'bout time

"Everything but the blog and its story of my dormant training." This is the story of the last few weeks. having a pretty bad bout of the flu segued into a mid season off season. Interesting enough I have never not thought about training and racing for this long since I picked up the "sport" three years ago. Any attempt to take time off has been a painful process but not this time. I guess it has to do with finding myself neck deep in the nest-guarding (nest building with a decidedly masculine approach) process. With the new man just around the corner i've been clearing the decks making sure that all the short term come long term projects around the house are more or less wrapped up. (one of the pitfalls of being a married homeowner and dad) At least I've been able to stay focused on the reason for my tri-batical (my word) and gain traction in the other aspects of my life to which I am accountable. At first I became anxious about losing fitness and putting a spike in my body compostion, but two weeks of serious manual labor has served as a quasi-surrogate for an off season training schedule. Putting in 12 hour days of digging french drains, installing irrigation, hauling buckets of gravel and welding steel planters takes its toll and on the hands and back. One thing I know is that endurance athletes can run circles around laborers who are having to set stuff down and take a break. come on fellas.


Nutrition has been weak.
Living on power bars and skinny silver and blue cans has compelled me to gorge on salads when the sun goes down. That's balanced right?


I have been reading triathlete mag with a renewed cynicism, which is fun, smiling at photos of fat healstrikers running in wet cycling jerseys. Go get em Ironman. The latest edtion really got me grinning with the over the top representation of ethnicity in the swimsuit issue. Please. Let's keep it about the sport and less about fashion (and political correctness). Until the gals start racing in the g-bang save it. There are maybe a few out there who look good in tri-bike shorts but their ass is way too small to actually kill the bike. I think the problem with the mag is it tries to include all interests in the sport which dilutes the content to that of a strip bar cocktail. Too much handholding and bike photos. I don't need any more equipment, thanks. But you know what they say. Those that cannot do...critique.

Going for a run today. should be interesting. I'm going to take the garmin to do a little aerobic fitness assessment. I think this will change my approach slightly. Previously I had wanted to focus on maintaining speed and intensity. That was 4 weeks ago and when my aerobic fitness was not in question. Today not so much. I think it'll be back at Z1-2 with easy strenght training for at least 4 weeks. So time to get to it.

'bout time.

102.1

Not the new triathlon distance but my average body temperature over the last four days. Man, I've been sick. It's been very anxiety provoking laying around in bed and on the couch for that long when my schedule has been duck ass tight for the last two years. It's kind of a relief knowing that there is nothing really that can't be done later, not the case if I was still planning to do Xterra West. I'd be freaking out because I'm still really weak, not that I was superstrong a week ago. Which leads me to some post-mortem comments on the April 6th TT that needn't be exhumed.

I'll keep it brief. Basically it was a windy day with gusts to 13 from the south which is a headwind into the whole backside stretch of the course including the false flats. I knew it would be slow but at least the Ptap would help my pacing. Before my warmup I met a guy who travelled all the way from Park City to race at our little dust bowl. I pinned his number and he asked me, what are you racing, the 50's. I thought he was talking about some part of my equipment I guess, then I realized he was talking AG. I told him 30's and stuck him with a pin, twice. That'll teach him to act stupid. So I had a good warmup and was feeling okay but thought my interval sessions would pull me through because I had worked hard to improve my wattage. I was on time relaxed and ready to throw down but as I settled into the first lap my laddered split wattage started hurting me way to soon. Not what you want to have happen when you go out easy. The headwind sections really dropped the speed and required a lot of shifting. It was hard to find the sweet spot in my gearing. I told myself I had the advantage with Power reading and the rest of the field would struggle as well trying to maintain average speed through the tough spots. Still I

Graph details. check the speed variation, crazy for this flat course.

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couldn't get the Power up to my goal. It reminded me of the feeling I had at Wildflower last year, where I just couldn't get it going. I basically just held on and tried to not blow up. I knew I wouldn't make it sub 30:00 at about 200m to go so I kind of let up and cruised in at 30:16. Not that it really matters but the guy in front of me went 30:15, doh, lesson learned. Just frustrated was all. It was a rough day, but good training and another start. I went for a 30 minute run right off the bike to prep for the Pine Valley DU. Probably a good idea to do that since it had been a while. It felt surprisingly good. I don't have much of an explanation for the decreased performance except that maybe my aerobic fitness has decreased with less total training hours.

