Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Medical Update

Turns out I need to take 3 weeks off of my achilles, and apparently my hips and si joint were all torqued up. I'm going to take the next month to rebuild, focusing on weights, swimming, and cycling when the weather is good on the weekends.

My goal is to build a base of strength and then start to put endurance on top of that core strength -- not sure how that approach can go wrong!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Lake Meridian Tri and the Object Lesson

First, the tri.
The Lake Meridian Triathlon is an awesome venue -- the lake itself is pristine, the cycling course is rolling to awesome, and the run is f*cking tough. And the people putting it on are super friendly. It's a great race. Unfortunately, I did not have a great race:
  • Swim: felt bad. questioning the effort 100 yards into the race. Tired, slogged through it.
  • Bike: felt better, but not able to really dig deeply. avg 20.4 mph, hr @ 155-160.
  • Run: felt crappy. really not able to push it. HR flatlined around 155 or so.
To summarize: I was tired and it showed. Why was I tired? Because I had pushed my mind and body past where they could bounce back via a combination of hard training and overwork. The frequent travelling didn't help, but I can't make up for that travelling by pushing hard when I'm home. I'm too old to recover from that kind of approach.

I think it's time to pull back, way back, and take an honest look at why I do these things. Placing is irrelevant, it depends on who shows up. I'm not elite and so placing just doesn't matter.

Effort is everything. If I can cross the line knowing that I went beyond what I thought I could do, then I've succeeded. I've only had that experience a couple of times this summer, most notably the Hood River weekend with Jay, where we did 90 miles on the bike the first day, 14 miles trail running the second. It was a great way to push myself further than I thought possible.

The olympic tri I did last summer -- the Lake Meridian tri -- was a breakthrough experience because I had such a positive day. I don't race a lot, and so I want every race to be a breakthrough experience, where, regardless of how I place, I cross the line fully fucking spent.

In order to do that I need to do the following:
  1. I need to be fully connected to the purpose of the race. Which is to push myself past what I thought was possible.
  2. My head needs to be fresh and capable of focusing past the pain in order to get me past my limits.
  3. My body needs to be fresh and capable of responding to the huge requests my head is making.
  4. I need to swim, bike, and run my own race, using other people as motivation, but not going head to head with them, because basically they're part of the challenge of the course.
In the last several months I've lost my way. This happens a lot with me :) I mistake the miles, the workouts, the intervals, the checkboxes, for signs of progress. I fried myself hard this time, I've got an achy achilles and a twingy back, and nothing to show for it except kind of a numb feeling when I think about the races I did this year.

I'm going to step back and redefine how I get to the place where I can have these breakthrough experiences at will. I think its going to require mental conditioning to accept discomfort, physical conditioning to maintain a greater pace over significant distances, and nutritional conditioning to make sure I'm as efficient as possible when it comes to fuel consumption and excess body weight.

The lesson of the past year is to cultivate patience, and to keep the real prize, the prize worth fighting for, worth suffering for, first and foremost in my mind. In this day and age it is possible to go from cradle to grave never knowing what you are capable of. I do these races for the same reason I spent a lot of time climbing, windsurfing, snowboarding. I want to redefine what is possible, and take myself past the limits that I've shackled myself with. To get there, everything has to line up. My head, my heart, my body, all have to want the same thing, at the same time. The goal of training is to show up on race day with everything aligned, ready to go, regardless of whether the outcome would be seen as success in anyone elses eyes.

Success is in the effort. If I leave it all in the lake, on the road, and on the trail, then I've succeeded. Anything less is a failure, even if that lesser effort leads to a high place.


8/22 - 8/27 last week before Lake Meridian Tri

Continuing the general theme of "I'm cooked" into this next week. Actually, I'm not as cooked as I was last week. But I am definitely not sticking to any kind of plan.

At practice they drilled us, which I was not expecting. While it was fun to run around with a soccer ball, it has definitely been a while, and I'm rusty. Also, I forgot soccer is a contact sport. I was going for the ball with this guy and he knocked into me and my foot came down funny. So now I have a slightly sprained ankle. Whoops.


