Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

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Long Day #2 – Being your own friend

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On March 27, 2017

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I know there are many ways to skin a cat.  I’m not sure why you would want to, but this is what they say.  Maybe we should update this to something more pleasant.  There’s more than one way to eat a pizza?  More than one way to take a nap?  Think of the poor kitties everywhere.

Nachocat says… let’s get on with it, shall we?

Anyhoo, what I’m trying to say is the way I train is not the only way to train, obviously.  Many people find success in many different ways.  For example, many Ironman programs prescribe a weekly long run Saturday and ride Sunday.  That doesn’t work for me.  Doing a back to back doesn’t fit in my life and I don’t feel like grinding down my legs on Sunday every week would do anything but set me up for injury and burnout.  So, I cycle one long effort per week, two when I get a chance (for example, a 3 day weekend), and make up for it with plenty of mid-week volume.

However, I do not know how anyone, especially first time Ironman peeps, could be mentally and physically prepared without at least one of these long days.  They have been amazing, difficult, and hugely important days I’ll pull from when I toe the line April 22nd.

There are things you need to get used to.

First of all, I don’t do a lot of swim/bike bricks (pretty much… just in triathlons), and it’s usually no big deal because the quick dip in the lake (for up to half ironman race distance) feels like a nice wakeup and warmup.  Swimming an hour 30 in some choppy lake?  Big difference.  I felt a little more exhausted than I would have liked getting out of the water when I knew I had about 8 hours left.  I’ll have a small dent in my endurance when I get out.  I’ll have to be ready for that.

The whole endurance athlete thing is a lot of time in your own head.  To do this Ironman, you really have to learn how to be your own friend or you’re going to have a really interesting day with yourself.  I spent a lot of the swim being cranky at myself, my pace, my terrible sighting, and then when I passed the 4224 yards I saw my watch hit 1:31… and my time goal for the race is an hour 30. So, yes, MUCH slower than I swim in the pool, but I was doing just fine.  I tried to take that lesson on the bike with me and kept my head positive.

My legs typically feel awesome off the bike… for a little while.  I’ve done so, so, so many bike/run bricks and in practice, I generally get my legs rather quickly and run better and faster (to a point) off the bike then I do standalone without a warmup.  However, it’s always very mentally challenging to start a run after a long day already.  Both of my long day runs have started at night, which is good because I’ll be running into the evening.  However, both of my long day runs have started at night, which has meant they were cooler and I didn’t have to deal with starting a marathon in the late afternoon (I expect I may start running around 3:30 or 4) in the heat of the day.

Scenes from training from 8am to 9pm.  Yes that is electrical tape holding my bike bag on and it’s staying like that. 😛

I would recommend these long days to anyone training for an IM, I did one 8 weeks out, and this one was 4 weeks out.  They are supposed to be followed by a day off, which I have done, no problem, you really don’t want to do anything the next day anyway minus a walk to shake the sludge out.  They are also supposed to be followed by a rest week, which I have not done because the timing didn’t work out.  What I did (and will do this week) is take the first half of the week conservatively, for example, I just don’t feel up to my swim/weights plan tonight, so I’m going to eat dinner and go to bed instead.  I’ll rest up for longer efforts at the end of the week and the weekend (and follow THAT with a rest week).

At this point, I’m mostly set.  I think.  Perhaps.

I’ve figured out what I’m wearing for each sport.  I’ll be making two changes – bathing suit under wetsuit -> sleeved jersey and super padded bibs for the bike ->tri shorts and tri top for the run.  It will be some extra time but I’m super OK with it.  I’ve figured out where I need to aquaphor to not get wetsuit chafing.  I’ve figured out that I need to bring some butt butter to reapply every so often on the bike.  I *know* where I need to aquaphor on the run.

I’ve figured out some of my nutrition.  I actually OVERATE this long day on the bike and had stomach issues on the run where I felt nauseous and couldn’t eat.  This is fine for an hour, but not for 5-6+.  I think I figured out what went wrong.  Around hour 4-5, I put wayyy too much in the hatch too fast (two gels and my special needs reese mix plus some strong gatorades).  I was fine for the rest of the bike but I refilled my last bottle with water instead of gatorade and only ate one gel in the last hour and a half.  Result: I felt absolutely gross on the run.  I need to time things better.  It probably wasn’t too much food overall but too much at once.

The good news is I felt MUCH better once I stopped running, had a recovery drink (tasted EWWW so sweet but helped) and had cheese pizza, so I think some chicken broth would have solved things.  I need to figure out something that can break up the sugar buffet, even with my daily cake fueling consumption trying to train my stomach not to revolt, I need to break up the gels/blocks/gatorade with something NOT so sweet, I think.

