Yesterday's Workouts: Taper Madness Setting In

I was apprehensive going in to today's workouts. Tapering, you know. Part of me hates not working out so much and the other part of me recognizes that I need the rest. Regardless, I am eminently aware that tapering messes with your mind and body.

You are on this mostly regular schedule--for me, it's two workouts a day--and because of that you are eating certain amounts at certain times of the day, and let's just say it here, it keeps you damn regular. You get used to the ebb and flow of your energy level throughout the day. You know and expect what it's like to be tired at the end of the day because you trained hard. Your mind is accustomed to the break it receives when you work out and it views that as integral to its health. You are used to a certain level of endorphins which, face it, are the best drug. For me, since I typically do one workout in the morning and another later, this also sets the timing of my showers, so I get used to being grungy for only short periods of time. The end of the day fatigue sets in and you easily, and pleasantly, fall asleep, and deeply. You wake up the next day and you are already looking forward to your workouts.

Compare and contrast that with a taper: maybe I have to do one workout; maybe NONE. My eating and showering schedules are all messed up. I don't even think about eating much or else I obsess about how I can't eat so much because that would be stupid to put on weight now (how much does it suck to be tapering during Christmas and New Year holiday weeks???). Some of the workouts are so, well, SHORT, that I even consider what the hell, I could just skip it! I am not sure whether I'm tired and need to rest or lazy. My mind is not happy. It goes from thoughts of I've trained really hard I am SO ready for this race to I suck--exercise is just an excuse to not do other important things in my life. I forget to take my mid-day break from work, and because of that, am a little more ornery than usual. Working 8 straight hours in a row is not healthy for me! I think about other athletes preparing for the same event and wonder if they are laughing at me because, face it, I am a slow runner! My god some of them will be running sub-7:00 miles both days at Disney, and my lowly goal is to make it through both races in one piece, hopefully running the entire time maybe 10:00 miles! Then I have to slap myself and remember that this is ME, and my goals are different, and I am not a lifelong athlete, and I have come a long way, and oh by the way I've been training for an Ironman while training for this Goofy shit.

Much of this comes down to something that a runner at my Y shared with me a few years ago. This man runs marathons regularly. He's not ultra-fast, but he is faster than me, and he truly enjoys running. He and his wife run their own business, and a few years ago when I was tapering for something else, we were discussing tapering and all the stuff I just wrote about and he summed up my thoughts precisely: "Regular life sucks." I totally understood what he was saying. Not that the rest of our lives truly suck, just that if we didn't have our exercise and the accompanying good effects of it, well, what kind of life would that be? He further remarked that every single day, even though he enjoys the freedom of being his own boss, he looks forward to his daily run, and so when he is tapering it is just madness if he has a day off. I love this guy! Ever since then, all I have to do is tell him I'm tapering, and he just looks at me and shakes his head, and says, "You'll get through it."

Yesterday I had to do a swim TT (time trial) to establish my T-pace, which is threshold pace per 100 yards. This speed can then be used to calibrate subsequent workouts and also serves as a fitness test of sorts. My swimming has sucked the big one lately from the intensity of the strength work that I've been doing, and I just haven't been swimming much, so I wasn't optimistic. But I finally decided I had better get my sorry ass to the pool and do it and not worry so much about it, because I get another chance next week and I have months ahead of me to improve. I figured Friday before Christmas, pool can't be crowded, but I was WRONG-O.

12:25PM Swim 2250 yards in :45 as 200s, 200k, 1000s (TT), 300k, 500s, 50 easy. This wasn't exactly how I was supposed to do the workout because lots of people showed up. I ended up circle swimming with one girl who looked to be a college swimmer on break (oh, great) and this other guy who, based on my observations, is the fastest swimmer at this Y. This did not bode well for me, the slow one, being in the lane with them and getting a 1000f done. Oh well, I figured whatever I could do would be fine. So I cut my warmup a little short, and just went for it after 200k. I have to say it helped to have "sharks" in the water with me--they pushed me to swim really hard for once. I know I can, but well, I'm not a swimmer by nature (swimming since 2000), and whenever I'm tired, my swimming really suffers. But, I did have the previous day essentially off, and it had been 4 days since I lifted so I should have been able to swim at least "ok." College girl was actually drafting off me for a bit! I was totally shocked. She must have been doing an easy swim. Well surprise, surprise, I managed to hold 1:45/100. That's, I think, the fastest T-pace I've ever achieved. And I've been a slacker this fall, swimming-wise. So maybe there is hope. I would really like to get that down to 1:40 which would be flipping amazing for me. Slap on a wetsuit, throw me in some salt water, and maybe there's hope!

Needless to say, getting that swim done under those conditions made me feel pretty good, and so I looked forward to my little run. I decided I would run outdoors, as it made it to 41 degrees, so there was really no excuse, and besides, I'm sick of the treadmill. So I put on my new pair of Running Funky tights, hot pink with black zig zags, and headed out.

2:41PM Run 44:23 about 5.2 miles. The route out my front door is fairly challenging. Mile 1 is flat, then there's a gradual uphill for a mile, then a mile of good size rollers. I hadn't run this in about 2 months, so it was interesting to see how it would feel. Well, I was so happy to be outside, and I actually overdressed slightly on top, but I knew I wasn't running very long so it would be fine. Oh my the looks I got wearing those tights! Not that they were unexpected. There was no way anyone could miss me in them! I totally enjoyed this run, and I could have run a little easier, but it was good to see there's some speed (for me, anyway) in these old legs!

Today I only have to ride 1:30 and then run :30, gotta go and get ready to do it.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Yesterday's "Workout"

It's taper time, and I didn't really have to do anything yesterday, but I felt like such a slug that I went ahead and did my 30' abs and core routine late in the day.

It sucks to be tapering through the Christmas and New Year holidays! The last thing I want to do is put on weight, yet all I can think about is cheese and cake and champagne. Oh well, I know it will still be there after Goofy. And I can have a little bit of those things anyway.

Hope everyone is enjoying either a slow day at the office or a great day not working!

My Abs and Core Routine

Click on the post title and follow the link. Attached to it are word documents that describe and/or link to pictures and/or videos of the exercises that I do. There are a few that I can't find duplicated currently on the Internet; when I make my "Crackhead Iron Abs" video, I'll be sure to market it here :)

I think I am honest when I state that I have well-developed abs. Remember, though, you need to be fairly lean to see the result of your exercise. I believe the number is 18% bodyfat for women and 12% for men when you can begin to see that 6-pack.

Once your abs and core are strong, they will support your triathlon training quite well. A strong core helps you rotate effectively when swimming, maintain a more aggressive aerodynamic position when cycling and ward off hip flexor fatigue when running.

Happy Holidays!

Today's Workout: It's Officially Tapir (er--taper) Time!

As of right now, I am officially tapering for Goofy Challenge. Today was the longest single workout I will do until next year!!! Unfortunately, that next workout won't be beginning with a nice warmup swim, like Mr. Tapir over to the right here.

