I can tell you this for certain...when all of this is over, I am going to put my bike away for quite some time and be very happy to not have to look at it for a while. Obviously, with the bike portion being 112 miles, this is the area that has to be most focused on during ironman training. First, you just have to condition your body to be on that bike for 5-6 hours. It is not as much about the legs getting tired as it is about conditioning the parts of your body that are actually in contact with the bike (feet, crotch, etc.). That is a long time for the same areas to have repetitive contact and rubbing. Don't worry, I will not go into detail on this...those details are reserved for Anne's ears only!
This past weekend, I rode 60 miles on Saturday followed by 40 miles on Sunday. This brought last week's total training to 9000 yards in the pool, 147.5 miles on the bike, and 24 miles on the run...not to mention 2 weight workouts and 2 abdominal specific workouts. I ended up training a total of 14 hours for the week. On Monday, I started a "rest" week. Scientists have taught us that it is critical for athletes to train at increasing volumes for 2-3 weeks and then follow that up with a reduced volume week. That way, the body has a chance to recover and all of the work that you have done in training has time to set in. We have all heard that training basically breaks muscles down, causing small micro tears in the muscle fibers. If the body is not given proper rest, the muscles never recover and they do not grow stronger. Over time, if volume continues to increase and rest does not occur at regular intervals, you start to see performance wane and injuries set in. So, we are in a rest week this week. This means lots of sitting around and relaxing, something that I appreciate after having trained hard for the past 3 weeks. In the past, I have been on a 2 weeks on, one week off routine. Recently, however, I have switched to a 3 weeks on, 1 week off schedule to see if that will still work. For now, it is fine, but when we get to the big volume weeks, we will see how the body copes with the added week.
That is all for now. Thanks for checking in on me.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Gluten Free and Time Trialing
It's Wednesday...the second hardest day of the week for me (Tuesday is by far the hardest because it is a completely useless day-Monday is the first day of the week and you have an excuse to be unproductive, Wednesday is the middle of the week-the top of the hill, Thursday starts the downward momentum and Friday flies by). Anyway, it's Wednesday and it is unbelievably hot in the South. I don't know if it is global warming, but what ever is causing it needs to go away. If it is this hot in early June, I do not even want to begin to imagine what July-August will feel like.
Sticking to the theme of this blog, however, I can tell you that training is progressing nicely. I had a nice 41 mile ride on Saturday, followed up by a hot and humid 10 mile run on Sunday. Total training time for week 1 was 11 hours, 15 minutes (about the time it will take to complete the Ironman in November). This week started off with a time trial swim just to see how my swim fitness is progressing. Basically, we want to be able to establish what my Ironman swim pace will be per 100 meters. So, I had to swim 5x400 yards with very little rest in between and then immediately after the last 400 swim, I had to swim a 500 time trial. I guess the point was to tire me out and then see how fast I could swim. It was a tough workout. I also rode 20 miles on the bike, focusing on some one legged pedaling efficiency drills. On Tuesday, I was in Charleston, SC for work and had to run 6 miles. It was so humid, even at 6AM, I felt like I had just gotten out of the shower. I also had a 30 minute weight lifting session on Tuesday afternoon, something I usually look forward to as an effective, yet easy, workout. Today, I had to ride the dreaded 30 minute time trial on the bike. Ironman training is so dependent on good, solid date (heart rate, wattage on the bike, cadence on the run) that the more you can set baselines the better you can gauge training to prepare for the race. On the bike, it is important to know what an athlete can maintain as far as power goes in an all out 30 minute time trial effort. I dread these workouts because they send you to a level of pain that you rarely go to. I am proud to say, however, that my power numbers are up from last year by about 10%, so something I am doing is right on the bike. Needless to say, I am feeling the effects from this workout this afternoon.
The past 10 days has been some what of a perfect storm (or imperfect storm) for me and Anne. Three things have all converged at once to create a frenzied feeling. One, I started Ironman training. Two, the weather turned extremely hot and humid. Three, we went completely gluten free in our diet. The diet has been especially difficult because we have had to completely re-arrange our kitchen to meet with the new nutritional demands. We have been giving away flour, bread, pasta, etc. and replacing it with gluten free flours, pastas, and breads. It has been mentally exhausting to come up with recipes and ideas and to remember what you can and cannot eat. I have been programmed to eat gluten from the time I was a child, so this is a huge change for me. Some of the new recipes have been good, but others have been pretty bad. We tried to make home made cereal and it is pretty damn terrible. We made gluten free baguettes and they taste pretty weird. Other discoveries have been good-Quinoa pasta, rice bread, soy crisps to name a few. However, coupling this with training has left me feeling a bit calorie depleted in some of my longer workouts. I will have to find some balance if I am going to succeed at both.
