Adjusted Reality

This month was a challenge – the fit hit the shan at work multiple times, and recovery was really draining.  However, I was able to tackle some of these… read on…

1. Keep this weight loss thing going on.  Seems to be holding steady at 3-4 lbs per month.  If I keep that trend going, I’ll be at last years race weight by the end of this month.  Come on 175!

176.0 is the best I had – which is fine – the absolute LOW last month was 178.4 (once), and 179s were rare.  I’m regularly now 176-178, and hit 180 twice.  So, the trend is DOWN, about 3 lbs.  This is good.

2.  I’ll accomplish this by continuing to eat about 1500 (while injured and pretty lightly active) to 1700 (once things pick up) on weekdays, and a little more on weekends when activity dictates as such (activity estimate minus 1000 = minimum).  I don’t want to shock my system, but transition back to the bulk of my food being whole grains, veggies, beans, fruit, greek yogurt, fish, and smaller doses of nuts, meat, other dairy, and such.  Being able to lose on vacation while I was not eating this way really strikes home that portions are king, but damned if I don’t feel much better eating better food.

Working on it.  I’m not sure why it takes like a MONTH or more to really get back on the train but I definitely am not eating as clean as I was before vacation.  I would say I’m about 75% there, with the 25% being more sweets than I’d like, and some meals with refined grains/fried food.  I mean, not everyday certainly, but more than I should.

3. Do not follow any sort of training program until May 13.  Each day I will wake up, assess my knee, and decide what I have in me for the day.  If the prognosis is rest, I’ll do it without guilt or worry.  If I feel good, I’ll swim, do upper body weights, or if I have full range of motion back, I’ll hop on the trainer with very little resistance or go on a short run, stopping if I feel even a twinge of pain or anything off.

I did well at this even though it was frustrating.  The knee dictated my plans until I was released from restricting.

4. Take stock that weekend (May 11-12), figure out how I feel, and what I can do to best ready me for June 30 (IM 70.3 BSLT) and write out a plan of how to get there.  Still, at any point, if anything gets creaky, back off.

It’s been a month of balancing what I need to get ready for my races, and not stressing the knee out too much.  I cut a run short because I felt a twinge even though I wanted to check the box saying it was done.  I held back in my race because of it.  I have a plan, and as long as my body holds up, I think I’ll survive BSLT and maybe even make it before the cutoff. 😛

5. No racing this month.  No hopping into a supported ride.  No “I missed Rookie so I’m going to sign up for…”.  No trying to keep up with anyone this month.  Your pace is your pace.

I almost considered doing a short supported ride but didn’t.  I survived without a race this month, and it didn’t kill me.

6. No tears about missing Rookie.  You’re only missing one race.  It could be way worse.  Enjoy the day cheering for everyone and being paparazzi/sherpa/athletic supporter.

No tears at all.  It was a miserable day and I was happy not to have to endure the cold/wind and was fun being paparazzi

7. Volunteer (if they let me at Rookie) and the next weekend at 5k9.  Good volunteer karma = race PRs, I’m convinced.

Rookie was full up, but we volunteered at the 5k9 and had a wonderful day.  We also volunteered at the Cap Tex Tri and while there were awesome parts, especially being able to cheer on and point Hunter Kemper, as well as a crew of badass elite paratriathletes to the run course, it was a long, tiring, and frustrating day.  And hey – I got a huge PR at Playtri so I’m a believer! (It does take a lot out of you to volunteer, so we probably will not volunteer for a while, but I’m all about hitting some more races in the offseason.

8. Since you have some free time – how about some sewing progress?  Let’s rip that bandaid off – find the “make a boy shirt a girl shirt” pattern, grab a boy shirt you don’t give a flying fuck about, and try it out.

Nope.  Didn’t touch the machine.  However, the MIL will be here first week of July and we have plans to do a sewing project (aka, her teach me, I try not to swear at it because you don’t swear at mother in laws).

9.  Try to minimize spending.  Thank the dear fluffy lord I don’t need a 300$ MRI or a 2k$ surgery, but we are still kinda broke.  I don’t need clothes, we don’t really need to go out, we don’t need to shop, we don’t need diving stuff, we don’t need toys, I just want to relax at home with the stuff I already have and eat good, homecooked food and my own booze.

We did pretty well.  Zliten only bought a few toys, and they were all replacements for things that broke that he sorta wantneeded (his swimp3 player died, so it was either listen to him bitch about not swimming more than 2 minutes all month or order a new one so we did, etc).

10.  Getting back on the organizational train.  Pick a room and do it.  Something that we don’t anticipate having to buy a lot of shit to accomplish.  Kitchen, breakfast nook, common areas, and garage stick out as pure “get the crap out and go through it and organize” areas.

Nope, nope, nope.  I will be redeeming myself this month though.

11.  Read a book.  Probably the one I started right as vacation ended.

I read it, but didn’t finish it.  Sounds like a June goal!

12. If you’re too creaky to run, get out and walk.  Go swim outdoors if that’s possible.  Do upper body weights in the yard.  Make sure to get your normal dose of vitamin D even while injured so you don’t get depressed.

I didn’t do this, and I indeed got depressed and whiny at some points. Past self can tell slightly-less-past self I told you so here.

13. Unless it’s training related, only one sugar-y treat per week, MAX.  Having desert every day on vacation was great and all, but not reasonable for real life.

Errr, I don’t think I did that well at this.  There were days where I just wanted a sweet because I was hungry for real food, depressed, stressed, etc.  It happened a few times more than I’d like.  Nothing in huge quanitites, but if I’m indulging, it should be something I really want, and something I intend, not grabbing stupid crap I don’t really want out of a candy dish.

Aight, onto June.  Gonna be a hell of a month – some work deadlines mid-month, BSLT in less than a month!!! and two out of town race trips.

1. Make it through this month with my sanity intact.  Just sayin’.  Gonna be one of those months

2.  If 176.0 is May’s low – and I continue to eat and train the same way, survey says I should hit about 172-173.

3.  Calories, 1600-ish 5/7 days,  2000-ish 2/7 days, average about 1700-1800.  This seems to be about my comfort weight loss zone for the training load I’m doing right now, and totally fine as long as I  am eating good quality food.  To that end, keep average diet quality score above 20 each week.  To all these ends, continue tracking calories and DQ score, allowing for more calories/less quality the day before and of each race (refined carbs = good then).

