Week 37: Overanalysis Ahead

…like that’s abnormal, but I mean, this is a lot even for me.

Well, kids, this is it.  Somewhere around 2pm Sunday (give or take some time for awesome performances or bonkity bonk bonkage), I should be rolling into the finish at Kerrville 70.3.  Here is where my head is at:

Apparel:

My major problem here is that my navy and red tyr shorts seem to be the only ones that stand up to 56 miles on the bike.  The black ones that I ordered that are supposed to have the same pad in them just don’t.  The navy and red top is HORRIBLE on me and rides up and folds up to my waist and is uncomfortable and I was hoping that a few less lbs would take care of it, but it hasn’t yet (maybe by next season).  The other tri tops I have don’t just not match, they completely clash.  I have yet to find a good fitting tri top that matches (but it will be my goal at the expo – for next season).  I tried the black shorts one more time at the Veloway last week for my 60 miler and it was agony down there around mile 40.  The new fit seems to have made it worse.

So, I’m left with a dilemma – what to wear?  I decided to take an extra few seconds in transition and go with something that doesn’t completely clash and I’ve ran and biked in – just a regular wicking top.  I’ll swim in my sports bra and tri shorts under the wetsuit, and take some pretty horrible pics on the way to T1 showing the world my pasty white stomach, but then I’ll be comfortable all day.  I’ve identified both a tank and a tee that match decently and I’ve worn a million times.  I’d never do this for anything shorter, but I want to be comfortable in what I’ll be spending the majority of a workday in.

Weather:

Right now, looking like 58 low, 81 high, scattered thunderstorms (30%), and a light breeze (7 mph), and the lake is on the edge of being wetsuit legal (following the same temp pattern as last year, when it was legal).  Dear fluffy lord of triathlons, I humbly request that this weather holds, substituting just a cloudy or slightly drizzly day for the thunderstorms.  Thanks! 🙂

Swim:

I’m pretty confident I can rock the swim.  This week’s wetsuit swim was so much more fabulous than the last one – I cut my poor nails super short (see my sad picture above) so I could tug on the wetsuit better, and enlisted Zliten’s help in getting the arms in the right place, and I felt way less like a starfish.  Since the distance and time has been estimated both swims, I have zero idea how much faster (if at all) I am in it, so this is a wildcard.  I’m going to say that I will be satisfied with a time somewhere in between 40-45 minutes with good conditions and no shenanigans.  45-50 means something probably went wrong.  If I don’t beat my 53 mins from last year, something REALLY went south, as I remember being ill at ease in the water last year and thinking it was a bad swim then, and I’m a WAY better swimmer this year.

My concentration will be on form, keeping a pace that is a little harder than comfortable but not too fast, and if possible, finding some feet to follow if I can (it’s AMAZING how much less effort it is to draft).  I’ll line up somewhere in the middle to one side and hope to find a nice patch of water to do my thing.

T1:

I’m a little wary about getting the wetsuit off (since it will be the first race I’m using it), so we’ll see how it goes.  I’m sure this will be on the order of seconds, not minutes, especially because they have wetsuit strippers.  Do that, jog up the hill, throw the shirt on, probably put arm warmers on, helmet, sunglasses, shove everything in the bag, and go.  I’m leaving my bike gloves velcro’d to my frame, and my garmin on my bike frame as well to save some time, it worked well at Tri Rock.

Bike:

My biking has been a lot more solid this year.  I’ve got many more butt on bike time this year, and a lot more 2-3+ hour rides.  I know where my low point is (hi there miles in the late 40s) and I know how to push through (sing silly songs, eat more, etc).  I’ve ridden much harder rides than this course, so it shouldn’t be a problem.  I know, at the end, I can take some 303s if my body needs them and I handle that fine.  My goal will just be to keep the nutrition going (one chomp every 2-3 miles) and try to ride smart and not cook my legs.  I rode it just under 16 mph last year.  The course is pretty fast unless it gets windy.  I’m not sure what the number will be, but I’m really hoping to be about 1 mph better as I was at Tri Rock.

I do have a few challenges though.  The new bike fit is going to help me get off the bike and feel much fresher, but I feel a little less powerful chugging up hills.  I’m not sure how that’s going to affect my speed over a longer ride.  Also, I’ll be doing the race with my aero bottle + gatorade bottle in my cage, so I’ll have to be doing my first bottle grab for gatorade ever.  That will be interesting.  I think I’ll be ok if I miss one with my extra bottle, but I’ll be in bad shape if I miss more than one.  It won’t be as hot as Tri Rock, but I still need to keep drinking because I’m counting on those calories.

