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<\/p>\nThat third week in the three week peak month training block.\u00a0 This is the one that breaks you down.\u00a0 Last year, I broke mentally.\u00a0 I had a terrible race, a terrible attitude, was failing at work because I was so burnt, and my athletic gains went in the crapper because I didn’t know how far I could push myself before I needed to recover.<\/p>\n
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Now, I do a pretty good job at keeping my brain in check.\u00a0 I know deep into a training block, I’m going to get a little surly and there’s going to be some cases of “I don’t wanna” (and they’re all “I don’t wanna get started” but I’m happy once I’m going).\u00a0 I know that some days, I’m going to need to give myself a break and if I feel like I’d rather murder babies than complete another set of triple bricks, it means I need an extra day off or an easy day.\u00a0 This year, I’ve kept my wits about me pretty well and, in general, been fine with the work.<\/p>\n
However, I take for granted my health.\u00a0 I mentally break WAY before I physically break.\u00a0 This is possibly the thing that holds me back the most as an athlete, pushing through that question of “am I hurting myself or am I HURTING HURTING myself?” and not going far enough.\u00a0 I’ve never puked during a workout.\u00a0 I’ve never had to hit the med tent at a race (I’ve done it before to get out of the sun when it wasn’t busy but I didn’t need it).\u00a0 Often, I’ll feel so JUST FINE after cutting a workout short or cutting it to easy pace from hard pace or breaking down at a race that I feel like a complete ASS for doing so.<\/p>\n
I suppose I broke through a few barriers on Saturday.\u00a0 I think I may have found my limits, although I can’t say it was necessarily in a happy or healthy way.\u00a0 The recipe was:<\/p>\n
I felt kinda wussy at the time, I had myself convinced that I was just not pushing through some uncomfortableness, and I really wanted to rock this race brick, and figured before I checked the temperature it was going to be all in my head.\u00a0 Nope: I had a legit stomach bug (it’s 3 days later and I’m STILL working on tolerating anything but mac and cheese and gatorade), and the finish temps were feels like 95, way hotter than it will be on race day.\u00a0 I’m pretty sure that pushing through that many hours of feeling like POO gave me some mental toughness fodder to pull on at Kerrville, although I am having to take it a little easier this week than I’d like to recover for my race this weekend.<\/p>\n
And, oh yeah, I race this weekend.\u00a0 Another Olympic, another foray into the “running in hot as balls” weather territory, and I’m not sure I’m super duper excited about it, but I’ll be there!\u00a0 I’m trying to work out in my head how I could completely bonk at Jack’s Generic at a 3:11 and not beat the 3:25 I posted there last year, but here’s the goals:<\/p>\n
Swim:<\/p>\n
A goal: beat 30 mins.\u00a0 I can do it pushing myself in the pool, let’s see if it’s possible on race day.\u00a0 B goal: under 35.\u00a0 C goal: don’t drown and beat last year’s time.\u00a0 I really can’t see not improving by at least 5 minutes here from last year, but not drowning is a good goal, always.<\/p>\n
Bike:<\/p>\n
A goal: 1:20.\u00a0 B goal: 1:25. C goal: beat last year’s time (1:29-something).\u00a0 I would love to cut off 10 mins on this bike.\u00a0 Its a great course for me and I held back last year trying to practice half iron pace.\u00a0 Well, I know half iron pace well, I’m just going to go for it this year!<\/p>\n
Run:<\/p>\n
A goal: under 1:05 (10:30 min miles).\u00a0 B: under 1:08 (11 min miles) C: NO FUCKING WALKING.\u00a0 Not going to lie, I don’t think I’m going to see much improvement here, but I’d love to at least be in the same realm as last year and not bonk like Jack’s.\u00a0 Who knows, maybe the weather will surprise us with cooler temps, or maybe I’ll surprise myself!\u00a0 Of course, I could also be sick all week and totally be weak and not able to go hard.\u00a0 We’re 6 days away so time will tell.<\/p>\n