4. PR Pfluger Sprint.  At the very least, PR the swim, bike, and transitions if my knee is a limiter on the run still.

5. BSLT 70.3 – finish before the cutoff.  I’m sure I’ll have more goals as I get through training this month but right now, it’s all about survival.

6. Clean out stuff and get rid of it with a yard sale.  Donate the rest to charity.  Take earnings from garage sale and use it to buy a cabinet to stash stuff in the workout room (thus addressing one room this month).

7. Again, minimize spending.  Try to consider whether you ACTUALLY need the thing you’re buying or whether it just sounds fun.

8. Finish the book you’re reading.  Start the next one.

9. Balance training enough with not training too much.  Stay present and check in with the knee often.  Stiff for a day or two isn’t an emergency.  Lingering pain that doesn’t go away with a stretch and walk is bad and needs a step back.

10. Shift the schedule to the morning.  Wakeups this month and beyond need to start happening by sunrise many mornings to get training in – that means getting into bed just as it gets dark.  Embrace it.

11. Do some social stuff.  Don’t go into a 70.3 hole.

12.  Actually go get the massages the chiropractor prescribed me – one this week and one the week after Pflugerville.  No excuses when the place right next to her office does 1 hr for 30$…

13.   Remember to keep track of my calories.  Pre track if at all possible, but certainly keep on top of the totals before going too crazy at the end of the day.

And that’s all she wrote for June.  What’s your June goal?

In my dreams, I came here to tell y’all how I PR’d this course like a mofo.  That I took 5, 10 mins off my time that I was already stoked about from Tri Rock.  I knew I had it in me.  At least, that I came across the finish line before the time of 3:25:52 and I triumphed in spite of injury.

Well, I’m afraid I can’t do that people.

I crossed the line at 2:47:06.

To be fair, the run was short (0.7 short of a 10k at 5.5 per my garmin) and the bike was (as advertised) 3 miles shorter than TriRock, and the transition area was very, very efficient.

However, I’ve used some magical mathematics and normalized my time at about 3:09, so still a SEVENTEEN minute PR when I was holding back a little due to the knee’ster.  If that’s all you cared about, feel free to jump to the comments and tell me how much I rock.  Details below. 🙂

Pre-Race:

Saturday AM we loaded up beastly and headed to Irving TX.  The drive was pleasant and without consequence.  We got to the hotel, checked in super early since they had a room, got our packets (no line), ate lunch (I got a club sandwich and a salad – trying for less fat/protein and more carbs in my pre-race meals)… and watched some of the ITU race (Pan American Games) they were hosting that day and checked out the swim and run course… and then it was 2pm.  Essentially, we were ready for bed minus driving the bike course (we’re never this early/efficient) so we did that and then settled in the room for a day of reading, movies, and just relaxing.  It was actually pretty amazing – since we weren’t home we couldn’t do chores or do anything, so we just chilled and participated in the pre-race pajamathon.

Around 5pm we decided on room service for dinner and looked at the menu – everything was all FANCYLIKE, so we ordered off the kids menu.  I got a grilled cheese and mashed potatoes, and Zliten tried to order a turkey sandwich twice and they fucked it up twice, so it was on the house (nice of them).  We drifted off around 9-ish after having some sleepy juice.  I was a little nervous but felt pretty ready to rock this.  Oddly enough, I was mostly afraid of crashing my bike at T2 because my seat is so high now.

Also, earlier, we went to go hit the hot tub, and found this.  No lifeguard for the plants where the hot tub used to be. So sad.  I had considered getting in a pre-race swim but the lack of hot tub made me decide to skip laps in the tiny pool.

Zliten woke up around 4am – I slept til like 4:30, and I tea’d and oatmega bar’d pooped and got ready and took a bath to warm up the knee in lieu of a heat pack and being at the host hotel, we took our bikes and helmets and nothing else down to transition and got body marked, claimed good spots in our assigned racks, and headed back to the room.  I pooped again, listened to Titanium really loud (which is becoming my theme song for myself this year), tinkered around, and then we headed down about 6:15 to get our transitions actually set up, get a quick warmup run, quick warmup swim, and then all of a sudden it was the pre-race meeting and we lined up and I said goodbye to Zliten who was in Wave 2 and watched the pros start.

I had some nips off a honeystinger gel but couldn’t get it all down without a sour stomach so I left it under a tree (there were NO trashcans) intending to pick it up later.  I didn’t.  Oops.  Sorry, Play Tri.

Swim: 32:06 (2:08/100m)

Even though I’m much faster and more confident in the water these days, I started near the back because I was terrified of full contact swimming and my knee.  I didn’t want a stray kick to end my race.  So, I hung back (and peed in the lake, sorry Play Tri!) and still even, found that it was roller derby in the water.  I tried to stay near the wall since that would protect my knee but everyone else thought the same thing so it was no ones fault but…. ugh.  After the buoy turn around, it freed up.  Like, a LOT.  Like, was I the last one in my wave?  I looked back and around and no, but people spread out a bunch and it was hard to sight so I just hoped for the best and swam.  I may have pushed one lady who decided that she wanted to swim on top of me repeatedly but y’know, fuck off or go around, right?

The the course went up, and right into the sun.  Sighting sucked, and worse, that was an out and back so swimmers were heading directly at you (if they were a little off course).  Fun!  I got a little discouraged and started some negative thoughts, but then I had the STOP, you’re swimming, you’re not injured, you’re in a very calm and very comfortable temp lake.  Stop being stupid and just swim like a spider (when I feel strong, I feel like I’m crawling across the water like a spider, don’t ask, it makes sense to me), and I stopped trying to sight every 3 strokes and went to counting to 7.  I passed a few people and had my last full contact incident and got up the stairs and into transition.

I saw a 43-something on the clock, not knowing what the fuck it meant, but I did a little math and though that 7:12 start + 31-ish mins = 43 so I was excited!

T1: 1:58

This was a FABULOUS tri in many ways, but one was how efficient swim->T1->bike was.  It was the first tri I didn’t use any sort of sandals.  Up the steps, over a sidewalk, and T1 was right there.  My bike was about midway from swim to bikeout on the end, and it wasn’t very big overall.  I did a good job at executing, and very happy with my efficiency the first tri of the season.