I needed some breaks in the day.  I will probably get off the bike at an aide station here or there and definitely at special needs.  I will take care of what I need at run course aide stations and not feel guilty for not running through them.  I’ll try not to be an ass about it, because I’d really like to comfortably finish and I’d like to not look back on my time and think about what could have been, but it’s a long day.  If I need a few minutes somewhere to compose myself, that is OK.

Like my husband said, I’m pretty sure my endurance is not to be fucked with right now.  If it came out of my body, personified, and I saw it in a dark alley?  I’d run away screaming.  It’s absolutely insane how I’m able to persist right now.  Riding my bike at 16.2 mph or swimming at 2:11/100 yd is not impressive in and of itself, but I can do it for a damn long time.  I know it’s going to be a long day.  It’s going to be a difficult day.  There are going to be curveballs I can’t even anticipate right now.  However, I think I’ve done well to prepare myself to tackle this thing.

I have to remember that I put in the work and I rock… (badup, ching!)

I only have two things I couldn’t really figure out and need to do something about in the next few weeks.

Problem #1: I have not yet gotten to truly test IM day nutrition because I have not been able to get up early enough.  I’m not willing to sacrifice sleep to get up early.  This thing starts early.  I need to be less of a zombie before sunrise.

Solution: I need to start shifting myself more to a morning schedule.  This means, closer to the race, I need to give up my evening workouts.  I think in the second taper week, I’ll do the cycle class, the BSS ride, and then aim to do either AM or lunch training ONLY for the next week and a half.

Problem #2: I was super anxious the night before and kind of dreading this workout up until the part I actually got in and started swimming.  Even though the last one went REALLY well, I had figured it was a fluke and there was no way I was ready to put out this much effort in a single day again.  I was nervous about the lake swim since it was my first OWS since December (and really since October, because that was 400m in a warm saltwater lagoon).  I was nervous about 112 on the TT bike and that I hadn’t ridden long for the last two weeks and that I would forget how to do that.  My confidence needs some encouragement.

Solution: Well, I fixed some of it by just getting out and doing shit.  The second day went just about as well as the first, so it WASN’T a fluke, I have the fitness.  The lake swim, while I wasn’t thrilled with it at the time, was probably my best open water season opener yet.  I had a very successful, and reasonably comfortable (for smashing my crotch against a saddle for 7 hours) TT ride, even a little faster than last time.  I know by the time IM day comes I will probably forget that I remember how to do all this stuff and be nervous, but I can draw on the fact that I’ve done two long days and this is just going to be long day #3.

And… I mean, I’ve got an official badass medal.  So, I’m good, right?

The second part of this is harder to quantify and to do anything about.  I remember being about 90% excited and 10% terrified with my first 70.3.  Something happened in the years since then where I haven’t been giddy with joy on race day a lot.  I am really excited for this one.  I mean really, really excited.  For the last 5-6 years we talked about doing an Ironman by 40.  It’s here, it’s here, it’s really here, and my body is actually kind of ready.   They hay is all in the barn.  At this point, I just need to make sure it stays there and no one (read: ME) sets it on fire.

I joked to Zliten that I solved my burnout by training for an Ironman, but it’s really true.  My head has stayed in the positive MUCH more of this cycle than what’s usual, lately.  The experience of doing something so different, devoting myself to training for a few months and feeling OK if I’m putting other aspects of my life on the back burner, it’s been kind of magical.  I let up on the pressure of trying to have it all.  I didn’t want it all.  I just want this one thing and it’s really close.  I also don’t give two flying fucks what the clock says, as long as it’s within the 17 allotted hours, so there’s no stupid voice in my head saying that if you don’t hit x-pace, you’re unworthy.  I just want to officially finish.  Truly.

So, how do I prevent myself from waking up on race morning and my head going to the place where I’m not excited at all and just want to go back to sleep?  I need to train for that too.  I need to arm myself with all the positive thinking, the power songs that I’ll play while I get ready that morning, all the mantras, and I need to remember that this is my day, bitches.  The day that I’ve been picturing for years.  I will not allow myself to fuck it up with negativity.  I will celebrate the culmination of all my training, every step I’ve taken to get from that first mile I ran just to see if I could back in 2008, every one of my six half ironman races and six marathons, and every time I surprised the heck out of myself by pulling out a new feat of strength this cycle.

I need to remind 3-weeks-5-days-in-the-future-me to be brave.  You’re ready for this, physically and mentally, and it’s time to show the world.  Be relentless.  Eat the elephant one bite at a time.  Solve problems as they come up and move on.  Enjoy the day.  Hope the song that gets in your head for the whole bike is a good one.  Live in the moment, don’t think too far ahead.  Be your own friend and encourage yourself along during the day and don’t be a bitch.

