T-shirts—one for the half, one for the full, and one for Goofy! The other times I’d done it we didn’t get a Goofy shirt. We also got a silly plastic medallion, some shoelaces, a nice sling bag, 2 disposable cameras (which I left in my hotel room for the next occupants), and a pink Sharpie! I am so excited to have a pink Sharpie I can’t tell you! Sharpie sponsors the race, particularly all the mile markers (get it? Markers?), and also places all these signs along the course with little-known facts and brain teasers. One that I remember from this year was, “How deep would the oceans be if there weren’t sponges in there?”
Once I got checked into my hotel (after stopping at Publix for some takeout sushi, which was quite good, and beer), I began obsessively watching The Weather Channel. Before I left, Saturday was projected to be the colder day but now it was Sunday. I only had one pair of really warm tights, so I decided to save them for Sunday, which turned out to be a good decision.
My Saturday wave started at 5:40AM, and I was up at 3AM and left for Epcot before 4AM, then stayed in the car to keep warm for about ½ hour, then met up with my friend, Brad, and his family, before we headed to the corrals. Brad’s sister was running the half, but she would be slower than Brad and I who were planning on running together.
We had on our big garbage bags to keep warm but also act as water repellant. On the way (it’s about ½ mile or so) to the corrals, it began snowing. SNOWING IN ORLANDO! I was laughing my ass off! And it was windy, so it was blowing more or less sideways. It didn’t stay snow very long, nor did it stick to anything, but it changed over to sleet, which is pretty much what we had for the half marathon. It was just over 30 degrees.
Brad and I ran just nice and easy and comfy. Sometime during Mile 4, I had to pee, and I decided to use a porta-potty, and told Brad to go on ahead. When I came out, though, I waited about a minute to look for him, and then just kept on going. I felt fine, but it was not fun being pelted in the face by sleet! During Mile 8, I had to poop (stupid early start time), and after this, I was able to run faster—go figure! I also decided to finally ditch the garbage bag, but in retrospect, that may have been a dumb idea. While I wasn’t really cold, the continuing sleet/mist was now permeating my upper body. Oh well!
I felt great when I finished and it turned out Brad was just a few minutes behind me, but as soon as I stopped running, I started shaking, so made a fast pass through the line to get my wrist band exchanged for the marathon one (pretty blue!), some eats, and a finisher picture.
I went back to the hotel and showered, put on compression tights and stretched and basically laid around in bed the rest of the day. I had to turn the heat up to 74 to begin to feel warm, and I noticed that just my right quad was really tight due to the road camber. I managed to get to sleep early so I could get a decent night’s sleep before the marathon. Looking back to the morning, it seemed like I ran all 13.1 miles while half asleep!
Upon waking on Sunday, it was even colder than Saturday—just in the 20’s. What the fuck, this is FLORIDA, isn’t it??? But I’d saved my fleece-lined tights for today, and my upper body kit was a bra top, lightweight short-sleeved technical top, then a Nike long-sleeved technical turtleneck (which seems good for 30’s and 40’s normally), then another short-sleeved technical top, and of course, a garbage bag. I lubed up my feet with Vaseline for blister protection and heat retention. I did have one blister from Saturday that I popped and then coated with New Skin before I applied the Vaseline. Oh and of course a hat and gloves.
For the half, I drank what was on the course—some piss tasting Powerade crap and water. When it’s cold, I barely drink because I will just pee like a fucking race horse. But I did rehydrate well after the half, or so I thought. For the full, though, I wanted me some caffeine, so I had mixed up 4 hours of Infinit and put it into a Fuel Belt. I was smart enough to not refrigerate it overnight with the cold temperatures planned. I had 32 oz. of Infinit, and figured I’d supplement it with sufficient water.
Standing around waiting to go to the corrals on Sunday morning (I was running solo this day—Brad was running with his girlfriend who was doing her first marathon, and Brad’s Dad was afraid to run with me because he thought if he slacked that I’d slap him upside the head, but it turns out he could have done it to me as he finished in 4:18), I noticed how cold my legs felt. Normally, you suit up, head out the door and start running—you don’t stand around. So I guess that was a part of it, and I heard from several other runners that their legs didn’t warm up for about 10 miles.
Well, at least it wasn’t raining! My wave went off at 5:45, which is still early to my body being from CST, but what are you going to do? My legs just felt like the joints were cold and needing oil or something, and the first time I took water from an aid station, I was like what the hell, it’s FROZEN! Not all of it, but there was a lot of ice in it. And then I noticed the asphalt through the aid station was icy, which was good to note, so I’d be careful at each one. When water was dropped, it was freezing! Nice! I heard from a friend that someone slipped, fell and broke a rib.
My legs felt cold through about 10 miles, and that was about when a friend of mine ran up next to me. I hadn’t seen her in months and months, and go figure, we see one another in the Disney marathon! I told her I couldn’t feel my legs, and she pointed out that if I could feel them they would hurt.
So then when they finally warmed up, of course they hurt. I expected that. I guess it was about then that the evil thoughts entered my head. Why am I doing this? It hurts, it sucks, I’m cold, who cares what time I do, why don’t I just walk? And everything I’m doing as training for Ultraman was right front and center in my head begging for me to find a reason to keep going. I really wasn’t suffering physically. I have been in more pain than this. I wasn’t pushing myself aerobically. Some books admonish you to practice your comebacks for these thoughts. I spend plenty of quality time thinking positive thoughts and feeling good about things. Sometimes I find you just need to let the voices in your head have their say because as long as you keep going while they are babbling, they haven’t won! And while at the time it seemed like this went on for 10 minutes or so, it was probably more like 2 minutes, and as quickly as the thoughts entered my head, they went away. It’s good to be at a point of fitness where you can just tell yourself that slowing down will just prolong the suckitude, so you just keep pace.
And while my legs did hurt somewhat, it wasn’t that bad, and getting back into the moment with so many people around me, I just let the flow pull me along. Since we run through some of the parks in Disney, there are many narrow walkways that we run over, and unless you’ve placed yourself at the very front of your corral, it’s more effort to push through all the people than it is to just stay with them. Near the end of the marathon we are running on a sidewalk alongside a lake, and the sidewalk is maybe 4 feet wide, so you can imagine the traffic jams this causes.
Once I got to Mile 18, I just began counting down the miles, knowing this would be over. I did try and smile whenever I saw a photographer, and I enjoyed all the Sharpie signs I could see. One thing I noticed throughout the race was that whenever we had a slight downhill (and while Disney is basically a “flat” marathon, there are ups and downs with over and underpasses), many folks pulled up, I guess because they thought it would somehow be easier on their quads? 2009 was the year I learned to relax and run downhill faster than ever, and so whenever I hit the downs, I just let it fly and passed a bunch of people and then was even happy for the uphill! It’s not like we were running serious trails with serious ups and downs, and news flash—your quads are going to be trashed whether you run downhill or not!
There were Disney characters every mile or so where people could stop and get pictures taken with them. The one that really caught my attention was near the end. It was a pair of Power Rangers. They would pose in a “powerful” way with runners. That was cool!
I think it was during Mile 25 when I remembered that I had some of Dad’s ashes with me and I wanted to get them out of the Fuel Belt for my finish. I ended up needing to stop briefly to do this since I had to take off a glove. And then I got all choked up, but I had to finish, so I kept running.
As I approached the finish line, I really thought I was going to break down and bawl my eyes out just as a matter of stress relief, but I only let myself shed a couple of tears and then got on with the business of collecting my medals (we got Donald Duck for the ½ marathon on Saturday, Mickey Mouse for the full, and then the Goofy medal for both), getting a mylar wrap, some snacks and then getting in the car to warm up.
I went back to the hotel, showered, put on compression tights and stretched. I think this is the first time I have ever stretched right after a marathon! It felt good, and then I got in bed and watched some TV until a friend came out and then we had some beers and food.
I am taking an easy week this week. I biked on Tuesday, and yesterday I swam (slowly!) and did a core workout. Today is another short (1:15) ride, and tomorrow I am going to swim 5-6,000 yards, depending on how that feels, Saturday is a 2-hour ride and that’s all that’s planned for the week, so I’m going to do some cooking this weekend and maybe go and catch a movie. I can’t believe I have a triathlon in 2 weeks (indoor sprint)! While resting after a race puts all the real life crap front and center, my body appreciates the rest, and so next week I will begin ramping back up.
This concludes Phase II of my Ultraman training, and Disney was my fourth marathon+ in 5 ½ months! I remember back in late June or early July talking to my most awesome massage therapist, Mike, and he told me that I shouldn’t try and do all 3 of my planned post-IMLP events (ROTPM, North Face and Goofy Challenge). He said he’d be there to fix me up if I got injured, though. So here I sit having done them all, and knock wood, no injuries! Historically, running has been the thing that will get me injured (as it is for many triathletes), so doing all the running I have done in the last 5 months was a big experiment for me. And then I decided to do a whole lot more swimming than ever while maintaining my cycling base. I am amazed at what I’ve been able to do so far, but know that I have a ways to go to feel ready for Ultraman. I am hoping that this running base will carry me for the next 6 months, as there is no way I can keep up 40+ mile run weeks and get in enough cycling and swimming. I need to give my mind a rest now, too, because any day now I will realize that I am getting closer and closer to Ultraman and it is still a big, huge deal!
Half marathon photos
Marathon photos
This is the third time I’ve done Goofy Challenge. The first time was in 2006 (inaugural year), then again in 2007. I thought I was done after those 2 episodes, but a friend convinced me to sign up again this year (or was it the other way around?), and it turned out to fit perfectly in with my Phase II training for Ultraman.
In 2006, I didn’t know what I was doing, and ran 2:07.17 in the half and 4:27.07 in the full. Total time: 6:34.24. It was near-record cold temperatures in Orlando, but comfortable—high 30’s and low 40’s.
In 2007, I thought I knew what I was doing, and ran 2:14.32 in the half and 4:31.13 in the full. Total time 6:45.45. It was hot and humid. I would rather run in the cold!