Well this leads me to my prognosis. I'm probably not going to race this Saturday after all. I want to slowly get back to some activity tomorrow and hopefully rebuild some fitness to start the Road Race in May. Getting another start with the CAT 5's would be nice.

Smuggling fitness.

In truth are the rhythms of life, ups and downs, ins and outs. Keep moving forward with resolute intentions and "progress" shall be made (I tell myself). The past few weeks have been good for me, streaming with self discovery and elective workouts. The punched in the stomach feeling like I had somehow let myself down re last post, has been replaced with excitement surrounding a more low profile approach, trying to smuggle as much fitness as I can.

It involves a reduced volume/ high intensity training plan and a small handful of short duration. I spoke to Jim at some length about executing a 6-8 hour/ week TP and some general guidelines surrounding fitness maintenance that might allow stabbing at a race with 3-4 weeks notice. It looks like this.

6 day training week 3 week microcycle (sport focus) within a 6 week block:
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3_2_1
.
3 days focus sport (2 interval, 1 long)
.
2 "on-deck" sport (1 interval, 1 long)
.
1 day (interval)
.
*plus all the strength training I can fit in.

It sometimes sounds like a cockamamey scheme, but it should work.
I'm going to try to make as many of the workouts with a group to help with motivation and fun factor. The best part of this type of plan is that it's "sustainable"(buzz).
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Training has been mostly about having fun, and yes Vo2 max intervals are fun, with plenty of cycling and undocumented runs. I've been averaging over 100 miles on the bike for the past two weeks and I'm feeling strong and fresh. I got out on the MTB with the kid on Sunday and built on some local knowledge in Penasquitos Canyon.

On the radar.

Time trialing again this sunday. I don't know what it is about these races, but I've always been a speed junky, techno weenie, and suffering on the bike. They are really well run with good fans and a low key atmosphere. My start time is late, which is good for my warmup style. It'd be nice to lay down another PR, but I'm mainly looking for the data for the next 4 weeks of training.


ready to blow.

Keeping with the cycling focus I'll be heading up to the TCSD Pine Valley Duathlon on the 20th.
This race features a killer climb that I know pretty well with a less attractive two lap hill run. It's draft legal on the bike and want to implement some strong strategy to work with a lead group and establish a good gap then motor the descent into transition.

PV DU profile

Then on May 4th taking to the bike once again in the San Luis Rey Road Race. I'm really looking forward to this race having learned alot from BLVD. I will be bringing more bike fitness and a go for it attitude.

I've got one more card to play but will talk about that later.

The leprachaun stole my mojo.

St. patty's 10k has come and gone and the parade passed me by. DNS. I had overcome some doubt (regarding my fitness) and was willing to put it all on the line for the sake of doing just that. Mentally prepared with my motivation identified, I went to sleep with cautious optomism. It didn't seem to matter because my daughter's mind was apparently made up that she wanted to see her daddy first thing in the morning. Not at 8:10 in the morning coming down the finish chute, but more like 4-5 times between the hours of 1:30 and 5:00am. I punched my alarm clock when it finally went off at 5:30. I think only Tony Robbins could have got me out of bed. In hindsight I could have slogged to the starting line, but I would have most likely sat in yawning and ran a 45 minute 10k. I died my hair green instead.


I can't take racing seriously anymore. There are too many variables that require the flexibility of gumby. If it happens, great, if not, I get pissed...I mean no big deal.

My current training is liveable and still manage to get in 6-8 hours depending on the long ride.
I have been cutting out some swimming but getting in enough to maintain some feel.

The challenge for me going forward is to develop a training style that will service my current level of fitness. I will probably consult with Jim on this one to make the best use of my time, but
one theory I was considering is a rotating focus on all three sports. I want to be fit enough to bang out a club race, Aquathlon, or Road Race with just a little notice. Parts of me want to just focus on the bike, another tells me, "hey focus on swimming, what's not to love about that." I think it'll end up something like:

6 day training week. (2 week cycle)
3-4 days/week focus sport
2-3 day mix of non focus including strength or pilates

The question is what kind of intensity should these sessions be?