T2:

Should be normal stuff.  I’ll throw an extra tank top in my T2 bag in case I put on a tee in T1 and decide it’s too hot for sleeves.  I’ll keep a dose of 303s in my bento box in case things are really bad, and I’ll have a stash in my handheld water bottle that I will much more likely take on the run in the first mile.  Sadly, I won’t be able to freeze my bottle since we have to drop off the bags the day before.  I’ll start with an empty handheld and a sealed bottle of gatorade (which I will PROBABLY just leave in transition, but just in case I am super dehydrated from missing bottle grabs, etc, with my handheld also full of chomps (gatorade chomps and other chomps in case I just want MOAR NUTRITION).  I just need to keep going here and not fall prey to transition gravity.

Run:

(One is old, one is new, can you tell which one? :D) The run.  My nemesis this year.  However, there are a few things up my alley here.  First, my mindset.  It’s keep running or med tent.  I don’t care if I’m not into it, if I’m bored, if I’m hot, if monkeys fly out of my butt – this is my A race and I will keep going unless there is something SERIOUSLY wrong, aka, an arm or leg off.  Second, the course this year is all on roads, and only has one hill per loop instead of all the ups and downs of the trail.  Four loops will be a little mind numbing, but I can do it.

My goal is to go out the first mile and just get moving, and not even look at my watch until it beeps mile 1 complete.  Then, the rest of the first half, keep myself at ~11 minute miles through lap 2.  No faster.  If I feel GREAT, I will decrease my pace a little on lap 3 (down to 10:30s max).  On lap 4, I’ll give it all I have.  If I don’t feel great, I’ll just keep trotting as fast as I can maintain.  The best half marathon I’ve run in 2 years (I haven’t race-raced one in a while) is 2:25 (and that was part of a 20 mile training run).  Ultimately, on a super great day this Sunday, I’d love to beat that.  I had a super secret goal months ago to PR my half marathon at Kerrville this year (2:08), but with my run training this year, I’d be an idiot to try for that.  If I come in around 2:25 and feel like I could have pushed harder earlier in the race, I’ll take it.

Last year, my first 70.3 (same race), I was just so EXCITED.  I was ready to rock and go the distance.  My second 70.3, I was terrified.  I was so undertrained because of my injury, and the course was tough.  This one, I feel a bit of calm determination.  I’m not worried about completing the race (barring special circumstances).  I’m looking forward to seeing what my brain and my body can do.

Week 37 Training:

Good first week of taper.  I ran a few miles, biked a few miles, and swam a few miles, and I felt good doing it.  I skipped a swim when I was tired.  I cut a run short because I was tired.  Then Wednesday I got my mojo back and had a pretty awesome wetsuit swim.  Thursday, I did a slow 5 miler with a race pace mile at the end, and some easy trainer miles.

Saturday, we did a practice bike, run, swim to make sure everything was functioning, and it helped me make a bunch of decisions for Kerrville.  It was super windy, so the slow 15.9 mph easy pace wasn’t a surprise or worrisome.  I felt awesome off the bike and ran a 33 minute 5k, never pushing myself too hard, holding to a pace where I felt that it would be challenging to hold for 3 more laps, but not impossible.  Then, I had a super easy paddle in the lake, holding nothing near the pace I want to next week, getting distracted, and watching the kiteboarders, but it was fine.

I actually keep getting kinda sad about the last training bike and swims this week (I’ll cut those WAY down marathon training as long as my body can handle the jump in run miles).  It’s nice to be sad about it and not wanting to shove my bike and goggles in a corner and NEVAR see them again like some seasons.

I feel good about what I did this week and where I’m at, so here’s the details and let’s move on.

Monday: off (skipped swim, I was exhausted still)
Tuesday: Run: Oops 1.7 mi 00:21 12:15 pace (supposed to be 4)
Wednesday: Swim: Wetsuit Test 2 1350 m 00:30 35:45 pace
Thursday: Run: Easy 5 with a Tempo Mile 6 mi 01:09 11:30 pace, Bike: Trainer + Scott Pilgrim 35 mi 01:35 22.1mph pace
Friday: off
Saturday: Bike: Pflug Loop 17.77 mi 01:07 15.9mph pace, Run: Pflug Loop 3.1 mi 00:34 10:50 pace, Swim: Pflug 1200 m 00:37 49:37 pace
Sunday: off

Total time: 6 hours. 11 run miles, 53 bike miles, 2550m swim.

Wanted to do more like 7-7.5, but it is what it is, and my body called for the extra rest, so it got it.