This year, I really thought I knew what I was doing, and I went in with the stretch goal of qualifying for Boston in the marathon (I’d need to go 4:05), and a secondary goal of beating my combined times of past years. I ended up going 2:06.00 in the half and 4:20.22 in the full. Total time 6:26.22. That’s 8 minutes faster than in 2006, when I was well-trained, only now I am 4 years older, and I have been training a whole lot harder overall this year than ever before.
Just 2 weeks ago, I did my first mega-swim/bike workout of about 5.4 miles swimming and 90 miles riding. That was a 20-hour training week that included a 15+ mile run, and was the beginning of my run taper.
One week later, I did my first 10K (11,000 yards) swim, and ended up at a 16-hour training week one week before Goofy Challenge! But I tapered down my bike.
Last week, I only swam twice, biked once and did 3 short runs and some strength training before I left for Orlando. My run legs were feeling good, and I had some swim breakthroughs to boot. So everything was looking good for some good running. Or at least strong running, which is really all I cared about.
At the beginning of last week, I started scoping out the weather for Orlando, and it looked like there would be record cold. Hearing my Floridian friends complain about it was entertaining! Meanwhile, Chicago teed up a big snowstorm to hit on the tail of a near-zero freeze pattern. On Thursday, I got about 6” and cleared it all from the driveway and thought we were done. But on Friday morning, another 4” had fallen, and I had to clear some of it just so the limo could get up my driveway. Nothing like a nice 30’ workout before boarding a plane!
Orlando weather in January is as changeable as Chicago in October, but it was definitely going to be cold, so all I’d packed was running tights and long shirts and pants for daytime. My flight out of Chicago was only delayed by about an hour, so it was good I’d scheduled an early flight so I could make it to packet pickup.
The schwag for this race is excellent. This time we got 3 technical T-shirts—one for the half, one for the full, and one for Goofy! The other times I’d done it we didn’t get a Goofy shirt. We also got a silly plastic medallion, some shoelaces, a nice sling bag, 2 disposable cameras (which I left in my hotel room for the next occupants), and a pink Sharpie! I am so excited to have a pink Sharpie I can’t tell you! Sharpie sponsors the race, particularly all the mile markers (get it? Markers?), and also places all these signs along the course with little-known facts and brain teasers. One that I remember from this year was, “How deep would the oceans be if there weren’t sponges in there?”
Once I got checked into my hotel (after stopping at Publix for some takeout sushi, which was quite good, and beer), I began obsessively watching The Weather Channel. Before I left, Saturday was projected to be the colder day but now it was Sunday. I only had one pair of really warm tights, so I decided to save them for Sunday, which turned out to be a good decision.
My Saturday wave started at 5:40AM, and I was up at 3AM and left for Epcot before 4AM, then stayed in the car to keep warm for about ½ hour, then met up with my friend, Brad, and his family, before we headed to the corrals. Brad’s sister was running the half, but she would be slower than Brad and I who were planning on running together.
We had on our big garbage bags to keep warm but also act as water repellant. On the way (it’s about ½ mile or so) to the corrals, it began snowing. SNOWING IN ORLANDO! I was laughing my ass off! And it was windy, so it was blowing more or less sideways. It didn’t stay snow very long, nor did it stick to anything, but it changed over to sleet, which is pretty much what we had for the half marathon. It was just over 30 degrees.
Brad and I ran just nice and easy and comfy. Sometime during Mile 4, I had to pee, and I decided to use a porta-potty, and told Brad to go on ahead. When I came out, though, I waited about a minute to look for him, and then just kept on going. I felt fine, but it was not fun being pelted in the face by sleet! During Mile 8, I had to poop (stupid early start time), and after this, I was able to run faster—go figure! I also decided to finally ditch the garbage bag, but in retrospect, that may have been a dumb idea. While I wasn’t really cold, the continuing sleet/mist was now permeating my upper body. Oh well!
I felt great when I finished and it turned out Brad was just a few minutes behind me, but as soon as I stopped running, I started shaking, so made a fast pass through the line to get my wrist band exchanged for the marathon one (pretty blue!), some eats, and a finisher picture.
I went back to the hotel and showered, put on compression tights and stretched and basically laid around in bed the rest of the day. I had to turn the heat up to 74 to begin to feel warm, and I noticed that just my right quad was really tight due to the road camber. I managed to get to sleep early so I could get a decent night’s sleep before the marathon. Looking back to the morning, it seemed like I ran all 13.1 miles while half asleep!
Upon waking on Sunday, it was even colder than Saturday—just in the 20’s. What the fuck, this is FLORIDA, isn’t it??? But I’d saved my fleece-lined tights for today, and my upper body kit was a bra top, lightweight short-sleeved technical top, then a Nike long-sleeved technical turtleneck (which seems good for 30’s and 40’s normally), then another short-sleeved technical top, and of course, a garbage bag. I lubed up my feet with Vaseline for blister protection and heat retention. I did have one blister from Saturday that I popped and then coated with New Skin before I applied the Vaseline. Oh and of course a hat and gloves.
For the half, I drank what was on the course—some piss tasting Powerade crap and water. When it’s cold, I barely drink because I will just pee like a fucking race horse. But I did rehydrate well after the half, or so I thought. For the full, though, I wanted me some caffeine, so I had mixed up 4 hours of Infinit and put it into a Fuel Belt. I was smart enough to not refrigerate it overnight with the cold temperatures planned. I had 32 oz. of Infinit, and figured I’d supplement it with sufficient water.
Standing around waiting to go to the corrals on Sunday morning (I was running solo this day—Brad was running with his girlfriend who was doing her first marathon, and Brad’s Dad was afraid to run with me because he thought if he slacked that I’d slap him upside the head, but it turns out he could have done it to me as he finished in 4:18), I noticed how cold my legs felt. Normally, you suit up, head out the door and start running—you don’t stand around. So I guess that was a part of it, and I heard from several other runners that their legs didn’t warm up for about 10 miles.
Well, at least it wasn’t raining! My wave went off at 5:45, which is still early to my body being from CST, but what are you going to do? My legs just felt like the joints were cold and needing oil or something, and the first time I took water from an aid station, I was like what the hell, it’s FROZEN! Not all of it, but there was a lot of ice in it. And then I noticed the asphalt through the aid station was icy, which was good to note, so I’d be careful at each one. When water was dropped, it was freezing! Nice! I heard from a friend that someone slipped, fell and broke a rib.
My legs felt cold through about 10 miles, and that was about when a friend of mine ran up next to me. I hadn’t seen her in months and months, and go figure, we see one another in the Disney marathon! I told her I couldn’t feel my legs, and she pointed out that if I could feel them they would hurt.
So then when they finally warmed up, of course they hurt. I expected that. I guess it was about then that the evil thoughts entered my head. Why am I doing this? It hurts, it sucks, I’m cold, who cares what time I do, why don’t I just walk? And everything I’m doing as training for Ultraman was right front and center in my head begging for me to find a reason to keep going. I really wasn’t suffering physically. I have been in more pain than this. I wasn’t pushing myself aerobically. Some books admonish you to practice your comebacks for these thoughts. I spend plenty of quality time thinking positive thoughts and feeling good about things. Sometimes I find you just need to let the voices in your head have their say because as long as you keep going while they are babbling, they haven’t won! And while at the time it seemed like this went on for 10 minutes or so, it was probably more like 2 minutes, and as quickly as the thoughts entered my head, they went away. It’s good to be at a point of fitness where you can just tell yourself that slowing down will just prolong the suckitude, so you just keep pace.
And while my legs did hurt somewhat, it wasn’t that bad, and getting back into the moment with so many people around me, I just let the flow pull me along. Since we run through some of the parks in Disney, there are many narrow walkways that we run over, and unless you’ve placed yourself at the very front of your corral, it’s more effort to push through all the people than it is to just stay with them. Near the end of the marathon we are running on a sidewalk alongside a lake, and the sidewalk is maybe 4 feet wide, so you can imagine the traffic jams this causes.
Once I got to Mile 18, I just began counting down the miles, knowing this would be over. I did try and smile whenever I saw a photographer, and I enjoyed all the Sharpie signs I could see. One thing I noticed throughout the race was that whenever we had a slight downhill (and while Disney is basically a “flat” marathon, there are ups and downs with over and underpasses), many folks pulled up, I guess because they thought it would somehow be easier on their quads? 2009 was the year I learned to relax and run downhill faster than ever, and so whenever I hit the downs, I just let it fly and passed a bunch of people and then was even happy for the uphill! It’s not like we were running serious trails with serious ups and downs, and news flash—your quads are going to be trashed whether you run downhill or not!
There were Disney characters every mile or so where people could stop and get pictures taken with them. The one that really caught my attention was near the end. It was a pair of Power Rangers. They would pose in a “powerful” way with runners. That was cool!
I think it was during Mile 25 when I remembered that I had some of Dad’s ashes with me and I wanted to get them out of the Fuel Belt for my finish. I ended up needing to stop briefly to do this since I had to take off a glove. And then I got all choked up, but I had to finish, so I kept running.
As I approached the finish line, I really thought I was going to break down and bawl my eyes out just as a matter of stress relief, but I only let myself shed a couple of tears and then got on with the business of collecting my medals (we got Donald Duck for the ½ marathon on Saturday, Mickey Mouse for the full, and then the Goofy medal for both), getting a mylar wrap, some snacks and then getting in the car to warm up.
I went back to the hotel, showered, put on compression tights and stretched. I think this is the first time I have ever stretched right after a marathon! It felt good, and then I got in bed and watched some TV until a friend came out and then we had some beers and food.
I am taking an easy week this week. I biked on Tuesday, and yesterday I swam (slowly!) and did a core workout. Today is another short (1:15) ride, and tomorrow I am going to swim 5-6,000 yards, depending on how that feels, Saturday is a 2-hour ride and that’s all that’s planned for the week, so I’m going to do some cooking this weekend and maybe go and catch a movie. I can’t believe I have a triathlon in 2 weeks (indoor sprint)! While resting after a race puts all the real life crap front and center, my body appreciates the rest, and so next week I will begin ramping back up.
