Adjusted Reality

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

Page 59 of 218

#letsgetdizzy – Pace Bend 6 hour race

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On February 6, 2017

In Uncategorized

Late last year, I saw an event which intrigued me – a 6 (and 12 and 24, but let’s not go there… yet) hour bike race at the Driveway – where all the big kid cyclists race every week during the summer.  I’m not at the point where I want to start doing those type of races where you can reach out and touch 5 other people’s bikes from your saddle, plus I could NEVER make it down south by 5pm on a Thursday with work, but I’ve always wanted to check it out.

This is my first timed bike race – and something about having an HOURS cut off instead of a mileage cutoff felt like it took the pressure off.  Yes, I had mileage goals but also if everything fell apart, I just had to ride my bike for some portion of 6 hours on a fairly flat ~1.7 mile loop.

Then, the city decided they were going to repave the Driveway that weekend and they had secured Pace Bend Park instead.  So, instead of ~20 feet of ascent in 1.7 miles, we were looking at 350 in 6.2.  Yeah, that’s slightly different.  The race production company gave everyone a chance to bow out for a refund, which was super awesome, but nope.  I was in.  I would just adjust my expectations.

Last week seemed to go by in a blink, and then all of a sudden it was Friday night and after dinner, grocery shopping, and packing for the race and camping after for like 3 hours, my back was SUUUUUUUPER sore from all the STANDING.  And still sore the next day when I woke up.  Crap.  Not the best way to start a race day, but after some dinking around and getting set up and the pre-race meeting and losing my gloves because Zliten stole them, we were off to the races in the 40-ish and spitting rain (and that would not change the entire time).

I really don’t feel like a play by play of 14 loops would be that interesting, so here’s some observations/learning experiences from my first endurance cycling event.

1. Just because Zliten knows where something is or where it was packed does not help you when you’re half a loop displaced from each other and you can’t find your shit.  Be self sufficient like a triathlon – if I need something I need to pack it on my own in my own stuff.

2. Sometimes you have no idea what you’ll need.  Last weekend’s 100, I had ZERO want for gels and the like, and ate predominantly solid food to fuel.  Saturday, solid food just tasted like garbage and I ate 4 gels, 1 whole pack of blocks, most of a grapefruit, and had 3 giant strong gatorade bottles.  I also had half an english muffin and some bites of quesidilla but both those things were just like BLECH.

3. Loops are rough to judge where you are in the pack.  I felt like I was getting passed, passing no one but maybe a few of the 24 hour zombies on their last few hours, and I was going to be dead last.  When I checked the results, I was solidly mid-pack in the 6 hour solo female group.  As a triathlete playing at being a cyclist for the day, I was PUMPED.  The female leader only eeked out 4 more laps than I did.

4. I have never been to a cycling event where music was allowed, and we were allowed one earbud in.  Having that the last 3 hours really helped me a lot.  I know I can’t use it for IM Texas, but IM Texas hopefully isn’t going to be 40 degrees, rainy, and have over 5k of climbing, so there will be tradeoffs.

5. Being part of a cycling team rocks.  Every loop, people in our tent were cheering, asking if I needed handups or anything, giving support, and generally being awesome.  When I did stop, they helped me get in and get out quicker than I would have on my own. I only clocked 13 minutes of stops over two breaks (one to refuel, and one because my back was cramping and I needed to stretch and roll it out).   I was pretty impressed with that!

6. I need to give myself some credit at being able to handle my shit.  When my back was cramping up around hour 3, I got in a pit of despair for a bit.  How was I going to deal with this?  How on earth could I ride 3 more hours with an effed up back when I couldn’t find my happy pills?  I just started trying things.  Caffeine dulls pain so I took another caff gel (this explains the crazy eyes above).  I stopped to roll my back even if it took ~5 minutes, it made it feel better.  Aero hurt after a while and sitting up hurt differently after a while, so I just changed my position a lot and adopted this weird half aero position going down hills.

7. I will never complain about 70.3 training again.  You mean I ONLY have to ride for 3 hours and maybe run off it for an hour as a big training day?  That’s like… nothing.

