Have you notice the explosion of blogs? There's a reason. Suddenly I have this Ironman thing on the brain.....
So, the workouts are starting to click. Swimming is getting easy (well, easy as far as swimming goes) and my recovery between intervals on the bike and run is really improving. I guess I'm getting back into racing shape! Now, the problem is that I'm starting to dwell on the race already. Wondering what outcome I can realistically expect, and what outcome I can possibly achieve if it's really my day. I have the tendency to be over-confident (euphemism for word of your choice), and setting the bar too high (setting myself up for disappointment). That's okay, I'll roll with it.
Also have to remember that I'm not the only part of the equation. On the way home from gymnastics today, Rylie asked, "Dad, why do you and mom get to run every day?". And I told her about how we run to stay healthy, do races, etc. She fired back with, "Why don't I get to run every day?" Hmmmm...
"You do, at preschool and gymnastics, right?" (No more kids' track meets now that summer is over).
"But not on the weekends?"
And it's true, I have been so busy with workouts, and we have been so busy with family trips that we haven't been taking the normal bricks around the block. And yes, I do literally mean bricks. One of Rylie's favorite things to do is ride her bike (with training wheels) around the block, and then park it, ditch the helmet, and run laps around the cul de sac over and over until we get tired and tell her to come inside. Hannah follows what Rylie does, so this has become one of Hannah's favorite things to do too!
So, Rylie and I made a pact. Every Saturday and Sunday, we will run and ride around the block. Awesome, it's a plan.
With that revelation, I'm moving forward with a focus on balance, keeping things in perspective, and being cautiously optimistic about the race. Stay healthy, keep pushing, and see where it goes. Let's see if my swim speed continues to increase, ditto for my bike, and hey, ditto for the run while I'm at it! Maybe I will live up to my expectations of myself, and surprise everyone else. Here is my mantra for the time-being:
Believe in yourself.
Trust the plan.
Follow the plan.
Make it happen!
Believe in yourself.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Time to move on, it's time to get going
What is it about intervals that drives me crazy? I was thinking about this quite a bit yesterday.
Intervals are not my favorite. In fact, I despise them. Instead of pushing during these workouts, I tend to just check them off the workout list. Make my interval, take my rest, and go again. If I have to miss a workout, usually interval workouts are the easiest to cut out. What does this mean? I think I have finally come to realize that my lack of enthusiasm for intervals might be one of the biggest things holding me back from speed--what keeps me from bridging the gap from FOMOP (front-of-middle-of-pack) to FOP (front-of-pack). I tend to end up in a no-mans' land between the overall contenders and the somewhat competitive age-groupers.
I think I might have figured out my mental game/problem yesterday. For steady or tempo-effort workouts, you're always moving forward, moving toward the end of the workout at a measurable rate (minutes or miles). During intervals, you have to rest. You sit on the wall of the pool, you coast back down to the bottom of the hill, or you stand at the white line on the track huffing and puffing while counting seconds to your next effort. During that time, I don't feel like I'm getting closer to the end of the workout.
What I'm now trying to ingrain in my head that I am moving forward by checking the box next to another repeat. The end of the workout is only getting closer. The additional intervals are actually a countdown to finishing the workout and improving my fitness. If I quit, increase my rest, or back out of a workout, I'm not working on being a better athlete. I'm teaching myself to give up, mentally and physically. During the rest period, instead of getting down about how many repeats I have left, I should be mentally focusing on your next effort. Before workouts, I think about how do I get the most out of my intervals so that I improve during my next event. After all, I'm out there training. :Working out" and "exercising" are only side-notes. It is about getting better!
So, here are some resolutions I'll be trying to follow: take intervals seriously; look forward to knocking off seconds week-by-week, month-by-month, because eventually those seconds will add up to minutes during races; if I skip workouts, they will NOT be intervals (although with my current plan the "junk miles" are few and far between); track my splits for intervals in my training log (I am a numbers geek...), so that I can visually see improvement for a sense of positive feedback.