This concludes Phase II of my Ultraman training, and Disney was my fourth marathon+ in 5 ½ months! I remember back in late June or early July talking to my most awesome massage therapist, Mike, and he told me that I shouldn’t try and do all 3 of my planned post-IMLP events (ROTPM, North Face and Goofy Challenge). He said he’d be there to fix me up if I got injured, though. So here I sit having done them all, and knock wood, no injuries! Historically, running has been the thing that will get me injured (as it is for many triathletes), so doing all the running I have done in the last 5 months was a big experiment for me. And then I decided to do a whole lot more swimming than ever while maintaining my cycling base. I am amazed at what I’ve been able to do so far, but know that I have a ways to go to feel ready for Ultraman. I am hoping that this running base will carry me for the next 6 months, as there is no way I can keep up 40+ mile run weeks and get in enough cycling and swimming. I need to give my mind a rest now, too, because any day now I will realize that I am getting closer and closer to Ultraman and it is still a big, huge deal!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Brief Update for Goofy Challenge
I will need to do a proper race report, but that will come later in the week.
I am a happy, happy camper! Although I had a stretch goal of qualifying for Boston in the marathon, the weather did not support it, but I met my second goal of going faster in both races than I did 3 years ago! So that is awesome!
Executive Summary:
1/2 Marathon: 2:06.00 (on the nose!); 53/814 Age Group, 996/9676 Females, 3175/17102 Overall
Marathon: 4:20.29; 36/538 Age Group, 1055/8152 Females, 3670/16883 Overall
Not bad for an old lady, eh?
It was c...c...COLD both days, and we got SNOWED on at the beginning of the 1/2 marathon! So I went all the way to Florida to run in the cold. Oh well, better than hot!
I will take a pic of the awesome medals and shirts and post sometime this week as to my race report.
I am SO happy with how I did considering the training I'd done the 2 weeks prior, I am really quite ecstatic! What a great way to begin a new year!
I am a happy, happy camper! Although I had a stretch goal of qualifying for Boston in the marathon, the weather did not support it, but I met my second goal of going faster in both races than I did 3 years ago! So that is awesome!
Executive Summary:
1/2 Marathon: 2:06.00 (on the nose!); 53/814 Age Group, 996/9676 Females, 3175/17102 Overall
Marathon: 4:20.29; 36/538 Age Group, 1055/8152 Females, 3670/16883 Overall
Not bad for an old lady, eh?
It was c...c...COLD both days, and we got SNOWED on at the beginning of the 1/2 marathon! So I went all the way to Florida to run in the cold. Oh well, better than hot!
I will take a pic of the awesome medals and shirts and post sometime this week as to my race report.
I am SO happy with how I did considering the training I'd done the 2 weeks prior, I am really quite ecstatic! What a great way to begin a new year!
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Surprise, Surprise!
The surprise is that I knocked out some 100's and 50's in the pool today and yesterday that were faster than I've swum them in 6 years!
I am in full taper for Goofy Challenge that is this weekend, but as you know, I did not taper my swim at all until this week. Last week was 16,950 yards (11,000 of which were the happy NY Day 10K swim!), and I haven't put in a week like that since just before IMLP last year (isn't it funny the first time in a new year when you say "last year?").
I was supposed to do a threshold swim test last week, but it never happened because I ended up doing a long run first. I haven't felt like I've been swimming fast AT ALL, but think that aspects of my form have improved due to a whole lot of focus, which I have lacked for a few years, as follows:
My rotation to my left ("wrong") side is cleaner. I no longer lift my head much at all to breathe to that side--the air intake occurs because of the rotation. I have also worked diligently on my catch on my left side, since I have never felt my left arm was doing its fair share of the work. This has come about through spending most of my allocated drill time swimming 1-armed with my left arm. The weird thing is that now when I breathe just on my left side, I swim faster than if I breathe on the right! I am sure this will come in handy someday, but whereas in the past when I was doing speedwork (and racing), I would breathe to my right, now I breathe on my left!
My kick is a little stronger and better. I switched from Zoomer fins to the Zura Aqua Sphere fins that I use when doing drills, kicking with a board, and backstroke. Backstroke because I never really "learned" it, and my regular kick is weak as it is, but now I try and incorporate 200+ yards of backstroke during my warmup and cooldown at the advice of a few trusted advisers, to give my pectoral muscles a break. Plus I just find it relaxing!
Anyway, with the Zura fins, I can kick faster, and the way they are built seems to promote two things: increased ankle flexibility over the Zoomers, and more calf recruitment (not sure whether the calf things is good or not). My experience with them is that I feel I am doing a much more "natural" flutter kick than I used to do with Zoomers. Plus the Zura's are lighter, and they dry out much faster! Now that I think about it, the calf thing is because the Zuras make it much easier to keep your ankles extended, which automatically makes your calves work harder. Oh and this can also make you cramp up if you aren't used to it or when you swim after running, which I do fairly frequently.
Since sometime this summer (don't remember exactly when), I've been incorporating swimming with the paddles more often than I ever used to. This helps me with two things: hand entry (you have to get it right to use them effectively) and force generation. I am planning on getting a pair of the tiny paddles that your hand just barely covers after trying some out yesterday. They will also be good for keeping my hand entry good and elbows high during pull phase.
Another thing I've been doing is 4 swims per week. Monday and Wednesday have been 2600-3100 yards (lots of speedwork in there), Friday is the long beast (I try and do at least 2500 yards of it as speedwork), and Sunday is 1,000-2,000 yards easy after my long run (whatever I feel like doing).
All in all, I have put in consistently solid yardage (since beginning of season in September I've averaged 11,000/week, and I'd like to take it to 13,000 this year), worked on my form, improved my lame kick and gotten stronger.
I should add here that up until this week, before my Monday and Wednesday swims I have been doing up to 60 pushups, 40 pullups, 5-7' of bridging and some abs exercises, and my weekly strength routine has grown by about 20' due to added core work.
Put all this together, and you'd think I'd be faster in the pool, right? Well, I didn't really start seeing it until a few weeks ago, and it was sporadic. I wasn't discouraged, as I wasn't really slowing down in those long swims as I kept adding yardage, but still...
So yesterday I got in the pool, run is tapered, bike is tapered, no strength work right before swimming, not really excited to be in the pool and BANG! I am seeing paces I haven't seen in years! My main set yesterday was 8x150 as 100 fast, 50 easy, 15" RI. And it didn't feel bad, either. And my swim sure wasn't tapered, but I hadn't swum since Friday. Still, I was pleased, thinking maybe underneath all that strength work and extra yardage some speed is creeping in.
Then today, same story, I did NOT want to get out of bed and go swim, and was rationalizing that I didn't need to--this week is about running--but what the heck, I got going and got into the pool again. The warmup for the workout was 1500 yards, and I kept saying to myself that would be enough, but then I figured I'd start in on the main set: 3x(2x100 @T-pace+10"SI, 4x50 @T-pace+10"SI, 1x50 easy 2'SI). Well what the hell, I don't really know my T-pace so let's just see how steadily I can go, and on the first 100, I look at the clock and think "well that's nice but I only get 10 seconds of rest doubt I can do that again," and then proceed to swim the next one even faster. I got through the first round and on the second round I got faster and was able to keep that momentum through the third round. When I finished, I was so overcome that I almost started crying right in the pool!
I mean if I was able to swim so well, shouldn't it mean that I actually *have* that speed but that maybe because of all the other training I'm doing plus the pre-swim work that I just haven't been able to access it? Or did I need to shock myself by swimming 10K?
I hope this is real speed, and at least now I will be a bit less concerned if it's not there every single workout that I do. Or maybe it did really require me to swim my butt off for the better part of the last 9 months. Whatever, I am hopeful for making my goal of sub-4 hour swim at Ultraman. Which isn't speedy, but it does include feeding time and also I want to just swim economically for the entire time, and still be able to bike afterwards! I might do a long swim in the wetsuit this month just to see how that goes, because it introduces another variable into the mix.
Now in thinking about what I have read some other people have done in order to improve their swimming, I would like to note a few things.
Oh and if anyone has any other suggestions for me as far as swimming goes (other than GET A COACH), please run them by me. I am completely open!
I am in full taper for Goofy Challenge that is this weekend, but as you know, I did not taper my swim at all until this week. Last week was 16,950 yards (11,000 of which were the happy NY Day 10K swim!), and I haven't put in a week like that since just before IMLP last year (isn't it funny the first time in a new year when you say "last year?").
I was supposed to do a threshold swim test last week, but it never happened because I ended up doing a long run first. I haven't felt like I've been swimming fast AT ALL, but think that aspects of my form have improved due to a whole lot of focus, which I have lacked for a few years, as follows:
My rotation to my left ("wrong") side is cleaner. I no longer lift my head much at all to breathe to that side--the air intake occurs because of the rotation. I have also worked diligently on my catch on my left side, since I have never felt my left arm was doing its fair share of the work. This has come about through spending most of my allocated drill time swimming 1-armed with my left arm. The weird thing is that now when I breathe just on my left side, I swim faster than if I breathe on the right! I am sure this will come in handy someday, but whereas in the past when I was doing speedwork (and racing), I would breathe to my right, now I breathe on my left!
My kick is a little stronger and better. I switched from Zoomer fins to the Zura Aqua Sphere fins that I use when doing drills, kicking with a board, and backstroke. Backstroke because I never really "learned" it, and my regular kick is weak as it is, but now I try and incorporate 200+ yards of backstroke during my warmup and cooldown at the advice of a few trusted advisers, to give my pectoral muscles a break. Plus I just find it relaxing!