And above all, savor every awesome and shitty and wonderful and terrible and painful and euphoric moment.  Because you only get one first Ironman race.

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Ironman brain got me like… (Friday Random Musings)

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On March 17, 2017

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It’s Friday, I’ve had half a brain all week, so how about some random thoughts for lunch, hmmm?

Ironman brain got me like…

I go between feeling utterly exhausted and having pops of energy that actually surprise me.  Oddly enough, the energy pops seem LESS likely on the recovery weeks, it’s like my body realizes that it’s tired when it gets some rest, heh.  Except the longest of the long workouts, that volume almost doesn’t seem to matter, though.  My energy levels seem to be based on a) how much sleep I’ve had, b) if I’m hungry or just kind of hungry (because full isn’t really a thing right now), or c) how MENTAL my day was.  My body’s completely adapted to the increased training.

I had a theory at the beginning of this that if I threw enough fuel at it, and prioritized recovery, I’d succeed at this whole Ironman thing.  So far, outlook good.  I have no idea what will transpire at the race, but at this moment in time, I’m happy with the training I’ve accomplished and how I’ve grown as an athlete preparing for this thing.  I’m sure after the race I’ll be like “NEXT TIME I’M RIDING 100 MILES EVERY WEEKEND FOR 3 MONTHS IF I EVER DO THIS AGAIN” or something.  But, where I plant my flag today, I’m pretty confident I have the fitness to at least crawl across that line.

I’ve kind of crawled into a training hole for a few months and I’ve actually liked it.  I feel like during the last few cycles, I’ve tried to “have it all” by not losing my social life and still staying up late more often than I should and stressing out about not neglecting other things in my life.  This four months was about Ironman.  We prepped our family and our friends.  I think we’ve actually been better social animals than I’ve expected but then there’s the thing that neither of us could be arsed to throw ourselves a birthday party that involved coordinating other humans besides ourselves.

Still have a lot of smiles through this season and I’m not even faking it!

I’m feeling a lot less burnt out than I was last cycle.  I say this even having taken a “mental health day” yesterday from training.  Not often do I just scrap the day completely, but I really just needed a day to come home, pack up the camping gear at a reasonable hour, and then just sit and watch TV and read for a while.  I thought I needed sleep, but really, I needed an evening to relax.  However, my outlook as a whole is still very positive.  I’m excited for my next training session and next week.  I’m not dreading everything.  I was worried it was a sign of burnout, but sometimes you just need a damn day off.

I suppose the summary of the situation is I feel really dang prepared while also feeling nervous about not having enough any open water swims yet, and feeling like I should be on my bike more because I haven’t done a long ride in… oh wait, that was only two weekends ago never mind.  IM brain in full effect.

I’ve been thinking beyond a bit lately as well.

Where my days will probably look a little more like this…

I’m absolutely going to treat my self for the first couple days after the race.  A conservative estimate on my calorie burn that day will be about 7k calories.  Historically, after a new distance, my stomach is shot.  I’ll be prepared with the normal easily digestable stuff (watermelon, beer, mac and cheese, potatoes, chips, etc) if all I can do is limp back to the hotel room the day of, but I remember after my first 70.3, I flipped back and forth between “I’M SO HUNGRY” and “I’M SO SICK”.  Even though my stomach has been super awesome lately, I expect that to happen again.

So, that means, I’m likely going to be a few thousand calories short April 22nd.  I’ll have fun making a dent in those the next few days.  However, I’m going to try to return to vegetables and fruits a little quicker than I have in the past and dig less of a hole to start climbing out of when I focus on weight loss soon after.  Think of controlled splurges vs SHOVE ALL THE THINGS IN MY FACE.  And if it’s more of the later, some of those things should be broccoli and blueberries.

Long term, I’m still uncertain as to the shape of the rest of the year.

I KNOW want to get strong again.  Quite by accident, but when I started running, I had come off a few years of strength training at least 3x week with at least semi-heavy weights.  In other words, I had earned the right to run.  I feel like I’ve been cheating that right as of late, and y’know what?  I run slower than I used to, probably with worse form.  I’d like to fix that, like REALLY fix that.  I’ve put bandaids on it figuratively with doing some bodyweight/lighter weights this cycle, and literally with a #hashtag KT taped on my back every Saturday for my long session of the week, but I’d like to get rid of that thing where my literal ass muscles give out before my endurance.