Yesterday was a good benchmark for this new-and-improved attitude. A breakthrough swim where I knocked off between 3 and 6(!!!!) seconds per 100 yards with 15" rest between (now if I could only have three or four additional breakthroughs with similar gains I would be a competitive swimmer! :) ). After being shocked by my first split, I focused on hitting it time and again. Between repeats, deep breaths and concentration. Push off hard, and nail it!
Intervals are not my favorite. In fact, I despise them. Instead of pushing during these workouts, I tend to just check them off the workout list. Make my interval, take my rest, and go again. If I have to miss a workout, usually interval workouts are the easiest to cut out. What does this mean? I think I have finally come to realize that my lack of enthusiasm for intervals might be one of the biggest things holding me back from speed--what keeps me from bridging the gap from FOMOP (front-of-middle-of-pack) to FOP (front-of-pack). I tend to end up in a no-mans' land between the overall contenders and the somewhat competitive age-groupers.
I think I might have figured out my mental game/problem yesterday. For steady or tempo-effort workouts, you're always moving forward, moving toward the end of the workout at a measurable rate (minutes or miles). During intervals, you have to rest. You sit on the wall of the pool, you coast back down to the bottom of the hill, or you stand at the white line on the track huffing and puffing while counting seconds to your next effort. During that time, I don't feel like I'm getting closer to the end of the workout.
What I'm now trying to ingrain in my head that I am moving forward by checking the box next to another repeat. The end of the workout is only getting closer. The additional intervals are actually a countdown to finishing the workout and improving my fitness. If I quit, increase my rest, or back out of a workout, I'm not working on being a better athlete. I'm teaching myself to give up, mentally and physically. During the rest period, instead of getting down about how many repeats I have left, I should be mentally focusing on your next effort. Before workouts, I think about how do I get the most out of my intervals so that I improve during my next event. After all, I'm out there training. :Working out" and "exercising" are only side-notes. It is about getting better!
So, here are some resolutions I'll be trying to follow: take intervals seriously; look forward to knocking off seconds week-by-week, month-by-month, because eventually those seconds will add up to minutes during races; if I skip workouts, they will NOT be intervals (although with my current plan the "junk miles" are few and far between); track my splits for intervals in my training log (I am a numbers geek...), so that I can visually see improvement for a sense of positive feedback.
Yesterday was a good benchmark for this new-and-improved attitude. A breakthrough swim where I knocked off between 3 and 6(!!!!) seconds per 100 yards with 15" rest between (now if I could only have three or four additional breakthroughs with similar gains I would be a competitive swimmer! :) ). After being shocked by my first split, I focused on hitting it time and again. Between repeats, deep breaths and concentration. Push off hard, and nail it!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
can't drink cerveza anymore
That's right, it has gotten serious. As of last Monday, I have sworn off drinking until after IM Arizona. 11 weeks without alcohol would be a new PR, and I'm looking forward to it. It's not that I don't believe in having an outlet in the form of a few beers once in a while. BUT it's harder to get up to workout, and it causes me a ridiculous amount of GI distress. These things mean poorer-quality training, missed workouts, and the list goes on. Not to mention the dinero that these days I should be spending on healthy calories (fuel). Shannon and I have sworn it off until November 21st post-race. Yippee or something. If you see me sneaking a drink at the Kona send-off event at TriSports retail store next week (open bar, yikes!), give me a hard time, okay? Okay. So, that's all on this topic.
Well, after my week of "recovery", I was ready for a recovery from my recovery, and the training plan served it up! 12 workouts in 6 days. My first 3-a-days (Tuesday and Friday) in a long time. Weekly summary: 16.4 hours, 8700 yards in the pool, 10.1 hours on the bike, 24 miles of running. Long ride of 4:30, long run of 1:30. Obviously a huge jump up across the board, although my swimming and running distances were still not huge. All about the bike this week. 1-1/2 hours of hills/flats, 2 hour no-calorie ride, 2 hours of intervals, and, finally, a group ride up Lemmon on Saturday.
Bonk of the week: A tie between my no-calorie ride and the Lemmon ride. Ouch to both.
Hardest workout of the week: Lemmon.