Anyway, with the Zura fins, I can kick faster, and the way they are built seems to promote two things: increased ankle flexibility over the Zoomers, and more calf recruitment (not sure whether the calf things is good or not). My experience with them is that I feel I am doing a much more "natural" flutter kick than I used to do with Zoomers. Plus the Zura's are lighter, and they dry out much faster! Now that I think about it, the calf thing is because the Zuras make it much easier to keep your ankles extended, which automatically makes your calves work harder. Oh and this can also make you cramp up if you aren't used to it or when you swim after running, which I do fairly frequently.
Since sometime this summer (don't remember exactly when), I've been incorporating swimming with the paddles more often than I ever used to. This helps me with two things: hand entry (you have to get it right to use them effectively) and force generation. I am planning on getting a pair of the tiny paddles that your hand just barely covers after trying some out yesterday. They will also be good for keeping my hand entry good and elbows high during pull phase.
Another thing I've been doing is 4 swims per week. Monday and Wednesday have been 2600-3100 yards (lots of speedwork in there), Friday is the long beast (I try and do at least 2500 yards of it as speedwork), and Sunday is 1,000-2,000 yards easy after my long run (whatever I feel like doing).
All in all, I have put in consistently solid yardage (since beginning of season in September I've averaged 11,000/week, and I'd like to take it to 13,000 this year), worked on my form, improved my lame kick and gotten stronger.
I should add here that up until this week, before my Monday and Wednesday swims I have been doing up to 60 pushups, 40 pullups, 5-7' of bridging and some abs exercises, and my weekly strength routine has grown by about 20' due to added core work.
Put all this together, and you'd think I'd be faster in the pool, right? Well, I didn't really start seeing it until a few weeks ago, and it was sporadic. I wasn't discouraged, as I wasn't really slowing down in those long swims as I kept adding yardage, but still...
So yesterday I got in the pool, run is tapered, bike is tapered, no strength work right before swimming, not really excited to be in the pool and BANG! I am seeing paces I haven't seen in years! My main set yesterday was 8x150 as 100 fast, 50 easy, 15" RI. And it didn't feel bad, either. And my swim sure wasn't tapered, but I hadn't swum since Friday. Still, I was pleased, thinking maybe underneath all that strength work and extra yardage some speed is creeping in.
Then today, same story, I did NOT want to get out of bed and go swim, and was rationalizing that I didn't need to--this week is about running--but what the heck, I got going and got into the pool again. The warmup for the workout was 1500 yards, and I kept saying to myself that would be enough, but then I figured I'd start in on the main set: 3x(2x100 @T-pace+10"SI, 4x50 @T-pace+10"SI, 1x50 easy 2'SI). Well what the hell, I don't really know my T-pace so let's just see how steadily I can go, and on the first 100, I look at the clock and think "well that's nice but I only get 10 seconds of rest doubt I can do that again," and then proceed to swim the next one even faster. I got through the first round and on the second round I got faster and was able to keep that momentum through the third round. When I finished, I was so overcome that I almost started crying right in the pool!
I mean if I was able to swim so well, shouldn't it mean that I actually *have* that speed but that maybe because of all the other training I'm doing plus the pre-swim work that I just haven't been able to access it? Or did I need to shock myself by swimming 10K?
I hope this is real speed, and at least now I will be a bit less concerned if it's not there every single workout that I do. Or maybe it did really require me to swim my butt off for the better part of the last 9 months. Whatever, I am hopeful for making my goal of sub-4 hour swim at Ultraman. Which isn't speedy, but it does include feeding time and also I want to just swim economically for the entire time, and still be able to bike afterwards! I might do a long swim in the wetsuit this month just to see how that goes, because it introduces another variable into the mix.
Now in thinking about what I have read some other people have done in order to improve their swimming, I would like to note a few things.
- I am not tall! At only 5'3" it's not like I can easily swim as fast as someone who is taller.
- I began swimming in 2000, when I first trained for a triathlon. No swim background whatsoever. I did take Total Immersion lessons for about 3 months which thankfully converted me from a total spaz to being able to pretend I could actually swim.
- I am very lean. One of the reasons, I think, that I have slowed somewhat in the last few years is that I have become progressively leaner and leaner. I know, I know, perfect form should take care of that, but I have spoken with others who have noted the same phenomenon, that a little extra fat is helpful in the pool. Fat--I HAZ NOT!
- I am an old lady. Time is against me. I am post-menopausal, it is tough for me to maintain or improve my strength, and all things considered, not slowing down should be enough for me. But it isn't. I've never really tackled the swimming nut before, and a few years ago, the swim was what scared me the most about Ultraman. Now it's the damn 52.4 mile run!
- Yes, I could still use some one-on-one coaching. If I can find the time.
- Regardless of what people say about technique work, there is no substitute for time in the water. The way I look at it, the more time you spend there, the more time you have to work on good form. Sure, you could swim a bunch of crap yardage with no attention to your form whatsoever and it could be a waste of time, but I don't feel like that's what I'm doing.
- I don't know whether it's my age, my lack of sports background or what, but I do seem to improve in all 3 sports with high volume. Let me rephrase that: up to a point, you can improve with relatively low volume in S/B/R (based on your genetics and your athletic background), but at some point, you just need to do more of it. I laugh that I did my first 2 open marathons on like 40 miles MAX running per week. That is a joke in serious marathon training! And thinking I could become a good adult swimmer on less than 10,000 yards per week? Maybe if I was a 6' tall guy, but starting in my 40's, being born short and small, not so much ;) Biking is the same deal--the more I do, the faster I get.
- There are no studies that prove that strength work will make you a faster swimmer (or cyclist or runner, for that matter. Although plyometrics have been shown to improve running speed to an extent). Here's my thoughts: If you are under 35 years old and male and highly active, forget about strength training. If you have a desk job, are over 35 years old or female (especially a 40+ female), I think strength training is of benefit. Why? Bone density, balancing out the ravages of desk jobs (unless, of course, you have perfect posture while sitting, never climb ladders or do serious yard work/home improvement) and making yourself less susceptible to injuring yourself while NOT doing sports. Daily living can introduce muscular imbalances that can then wreak havoc on your sports performance, particularly if they cause injury. Being strong all over can't hurt your sports performance, but does it help? Who knows. If all it does is provide me with a platform for managing all my sports training, I am OK with it. Does working my lats, delts, pecs and triceps extra make me faster in the pool? Probably not. But does it help those muscles sustain the training load I am throwing at them and not having them fail on me? I think so.
Oh and if anyone has any other suggestions for me as far as swimming goes (other than GET A COACH), please run them by me. I am completely open!
Monday, January 04, 2010
Updated Pics
Someone said they missed pics, so I goofed around a bit after a strength workout, and well, here ya go. As you can see, Ultraman training is not making me skinny ;)
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Year-End Summary
First off, Happy New Year to everyone! Tonight is supposed to be a "blue moon," so if the sky clears, I hope to catch sight of it!
I usually just look at my training and racing on a "per season" basis, and my season usually begins September-October, but lots of people take the calendar year approach, so I decided to track that as well.
So here it is, since you know I'm a numbers junkie, enjoy, or should I say SHOCK AND AWE:
As you can see, I have 2 jobs ;) I keep having doubts about this Ultraman thing, but then I complete a crazy workout that I am able to recover from and I think I'm doing OK.
Oh as far as racing goes, I think I summarized in an earlier blog post that I had a great year. Won my AG at 5 sprint races and a half Ironman, PR'ed at the Ironman distance and did my first 50K+ run ever. If you include my ModerateMan on Thanksgiving weekend (4 mile/60 mile/13.1 mile) and then last week's Day 1 Ultraman workout (close enough--5.4 mile swim/90-mile bike) and Revenge of the PirateMan, I think I'd have to say it was a pretty darn good year. I had tons of fun, challenged myself in new ways and did SO many things in training I have never done before, and 2010 promises more of the same!
I am kicking off 2010 by swimming 10K (not 10,000 yards--meters, please, so like 11,000 yards), which will be my first time ever and then I plan on watching Ironman on Universal Sports the rest of the day.
Here's to a challenging, wonderful and fulfilling 2010!
I usually just look at my training and racing on a "per season" basis, and my season usually begins September-October, but lots of people take the calendar year approach, so I decided to track that as well.
So here it is, since you know I'm a numbers junkie, enjoy, or should I say SHOCK AND AWE:
As you can see, I have 2 jobs ;) I keep having doubts about this Ultraman thing, but then I complete a crazy workout that I am able to recover from and I think I'm doing OK.
Oh as far as racing goes, I think I summarized in an earlier blog post that I had a great year. Won my AG at 5 sprint races and a half Ironman, PR'ed at the Ironman distance and did my first 50K+ run ever. If you include my ModerateMan on Thanksgiving weekend (4 mile/60 mile/13.1 mile) and then last week's Day 1 Ultraman workout (close enough--5.4 mile swim/90-mile bike) and Revenge of the PirateMan, I think I'd have to say it was a pretty darn good year. I had tons of fun, challenged myself in new ways and did SO many things in training I have never done before, and 2010 promises more of the same!
I am kicking off 2010 by swimming 10K (not 10,000 yards--meters, please, so like 11,000 yards), which will be my first time ever and then I plan on watching Ironman on Universal Sports the rest of the day.
Here's to a challenging, wonderful and fulfilling 2010!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Big Week
After last week's illness and then going ahead and running 18+ miles last Sunday, I decided to move some workouts around a bit this week. I didn't think running on Monday would be a good idea, so I just swam (and pretty well at that) and did my abs/core workout. I also had to squeeze in a massage and then got a haircut at the end of the day.
With no run on Monday, I needed to do one on Tuesday, and since I really don't need to do brick runs in preparation for Ultraman and my focus right now is running to be ready for Goofy Challenge, and just to fit everything into my day, I ran in the morning, but it had snowed overnight, so I warmed up with about :30 of shoveling my driveway. The run felt good, and I held myself to Z1 and Z2 so it was nice and easy. Later on I did a 1:30 trainer ride, and kept the intensity to only about 80% of FTP as my legs were a little tired from the morning run plus I had skipped my long ride last week.
