Another LONG run – 13 miles

Moving up to 13 miles for my run is easy, done the distance many times.  The difficulty was doing it in zone 2.  Let me remind you zone 2, for me, is in the 10:00 to 11:00 min/mile range on fresh legs.  So I knew it was going to be a LONG morning.

Weather: overcast with light breeze, mid 80′s

Remembering the mistake from last week’s long run, I brought extra fluids for today’s run.  (I still needed to stop for a refill)  Again I started a little later than I had wanted but with the overcast skies the weather wasn’t too much of an issue.  First few miles were very slow but good.  The weather was very nice and a cool south breeze helped.  The next few miles, taking me to Spanish River, were pretty easy, no pain/discomfort.  I kept a close eye on my cadence, staying around 90, helping to lower my heart rate and establish a consistent rhythm.

I took my Oakley ThumpPros but grew bored with my playlist by the halfway point that I removed my sunglasses.  As motivational as music can be sometimes when your mind is cluttered with thoughts it is more relaxing to not listen to music.  Today was one of those days.  The “noise” of A1A was my music.

All felt great until mile 10.  The increased training volume started to show.  I was not experiencing specific pain but just achiness everywhere.  By mile 11 I was out of fluids and had to make a stop at a water fountain.  As expected my stomach started cramping from the water.  Everytime I try to drink from fountains (not my normal zephyrhills) I have issues.  But since I was near the end of my run I really didn’t care.

The last 1.5 miles SUCKED!!  I started to actually feel tired.  This is not a normal occurrence for me.  Usually I am full of energy at the end of the run, even long runs.  I decided to slow down even more and just focus on completing the run.  2.5 hours later I was done with this week’s long run.

Post run activities:  wringing out sweaty clothes, stretching, guzzling coconut water, recovery drink, uploading garmin data (as if I didn’t know the slow pace info), pulling out the ice packets to wear while driving to work and finally getting ready for work.

Total fatigue (sleepiness) all day.  Tried green tea at work but just needed a 10 min cat nap at lunchtime.  It was just a LONG day.  Finished the day with 2 hours in the recovery boots hoping  it will eliminate the fluid build up and muscle soreness for tomorrow.

Week 3: off to a good start

Monday’s recovery went well as I woke up Tuesday with no muscle soreness or fatigue.  I was looking forward to the bike intervals this morning as it included pushing high watts in 2 minute intervals.  Since my bike fit felt very good on Sunday’s ride I was anxious to see if I really did pick up wattage gain due to the fit.

Pre-work state: felt good, no fatigue

Today’s bike intervals consisted of 5 x 2 minutes at close to max wattage with 3 min rest.  I did an easy 10 minute warm up and then started my intervals.  Continued improvement!  My HR was significantly lower (more efficiency), the pedal stroke was fluid and somewhat easy and I never felt fatigue in my legs.  Bike fit investment was worth every penny!!

I thought I would add my garmin workout chart because it looks so cool when doing intervals.  Since I am very analytical by nature these charts are just fascinating to me.  So much information to process.

I finished the bike session with a 20 minute easy ride.  Then the usual stretch and recovery drink.

Post workout state: felt great to nail the workout, no issues on bike

 

Today’s PM workout was a 2300 yard swim.

Pre workout state: tired, sleepy

It is increasingly getting harder to find motivation to swim after a long day at the office.  I constantly overhear co-workers talking about happy hour plans, dinner plans, etc.  Now granted I did chose to train for an IM but just wanted to share the difficult aspects as well.  It took every bit of motivation to drive to LA Fitness after work today.  The days are shortening, it is darker out when I am leaving and I am leaving later and later each day as the busy season at work is kicking in.  The bonus to the late evening workout is that it works wonders in clearing the mind.

The pool workout was a mix of easy swimming, long endurance swim, a 2 x 200 in zone 4 and KICKS!!!  I HATE kicking.  Why?  Because I suck at it.  I must be the only person who, while kicking, actually moves BACKWARDS!!.   Something to do with not pointing my feet.  Well pointing feet = foot cramps!  BUT, because I know I can become a better swimmer, I did the 300 yards of kicking.  And it still sucked!!

Swim done, actually now feeling exhausted.  More of a mental exhaustion than physical but tomorrow morning will be the true indicator.