I also know that whenever I’ve successfully lost a decent amount of weight, I’ve been lifting 3-4x a week.  So, that kills two birds with one stone.  My goal is to find that sweet spot in activity level where the weight actually goes down (too little or too much, it’s hard to control my eating).  I don’t feel like I need to shun running, biking, and swimming completely like I did last year when I hated everything.  However, I won’t run for a while when it’s not perfect, I’ll probably not ride my TT bike for a month or two at least, and swims may be a 50/50 chance they will be with a snorkel and camera instead of a mileage goal.

Or maybe I’ll just ride around town with a 15 lb kettlebell like Zliten did that one Sunday.  Although there will be a lot less of those CARBS than there are now…

Zliten likely has to have a non-emergency type procedure done at some point this year, which will mean during that recovery time, I’ll be on my own.  Movement has become part of life so I’ll still do *stuff* but the timing of that will definitely impact at least one of the races we normally do over the summer.  I’ll have to decide if I want to fly solo or just skip things entirely.  Either way, there will be some last minute sign ups or just a mellow summer without a whole lot of bib pinning.  And after 10 months of planning and working towards this Ironman, I’m totally OK with either.

It seems like a shame to let all this crazy endurance waste away, but that’s exactly what I plan to do.  I mean, I’m sure I won’t lose it completely because people will occasionally want to go play bikes all day on a Saturday and I won’t have a training plan so of course we’ll go.  And a beautiful day will pop up and we’ll go run until we’re too tired to run any more.  However, it won’t be like the reality I live in now, where 7 hours of training or a 13 mile run is totally appropriate for a rest week.

By the fall, I’m hoping that that will sound crazy to me, but running a somewhat close to 25 minute 5k won’t.  Endurance seems to come pretty easy to me.  I will have built back from almost zero to IM in the span of two four month blocks with a two month break.  Endurance builds with showing up and logging the hours.  Speed does not.  It takes something more.  I appreciate the people who can be fast and go long at the same time, but I’m not there (yet or maybe ever).  And I’m looking forward to trading in the long dull ache for the short sharp one for a while.  It’s always good to have new pain.

Enough day dreaming.  I will go play in the woods at the Ren Faire this weekend and I’m always afraid I’ll come home too exhausted but I also know that I typically come home feeling refreshed.  And then, next week it’s on.  One more feat of strength.  But, we’ll talk more about that next week…

 

5 Odd Side Effects of Ironman Training

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On February 17, 2017

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I have two really gritty posts about fear, rejection, facing the unknown for about a month… but to be honest?  I’m really tired this week and looking at them is giving me the heebie jeebies, so they’re staying in the drafts folder. Maybe I need to ignore all that stuff until #projectspringencore

So, instead, let’s talk about the lesser known side effects of training for an Ironman.

#1 – The food situation is in teenage boy territory and I’m definitely not gaining weight by eating this way.

Right now, this is an appetizer…

I know I joke about this a lot, but it’s the truth. I’m buying at least 20% more food at the store every week, and I’m still supplementing with the occasional snack and just as many meals out (probably more) as normal.  I am legitimately eating 4 square meals and snacks on training weeks and 3 big meals with lots of snacks on recovery weeks.

Try as you might to eat good quality food (and you should, because you can definitely feel the difference if that’s lacking), you can’t stick to it 100%.  Here’s the real talk – complex carbs have FIBER.  This is a great thing.  But when you’re eating about 2-3x a normal human’s carb intake, you absolutely DO NOT WANT 2-3x the daily recommended value of fiber.  Ask me how I know.  The upshot is, you need some crappy simple carbs in your life to make your ratios and be properly fueled.

You will constantly complain about how things have not ENOUGH carbs, not too many.  I wish someone could fit more than 25 carbs in 100 calories but it’s just not possible.  Some days, to hit my ratios, I should be huffing pixie stix.

#2 – You will be in the best shape of your life.  Too bad you probably won’t look it most days.

#muppethairdontcare

These weekend workouts that are approaching a full eight hour work day?  They’ll make your weight swing up and down with dehydration and refueling and you’ll go from feeling empty to pregnant with a liquid baby and back again.  I don’t swing much normally on the scale, but I was up and back down 6 lbs in the stretch of 5 days.  Some days you’ll feel great.  Some days your jeans won’t fit because you’re super bloated and rocking inflammation all over.

That shouldn’t affect my super hot, shapely legs, right?  Well, I certainly won’t be accentuating them with some killer heels any time soon.  When you’re putting so many miles on them, your choices are a) cushy flat sandals or b) sneaks and maybe c) occasionally flat boots.  But not too often or your feet will still get cranky.  Hopefully, like me, you’ve found the pair of sandals that is BARELY acceptable to wear with a nice dress but also works after a 20 mile run (and I order them once a year on Amazon when they wear out).  And live somewhere where 90% of the time, it’s sandal weather.

