Adjusted Reality

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

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5 Odd Side Effects of Ironman Training

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On February 17, 2017

In Uncategorized

I have two really gritty posts about fear, rejection, facing the unknown for about a month… but to be honest?  I’m really tired this week and looking at them is giving me the heebie jeebies, so they’re staying in the drafts folder. Maybe I need to ignore all that stuff until #projectspringencore

So, instead, let’s talk about the lesser known side effects of training for an Ironman.

#1 – The food situation is in teenage boy territory and I’m definitely not gaining weight by eating this way.

Right now, this is an appetizer…

I know I joke about this a lot, but it’s the truth. I’m buying at least 20% more food at the store every week, and I’m still supplementing with the occasional snack and just as many meals out (probably more) as normal.  I am legitimately eating 4 square meals and snacks on training weeks and 3 big meals with lots of snacks on recovery weeks.

Try as you might to eat good quality food (and you should, because you can definitely feel the difference if that’s lacking), you can’t stick to it 100%.  Here’s the real talk – complex carbs have FIBER.  This is a great thing.  But when you’re eating about 2-3x a normal human’s carb intake, you absolutely DO NOT WANT 2-3x the daily recommended value of fiber.  Ask me how I know.  The upshot is, you need some crappy simple carbs in your life to make your ratios and be properly fueled.

You will constantly complain about how things have not ENOUGH carbs, not too many.  I wish someone could fit more than 25 carbs in 100 calories but it’s just not possible.  Some days, to hit my ratios, I should be huffing pixie stix.

#2 – You will be in the best shape of your life.  Too bad you probably won’t look it most days.

#muppethairdontcare

These weekend workouts that are approaching a full eight hour work day?  They’ll make your weight swing up and down with dehydration and refueling and you’ll go from feeling empty to pregnant with a liquid baby and back again.  I don’t swing much normally on the scale, but I was up and back down 6 lbs in the stretch of 5 days.  Some days you’ll feel great.  Some days your jeans won’t fit because you’re super bloated and rocking inflammation all over.

That shouldn’t affect my super hot, shapely legs, right?  Well, I certainly won’t be accentuating them with some killer heels any time soon.  When you’re putting so many miles on them, your choices are a) cushy flat sandals or b) sneaks and maybe c) occasionally flat boots.  But not too often or your feet will still get cranky.  Hopefully, like me, you’ve found the pair of sandals that is BARELY acceptable to wear with a nice dress but also works after a 20 mile run (and I order them once a year on Amazon when they wear out).  And live somewhere where 90% of the time, it’s sandal weather.

Let’s go up top.  Higher.  The frizzy mop on my head.  While I’m not known for my moments in front of the mirror at any point of the year, things get interesting during this cycle.  Washing the hair is for a) after swims and b) after the long effort for the week.  The apres swim wash is in the stuff the gym provides which is actually all purpose wash, so I use real shampoo about once a week.  And… if you do the math between 3 washes and about 12 workouts per week… my hair is sweaty probably about 75% of the time.

#3 – Training just becomes something you do.  Motivation really doesn’t factor into it.

Ride to work, run home, this is just how we do nowadays

I get a lot of comments about how we must be such motivated people.  Like I get up every morning at 5am and shoot rainbows out of my butt and say “let’s go run and swim and ride bikes and smile and be happy all day! Wheee!”  I’ll let you in on a secret – most of the time I roll out of bed around 7:30-8:30am (headlamps are my BFFs), and I honestly suck at motivation.  If I really don’t want to do something, I’m GREAT at inventing ways to justify getting out of it.  I am the queen of procrastination.  My couch has an INSANE gravitational pull.

You are what you repeatedly do.  The first week or two of any cycle after offseason is hard, but then it just becomes habit.  Training 7 days per week, 2-3 times a day sometimes, is just what life is right now.  Honestly, sometimes the fear of not being ready for April 22 plus the mental gymnastics about when I could possibly reschedule a session typically equals showing up and powering through instead of flaking.  But sometimes I flake, and that’s alright too.

And, while right now it’s all a very lot right now, I try not to lose sight of the fact that I get the opportunity to do this shit!  I have a strong and healthy body that gets to play bikes with friends and swim forever staring at the black line spacing out and thinking up new blog posts and explores new places (or just my ‘hood for the thousandth time) on foot.  There is no better way to spend a beautiful day when you feel great… it’s just showing up to all the other days that takes a little oomph.

#4 – You will never sleep better about 99% of the time.

It’s all about the recovery.  Yep.  EVERYWHERE is a potential place to nap.

As my training hours go up, so does my sleep requirement.  8 hours is a requirement, not a suggestion.  9 hours is better, and 10 is awesome.  While I’m not one of those “up with the sun” triathletes, I still go to bed pretty early most days to make sure I’m getting enough ZZZZs.  If I try to shortcut that, my body just shuts down.

My body also seems to do it’s part and respond by spending more time in deep sleep.  Saturday night, after my long run, I spent 5.5 of my 8.5 hours there, according to my garmin (and I woke up feeling pretty awesome, so I wouldn’t disagree).  I’ll be interested to see what it’s like during offseason, but I *know* I don’t sleep as well, quickly, or deeply.

The downside?  I’ve not had a book take me THIS long to finish in months.  The upside?  That crazy thunderstorm at 2am?  Yeah, I have ZERO recollection of it.  Except that Zliten told me I mumbled at him to stop making noise, rolled over, and went back to sleep.  Oops.  While you might have the occasional thrashy night if your legs are super sore, overall, you’ll have the best sleep of your LIFE!

#5 Ironman brain is a real thing.

Six hours of riding produces the crazy eyes.  Brain not far behind.

I just spent 5 minutes attempting to untangle my backpack string from my bike lock.  I’m having trouble remembering the word I want to say.  My writing is probably starting to look like a grad school child’s, and it’s all IM training’s fault.  When they say Ironman triathletes are not right in the head, they’re not completely off.

Normally, I enjoy the juxtaposition of my job (very sendenatary, very people oriented and communicative) and triathlon (very active, very solo focused in my own head).  However, while I’m handling the TIME commitments alright, it’s the MENTAL stuff I’m having an issue with.  It’s like, my body’s hanging in there like a trooper, but my brain is checking out about 75% through what needs to be done on any given day.

I’ll definitely not knock it, I’m feeling like I’m getting prepared for the race, so training is doing what it’s supposed to, but the side effects are very unexpected!

Question: What’s the weirdest thing that’s happened to you when you started working out?

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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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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!

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

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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!

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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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