Adjusted Reality

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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.

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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!

In and out of the big tired hole – 14 weeks to go

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On January 16, 2017

In Uncategorized

By the middle of week I got into a big tired pit of despair.  But I’m doing much better now.

Jan16-1

#mfw I haven’t slept through the night in 4 days.  Thank goodness this was the morning after the last time I woke up at 3am… ><

It makes sense.  It’s been two weeks of throwing myself in the deep end of Ironman training.  There was no gradual ramp up this time.  I spent two months of doing whatever the eff I wanted (some week’s 10 hours, some 4, and mostly exploring on my bike), and then all of a sudden it was schedules and 11+ hours a week and having to hit numbers and putting some sort of effort into things and it’s been a shock.

Also, the mold and cedar are conspiring against me and hitting me hard, right where it hurts.  We’ve had a week of BEAUTIFUL weather, perfect for playing outside, and the air has been poisonous.  It hurts my soul.  Also, for the first half of the week (until Thursday night), I woke up around 3am unable to go back to sleep for an hour or two, which is SO not normal for me.  I’ve read most of a book series, which is great, but on this volume of training 6-7 hours per night is not even remotely enough.

The good news is January is half over, and after I cross the line of 3M on Sunday, I’ll have arrived at my first rest week.  14 days down.  7 days of training left to go until rest week.  14 weeks left total until race day.

If Einstein is correct and the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, I’m doing things pretty sanely (and I’m sticking with that story, yup!).  My schedule’s all switched up and it’s not like “yup, it’s Saturday I’m always going to be doing X thing I’ve been doing every other cycle/year”.   I’m not taking days off, I’m pushing active recovery with easy spins and swims to get more volume and with great care, it seems to be working.  I am actually finally for reals being diligent about stretching, rolling, and using the puffy boots for recovery, like a good triathlete.

Things will probably change a little more towards the traditional when the air stops trying to kill me, but for right now, I’m enjoying the novelty of difference.

Jan16-2

I <3 night swimming even if my face doesn’t show it.  Especially an hour of it.

Last week:

  • Runs: 6.25 in 73 mins (long run cut in half), 1 mile off the bike in 10:32.
  • Bikes: 81 mins cycle class with zone 2/3 constant cadence changes, 4.5 hours long trainer, 30 mins ridden every other day
  • Swims: 1500m gentle speedwork, 3000m long swim
  • Weights: 2 dozen sets
  • Stretched, rolled, or legs every night

I hit everything else I wanted EXCEPT I cut the run miles in half and only did a mile of speedwork (though off a 4.5 hour bike I think it should count at least triple).  Ah well.  January is about the bike first and foremost.  Total training was 12 hours.

This week’s goals:

  • Runs: 3M half marathon, 1 hour easy
  • Bikes: cycle class, 5 hour trainer, 30 mins easy spin every other day
  • Swims: 1500m speedwork, 3250m long swim
  • Weights: 2 sessions, since its a race week, definitely not heavy lifting after mid-week
  • Stretch, roll, or legs every night

Specifically, my goals for 3M are a little more subdued than I expected when I signed up.  I figured I’d have a little more run volume under my belt and taper at least a little for it (nope and nope).  I am going to show up and see what happens, but if my legs don’t have an effort, I’ll just treat it like a supported long run.  I’m open to magic pixie dust, of course, but I’m also going to be realistic.  Priority #1 to be able to wake up and train the next day.  That probably means flirting with a personal worst here.  And that’s TOTALLY ok.

Jan16-3

Life lately – food, bike, trying to look less like a scrub since I cleaned out my closet and actually know what fits…

As for all the other things I’m tracking:

Last week I did Chapter 11 for my triathlon coaching class. This week I’ll do Chapter 12.  Only 4 more weeks to go after this one.  If I keep up with my progress, I’ll be certified by my birthday!

As a bonus, I also spent a little time updating this site (added links to FB, Pintrest, and G+, and updated my race results), got rid of a bunch of people I’m no longer interested in following on twitter, and added some interesting health/fitness/triathlon folks.  This week, I want to continue this trend to shift my feeds over to awesome active adventurey stuff.  Are you reading this?  Do you participate on a social media I have linked above?  Let’s connect!  Use the links up there or drop your name below in a comment and I’ll find you.