11:41PM Run 2:00. This run was structured much like Sunday's 2:10 run. Can you believe doing 2 of these 3 days apart? I sure can. Last year during my Ironman training, I did this 4 times. It sure makes your legs tough. I have to say my legs felt just fine, my heart rate was low, and I could have run longer again. Feeling so good the day after another breakthrough bike workout--PRICELESS!!! Mr. Tapir would be very proud.

Now some of my Goofy friends (Joe B. and Steve N.) have done back-to-back 18 to 20 mile runs in preparation for Goofy. Those guys are serious runners--the sorts I like to call "track stars." They will race both the 1/2 and full marathons in Disney. I'm not sure what my approach is going to be--ideally, I'd like to hold a moderate pace for both days, and then be able to say I ran both days. I know if I wanted to I could PR seriously at the 1/2 mary, but then I would be trashed for the full. And I do have this pesky triathlon training that I need to get back to quickly after the event.

But for now, it's Tapir/Taper Time. Tomorrow I am going to do a nice and easy 30' abs and core workout and that's it. AND I get a 1.5 hour massage. How good is tomorrow going to feel?

Life is good!

Flippin' Cool Trinket

I received this beauty today from Shelley. He he--a bike AND poodles, and *PINK* beads.

The poodles will be explained sometime in the future. Just remember there are TWO of them. Poodle-poodle.

Shelley rocks, and we have selected our mega-training weekend for the end of March/first week of April. I pretty much have an agenda in mind--let's just say there will be a LOT of biking, a good amount of running, and some swimming. This "epic camp" will help us prepare for our first A races of the year--Ironman Brazil for me, and Ironman CDA for Shelley.

There will be more on the poodles, and they (and other forms of them) will be appearing at our "camp." Poodles are kind of hardcore, don't you think?

GO HARDCORE OR GO HOME!!!!

Today's Workouts: I Broke 160 Watts FT Today!

I woke up feeling SO tired today after that big lifting session yesterday. No surprise there. But in terms of soreness (DOMS), really just my upper body, especially those puny guns of mine, were feeling it. And I had to swim today. I knew I was tired because I ended up sleeping 9.5 hours. When I woke up, of course it was dark, and I figured it was 5:30, but NO, it was already 6:30, meaning I had better hop to to get some coffee, something small to eat and maybe a little stretching so I would get in the pool by 7:45.

I ARRIVED at the pool on time, but ran into a friend, and I wanted to catch up, so I dilly-dallied. It wouldn't kill me to start work a little late today (still working now, actually).

8:15AM Swim 2700 yards 1:00. The pool was warm, and my arms weren't working well at all. My triceps were sore, my upper back was sore, my legs, while not sore, didn't have much kicking power (do they ever???), so I set low expectations for myself. The actual movement through the water felt fine, though. By the time I got to the final 500 yards straight, I actually felt good, and was almost operating at a normal pace. What the hell, a workout is a workout. I have a time trial to do on Friday, and that should go well--no lifting the day before, actually a rare DAY OFF!

2:20PM Bike 1:15 the infamous FT test protocol of WU: 15' warmup, 3 x SpinUps. Then 3 x 2' (1') Zone 3 MS: FT repeats: 2x20' (2'). In aero bars, normal TT cadence. CD: 6' Easy.

MY FT IS 162 WATTS!!!! This is up 10 watts over just 5 weeks

OK this is not a big number to you guys, but for me this is a big deal. 162 puts me solidly in the "good" range of power to weight ratio. That is up from around 150 as of 10/1. That is tested the day after a monstrous lifting session (and a short 45' run) which was preceded by a 2:15 run on Sunday (with a lovely tempo finish) that capped off a 15-hour training week.

My coach was encouraging when I spoke to him yesterday, because he said there's "indoor" and "outdoor" watts. Theoretically, I may be able to bust out a bigger number outdoors. I sure can't wait to try!

What's funny about this is where my bike and trainer are, downstairs in the family room, there's a bar (mostly unused, sadly since I began endurance training) with 3 shelves filled with full bottles of beer (a collection of sorts) and 2 other shelves with assorted glassware (the bottom shelf has all the liquor bottles--nice collection).

I have music cranked down there, and it resonates the glass and I can hear clinking, and I am always wondering if something will break. So far it hasn't. I do check that none of the glasses or bottles are touching one another periodically. But at the end of my 2nd 20' interval today, I was putting out about 190 watts, and then the clinking increased a lot--I think something about the sound combined with the magnetic rotation and output caused more resonance? Physics geeks?

And lastly, an exercise physiologist explained to me (and I later read about it in my own exercise physiology book) that dry heaves at the end of a workout are usually caused by acidosis, which briefly is an accumulation of H* (hydrogen ions), and one way your body tries to clean up the mess is by vomiting/coughing, hence dry heaves, I LOVE THEM!

Unfortunately, I am going to have a little break in my biking for a week for Goofy Challenge, but the rest (relative) may be just what my biking legs need!

And I'm really excited--Shelley and I are scheming to put together a mega-cycling training happening in the spring.

This is all just great stuff. Once again, I attribute some of it to serious training, but I'm feeling like my mind is lining up with my body really well now. The FT intervals didn't hurt today--sure there was discomfort--but I really welcomed it.

BRING IT!!!!!

Yesterday's Workouts

I was so exhausted after all this yesterday that I didn't bother to post last night.

8AM Lift 3x12 1:14. Increased weight on every single freaking exercise where I use either dumbbells or my Parabody machine. Felt just fine doing this, but my that was a long workout.

4:17PM Run :45. Mostly easy to steady. Felt fine doing this.

I am, in fact, starting a taper this week. Although my coach changed things up on me for this week--word to the wise--coaches are human and they make mistakes. I looked at what Rich scheduled for me this week and next, and while part of it made sense, the running did NOT. So I emailed him early yesterday and then we talked about it and fixed things up. The nice thing about this week and next week is that I get TWO WHOLE REST DAYS EACH WEEK! Those of you following along with the Crackhead Chronicles know that rest days are not common occurrences here, but for once I am truly looking foward to them.

I was supposed to have a rest day yesterday, but on Thursday I have to go to the dentist AND get a massage, so Thursday is going to be the rest day, meaning I moved Tuesday-Thursday workouts to Monday-Wednesday. I can tell you right now that come Thursday I am going to need the day off! Although in reality I will be doing a 30' abs and core session, which really, is rest to me. It will make me feel like I did something yet will not impact my recovery in the least.

Speaking from today, I have to tell you that strength sessions really take it out of me when the weights or reps or sets are increased. Some days I still can't believe the number of exercises I do in a full strength session (58 for a full session; 25 of which get repeated a second time during the week for my abs and core session and those are 2 sets of 15 reps always). I always do things circuit style and you can probably tell from the amount of time it takes me that I do not rest very much at all between sets Plus the workouts are in my house and there's no waiting for equipment.