8.  I will probably be buying the short version of my long thermal bibs even if they cost a million bucks.  My butt was SO comfortable all day and I didn’t even have to reapply hoohah glide.  I need these bibs in my life on days that AREN’T 40 degrees.

9.  I’ll be looking for a kettlebell to buy for home or at least make sure I get to the gym once a week.  My back was in better condition when I was doing weighted squats, throws, and deadlifts.

10.  I’m glad I have a short memory.  At 3pm (3 hours in), I wanted to quit and never ride my bike again.  At 8pm (post race + post ciders), I was talking about maybe considering doing the 24 hour relay next year or mayyyyybe doing a 12 hour solo with a lot of breaks and maybe bringing two bikes I could switch between.  And if it’s at the Driveway where the elevation is flatter.  And if it fits in my training plan for whatever I’m training for.

As for my goals and how I did – when it was going to be flat, I was going to go for 100 miles.  I figured that was doable on my TT bike.  However, I’m not the best climber in the world, and I’m a lot more cautious in the rain, so I figured I’d get out there and see what I was riding before putting some unrealistic expectations on myself.

After 2 hours, I noticed I was perfectly on pace to hit 15 loops (93 miles) if I could stop really quickly and then increase speed a little (which I tend to do at the end of rides anyway).  However, my cramping back that caused the second stop also made me slow a little in the middle, so I had to readjust my goal to 14 laps (87 miles) and I made that with 5 minutes to spare on the race clock (5:42 of riding total).

After the race, I drank all the cider, ate hot dogs and macaroni salad, sat around a tiny fire, and had fun being outside and peeing in the woods.  Camping in the cold, as long as you have the right clothes and blankets, is pretty a-ok.  Of course, when we woke up in the morning, it was gorgeous, 60s, and a mix of overcast with a little sun peeking out.  *shakes fist at universe* Ah well.  I guess we had to REALLY earn our badass medal.

I feel MUCH more confident about the ride portion of Ironman.  I’ve now spent ~6 hours pretty much nonstop riding my TT bike.  For two weeks in a row, I’ve put in something approaching what I expect my time on the bike will be at Texas (hoping under 7 hours depending on all the things that day).  How am I going to run a marathon after?  One mile at a time and I’ve got 2.5 months to figure that out.

Ironman Vocabulary

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On February 3, 2017

In Uncategorized

I’ve trained for marathons and 70.3 races, but Ironman training is just a whole different animal.  I’ve even learned some new vocabulary words in the last month or two that I’d like to share with y’all.

Ready for a night on the town couch.

Swim pajamas – the clothes you wear either to or from swimming (or both) because you can’t be arsed to put on real clothes

Day off – just a 30 minute spin or swim.  And a weights session.  Oh, and stretching and foam rolling.

Light day – just a 30 minute spin, weights, and an hour easy run.  And stretching and foam rolling.

Doubles – two workouts a day, or a light day.

Triples – ah, that’s more normal (three workouts in a day).

Proof I don’t always wear race tees and spandex.

Dressing up – not wearing ALL spandex today

Really dressing up – my hair has no sweat in it since I have showered last, and I may or may not have actually brushed it.

Really, really dressing up – I have traded in my chapstick for lipstick.  The effort may or may not have killed me.

First snack – the snack you get while you’re making your real snack that will hold you over until your meal is ready.

Snack – something that other people would probably consider a meal, comes between first snack and mealtime.

Low Carb – only eating one source of carbs at a meal (a sandwich) instead of 3 (spaghetti with garlic bread and a brownie for dessert).

An appropriate amount of carbs during IM training… (just ignore the fat content…)

Second Meal – when you finish your dinner and track your calories and realize you need a whole extra meal or you’ll be in super huge calorie debt.

The window – the 30 minutes or less between your workout and eating.  Don’t fuck with the window.  Don’t fuck with a triathlete who is approaching the end of the window.  Best case: you’ll get snapped at.  Worst case: your finger will get snapped off.

Hangry – Hell hath no fury like a hungry triathlete.  Do not pass GO, do not collect 200$, go directly to a place which has calories available to consume.

Priorities – Having the energy to bike for 7 hours does not mean I also have the energy to leave the couch after or the next day (unless it’s for a recovery ride).