Last week I tracked my calories for 2134 average each day with -700 deficit.  My ratios were 111g protein, 63g fat, 32g fiber, and 243g carbs per day.  I didn’t do too badly, but I had slightly better ratios last week (-50 calorie deficit more per day, less fat, more carbs), so I’ll try to aim more that way.

Last week, my average weight was 188.0.  I don’t have a comparison yet of how much I’m losing per week (I will by next Monday), but I started the week off at 188.5lbs which is about 1 lb down from what I started last week.  However slow it’s going is fine because I can’t do anything further at this volume of training. 8lbs to go back to 70.3 race weight!

Last week I drank 13 beers (I found these and are counting them as “beer” as well).  I am going to stick with it through January, but I just really don’t like beer that much, it’s a LOT of calories compared to other alcohol, and miss a good whiskey on the rocks or glass of red wine.  However, I know this is necessary so I’m not talking about missing a good BOTTLE of whiskey/red wine, and I can already feel less alcohol affecting me more.  Shrink little tolerance, shrink away, become moral again instead of superhuman!

My sleep sucked last week.  It’s really not even my fault.  When allergies wake me up in the middle of the night, I wake up later, so I have more to do later at night, finishing my workouts and dinner in the 9-10pm range, so I don’t go to sleep until 11, and then it happens again.  This cycle actually made me not ride long Friday night, sleep almost TWELVE hours, and while I was cranky about plans changing, I felt like a new person at 9:30am on Saturday morning.  I so needed it.  I was able to start today off with a morning spin so I have high hopes it will be better this week.

Last week’s to do was clean out the cars and put inside Christmas away.  Christmas has left the building, but instead of the cars, we decided to make some progress on the office yesterday.  We’ve got about 90% of like six years of shredding done, and the front half of the office is cleaned out and no longer is a maze of boxes.  It was a moment of clarity when we started working on it that I realized we CAN INDEED do it a little at a time and maybe even finish it before the Ironman, it doesn’t have to be done in one weekend.  We just have to keep at it.  Small steps to accomplish an intimidating task.  DUH.

And just keep at it, I shall. Just about 6 days until rest week starts.  About 11 more workouts.  About 144 more hours.  I can do eeeet!

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Lifetime Indoor Tri – Brush that rust of your shoulder

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On January 11, 2017

In Uncategorized

We found out a buddy of ours was doing his first triathlon at the Lifetime Indoor Tri, so we reswizzled our plans and decided to end our first week back with a good solid effort.

jan10-1

Team kit = reimbursement for the race. 🙂

There was zero taper for this, in fact, I was pretty darn wiped from over 10 hours before I even woke up Sunday morning.  I wasn’t going into this as a “this is a test of my athlete worth” mindset at all.  This was a hard effort to kick off IM training and to support a friend, that’s it that’s all.

It’s a good thing because I bungled a lot of the setup and things and went into both the swim and the bike frazzled.  But overall, I’m pretty happy with the day.

It started with sleeping in a *little* longer than I had hoped (I was up really late on Friday and my sleep schedule was a little wonkified).  We got there with enough time but I farted around too much in the locker room, I guess, because I got to the pool and got rushed to a lane and was still putting in my earplugs with 20 seconds to go.

I didn’t get my garmin started properly, and I was stuck with whatever music popped on my swimp3 player (and it was EVERY SLOW SONG from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack).  Zliten and I were sharing a lane and he started pulling away from me, but I know I go through 3 stages on a hard swim:

  • 0-2 mins – let’s do this
  • 2-5 mins, I suck at swimming and I want to throw my goggles
  • 5+ minutes – ok, hit my stride and I can do this

This was no exception, and at 5 minutes my form came back and I felt less like a flailing fish, and I got half a lap ahead by the end.  Sadly, I ended up at 19 laps, which if it was a 25m pool, is pretty darn slow for me, especially at a *effort* – for example, yesterday, I swam 1:50/100m over 30 mins and I wasn’t close to redlining like I was Sunday.  Ah well, we’ll never know if it was me or the pool. 🙂

Swim: 10/32 – 40 points

This time, I remembered how hard it was to put on a sports bra while wet, so I wore it under my swim suit.  That was a good decision.  I actually got out before Zliten but I waited for him and we walked up together and they were like OK, get your bikes set up go go go go and I did.