Bike: 1:13:57 for 22 miles

The price I paid for a great swim and super efficient transition was my heart rate was SPIKING as I started to pedal.  About a mile in, I realized I was nauseous and not feeling great, so I slowed my roll a bit and shortly after, my HR came down from 175, to 170, to 165, to 160, and I felt great.  So, I resumed the semi-hammer pace of Olympic riding and my speed climbed from 15 to 16 and I ended loop 1 of the 3 loop course at 17.5.  As my goal was 17 or above, and I usually get better as loops go, I was stoked.  More like that, I said.  In my head, I upped the ante to 18.

I coined a term today – “dude-holes”.  Being one who has the lady-parts, I usually start in the later waves, and if it’s not a looping course, I only have to deal with women passing me.  Who are usually very polite – “on your left” “hi there” “good job”, or at the very least, they give you plenty of space if they’re sucking too much wind to say something.  Not the dude-holes.  These guys are on 10k$ bikes with disc wheels and 4% body fat and are passing you with inches to spare and nary a word.  The first and second laps, I got really, really sick of the dude-holes and was super excited that I wouldn’t have to deal with them loop 3.

Never mind, guess what?  Loop 3 was the worst!  There were sprint dude-holes AND “my first tri” people going 2 mph and not knowing tri-ettiquite.  Sigh.  I did my best to encourage all the first-tri’ers when I passed them and try to not get run over by the dude-holes.

It was not all rude people and terror – I actually quite enjoyed everything else about the bike.  I love loops.  Once, I rode a 50 mile bike ride in 3 mile loops and couldn’t have been happier about it, so 3 loops here was awesomesauce.  There was enough up and down to be not quite just like riding on a trainer, but the elevation change total was ~350 feet total.  I leveled up again in aero riding and rode in aero a lot, even around some corners!!!  I loved my higher seat giving me more power.  I loved seeing Zliten twice (on his second out/my first back and his third out/my second back) and cheering for him.  I’m pretty excited about a 17.8 mph ride – only tri I’ve ever done better was Kerrville Sprint.

Also proud of the fact that the thing I was most worried about – the bike dismount… I did the slowest ever, but still did a flying dismount.  I’ve almost fallen every other time trying to get off my new higher seat trying to put a foot down with the other one still over the other side, but this time, it just clicked.  I’m so going out to a soft place to practice for next time because it’s the first time I’ve ever attempted but… YAY!

T2: 1:23

Again, by the book.  I noted I did better on the swim than the bike because more bikes were in than were out when I started.  The only sucky thing was that I forgot to set out my run nutrition, so I forgot to grab it.  D’oh! (next time I’ll put an emergency gel in a pouch)

Run: 57:41 for 5.5 miles (~10:30 pace)

Man, I wish I could claim this pace for 10k, but the course was short.  I got out of T2, wobbled up the big grassy hill, got my legs under me, and settled into what was comfortable for just a bit.  I looked down, and it was high 10s.  Ok, that’s fine.  I tried to bring that down to low 10s, and the knee started letting me know that it was not yet complaining, but warning.  I took it easy for the first bit to see if it would loosen up, but every time I tried to go sub-10 it definitely told me no.  Also, my tweaked back wasn’t 100% better, so my glute muscle on that side (it works it’s way out that way sometimes…) was voicing it’s opposition as well.

So, I ran the pace I could.  While I definitely wasn’t 100% easy pace, it was moderately challenging, I could have definitely pushed a bit more if I was 100% healthy.  And, y’know, had not had a month off running and just been cleared to do 1.5 miles with a mandate for slow ramp up just 12 days ago.  It was a huge zigzag course – down a street, up a street the same side, down the other side of the street, up that side, around a u-turn, and repeat for the Olympic.  It was pretty much flat, some slight incline/declines, but I think it registered as a total of 6 ft ascent, heh.

Also, I got to see Zliten every zigzag!  He stayed steadily one slot ahead of me (I tried to push to catch up once and the knee said nooooo), and looking for him helped distract me from the run, my knee being stiff, my glute stinging, and when I was on the last down and he was on the last up, I could tell he made up a little ground and I told him to finish strong.  I came back around the u-turn, up the last area, tried picking up the pace as much as I could, and he met me a bit before the end and ran me in across the last street and I saw the clock when I crossed – 2:58.

Holy crap, I knew I was going to PR today as soon as I finished the first bike loop, as long as nothing blew up on the run, but I had no idea I was going to finish sub-3 on the clock (I knew it was short but still…).

I am proud at my head for the run.  At no point did I get negative.  When I realized my knee was going to hold me back, I realized it was what it was, and I pushed as far as I could and no further.  I didn’t ever think, “fuck it, I may as well walk”.  I felt pretty damn awesome and happy all day.  Getting to see Zliten 7 times on the run helped.  A great spectator cheered every time ANYONE went by and made me happy.  There was cold water and powerade, so I didn’t even need my nutrition.

Finish: 2:47:06 – 8/12 AG, 50/79 gender, 217/279 overall (this seemed to be mostly seasoned triathletes and club so… can’t complain… I didn’t DFL!)

My normalized time was about 3:09 – I PR’d the swim by 7.5 mins, the bike by about 6 mins at the same pace for 25 miles, and the run by 2 mins for the same pace at 10k.  That took me to -15.5 mins, or around 3:10.  Giving myself ~1 extra minute credit for better transitions (instead of the about 5 mins I did better, because transition was way smaller)

Apres-race:

While I definitely was done running when I finished because my run miles have been severely limited by the injury, I felt great – no sickies, just wanted some cold powerade and to walk around, and celebrated with Zliten because we both had great days.  I beat him by 2 mins today.  I smoked him on the swim and transitions, and he beat me on the bike and run.  We both felt great after and got our stuff and headed from the transition to the hotel (100 feet, love staying at the host hotel), got a shower, packed up, got out, got our prize (In N Out – this is the reason we race in Dallas-area), and rode home.

Race champagne was a little lacking as we cheaped and lazed out and got it from the gas station, but Shiner Ruby Redbird is making up for it.  The end!