Post workout state: TIRED and HUNGRY.

Broward Brick – swim/bike

What a great ending to week 2!!!  I had a fantastic brick, especially the bike.  Considering yesterday’s painful bike experience I was not hopeful today would be any better.  I went back to the bike shop and told the fitter what happened on Saturday.  He made a few tweaks to my handlebars and just said try this.  The entire drive home I kept thinking if Sunday is as bad a Saturday I will be very unhappy!

I decided to head back to Deerfield pool as I really enjoyed the cool water and long course setup.  Also riding to A1A is so convenient.

Today’s brick swim : 2,000 mtrs as 10 x 50 warmup then 15 x 100 zone 4, rest = 25 seconds.  Let’s get this party started!!

I picked the far lane and jumped in. Chilly!!  Swam my workout and then headed to my car in the parking lot to transition to the bike.

Ooohhhh the bike.  This was either going to be very good or VERY bad.  Since the IM volume is new to me and since I am only in week 2 I am still learning on how my body reacts to the higher level of training.  I transitioned within 5 minutes and headed out to Hillsboro to ride to A1A.  I was lucky and got the green light as I approached the intersection and was flying down Hillsboro.  My ride was to do 25 miles at above HIM race pace.  The plan was to build progressive wattage to see how my body reacted. I had been undecided into which direction I would go but picked riding south (staying in Broward county) so I could have a tailwind on the way back if things got ugly.

As I turned south on A1A and got into aero I knew my fitter had nailed my fit.  It felt great even after 90 UGLY miles on the bike yesterday.  It was unbelievable how great I felt.  I quickly increased my wattage and my legs felt great, by great I mean I was much more efficient that I felt I was not even pushing enough but my power meter said otherwise.  I was actually pushing more power at 15 bps (HR) lower.  INTO to wind!!!  EUPHORIA!!!  Now I will mention that I got a mini lesson (by my fitter) in where the power area is in the pedal stroke and how to maximize it.  So I tested it out and worked like a charm.  This was the icing on the cake I was hoping for.  So I continued down to Sunrise Boulevard and turned around to head back home.

Now what could possible make this day get better???  You guessed it!  TAILWIND!!  I comfortably held my target wattage and flew home.  But not without consequence.  In my newly found speed I must have hit a few street bumps too hard because I managed to lose my repair kit (note: at least $40 bucks worth of stuff in there) somewhere in the ride back.  Crap!!  I had 8 miles to go and was praying not to get a flat!!

Made it back safely to my car and had a terrific 25 mile ride!!  Happiness beyond words.  And to add to the great day, I missed the rain as it began pouring the minute I got in my car to drive home.

Week 2 – we’re done!!  Bring on higher volume week 3, I am ready.  But first, a recovery drink and my weekly 1.5 hour massage this afternoon….

Back in the Saddle…Long Ride #2 – 90 miles + 2 mile run

Saturday’s long ride was much anticipated.  Crazy, but I love to ride long.  I also enjoy the Delray to Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach tour.  Great ocean views on my route.  But first, on Friday evening I spent 4  hours get a professional bike fit.  I was VERY reluctant to spend the money as my fit had been ok for the last two years.  Recently I started developing tightness/pain in my left IT band and knee.  I attributed it to the volume increase but finally came to my senses and decided the smart thing to do was to get properly fitted.

WOW!!!  What a difference a bike fit makes.  Many changes were made, some were very obvious to the symptoms I was experiencing.  Other changes were things I had thought about doing already but never accomplished.  One of the best things to come out of my fit was the addition of supported insoles and a shim in my shoe to position my feet correctly and eliminate foot problems that I figured just came with the territory.

So I was very excited for my long saturday ride to “see” how the changes would feel.  Now, my fitter did warn me that it does take the body a few rides to adjust.  Well, let’s just say this was the most painful bike ride ever!!!  It was like starting from scratch.

I started in Delray and headed south on A1A to Fort Lauderdale.  Within the first 10 minutes my back was screaming in pain.  I could hardly stay in aero.  This went on for 30 miles, most of which I spent in my drop bars because it alleviated some of the pain.  But since, at least in my mind, this was good training for IM (meaning the pain part) I kept on going hell-bent on getting the 90 miles in.  Around the Fort Lauderdale area, close to my turn around point, the back pain disappeared.  For a few miles all was good.  I then told myself the worst was now over and to concentrate on my planned wattage for the ride and on hydration/nutrition.