I got going and tried to start up my phone with my kick ass turkey trot playlist… and since I haven’t used it since then, for the life of me, I couldn’t find the music app.  I asked Zliten but he didn’t remember either.  I spent the first 5 minutes cycling looking for my playlist and cursing (sorry random guy next to me), until I finally gave up and listened to Spotify.  I had to keep hunting and pecking for songs on my Most Played playlist.  I listened to Rise twice, Dirt off your Shoulder three times, Bad Habit twice… but it worked better than nothing.

As a product of being a little angry and also all the bike training lately, I was able to push a decent amount of watts and ended the 30 minutes with 10.4 miles.  I figured there was NO WAY I beat Zliten but he only got 9.1.  I actually went back and looked at 2015’s results and I would have been 1st place female overall by far with that bike so I’m pretty stoked.  Oddly enough, if you focus on something, you get decent at it.  Who knew?

Bike: 1/32 – 51 points

We had a little break getting set up on the treadmills and Zliten helped me find my playlist.  Whew.  I was honestly looking forward to this part the least.  If I’ve neglected something the most, it’s been run speed.  My plan was to start at 6.0 and go from there.  I started… and 6.0 was actually tough.  Ugh.  And then my playlist failed after one song.  Let this be a reminder to check your equipment before every race!

I’m might have had a little boost if I wouldn’t have had to expend the mental energy dealing with my music, but let’s face facts.  Last week, I’ve did a 11 mile run and an almost 4 hour TT bike ride, my longest swim in a while, plus a bunch of other stuff.  My run game is not especially strong right now.  I hung on and ended with 2.08 miles in 20 minutes (9:36 pace), and my heart rate was at 175-180 which is my redline heart rate, so I did all I could.

Run: 9/32 – 32 points

It was a solid hour of sprint triathloning, and great way to kick off tri training, and the start of a great day.  I came home, and ate all the things, and actually even passed the heck out for an hour after stretching and rolling.  Appropriately enough, I dreamed about biking.

And… after waiting for 3 days for results – I got 3rd overall!  I’m pretty excited about that, and it proves that the bike matters the most. 🙂

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This month, this week, right now.

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On January 9, 2017

In Uncategorized

There’s really no getting around it, January is a great time to reset your goals and figure out who you want to be.  It’s not that other times of the year are BAD, but look at it this way:

jan9-1

This is January kind of summed up in one picture.

  • We’ve come off a few days/weeks/months of debauchery.  We have had our proverbial mardi gras, and we’re actually physically and mentally ready for lent.
  • Everyone is doing it.  It’s fun to be surrounded with a bunch of positive people who are actually motivated and working towards bettering themselves – even if it’s just for the 2-3 weeks that the average resolution lasts.
  • It’s no secret that I think January is the worst month, but come on, you have to agree.  There are no super fun holidays, the outdoors are out to kill us in one way or another (cold or allergies), it’s dark all the time, and it’s just lame.  You have to bring your OWN positivity to January if you want to be happy.

Even though I don’t think it’s the only time for a fresh start, it’s a perfect time for one.  So, here’s my month, my week, and my right nows.  Let’s start broad and work our way down.

This month:

jan9-5

A new word that’s in my vocabulary this month: swim pajamas (ie, clothes to change into after swimming at night so I don’t have to put real ones on)

  • Make progress in my triathlon coaching class.  I’d like to finish this and pass the test by my birthday (or at least my birthday month), so get through enough class to adhere to that timeline.
  • Create a training plan for this month and follow it.  Whatever, whenever sessions time is over, it’s time to be more specific and more precise.
  • No wine, champagne, or alcohol.  Beer is allowed in reasonable quantities that fit within my calorie range.  Even though I’m mostly on the 0 level of nicotine e-cig – so it’s mostly hand-to-mouth habit and a little flavor at this point – don’t do that as stress relief or appetite relief at night.
  • 30 minutes of cycling per day.  Instead of run streaking, I’m bike streaking this year.  The benefits I can see so far are: more bike volume, more time on my TT bike even if it’s just in 30 minute increments, 30 mins is doable in the AM without a crazy alarm but also establishes a habit, and it’s easy to do inside because the air is trying to kill me.
  • Eat good food, mostly, and track it.  I haven’t gone off the deep end this year and threw out all the sweets and chips or said 0 sugar for the month or anything.  I just want to go back to what I know works for me and feels good.
    • Track all the food.  Weigh every day starting January 9th (giving myself one week of eating like a human before I have to face the scale).  I WANT METRICS.
    • 5 servings MINIMUM of fruits and veggies per day.
    • Aim for -500 to -1000 calories according to fitbit as hunger dictates (some days, I had zero problems with -1000, some days,  -500 was a stretch).
    • 20-30g protein per meal, smaller amounts in snacks to equal about 100g per day.  40-60g fat, incorporating plant sources like nuts.  25g fiber.  Carbs vary per activity level.
  • Racing  – apparently we have the itch to go do all the things, because we’re committed to three in the next month or so.  All of it is totally great and kosher to compliment IM training, so I’m all for it!