What I don't want to do is just vamp everytime I head out the door.

Another thing I really need to focus on is diet. Not in terms of quality, but quantity. There is a huge difference between fueling a 12-15 hour training week and 6-8. I don't need to explain what happens if I don't recognize this elementary fact. Carrying any extra weight is understatedly counterproductive. It'll be challenging fighting off the instinct to feed.

I must admit I totally miss the excitement of moving my fitness forward enjoying the fruits of a breakthrough workout. To any readers out there living the life, seize the day, your are truly fortunate.

My hair's not green.

F.I.T.T.

The bitter pill has gone down and now the sugar. Results of the Fiesta Island TT yesterday yield yet another PR on the bike, which is nice. I went 29:34/25.22 mph a couple of well earned ticks up the road from last September where I went 29:48/25.02. It was a surprise because I've only been training with that level of intensity for 2 weeks. Credit solid base and strength training. What is more surprising is that I rode "blind" for the last 20 minutes. That is, my P-tap blacked out after 9 minutes and had nothing to judge the effort but my gut. No power, no HR, no cadence. (It'd be nice to have power/HR data but I think I can interpolate from first 9 minutes @ ~275W avg) Funny thing is it was almost perfectly paced. First two laps were within seconds and last was the fastest by 5 seconds, luckily I had a watch. Even though there is something kind of cool about that, It think I probably left something on the course, as a result. Even though getting wattage feedback limit you, it can conversely force you to reach beyond current average wattage without over-reaching and blowing up. It also let's you know when your unknowingly letting up.

almost one full lap to interpolate avg watts~275.


looking "comfortable" relaxed and aero.

The day had a rough start with the time change robbing an extra hour of sleep. I was lagging and only warmed up for 35-40 minutes. I intended to get in 60 minutes with some time to stretch.

Warmups freak me out because during the first 10-15 minutes, 200 Watts(Z2) feels like race pace, and I'm like how the hell am I going to push 80 more watts for 30 minutes. (it makes me nervous everytime) Patience and experience are the only salvation. As soon as I start sweating it starts to get easier. It takes me a while to thaw out and could have used an additional 25 minutes, but had to boogey, pump and piss to get to the start house with 30 seconds to go. That was good and bad. Good because I was still pretty hot off the trainer and the sprint to the start house. It also kept the nerves from settling in. Conversely the race basically started from the bathroom and didn't have time to collect myself mentally and breathe.

It's always a learning experience. I threw on the 11-23 cassette for the first time in a race. I pulled the 808 off the wall and I went back and forth knowing that the 12-25 works from experience but wanted more gears in the power zone. I think in the end I ended up pushing a bigger gear and was happy with the choice. (It did make me a little nervous if the wind happened to be in my face on some of the rolling/false flats, having to shift to the 39 to avoid excess cross chain friction in the 53-21/23 config.)

I also was happy with my ability to stay relaxed throughout the whole effort. Normally I start shifting in the saddle and gears when I start hurting but I settled in and focused on my motivation and pedal stroke without letting my mind drift into the pain too much. Looking at most of the race photos, my face is relaxed and position stayed pretty aero.

It was a good day and know I can go lower. I'd like to see a time in the 28's if I have a go in April.

St. Patty's 10k is this Saturday. I'm going to have to focus on flexibility, recovery and eating especially "clean" this week.

No blood from a turnip.

It's amazing how much my life is growing in all directions right now. I'm expecting a son in June, my daughter is developing at seemingly supernatural rates, my work is finding fresh pressure with the development of a new business model, all along with some solid investment endeavors. Pretty dynamic stuff that leaves me very little time and energy for the one thing (disciplined training) that waters this victory garden that is my life. Pretty gnarly paradox. How this relates to my training is fairly simple. My training is full of compromises. Not only in quantity but also quality. Though life is full of compromises it is not a place that I am comfortable.