My happiness on the bike was short-lived.  Around mile 40 my neck and upper back were in excruciating pain.  Again I got in my drop bars and was on a constant neck/upper back stretching routine while trying to ride.  Luckily a friend of mine saw me riding and he came and rode with me up to the Boynton Inlet.  I was in so much pain that I probably only heard half of what he said to me.  I needed to stop for a bit.  We made a pit stop at the Inlet for a bathroom/water break.

He wished me a safe rest of ride and headed back south, and I continued northbound.  By mile 60 I wanted to cut my head off.  It felt like a 50lb bowling ball.  Nothing eased the pain!!  So I broke down and stopped again.  This time at my favorite, secret stop.  I got some much-needed ice, refilled my bottles, stretched and hoped back in the saddle.  Again, great mental IM training was happening on this ride.  It was very difficult to have my “easy” of the three disciplines hurt so much.  But I did consciencely make the choice to get the fit on Friday and deal with the consequences.  And I did.

At mile 75 the neck/upper back pain was overtaken by the numb hands syndrome.  What the hell else could go wrong??  At least my numb hands shifted focus from the other pains.  Now, in all this upper body disaster it finally dawned on me, my IT band/knee pain was non-existent.  YES!!!  That was the entire point.  My joy in discovering this somehow made me pedal faster and finish up the ride strong.  Again, strong mental state eliminates the negative thoughts.  Mission accomplished, at least on the bike for today, now off to the run.

I transitioned at my house (5 mins) and headed out for my 2 mile run.  The first two minutes continue to be very painful in the knees but by the half mile mark I felt good.  By this time it was 2pm in the afternoon.  It was hot, but it didn’t really bother me.  I took fluids with me and was looking forward to my body’s reaction this week on the run.  I managed to run in zone 2 for the first mile but was in zone 3 for the second.  I had planned on going another mile but since I could not get my HR back to zone 2 (without walking) I called it good.  Once again, it wasn’t as bad I it could have been.  I’m sure that day is coming soon!!!

So week two’s long bike/run brick done.  Time for a recovery drink, time in the recovery boots and back to the bike shop to tweak the fit!!

the Delray loop – Friday’s easy run

I love Delray Beach!!  I knew this was the town I wanted to live in South FL when I drove A1A and realized I could run this path everyday.  And I basically do.  I am going to share a pictorial view of my “easy” run loop and my “clear my head” run.  This path NEVER gets old.  See for your self.

The above photo is the corner of A1A and East Atlantic Avenue in the heart of Delray Beach.

I usually run in the bike path (of course giving way to cyclists) to get the view of the ocean.

My awesome beach views on the “Delray” run.

The Causarina corner is a mecca for kite-boarders, divers, sailors, volleyballs players and the general beach fun!!

After a final view of the beach I keep heading south to the turnaround spot.

To add variety, the second half of my run is through one of the cute neighborhoods near the beach.  It usually is somewhat shady and the road surface is so smooth to run on.

Nice and shady and no traffic or rude sidewalk foot traffic!!

More shade and the final stretch before heading back over the bridge.

When I’m really lucky (and not late for work) the bridge is down and I can head right over.

Since it was Friday and Hurricane Irene passed by Florida I thought it would be fitting to add a photo of this sign.

View of the Intercoastal in Delary.

The end of the run, 3 miles done in beautiful Delray!!

Swimming in a Hurricane

The threat of Hurricane Irene to South FL was a non-issue this morning.  Luckily both training sessions today could easily be accomplished indoors.

AM workout:  Tempo Bike ride – 20 easy, 25 tempo, 20 easy.  It’s amazing how time flies when you watch hurricane coverage by local news.  This bike session definitely seemed to go by quickly.  I have my trainer setup in my den, well really my training room, and in front of a flat screen TV.  Early morning news is mindless TV watching that helps distract one from boredom on the trainer.  With all the hurricane coverage I was distracted enough to not even notice the pain.  Again the 25 minutes of my tempo ride was a high wattage that demanded significant effort.  Easy cool down, more hurricane news, stretching and protein recovery drink.