Recovery – The excuse I’m giving you as to why I’m not cleaning the house right now or going to your thing that does not involve swimming, biking, or running, and is really far away from my couch.

Workout room – A place to put all your triathlon gear.  Includes tri bike, road bike, cruiser bike, seven different helmets, ten bike tubes (some are flat and YOU TOTALLY WILL PATCH THEM LATER), a bike pump, a broken bike pump you haven’t thrown away yet, a smart trainer, a backup “dumb” trainer, a slightly janky treadmill that’s better than nothing in a pinch if there’s lightning literally striking your house repeatedly so you can’t go outside, a bunch of abandoned weights, all the bike tools, five pairs of leaky goggles that ARE JUST FINE IN THE POOL until you remember they really aren’t, 200 swim caps from races, four different single earplugs, three old backup garmins (that aren’t charged), two pairs of clip on aero bars, four yoga mats, three foam rollers, ten different flashy run and bike lights for night workouts, four wetsuits, and this nifty massager thing that you used once in 2012.

…and this is the AFTER picture, believe it or not…

Cooldown (optimal) – some easy effort for 10 mins and then 10 mins of stretching

Cooldown (time crunched) – walking to the shower still sweating and half assed stretches at your desk later.

Cooldown at a race – getting your medal, limping to the nearest curb, falling over and crying a little while trying to drink Gatorade.

D: <- this is the only caption I have for this face.

Fashion – look how my socks match my kit! See also #sockdoping

Shopping spree – ordering new running shoes a new bike kit and that really cool garmin you’ve been eyeing for months.

Shopping spree (alternate) – signing up for all the races.

#sockdoping – legal performance enhancing benefits via cycling in cool socks.

Laundry – one basket for workout clothes, one for regular clothes.  The workout clothes one fills up first, always.  Related: bike trainers make great extra drying racks.

Poor Death Star… so abused…

Optimal race hotel – close enough to walk to the race and has food and a bar within a block, aka limping distance.  Required: fridge and microwave for pre-race food and post race leftovers to eat when you wake up hangry again at 3am.

Pre race food – obnoxiously picked to be the perfect blend of carbs, protein, and has been tested and perfected over many many years to sit well in the stomach.

Post race food – my body is a fucking dumpster and I will fill it with EVERYTHING I can from the finish line to the restaurant to the bar to snacks later.

HTFU – my crotch hurts but I’m still getting on my bike for a recovery ride the day after a century because I hate my private parts and want to punish them.

#mfw riding bikes for a month straight.

Pain Free – nothing NEW hurts on me

Niggles – I’m three workouts away from a stress fracture

Injury – an appendage is LITERALLY off my body

Tired – this my normal condition daily on a good day

Exhausted – a little more tired than normal, aka, week 2 of a 3 week training block.

Knackered – I cannot understand how to make sense of the world and function right now, or most of week 3 of a 3 week training block.

Sore – Stairs and curbs are the mortal enemy of my soul.  Walking is hard.  Can you bend over and retrieve this sock for me?   …I better go for a swim/spin/easy jog to stretch things out.

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!

And I would ride 100 miles… but maybe not 100 more…

By

On January 30, 2017

In Uncategorized

Saturday, I hit one of the major milestones for the Ironman.  I rode my bike for 100 (.3!) miles outdoors.

All the things that saved my life on Saturday and one that didn’t help.

It was windy as shit all day.  It was cold.  There we mishaps and tantrums and we didn’t exactly pick the path of least resistance and it took pretty much from sun up to sun down (7h16m of actual cycling), but we did it.

We started out just before 8am, and spent a few hours doing Shoal Creek loop intervals on the TT bikes (12-13 if I remember correctly).  It was low 40s and windy, so I had a base layer, a short sleeve jersey and sleeves, a long sleeve jersey, and a jacket on, not to mention two pairs of socks, two pairs of gloves, and my fleece lined long bibs and I was still definitely not warm.  No layers were shed in the 2h45m/42 miles we rode.  However, the win here was that I rode this long on my TT bike outside, spent a lot of time in aero, and felt more comfortable on Death Star than I ever have.  If we were smart, we would have just kept going for 58 more miles there, but as you will see, we are not intelligent individuals.

