Adjusted Reality

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

Page 59 of 219

The only appropriate time to duckface…

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On February 13, 2017

In Uncategorized

The last two Saturdays have been cold and windy and/or rainy.  Perfect weather for running.  I had long bikes on the plan, and HTFU’d through them.  This Saturday was 80 degrees and sunny.  Perfect weather for biking.  I had 15-20 miles of running on the plan.  Sigh….

You know it’s hot when you’re laying on the tile to cool off.  In February.

This training cycle, my mantra has been HANDLE YOUR SHIT.  It might have different connotations to different people, but what it means to me is problem solving.  I am not going to win this race, that’s for certain, unless an asteroid hits at least the top half of my age group and somehow leaves me unscathed.  However, I will finish strong if I am constantly problem solving along the way, even if it takes a few seconds longer than just trying to ignore whatever is wrong for 14-17 hours.

So, when I was overheating in the 80+ degrees and humid conditions around mile 11, I did some things.

First, I stopped chasing Zliten who thrives in this weather (if it were last weekend in the cold *I* might be dragging HIM).  I let him go.  I only slowed 10-15 seconds average per mile in the second half but it made all the difference.

Second, I took some time and laid on the tile floor to cool down between bottle fills and stopped for just a moment every so often in the shade to catch my breath in the later miles.

I know if it were a race situation I’d spend less time effing around (there would also be aid stations with ice…), but even with my total elapsed time (with ALL the breaks), I’d have put down a slightly over 6 hour marathon.  I’m hoping to do a little better than that if I can, but that would still put me across the line in plenty of time.

My goal was 15-20 miles, and I was able to talk myself into 18.  I could tell I was badly adjusting my gait by then for various reasons, and I didn’t want to push through 2 more and risk not be able to train for a while.  Considering my longest run this cycle so far was 13.1, I’m totally happy with it.

All in all, this week’s training was rough to get through, but I completed everything as assigned and topped out at 14 hours this week, even without a long ride.

  • 28.5 miles running – (5.5 hours)
    • 2×5.something miles easy hour runs
    • 18 mile long run
  • 80 miles riding (6 hours)
    • 90 min endurance cycle class
    • 2 hour trainer (6×4 min intervals)
    • 2.5 hour recovery cruiser ride (with some decent hills)
  • 5000m swimming (1.5 hours)
    • 1500m steady swim
    • 3500m long swim (with the last 250m of every 1000m with drills).
  • 2 weights sessions (1 hour)
    • 1 lifting session at the gym
    • 1 dozen set

Rule #368 – the only appropriate time to duckface is when you’re actually posing with a duck.

I have been told (by my husband) that I’ve been a crankypants lately, and I suppose it would be hard to disagree. I honestly feel like I’m just pointing out facts, and a lot of those facts happen to be negative, but you know when you have to revise every single email you write three times or else you sound like the queen of the bitches?  Yeah, that’s where I was last week.  There was no big reason that my mood was subconsciously in the toilet a lot of the time, but it’s the 1000 cuts syndrome.

  • My knee, for no reason, started to be cranky on Wednesday afternoon.  It’s been on and off since then.  The long run Saturday actually made it feel BETTER but the bike ride yesterday made it feel worse and it’s better today but my knee is broken, y’all *whine*…
  • Lots of little stuff going on at work and everyone is having their Moon Moon moments (including me) missing obvious stuff because we’re just trying to keep it all together, barely.
  • My enthusiasm for training is waning a bit.  It’s all good once I get going, but I had to talk myself into a lot of last week’s sessions.  I’ve been so smashed after weekend training lately that I barely feel like I get any time to relax.  This weekend was BETTER so I’m adapting, but the struggle is still real.
  • We legit got to the pool on Wednesday, in swimsuits and all, and it was so crowded with a line of people waiting to swim, so we just turned around and left and got groceries and drank whiskey instead.  Making it up on Friday night with the pool to ourselves was actually quite nice, but it still changed my week from a nice 40-ish hour period off training before my long run to… NOT that.

I’m. just. tired.  I’m tired of my pit of hell stomach NEEDING not wanting 5 meals a day.  I’m simultaneously tired of SO MANY workouts and also feeling like I’m somehow not doing enough.  I’m tired of no time, never any time for anything.  I’m tired of ironman brain.  I’m tired of being bitchy for no reason.

So, it’s totally time for a rest week.  And hey, it’s here!

This one involves:

  • Lots of swimming.  It’s hard to push it on other weeks, so recovery periods are going to be swim-focused.  I want to do 3 swims, and a long one of 4-5k.
  • Fun cycling.  Mostly commuting and group rides.  While I’m nervous that somehow I’ll forget to ride long by not doing it two weeks in a row, I need the time off serious riding because riding for almost a workday is kind of draining.
  • Run commuting and a run test.  I want to get my zones re-established for this new watch and I’d like to not just use what I tested a few years ago.
  • Weights twice, stretching, rolling, all that good stuff.
  • 7.5 hours planned.  I’ll be angry with myself if I top out over 9-10 and don’t have at least one full day OFF.

Nothing long, nothing taxing, just a reasonable amount of physical activity per day to stay sharp.  Hopefully this will refresh the energy and motivation and I’ll be ready to get back to it.

The flipside of Austin in Feburary.  It was a MISERABLE recovery ride, let me tell you.  😉

Life Stuff:

Last week I did Chapter 15.  This week it’s Chapter 16.  This is the last one!  After this, I’ll spend some time reviewing and then take my test.  It’s entirely possible that the next time we talk, I’ll be a certified ITCA Triathlon Coach! …but it’s also possible I may take next week to study.

I tracked my calories for 2239 average each day with -990 deficit.  My ratios were 107g protein, 65g fat, 29g fiber, and 254g carbs per day.  Mostly the right way for everything, honestly, except carbs.  I do really well keeping the fat lower on weekdays, but the weekend comes and I indulge.  I had about a quarter of a baguette and wayyyy too much garlic butter, probably like most of a stick of it.  Oh well, baby steps.

My average weight was 188.3, which is 0.8 down from last week.  The encouraging thing was the beginning of the week was 192 and 190, and I ended the week with a 186 and 185.  I didn’t swing up as much today after a weekend of training like normal, so we may actually be making progress here.  8 lbs to go to 70.3 weight!

4 drinks on Wednesday night, 6-ish (normally I use a shot glass and keep track but we were free pouring) on Saturday, and one Sunday beer at lunch.  I’ll call that a win!

Sleep and recovery continue to be prioritized.  I actually feel like a big kid triathlete for doing this stuff instead of forgetting it and then wondering why I get injured.  Me and my foam roller are BFFs, and I use the puffy legs a lot.  I could stretch more, though.  My sleep average is almost 9 hours per night, and over 4 of that is deep sleep.  My worst night of sleep was 7.25 hours and I was TIRED that next day.

Last week I did all the things! This week, being rest week (and a 3 day weekend to boot), I would like to get a *little* more done than normal but still, let’s not get crazy.

  1. For the love of all that’s dear and fluffy… clean out the cars already.  Sheesh.
  2. Spend at least a little time working on the office and/or pain cave.  Mount the monitors.  Clear out enough in the office to move the table in.  I don’t want to spend a whole day on it, but baby steps.
  3. Get to Costco.  Organic chicken is REALLY expensive if you buy it at the grocery store!

And with that, I’m off to find more food, as usual.  At least a lot of it has been fruit and veg today!

The Middle

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On February 8, 2017

In Uncategorized

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

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

I’ve figured out a few things:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Life stuff:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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#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!

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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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