Notes:

-I told Zliten after this race, I would know what I needed for Buffalo Springs 70.3.  It’s very clear.  Run endurance re-build and some bike endurance in the bank.  I’m going to spend the next two-ish weeks doing less, but longer sessions.  I need to rebuild carefully on the run with my knee, but I need to see a double digit run or two this month before June 30, and some QT on the trainer with higher resistance + veloway/Pfluger love – the wind, the heat, the hills and all.  I’ve got the speed I’m looking for, I just need to extend the comfort over more miles.  I only wonder what awesome I could have done with a full training plan and look forward to seeing what I can do for Kerrville.  For BS, it’s survival mode.

-I have no idea if the swim was short.  I’m taking it at face value and saying not.  The water felt fast so I’ll take it. 🙂

-I loved everything about this race, minus the dude-holes.  I’m pretty sure this is on the annual list.

-I think I’m about 1-2 years away from a new bike.  I have always said I’ll get a new bike when I couldn’t easily remove weight from the bike naturally by defluffing, so I have about that long to get down to true race weight.  Because I drool every time I see a sexy QR with a disc wheel…

-I did not track calories or food Thursday on as I wanted to make sure my body had enough fuel and I wasn’t freaking out over processed carbs, and for the race, I felt totally nourished and it worked.  Tomorrow, I’ll get on the scale, track again, and life will go on.  My tri suit fit pretty nicely today, so there’s that.

This is epic novel length, so I’ll get into June goals and week 21 in another post.  Very happy with Tri #1 of the season.  In 2 weeks, I get to defend my unicorn and rainbows title (in my own mind) at Lake Pflugerville, so we’ll see how well I can do with the goal to hurt myself badly and 2 more weeks of knee recovery!

My training philosophy this year has been very different than last year.  2012 was about learning to operate on tired legs.  I just kept loading and loading and loading us up until we broke.  It was all about building the confidence that I could tackle 70.3 and then 26.2 miles no problem.  I didn’t do any races last year in which I felt anything but ready for the distance (maybe I was a little sketchy on the marathon, but only because I had trouble making the jump in my head from 20 to 26.2 and now realize it’s no issue).  I walked around in a haze for a few months, completely overloaded, exhausted.

This year, it’s completely different.  Every time I’ve thought “I’m tiiiiired”, it’s been like, “oh schweet, it’s rest week” and I’ve been rarin’ to go after.  The first half marathon I will run this year will be in Lubbock at my 70.3, and by that time, I’ll be able to count the double digit runs I will have done on one hand.  My bike miles have been decent, but mostly on the trainer, and I can count the 50+ rides on one hand as well.  My swimming kicks ass this year, and I have zero worries on that this year.  What I do have a handle on is my head.  Since I’m not spending so much time physically (and mentally) fatiguing myself, I can really concentrate on hurting when it’s time to hurt.

Last year, I built a HUGE tower, but it wasn’t very stable.  It got me to the end of each race, but there were a lot of bricks falling down each time I really tried to test myself, standing in the way of what I wanted and knew I could accomplish on those days.  And it was probably worth it, the first year of pushing my endurance limits so much further than they’ve ever been stretched, to toe those starting lines knowing I had done the distances before, that I was capable, that muscle memory could carry me through.

This year, it’s been about actually erasing some of that muscle memory.  I don’t need to try to practice race pace every day.  I don’t need to be 100% comfortable with race distances.  Frankly, that muscle memory might have been holding me back.  Slowly and carefully putting the blocks in the right places might not build as tall of a castle, and there may be gaps, but hopefully, the thoughtful mix of easy miles with a few strategically long and/or hard (that’s what she said?) workouts will be enough to plop me into race days a little hungry, a little unsure, and a little bit ready to prove things to myself.

Also, essentially missing May, which was supposed to involve a focused effort of more intensity and less sessions with longer distances, doesn’t help with the loads of volume strategy.  I need to BELIEVE I can do next month without proof.

But, at least I’m back.  I built the castle pretty well earlier this year, and while this knee thing has knocked a bit of it down, this week marked the first real week of picking those bricks up.  And I’m pretty happy with the progress.

Training:

Monday: Weights: Upper Body + Stretch 00:45, Swim: Quick Swim 600 m 00:12:00

Went to the doc, hoping for the best.  She looks at me and says, “So, are you just DYING to run?” and I did my best to say, “yes I would like to run please” rather than scream “HELL YES OMG LET ME AT THE ROADZZZZ”, I think it was somewhere in the middle.  I may have had my running clothes and shoes in the car.  She delivered some bad news, “Well, NOT TONIGHT…” and then some good news, “but starting tomorrow, you can.” Wheeeee!  Her instructions were to start with 1.5 miles and to expect stiffness.  If at any point it actually HURT I was to cut my run short.  She also said she’d prefer me running on the treadmill but wouldn’t require it, just asked I stick to even surfaces and not go all offroad trail-y.

So, I did a weights session and swam a very short speedy swim and went to bed dreaming about being able to get up and RUNNNNN!

Tuesday: Run: First Run in a Month 1.5 mi 00:18, Bike: Trainer + Music 6.4 mi 00:20, Bike: Trainer + Arrested Development 8.25 mi 00:30

Got up in the AM and ran outside – part of my normal loop, just up to the south school and back, which is just about exactly 1.5 miles.  I walked to warm up and then started ambling along very awkwardly at about 13 minute miles.  This was NOT the glorious return to running I envisioned.  It was tight and felt weird and I was a little mopey about it at first but then my knee started loosening up a little and went from 13s to 12s to 11s and then I had a little pain… in my freaking quad.  Yes, folks, my uber big and awesome quads were complaining about 1.5 wimpy little easy miles.  That was enough for the day.   I spent the rest of the morning on the trainer, and then got more miles after work.  I was actually sore on the second trainer, which was a bunch of SAD, but hey, first run!

Wednesday: Run: Treadmill Run 2 mi 00:22, Swim: Laps 1680 m 00:38

I skipped weights in favor of getting more run miles.  Still a little stiff and awkward, but felt better than the day before.  Happy that my endurance doesn’t seem to really be having issues, besides the leg muscle and tightness stuff, running isn’t taxing any other systems very much.  Swimming was decent, but I couldn’t get a good rhythm going for most of it, but was pretty happy with that pace being a crappy swim.