But oh, am I tired and sore today. I guess yesterday would have been a good day for a rest day, but I'll catch up on Thursday. I see Ultra Violence before my bike workout this afternoon!

What is the Big Deal with Ironman Triathlon?

There have been some posts and comments on some other blogs, and they got me to thinking.

Ironman training and racing (and there is a big difference in showing up and doing it vs. actually trying to race it) is a vehicle that I have come to know and love as a way for me to explore my inner depths. Period. It could have been something else, I suppose, and I honor the many different paths people take to find themselves and work towards whatever state it is they think they are working towards.

The state I am working towards is a perfection of mind and body. Not in the sense that I want to be perfect; rather I am seeking to get that connection where mind is body and body is mind and everything is clear and I can practice my little piece of serenity in modern society while setting a good example to others of how they might be able to use the same vehicle to do the same. If anyone can learn from me and how I'm approaching my life work, great; if not, well spend your valuable time someplace else!

So I understand that my particular approach might not apply to those who don't take the whole training/racing so seriously. That is a perfectly valid choice. Sometimes when I read about others struggling to fit in their training, what I think is why isn't that person content to be good at the other things in their life? Be content and proud that you are a great parent; be content and proud that you are a good student; be content and proud that you are a wonderful employee; be content and proud that you are just a great person?

I am a good employee and think I've gotten as good as I can at it, especially considering I only have a few years left in me to do it. I will never be a great parent--I do not have children. I believe I was a good student; now I am a student of life. I work continuously at being a great friend. I believe that when I've been in the position that I am a great lover.

I believe that to be truly happy, you have to be content with the trivialness that is daily life. So why do I seek to push myself physically and mentally? I guess I don't have a lot of the other distractions that many others have--children, formal studies, etc. I have just always been driven to try and excel at whatever it is that caught my fancy at the time. I got pretty good at playing the piano. I can sew really well. I can cook really well. I've done pretty well in my career. Every time I push myself to excel at something I learn something new about myself, and it sure makes the daily trivia a bit more exciting!

Is Ironman itself a big deal? It can be. In the big scheme of athletic pursuits, it's a fairly big deal. But it's nothing compared to preparing to successfully climb Mt. Everest. Without oxygen. You could argue that rich people pay an entire team to get them up there, but you do have to use your own legs :) Yet I really believe that anyone in reasonable health that wants to commit to a long stretch of training can complete an Ironman triathlon. It might take several years, but it can be done. If I really want to climb Mt. Everest, I know I can do it. I just don't really want to (yet). But if I decide I want to, then I will prepare like nobody's business, because that's just how I personally do things. I don't believe in half-ass commitments. All or nothing, baby. That is how I got the name Crackhead.

Now something may come up in my life that makes it difficult to impossible to continue training at the level I prefer. When that happens, I will learn to stay content with what I can do and will take my experiences and bring them to that new table. If I thought all I'm doing right now was physical, well, hell, what's the point of that? It's the mental training that I'm after now. I really believe executing the physical training is easy. If you are training within your limits, and doing the other stuff well enough (nutrition, sleep, recovery, attention to technique), then you shouldn't feel badly doing the workouts. And if you've set them up to support an appropriate level of goals, piece of cake! Beyond that, it's mental. It's execution. It's commitment. It's desire. It's focus. It's what you are doing.

If Ironman isn't important to you, don't do it. If setting appropriate goals is beyond you, don't do it. If learning from the experience is not your cup of tea, don't do it. If you think it's all about bragging about how many hours of this and that you did, don't do it. If you think it's all about having the gear and being a member of an elite, don't do it. I think many people do it for the wrong reasons, but that's OK, because IMNA and others running races need the money to keep putting on races. There's nothing wrong with trying something out and then deciding it really just isn't your gig. It's not for everyone! But it's also not the greatest thing since sliced bread, either. It's is just a way, a Tao, and some people accept it like that and for others it's just a "hobby."

There's more than enough room in life for a myriad of approaches to the same thing, including Ironman. If I've made anyone feel that their way is less "valid," my apologies--accepting everyone as human and fallible and individual is one of the things I am working on every day. But by the same token, if you look at my way and don't like it, that's just fine, too. Be happy with your choice.

Whatever we are doing right now is our choice--it is of our making. I will honor your choice if you will honor mine.

NORAD Santa Tracking

This is such a cute website--poke around--lots of fun holiday stuff!

http://www.noradsanta.org

Today's Workouts and Weekly Totals: Call me Desdemona Tutu!

Yesterday afternoon I went in search of the perfect rhinestone tiara to wear during the Disney marathon in 3 weeks. I went to a local craft shop, Michael's, since I had been there several weeks earlier and looked briefly at their tiaras in the bridal area.

I narrowed down my choice to one that had both rhinestones and pearls (all fake, of course), and another one that was not as tall, but all rhinestones. I had to try them on, and then I went in search of a mirror. None to be found, but I finally located the ladies' room and went in there to try them on. The taller one weighed a little too much for my liking, and I wasn't sure it would stay on my head. The other one was actually meant for a "flower girl," i.e., a young girl, so it was smaller, yet it seemed a perfect fit for me. So it was the smaller one that I went with.

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home just to pick up a few staples for the coming week.

Of course, when I got home, I HAD to put the tiara on, rationalizing that I needed to get used to it. It is quite cute! I only left it on for about :30, though, as by that time I was extremely hungry (even though I had eaten about 2 hours before) and tired.

I did watch most of The Sound of Music, cutting it off at 10PM, after watching the VERY BEST SCENE where Maria has just come back to find out whether she's in love or not, the Baroness gets the heave-ho from the Captain, and then the very lovely scene by the gazebo where Maria and Captain Von Trapp kiss for the first time.

During commercial breaks, I was reading from a book I recently bought: How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life by His Holiness the Dalia Lama. This is going to be a book that I read slowly, because it's very "meaty." While I believe that I have made great progress since September on being in the moment, being more self-aware and more mindful, I also know I have a ways to go. First, I will seek to become more conscious of not practicing any of the 10 nonvirtues of Buddhism:

1. Killing
2. Stealing
3. Sexual Misconduct
4. Lying
5. Divisive Talk
6. Harsh Speech
7. Senseless Chatter
8. Covetousness
9. Harmful Intent
10. Wrong Views

I think I've got 1-4 and 8 pretty well covered, but I know that 5-7 and 9 and 10 need some attention. Sometimes I think blogging is "senseless chatter," but I am trying valiantly to not do that here.

At any rate, it was a nice evening to watch a happy movie and get a little enlightenment advice!

I slept like a log and awoke at 7AM. The day felt a little ominous, as this is the last big training day before I start to taper tomorrow. I had wanted to be running by 9AM, but I figured that wasn't going to happen with such a late awakening, but that's OK, I didn't have much planned for today except my workouts and some housework.