Mon

Swim: did a progressive ladder, 50-400 yds, increasing by 50 each time, with a 50 breast break. I think that was 2300 yards total. Felt good to just move for a while. Might do the same one more time before the race. It's not like I'm going to get faster doing intervals!

Tues

bad night sleep (hot inside). I stayed home and lifted weights. Emphasis on core and legs.

Tues night I went to the Mercer Island Youth Soccer Club coaches clinic, which was really, really good. They had some amazing coaches dispensing some great drills, and basic guidelines. Afterwards we went out for beers at the Roanoke, which is a great place to unwind on a warm summer night. They drilled us pretty good. I wasn't expecting to run around with the ball, but boy do I miss soccer!

Wed

This morning (Wed) I got up and felt like I had gotten run over by a truck. It's amazing how much soccer is starting to resemble a rough night of drinking -- really fun at the time, but I pay for it the next morning. I got out on a run anyways. Started out slow, picked it up a little, decided to go hard on the steep uphill section, and wrapped it up with a good final effort up 'puke-alicious hill'. 6 miles total, I think the avg was 8:45 or so, which is OK considering the middle hill section, and that I took it easy on the first downhill, and that I felt like hell for the first 3 miles.

Thurs

day off

Fri

swam 1300 yards, 500 warmup, 800 of 100 free with 50 breast

Sat

14 mile bike ride, spinning the legs, which feel tired.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

4 hour body. Really?

Color me skeptical, but intrigued. I've been reading the 4 hour body, and while I'm too old (school) to think a lot of this is possible, I do think he's got a point about minimum effective dose.

this comes after a summer of training hard, and losing perspective on why training hard should actually be having fun and just happening to train hard. That did happen a couple of times this summer, but definitely not as much as I would have wanted.

The truth is that I don't live to train, I live to have cool mental experiences while training and racing. And when I'm crispy, those mental experiences don't happen. I've always been easy to fry, mainly because life tends to wear on me a bit. This summer I've been working hard, and being a good dad and a good husband, and triathlon comes in third. It always will. So the key is to train for it in a way that doesn't stress me out, and doesn't break my body down.

My body, by the way, is pretty fucking broken right now. I've got achilles problems, exacerbated by a sprained ankle, all of this 4 days before my last triathlon, my A race, which as a cheap ass Indian I am going to do because I did after all fucking pay 80 dollars goddammnit.

So this whole 4 hour thing, especially the part about ultra-endurance, intrigues me. I think there is some good stuff in there: mainly:


  1. to run far you've got to be strong. You've got to have muscle in reserve because your front line will break down.
  2. to run far you've got to have good technique. That reminds me, I need to buy one of those runner metronomes.


So toodling around for 15 miles in 3 hours isn't going to make me uber. Unless, of course, there is 4000 feet of climbing and it's all on trails. On the other hand, doing cross fit endurance and running 400 meters until I puke doesn't sound like the ultimate solution. I think the intensity is needed, the strength is needed, but something has to give, like the amount of time I am putting in.

I'm wondering, quite simply, if it is possible to maintain fitness and strength and apply both to endurance events without burning out, and with flaming out during the event. I think this requires a couple of things:

(1) Gut go bye bye. Extra weight isn't earning it's way. Time to lose it.
(2) Distance tests. Got to run long, bike long at least 1x/week.
(3) Intensity Rules: when going fast, distance doesn't matter.

The injuries have come on the 'long hard' efforts. Which are still totally legit, just not back to back/all the time. More importantly, the mental capacity of going hard for a long time won't be fried by the time the race comes along. And maybe, just maybe, _not_ going 250%, only 80, during a long ride, will keep my head in the game.

Next steps:
  1. get on the fucking weight loss/muscle gain plan.
  2. rehab this fucking achilles tendon
  3. get my head back for long, hard efforts.
  4. get really fucking strong.


FUCK YEAH (battle cry)!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

8/15 - 8/21: Stick a Fork in me, I might be Done.

A slight aside here. I'm burnt. Crispy, actually, have been for a while. Most of this is due to work, which has been somewhat soul sucking in the last month. I like parts of my work -- the design, the meeting with people, etc. There are other parts -- the legal shit, the adminstrivia, that suck ass. And even the fun stuff is piling up as the product I'm developing is starting to get some legs underneath it.

