A 50 Mile Day

Cold again today, but weather is but an excuse I suppose, so despite not being able to wake up early enough to go on an organized long ride, I still made it onto the road. I traveled, as the title suggests, a bit more than 50 miles under my own power. That's not a big deal really, a lot of my longer rides are at least 50 miles, but today I rode only about 37 miles. That means I ran 13+ miles! I'm a bit surprised at myself. In retrospect, I think it was somewhat foolish, as there was a good chance that was too long a distance, and the risk of injury was probably unnecessarily high, but alas. I must say it did hurt a bit, but I never felt tired or dehydrated. I finished fairly strong as well.

Passing the 13.1 half marathon distance in a run is definitely a confidence builder. I feel like I'll be well prepared for the full marathon at the end of March, so long as I keep from overtraining and getting injured.

Tomorrow its the second of two sessions with a trainer, and then a recovery spin (hard to do with a room full of people looking for bicycle sadomasochism as doled out by the instructor). Hopefully I'm not going to be waking up too sore tomorrow.

On a cold winter's day

I had high hopes for today's ride. I planned for 60-75 miles, but it was very cold and I had on gloves that were much lighter than were really required, so I returned home after only 25 miles. Nonetheless, it wasn't a complete waste of time and I recorded some good data. Thanks to my newly acquired GPS heart rate monitor, I can tell that although I averaged only .2 MPH slower than last week's ride, my heart rate stayed 12 BPM lower on average than last weeks ride. In principle, this should mean I'm a bit more fit than last week.

Another observation - I downloaded a copy of The Imperial Life in the Emerald City and listened to the first few chapters while on the road. I've been wanting to investigate whether its practical to ride while digesting information, and it seemed to work. Of course, buying audiobooks regularly would be pretty costly, so I think in the future I'll tend towards more public domain classics, or podcasts, but nonetheless, it seems like a promising concept.

Finally, I'm considering adding a few more events for the summer. I'm not sure that's a good idea, but what the hell.

The events I'm considering are:
The Black Bear half Iron triathlon on 1 June in Pennsylvania
The Mountaineer Triathlon on 28 June in Morgantown WV
The NJ State Triathlon on 27 July in New Jersey

Stayed tuned for updates on the schedule

the Judo of strength training

Good advice on building strength for endurance activities is a tough thing to find, especially on the internet. I spent an hour at the gym today with a trainer - an experience that I thought I would find miserable - but it turned out to be great. Here's why - weight training with machines can feel satisfying because its easy and easily quantified. Big weight times some number of reps = huge! Except that our muscles work in conjunction with other muscles and machines can isolate one muscle group from another. Bad knees, for example, can be caused by having huge quads and weak hamstrings and glutes. So, rather than using weight machines, the trainer, who was a former long distance swimmer (and thus knew much about building endurance), came up with a lot of simple things to stress an entire muscle group using just my own weight against it. I'd call this a plyometric exercise, but I think that relies a little more on explosive movements. This was just using my own weight against me, thus being essentially like judo.

The end result is that after only a short time, my legs were shredded. I tend to think my legs are relatively strong, so I was really impressed. Fortunately, I wrote down al the exercises immediately afterwards so I don't have to pay for another training session.

The wonders of technology

Saturday = endurance. In fact, I spend 4 hours cycling or running today. I'm now rather tired. It's been pretty chilly here today, so I was surprised I'd make it out, but the prospect of a colder Sunday and the chance to test out a new toy - a Garmin GPS/heart rate monitor - pushed me to go long. The amazing thing is not just seeing heart rate over time, but being able to plot it and analyze each work out. For example, if you're curious, here's the ride and the run. I've never really used a heart rate monitor much before, so I'm not entirely sure what my max is, and where I should be training. Clearly, I have more bike fitness than run fitness, as my hr stayed almost 30 bpm lower.

I'll post more data over time, hopefully making it easy to plot improvement.

Yoga and spring break

Today I made my first attempt at going to a power yoga class. Apparently the key is to do a little more abdominals work and keep one's heart rate. My opinion was mixed. It was not nearly as difficult as I expected, at least in the cardio sense. However, some of the positions were a little more extreme, and required more strength and balance than usual yoga. As an aside, you'd think swimming would be the sport that required the least balance of the three - after all, how is it that floating would require more balance than moving 25 M.P.H on two wheels a centimeter wide? And yet, swimming requires an amazing amount of balance.

So, secondly, I'm beginning to think I might try to go to a triathlon camp in Spain in early April. Downsides are 1)$$$, 2) it would be the week after I finished National Marathon and presumably I'd be recovering. Although, who knows. Perhaps it would perfectly timed to occur right at the beginning of the build period. There seem to be quite a few different companies offering bike tours, which, frankly, is all I really want. I'm tempted to go myself, but the potential for disaster when combining shipping a bike, the possibility for mechanical failures, and the prospect of getting lost somewhere in backwater Italy, well, it seems crazy.