Let’s go up top.  Higher.  The frizzy mop on my head.  While I’m not known for my moments in front of the mirror at any point of the year, things get interesting during this cycle.  Washing the hair is for a) after swims and b) after the long effort for the week.  The apres swim wash is in the stuff the gym provides which is actually all purpose wash, so I use real shampoo about once a week.  And… if you do the math between 3 washes and about 12 workouts per week… my hair is sweaty probably about 75% of the time.

#3 – Training just becomes something you do.  Motivation really doesn’t factor into it.

Ride to work, run home, this is just how we do nowadays

I get a lot of comments about how we must be such motivated people.  Like I get up every morning at 5am and shoot rainbows out of my butt and say “let’s go run and swim and ride bikes and smile and be happy all day! Wheee!”  I’ll let you in on a secret – most of the time I roll out of bed around 7:30-8:30am (headlamps are my BFFs), and I honestly suck at motivation.  If I really don’t want to do something, I’m GREAT at inventing ways to justify getting out of it.  I am the queen of procrastination.  My couch has an INSANE gravitational pull.

You are what you repeatedly do.  The first week or two of any cycle after offseason is hard, but then it just becomes habit.  Training 7 days per week, 2-3 times a day sometimes, is just what life is right now.  Honestly, sometimes the fear of not being ready for April 22 plus the mental gymnastics about when I could possibly reschedule a session typically equals showing up and powering through instead of flaking.  But sometimes I flake, and that’s alright too.

And, while right now it’s all a very lot right now, I try not to lose sight of the fact that I get the opportunity to do this shit!  I have a strong and healthy body that gets to play bikes with friends and swim forever staring at the black line spacing out and thinking up new blog posts and explores new places (or just my ‘hood for the thousandth time) on foot.  There is no better way to spend a beautiful day when you feel great… it’s just showing up to all the other days that takes a little oomph.

#4 – You will never sleep better about 99% of the time.

It’s all about the recovery.  Yep.  EVERYWHERE is a potential place to nap.

As my training hours go up, so does my sleep requirement.  8 hours is a requirement, not a suggestion.  9 hours is better, and 10 is awesome.  While I’m not one of those “up with the sun” triathletes, I still go to bed pretty early most days to make sure I’m getting enough ZZZZs.  If I try to shortcut that, my body just shuts down.

My body also seems to do it’s part and respond by spending more time in deep sleep.  Saturday night, after my long run, I spent 5.5 of my 8.5 hours there, according to my garmin (and I woke up feeling pretty awesome, so I wouldn’t disagree).  I’ll be interested to see what it’s like during offseason, but I *know* I don’t sleep as well, quickly, or deeply.

The downside?  I’ve not had a book take me THIS long to finish in months.  The upside?  That crazy thunderstorm at 2am?  Yeah, I have ZERO recollection of it.  Except that Zliten told me I mumbled at him to stop making noise, rolled over, and went back to sleep.  Oops.  While you might have the occasional thrashy night if your legs are super sore, overall, you’ll have the best sleep of your LIFE!

#5 Ironman brain is a real thing.

Six hours of riding produces the crazy eyes.  Brain not far behind.

I just spent 5 minutes attempting to untangle my backpack string from my bike lock.  I’m having trouble remembering the word I want to say.  My writing is probably starting to look like a grad school child’s, and it’s all IM training’s fault.  When they say Ironman triathletes are not right in the head, they’re not completely off.

Normally, I enjoy the juxtaposition of my job (very sendenatary, very people oriented and communicative) and triathlon (very active, very solo focused in my own head).  However, while I’m handling the TIME commitments alright, it’s the MENTAL stuff I’m having an issue with.  It’s like, my body’s hanging in there like a trooper, but my brain is checking out about 75% through what needs to be done on any given day.

I’ll definitely not knock it, I’m feeling like I’m getting prepared for the race, so training is doing what it’s supposed to, but the side effects are very unexpected!

Question: What’s the weirdest thing that’s happened to you when you started working out?

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The Middle

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On February 8, 2017

In Uncategorized

This is the middle.  The newness of “wheee, I’m actually training for this Ironman race” has worn off, and I still have 10 and a half weeks until the race (thankfully), so the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t quite there.  Zliten and I are a little snippy at each other.  I have given my scale a STERN talking to on several occasions like it was a real person.  The training sessions JUST DON’T STOP COMING because dang, it’s hard to fit in another part time job when you already have a full time one, and want to do fun things every once in a while, and also have family and friends that actually want to be in your life and stuff.

Sometimes looking at the light is dangerous.  Just ask my iguana.