The other reason I'm burnt is quite simply that I'm doing this for the wrong fucking reason. I've fallen into a rut -- I'm the king of ruts, a veritable rut magnet, a heavy rut attractor. This particular rut is all about triathlon training + weight training in an attempt to get faster+stronger. The problem is that I should have focused a lot more on strength early in the season -- I'm definitely feeling the lack of a base right now. Some long term fatigue creeping up. And some mental symptoms as well.

Symptom #1: I don't like riding my bike. This shift started around the time I started riding tired (after a hard 1-2 days running + weights), doing intervals (hill intervals, up Gallager Hill Rd). I normally _love_ riding my bike, on the aeros, back flat, legs churning. However it's not so fun when the legs are tired. And forget any fun when doing tired leg hill intervals.

Symptom #2: I'm getting fried in the pool when doing fast sets. I have no problem spacing my way through a 500. Just that the 100s on the 1:40 are hurting.

Symptom #3: nagging running injuries: my achilles is tightening up, my back is twinging.

Last weeks schedule:

Monday: swimming, 1700 yards, rolling easy.
Tues: weights before plane trip. Hard leg weight session. Now using 40 lb dumbells.
Wed: in Connecticut
Thurs: in NYC
Fri: 26 miles, 3 Gallager Hill intervals. Felt really, really tired. Blech.
Sat: took day off to go to Olympic Peninsula
Sun: 4 miles easy, 9:15 average, focused on cadence and little else (other than keeping pulse down)

Read a great book: Born To Run. What this book makes me want to do: rebase my running on long, slow steady efforts with focused speedwork. Also want to rebase my leg strength, working up to single leg squats with 40-80lbs weight, maybe plyos, etc. I want my legs to be fucking hammering strong.

Finally, I want to get back on trails. Trails make me happy, and that in the end is what this is about. I've got a tri next weekend, the LakeMeridian tri, and then maybe a swim-run du the next Wednesday, and then maybe-maybe the Mercer Island Tri sep 11, but maybe not since Lopa's parents are leaving that day. I just want to back off the 'training mode' intensity a bit and rebase what I'm trying to get out of the whole massive effort. I think in the end it should be less about being fast, and more about being happy through tough efforts. If I can get there, it will be a huge step in the right direction.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Training Summary 8/8 - 8/14

1 week into the new weight augmented regime and I'm a tired duck. Allergies are acting up, leaving a well of concentrated phleghm in the pit of my throat. Sleep is hard to come by, Lopa is only comfortable in 80+ degrees, so I'm banishing myself down to the storage room. And body parts are acting up. My right SI joint feels 50 years old.

Monday

Swimming
2x500 free
10x50 fistglove love action
4x100 IM

Holy FuckingShit those IMs are killing me, not softly or slowly. By the time I'm doing the backstroke I'm hyperventilating. I'm breathing so hard I can't even do a pullout for the 25 breast. Still....it feels good to go hard like that. The 500 frees are getting easier, mentally and physically. I'm hallucinating that I'm actually gripping the water. It's a strange, elusive, addictive feeling. I think I look like I'm on ludes when I'm swimming, my stoke rate (other than at IM time) is snore inducing.

Tuesday

5.8 miles, 14x30x30s. Planned on riding but rolled out of bed toodamnlate. Did the 14x30x30s, hit around 6-6:30/mile, all around threshold HR.

Then weights: the usual kickass grinder, no longer kicking my ass. So I think I've got to up the intensity.

Wednesday

9 miles, 8:47/mi, including a walking section. Did a 7:07 after a good buildup, then held 7:26 for the next .66 mile (until trail). Felt generally strong

Thursday

slept in, did some abs exercises, called it a day off. In the evening I got a chance to put on the wetsuit and swim off of Proctor's landing w/Michele and Suz, who were getting ready for their Danskin tri. It was great to get back in the lake, the water was crisp, but I was hot by the end of the swim. As usual in a wet suit, I had to really focus on rolling from side to side, and relaxing, and pulling along the side of my body (not down the middle where I cross over).

Friday

biked 22 miles relatively easy.