Some weeks ago, I had thought about doing a "hundred" workout on Saturday, which would consist of a 5-mile swim, 80-mile ride and 15-mile run, but after being sick last week, I didn't want to risk such a long workout putting me in a bad place 2 weeks before Goofy, so I kept to my original plan which was to do the 15-mile run on Wednesday and just the swim and ride on Saturday.
I took Wednesday and Thursday off from work this week, since I didn't feel like getting in a 15-miler before work and also try and fit in a swim on Wednesday, and then it just made sense to take Thursday off as well, and it worked out really well.
The intention was to swim first on Wednesday to do a T-pace (threshold pace) swim test followed by the long run, but for some reason, I just could not get to sleep on Tuesday. I think it had to do with the impending Christmas holiday and end of year, when I typically start thinking about all that was the past year and what is to come in the new year. A lot happened in the last year--a lot of good things, but some bad things, too. I had a great training and racing year, but I lost a relationship with someone I loved, and I have finally had to admit that 3 of my siblings are effectively gone from my life forever, too (they no longer communicate with me except to scream at me or send me nasty emails telling me what a horrible person I am, all post-Dad's death). All that plus witnessing a close friend lose her sister to liver cancer, which is how my Dad died, just stirred up so many feelings of loss and grief in me, and I rolled these things over and over and over in my head, unable to sleep. And of course, I questioned what I am choosing to do now (train for Ultraman), and it all decided to be front and center Tuesday night. But eventually I did get to sleep, although I am not really sure how much I did get.
Sometime during the night on Tuesday, I knew that I would still wake up with the light but that I would not try and make the early pool time so I shut off my alarm clock. Which meant that I would do my long run first and the alleged swim test second. I knew I had to throw out the notion of swimming well after 15 miles of running, and I just accepted it. The run went really well, though, and I averaged 9:09 pace for it, so I couldn't complain (yes, I AM slow!). I still swam afterward, and it did feel good to swim, but with various parts of my legs and feet taking turns cramping (which made me laugh and yet remember why they don't put a swim last in a triathlon of any distance longer than a sprint), I decided to strap on the pull buoy and paddles to knock out the 900 yards which would have been the test. Still, it felt good to swim, as it always does after a long run when I have the time.
Thursday, since I had the day off, I was thinking about doing a short run and then a 1:30 trainer ride, but somehow once I got on the treadmill, I decided to just run really easy and stretched :45 into 1:15, which meant I really wouldn't need to run the rest of the week. And I was feeling a little sick-ish again, with a runny yet stuffy nose, and I wasn't sure about my energy level. Looking back, though, I attribute this to just general sadness over the Christmas holiday, which I would be spending alone. Grief is an interesting thing--just when you think you are done with it, it comes right back at you in interesting ways. Still, I have learned that whether the cold-like symptoms are really a cold or just a result of grief, my body believes they are the same thing, so in respect of that, I decided to just bag the trainer ride. I could do it on Friday if I wanted to. Instead, I finished up my strength work for the week which felt good.
Friday, Christmas Day, I just decided to not do anything. I'd done enough running for the week, and since I had only ridden 3 hours last week, and I am tapering for Goofy, I justified skipping my second weekday trainer ride, figuring that I'd get in 4 hours on Saturday, so I'd still be at 5.5 hours for the week which isn't half bad for this time of year.
Sometime in the afternoon yesterday I figured I had better fix some bottles for the Saturday festival. I figured on 3 hours of swimming and 4 hours of riding. I set my alarm for 3:55AM along with the coffee pot for a few minutes earlier. I did manage to fall asleep by 8:30, I think, and slept well, and waking up today, I didn't feel at all sick. I immediately got dressed, poured a cup of coffee, began eating a Power Bar, took the Ultrafuel out of the fridge, and noodled around on the computer waiting for...ahem...the morning business to alert me, which it did, and when I looked outside I could see about 1.5" of new snow on the ground, but I did not have time to move it, so I was in my car at 4:45AM to drive to the Y to swim.
I got there quickly (no traffic at that hour especially the day after Christmas!), and had my choice of parking spot, so I picked one that a plow had just made nice, walked in, and I and 2 other people waited for the doors to open at about 5:01. I asked the nice couple what they were planning on doing and they said weights, so they wouldn't need to wait for anyone else. I forgot I had on my fleece Ironman hat and they just assumed I was doing something big, and I told them what I was up to (just the swimming part).
I got into the locker room and stuff put away and was on deck and got in and started swimming at 5:05 (if nothing else, I am pretty quick at the transitions, as I seem to do so many of them!). The water was a nice temperature for once. As I began, I had to decide how I was going to break things up, making sure I took enough breaks to take in some Infinit. In the end, it went like this: 2000 free, 200 back, 2100 free with 1st 500 as 25 hard/25 easy, 2nd 500 as 50 hard/50 easy, 3rd 500 as 75 hard/50 easy (actually did 600 here), 4th 500 as 100 hard/50 easy, 200 kick, 2200 pull/paddles, 2200 free, 200 kick. I had intended to only do 8800 (5 miles), but I was a bit faster than I thought I'd be and had time to do 9100 to finish by 8:00AM when Masters starts, but they didn't swim today, oh well, at least I was done with that! Total swim time: 2:56.
There was a point while I was swimming that I could feel my pecs working, that was pretty cool. I didn't really feel tired mentally or physically until I was about 6,000 yards in. So that's good, that my "this sucks" threshold has been raised up to that level. Although, it didn't really suck so much, really. When I was done and got out, I could feel my arms, sure, but they weren't trashed or anything. People always ask if my arms hurt after these things, and why would they? I have been lifting for so many years and have worked my way up in swimming, so I wouldn't really expect them to.
I spent about 7' in the sauna stretching my arms and upper back and then put on my bike clothes, street clothes over (cold and snowy, you know, and I am a wimp), and headed to the car. A little more snow had fallen since I'd been gone, but it was really light, fluffy stuff, and so I just brushed it off my car quickly and drove home. I decided to start shoveling my driveway, thinking that after the day was over I might want to go somewhere, and once I start, I finish the whole thing, which might not have been the brightest idea after all that swimming, but it didn't feel bad and my arms didn't hurt, so I finished my driveway in :35 (it's like 75 feet long, FYI). I went in and got the bike ready (pump the tires, put the power meter on, put fluids next to it), turned on Universal Sports (I have been seriously enjoying all the Alpine coverage in the leadup to the Olympics), wrote down my swim crap, and was rolling (going nowhere fast!) at 9:30.
Oh boy, this is the second time I've done a long swim before a ride (I mean other than in an Ironman), and let's say there is a difference between a 4-mile and a 5-mile swim. You'd think just your upper body is fatigued, but it permeates your core and your legs, too (all that kicking, dontcha know!). So I expect to be sluggish to start with. And oh, by the way, at some point while I was swimming, I'd decided that instead of 80 miles I would do 90, because then I would be pretty close to Day 1 of Ultraman, which is 10K swim followed by 90-mile ride. I justified this since I had skipped my second weekday ride, and I will not train on Sunday (probably!), and it's just riding, so why not?
Long story short, I rode the first 2:30 in the small chainring just to be nice to myself, and then I popped it into the big chainring for the remainder. The ride took 4:55, which is a little slow for me, but hey, I swam almost 3 hours and shoveled beforehand! I realized somewhere around 4 hours that this was the longest trainer ride I'd ever done! Preceded by the longest swim I'd ever done! So a big day of firsts! I am very glad I decided not to put a run at the end of this--that would have just been unnecessary--and not even specific for Ultraman training. Hell, if I was going to do that, I may as well just have done an entire Ironman, right? Um...no. Not today!
If you are interested in the whole calorie burn/nutrition thing, the bike says I burned 2870 calories. I'm going to guess that the swim was about 1700, so that's a hefty 4570 calories, not bad for a day's work! Counting breakfast and through to the end of the ride plus recovery drink, I took in 2519 calories, leaving a deficit of 2051 plus my BMR of about 2000 so I will have to do some catch-up eating tomorrow.
I am really happy that I was able to do this workout this soon in my Ultraman preparation. There is just something different about putting such a long swim in front of a long ride. I have to say, that was not easy, especially with the ride being on the trainer, which was mentally harder to me than the swim (at least I was going SOMEWHERE while swimming). Next is to see how I recover from this, which will tell me when I can next do it again, although I don't think there are any 5-hour rides planned until April. Still, I find these sorts of things are huge confidence boosters. I am still pretty humbled by the idea of Ultraman, and getting through this phase of training is just the tip of the iceberg. Next big workout is just a half marathon followed by a marathon! But I've done that before, and my body knows what to expect, and that will conclude my big run focus for September-December.
Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and get ready for another year soon!
With no run on Monday, I needed to do one on Tuesday, and since I really don't need to do brick runs in preparation for Ultraman and my focus right now is running to be ready for Goofy Challenge, and just to fit everything into my day, I ran in the morning, but it had snowed overnight, so I warmed up with about :30 of shoveling my driveway. The run felt good, and I held myself to Z1 and Z2 so it was nice and easy. Later on I did a 1:30 trainer ride, and kept the intensity to only about 80% of FTP as my legs were a little tired from the morning run plus I had skipped my long ride last week.
Some weeks ago, I had thought about doing a "hundred" workout on Saturday, which would consist of a 5-mile swim, 80-mile ride and 15-mile run, but after being sick last week, I didn't want to risk such a long workout putting me in a bad place 2 weeks before Goofy, so I kept to my original plan which was to do the 15-mile run on Wednesday and just the swim and ride on Saturday.
I took Wednesday and Thursday off from work this week, since I didn't feel like getting in a 15-miler before work and also try and fit in a swim on Wednesday, and then it just made sense to take Thursday off as well, and it worked out really well.