The one thing I had to do before I went to run was to sew my tutu. Can I just say that working with tulle is not easy? The stuff sticks to everything! Maybe you don't want to visualize this, but I had to remove my clothes so it would stop clinging to me. I had bought 4 yards of hot pink tulle, and it is about 64" wide, so my plan was to fold it in half lengthwise to yield a width of 2 yards, and then fold it twice on the width, giving me 4 layers of tulle in the finished product. Well, getting any of this stuff to stay where you want it is challenging, so first I just folded it in half crosswise, and then I basted through the center to hold the pieces together. Then I was better able to make one more crosswise fold, and then I sewed a tunnel on one edge for the ribbon to go through. Voila! I sewed one end of the ribbon to the tulle, but left the other side unattached so that I can fold this thing up since I have to take it with me to Disney. It came out great! I tried it one with my fuel belt, and I was ready to go run.

Needless to say, walking into a cardio room with hot pink top and shorts, a hot pink tutu and a small rhinestone tiara on attracts a little attention. Most people smiled, though. One of the trainers and the overall director asked me about the outfit and I explained it to them. A few people thought I was practicing for the Nutcracker ballet. What????? I wasn't aware that practicing for ballet involved running for several hours. Oh well, it was impossible to do anything but smile at anyone who asked about it.

I didn't defizz my Ultra Violence well enough, and when you fail at that, it has a sneaky way of finding its way out of whatever bottle you put it in, so while I was prepared to wear the Fuel Belt, I had to leave it off unless I wanted Ultra Violence all over my beautiful skirt! I did put the bottles on the treadmill, though, as I was definitely going to drink them.

10:54AM Run 2:10 as 30' Easy, 50' Steady, 20' Upper Steady, 20' Mod Hard. You will notice that that adds up to 2:00. I ended up adding 10' of Steady time on the end. More on that later.

As soon as I started running, I couldn't help but feel happy. I mean, how can you have any bad thoughts when you're dressed all in hot pink and wearing a tiara? Yet I knew this was going to be a run requiring lots of focus, so I just settled in.

About 1:00 in, I told myself to go inside my head and just enjoy it there. So I did. Even though I kept increasing the speed, my heart rate didn't elevate much out of my aerobic zone today. Guess I've gotten fitter! I kept doing checks on my leg conditions--they felt fine. So that's why when I got to 1:30, I decided I should probably add some time to the run in order to come down from the ending 20' of tempo work.

When I got to 2:00, I felt really good, and decreasing the speed felt nice, and then I thought, "hmmmm....I could run forever at this pace." That's a GOOD thing! I think that means I am about to peak just perfectly. At 2:10 I wanted to keep going, but that might be too much of a good thing, so I finished off by walking for 5'. I also did some stretching before heading to the pool.

2:35PM Swim 1300 yards straight pull, about 26' (not really sure; didn't time myself and I may have swam more anyway; it doesn't matter). The water was a nice 83 degrees, and it felt good to cool down. I could feel my body really cooling down; see this is why you wouldn't want to put a swim at the end of a triathlon--your body temp just starts heading down and cool water just accelerates the process. When I got out, I wished there was someone there waiting for me with a mylar blanket.

After the swim I hit the sauna for about 10', and that felt great. I have eaten some food now, but I know there are a bunch more calories due to be delivered.

Weekly Totals

Swim: 7,250 yards in 2.6 hours

Bike: 5.03 hours

Run: 5.58 hours

Strength: 1.65 hours

Total Hours: 14.86

Average Sleep: 8.86 hours per night

Stretching: 1.68 hours (I will do another 15' or so later today)

New Phenomenon: I can once again get my straight legs all the way over my head with toes touching the floor! My back flexibility has improved. This is important, as I don't feel too beat up from all the running I did this week, and that is what will get me through the Goofy Challenge.

Body Composition and Nutrition

I may have sent the attachment to this trifuel post to some of you who read my blog, but for the others out there, every time I get someone asking me about managing their diet and/or weight loss, I go back to this.

CLICK ON THE POST TITLE--IT'S THE HYPERLINK TO MY TRIFUEL POST AND IT CONTAINS MY DOCUMENT AS AN ATTACHMENT.

Today's Workout: A Few of My Favorite Things

I slept well enough last night, but after being awake for awhile, I just didn't feel like doing anything. All I wanted was to stay in bed in my pajamas. It's pretty cold here in Chicago, so that sort of makes sense, and it's close to Christmas, and gosh it would be nice to have an entire weekend to just be lazy. About 8:00 I did get back in bed and lay there relaxing and doing a little thinking. I just let my mind go wherever it wanted to. I really couldn't latch onto anything particularly bad or wrong; it just seemed like I was experiencing a sort of malaise. Eventually, though, I did get out of bed, suit up, stretch and get to working out.

11:17AM Brick as 2:02 bike, :30 run. This is the same workout as last week, but I had a little more oomph in terms of watts on the bike, yet at a lower heart rate! I must be getting fitter. I watched the last 2 hours of Stage 15 of the TDF (the one where George Hincapie won), and for once, I was actually watching it. That helped pass a lot of time. It was funny, though, when I first started riding, I had a shirt and sweatshirt on, since it's so cold in my basement; but after 10' I removed them and proceeded to sweat like a pig. My SRM was acting a little goofy--I think the Power Meter needs a charge, and I have to let it discharge before it will take it--but mostly I had good readings throughout the session.

When I got on the treadmill to begin my run, whoa, it did not feel good. My legs were fine, my HR was nice and low, but as for many bricks, it just didn't feel right. But it only took about 10' before I started to feel "normal" again. Laying off any fluid intake was very useful. About 15' in, I thought to myself, "has it only been 4 weeks since I did that 1/2 Ironman here?" I counted backwards, and yep, it was only 4 weeks ago, and in 3 weeks I'm doing the Goofy Challenge! For some reason it struck me as a little bit hardcore, but then again, I've done 1/2 Ironman races 8 weeks or less before a full Ironman. Just never at the beginning of a training season!

I already knew from an ad that The Wizard of Oz is on TV tomorrow night. That's one of my favorite movies. I don't have cable TV and don't want it. I watch plenty of TV as it is; if I had cable I would be plastered to Animal Planet and Discovery Channel (years ago when I did have cable that's basically what happened). I don't really make a point to go to the movies (maybe once or twice a year)--I would rather read. But there are certain movies that I will watch that I've already seen, and The Wizard of Oz is one of them. After I got back from the gym, I was looking at what's on tonight, and I am so happy--The Sound of Music!

I was 9 years old when the movie first came out, and my mom and one of her sisters took me and my cousin, Lou Ann, who's the same age as me, into downtown Chicago to see the movie. It was a big deal and we all really enjoyed the movie. I liked it so much that the following weekend, my dad drove me back downtown to a special sheet music store and he bought me the entire score for piano! I learned to play most of the songs, and kept doing so for years. I also remember that I wanted to be a nun right after the movie came out--I would put a towel on my head like the nun's habit, and twirl around in my bedroom in front of the mirror like Julie Andrews while singing songs from the movie, or songs from The Singing Nun record album. I'm sure my mom was pleased, as I really had no interest whatsoever in boys until I was 15.