I’ve figured out a few things:

a) this is NOT the time to be cooking anything fancy.  I don’t have the oomph right now to spend half of Sunday in the kitchen.  Easy meals that multiply out well, crock pot food, this is what needs to be happening.  I DEFINITELY, even if I convince myself otherwise because food is better fresh, don’t have the oomph to cook food at night when I get home.  We tried that last night and there was yelling and rude words and one of us just had to leave the kitchen because dinner took 20-30 minute to cook after we got home at 8:15pm.  “I’m sorry for the things I said when I was hungry” is a phrase that is on repeat around here lately.

b) this is also not the time for a shit ton of commitments.  I have to use the word NO liberally.  In May, I get to use the word YES more often.  In February, I have very few slots on my dance card.  If we hang out between now and April 22nd, you probably either a) also swim/bike/run or b) you are very special to me.

c) midnight is absolute bedtime on weekdays and 2am is pushing it on Saturdays.  Once I pass that 10 hours/week training mark, I either sleep or my body just shuts the hell down.

Want to make your Monday awesome? Bike to work, eat amazing food, run home, and then eat more amazing food!

It’s not all bad though, in fact, mostly great.  Last week was pretty stellar.  I hit every workout I planned (besides the wishy-washy “maybe a recovery ride or run if I feel like it” plan Sunday when I haven’t had a full day off in 36 days… I mean DUH, I’M NOT GOING TO FEEL LIKE IT).  I only shortened one bike.   Almost 13 hours of quality training in the bank.  Rock on.

  • 2 swims – 3150m in 59 min and 1350m in 25 min
  • 2 hours easy riding and a 6 hour long hard ride (87 miles/5k climbing)
  • 15 miles running – 10 mile long run in 2:03 on super tired legs, 5 mile in 57 mins on fresher ones.
  • 2 weights – one dozen set, one bodyweights/bands session
  • Stretching/rolling every day

Nothing particularly fast or impressive here, just a bunch of solid work at a steady pace.  It’s not sexy at all.  And that’s exactly where I need to be at this point.

This week, I’m ditching the long ride in favor of a long run.  Now, my longest run so far is 13 miles (14 if you count as far back as October) so going straight to aiming for up to 20 may be crazy, but the cool thing about endurance is it DOES indeed transfer between sports, so we’ll see how it goes.  I have one more crack at the 20 later in the month so this first one is just to see where my comfort zone ends on legs that aren’t *completely* wasted.

  • 25-30 miles of running with 15-20 long run.
  • 5-6 hours of cycling broken up into 3 rides – one hard ride, one interval ride on the TT, and one recovery ride (plus maybe some errand/commute riding)
  • 2 swims – one shorter 1200-1500 and one longer 3k-4k.  Hoping for at least race distance, but we’ll hit that next week if I don’t.
  • 2 weights workouts.  Gym once, either dozen or something else once.

The balance hangs somewhere between the swim and the salad and the burger and fries.

Life stuff:

I did Chapter 14.  This week, it’s Chapter 15 (and actually already done).  Next week is my last week of class, and then it’s time to study…

I didn’t social media much.  I’m kind of stuck and bored with it TBH.  I think this might need to take a back seat until I can really attack it.

I tracked my calories for 2367 average each day with -673 deficit.  I’m actually surprised this was as good as it was, considering I overate even my total burned calories on Sunday.  My ratios were 89g protein, 76g fat, 29g fiber, and 276g carbs per day.  Wrong way again on fat, I upped my fiber and carbs (yay), but my protein wayyyy down.  Honestly, I just ate like shit all weekend and that threw my ratios off.  Same deal as every week it seems.  More carbs, less fat, and now keep my protein on track (which has been MORE than fine since Monday *shrug*).

My average weight was 189.1, which stayed the same from last week. Still 9lbs to go back to 70.3 race weight.  Inflammation from these long weekend sessions (and then the calories I’m eating back) is real, yo.  I swung from 192.8 on Monday to 186.7 this morning.  My body fat reading is up too.  It’s going to be a hard fight while training, but I’ll keep chipping away at it, because that’s the only alternative.

I drank quite a few drinks last week – 8 over 2 days during the week, a bunch after the race and I didn’t keep count, honestly.  Whiskey on the rocks was divine but a few of them and I was tipsy and also falling alseep.  I figured I would have a little bit of a crazy week with the beer only embargo finally lifted and some social events, but I don’t want this to become the norm.  This week, I’ll aim to go back to where I was in January.

Rest and recovery and sleep are going well.  I’m averaging over 3.5 hours of deep sleep per night, with almost 9 hours average total.  Even with the extra drinkies, I ended up with lots of sleep.  This is a good compromise.