This week:

jan8-4

This week I reminded myself that you get beans and rice and chicken and tortillas after 11 miles on the treadmill.

Enough of that.  A little overwhelming, right?  Let’s break it up into just the weeklies…

Last week I hit about 90% of the training I planned:

  • 30 mins of cycling per day – 100% done!
  • 1 longer swim (40+ mins) – 100% done! (2050m in 41:30)
  • 1 longer run (10+ miles) – 100% done (11 miles in 1:59:40)
  • cycle class and a long trainer ride (3-4 hours) 100% done!  3:45 for 80 miles on the trainer
  • Lifetime Indoor Triathlon (10 min swim, 30 min bike, 20 min run) – 100% done! (still waiting on results)
  • 2 weights sessions – 50% – missed one day because my body was worn out
  • Stretching, rolling, or massage legs every night – 85% – missed one day

This week, I plan to do (this should look fairly similar):

  • 30 mins of cycling per day
  • 1 lunch swim and 1 longer swim (50 mins)
  • 1 gentle speedwork session 3-6 miles and  1 longer run (12+ miles)
  • cycle class and a long TT trainer
  • 2 weights sessions
  • stretching, rolling, or massage legs every night

Last week I did Chapter 10 for my triathlon class.  This week I will do Chapter 11.

Last week I tracked my calories for 2200 average each day with -750 deficit.  My ratios were 115g protein, 55g fat, 32g fiber, and 278g carbs per day.  This week I will continue to do the same thing.  While I’d *like* to adhere to that -1000 more strictly, it’s training suicide to not eat when I’m hungry.

Last week I did not weigh myself.  This week, I started the week at 189.4, and I need to lose 9 lbs to get to where I was last season (the good news is EVERYTHING is working against me today, so that number should come down organically this week).  This is goal post #1 for weight loss, I’ll reset again once I get there.

Last week I drank 11 beers.  This week I’ll aim to do the same or less.

Last week, I got decent sleep, but my schedule is still off from vacation so it was later than I’d like and not a full 8 hours every night.  The goal this week is to be asleep by 11pm every weeknight and get 8 hours every night (baby steps).

Last week’s to do was get an appointment for the eye doctor and take down outside lights.  We did both and the appointments are on 1/27.  This week’s to do is to clean out the cars and take down our tree (I know, I know, I just *couldn’t* this weekend, it was entirely too sad).

Right now:

jan9-3

I’ll treasure any of these #goplayoutside days I get in January and be happy instead of pissed off so many of them are inside.

Still a little too big picture?  Well, this is what I’m doing right now to accomplish those goals:

  • Stay the #^$@ off facebook.  I made the conscious choice to log on and dork for a bit at home while watching TV last week, and I found myself unrelaxed, unproductive, and not having moved from the couch an hour and a half later.  Bad juju.
  • #goplayinside – Rather than being depressed about it, I’m accepting that pretty much all workouts will be indoors for January and any sessions I get outdoors are a total bonus. This is where I’m suffering right now, and this is ok.  I’ll appreciate playing outside more once I can.
  • I’m going to count down the days until recovery week just like I count down the seconds on a difficult bike interval.  Since I’m pushing the volume on the weeks leading up to it, I’m making sure they are pretty dang mellow.  I am currently 14 days from recovery week.  Tomorrow I’ll be 13.  And once that’s done, I’ll have block #1 of 3.5 under my belt.
  • Focus on consistency.  Aristotle is so right – we are what we repeatedly do.  Patience, persistence, and good habits.

And with that, I’m off to kick Monday’s ass!  Have a great week everyone!

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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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