This is where I'm headed. The month of March is my last month of focused training at the current level. I've made arrangements to take time off from being a coached athlete. My racing goals reach no further than the next 30 days. This is not to say I won't toe the line after that, I just don't have the time and energy capacity right now to meet my previous expectations. It's a pretty shitty feeling pulling away from your well intentended goals, but what I have to realize is that you can't keep doing the same thing when it's not working and expect a different result. There is no more blood. Adaptation is key and for me that is a more fluid approach to my fitness and racing goals. I've been afraid to make such a hasty decision and that's why I've allowed a grace period allowing time for some reevaluation. I can still have an omelette instead of waffles. Of course, I've discussed this at some length with Jim. He was kind enough to empathize but more importantly shared how difficult this sport can be off the course, especially when loved ones are involved. In such an introverted sport I think we rarely share the flares, just crashes and PR's. Honesty is righteous.

My life may not change at all but it is the perception of pursuing a life that is balanced, perhaps not so narrowly focused (as it can become) that will promote my personal success. Back off, reevaluate and hammer when the time is right.

I've still got a full month ahead of training and racing. Sunday is a 20k TT and the following weekend is St. Pattys 10k. My plan is to stay focused on the bike and run but still try to get in two swims a week. Swimming will begrudgingly be the first to go. I'm also going to go into the races a little more rested to try to make a point and take full advantage of my current fitness. God forbid I nail some PR's and it lights a fire in my belly. I can deal with that....later.

The state of my training at this point is actually not as bad as it appears. I've had two weeks of some anaerobic endurance and LT work, same hours as base phase just harder, a lot harder.
5x3 mins sub 5k and 5x3 min at max sustainable wattage have been taxing me down big time. Not to mention a shocking 90 minute tempo run. I welcome the efforts, but just not recovering that well with added stress and lack of sleep. I did have a hard and fun MTB ride on sunday and smashed a record climb on Black Mountain twice, within 10 seconds of each other, which is nice. Local weather has been keeping me on the roads and on the trainer so getting outside away from cars was a premium. I want to spend more time on the Epic.

Weather/ME=R+R

I'm breathing much easier now. A mild cold played tag with my emotions all week. I ended up coming down with something on Tuesday. Go figure combining emotional and physical stress along with some air travel and lack of sleep last week. And not to mention some honey kisses from my little germinator. Consider it a toll to pay on the long bridge that is my Annual Training Plan. Damage control reports very little as I was still able to get in 6.25 hours of training, with two full days off. I was basically waiting for the bomb to go off and it fortunately was more like a sparkler that just sort of fizzled. That's the Cod Liver Oil and knowing when to "not go" that helped a ton. I have high hopes as I'm feeling alright after tackling a long run yesterday.

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I was able to get in:

2 runs

1 swim

2 rides

2 strength sessions

.

Monday.

Strength+Run(treadmill)
started feeling sick.

Tuesday.

Swim.

Felt okay to swim but definitely worse by afternoon, bagged a tough run.

Wednesday.

Trainer.

Still sick but not completely out of commission. Trainer was the smartest option to keep moving.

60 min. steady @ 200W.

Thurdsay.

Off. A few strength moves that night.

Felt a little worse in the lungs. Conservative play was to chill and see if that helped.

Friday.

Off.

Same. Okay do nothing, damn.

Saturday.

90 min trainer. felt better, but didn't want a setback but did get a full 60 min at Tempo~220W.

Sunday.

Extreme chilling at Estancia Hotel and Spa. (see details) Felt awesome in the afternoon and took off for my long run of 90 min. I was willing to cut it short but felt great and moved on. I basically had a taper week, so to feel that good despite being sick was nice to enjoy.

R+R weekend.

pretty much the nutshell. I like to nutshell.

It was Jess' birthday and Valentines day weekend combined so we dropped off the little 'choo at grandma's and headed up to the Estancia Hotel in La Jolla. It was all about decompression as we had no plans but to get some good rest and then enjoy the spa on Sunday. That place is amazing.

Beautiful grounds, nice pool, secluded and close. I got a killer 80 min rub in the morning and spent the next couple hours in the eucalytpus steam, stretching and kicking it in and by the pool with beautiful weather.

poser.

The toes knows.

This week is looking up. Rested with some good energy levels and great DVR action with the Amgen Tour of California. I love watching cycling on Versus. Classic commentary+ visuals to remind me that there is some world class riding in the golden state that needs to be done. Nothing makes me chron to ride like watching Pro Cycling. It's weird because I can watch marathons but don't necessarily want to run one. go figure.