This week, I have some errands to run so I’m not going to set a bunch of other goals:

  1. Pick up new glasses (DONE!)
  2. Exchange Christmas present shirt (all the way across town and only available select days from noon to 5. :P)
  3. Pick up Valentine’s Day dinner food and have a super awesome grilled steak and lobster love fest.

And, that will wrap it up.  One foot in front of each other.  One workout, one mile at a time.  Keepin’ on keepin’ on.  Nevertheless, I shall persist (thanks Elizabeth Warren).  Rest week is imminent.

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A little looking back, a little more looking forward.

By

On February 1, 2017

In Uncategorized

Shall we do some of that retrospection and reflection now that January is done and dusted?

A little scruffy but STILL SPARKLING DANGIT!  January did not defeat me!

Let’s start with the general stuff.  January life goals were a big HELL YES.  Besides completely procrastinating the great car cleanout of 2017, I did a great job at sticking to the things I wanted to get done.   I made ZERO progress on my weight, but I am tracking and weighing daily, and I know last time it took me SIX WEEKS to see any change.  If I have to choose between losing weight and fueling workouts properly I’ll take the latter, but I’m hoping to accomplish a little of both.  I started pretty strong with batch/healthy cooking but I’ve fizzled the last week or two.

I finally broke the cycle of doing moronic things like staying up super late and drinking like a frat boy a little too often (oddly enough, it just took 11+ hours of training per week, duly noted).  To do this Ironman training thing, I found I either had to a) prioritize rest and recovery or b) break the eff down.  I’m choosing a) for the next few months and I can do idiot things in May if I want.

Obviously, training-wise, the focus in January was cycling-centric and I capped that off with my first 100 mile outdoor ride.  I was able to get in 3 runs in the double digit range, but not a whole lot of mid-week volume to back it up.  I struggled to build my swim as planned because of allergies, lack of motivation to swim outside in the cold, and the fact that my ass was attached to a bike seat every day, but I got some work done there and reached the 3k/1 hour mark.  I did a pretty good job sticking to strength and recovery work, simply because I’ve figured out the most lazy ways to do it so I don’t have excuses.

Ways to make sure you do double digit runs/actually run faster than a slow slog during bike month – sign up for races with friends!

January stats:

  • 53 miles of running (10h)
  • 601 miles of cycling (35h)
  • 9541m swimming (3h)
  • 8 strength sessions (out of 9 planned)

Bests:

Body Stats:

  • Average daily intake: 2161 calories, 112g protein, 64g fat, 30g fiber, 256g carbs
  • Average daily deficit: -806 calories
  • Average January weight: 188.7
  • Average weekly beer consumption: 12 beers (1.7 beers per day)

Going into February, I feel a little behind on the bike (I was hoping 100 miles would be more in my comfort zone instead of doing it once and it being REALLY FUCKING HARD), but I’m less worried about it then I was this time last week.   I’m ready to shift from all-crotch-smashy-against-my-bike-saddle-all-the-time January to training a little more evenly in February, making my foray into the longer-than-half-marathon runs so I can test the waters in that sport.

I’m planning on this block (and maybe more in the future) of 2 weeks on/1 week off.  I think if I have a shorter time to rest week, I can push myself a little harder.  Also – last week was rest week and kinda not that restful, so I can definitely see the value having a stepback week sooner than later where we don’t have errands evvvvry day after work and I don’t do a 7+ hour ride.

What, your rest weeks don’t involve riding 100 miles?  Pffft. 🙂

Week 1 of block 2 (this week):

  • Long run of 2 hours/10 miles.  Already done.  I hoped to maybe extend it closer to 3/15 miles, but I did it so close to my long ride that 10 miles was super hard enough.  Another hour run easy on the plan tomorrow and that’s it for runs.
  • 6 hour bike race.  I want to get as close to 100 miles as I can.  Even if I fall short, I’ll get to spend 6 hours of QT on a closed course with Death Star and notch another solid outdoor long ride.  Backing this up with mostly easy, short bikes the rest of the week.
  • 3k+ long swim and a lunchtime shorter speedier swim.
  • A more balanced week.  My bike streak is done, and while I believe it did me lots good, I will be MORE than happy to not hop on my trainer every 12-36 hours and spend some of that time running and swimming.

Week 2 of block 2 (next week):

  • Long run of 3-4 hours.  At least 15, up to 20 if I’m feeling good.  I’m actually blocking my long workout of the week off for this instead of a bike.  And, this will be the last big workout before a rest week, so if I feel awesome and go for the 20, I can immediately transition to rest week, I don’t have to *save* anything.  I’ll back this up with a *little* more mid-week volume (probably 2×1 hour runs, one slightly faster than slog pace).
  • Backing off on the cycling volume for one week.  No long ride, but 3-4 hours of quality riding and 1-2 hours recovery happy fun riding throughout the week.
  • 3-4k long swim.  Race distance would be great, if not, at least an hour session plus a shorter lunch speed session.