We quickly stopped at home, I lost the long sleeve jersey but that still left THREE layers, and I spent the entire time we were home in my big sweatshirt over everything, pretty sure I would never feel warm again.  Cycling in the winter is weird.  In the same weather as I would be in short sleeves within a mile or two running, I couldn’t put on enough jerseys.  Freaky.

The next leg involved a commute north to meet up with a group ride.  This particular journey takes about 30 minutes on my cruiser bike, and we left ~35 mins before the ride, so we figured we’d be just fine.  Well, not when you’re biking directly into the wind.  We approached the meetup spot, and saw the group take off the other way.  We tried to catch up… and then I got a flat.  Like a serious one where a piece of glass made a pretty decent gash in my tire.  I was about to sit down on the side of the road and throw a tantrum but I found my big girl pants just in time.  I helped Zliten patch and change it (one of these days I’ll do it myself but we didn’t want to wait 30 minutes on me bumbling through it) and we rolled on.

The group ride was a ~36 mile ride on Jollyville to 360 to Bee Cave to the BSS store and back.  While this probably means nothing to most of you, this route is a) actually riding on a busy freaking highway for about 8 miles and b) while it’s not the absolutely hilliest 36 mile route you can take in Austin, it’s not far removed from it.  Oh, and c) 10 of these miles were primarily uphill and directly into the wind, when we were at about ~60 miles already into the day.  I couldn’t get myself to eat during that period (struggling with fatigue and the wind, I was swerving just trying to get at my bottle for hydration), and I was bonking a bit.  Thoughts on this stretch:

  • I can just drop to the other 70.3 in Texas in April and then I never have to ride this long ever again.
  • I should take up knitting instead.
  • That ditch looks nice, I think I want to go lie down there.
  • That’s a pretty lake, I kind of want to drive my bike into it.

Flashback to the first day I ever tried to ride 100 miles.  I made it to 70.  I felt like this.  Can’t say I felt much different at certain points on Saturday…

So, that’s how *I* was doing.  Cheerful Mr. Zliten was like “pretend it’s a false flat!” to which I grumbled about all the other pretending he could do.  We saw our group leave the store just about when we got there, but I needed to replace my busted tube and spent C02 canister, plus lay on the ground for a bit and eat Reeses Mix and revive myself from the dead, so we committed to the trip back solo as well instead of immediately turning around and rolling back with them.

Between the calories and the break and the wind at our backs and the elevation generally going downward in a roundabout way (still up and down but longer downs and shorter ups), I perked up on the way back.  It was still rough, but I had a better attitude about it, even if sometimes I’d be riding up a hill and I’d think “I ran a whole half marathon 6 days ago at a faster pace than I’m climbing this hill”, but the closer we got back to civilization, the better I felt.

Zliten tried to say “hey, let’s stop really quick and say hi to the group and then just finish things up” to which I said “PIZZA” with a pouty face.  So, at mile 86, we stopped for about 30 mins and had a quick sit and chatted with the group and inhaled a small cheese pizza and then got back on the road.

The food saved my life (can I get a cheese pizza delivered hot to Ironman Texas bike special needs?) but was not setting well in Zliten’s stomach, so I pulled a lot of the of the last 14 miles (it was totally my turn anyway).  We got in some extra miles by doing one more Shoal Creek lap on the way home.  We both marveled that we had been on our bikes in the same spot about 9 hours ago starting the day and it seemed totally fitting to end there.  We pulled into our driveway at 100.3 miles and crashed HARD.  I had 8-ish hours of sleep that night and over 5 of those were deep sleep, and then I still took a 2 hour nap the next day after the arduous task of eating lunch.

Reflecting on this ride both makes me feel proud, accomplished, and closer to the goal of Ironman, and also terrified.  This was hard.  I mean, there were mitigating factors as to why this ride was probably harder than the ride on race day will be, but it was still REALLY FUCKING HARD.  We talked about running a mile off the bike because we’re idiot triathletes and when we got home we were both like…. NOPE.  The siren song of a warm shower and the couch and beer was too strong.  In 12 weeks I’ll have to still run a marathon after riding this plus 12 miles.  It also took over 7 hours.  I’m really hoping that my whole ride will take less than 7 hours total and I have to add 12 more miles.