The intention was to swim first on Wednesday to do a T-pace (threshold pace) swim test followed by the long run, but for some reason, I just could not get to sleep on Tuesday. I think it had to do with the impending Christmas holiday and end of year, when I typically start thinking about all that was the past year and what is to come in the new year. A lot happened in the last year--a lot of good things, but some bad things, too. I had a great training and racing year, but I lost a relationship with someone I loved, and I have finally had to admit that 3 of my siblings are effectively gone from my life forever, too (they no longer communicate with me except to scream at me or send me nasty emails telling me what a horrible person I am, all post-Dad's death). All that plus witnessing a close friend lose her sister to liver cancer, which is how my Dad died, just stirred up so many feelings of loss and grief in me, and I rolled these things over and over and over in my head, unable to sleep. And of course, I questioned what I am choosing to do now (train for Ultraman), and it all decided to be front and center Tuesday night. But eventually I did get to sleep, although I am not really sure how much I did get.
Sometime during the night on Tuesday, I knew that I would still wake up with the light but that I would not try and make the early pool time so I shut off my alarm clock. Which meant that I would do my long run first and the alleged swim test second. I knew I had to throw out the notion of swimming well after 15 miles of running, and I just accepted it. The run went really well, though, and I averaged 9:09 pace for it, so I couldn't complain (yes, I AM slow!). I still swam afterward, and it did feel good to swim, but with various parts of my legs and feet taking turns cramping (which made me laugh and yet remember why they don't put a swim last in a triathlon of any distance longer than a sprint), I decided to strap on the pull buoy and paddles to knock out the 900 yards which would have been the test. Still, it felt good to swim, as it always does after a long run when I have the time.
Thursday, since I had the day off, I was thinking about doing a short run and then a 1:30 trainer ride, but somehow once I got on the treadmill, I decided to just run really easy and stretched :45 into 1:15, which meant I really wouldn't need to run the rest of the week. And I was feeling a little sick-ish again, with a runny yet stuffy nose, and I wasn't sure about my energy level. Looking back, though, I attribute this to just general sadness over the Christmas holiday, which I would be spending alone. Grief is an interesting thing--just when you think you are done with it, it comes right back at you in interesting ways. Still, I have learned that whether the cold-like symptoms are really a cold or just a result of grief, my body believes they are the same thing, so in respect of that, I decided to just bag the trainer ride. I could do it on Friday if I wanted to. Instead, I finished up my strength work for the week which felt good.
Friday, Christmas Day, I just decided to not do anything. I'd done enough running for the week, and since I had only ridden 3 hours last week, and I am tapering for Goofy, I justified skipping my second weekday trainer ride, figuring that I'd get in 4 hours on Saturday, so I'd still be at 5.5 hours for the week which isn't half bad for this time of year.
Sometime in the afternoon yesterday I figured I had better fix some bottles for the Saturday festival. I figured on 3 hours of swimming and 4 hours of riding. I set my alarm for 3:55AM along with the coffee pot for a few minutes earlier. I did manage to fall asleep by 8:30, I think, and slept well, and waking up today, I didn't feel at all sick. I immediately got dressed, poured a cup of coffee, began eating a Power Bar, took the Ultrafuel out of the fridge, and noodled around on the computer waiting for...ahem...the morning business to alert me, which it did, and when I looked outside I could see about 1.5" of new snow on the ground, but I did not have time to move it, so I was in my car at 4:45AM to drive to the Y to swim.
I got there quickly (no traffic at that hour especially the day after Christmas!), and had my choice of parking spot, so I picked one that a plow had just made nice, walked in, and I and 2 other people waited for the doors to open at about 5:01. I asked the nice couple what they were planning on doing and they said weights, so they wouldn't need to wait for anyone else. I forgot I had on my fleece Ironman hat and they just assumed I was doing something big, and I told them what I was up to (just the swimming part).
I got into the locker room and stuff put away and was on deck and got in and started swimming at 5:05 (if nothing else, I am pretty quick at the transitions, as I seem to do so many of them!). The water was a nice temperature for once. As I began, I had to decide how I was going to break things up, making sure I took enough breaks to take in some Infinit. In the end, it went like this: 2000 free, 200 back, 2100 free with 1st 500 as 25 hard/25 easy, 2nd 500 as 50 hard/50 easy, 3rd 500 as 75 hard/50 easy (actually did 600 here), 4th 500 as 100 hard/50 easy, 200 kick, 2200 pull/paddles, 2200 free, 200 kick. I had intended to only do 8800 (5 miles), but I was a bit faster than I thought I'd be and had time to do 9100 to finish by 8:00AM when Masters starts, but they didn't swim today, oh well, at least I was done with that! Total swim time: 2:56.
There was a point while I was swimming that I could feel my pecs working, that was pretty cool. I didn't really feel tired mentally or physically until I was about 6,000 yards in. So that's good, that my "this sucks" threshold has been raised up to that level. Although, it didn't really suck so much, really. When I was done and got out, I could feel my arms, sure, but they weren't trashed or anything. People always ask if my arms hurt after these things, and why would they? I have been lifting for so many years and have worked my way up in swimming, so I wouldn't really expect them to.
I spent about 7' in the sauna stretching my arms and upper back and then put on my bike clothes, street clothes over (cold and snowy, you know, and I am a wimp), and headed to the car. A little more snow had fallen since I'd been gone, but it was really light, fluffy stuff, and so I just brushed it off my car quickly and drove home. I decided to start shoveling my driveway, thinking that after the day was over I might want to go somewhere, and once I start, I finish the whole thing, which might not have been the brightest idea after all that swimming, but it didn't feel bad and my arms didn't hurt, so I finished my driveway in :35 (it's like 75 feet long, FYI). I went in and got the bike ready (pump the tires, put the power meter on, put fluids next to it), turned on Universal Sports (I have been seriously enjoying all the Alpine coverage in the leadup to the Olympics), wrote down my swim crap, and was rolling (going nowhere fast!) at 9:30.
Oh boy, this is the second time I've done a long swim before a ride (I mean other than in an Ironman), and let's say there is a difference between a 4-mile and a 5-mile swim. You'd think just your upper body is fatigued, but it permeates your core and your legs, too (all that kicking, dontcha know!). So I expect to be sluggish to start with. And oh, by the way, at some point while I was swimming, I'd decided that instead of 80 miles I would do 90, because then I would be pretty close to Day 1 of Ultraman, which is 10K swim followed by 90-mile ride. I justified this since I had skipped my second weekday ride, and I will not train on Sunday (probably!), and it's just riding, so why not?
Long story short, I rode the first 2:30 in the small chainring just to be nice to myself, and then I popped it into the big chainring for the remainder. The ride took 4:55, which is a little slow for me, but hey, I swam almost 3 hours and shoveled beforehand! I realized somewhere around 4 hours that this was the longest trainer ride I'd ever done! Preceded by the longest swim I'd ever done! So a big day of firsts! I am very glad I decided not to put a run at the end of this--that would have just been unnecessary--and not even specific for Ultraman training. Hell, if I was going to do that, I may as well just have done an entire Ironman, right? Um...no. Not today!
If you are interested in the whole calorie burn/nutrition thing, the bike says I burned 2870 calories. I'm going to guess that the swim was about 1700, so that's a hefty 4570 calories, not bad for a day's work! Counting breakfast and through to the end of the ride plus recovery drink, I took in 2519 calories, leaving a deficit of 2051 plus my BMR of about 2000 so I will have to do some catch-up eating tomorrow.
I am really happy that I was able to do this workout this soon in my Ultraman preparation. There is just something different about putting such a long swim in front of a long ride. I have to say, that was not easy, especially with the ride being on the trainer, which was mentally harder to me than the swim (at least I was going SOMEWHERE while swimming). Next is to see how I recover from this, which will tell me when I can next do it again, although I don't think there are any 5-hour rides planned until April. Still, I find these sorts of things are huge confidence boosters. I am still pretty humbled by the idea of Ultraman, and getting through this phase of training is just the tip of the iceberg. Next big workout is just a half marathon followed by a marathon! But I've done that before, and my body knows what to expect, and that will conclude my big run focus for September-December.
Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and get ready for another year soon!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Obligatory Weekly Post
I had big goals for this week, but wasn't able to meet all of them. My running has been going really well, and swimming started out promising this week, too. Like a dumbass, though, I decided to up the weights in one of my strength sets, and that was the start of a chain reaction that culminated with me waking up really, really sick on Friday. So sick that being vertical was mostly out of the question. Luckily, I had moved my Friday run to Thursday and got it done in style, so all it meant was that I missed my long swim. Fuck. I have started to like them! But, I am learning what I can and cannot take and considering it's just December, it was a good idea to just lay low on Friday. I couldn't work, either, so it was basically get up and take some cold medicine and lay back down. I was completely exhausted. I couldn't find any greatly enlarged lymph nodes on my neck (I know where to find them which helps me evaluate viral vs. bacterial infection), but I was sneezing up a storm and the left side of my nose was running. Which was good, because I could breathe pretty well out of the right side!
I literally did nothing on Friday except lay around, eat soup, take cold medicine, repeat. I fell asleep for good really early and slept really well. When I awoke on Saturday, I even had a taste for coffee, and I felt better than Friday, so thought I'd try getting on the bike. I could spin, but the energy just wasn't there, so after almost an hour, I bagged it, took a shower and put my PJ's back on for the duration. I wasn't really sleepy, but still fatigued, so I laid on the couch and watched a bunch of skiing on Universal Sports, then watched Ironman Hawaii.
Different people have different views on what they want to see in the NBC coverage--thing is, it isn't ours to dictate, but in general, I think they do a pretty good job. I mean, hey, an Ironman on network TV? Watching one in person can be like watching paint dry, and the fact it's on at all is remarkable in this day and age of biggest fatty, loser parenting and "look at me" reality shows, none of which I personally watch. I usually get teary eyed at the "stories," and this year was no exception. The woman who had had a stroke impressed me. The navy guy who trained on a submarine REALLY impressed me. Of course, Rudy Tolson impressed me. People who are not bitching and moaning about their lives, and they go and grab it and kick it in the nuts and still do an Ironman. THAT is what it's about to me. Any of the rest of us who have a "normal" life without significant disabilities, enough money to buy a nice bike and tons of gear have no right whatsoever to complain. And if you suck at Ironman, hey, it's your own choice. You can choose to honor the race and train for it properly, or you can just be a fucking medal whore and do it so you can check it off your bucket list. That is fine, too.