Man, I'm fried. I took off late for a 6AM ride, resolving to make it up by doing 3 hill intervals up Gallagher Hill. I took off up the first climb in the big ring, and felt weak, so kept pushing. At the top I felt queasy and weak. So I backed off. I hit the 10 mile mark and turned around.

Mentally I wasn't there. Its been a long week at work. Lots of stress, lots of unplanned shite. I was just not there. In my 20s I would have gutted through it, and dug myself deeper into the burnout cave. But I'm too old for that drama, so I backed off and decided to 'live to fight another day'.

I did try to push a bigger gear, just for the fuck of it. That ended up being muscularly challenging, not cardiovascular, which was fine. Then I lifted weights.

I need to push it harder on the weights. The first few times my legs were completely fried, now the same sets don't even make me sore the next day. The problem is that I can't load up too much on the single leg squats. I need to go into those with 20 extra lbs. Anything to shred the glutes and quads.

Saturday

swam 1800 yds
Still mentally not quite with it. Again, I'm backing off -- this is a hobby, not a profession, and definitely not the barometer by which I judge myself. So I floated a little bit through this workout:

500 free
500 free
3x100 free on 1:30 w/50 breast rest
2x100 IM no time w/50 breast rest
100 warmdown.

Sunday:
Sat and Sun were spent camping, aka sleeping on the beach interrupted by several games of catch w/Kiran. He even gave me pointers on my spiral ("watch your follow through, dad!") which was awesome because (a) it worked and (b) it shows he's becoming analytical. On Sunday I took him for a little jog on the beach, he got a little winded, but wanted to do more. I think I'm going to start him running just a little bit, like a mile at a time, to get the feeling of moving for a while. His swimming is also coming along well, He may well be ocean ready the next time we are in Hawaii (gentle waves, total supervision, of course!) This is a fun phase for me, he likes spending time with me and we get along well. I'm lapping it up. I know what happens when they become teenagers!

Leela is zooming around on her little bike, not so much into swimming or anything that requires physical exertion. Which is too bad, she's definitely the more athletic of the two. Kind of reminds me of myself and Mira. Mira had way more talent but would rather be doing other things.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Training Summary 8/2 - 8/7

Kind of a short week, because I was in Orlando. That means one fun filled day of travel (Tuesday) followed by 2 fun filled days of meetings (Wed,Thurs) capped off by one fun filled cross country flight back to Seattle surrounded by Chinese 14 year olds on holiday, which is divine karmic retribution for my trip to China as a binge drinking 16 year old. So my training week really began on Friday!

Tues-Thurs:

I spent time in a sweltering, swampy, mess, surrounded by people who were making questionable decisions and sticking by them. Kind of a perfect storm for me, as I like to make questionable decisions and then abandon them. But, lots of drinking was done and lots of charisma was dispensed. Mission accomplished.

Fri:

still on east coast time, I got up and got in 2450 yards of swimming:

1x500 free
2x450 free/50 br
5x100 IM / 50 br.
200 warmdown

Those IMs are killing me. But they're fun! The longer distance free blocks are more for working on form and combating form breakdown than going fast. I have a long, long ways to go before I can consider my form to be adequate.

Sat:

Rode 26 miles, island loop counter-clockwise with 3 intervals up Gallager hill road, a 255 foot climb in .5 mile. The hill breaks up into two parts. I try to muscle through the first steep pitch, wobble to the second steep pitch, and just try not to puke up that last grade. Then rode back the way I came, spinning the backend, then picking it up on the frontend. On the way out, met a guy who has a group ride going @ 6AM weekdays. Ouch. However, I need to ride w/a group. Need the Speed.

Followed this ride with weights:

1x15 single leg squats per leg, no weights
1x10 dead lift w/60lbs
1x10 one arm squat w/kettlebell w/45 lbs
1x15 single leg squats, 30 lbs
1x10 deadlift w/60 lbs
1x10 one arm squat w/kettlebell
1x15 single leg squats, 40 lbs
1x10 deadlift w/60 lbs
1x10 one arm squat w/kettlebell

Sun:

rode 37 miles, out to Issaquah and back. Picked it up in sections, but overall felt tired from yesterday. Still, there were 'mental' sections where I visualized my way into a bigger gear. I really feel like the leg strength and gearing is coming along.