Off to work, braving the storm!!!  Yeah, right.

Lunch workout:  Swimmy at the fishbowl.  2 x 1,000 r=1 min.  Headed to the gym around noon, the sky was looking ugly!!

My swim has been coming along pretty nicely.  Swimming around 6,000 a week.  For me that is a lot!  Plus I am feeling much more confident in my endurance pace swimming.  The breathing issue has now been resolved and I am feeling faster.  Back a few months ago I took an excellent clinic by Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen (http://www.aquaticedge.org/).  She taught me how to relax and to simplify swimming.  Additionally she introduced me to my new favorite swim product (I have used it on my biking/running sunglasses and it worked like a charm) - FOGGLE.  I have always struggled to keep my goggles fog-free and this product does the trick every time, guaranteed!!  I usually have to stop once or twice during a race to clear the fog from my goggles and now it is not even a concern.  Just reduced my swim time by a few minutes!!  Woohoo!!!

So I began my “hurricane” swim in the comfort of the LA Fitness indoor pool.  The pool was empty, the water was clear (this is never the case) BUT it was a little too warm.  Last Sunday’s swim at the Deerfield Aquatic center has made me a believer in the COLD pool.  By the first 200 yards today I was literally sweating bullets in the pool.  I convinced myself that it was perfect training for the warm water in IM Cozumel’s swim.  The workout was 2 x 1,000 yards with a 1 minute rest interval.  I had a great swim, was able to relax completely and maintained my endurance zone pace.  I am actually starting to feel really good about my swim.  My final confirmation that I am improving is the fact I felt I could swim another 2,000 easily without much effort. Very happy!!

Thursday “hump” day is officially over and actually looking forward to the big volume weekend.  Since the hurricane threat is over I will be able to ride outside, because 5 hours on the trainer was NOT appealing at all!!!

the LONG run again – 11 miles

Today’s run was great!  Every long run in zone 2 is becoming easier.  I cheated today and took my headphones with me to provide additional entertainment as I knew it could become a sufferfest.  I have noticed I run faster with music, ALOT faster.  My playlist has songs which help me keep closer to a 90 cadence.  So today I did run faster, faster than last week’s 11 miler by 30 seconds a mile all within zone 2.

Again, I did not take enough fluids with me.  The last two miles were miserable in the fact all I could think about was WATER!!  I could have stopped at a few water fountains but they always seem to upset my stomach (must be unfiltered water!).

Today I felt very tired.  Between getting a horrible night’s sleep and the long run I was low on energy.  Getting to bed early tonight but after my “recovery boot” session.

 

Week 2 begins with mixed results

Monday’s full rest day was interesting.  In previous training, on my rest day, I would feel extreme fatigue as the “big” weekend volume would catch up with me.  This first rest day in IM training brought a different side effect: HUNGER.  I could not stop eating on Monday.  I thought about food constantly and nothing filled me up.  I am pretty sure I ate half of a chicken for dinner, yes a half rotisserie chicken.  Somehow that was the trick.

I had expected some soreness and tightness in my legs on Monday and was pleasantly surprised when I woke up that my body felt pretty good given the past weekend’s training.  Again, I credit this to my recovery boot (total of 4 hours spend in them over the weekend) and my recovery drink taken immediately after each training session.  I did notice some significant swelling in my lower legs Monday evening, most likely due to sitting at my desk all day at work.

Today’s training (Tuesday) was a double workout.  AM bike and PM swim.  In the morning I did set of intervals (3 x 8 mins) at LT wattage.  Legs were somewhat fatigued at the beginning but by the second and  third set they felt good.  Now by good I mean I could push the wattage but it took significant concentration as my legs were screaming to stop!!  With the warmup, interval sets and cool down I got a solid hour done.  Stretched immediately after,  iced my knee that has been bothering me a bit and fixed a Vega Sport Recovery Protein (vanilla) smoothie.

Off to work and looking forward to the PM swim.