I need to go tiara shopping (for Disney) and then make my tutu, after which I will settle in for a little musical happiness with the Von Trapp Family Singers!

Today's Workouts

A pretty routine day, nothing special happening. Got 8 hours of sleep.

7:21AM Swim 2950 yards 1:05. The pool was cool again, and it felt great. I had a lane all to myself during my warmup, and the pool was pretty empty, so for once I was swimming down the middle of the lane. Then, just as I was going to start my main set, a man showed up and I saw him standing at the head of my lane. I looked left--empty lane. I looked right--empty lane. Huh. For some reason he wants to swim in my lane. Whatever. I know this guy--he's ULTRA slow, so I knew he wouldn't bother me, but it was still curious why he chose to swim in my lane. After I finished my main set of 8x150, I moved into one of the adjacent empty lanes to finish up with 3x200 pull and 10x25.

3:33PM Run 60'. This was supposed to be 10' easy, remainder steady to upper steady. I took things rather easy, and it was nice.

All in all, I don't feel very tired from this at all, but I have a big weekend of workouts--tomorrow is the usual 2 hour ride/30' run brick, and Sunday is my 2 hour run/30' recovery swim. So I'm making sure to eat well tonight.

I'm anticipating next week as beginning of a taper for Goofy Challenge, and I am not really looking forward to it. I can feel myself getting antsy while realizing I can use some serious rest, and throw in a Christmas holiday in there (yeah!). I am sure I will post about the craziness of taper--although this is nothing like an Ironman taper, it's going to be pretty close, as I've been doing some fairly serious volume for the past few months. Oh well, time to start a weekend!

Tag, I'm Boring

There has been a game of tag going on amongst the blogs, and at first I didn't think I wanted to play. But then I thought, what the heck.

When I first started writing this, I thought, gosh I'm boring, or else I have a crappy memory. I'm sure I could go on and on, but I need to go run now, so herein is my short list:

1. I am deeply geeky. Read on and you will see evidence.
2. I was a Valedictorian in High School. There were 7 of us in a class of 350. But I was the only one with straight A’s for every QUARTER (they only counted the semester grades).
3. I started college in pre-med. I ended up a lowly math major. Dating a guy in medical school changed my mind, I guess.
4. I had a 4-year academic scholarship to Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, but I worked in a genetics laboratory cleaning and changing bottles containing fruit flies to pay for my room and board and other expenses.
5. I was Social Chairman of my college sorority, Delta Zeta, for 2 years. I was good at it! For one of our fundraising efforts I suggested we sell massages, $1/minute, and we had way more business than you can imagine. I dressed up as Cat Woman to deliver mine.
6. As much as I appreciate nature’s way of food chain, my eyes still well up when watching nature documentaries where large cats fall victim to other animals or humans. OTOH, watching a raptor kill a rodent is exciting to me.
7. Only my back 4 molars ever got cavities.
8. If you whistle around me while I’m packing my Ironman bags, I may need to beat you up.
9. I began playing the piano without lessons at age 4. The music I wanted to play most was the classical stuff used as background in Bugs Bunny cartoons. So I ended up studying classical music through the 8th grade. I still play occasionally. Bach is my favorite, followed by Mozart.
10. My IQ was measured at 147 in 2nd grade. I’m not sure that means anything, but it’s a nice number.
11. I like to crochet. I taught myself how when I was 8 and my dad refused to repair our one TV (he had been a TV repairman before then). My only living Grandma at the time, marveled at the unique way I held the thread and needle which made me able to crochet quite fast. There are doilies all over my house, like an old lady. Oh wait, I AM an old lady!
12. When I was in 2nd grade, my dad tried to get the school to skip me 2 or 3 grades. They refused on the grounds that I wasn’t “emotionally ready.” They may have been right!
13. Until I was in 7th grade, my dad made me and my 2 brothers and sisters read 1 book every week during summer vacation and deliver him a book report. I actually read the books! I hated the duty, but looking back realize how I have come to love reading. I stopped for many years; now it’s something I enjoy as one of my winter hobbies.
14. A teacher in the 6th grade tried to give me a “B” in English. My dad stormed into the school and practically killed the teacher, much to my dismay. As it turned out, I didn’t deserve the “B” and it was changed to an “A.”
15. Nobody intimidates me anymore. When I was in my 20’s I wanted to be a CEO, and I thought all these higher ups were something else. As I moved up in my own career, I realized nobody was really smarter or better than me.
16. I am a social klutz. I suck at parties. Unless someone wants to talk gardening, triathlon, quantum physics, birds or large cats, I will be very quiet and keep to myself. It’s getting worse by the year. One on one, though, I function much better!
17. I have 20 rose bushes amongst my flower beds. I’m a pretty good gardener, and have removed about 30% of my lawn through the years and replaced it with flower beds. When a neighbor asked if she could cut some of my flowers, I told her, “No—I like them right where they are.” I rarely cut any and bring them into my house. I would much rather go outside and just gaze at them and the birds, bees and bugs that live amongst them. Also smell them!
18. In my 20’s my form of exercise was rollerskating. I would skate about 40 miles a week. I didn’t think it was a big deal. Now running 40 miles a week…
19. My favorite champagne is Veuve Cliquot Brut. Doesn’t need to be vintage. Ideally served with French cornichons (I think that means "little sour pickle") and caviar on baby Stoned Wheat Thins.
20. The one person I would like to meet is the Dalai Lama.
21. I am very sensitive to people making promises to me and not keeping them. It’s something I am working on dealing with better. I try and not promise something unless I know I can deliver.
22. When I was married, you would have called me Martha Stewart—perfect house, gourmet meals, always well dressed, always hosting parties and such. Now I could care less about how my house looks, and I dress like a freaking bag lady some days because I work at home and train so much. Although come summertime, I do tend to flaunt whatever I think I have that I can flaunt. And I can clean up pretty well. I have a lot of really nice dresses that I sewed over the years. I taught myself to sew in 7th grade when my mom no longer had the time.
23. I love men; if you know any good single ones, send them my way!
24. I was once raped and held at gun and knifepoint for 3 hours. Convincing those people to not kill me was one of the biggest tests of mental toughness I’ve ever faced. Which is one of the reasons why, in the big scheme of things, I don’t think training for an Ironman is that big of a deal. I hope I can always keep that perspective. Hey, I'm just happy to be alive!
25. I am not all sweetness and kindness. I am sometimes catty, bitchy, rude, and possibly just plain mean. But I’m working on it. I like bitchy, though :)
26. I only stopped smoking cigarettes in 1999. If they weren’t bad for you, I would still smoke them. Oh yeah, they stink, too.
27. If I had unlimited money, I would eat sushi for dinner every night.
28. I have a little suede bag hanging in my home office that contains a bunch of marbles. They are MY marbles. I hope to never lose them.
29. I am wearing a ruby stud in one of my ears right now that I plan on wearing every day throughout this triathlon season. It is something I had planned to give to another person, but I decided against it. It has since become an amulet; a symbol of my own personal progress to achieve greater serenity and peace in my life and also peak athletic performance.
30. I really believe life is beautiful and keeps getting better.