Funnest workout of the week: Lemmon. I guess that's just how these things work. It was a great group ride from the TriSports.com retail store. We probably had something like 50 people on the ride, and it was quite a mix, from serious triathletes like me, Chrissy Parks, Billy Oliver and Brian Stover (fellow TriSports.com athletes) to several people from the U of A Tricats to a couple of the shop guys riding on fixies. It was a no-drop (read painfully-slow) ride to the base, and then a hammer-fest on the climb. At milepost 0, the group shattered and several of us went off the front. Ended up backing it off a bit so I didn't kill myself, but several of us ended up going to Palisades. Back to TriSports for some much-needed post-ride grub, then off to recover at home. It was a good day.
Besides training, work was work, and had some good family time, topped off with a trip to Apple Annie's Orchard for some apple, pear, and peach picking. Of course, the girls' favorite part was the aside of chasing whatever bugs we came across, including this monster cicada! So cool.
Oh, and then there was the epic grasshopper chase. Rylie is apparently learning about persistence hunting. We're not quite at Tarahumara status yet, but we're working on it.
And with that, it's time to get to bed. No rest day this Monday. Time to start knocking out the workouts. Looks like similar riding this week, with a bit of a pick-up in the swimming and running distance. Let's hope I can keep on this roll!
Well, after my week of "recovery", I was ready for a recovery from my recovery, and the training plan served it up! 12 workouts in 6 days. My first 3-a-days (Tuesday and Friday) in a long time. Weekly summary: 16.4 hours, 8700 yards in the pool, 10.1 hours on the bike, 24 miles of running. Long ride of 4:30, long run of 1:30. Obviously a huge jump up across the board, although my swimming and running distances were still not huge. All about the bike this week. 1-1/2 hours of hills/flats, 2 hour no-calorie ride, 2 hours of intervals, and, finally, a group ride up Lemmon on Saturday.
Bonk of the week: A tie between my no-calorie ride and the Lemmon ride. Ouch to both.
Hardest workout of the week: Lemmon.
Funnest workout of the week: Lemmon. I guess that's just how these things work. It was a great group ride from the TriSports.com retail store. We probably had something like 50 people on the ride, and it was quite a mix, from serious triathletes like me, Chrissy Parks, Billy Oliver and Brian Stover (fellow TriSports.com athletes) to several people from the U of A Tricats to a couple of the shop guys riding on fixies. It was a no-drop (read painfully-slow) ride to the base, and then a hammer-fest on the climb. At milepost 0, the group shattered and several of us went off the front. Ended up backing it off a bit so I didn't kill myself, but several of us ended up going to Palisades. Back to TriSports for some much-needed post-ride grub, then off to recover at home. It was a good day.
Besides training, work was work, and had some good family time, topped off with a trip to Apple Annie's Orchard for some apple, pear, and peach picking. Of course, the girls' favorite part was the aside of chasing whatever bugs we came across, including this monster cicada! So cool.
Oh, and then there was the epic grasshopper chase. Rylie is apparently learning about persistence hunting. We're not quite at Tarahumara status yet, but we're working on it.
And with that, it's time to get to bed. No rest day this Monday. Time to start knocking out the workouts. Looks like similar riding this week, with a bit of a pick-up in the swimming and running distance. Let's hope I can keep on this roll!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
I don't know why we float but I like this buoyancy
Wow, three days late this time and two workouts short? Uh oh :) Finished with a much-needed recovery week, which realistically consisted of five days of training sandwiched by two weeks at the River.
The basics as always: 6.7 hours, 6700 yards in the pool, 3 hours on the bike, 10 miles of running. Long ride of 1:30, long run of under an hour. Pretty weak? Perhaps, but like I said, much-needed. After a lot of training and a lot of stress last week (see previous post), I needed both a mental and physical break. And it worked out perfectly.