Thursday: Bike: Trainer + XxX 28 mi 01:31, Run: EZ Treadmill 2.5 mi 00:29

First 1+ hour trainer ride since the “iiiincident” and my knee had a few stiff moments, but held up pretty well.  I wasn’t sure I felt ready to run off the bike yet but hoped that a few hours rest would be sufficient.  Before lunch, I went on a quick walk around work campus to make sure I was ok, and I was – so I headed to the gym and knocked out 2.5 miles on the treadmill.  I tested out “race pace” at the end for about .1 (just a little sub-10) and it didn’t any more hurty, stiff, or awkward than easy pace.  Probably won’t try that again until race day, just to be safe.

Friday: off

While the body held out fine, I was definitely ready for a rest day Friday, although when I got home from work it was gorgeous and drizzly and cool and I really WANTED to run, but it felt irresponsible to run 5 times in a row on my comeback week when I usually don’t even do that healthy.

Saturday: Bike Trainer + Torchwood 50 mi 02:19, Run: Short Brick 1.7 mi 00:19

I woke up in a terrible mood, had to deal with work stuff early in the AM, and I tweaked my back getting off the toilet (?), and my lovely plan to ride and run out at Plugerville was ruined by thunderstorms.  The cat and I felt the same way about this morning (it was pitifully cute – she kept curling up in these awkward looking positions to nap, getting up after a few minutes, sighing, and sleeping again).  I almost started drinking at 8am instead, but Zliten convinced me to not and just TRY the trainer.  Oddly enough, aero felt WONDERFUL on my back and alternating sitting up stretched it out, so 10, 15, 20 miles ticked by.  I did 5 miles of tempo riding at 20-25, and then increased my easy pace to moderate and finished out 30, 40, and finally stopped at 50 miles as my knee was talking to me just a little bit.

I wasn’t sure how a run would feel but I was giving it a try.  The first quarter of a mile felt weird but then it just felt… good.  We set out on my 1.5 mile loop, figuring I could pull the cord early pretty easily if I felt bad, and I could run it twice if I felt great.  Well, it was a day for neither – at about 1.5 miles I got a little twinge, which went away as fast as it came, but to be safe I stopped at the house instead of going out again.  I had accomplished the effort for the day though – I did a solid, long effort on the bike, and I successfully ran off it feeling great.  If not for my knee and my back, I could have gone for many, many more miles at that pace happily.

Sunday: off

Knee was a little stiff, but defnitely not worse for wear.  Enjoyed a righteous day of doing nothing (Arrested Development marathon + played Rift).  It was glorious!

Summary:

Next weekend is the Olympic race, which I feel much better about after this week.  The week after, I’m hoping to get another brick in, but a shorter bike with a longer run.  Then, I think I’ll feel at least somewhat ready for the 70.3 (in the way you can feel confident about a test after slacking and then cramming for it).

While I’d hoped at closer to 10 hours this week – about 8 is pretty great considering the huge run limiter.  I was going to move some training to today, since it’s a holiday, however, volunteering at Cap Tex Tri for 5 hours wiped us out and my knee and back demanded rest, so I’ll hit it tomorrow. (That’s me, below, plotting which expensive bike to…erm… borrow… :D)

Food/Scale:

The good news: I have a new low of 176.0!!! Wheee!

The bad news: I just couldn’t get myself to eat the things I was supposed to for some reason.  Not that I shoved Mexican combo plates down my face (except on Saturday when I did, and it was amaaaaaazing and worth it), but I definitely put together some weird and sometimes somewhat less nutritional meals than I had planned.  Also, there were more random candy attacks due to stress than I would like, and the sad part is it wasn’t like “oh yum that looks good” it was the “i am grumpy and it’s there”.  I mean, not a significant part of my calories at all, I just hate the habit.

The ugly: 750 calories of vodka on a Thursday.  Yeah, it was a stressful week.

I’m happy with the progress of about another 3 lbs down this month.  I had hoped to hit 175 – and I still could, but 176 ain’t so far away.  If June continues with the trend, I’ll be in the low 170s by Buffalo Springs, and the lowest weight I’ve been since I got a real tri suit (and not my fake thrift store onesie – got about 12 lbs to go there…).  That could make me very happy!  I just have to eat the right things, and try to splurge mindfully, and not because my stress levels are at maximum (I can stress eat carrots like a champ, I just need to remember that).  I saw this and it was very appropriate to this week (even though my runs were nowhere near the lovely exhausting ones they mention here)…

By the day:

Monday: 31 DQ, 1490 calories
Tuesday: 23 DQ, 1730 calories
Wednesday: 20 DQ.1444 calories
Thursday: 10 DQ, 2002 calories
Friday: 23 DQ, 1568 calories
Saturday: 3 DQ, 2287 calories
Sunday: 14 DQ, 1507 calories

Average DQ (diet quality score): 17.7 (youch – I haven’t been below 20 in a while, wakeup call for next week!!!)

Average calories per day: 1718.  Not terrible, since I’m training again.

Weight: Low: 176.0.  High: 180.0 (0.4 down from last week).

Milestone: Over the last 10 weeks, I have lost over 5% of my bodyweight.  Yeah!!!

Other things:

Starting to think about what happens after Kerrville/Austin 70.3 because both my parents and friends like to plan vacations way in advanced (I’m officially booked up on PTO pretty much for 2014.  Maybe honeymoon in 2015? :D).  We’re talking about another cruise early in the year with the fam, and a friends’ vacation probably late summer 2014, renting a huge house somewhere fun.  We also have a Zliten and I week to plan in Nov/Dec somewhere warm.  We’re thinking about this (the half) and then a week in the Keys.  Not sure whether we’d be just fun-running it or racing it, but it looks fast and flat and fun!