Doing an Ironman doesn't make any of us any better than anyone else. I hate it when people bitch and moan about their training, how they wish they could do more. You are either CHOOSING to make enough time to train the way you think you should train, or you aren't. If you aren't, shut the fuck up. Don't do Ironman. Nobody cares if you do it or not. Nobody cares about your finish time like 2 weeks after the race. It is just how it is. There are more important things in life for most people. So why, you ask, am I so obsessed with training? It just is. I have figured out how to make time to train the way that I want to train most of the time, and I generally do not bitch about it. Sure it is stressful at times, but nobody said it would be easy. I do not want it to be easy. I want it to be the thing that prevents me from being average in my own head. It is not for anyone else or to show anyone else anything. It is just a way I have found of pushing myself. That is it. I am nobody, and I don't care what anyone thinks about what I am doing.
OK that was a bit of a tangent. So during last night, I notice that my nose is not running at all, and I am breathing well, and I want to get out of bed. But I stay in until it is almost light out, getting 10.5 hours. I stand up and do not feel weak. I want coffee. I want to move around. So I pack everything for a long run and a short recovery swim, including a can of Coke, and head to the Y. I wore my HTFU bracelet because I figured I'd need it today. I had noticed that my back didn't feel too great, probably from all the laying around I'd done the prior 2 days (immobility is bad for me). My feet felt wrong because I'd been wearing slippers for 2 days with absolutely no support in them.
Oh well, I got on the treadmill and didn't feel bad at all. I kept punching in the workout speeds, and only drank Gatorade for the first 1.5 hours, and then I started in on Coke, and it tasted good. I just kept going, staring at a blank TV screen (I can't watch anything while I'm on the machine), with the occasional passer-by waving to me. As I got to the last :45 which included tempo pace, I started to feel a little tired, but not too bad. Since I didn't feel like I had a cold anymore, and I'd had plenty of sleep, I just toughed it out, but once I got on the track (with :15 to go), I felt tired. Still, I got it done, and ended up at 18.25 miles in 2:45. I had to decide whether to swim or not, but first I stretched a bit because I was extra tight from all the running and from not doing anything for 2 days, and that felt good.
I decided to hop in the pool, and it felt great to swim. Guess my little break was OK. I did 1500 yards real easy, got out, showered and hit the sauna. Two young girls were in there chatting up a storm. I was just trying to do some upper body stretches while seated. Another woman came in and commented about my swimming and I guess she's seen me before and she asked how much I swam each time, and at this point I was pretty tired, but wanted to be cordial, so I said, "Do you really want to know?" She said yes, because it looked like I swam a lot, and I just chuckled, and I told her about how much I've been swimming, and she asked how much stuff I did per week, and well, the whole S/B/R thing came out, and one of the young girls asked if I would mind sharing my age with her, which I did. Even though I felt like I'd exorcised the cold, I could tell my voice was pretty low and I was tired, but I stayed engaged in the conversation. I know I'm an oddity, so if someone asks, I will tell, but usually I just stay quiet.
So, my training hours were cut short missing a long swim and ride, but the prime directive was running anyway, and I got that done. I will wait and see how I feel later on today (other than just tired!) in terms of being fully cured. So only 14.3 hours this week, will see if I can raise that a bit with a nice 5-mile swim and really long ride next Saturday. Running gets tapered this week, but I am still shooting for a 15-miler on Wednesday. We'll see how things progress. Mainly, I hope to wake up tomorrow feeling normal!
I literally did nothing on Friday except lay around, eat soup, take cold medicine, repeat. I fell asleep for good really early and slept really well. When I awoke on Saturday, I even had a taste for coffee, and I felt better than Friday, so thought I'd try getting on the bike. I could spin, but the energy just wasn't there, so after almost an hour, I bagged it, took a shower and put my PJ's back on for the duration. I wasn't really sleepy, but still fatigued, so I laid on the couch and watched a bunch of skiing on Universal Sports, then watched Ironman Hawaii.
Different people have different views on what they want to see in the NBC coverage--thing is, it isn't ours to dictate, but in general, I think they do a pretty good job. I mean, hey, an Ironman on network TV? Watching one in person can be like watching paint dry, and the fact it's on at all is remarkable in this day and age of biggest fatty, loser parenting and "look at me" reality shows, none of which I personally watch. I usually get teary eyed at the "stories," and this year was no exception. The woman who had had a stroke impressed me. The navy guy who trained on a submarine REALLY impressed me. Of course, Rudy Tolson impressed me. People who are not bitching and moaning about their lives, and they go and grab it and kick it in the nuts and still do an Ironman. THAT is what it's about to me. Any of the rest of us who have a "normal" life without significant disabilities, enough money to buy a nice bike and tons of gear have no right whatsoever to complain. And if you suck at Ironman, hey, it's your own choice. You can choose to honor the race and train for it properly, or you can just be a fucking medal whore and do it so you can check it off your bucket list. That is fine, too.
Doing an Ironman doesn't make any of us any better than anyone else. I hate it when people bitch and moan about their training, how they wish they could do more. You are either CHOOSING to make enough time to train the way you think you should train, or you aren't. If you aren't, shut the fuck up. Don't do Ironman. Nobody cares if you do it or not. Nobody cares about your finish time like 2 weeks after the race. It is just how it is. There are more important things in life for most people. So why, you ask, am I so obsessed with training? It just is. I have figured out how to make time to train the way that I want to train most of the time, and I generally do not bitch about it. Sure it is stressful at times, but nobody said it would be easy. I do not want it to be easy. I want it to be the thing that prevents me from being average in my own head. It is not for anyone else or to show anyone else anything. It is just a way I have found of pushing myself. That is it. I am nobody, and I don't care what anyone thinks about what I am doing.
OK that was a bit of a tangent. So during last night, I notice that my nose is not running at all, and I am breathing well, and I want to get out of bed. But I stay in until it is almost light out, getting 10.5 hours. I stand up and do not feel weak. I want coffee. I want to move around. So I pack everything for a long run and a short recovery swim, including a can of Coke, and head to the Y. I wore my HTFU bracelet because I figured I'd need it today. I had noticed that my back didn't feel too great, probably from all the laying around I'd done the prior 2 days (immobility is bad for me). My feet felt wrong because I'd been wearing slippers for 2 days with absolutely no support in them.
Oh well, I got on the treadmill and didn't feel bad at all. I kept punching in the workout speeds, and only drank Gatorade for the first 1.5 hours, and then I started in on Coke, and it tasted good. I just kept going, staring at a blank TV screen (I can't watch anything while I'm on the machine), with the occasional passer-by waving to me. As I got to the last :45 which included tempo pace, I started to feel a little tired, but not too bad. Since I didn't feel like I had a cold anymore, and I'd had plenty of sleep, I just toughed it out, but once I got on the track (with :15 to go), I felt tired. Still, I got it done, and ended up at 18.25 miles in 2:45. I had to decide whether to swim or not, but first I stretched a bit because I was extra tight from all the running and from not doing anything for 2 days, and that felt good.
I decided to hop in the pool, and it felt great to swim. Guess my little break was OK. I did 1500 yards real easy, got out, showered and hit the sauna. Two young girls were in there chatting up a storm. I was just trying to do some upper body stretches while seated. Another woman came in and commented about my swimming and I guess she's seen me before and she asked how much I swam each time, and at this point I was pretty tired, but wanted to be cordial, so I said, "Do you really want to know?" She said yes, because it looked like I swam a lot, and I just chuckled, and I told her about how much I've been swimming, and she asked how much stuff I did per week, and well, the whole S/B/R thing came out, and one of the young girls asked if I would mind sharing my age with her, which I did. Even though I felt like I'd exorcised the cold, I could tell my voice was pretty low and I was tired, but I stayed engaged in the conversation. I know I'm an oddity, so if someone asks, I will tell, but usually I just stay quiet.
So, my training hours were cut short missing a long swim and ride, but the prime directive was running anyway, and I got that done. I will wait and see how I feel later on today (other than just tired!) in terms of being fully cured. So only 14.3 hours this week, will see if I can raise that a bit with a nice 5-mile swim and really long ride next Saturday. Running gets tapered this week, but I am still shooting for a 15-miler on Wednesday. We'll see how things progress. Mainly, I hope to wake up tomorrow feeling normal!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Another Good Week and Random Thoughts
There's a thread on Slowtwitch that asked the question why people go long, meaning Ironman and beyond, in triathlons. As usual, there was at least one snipe that people who go long are just slow and do everything (training and racing) slow, which isn't true. There was also assertions as to which type of training/racing is harder. Anyway, I decided to contribute (my username is fefe) because I felt like it. Anyone who has read my blog for a few years probably knows that for me, it is all about the mental aspects. Am I addicted to training? In a way, I suppose. It has just become something that I really love to do with such a passion that at times it does feel like an addiction. The stuff I've learned about the human body (and I am on a par with many personal trainers, coaches, massage therapists and physical therapists) is incredible, and I share that information with others whenever I get the opportunity. Most people, I find, just don't want to invest time in understanding their bodies, and consequently spend a lot more time at doctors than I do or suffer in silence. At the rate I am abusing my body (and I say that in jest--I actually take quite good care of myself, I think), if I were to go to see a doctor every time something hurt, I'd be there once a week. And so far, the only regular meds I take is Nasonex which is to fend off post-swim nasal congestion--I am slightly allergic to the chlorine/bromine whatever is in there, and I am slightly allergic to most things, but other than shooting up right before I swim, I don't take any other allergy meds anymore.