However, I have to remember that my first metric century, it took me 5 hours and 15 minutes I collapsed in a heap on the curb for a bit before I could actually function again.  Two years later I did it in 3 hours and 45 minutes and then ran a few miles after.  I could barely walk for days after my first 20 mile run and now I’ve done probably more of them than I can count on my fingers and toes and I’m generally able to function, if not run easy, the next day if need be.  I still have 12 weeks to make 100 miles closer to the comfort zone.

This will be the last week of the trainer like evvvvryday.  So, perhaps, my Instagram pictures will get a little more interesting.  Maybe.

This week was sort of a 6 days of rest week, 1 day of OMG, which pushed my totals to 11.75 hours of training.  Kind of not a rest week in terms of hours, but every other day besides Saturday was short and easy, so I feel like I’m ready to get back to some intensity.  We’ll see if that holds true through the week, but for right now, I’m just trying to feed the beast and let it rock.

Jan 23-29 training:

  • One 20 minute 1200m swim
  • 2 Oiselle Dozen sessions
  • About 10 hours of bikes, bikes, and more bikes
  • I’m getting pretty good at this, but worth mentioning – stretched, rolled, or used the legs daily.  Usually rolling.  I’ve got a good routine down.

This week we’ll be a little more balanced.  I’m trying to frontload the week with the efforts so I can rest up because I have a 6 hour looped bike race/ride/thing on Saturday and I’d like to put as close to 100 miles into the day as possible.

  • One long run (2 hours/10 miles or more if we can) and one hour run, maybe another short run somewhere in here if there’s time
  • 6 hour ride, one endurance rides video, and some commutes/easy spinning.
  • One long swim (1 hour/3000m or more), one lunchtime swim
  • 2 Oiselle dozen sessions, or the gym if we can make that happen one day
  • Stretch, roll, legs – pick at least one every day.

My bike streak ends tomorrow.  I can’t begin to express how much I think it’s helped me, but I also think that my ass really could use a break from being smashed against a bike seat once every 12-36 hours, and I’d like to drop a little bit of the weekday bike volume and replace it with some running and swimming.  I haven’t had a full day off since December and I don’t *really* feel like I need one yet, but it’s nice to have the option.

I’ll talk more about February goals and my next block’s intentions later, but I’m going to call January’s bike focus a success.

What, don’t you all wear your bike kits with boots? (Tuesday in the life…)

And in the normal goal/progress/stuff… last week:

I did Chapter 13.  This week, it’s Chapter 14.  This week is a little longer and more involved so the goal is to finish but I may need to split this one into two weeks.  After this, there’s only two more sections and then I can prepare for my test!

I did some social media stuff but I was busy and it was not as much as I would have liked.  This week, I’m prioritizing the triathlon chapter, but if I can finish that, I’ll carve out some time also search out more peeps to follow and like and interact with.

I tracked my calories for 2211 average each day with -784 deficit.  My ratios were 119g protein, 69g fat, 23g fiber, and 261g carbs per day.  Again, I need to eat a little less fat, a little more carbs, which is always a challenge for me.  Also – oddly enough, I was low on fiber.  That never happens!  I’ll have to watch that this week.

My average weight was 189.1, which is a gain of .1 lb.  It was looking good for a little while (I was down to 187 and falling), and then I’ve gone up 4 lbs after the ride with rehydration and inflammation and all that jazz.  However, this last week, my body fat measurements have dropped about 2-3% from the weeks previous, so that’s something!  Still 9lbs to go back to 70.3 race weight.  It’s going to be a hard fight while training, but I’ll keep chipping away at it.

I drank 12 beers.  Tomorrow ends my beer only embargo but I think I’ll still count my drinks through IM training season just to stay accountable.  I can’t wait to have some nice whiskey on the rocks or some french red wine though…

Rest and recovery and sleep are going well.  Oddly enough, when you don’t drink like a fish and stay up late and prioritize recovery and eat (mostly) good food, you actually feel good.  Who knew?