So, that means, I need to predict the future for where I will be mentally and physically after tri season ends.  My current thoughts:

• I don’t think I want to try to run RnRSA again.  Probably not another marathon this year.  I don’t see my run training being there without artificially inflating it like I have the last few years at the end of tri season, and I’d really like to see what happens without that pressure.
• I DO think I want to try to take a crack and see how close I can get to smashing my 2:08 PR and who knows, maybe a sub-2 standalone half.  I also wouldn’t mind taking a crack at my 10k PR as well.
• I am NOT SURE whether I’ll want or need an offseason right away after my last 70.3.  Especially with this month long injury break and the smart training I’ve been doing this year, I feel remarkably fresh mid-cycle but I’ve still got June, July, August, and September to go.
• It might be fun to spend the fall doing lots of little races that I don’t care about (Dash for Dads 5k, Turkey Trot 5 miler, etc – Austin has at least 10 races each weekend in Oct and Nov) and just seeing what I can do with rested legs and a “let’s have fun” attitude.
• We MAY want to do a spring marathon.  And by WE I mean Zliten has brought up doing Austin as his first marathon (insert my requisite *I hate hills* pissing and moaning here).  I’m not sure if it will work timing-wise so we’ll think about it.  There are a lot of options in the area before things get too warm, but we need to consider it now so we’re not on vacation during or in too-close proximity.  It would work best to be right before a vacation week, but we’d need to figure that out NOW if we want to make it happen that way.
• That begs the question… what’s the goal for 2014 tri season?  Is it IM year (probably not but worth a consider)?  Which one?  What’s the first tri we want to do – Rookie?  One of the April tris?  The HITS tri in Feb? Is it the year we hit triple digits on a bike ride?

Lots to think about but I’m not going to stress.  I’ll see you on the other side of my season opener in (ulp) six days.  Be patient – it’s a Sunday Tri in the Dallas area (so ~4 hour drive away), so my priority after the race will be 1) In n Out 2) making it home safely 3) race day champagne and then 4) blogging.  I’m not sure I’ll get to #4 that day although hopefully I’ll be so compelled by a GIGANTIC PR that I want to share with the world quickly.  One can think positively, right?

Question of the week: If you and your friends could go rent a luxury house anywhere in the US for a week, where would you go and why?

I used to work for a company owned by a movie studio, and every holiday, we got to go to a big company meeting where we showed off all our stuff (sadly, MY stuff was too small potatoes to make the dog and pony show so I never got to present), and the parent company showed all their new trailers and early clips.  It was fun all around (plus, that night was always the company holiday party in which there was open bar and we all got way too drunk and embarrassed ourselves, I remember one year crying on my boss’s boss’s boss’s shoulder because I was scared I wouldn’t get hired on full time and have to get a real job… well, hey, it worked…and that’s pretty tame in the way of stories… but I digress…), but I vividly remember one year someone asked the president of the parent company why they gave away all the good scenes in the trailers.

He said simply (this is paraphrased), “everyone does it, and if we didn’t, no one would come to see the movie”.

Well, this blog post, I’m going to spoil all the good news in the intro, and then get to the mundane stuff, so if you have a short attention span, this is the post for you!

Milestone #1: After 3 weeks, 5 days, and 12 hours of not-so patiently waiting, I was able to put full weight, fully extend my knee, and engage my quad with just a little stiffness.  It’s not 100% and still gets stiff and hurty when I don’t move it for a while, but this is major progress folks.  After stretching and getting my tendons worked on for a few seconds, it’s barely injured.  I was cleared Monday for biking outside, and so my bag of tricks this week included upper body weights (I took this as down to my glutes), swimming as long/fast/far as I want, and the ability to lower my bike seat a bit and trainer or ride outside as hard as I want, barring one 6-ish mile ride outside testing the knee before I went and did a century.

Also she said she thinks she’ll clear me for running and release me from care Monday (squeeeeee).  She said by no means will I be 100% for a while (it might be months), but she thinks I’ll be past the point where I can do anything to make it worse.  If you follow me on social media expect a lot of celebration and party rocking.

Milestone #2: Friday, I weighed in at 176.4.  I don’t have great data from early in the year, but 10 weeks ago, I weighed in at 186.4 as my low weight for the week.  I have lost exactly 10 lbs in the last 10 weeks.  This is fairly remarkable, because the last time I lost 10 lbs in the last ANY weeks was 2009.  Also, because I’m still doing great, have a plan that’s working, have momentum, drive, and I’m not at all burned out on the process and it feels sustainable even with heavy training.  I’m not near a period where things are going to change (vacation, end of season, all you can eat shrimp season at Red Lobster season, or whatever), I just have to keep rolling.  I do well with that.  I can CONTINUE doing something very well.  Establishing the process, especially when shit isn’t working, is what makes me want to tear my hair out and just buy a mumu and put a feedback on my face and say fuck it.

So, 10 lbs down.  In my happiest fantasies, I race Kerrville this year weighing 160.  I would be happy racing it in the 160s.  Considering I’m just 6 lbs away from the 160s makes me giddy.  Plants, beans, grains, nuts/seeds, a dash of dairy and meat, and balancing my calorie count like it’s my checkbook.  I’m a believer!

Milestone #2: After 3 weeks, 5 days, and 12 hours of not-so patiently waiting, I was able to put full weight, fully hyperextend my knee, and engage my quad with just a little stiffness.  It’s not 100% and still gets stiff and hurty when I don’t move it for a while, but major progress folks.  After stretching and getting my tendons worked on for a few seconds, it’s barely injured.  I was cleared Monday for biking outside, and so my bag of tricks this week included upper body weights (I took this as down to my glutes), swimming as long/fast/far as I want, and the ability to lower my bike seat a bit and trainer or ride outside as hard as I want, barring one 6-ish mile ride outside testing the knee before I went and did a century.

Also she said she thinks she’ll clear me for running and release me from care Monday (squeeeeee).  She said by no means will I be 100% for a while (it might be months), but she thinks I’ll be past the point where I can do anything to make it worse.  If you follow me on social media expect a lot of celebration and party rocking.

Milestone #3: This would normally be jazzy enough to make me celebrate in and of itself, but it’s definitely down to #3 on the list because of the other awesome.  So, since I couldn’t bike much and couldn’t run at all, I’ve been swimming A LOT.  Like 4 times a week.  Oddly enough, if you swim more, you get better, who knew?  I generally operate on the “how much can I do in 30 mins” workout as my gym limits our lane reservations to 30 mins and my Zliten also rarely wants to swim longer than that even if there is no one in the lane after us.  In January, my norm was about 1050 meters (70 lengths in our little 15m pool).  I’ve gotten better and better, but I really wanted to hit that 1500m mark.