But I digress. Am I addicted? Sure. I might be addicted to something else were it not for my chosen poison. Is it true that you need progressively more and more exercise to induce the same feelings of well-being? I don't know. I think it's more that as my body has become accustomed to certain levels of training, it just gets easier to reach a little higher over time. And I have many things going for me that have let me push it--working at home, living .5 mile from my gym, weights in-home, ability to ride from home (weather-permitting), no husband or kids, and I am pretty organized. Or maybe instead of organized I should say I have learned to not give a shit about things that aren't important. Does my house need to be spotless? No. I keep it pretty well picked up, though, and am always amazed when at the home of most anyone else that mine is actually pretty clean. But I am no longer obsessive about it like I was when I was married (I refer to that period of time as the "Martha Stewart" years). I know for a fact that the things that HAVE TO get done generally get done, and while I would like 4 more hours in each day just like anyone else, I am doing OK with the 24 that I have.
I do not see my desire for bigger and longer events growing beyond Ultraman, though (like triple IM's, etc.). Had I started at this stuff at a much younger age, I might be considering that, but there are other endurance things that I would like to experience besides just long-distance triathlons. Like I want to ride my butt off for a week--I really want to do RAINSTORM, which is quantity, but I also would like to go to Italy and ride around for a week or two, but maybe only 50 or so miles a day and then do a lot of eating and wine drinking. There are all sorts of events at altitude and stuff. There is no shortage of challenges! I have people asking me to participate in team running events, and I know that would be a total blast. Will I want to do Ultraman Kona if I finish Ultraman Canada? I can't answer that question. I do know that since I am getting this ultrafuckingcool custom tri bike built that I will want to use it for a few years at least.
Part of this mental game is thinking about where I am at now and what might be possible down the road. It is really awesome to know that I am fit enough to do all sorts of crazy shit, and for me, I think it's that sense of "fitness" that is like a really good drug. It's cool to have people send me information about crazy ass races and events, knowing that it's not a matter of fitness for me to do it--it's just choice. And that is without even having finished Ultraman. Again, anyone who has followed my craziness for a few years knows that I have been going at a high level for about 10 years. I have had some necessary breaks and life crap like anyone else, but I have committed to a certain level that has felt "right" to me. And then for people who haven't known me very long, they might not know that what I am doing right now is actually quite normal for me. Maybe not normal for most people, but just fine for me. And that I am just tweaking my "normal" in order to hopefully finish Ultraman.
Aside from all that, I am a very sensitive, vulnerable person. It is just something that most do not take the time to see or admit to, because that would mean treating me as sensitive and vulnerable which is way more difficult than treating me as a tough bitch. I no longer think that I am somehow "hiding" this reality from others--I am pretty good at finding out other people's true natures--I thinkI just let people off the hook too easily. Because reality is, I am usually pretty excited about what I am doing training wise, as it does consume a lot of my spare time. And so that is what the initial projection is. But I have friends and acquaintances who do not do this stuff, and we are able to talk not at all about my shit! And yet, I find myself attracted to the others who do the same level of training as me, because it just makes sharing a lot of things so much easier. But I have observed that some of them just freak out when they discover the chinks in my armor. What the fuck, I am human just like anyone else! The thing is, I am able to work through quite a lot of shit while doing long workouts--I'd be a liar if I didn't admit to that. Sometimes I think I just FEEL too much. Working out is not a way out of that--in fact, I FEEL a lot while doing it. But sometimes it can help lessen or erase feeling bad while not doing it. I have strong feelings most of the time. Luckily, many of them are great, happy feelings, which is why I am usually smiling, snickering at some joke I have in my head or just grateful for all that I have in life. But when I have the bad feelings, they are quite strong, and I do not try and stop them anymore, although I do try and put a time limit on them.
Wow, I am really rambling today. Anyway, I had a great training week, almost as many hours as last week (19--should have hit 20 but I skipped one swim--oh well), felt pretty good all week, had really awesome run workouts, did my first-ever 4.8 mile swim, and what's funny is that I now realize that if I didn't work full-time, I could really do some spectacular amounts of training--gosh, maybe I will spend a year doing that--who knows? Getting used to 3 solid days of big training has been interesting--this week was better than last, with Friday being a 4.8-mile swim and 1 hour run, Saturday was a 3.25 hour trainer ride at tempo pace with a :35 run after, and today I ran 17 miles (at just over 1/2 mary pace) and swam :30 after. I am sure I will be pretty tired tomorrow morning, but I'll get through the day.
There are only 2 more big weeks and then comes a nice taper for Goofy Challenge. I will be tapering everything down, which will make Goofy feel like a real rest for me, and one that I need. I still remember 4 years ago when I was training for Goofy Challenge for the first time, and I was actually concerned about being fit enough to run both the 1/2 and full marathons! That was my first winter where I ran a lot, and I have run more since ROTPM than ever (close to 500 miles in 15 weeks--not too shabby), so it should be interesting going into Goofy with such a good running base for once.
As usual, I am behind on Christmas shopping, but I will get that done on time. I think this is the fittest I have ever been at this time of the year, and so going into the New Year, I only hope to look forward to another year of health and HUGE training!
But I digress. Am I addicted? Sure. I might be addicted to something else were it not for my chosen poison. Is it true that you need progressively more and more exercise to induce the same feelings of well-being? I don't know. I think it's more that as my body has become accustomed to certain levels of training, it just gets easier to reach a little higher over time. And I have many things going for me that have let me push it--working at home, living .5 mile from my gym, weights in-home, ability to ride from home (weather-permitting), no husband or kids, and I am pretty organized. Or maybe instead of organized I should say I have learned to not give a shit about things that aren't important. Does my house need to be spotless? No. I keep it pretty well picked up, though, and am always amazed when at the home of most anyone else that mine is actually pretty clean. But I am no longer obsessive about it like I was when I was married (I refer to that period of time as the "Martha Stewart" years). I know for a fact that the things that HAVE TO get done generally get done, and while I would like 4 more hours in each day just like anyone else, I am doing OK with the 24 that I have.
I do not see my desire for bigger and longer events growing beyond Ultraman, though (like triple IM's, etc.). Had I started at this stuff at a much younger age, I might be considering that, but there are other endurance things that I would like to experience besides just long-distance triathlons. Like I want to ride my butt off for a week--I really want to do RAINSTORM, which is quantity, but I also would like to go to Italy and ride around for a week or two, but maybe only 50 or so miles a day and then do a lot of eating and wine drinking. There are all sorts of events at altitude and stuff. There is no shortage of challenges! I have people asking me to participate in team running events, and I know that would be a total blast. Will I want to do Ultraman Kona if I finish Ultraman Canada? I can't answer that question. I do know that since I am getting this ultrafuckingcool custom tri bike built that I will want to use it for a few years at least.
Part of this mental game is thinking about where I am at now and what might be possible down the road. It is really awesome to know that I am fit enough to do all sorts of crazy shit, and for me, I think it's that sense of "fitness" that is like a really good drug. It's cool to have people send me information about crazy ass races and events, knowing that it's not a matter of fitness for me to do it--it's just choice. And that is without even having finished Ultraman. Again, anyone who has followed my craziness for a few years knows that I have been going at a high level for about 10 years. I have had some necessary breaks and life crap like anyone else, but I have committed to a certain level that has felt "right" to me. And then for people who haven't known me very long, they might not know that what I am doing right now is actually quite normal for me. Maybe not normal for most people, but just fine for me. And that I am just tweaking my "normal" in order to hopefully finish Ultraman.
Aside from all that, I am a very sensitive, vulnerable person. It is just something that most do not take the time to see or admit to, because that would mean treating me as sensitive and vulnerable which is way more difficult than treating me as a tough bitch. I no longer think that I am somehow "hiding" this reality from others--I am pretty good at finding out other people's true natures--I thinkI just let people off the hook too easily. Because reality is, I am usually pretty excited about what I am doing training wise, as it does consume a lot of my spare time. And so that is what the initial projection is. But I have friends and acquaintances who do not do this stuff, and we are able to talk not at all about my shit! And yet, I find myself attracted to the others who do the same level of training as me, because it just makes sharing a lot of things so much easier. But I have observed that some of them just freak out when they discover the chinks in my armor. What the fuck, I am human just like anyone else! The thing is, I am able to work through quite a lot of shit while doing long workouts--I'd be a liar if I didn't admit to that. Sometimes I think I just FEEL too much. Working out is not a way out of that--in fact, I FEEL a lot while doing it. But sometimes it can help lessen or erase feeling bad while not doing it. I have strong feelings most of the time. Luckily, many of them are great, happy feelings, which is why I am usually smiling, snickering at some joke I have in my head or just grateful for all that I have in life. But when I have the bad feelings, they are quite strong, and I do not try and stop them anymore, although I do try and put a time limit on them.
Wow, I am really rambling today. Anyway, I had a great training week, almost as many hours as last week (19--should have hit 20 but I skipped one swim--oh well), felt pretty good all week, had really awesome run workouts, did my first-ever 4.8 mile swim, and what's funny is that I now realize that if I didn't work full-time, I could really do some spectacular amounts of training--gosh, maybe I will spend a year doing that--who knows? Getting used to 3 solid days of big training has been interesting--this week was better than last, with Friday being a 4.8-mile swim and 1 hour run, Saturday was a 3.25 hour trainer ride at tempo pace with a :35 run after, and today I ran 17 miles (at just over 1/2 mary pace) and swam :30 after. I am sure I will be pretty tired tomorrow morning, but I'll get through the day.
There are only 2 more big weeks and then comes a nice taper for Goofy Challenge. I will be tapering everything down, which will make Goofy feel like a real rest for me, and one that I need. I still remember 4 years ago when I was training for Goofy Challenge for the first time, and I was actually concerned about being fit enough to run both the 1/2 and full marathons! That was my first winter where I ran a lot, and I have run more since ROTPM than ever (close to 500 miles in 15 weeks--not too shabby), so it should be interesting going into Goofy with such a good running base for once.
As usual, I am behind on Christmas shopping, but I will get that done on time. I think this is the fittest I have ever been at this time of the year, and so going into the New Year, I only hope to look forward to another year of health and HUGE training!
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