My big annual report for work was done and out the door on Monday. After that, the stress of work faded away somewhat. I still had a presentation to prepare for a conference in Tucson (Arizona Hydrological Society), but after 7 years of putting together talks in front of groups I don't know, it really wasn't a big deal. So yeah, Tuesday of preparing for the presentation, Wednesday practicing at the office (free lunch!), and Thursday and Friday at the conference (read "more free lunch"). It is weird to go to professional conferences these days and I recognize a significant portion of the audience. I guess that is the point. Too bad I am TERRIBLE with names. My conversations usually start out with, "uh, didn't I meet you at that conference at that place last year?" Oh well :) Training during the week was nothing really notable. A few swims and some easy runs. Although...I was shocked when I convinced myself to go swimming after the conference on Thursday instead of hanging around for free food and drinks! Who does that?
Friday was a half-day at the conference, followed by a trip to "the River." Spent a lot of time hanging out at "the sandbar" recovering from the night before. Lots of great food, horseshoes, catching up with old friends, and making a few new ones. The girls are really starting to enjoy themselves in the sand and water, just like me when I was a kid I suppose. Too bad water for me now typically involves a pool with a black line to follow (although I admit, we're working our way out of our love-hate relationship). The River for kids can be summed up as follows:
Wake up, then repeat :)
I did manage a good brick workout on Sunday morning. 90 minutes on the mountain bike (only dirt roads and jeep trails out here) and 45 minutes running. Good stuff. The long weekend reminded me that life tends to get challenging, and you end up burnt out (whether it's work, school, training, etc.). It's great to step back, take a deep breath, get reminded of the important things. Mind and body are resilient if you listen to them. And more often than not, you're ready to charge back into your passions.
Returned to Tucson to see that my coach delivered my next five weeks of training. It is a good thing I feel refreshed, because I've got some work to do! Increasing from 9 workouts/week to 12, and everything is getting longer as well (up over 20 hours/week very soon). I'm ready to go. After my first 3-a-day in a long time (plus core/stretching) yesterday, I am excited to be re-focused and take on the tasks at hand.
The basics as always: 6.7 hours, 6700 yards in the pool, 3 hours on the bike, 10 miles of running. Long ride of 1:30, long run of under an hour. Pretty weak? Perhaps, but like I said, much-needed. After a lot of training and a lot of stress last week (see previous post), I needed both a mental and physical break. And it worked out perfectly.
My big annual report for work was done and out the door on Monday. After that, the stress of work faded away somewhat. I still had a presentation to prepare for a conference in Tucson (Arizona Hydrological Society), but after 7 years of putting together talks in front of groups I don't know, it really wasn't a big deal. So yeah, Tuesday of preparing for the presentation, Wednesday practicing at the office (free lunch!), and Thursday and Friday at the conference (read "more free lunch"). It is weird to go to professional conferences these days and I recognize a significant portion of the audience. I guess that is the point. Too bad I am TERRIBLE with names. My conversations usually start out with, "uh, didn't I meet you at that conference at that place last year?" Oh well :) Training during the week was nothing really notable. A few swims and some easy runs. Although...I was shocked when I convinced myself to go swimming after the conference on Thursday instead of hanging around for free food and drinks! Who does that?
Friday was a half-day at the conference, followed by a trip to "the River." Spent a lot of time hanging out at "the sandbar" recovering from the night before. Lots of great food, horseshoes, catching up with old friends, and making a few new ones. The girls are really starting to enjoy themselves in the sand and water, just like me when I was a kid I suppose. Too bad water for me now typically involves a pool with a black line to follow (although I admit, we're working our way out of our love-hate relationship). The River for kids can be summed up as follows:
Wake up, then repeat :)
I did manage a good brick workout on Sunday morning. 90 minutes on the mountain bike (only dirt roads and jeep trails out here) and 45 minutes running. Good stuff. The long weekend reminded me that life tends to get challenging, and you end up burnt out (whether it's work, school, training, etc.). It's great to step back, take a deep breath, get reminded of the important things. Mind and body are resilient if you listen to them. And more often than not, you're ready to charge back into your passions.
Returned to Tucson to see that my coach delivered my next five weeks of training. It is a good thing I feel refreshed, because I've got some work to do! Increasing from 9 workouts/week to 12, and everything is getting longer as well (up over 20 hours/week very soon). I'm ready to go. After my first 3-a-day in a long time (plus core/stretching) yesterday, I am excited to be re-focused and take on the tasks at hand.
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