Rest week:

I haven’t planned this one out yet, but I’m hoping to spend some good QT in the pool.  Swimming is recovery to me.  Even a long swim makes me feel awesome the next day.  As for the rest of the week, I could approach it with little mid-week volume and a long effort on the weekend, or just a consistent 1-2 hours max daily.  It might be nice to just roll through some comfortable sessions and give my mental toughness a week off.  I’ll have to see how I feel.

Next block (Feb 20th and beyond):

I’m still struggling with what’s next and to be honest, I think I’ll have to evaluate how this block went and what I need to work on.  Do I need more cycling or running work?   When should I do my two “big days“?  Do I feel like I need more volume or can I back off a little and work more speed? How absolutely BEAT am I?  Should I do 2 or 3 weeks on before a rest week?  What life stuff do I need to work around?

Only time will tell.  But, I definitely have goals.  Let’s list them, shall we?

  • 20 mile run once, 15+ run at least once
  • 4k swim at least twice
  • Two outdoor long rides approaching 100 miles.  Now that I’ve hit the mark once and have two “long days” planned a bit later in the cycle, I’m not as hyper-focused on triple digits, but the effort should be there.
  • 2-3 sessions per week that are harder than an easy slog (cycle class or videos, pool speedwork, some intervals that are faster than 11-12 min/mile run, etc)
  • Weights twice a week.  Get into the gym at least a couple times to lift the slightly heavier stuff.  One non-dozen set each week since it’s kind of getting easy now.
  • Continue with the boots, rolling, and/or stretching everyday game.  It’s really helping.

And, to round out February, I have some non-triathlon related goals. The big focus of the month is IRONMAN TRAINING.  Everything else that needs to fall off to hit that hard?  It’s fine.  I’ll worry about my to do list and how my house looks in May.  But, I would like to accomplish some things, so it’s worth putting them out there.

It was a month of balancing a LOT of the sporty sporty with a little of the beers.  February will be much the same.

Healthy Living Stuff:

  • Even if the beer-only embargo is lifted, don’t be an ass about drinks.
    • Beer on weekdays, other stuff on weekends/special occasions.
    • Don’t average more drinks than January.  Training hours will be going up.  Beer counts should not.
  • Continue to track my food and weigh every day and aim for the proper ratios.  It will be GREAT to have this data.
  • Water.  it’s always harder for me in the winter.  Most days I’m getting my ~64 oz but I should be drinking more if I’m training.  I should be getting that PLUS some during workouts.
  • Realize that cooking during the week is probably not going to happen and my limit for batch cooking on the weekends is lower than normal.  Put together SUPER easy meals and plan for healthy take out options in between.
  • Priorities go in this order: eating good food to fuel my workouts THEN trying to maintain a deficit.  Both are good, but the former is more important than the latter.

Life Goals Stuff:

  • I feel torn up about what’s going on in the world right now, but for my own good I need to largely ignore it.  I don’t have time to give, but I have money I can donate to causes that are fighting all the bullshit and that’s something I can actually do.  This month, I need to investigate where to put it and set up some sort of donations.
  • Actually clean out the cars.  For reals.  It’s almost hilarious how long we’ve been procrastinating this.
  • Speaking of cars, after cleaning it out, mine is very overdue for it’s 60k mile service.  It’s just dropping it off and spending the money.
  • Wash and lube the entire bike stable.  Evilbike is a dirty girl right now and Death Star is kind of sticky.
  • Finish the last 3 triathlon coach chapters this month and start studying for the test.
  • Keep making small efforts to pursue my big scary end of the year side hustle goals.  Play with my book outline I’ve started.  Continue to play with growing followers and social media stuff.  Avoid personal facebook because it is a hive of scum and villany.
  • Once we get our bonuses, consider what we’d like to apply them to in terms of a housing project (and start researching).

Life goals – to have all Mondays looking and tasting this awesome!

All in all, it feels GREAT to have survived January and actually kicked it’s butt!  February is looking promising and then it becomes one of the best times of year… spring!

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About Me

I'm a video game producer and a lover of anything game related by trade.  I'm a triathlete by hobby.  I live for being on or in the water as much as I can - scuba diving, snorkeling, paddleboarding, water slides... you name it.  The dichotomy between my outdoor and indoor realities are interesting, but they're all mine!  Longer version here...

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