On a perfect day, beating all my stretch goals, with sufficiently fast transitions, I’m looking about a sub-3:05 goal.\u00a0 I would be THRILLED to take 20 mins off my time.\u00a0 Of course, all my A goals are incredibly ambitious, but even hitting my B goals would mean around a 3:15, which would take 10 mins off my time and I’d still be thrilled.\u00a0 I’m excited to see how much I can improve upon that swim and bike from last year, and hoping I can hang on tight and not fuck up the run.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.memestop.com\/images\/never-tame-humans.jpg\")
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Other notes from workouts this week:<\/p>\n
By the numbers:<\/p>\n
Monday: Weights: Gym<\/a> 00:45, Swim: Laps<\/a> 1500 m 00:32 34:19 pace 10 hours total, 3000m swim, 83 miles bike, 20 miles run, 2 weights sessions<\/p>\n This week, the mantra is recovery (from my stomach bug, and from 3 weeks hard training).\u00a0 I skipped a swim session yesterday because I still felt weak, and I’m cutting the rest of the week to much easier sessions (speedwork this morning would not have been pretty so I slept and MAYBE I’ll pedal a bit tonight, maybe not).\u00a0 At this point, I need to do whatever is necessary this week to recover as I have a race to rock and a few more key training sessions early next month to rest up for before all the hay is in the barn.<\/p>\n Scale\/Nutrition:<\/p>\n The one thing that stomach bugs are great for is you get to indulge in stuff you’re not supposed to, because it’s all you can eat without being sick!\u00a0 I’ve had so much simple sugar and carbs in the last few days… stuff I had to dig up from the bottom of the pantry or buy because I don’t eat them ever.\u00a0 The other thing that’s great is seeing weight loss progress – and for most people, it’s temporary.\u00a0 For me, it’s like pulling teeth to get the scale to move, and I have been keeping up with a decent amount of calories even though they’re not my usual nutrition, so maybe this will actually keep the trend going down? Only time will tell.<\/p>\n Last week, before I got sick, I was having a little tizzy with my food too.\u00a0 I just was sick of the normal food.\u00a0 I didn’t want it.\u00a0 I didn’t want junk food (except the days when I did, but I didn’t indulge), but it was hell on wheels to follow a meal plan so most days I didn’t.\u00a0 Sometimes we went out, and sometimes, I just came home and ate a meal of something like fish and fruit because it was the only thing that sounded good.<\/p>\n Anyhoo, talking about food with an upset stomach isn’t really making me happy, so I’m just going to go by the numbers and be done with it….<\/p>\n Monday: 1619 calories, 30 DQ Calories: 1747 average per day (aka, probably not enough for a peak week)<\/p>\n DQ: Really freaking awesome during the week, and then I got sick and can’t eat anything healthy. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n Weight: Low: 174.4 (I know!!!) – High 180.0<\/p>\n I don’t have much else to say, so I’ll take my gatorade, crackers, and cinnamon toast crunch and hope I check in next week totally healthy and kicking ass!<\/p>\n Question: What’s your go to comfort food when you have an upset stomach?<\/p>\n
\nTuesday: Bike: Triple Brick – Trainer + Musi…<\/a> 27.57 mi 01:00 27.6mph pace, Run: Triple Brick – 1 Mile Hill<\/a> 3 mi 00:27 08:52 pace
\nWednesday: Weights: Gym irons<\/a> 00:45, Swim: Distracted Fish<\/a> 1500 m 00:33 35:24 pace
\nThursday: Run: All Around the Wooten<\/a> 6.5 mi 01:15 11:32 pace
\nFriday: off
\nSaturday: Bike: Trainer + X-men First Class<\/a> 56 mi 02:38 21.3mph pace, Run: Neighborhood Wandering<\/a> 10 mi 02:04 12:24 pace
\nSunday: off (trying not to be sick)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/macromeme.com\/cat\/sore-throat-brain.jpg\")
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\nTuesday: 1688 calories, 28 DQ
\nWednesday: 1515 calories, 27 DQ
\nThursday: 1831 calories, 29 DQ
\nFriday: 1679 calories, 27 DQ
\nSaturday: didn’t track, estimate about 2500
\nSunday: didn’t track, estimate about 1400<\/p>\n