We followed through on the eye appointments and bike fits last week.  I’d like to say we cleaned out the cars, but we didn’t.  We had post work appointments every day after work except for Thursday, and over the weekend, the bike ride wiped us out more than expected and we were lucky to get through the normal chores yesterday, let alone anything on top of that.  I’ll be honest, I don’t see it happening this week.  I think I may need this week just to get through normal life without an extra to do.

And that I shall.  Off to get through the rest of my Monday!

We have arrived at the first stop.

By

On January 25, 2017

In Uncategorized

Ahhhhh, rest week.

Well, not quite…. because…

This is the week in which I have scheduled EVVVVVRYTHING else in my life that I’ve had to ignore for the last few weeks.  Oops.  Seriously, it’s crazy.  Bike fit for me after work Monday, bike fit for Zliten after work yesterday, ride leader class today, eye doctor appointments Friday, and somewhere in there I need to get across town at lunch to exchange a holiday present.

It’s a good thing I feel pretty good.  I really thought that I would be a little stubby bloody pulp of a human by now with how I was feeling halfway into this block, but I ran a pretty successful half marathon on day #21 and did a lot of good work on days #1-20.  I’ve had zero days off, the lightest day has been JUST a 30 minute trainer and I’ve only had 4 of those so far.

Doesn’t everyone wear makeup when they meet their bike trainer for the first time?  No?

First block stats (Jan 2-22):

Bike:

  • Longest bike: 4.5 hour trainer (1/14).
  • Long bikes: 2.75 hour trainer, 3.75 hour trainer, 4.5 hour trainer
  • Total bike time: 23.25 hours (451 miles, though that doesn’t mean a ton because… trainer)
  • Biggest bike accomplishment: getting more comfortable on my TT bike (making it 4.5 hours without having to change bikes).
  • Biggest IM fear: I have not yet ridden 100 miles outside or the equivalent on the trainer (6+ hours).  Not even close.  I’ve got a lot of work to do in the next few weeks because I feel like I’m behind the 8 ball here.

Running:

  • Longest run: 13.1 miles (3M half, 1/22)
  • Long runs: 11 on the treadmill, 6.3 on the treadmill (had to cut it short), 13.1 outside
  • Total run miles: 43 (8 hours)
  • Biggest running accomplishment: running a pretty solid 2:13 half marathon on super tired legs, and still feeling like I could have gone further.
  • Biggest running fear: how the eff am I going to do a 20 mile run in the same week that I’m also doing long bike rides?  (eh, I have a little while to figure that one out…)

Swim:

  • Longest swim: 3000m (1/11)
  • Long swims: 3000m, 2100m, 1500m
  • Total meters: 8575m (8370m adjusting for our funky 24.4m pool) – 2.75 hours swimming
  • Biggest swim accomplishment: 3000m in under an hour directly after a 75 minute run.
  • Biggest swim fear: this is the sport I’m the least concerned about, but I’m concerned that I will make it TOO background.  I don’t care if it’s not that fast, but I need 3850m to feel EASY and to do that I need to make sure I’m swimming 3k+ per week even if it’s grey and cold out or I don’t want to.

Weights:

  • 5 sessions/6 planned
  • 1 session heavy weights in the gym
  • 4 sessions Oiselle Dozen

Totals:

  • Week 1: 11.25 hours
  • Week 2: 12 hours
  • Week 3: 12.5 hours

All in all, I’m happy with what I accomplished with block #1.  I promised myself I would stop and take stock of where I was at each rest week before I finalized the next segment, and here I am, doing that.

First of all, rest week #1.  I’m still riding 30 minutes daily.  I also am planning to get a really long ride with a short brick run Saturday as my only actual workout.  And then I have a 30 mile social ride I wanted to do on Sunday.  I want to swim once to make sure I remember how and run once because biking every day has made me love running more.  I also need to stay good on my strength training twice a week.

…and then somehow I’m at 12 hours again.  Well, crap.  Back to the drawing board.  I’ll let you know how it goes. 😛

Eat and lift and eat and run and this is life…

Last week:

I feel decent about running last week.  I ran 23 miles total (5.25, 3, 1.75, 13.1) and I actually feel pretty great.  I actually *added* some miles I hadn’t planned to do (3 easy) instead of a swim.  I made the comment on Monday that I don’t hate running, I just hate running inside all the time.  Since the air is only trying to kill me a little lately, I’ll suffer some allergy symptoms so I can not hit the ‘mill for every run.