Well my PM swim was a DISASTER.  Left work super late, lanes at pool were filled with idiots who were horsing around and my stroke was a mess.  I did not feel physically fatigue but my swim told a different story.  For the life of me I could not get a single 50 yards in with good form.  The mind/body connection was somehow turned off.  It was actually embarrassing.  I had 2,000 yards to swim and it took motivation to a new level for me.  I literally had to talk myself into finishing every lap.  I just wanted to quit and blame it on fatigue and call it a day.  But I knew that completing the total 2000 yards would provide training in the MENTAL department.  I will say that I would prefer to feel physical pain in a workout than deal with mental fatigue but since the IM is going to a be significant a mental game, today’s swim helped test my perseverance.  AND I PERSEVERED!!!

Sunday Funday…Swim/Bike brick

My swim is definitely my weakness.  I have been struggling with some GI issues that appear to be created during the swim.  Until recently I did not know that exhaling fully was a requirement….always ended up swallowing air and paying for it on the run.  So to test/prepare for IM my coach and I have decided to do swim/bike bricks to help me better develop my swim.

Since the ocean has been contaminated with jelly fish for the last few weeks an ocean swim was out.  I have been doing my swim/bike bricks at FLL Hall of Fame pool but decided to try out Deerfield Beach’s aquatic center pool as it is closer to me.  The good part is that it does not open until 9:30am allowing for some extra shut-eye, the bad is that by the time I head out for the bike it is sweltering.

I loaded my car with my bike and gear (swim goggle, swim cap, foggle, towel,helmet, shoes, sunglasses, garmin, water bottles, repair kit) and also packed my “recovery” drink for after the brick.  (Vega Sport protein, berry flavor with coconut water)!!  Headed down to Deerfield and was there right at 10am.  Later than I had planned but oh well.  The benefit of being single with no kids it that I have no real timeline deadline, a luxury I relish.

I picked the lane near the edge of the pool so I could truly feel relaxed as today’s 2000 meter straight swim was to concentrate on swimming relaxed and breathing easily.  The pool was nice a cool temperature.  I never used to like cold pools but now I know the value.  It is so nice to be “cool” during the swim.  I quickly jumped in and began the 2000.  The pool was setup in long course (50 meter length) so I decided to breakup the 2000 in my head in four parts: 4 x 500s.  Personally I can count to 5 without forgetting pretty easily while swimming so it has become my tracking method of choice.  The first 500 was difficult.  The long training session from yesterday had me a bit fatigued at the start.  My mental plan is to always concentrate on the 500 set at hand, get through it then think about the subsequent ones.  It has always seemed to work for me.  One thing that was new is that I felt a tad bit of anxiety.  Not sure why or where it came from but it too dissipated as I swam.  The 2nd and 3rd 500 went well and the final 500 seemed like a breeze.  I have noticed that when I swim straight through longer distances I become more relaxed and comfortable in the water.

I jumped out of the pool and headed to my car in the parking lot to transition to my bike.  I was unsure of which path I was going to take to get to A1A, I had three choices from the pool, but as I got on the bike I made a final decision to head to Hilsboro and ride the 1/8 of a mile to the Fed Hwy intersection as it would be “safer”.  Nothing is really safe in South Florida when it comes to riding.  It is always a risk, you just have to find the least risky path.  Glad I chose this route as I had the green light when I got to the intersection and was only 1.2 miles from A1A.  I decided to ride south for a few miles so I would not have to stop at the light.  I rode 5 miles south, quickly calculated that I would only have to ride north to Linton to get my 30 miles in.  My training plan had today’s ride at Tempo wattage for the 30 miles and let me tell you it too every ounce of willpower to hit it.  I came up short 10 watts for the average but had hit a bit of traffic as it was a nice sunny Sunday on South Florida’s beaches.

As I was finishing my ride it began to rain briefing, somehow I had perfect timing.  I have been making a significant effort to have my recovery drink within 30 minutes of my training session and having packed my drink in a mini cooler waiting for me was great.  As I was driving home I was pretty happy with week one’s outcome.  I had hit every training day spot on, I had recovered properly and I was still full of energy for week two’s plan to hit my training peaks account.

Sunday Funday was NOW beginning.  One and a half hour massage in the afternoon, two hours in my recovery boots and a full evening catching up with my DVR recordings.  Can’t wait to start week two, though I might regret those words when I wake up in the morning!!