We got the opportunity to swim in my parents’ community pool which is 25m (ahhhh, I love the bigger pools) and I was thinking about a swim test but decided against it.  I took the first 400m easy with some drills, and spent the next 300m doing breath work, and then 200m easy to moderate, and then started doing 300m of some sprints (25 out easy, 25 back hard).  I got to 1200m and realized I was only at about 24-25 mins, and I had a chance to break 30 on my 1500m.  I did a solid, tempo 300m and came in at 30 mins (don’t have seconds, but started at 3:48 and ended at 4:18).  Totally excited!  Thinking of gunning for a sub-35 at the Olympic in 2 weeks.

Milestone #4: It was another hellweek at work, but I think we’ve wrapped up an extremely ambitious chasing-unicorns milestones only about 2 days late, which is an impressive feat.  Trust me.  Also, I didn’t physically hurt anyone or set fire to the building in the process, and neither did my staff – even though they brought in a balance board that on which I was convinced someone would break their neck (but ya know, when working that much overtime, I’m not going to take ANYONES toys away).

And now onto the SCARY STUFF!!!!

June is go time.  Like, 2 weeks from now.  Coming back from injury lala land, I race THREE TIMES in June.

First up for my season opener in 2 weeks- no, not the little super-sprint I usually start with, but an OLYMPIC.  Back when I signed up, my thoughts here were 1) It’s not hot as balls yet, so perhaps I can seriously smoke my 3:25 PR and 2) around this time last year, I was pissed that all we had to race was sprints because we were already training Olympic distances and 3) In n Out is only about 3 miles away from the race finish.

Well, #3 is still absolutely valid and I’m super duper craving it.  However, #1 and #2 are in question.  I’d like the comfort of trying out my knee on a sprint first.  I haven’t run in a month.  I haven’t biked more than 15 miles in over a month.  I certainly haven’t done a brick.  Also, the 64k$ question of how my knee is going to hold up once I start training on it.  And what’s feasible to build up to?  Can I get in a 20 mile ride/5 mile run brick?  Will I even be able to run 5 miles before race day?  How bad will running hurt?  How bad will it hurt after running?

I know in my heart I can easily PR if I can roll into race day feeling good.  I can shave off ~5 mins on my swim, probably 5-10 mins on my bike, and about 5 mins on my run no sweat.  If this race had been 1 month ago, I’d be wondering how close to 3 hours I’d be coming in.  However, it’s all a big question mark right now.  I’m going to roll with the punches and I’m fairly sure I can at the worst kick ass on the swim, get through the bike, and run/walk the rest, but I really hope that I can do more than that.  Training a lot gives me the confidence, and I’m not going to have that.  I’m going to have to come equipped with courage to find the paces I know I can hit, and common sense not to hit them if it’s not my day.  There’s a lot more to my season than this race.

Then, two weeks after that, I race Pfluger.  This was the race last year I chased my unicorns and won.  Last year, it was home turf because we trained there every weekend and knew every hill and elevation change and twist of the course.  This year, we’ve cheated on Pfluger with Pace Bend and Veloway and Shoal Creek and lunch runs and only been out a few times so, while it will be familiar, it’s not the familiarity I had last year.  Also, the knee.  Who knows where it will be in a month?  This one has big meaning to me as it is the sprint I consistently rock each year solidly.  I 1:32’d it last year.  Can I sub 1:30?  What can I do?   I know my head is right this year in a way it hasn’t been before, but a month off serious business training… what has it done to my speed?

Then, skip ahead two weeks and OMG Buffalo Springs 70.3.  The beast.  The heat, the wind, the hills, and the distance that in January for which I had a perfectly laid out training plan.  Then, I took a dive boat to the knee.  I have done TWO 50-60 mile rides and at best, I can hope to get one more.  I have done TWO 10 mile runs, and at best, I can hope to get 1-2 more.  Brick?  My Olympic tri will be the longest brick I’ll do (maybe maybe maybe a short trainer ride and a long run IF I think I can tolerate it).  I know in my heart and my muscle memory and my endurance that I can do it.  I’ll have 6 weeks to get back from zero run + injury + not much training to fit for a half ironman.  I’m looking forward to conquering it but I’m defintiely afraid.

I had a nightmare that I got out of transition and the initial climb was switchbacks up a mountain for miles and miles and I just gave up and walked it.  I know the elevation isn’t that bad, but it is a decent hill up right out of transition and it’s not exactly flat, so I’m just hoping my brain is stronger than that race day.

Really, I’m looking at this as PHASE 1 of this year.  This is survival mode.  I know I can do the distances, I know I can do the paces I want.  It just involves on pulling from my guts, my confidence, my bravado, the fire in my belly, and not relying on specific things I’ve done in training.  I tried that last year.  It didn’t do me all that well.  In June, I have me, my brain, my body, my goals, my muscle memory, and the knowledge that I can indeed outlast the hurt if I so choose.

Phase 2 has another sprint, 2 Olympics, and 1-2 more 70.3s.  I don’t want to use the lack of training or injury as any excuse, but I do want to use common sense as my season isn’t over June 30th.  I have another whole “season” to roll with.  No matter whether I bonk, drop out, or totally underperform, I have another chance to do it again later in the season.  Again, I don’t want to use it as an excuse but I don’t want to end my season by being dumb.

Enough whining, let’s just put some numbers here for posterity and get tomorrow’s run clearance and start the building process.

Training…

Monday: Weights: Upper body + Stretch 00:45, Swim: 3x300s Tempo 1410 m 00:31
Tuesday: Bike: First Real Trainer Ride 15 mi 00:49, Bike: Lunch Ride 6.4 mi 00:20, Swim: Laps 1350 m 00:31
Wednesday: Weights: Same Ol + Stretch 00:45,Swim:  Just More Than Worth It 1170 m 00:25
Thursday: off
Friday: Bike: Trainer + Arrested Development 15 mi 00:46
Saturday: Bike: First ride outside in a while 6.46 mi 00:30, Swim: Woohoo! G town swim 1500 m 00:30, Bike: Parents Stationary Bike 4 mi 00:21
Sunday: Kayak: Pflugerville Kayak 2 mi 01:00

Total time: 7.2 hours

Nutrition…

Monday: 25 DQ, 1286 calories
Tuesday: 21 DQ, 1584 calories
Wednesday: 25 DQ, 1410 calories
Thursday: 13 DQs, 1577 calories
Friday: 26 DQ, 1521 calories
Saturday: 12 DQ, 2093 calories
Sunday: 19 DQ, 1628 calories

Average DQ: 20

Average Calories: 1585

Weight: low 176.4, high 180.8.