Finally, I'm scheduled to meet with a nutritionist next week who will hopefully help me figure out a diet.

Diet redux, Ironmen, and a Predawn Swim

A shopping trip today resulted in some good finds. First, raisins. Apparently very alkaline - good for retaining muscle mass. Second, avacados and salsa - this will hopefully become a mid-afternoon snack from now on. Some good fat and fiber. Almonds - delicious and good fat too. Finally, cliff bar energy bars and protein bars on the cheap. Lots of chocolate and peanut butter.

More importantly though, although I'm learning better how to work at my diet, it remains really challenging. For example, how much carbohydrates are appropriate after a short work out? Will a cliff bar be the right thing to eat after a long run that drains glycogen? Finally, I still need to drop about 20-25 lbs, so do I do that by skimping on pre-post carbs, forcing my body to pull energy from fat cells to replace glycogen? Does that even work?

I've been listening to a great podcast - Ironman Talk. Two New Zealanders with some good Ironman experience. Like nearly all type A early 30s men who come to triathlon, I'm of course fixated with competing in an Ironman distance race (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, 26.2 mile run - a total of 140.6). People spend years preparing for such things. I'm hoping to do one in late September or October. Crazy? Yes. Dangerous? Possibly.

Finally, today was the first schedule two-a-day work out. I've join the ranks of seriously OCD triathletes and high school football players (at least in august). It wasn't easy to get up, but, with some internal debate, I got myself up and to the gym. Here's to many more two-a-day tuesdays.

What to listen to on a 6 hour bike ride?

Well, 6 hours is still a few months away probably, but it's a likelihood that I'll become rather bored with the hyper-literate indie pop that I tend to take on the road. Now for those concerned for my safety, or more likely, the safety of others, let me assure you that I only use one earphone while cycling, so I stay generally aware of my surroundings.

What I'm curious about is audiobooks (preferably titles in the public domain that should, I'd hope, be free). Alternatively, I could stick with podcasts. I like the idea of audiobooks though because A) I'm pedantic and like to cite books I've recently read in thoroughly unneeded ways in cocktail party conversation and B) because I would think the content is a bit more predictable.

Things I don't entirely understand

I have some residual ignorances that I hope to rectify over the coming months. Do you have answers?

Nutrition on the bike - bars versus gels, cytomax versus gatorade versus water? I assume there's a time and place for each, but I wish I knew how to plan out bike nutrition a little better.

Just how many bikes - is it enough to just have aero bars? I like my roadbike. Should I get a tri bike though? I'd say aero bars would hack it but A) I like toys and B) I am planning for some long races, so where's the line? Secondly, if I had a tri bike, would I never ride my road bike again? Ideally, I'd like to think that I'd do Saturday's long rides on a a tri bike, and get back on road bike for Sunday group rides, plus afterwork rides as the days lengthen and I can get out of the gym, but who knows.

Pedals - currently I have SPDs. Good entry level pedals, but I fear probably a little heavy for a long day of pedaling. Look is a sentimental favorite for me given their sponsorship of Alberto Tomba some years back, but Speedplay claims to be healthier on the knees.

The Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner

Running is hard. For some of us, the whispy, the waifish, the spindly, it can be pleasant. I ran cross country and track in high school and I generally enjoyed it. In the post-college era, I put together a few stretches of months in which I ran regularly. Lately, I've been having fun on my runs, and I have the NY Times to thank. It turns out that if you focus on an object intently, and repeat an internal mantra, it becomes easier to put to use the endless existential angst that comes with running longer distances. With a little practice, one can stay almost entranced, and those thoughts of failed careers and relationships, of frustrated aspirations, and other nagging questions sort of fade into the background. This is almost academic if you run with other people, or can zone out with your iPod, but remember that races tend to ban iPods these days, so best to learn to run for several hours without musical distraction.

More importantly almost, the internal mantra focuses one on regulating strides to create an optimal cadence of 85-95 (oddly enough, this is also just about the optimal bike cadence).

Finally, it still helps to have good music. In fact, there's a science, apparently, to choosing music. I'll give a brief glimpse into my running playlist -

Let's Get it Started
Moby's James Bond theme remix
Yer Country
Stronger
Lose Yourself
Firestarter
Jump Around
Galvanize

One might think it's like having a dance party on the road, which is I suppose accurate, but the bigger idea is to have music that keeps the cadence, but not necessarily the intensity up. After all, remember that intensity makes establishing the all-important fitness base more difficult when improperly applied.

Ironically, despite really liking Belle and Sebastian's song the Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner, I don't listen to it while running.

Endurance diet

As I mentioned in a previous post, there is apparently much to be said for having a purpose for each training session. In the same vein, I'm hoping to give much more thought to what I eat. My diet usually consists of a lot of carbohydrates, a lot of dairy, gallons of diet coke, and lean and not so lean protein. I occasionally eat vegetables, and more rarely, fruit.

This is not going to work, of course.