Week 1′s LONG bike (85 miles) + run (3 miles)

Must have had plenty of REM sleep because I easily jumped out of bed this morning when the alarm went off.  Went through my normal morning routine, grabbed my bottles, pumped my tires, grabbed my gear and headed out around 7:40.  A little later than I had planned but all good.

Plan for the 85 mile bike ride was to ride south on A1A to Commercial Blvd in Fort Lauderdale, about twenty miles then head North to the Palm Beach inlet and back home.  The beginning of the ride was good considering my foot “injury” yesterday.  No pain or issues so far.  Saw many fellow triathletes and a few cycling friends.  I have always enjoyed riding south on A1A, maybe because my first year on the bike was spent riding with a group who did the Muffin Ride to FLL every Sunday.  I have many great memories from those days.  The weather was very nice.  It was 80 was a very light breeze, but the wind was to build in the afternoon just in time for me to catch and pretty decent headwind on the last 20 miles.

At the turnaround (Commercial) is where the discomfort began.  Strangely, I have never had such issues so early into a ride.  I have a feeling it was the mental play of the day.  I focused on getting to the half way point and then re-assessing my “discomfort”.  Again I saw many fellow cyclists which helps tremendously when you are out there riding alone.

Once I got back to my starting point, now mile 40, I kept heading North to the inlet.  My ride today was to serve two purposes.  One was to get a long ride in, two was to start experimenting with solid food.  So two hours into the ride I grabbed my gluten-free pretzels and tried to munch on a few every 5 minutes and see what happened.  I experienced no real issues, minor discomfort from the compression on the stomach in aero position, but the pretzels were a success at this point.  An extra few calories and a welcomed salty snack in contrast to the now syrupy sweet electrolyte drink.

I made at pit stop at the half way point, well what my half way point will be during the ironman race (mile 56ish) at my new secret place.  This pit stop by far is a definite “find”.  Free ice, free water, nice landscaping (if that doesn’t give it away) and super clean bathrooms.  After the stop I was an entirely new person.  Now the excitement for this ride kicked in and I was feeling good.  For some reason getting to the half way point is a big mental hurdle for me.  After that it is all good!!

Random thoughts/observations/worthless info:

-while riding in FLL area I saw a guy walking a dog that seemed to be hobbling, as I got closer I saw the poor mutt only had three legs..definitely pulled on my heart-strings.  It also made me think of my late grandmother who would always tell me the bedtime story of the three-legged dog who lost his owner (Lilico)

-ran over a small black garden snake, freaky!!

-near the inlet the ocean was crashing on the retainer wall, it was such cool, soothing sound.  Love hearing the ocean waves crash!!

Back to training.  Finished the 85 mile ride feeling good, total ride including stops was a whooping 5:05!!  Not as fast as I would have liked but in my wattage target that my coach had for me.  Got home and transitioned to the run and HOLY SHIT!!!  The first 200 yards felt like someone took a baseball bat to my knees.  I think crawling would have been easier.  HUGE mental let down.  I have to do this for 26.2 miles???  This is insane!!

But somehow the pain subsided, my run began to feel like the “normal” run after a bike and I landed easily in my zone 2 HR/pace for the 3 miles.  Wasn’t so bad….I could have kept running…BUT I didn’t and just ended today’s training with a slam dunk!!!

re·cov·er·y (run) – restoration to a former or better condition

I have only lived a few weeks in my new decade (yes I did age up this year) and I am already experiencing age-related self-injury.  Really, who the hell can be clumsy enough to trip over the side-walk and twist their ankle while slowly trying to throw an empty water bottle in a trash can??  I won THAT award today.  I had recently thought of how I need to be super careful as to not injury myself.

So I did what any other runner/triathlete/lunatic would do, I kept running.  It was only a 3 mile ZONE 1 run today anyways.  Headed down Atlantic to A1A and went south towards Linton.  I love this route.  I get a glimpse of the ocean and always manage to see a friend or two on the path.  I actually felt good; recovery boots had worked their magic last night in addition to my nightly L-Glutamine.  My heart rate was relatively low and my pace was still fast enough to not cause my garmin to go into auto pause mode.  I have refused to change the auto-pause limit but I think Ironman training will make this a requirement now.