Until next time campers… have a great week.  Wish me luck!

Question: What are YOU waiting for?

I have discovered that I am now incapable of dealing with stress without running.

I used to drink a fair bit more.  Crazy day/week at work, pop the bourbon, get angry/contemplative/sad/creative drunk, play games/write/design/art something, release some stress, wake up, do it again.

However, in those days, a hangover didn’t feel all that much worse than normal life, being a billion lbs overweight and unhealthy and all.   Not really an option nowadays to shuffle through life feeling about 50%.  The occasional day, fine.  But in my old age, I’ve learned that it’s generally not worth it the next day very often.  Also, triathlete training doesn’t leave me much time to feel like that without missing or having subpar training days, and some days, that’s the ONLY thing stopping me from a few stiff drinks or 12 due to stress (and yeah, that’s typically a good thing)

As things got different, I found a healthier outlet for a stressful day – a good run.  I am a triathlete, and have equal love for the swim and bike on good days, but there is nothing like a good run to destress in a way that biking and swimming don’t do it.  Swimming is great for thinking, processing, having conversations with yourself, and just letting go.  Biking sort of keeps me in the moment outdoors (cars, traffic lights, curbs, potholes, hills, nature, etc), and indoors I usually use a movie to distract me.  But, a good run… nothin’ like a good run.  Some days, a super easy run in the sunshine is what I need.  Some days, you just need to take it out on the road and run hard until you’re too tired to be angry or sad and just feel at peace.

But as we know for me, no running this week.  None at all.  And this was the week from hell.  I got through it, but just barely.  Let me just recap it quick, and let’s move on.  Next week has to has to has to be better.

Knee/Training:

Chiro-cracker says the knee is getting better with each visit (I’m seeing her twice a week), but this is the point where I’m feeling better-ish and I’m not completely healed where I could do a lot of damage.  So, no running as above, and no real biking.  I am able to swim easy as much as my knee tolerates, and for 20-30 mins per day, I can get on the trainer with the seat set uber-high so my leg is forced to fully extend, and continue with weights that don’t stress out my knee.  Each visit, she’s adjusting me, stretching my knee and massaging it, and doing ultrasound.  The ultrasound feels great, but as lovely as a stretch and massage sounds like – it’s not.  Pain.  Good pain, but PAIN.

It feels at it’s worst after the abuse (the stretching and massaging on Thursday left me soooooore) and after it’s been stationary for a long time (when I wake up, meetings/long days at work, etc).  It feels freakin’ awesome after the trainer sessions and being active.  I wish the option was to just continue moving all the time but that’s just not possible, so I’ll just continue to move as much as the chiro lets me (30 mins daily on the trainer, doing about 4 days a week swimming, 1-2 days a week of weights) until I can do more.  She’s thinking I may get to ride for real this week, and she predicted next week for running but it all depends on how the healing goes.  So send happy vibes my way please!

By the day:

Monday: off (recovering from Rookie celebrating)
Tuesday: Swim: Easy Laps with a few pickups 1500 m 00:34
Wednesday: Weights: Upper Body Weights 00:45, Swim: Moar Laps 1200 m 00:27, Bike: Leg Extension 3.75 mi 00:15:00
Thursday: Swim: Rude Morning Pool People 975 m 00:25, Bike: More leg stretching 4 mi 00:15
Friday: off (day from hell at work)
Saturday: Dancing and cheering my ass off for 1.5 hours at the finish line, Bike: Leg Stretch 6.31 mi 00:30, Swim: Slow and Strong 1000 m 00:20
Sunday: Bike: Leg Stretch 8 mi 00:31

So, 4 hours is not exactly a super training week, but it’s what I can do right now, so there it is.  Hopefully I can get more in next week.  I’m three weeks from Playtri, and hoping I’ll remember what it feels like to run 6 miles, since it’s been about 3 weeks since I’ve ran a step.

Food/Scale:

I’m just taking the week off really going into this.  I’ve eaten relatively healthy and lower calories  (estimate – 1550 per day) with a few not-completely-angelic things, but let’s call it definitely in the 80/20 realm.  I had a low weight of 177.2 Monday, but the rest of the week it was 179.0-180.8.  I have been pretty stressed all week.  Perhaps these things are correlated?

With the not-running, knee stuff, work stress, and weight not cooperating, I just got a little blah about the whole thing and didn’t track this weekend or pre-track this week.  Giving myself a pass this week and I’ve got a food plan and will pre-track tonight and be back into it tomorrow.  This is not to say I’ve been tossing back pizza and burgers or anything, but it feels like unless I’m very, very careful, the weight does not go anywhere.  I’m not ready to give up, I just needed a weekend reprieve of counting.

Other Stuff:

While I’ve had a very meh week, I had a pretty amazing Saturday.  It started out rocky – I left work after 11pm, and we had a 6am wakeup to volunteer, but once we got up and out, it was a great morning.  Let me tell ya – there is a cure to the blahs, and that cure is dancing and cheering and making a fool of yourself at the finish line welcoming hundreds of puppies and runners to the end of their 5k and trying to make them look happy for pictures.  Above is me doing my best “wavy arm man” impression.  It was a beautiful morning and definitely made me a billion degrees happier.  Never pass up the opportunity to volunteer when it involves puppies and racing at the same time.  However, when the national anthem played, my first thought was, “the next time I hear this I better have a fucking timing chip on my ankle”.

We had TWO game nights this week.  The first, we played a Savage Worlds campagn (role playing game nerdery) in which we fought werechickens.  It was a lot of fun.  The second, we played a boardgame called Lords of Waterdeep – I won the first game and didn’t do so well at the second, but that’s ok.  Then, around midnight, we started playing Life and holy crap, that game takes forever, and had a ton of pieces I don’t remember using as a kid.  We were all happy to retire so we could retire to bed.  I really have enjoyed the more games this year!

And, that’s it for last week.  Question: have you volunteered at a race? (if you haven’t, you totally should – it’s a great experience and great race karma!)