Week 37 Food/Scale:

Speaking of the size of posteriors… our iguana decided to play on the chandelier this weekend.  I’m glad her sizeable lizard butt did not pull it down.  😀

Anyhoo, back to me… It was TOM, so that always throws me for a loop.  It was odd that I had a lot of ups and downs, but I’m settling back to my 174-175.  I’m ok with that.  I didn’t do the greatest at DQ this week or being proactive with tracking, but I’m keeping it decent, especially considering I’m eating catered food at work since we’re working extra hours.  This next week, I need to really focus up to Friday on good food and not too much of it, and then Friday on, carbs carbs carbs with as little sugar or fat as possible.

Things I’ve made lately that are awesome:

•  Black bean brownies (pictured – though not well) – recipe – note… the brownies in and of them selves were alright – but I slapped together some cream cheese frosting (2 tbsp organic cream cheese, 2 tsp coconut oil, 1 tsp raw sugar, and some stevia to tast), and it made them awesome.  Also awesome with a little nut/seed butter slathered on top.
• Marshmallow millet treats (I know this came from somewhere but I don’t know where) – recipe
• French onion soup with sprouted grain crouton and gruyere cheese – recipe
• Healthy corn chowder – used almond milk + pureed beans instead of cream and it tasted awesome.  Loosely used this one as a guideline – recipe

I’m not sure what exactly has possessed me to make these healthy deserts lately, but I think it’s a combination of that I’m sick of paying 1-2+$ for energy bars and enjoy eating these before and after runs/hard workouts and that I’m trying to take desert off a pedestal.  I passed up cake yesterday (that I normally would have obsessed over) simply because I had (much healthier) brownies at home I was looking forward to eating.  I will probably cut this shit out when I’m not training that much, because having 12 iced brownies at home means I’ll probably have an iced brownie a day most days, but for the next two months, I’ll be making some crazy yummy treats and enjoying them!

As for the fooding this week, here’s the numbers.

Monday: 1694 cal, 26 DQ (+27, -1)
Tuesday: 1868 calories, 23 DQ (+25, -2 – responsible beer drinking on game day, only had 2!)
Wednesday: 1746 calories, 26 DQ (27+/-1)
Thursday: 1927 calories, 27 DQ
Friday: 1728 calories, 21 DQ
Saturday: 2453 calories, 2 DQ (+17, -15 – mostly beer)
Sunday: 1528 calories, 14 DQ (+20, -6  – oops cheetos)

Average Calories per day: 1850 (not a huge deficit, but shouldn’t be a gain on 6 training hours)

Average DQ per day: 20 (not my best, not my worst)

Scale: 174.2 (low), 179.0 (high).  It was TOM, so I expected some swings, but overall, still just hanging out in that new set point range, seemingly until i either get another stomach flu or hit up a 5 day buffet…

Other than that, I’ve just been trying to stay as rested as possible, but here are a few little fun life tidbits…

Hi, my name is Lump (I’m the OTHER leezard, who was actually here first, thanks).  I got my tummy stopped up with too much sand (I live in it, and it’s good to eat a little, but I ate too much), and I couldn’t poop for a week.  I had to go to the vets, and they poked and prodded me and took xrays to figure all that out.  I was given TWO enemas in one day.  Totally not cool, guys.  However, I did get revenge and splattered explosive and very stinky poo all over the nasty vet.  Worst day ever, but I have to admit, I feel much better, although I did hear my owners say something about this horrible day being really expensive…

Game night was awesome! A giant chicken got roasted by a laser gun, I finally got to use my electronic lockpicks, and my quote of the night after slaying a giant cat… ”just call me curiosity!”

We noticed that Universal Sports Network is now on Time Warner Cable, and called and had it added to our lineup for 9 bucks.  That price is totally worth being able to watch all the televised triathlon, track and field, cycling, and other goodies!  And… now we won’t have to stream Kona on the laptop!  Woot!

Grand Theft Auto V has a triathlon minigame!  They didn’t really get it completely right, but A+ for effort, devs!

I scoped out a lot of stuff on IM Lake Tahoe.  My first thought was “fuck that course, it’s scary DRIVING there let alone biking” and then “ahhhh it looks so pretty, I want to do that course, I can handle the hills” and then “OMG 31 degrees at swim start fuck that!!!” and then “soooo preeeeettty, I can totally handle the cold (no I can’t)”.  For some reason, I’m finding I’m drawn to that course but it really sounds like a bad idea for someone who hates cold and really isn’t into hills much.  The end.

And on that note, I’ll get on with my week and see about rocking the shit out of Kerrville!