The run was going great until the last quarter-mile.  I felt a sharp pain in my foot just below the ankle.  During the ankle twisting episode, prior to any pain, I was relishing in the fact that I was a pretty well-trained athlete to have caught myself just in the nick of time before any “damage” was done.  WRONG!  At least I know better not to run when pain radiates and immediately stopped running and walked home.  ICE, ICE, ICE and flats for work today!!

On to the sure-to-be mistake #2 of today:  I ate dinner at 9pm.  I have been working on my pre-”long” training day meal and have settled on the following:  1 cup brown rice, 1/4 cup of lentils, fresh salsa, 1/2 avocado, cilantro and a few sprinkles of hot sauce.  Brown rice is a great complex carb and sits well in my GI system.  My morning beverage of choice is rice milk.  I have learned to eliminate protein, especially animal protein, before a big race or training day as the protein does not have enough time for total elimination by the next day.  And the last thing I want to do is carry around extra crap….all pun intended!!  Funny thing, it just occurred to me that my meal of choice is Mexican and my first Ironman will be in Cozumel…oh, the universe must be sending me a message.

Off to prep for tomorrow’s long ride/brick. 85 miles plus 3 mile run.  Will have to check the foot out first to make sure it is okay for running, if not will ditch the run.  Time to make the bottles……

Thursdays…the new “hump” day

When I was reviewing today’s workout in my training peaks account last night only one thought popped in my head….if I can get through Thursday I will have a mini-break on Friday.  The only thing on the schedule for Friday is a 3 mile zone 1 recovery run.  So my very analytical brain kicked into full throttle.  If I break each workout into phases it will help me get it done.   Anyone who has completed an ironman is probably laughing at the fact that my first week is really “low” volume.

AM training: bike intervals.  Back to the trainer today.  I actually enjoy being in my controlled environment ( AC, nice view of pool, TV, bathroom a few feet away) for these sessions.  Today’s ride: 10 min easy warmup, 3 x 10 mins at 175 watts with 1 min rest then a 10 minute cool down.  Warmup was a little uncomfortable, still only 80% recovered from yesterday’s run.  Then my fun began.  The hardest part was the fact that I had THREE intervals.  The first 10 mins was okay, but the second 10 mins took some serious determination.  It was hard to keep my wattage consistent as my legs were not 100%.  Now the last 10 mins was pure hell but I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.  So, check, workout one is done!

I am pretty religious about stretching for 10 mins, drinking my recovery drink aka breakfast and downloading my garmin stats after each workout.  I actually think that my motivation for training lies in the looking forward to downloading of the workout stats so I can analyze it for hours on end.  I have multiple excel spreadsheet with charts, graph, weighted averages, etc on every single possible way that one could imagine looking at the data.  I will share a sample later on.  So can you guess my profession??

Off to shower then heading into work.  Now, let me tell you that working in an office, seated in front of a PC most of the day might be more painful than training.  I always forget to get up and walk around to stretch out the legs.  So Thursdays are my swim during lunch days.  I like to change the times of day of my workouts to break the monotony but more importantly to get through “hump” Thursdays faster.

So I head to my favorite pool, LA Fitness for my swim workout.  Nothing crazy, just 2300 yards.  The nice thing about swimming at lunch is that the pool is empty.  Also the sunny, palm tree view from the large windows surrounding the indoor pool is very relaxing.  As I was swimming today I actually found myself lost in my thoughts.  With swimming, for me, it has been a “get to the end of the pool and back without dying” type of a thought.  Today I started to experience a ”calm” swim pace.  Very different feeling, I actually might like swimming.  I even thought that I could possibly swim forever, well maybe not that confident but getting there.  Back to today’s main thought while swimming: I am in a human fishbowl.

Getting through the workout was relatively easy, I did feel some minor crampiness in my feet when I tried to use my fins so just skipped them.  And then the big moment, the last 25 yards!  Woohoo! Done.  Second check of the day, officially over the hump.  So the next day and a half will be focused on recovery including spending some time in my recovery boots!!  Love these!!  Worth every dime.