Today's Workouts: Giving Myself a Slight Break

After spending most of yesterday traveling home from Minneapolis, I found myself to be quite tired. I slept 10 big ones, knowing that today I had to do another customer presentation; but at least this one was remote over the PC/phone.

7:15AM Abs/core 31'. These workouts are starting to feel easy again, which means I guess it's time to change things up. But I will wait until after the Goofy Challenge, as I'm starting a taper officially next week, and it is time to give my body the rest it so deserves.

12:41PM Bike 1:30. I was supposed to do the same workout as Tuesday. I knew I'd be doing this on a gym bike (a Life Fitness bike, to be specific), and didn't know how that would go until I started out. I knew I wouldn't have time to complete the workout before I went to the office, so I reconciled myself to using the substandard equipment.

I did a 10' and (2) 12' FT intervals, and even though I don't believe the watts readout on these bikes (it said 150 for each, and it doesn't vary depending on your cadence, so that right there makes it inaccurate), my HR was where I would expect it to be.

After I finished 1 hour, I had just had it with this bike. I am not in an optimal position on it, I'm not attached to the pedals, and it's not geared anywhere near any actual bike. So I made a spot decision to spend the last 30' of the workout doing something different that I knew would be a little fun for a change. I put the thing on hill workout and really cranked up the resistance so that when I was "not on a hill," I was still putting out a decent effort. Mentally, this made the time pass faster, and as I was in a HOT gym with no fan blowing on me, my God, you should have seen the sweat pouring off of me! I could feel it coming out of every single pore on my body, including my eyes! Since the hill workout was 1' hill, 1' easy, it was easy enough for me to manage the 30' bout mentally, and at one point the watts readout was like 276, something I should not see, but I was barely turning the pedals.

All in all, I was only about 60 calories off (less) from what I burned during the Tuesday workout, so I considered this a successful workout, even though I didn't do exactly what I was supposed to do. No worries, I was still working harder on this particular bike than I ever have, and I could tell how much stronger I've become. My workout clothes were literally soaked (and yes, smelly) when I finished--it was if I had been swimming in them. Disgusting! One guy who showed up while I was on the bike commented that I was working up "a little sweat." Uh-huh.

So you see, I do occasionally deviate from the planned workout, and today was one of those days where the combination of the heat of the gym, lack of fan and crappy bike conspired to convince me to ease up just a little bit. All for the better, though, I'm sure! I feel FANTASTIC right now, not at all tired--oops, I guess a 1.5 hour massage helped out with that, too--but now I'm looking forward to my morning swim tomorrow and an easy 1 hour run. Since I only did one workout yesterday I feel like I haven't done much at all, and I think I will hit the big weekend workouts in great shape.

Fatigue and Muscle Soreness

Part of the game of being a good athlete (that is, if you choose to truly live the life of an athlete) is getting in touch with the many physical and mental states that you experience--not only during training and racing, but as part of your daily life, because the life of the athlete is the ENTIRE DAY. EVERYTHING affects your ability to train and recover; it is the wise, aware athlete that utilizes this knowledge to guide them to making good decisions that will impact their training and racing.

First, let's assume you have a training plan. It might be good, it might not be. The RIGHT training plan will be matched to help you achieve your reasonable goals, maintaining your strengths while significantly addressing your limiters. If you know yourself really well and/or you work with a coach who knows you really well, the training plan can also be a vehicle for really pushing your limits, which is a not always conventional way of increasing fitness and building mental toughness and confidence.

For example, 2 years ago, I registered for a 200k ride that has 10,000 feet of climbing in it. Did I know I could do it? Part of me did. But more importantly, my coach recognized this as a stretch goal, and he made damn sure my training was going to support the successful completion of the event. I already had enough fitness to push my training a little further. Would that event be appropriate for someone who averages 50 miles per week? No, not unless that person had several months to build their weekly mileage or they just wanted to do something stupid. No self-respecting coach would support an athlete doing that 200K ride without having an appropriate amount of time to build up to it.

Enough on coaching. Coaching and a plan only takes you so far, though, right? From time to time, we like to spontaneously push ourselves farther in a workout than we were supposed to. That's not always a bad thing; PROVIDED you adjust recovery time on the back end. One of the tenets of properly executing a training plan is consistency; the other is GO EASY WHEN YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO SO YOU CAN GO HARD WHEN YOU NEED TO. A big mistake many athletes make is they do their "easy" days too hard or in that "twilight zone" where you are not really physiologically causing any metabolic or muscular improvement; yet it may feel good for you to go at that pace or intensity. If you do this too often, you are creating a bad situation: 1) you are not developing the proper metabolic systems (fat burning ability is enhanced by spending time in the lower, "easier" intensities) and 2) you are compromising your recovery.

The way to control intensity is different for the 3 sports: for running it is best tied to heart rate, or a combination of heart rate and pace (to compensate for environmental factors and also your current fatigue state--more on that later); for cycling it is best tied to power output, but in absence of that measurement being available to the athlete it will be heart rate and pace, just like for running; and for swimming it will generally be pace combined with rest intervals.

If you do your workouts at the appropriate intensity, and your training plan is periodized, and you allow at least 48 hours between your breakthrough workouts (see Joe Friel for a definition), then it's possible to predict how you will feel, based on your total training volume and the amount of intensity called for, all other things being equal. All other things being equal means you have solid training nutrition, and get adequate sleep and minimize stress.

Should you feel fatigue? Some, if you've taken a break away from training or you just did an intense workout or a very long workout (don't we all want a nap after a 5+ hour ride?). Should you feel constant fatigue? If you're training for Ironman at let's say 16+ hours per week, then yes, you should expect an underlying level of fatigue, all other things being equal.

When is it not appropriate to feel overwhelming fatigue? If you are training at a level above your capabilities. Period. If your training plan is overly aggressive for your base fitness, your hours available to train, your ability to exercise proper nutrition and recovery, it's possible you will be much more tired than normal. OR you have dug yourself a hole by regularly overreaching in workouts; i.e., pushing harder than you should be. OR you did something stupid, like you tried to run 2 marathons 4 weeks apart. The body is very smart; it will find a way for you to recover one way or the other. This is why it sends out signals!

Now, we are talking about endurance sport here. When should endurance sport actually hurt? That is, when might you expect a workout or a training block to cause you actual muscle soreness? In my experience, only lifting should cause me to experience muscle soreness for up to 48 hours after the workout. Races may leave you with muscle soreness for perhaps 24 hours; after that you are more likely to fall into general fatigue.