Nutritionists seem to think that an endurance athlete's diet should consist primarily of lean protein, vegetables and fruit, with some good fats like avocados, low-fat yogurt, olive oil, etc. Carbohydrates are part of the diet during endurance sessions and immediately afterwards, to replenish the glycogen.

This will be a struggle for me, but there's no point to building a better engine without more properly fueling it.

Current training schedule

People more dedicated than I say each training session should have a purpose. This is perhaps where the proverbial rubber meets the road in that the average aspiring triathlete may not have the time or energy to plan things out ahead of time. I'm going to start off easy and just plan a purposeful schedule and hope that over time, I'll know enough about my progress during the base phase to give each workout more purpose.

A few observations and frustrations thus far. First of all, although it has been warm lately, I'm not sure we can count on the entire winter being bypassed by global warming just yet. So, that means a lot of indoor time. I've been fortunate to get rides and runs outside the last two weekends, but that's by no means guaranteed. Indoors is ok, but challenging. I've begun spinning, which in someways is really good for my cycling ability - the chance to work on pedal stroke is key because there are no distractions. Also, I really (perhaps more than I expected) like obnoxiously loud techno remixes of obscure songs. However, the class is designed for people who need 45 minutes of enforced discipline to get a cardio workout. It's not designed for people working to purposefully build the mitochondria and capillaries necessary for effective endurance performances. I.E, you can't rush this phase because it involves growing things. So the spinning instructors sort of yell and everyone sprints and stands and climbs and sprints, and I sit and try to plod along at a steady pace for the entire class. I fear they secretly loathe me.

So, as it stands now, here's the schedule.

Monday - strength workout of crunches, tricep dips, leg lifts, pull ups, side and back bends, chest pull and seated row, plus quad and hamstring work. Then, 45 minutes of spinning followed by no more than 30 minutes running.

Tuesday - eventually, Tuesday will be a two-a-day day, with an early morning long swim of an hour. I'll try that this week, though I'm attending a tri swimming clinic in February, and until then, I may stay out of the pool some. Also, before work? Two-a-day? WTF! But yes, I'll go back to the gym afterwork for another 45 minute spin (taught by a very good instructor I think), and then an hour of vinyasa yoga.

Wednesday, for the most part I'll take Wednesday off. Hooray!

Thursday - mid-day long run. Triathlon training literature suggests no more than one long run a week. This will be it for me. Post work, back to the gym for a medium swim, plus Monday's strenth workout.

Friday - 45 minute spin. Friday's spinning instructor is crazy. She sings along to the songs, but she's a very knowledgeable endurance athlete I think, so I'll cut her some slack.

Saturday - a long ride. There are some variables though, including A) weather, B) the degree to which I'm hungover, C) well, mostly just B again. I kid. Sort of. I usually use this route. It's repetitive, and often there are a lot of people on one stretch of road, but much of it is blocked to vehicle traffic, and since I usually ride by myself on long days, I don't want to go too far from home. After the ride, which should be 3 or 4 hours now, and 6 by June, I'll do at most 30 minutes of running.

Sunday - another ride, but less long at 40 miles, and with a group organized by a local bike shop. A very chill crowd. I'd like to ride with people from the local triathlon club in D.C., but they usually go on Saturdays, and until I'm more comfortable with riding in a group, I think I'll stick to myself.

You may notice that I've for the most part avoided listing workouts in terms of miles. This is because, as I understand it, the key in base phase is going for long periods of time so that the body is trained to keep working after the initial glycogen stores are used up after 2:30 hours or so. I'll keep a mileage log though, just in case you're curious.

How it all began

I live my life in compulsive phases. Currently that phase is premised on training for, and competing in, triathlons. Thus far, my only race was the Nation's Triathlon. I finished at around 2:40. Not great, but not bad either I think, considering my fitness level left much to be desired. I've cycled for three summers now, but never with purpose and I smoked and drank away my fitness in the winter. However, after passing a relatively major milestone of years, I'm hoping to put all the effort I can into this for this summer. I have an ambitious race plan.

In March, I'm doing the National Marathon
In April, the Richmond 10K
In May, the Big Lake Half Marathon in Alton, NH.
Nothing in June as of yet, maybe just some hard training. I should be pretty solidly at the end of the build phase
July is busy, with the first tri of the year, a 1/2 Ironman in Rhode Island on 13 July New York City Triathlon on 20 July. (Yeah, NYC will not be my hardest effort, but I couldn't resist the chance to swim in the Hudson)
In August, it's back to NH for the Timberman 1/2 Iron in Guilford. It may also possibly include the Philadelphia Tri on 3 August.
September has both the Nation's Triathlon again on 14 September, and if I'm feeling it, Chesapeake Man (140.6) on the eastern shore of the bay on 27 September.
October, pending the degree to which my knees are still functional, the Marine Corps Marathon on 26 October.

I expect I'll add at least one or two century rides in June and mid-August and maybe mid October.

This is the plan thus far. Check back to see how it goes.