Day 1 (well really day 2) of IM training

HELLO!!!   I have been anticipating the start of my official ironman training.  And it’s here.  No turning back now.  I just recently, well yesterday as I was driving home, decided to start keep a journal of my “ironman journey” .   For some reason the thought of blogging about it seemed like the perfect way to actually hold myself accountable to this task.  I hate to write.  Journaling has always been on my to-do list but blogging seems like the perfect solution.   So please bear with me as this is very new to me and sometimes I might get boring.

My intent is to share the good, the bad and the UGLY with my ironman training.  I want to share my perspective on this journey and also have living documentation of my experience should I cross the finish line and yell “I’ll never do this shit again!!”   Somehow I don’t think that will be the case as a mere 3 years ago I thought a full ironman distance race was out of reach for me and I have found myself signed up for Ironman Cozumel on 11/27/2011.

So here goes…….

Day 1 training:  AM workout, intervals on trainer (bike).  Uneventful, hit my wattage goals (will explain this in a later post).  PM workout was a 2,200 yard swim.  My pool of choice for Tuesday’s evening swim has been the Deerfield Beach Aquatics center but with the severe lightning storms I decided to go to the dreaded LA Fitness pool.  Why dreaded?  First of all I hate gyms.  Then it always seems that of the 100 lockers in the locker room everyone chooses locker right next to each other.  (Personal space issues also a topic for a later post).  Second, the pool has NASTY clumps of hair floating the in pool, hairy “jellyfish”.  And finally, the water tastes like plethora of lotion, cologne, body fluids and hair products.  DISGUSTING!!!    Back to training.  Started with a quick warmup of 10 x 50s.  Learning how to breathe correctly.  Just learned I have been doing it wrong.  Anytime the face is in the water you must be exhaling.  Not surprised I didn’t know this as I sort of taught myself how to swim.  I have a taken a clinic but not at the truly fundamental level.  My next set was 4 x 200s at a zone 4.  I just recently had my coach provide HR based zones to help better understand effort levels.  These were hard.  I felt as if I was about to die, but HR wise I was in the correct effort level.  As the swim workout went on I did begin to feel a comfort I have not felt before.  Was it excitement about day 1′s training??  Was it that I finally understood the concept of swimming??  Not sure, but time will tell.

So a big check on the list for day one!!  Bring the rest on!!  I am ready…..

Day 3: the LONG run – 11 miles

On tap for today: 11 miles.   Got up at 5:30, had prepped  my gear the night before cause I had minimal time this morning for lollygagging.  Again, rain and lightning this morning.  I checked the weather channel iphone app and it appeared to be moving north so I headed out. 

Since this is my first “run” post I want to mention the fact that I will be going into IM CZ without a marathon under my belt.  I have read and analyzed that multiple schools of thought on this and feel confident that the right choice for me is to NOT subject my body to unnecessary torture as the recovery period is too long and could possibly lead to injury.  I don’t have time built in for an injury.  My running experience (high school track was my start) is lengthy and am okay with building to about 18 miles pre-ironman.

So off I go on today’s 11 miles.  My last long run was Providence 70.3 (13 miles) so today’s run would give me good info on where I stand in my “long” base.  First few miles were tough due to the fact I have had issues with my IT band and knee because of poor bike fitting and Tuesday’s bike intervals seemed to have aggravated the areas.  With this in mind I was paying close attention to my stride.  So today’s learning was: HYDRATION the night before is crucial.  So pissed that I didn’t pay closer attention to this, as I should know better.  Paid for it most of the day with crampy calves.  Half way through the run I started to feel much better (knee pain wise) and my pace improved, still comfortably in zone 2.  This is a lower HR zone, conserving energy mode.  So let me say I HATE zone 2.  It’s like this term I keep hearing about that I will soon come to better understand: the DEATH MARCH.  Zone 2 is incredibly slow, painful in the fact that it just DRAWS out the run.  Isn’t the concept of running to run?   To get from point A to point B as quickly as possible??  Well for an impatient person like me Zone 2 is pretty close to being in hell.  Not to mention the “unfit” people who run past you and smirk.  Lesson number two: humility in the form of “training smart”.  Now where did that phrase come from?

Finished run in a 2:04, yes, that’s an 11:15 pace!!  UGH!!  This is going to be a LONG, painful journey.  So I have started to notice  that my longer runs are causing a very unwanted condition…..smelly shoes.