Endurance training workouts, though, in general might leave you just plain tired for a few hours to perhaps 24. But your training plan should allow for either an easy, recovery day, or day off after a really tough one. Trust me, not that many full time age groups train every single day like I do--I've made a few sacrifices :) If you find yourself deeply fatigued or muscularly sore, it's time to have a little chit-chat with your coach. If you don't have a coach, perhaps it's time to get one. Some of us, unfortunately, are so good at pushing our own limits that we will literally work ourselves to the point of overtraining before making the necessary adjustments. That, my friends, is why I, Crackhead, Mind of Iron, have a coach. I am perfectly capable of shelling myself, and that is not effective training. My coach keeps me in line!

I can write training plans, and now I think I can write better ones that allow for adequate recovery. The problems many self-coached athletes have with building their own training plans are:

• overestimation of time available to train
• underestimation of time needed to recover from breakthrough workouts
• suboptimal daily scheduling of workouts that promotes poor recovery
• trying to combine high volume with high intensity
• lack of understanding of training principles which leads to training the wrong metabolic systems
• underestimation of the importance of proper nutrition
• trying to burn the candle at both ends
• inattention to limiters

There are more, but any one of these things can lead to poor recovery, poor performance or both. So when you are experiencing poor recovery (as manifested by "too much" fatigue or lingering muscle soreness), it's time to take a look at your training log (you keep one, don't you? This is part of your self-diagnosis toolkit when things go badly) objectively to understand how you got where you are. Are you overreaching? Are you underrecovering? Are you missing workouts so that when you get to a key workout it trashes you? Are you coming down with an illness?

Part of the game is being able to ask yourself these questions when you're feeling out of sorts. If you have a coach, you need to be honest with him/her that you are having difficulty and work together to sort it out. If you don't have a coach, it might help to have a trusted advisor or mentor that you can bounce things off of.

If you read my Tunnel Vision post the other day, you saw that I expected a certain level of fatigue, so it wasn't any surprise when I experienced it. This is a skill just as much as performing the sports is a skill! This is why it is important to find a way for you to have some quiet time with yourself every day. Some people meditate--I am able to meditate while I am exercising--others just lay quietly in bed either just before sleeping or just before arising. My point is, you need to find a few minutes every day to really stop and listen to what your mind and your body are telling you. Not just when things are going badly, but also when they are going well! Athletes also easily fall into the trap of "I'M INVINCIBLE" particularly during peaking periods or heavy training periods. If you ever study the I Ching, you will know that every action eventually converts to its opposite, so if you're feeling invincible, watch out--something is about to bring you down off your self-imposed pedestal.

There will be more on this. This is just a start. I need to relax, as I am very tired from hours of traveling and yapping at customers!

Today's Single Workout

6:00AM Run 60' as WU: 15' easy, 15' steady. MS: 20' mod-hard. CD: 10' steady.

I did this workout in lovely downtown Minneapolis (from where I just returned, thankfully, safe and sound!), in a hotel "spa/workout center." I got stiffed $10 to use this facility, and frankly, I was not impressed. The treadmills were at least 10 years old, there were no fans in the cardio room, and it was just plain ugly! I feel fortunate that I have a Y so close to home that at least keeps the equipment up to date and in good repair.

I don't normally run first thing in the morning, so of course I had to deal with a few minor stomach issues, but nothing major. The effort didn't feel too hard at all during the tempo work; in fact, I could probably up my speed for this now. See what 2 tempo sessions a week can do for you! This is the first time I've ever done that, and with smart training and recovery, it's paying off big time.

Need to close this post and start a new one at the request of a friend on behalf of a friend. Let's hope I can keep the fingers moving!

Today’s Workouts: Mental Toughness

Since I was smart enough to shell myself yesterday by doing 3 workouts, followed by 9.5 hours of sleep (I had a travel day today), all I had to do today was finish up my strength workout and do my bike workout.

When I woke up this morning (first at 3:30AM, then at 4:00AM, again at 5:30AM and finally at 6:00AM), I didn’t feel particularly bad; I just thought this might be a good day to take a rest day. So I gathered my things for my overnight (hopefully!) business trip, making sure to pack 2 days of running clothes in case I get stranded, did some work, and decided I should at least try and finish my strength workout.

8:25AM Lift 3x12, legs and finish up abs and core, 18’. No problems doing this, no particular fatigue from yesterday or anything.

I knew I needed to get my bike workout started no later than 10:15 since I was being picked up to go to the airport at 12:30. Again, I was trying to decide whether or not to do the workout—I felt fine physically, but I thought maybe mentally I need a break from this, but then I rationalized that on Thursday I will have to do my bike workout on a cheesy gym bike, so today would be my highest quality day. So I suited up and got ready to ride.

10:10AM Bike 1:30. WU: 10’ easy, 3’ spinups, 3x(2’ Z3, 1’ cd). MS: 10’, 12’, 15’, 20’ (2’) FT intervals. CD: 5’. Interval watts were 160, 160, 159 and 159 respectively. Not bad!

There is no getting around this being an incredibly monstrously hard workout when done on a trainer, or maybe I am just a wussy old lady who is too girly to suck it up more? I would really like to hear from some young bike stud that doing this is HARD. Add it up—there is 57’ total of FT time—so why doesn’t everyone just go and ride AS HARD AS POSSIBLE FOR 60’ STRAIGHT!!! Well, it does help to have those 2’ rest periods between each interval, but still, it is just hard to describe what this is like to do. I have the TV on mute with the TDF on, I have good dance music cranked, but I can barely focus on the TV, because what I’m focusing on is the number on the freaking Power Meter. I don’t care what my HR is because that is not the number that concerns me. FYI, I get my HR much higher than I do during my tempo run intervals.

Many times during these intervals I will find myself looking basically at the top tube when not staring at the Power Meter. When I was on the third interval (15’), I had convinced myself that I only needed to do one more 15’ interval—that it wasn’t that important to bump it up to 20’. But then I thought about why am I thinking that? These workouts aren’t just physically tough—they are mentally brutal, and in fact, it may be the mental aspect that is really what’s so hard. My coach and others (including me) have confirmed that if you do this stuff outdoors (let’s say on a nice 75-degree day), that it’s much easier, your HR is lower, and you actually have to watch it so you don’t kick out TOO MANY watts. So if I’m feeling like wussing out, it’s a mental thing, and every time I don’t give in to that crap, I get a tiny bit stronger. Sure maybe I would have only cut 5’ from the workout, but then you know where that can lead…I don’t even want to think about that.

It is very easy to say you are going to do something; it’s entirely another thing to actually DO it. I really have a problem (OK, pet peeve—jump on me right now!) with talk-talk. You are better off not saying it, not claiming to commit, not getting your own hopes up than talking about it and failing to execute. I like to be known to others as a person who says what she does, and does what she says. I guess that makes me ISO 9000 compliant, huh? Seems like a good life policy to me. This is right in line with what I was spewing forth about yesterday—how that when life throws you curveballs, you have choices—either change the outcome expectations or hit the damn ball out of the park! (I can’t believe I am using all these other sports analogies, including sports that I typically find VERY boring to watch.)