Friday, I switched to a new bike trainer and instead of crazy high mileage, it’s crazy low.  So instead of spinning easy at 20 mph, I’m spinning easy at 8mph.  I mean, bike trainer miles mean nothing anyway, and it’s stupid, but it’s an ego hit and disheartening watching the miles accumulate sooooooo slowly at a much higher power reading.  I know it will make me stronger but blehhhh.

Scheduling commitments and exhaustion meant I cut my long ride to 2h45 hours Friday night, went directly to bed for 8 hours, and then woke up immediately and rode 45 minutes + 20 minute brick run.  I had hoped to do 5 hours total, not 3.5.  Missing this ride really hurt, but I had ZERO way to make this up and I just had to make the best of it.  70% is better than nothing if those are the two options.

Swimming last week was a fail.  I swam once at lunch, but just couldn’t drag myself to the pool for my long session later in the week.  If nothing else, I need to long swim earlier in the week so I don’t skip it.  Swimming in the winter is the worst, at least motivation-wise (once I’m at the pool, it’s great, but getting there is hard), but it needs to be done.

I went to the gym on Monday all excited about doing heavy weights and actually approaching things sanely with lighter heavy weights… and I still was sore for days.  Oddly enough, you lose specific strength if you only push around your bodyweight.  I still got my 2 sessions in (one more dozen later in the week), but I’ll be sticking to the lighter heavy stuff until I’m not limping two days later.

Why am I not losing weight… what could the answer be? BUSTED.

Other stuff:

Last week I did Chapter 12 of my triathlon class.  This week is Chapter 13.  Only 3 more to go after this!!!

I spent some more time connecting to people on social medias – my twitter feed is 10x more awesome now, my instagram remains awesome, I’m still ignoring personal facebook for the most part, except I posted that I had a new page… and I got 5 likes.  LOL.  Apparently no one I know IRL cares about triathlon stuff.  Oh well, no worries. 🙂  This week, I’ll do more stuff like this and try to learn more stuff.

Last week I tracked my calories for 2100 average each day with -990 deficit.  My ratios were 102g protein, 67g fat, 34g fiber, and 241g carbs per day.  While I’d like to bring those carbs up and fat down, I’m pretty impressed with my deficit (and doing it while still feeling fueled and not hungry).

Last week, my average weight was 189.0, which is a gain of 1 lb.  I’m totally bumming about this, but I know it’s because a) that TOM, b) 3 weeks of training inflammation c) the allergies and the occasional bad sleep isn’t helping.  Ah well. All I can do is keep at it (and SPOILER: I’m already down a bit from here so it’s not all a crap sandwich).  I know changes take a few weeks to hit my body and hitting my deficit like that above will make some changes eventually. 9lbs to go back to 70.3 race weight!

Last week I also drank 13 beers.  I appreciate what beer only has done for me, but I’m DEFINITELY ready to go back to wine/liquor now that my imbibing habits are back to normal person from holiday/frat boy status.  Beer has so many caaaaaaaaaaaalories.  Even IM training doesn’t make up for it.  One more week from today.

My sleep was much better last week.  I mean, I would love to be getting 10 hours a night with all this training, but I’m pretty sure I clocked at least 8 on average and I wasn’t waking up in the middle of the night, which is helpful.  I’m hoping if I make good on this whole “rest week” thing, I can really bank some sleep for the next block.

Last week’s to do was clean out the cars.  We didn’t do that.  BUT, we did donate all the bags of clothes from our closet clean out to Goodwill.  So that’s something.  This week, we’ll aim for the car cleanout thing yet again and follow through with our bike fits (done!) and our eye appointments (Friday).  I have no idea why we’re procrastinating the car thing.  It will take like 30 minutes.  Sigh.

I’m hoping this week is all it’s cracked up to be, and I don’t do stupid shit like train for 12 hours, because I’m tired, y’all!  Someone be my conscience and tell me to rest even though I’m super nervous about this race in approximately 88 days or 2112 hours or 126,720 minutes.  Yipes!

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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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