I’m not saying I’ve never succumbed to the demon voices—I certainly have—but I try to limit their power as best I can by doing a few things:

• Understanding where they are coming from. Am I stressed? Am I bored? Am I overtrained? Am I having emotional issues that I’m not facing?
• Asking myself will I feel worse or better if I give in. Usually the answer is WORSE, and that stops the demons dead in their tracks.

That’s usually about all it takes to just move on and GET IT DONE. This is part of my self-observation practice. If you can behave like a third party to yourself and just look and not be judgmental, you stand a much better chance of making the right decisions. And I’m not just talking sports here. I decided a few months ago that it was high time I stopped going through life half-unconscious. It’s time for me to step up, see myself for who I am (and make adjustments where warranted) and be more in every single moment.

I have to tell you that the elapsed time from where I thought about shortening my workout today to where I made the decision NOT to was about 5”. Once you learn to step back just a little bit, you can make much better decisions. This is also my approach to food cravings. I let myself indulge in the fantasy of having the food for maybe 10”, and then it just passes. But if I decide to give in, then I GIVE IN fully committed! But giving in once doesn’t need to lead to always giving in. Whenever someone asks me how long did it take for me to have the physique that I have, my answer is usually, “49 years.” Or however old I am. Wherever we are today is the result of countless, seemingly small, decisions that we’ve made moment to moment. I am finding the more I can seek to process a decision IN THAT MOMENT, the more likely I am to make a “good” decision for myself. For example, I am getting better at catching myself getting annoyed by someone else’s behavior and being able to stop momentarily and ask myself, “Is it worth it for me to react this way?” And mostly the answer is NO. Sometimes, though, my mouth gets the better of me and I say something out loud that perhaps in retrospect I shouldn’t have, but I also recognize sometimes that emotions are stronger than any rational thought process, and they also need to be honored.

The only downside to today is that I didn’t officially stretch. I am giving myself a “bye” on that, and will definitely get some in tomorrow, or even now as I relax before retiring for the evening.

Today's Workouts: Tunnel Vision

You know that sensation you get when you're training really hard and getting close to the target event and you have difficulty focusing on anything else? Welcome to my world! Today is the second time in the last 2.5 weeks where I feel totally, thoroughly, exhausted. I knew it was coming--it wasn't like this was a surprise--I've had my training schedule through next week in front of me. To not expect to feel tired would have been delusional; to think that I could show up and perform well for Goofy Challenge without doing the level of run training I'm doing would also be delusional, given my goals to get through both days running. Given my triathlon goals with my big A race in May, to not expect my bike training to be tough would also be delusional. Add to that my desire to get stronger, muscularly, and the cards have been stacked!

Don't get me wrong--I'm not complaining! I've known what I would be in for, and as difficult as this all is, I am enjoying it, especially knowing that in 2 weeks I get some sort of taper (that is still a surprise) and will get some sort of rest after the event.

It's interesting how all of these thoughts and feelings can be expected when approaching any major life event, yet I am continually amazed at how so many people get so overwhelmed by something they knew was coming, knew what sort of preparations were required, and yet they sabotage their own efforts by failing to execute proper preparations, set unreasonable goals, or succumb to stress that is of their own doing. Goals can be adjusted; events can sometimes be cancelled or postponed; stress management techniques can be cultivated to the point where they are a part of your everyday life. Right now I don't feel stressed; I am just tired--something I totally expect and almost welcome. But I also know that if I do truly feel stressed, that I have choices I can make--I can scale back my goals (especially if I know I need to scale back my preparations), I can postpone or cancel an event, or I can let go of something else in my life that is getting in my way.

If you are living truly aware, then your eyes are wide open. You know what you are doing, you control what you can and let go of what you can't, and you eliminate beliefs, actions, reactions and thoughts that restrict your view. It's so easy when you're in a car and it starts raining and you just turn on the wipers and presto, you can see well. EYES WIDE OPEN. Reminds me of the sign that you see at the end of some tunnels: ARE YOUR LIGHTS ON? So, are yours?

Oh yeah, was supposed to report today's workouts.

7:26AM Swim 3000 yards in 1:05. WU: 200 swim, 200 pull, 200 kick, 4 x 50 (10") Swim Golf MS: 12 x 100 (20"), Odds Mod-Hard, even's 5 sec slower. 100 easy swim. 4 x 200 (20"), Neg split. CD: 100 easy swim

The pool was COOL today! When I showed up on deck, I could feel the fatigue from last week's training, and I was not in the mood for warm water. So when I jumped in and it felt almost cold I was very happy! As I warmed up, though, boy were my arms and legs tired, and I wasn't swimming very fast at all. I remembered I had to do 12x100, but I hadn't looked closely at the workout. When I saw the odds/evens stuff, all I could think was, "This is such a GIFT." I was happy to know I didn't have to swim it all hard. And when I started on the main set, I was totally surprised at how fast I was able to swim the odds! I haven't seen those times in months--just goes to show you what cool water can do for you.

On one of the 100's, as I turned, it felt like I hit the lane rope, so no big deal, I kept swimming. But I was a little confused as to why my hand didn't hurt more. After I finished that one, I found out why. Apparently me and a woman in the adjacent lane had smacked hands, and she took the brunt of it. I apologized, although I'm sure my hand didn't go over the lane rope--I was actually trying to avoid her gangly side stroke earlier, and I'm very careful to stick within my space. Oh well, I knew she was hurt more than me, and I apologized as best I could.

As other swimmers entered the pool, it was nice to see all the faces light up as they got in and realized how nice and cool the water was. I ended up having a good workout, albeit with fatigued arms and legs.

9:30AM Strength, 3x12, 46'. I didn't do all of this at once--it was catch as catch can between meetings and calls and stuff, but I got in a good deal of work. Again, even while doing this I could feel the massive fatigue in my body. But I have to travel tomorrow, so I didn't want to leave the entire strength workout to tomorrow which would get stacked on top of a brutal bike workout.

2:47PM Run 55', including 15' strides. I was smart today, and kept it easy, as I was supposed to. Although the last 10' I ran on the track, and while I thought I was holding myself back, guess what, er, no, I was surprised I was holding that pace at such a low heart rate. But at least it was just 10' and not the entire workout!

I am going to sleep VERY well tonight.

Weekly Training Totals: Resistance is Futile

Freedom is irrelevant; self-determination is irrelevant; you must comply.
--The Borg

Swim: 10,050 yards in 3.58 hours
Bike: 4.75 hours
Run: 5.25 hours
Strength: 1.85 hours
Total Hours: 15.43
Average Daily Calorie Need: 3,467
Stretching: 2.25 hours <--met my goal of getting in at least 2 hours
Average Sleep per Night: 8.71 hours