So, training carries on and continues to increase in volume and intensity. I will write more later to give an update on the week's remaining workouts. We have some tough ones coming up. This week will end up with 140 mile of biking, 25 miles of running, and about 9,000 yards in the pool. This is nothing in comparison to where we will be in a month, but it is a long climb to get to be an Ironman.
Thanks for checking in!
Sticking to the theme of this blog, however, I can tell you that training is progressing nicely. I had a nice 41 mile ride on Saturday, followed up by a hot and humid 10 mile run on Sunday. Total training time for week 1 was 11 hours, 15 minutes (about the time it will take to complete the Ironman in November). This week started off with a time trial swim just to see how my swim fitness is progressing. Basically, we want to be able to establish what my Ironman swim pace will be per 100 meters. So, I had to swim 5x400 yards with very little rest in between and then immediately after the last 400 swim, I had to swim a 500 time trial. I guess the point was to tire me out and then see how fast I could swim. It was a tough workout. I also rode 20 miles on the bike, focusing on some one legged pedaling efficiency drills. On Tuesday, I was in Charleston, SC for work and had to run 6 miles. It was so humid, even at 6AM, I felt like I had just gotten out of the shower. I also had a 30 minute weight lifting session on Tuesday afternoon, something I usually look forward to as an effective, yet easy, workout. Today, I had to ride the dreaded 30 minute time trial on the bike. Ironman training is so dependent on good, solid date (heart rate, wattage on the bike, cadence on the run) that the more you can set baselines the better you can gauge training to prepare for the race. On the bike, it is important to know what an athlete can maintain as far as power goes in an all out 30 minute time trial effort. I dread these workouts because they send you to a level of pain that you rarely go to. I am proud to say, however, that my power numbers are up from last year by about 10%, so something I am doing is right on the bike. Needless to say, I am feeling the effects from this workout this afternoon.
The past 10 days has been some what of a perfect storm (or imperfect storm) for me and Anne. Three things have all converged at once to create a frenzied feeling. One, I started Ironman training. Two, the weather turned extremely hot and humid. Three, we went completely gluten free in our diet. The diet has been especially difficult because we have had to completely re-arrange our kitchen to meet with the new nutritional demands. We have been giving away flour, bread, pasta, etc. and replacing it with gluten free flours, pastas, and breads. It has been mentally exhausting to come up with recipes and ideas and to remember what you can and cannot eat. I have been programmed to eat gluten from the time I was a child, so this is a huge change for me. Some of the new recipes have been good, but others have been pretty bad. We tried to make home made cereal and it is pretty damn terrible. We made gluten free baguettes and they taste pretty weird. Other discoveries have been good-Quinoa pasta, rice bread, soy crisps to name a few. However, coupling this with training has left me feeling a bit calorie depleted in some of my longer workouts. I will have to find some balance if I am going to succeed at both.
So, training carries on and continues to increase in volume and intensity. I will write more later to give an update on the week's remaining workouts. We have some tough ones coming up. This week will end up with 140 mile of biking, 25 miles of running, and about 9,000 yards in the pool. This is nothing in comparison to where we will be in a month, but it is a long climb to get to be an Ironman.
Thanks for checking in!
Monday, June 2, 2008
And so it begins
After all of the talk...all of the preparation...all of the worrying, Ironman training officially began this morning. As usual, the anticipated fanfare over my first day of Ironman training did not even come close to the reality that greeted me this morning. For the past few days, I imagined waking up and going down stairs to get on my bike, and everything would be very dramatic (music, people cheering, etc.). As it turns out, I slept like crap last night and woke up not wanting to get out of bed. My first thought of training was, oh great, another friggin bike ride at ass o'clock in the morning. I lay there thinking of the 100 different ways I could get out of it and just put the workout off until this afternoon. But, that little devil that I have grown so accustomed to (guilt) was sitting on my shoulder shouting much more loudly than that other voice (sanity) could muster at such an early hour. So, I got up and staggered down stairs, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and dreading those first few pedal strokes.
For those of you who have never been on a Computrainer, let me describe the experience for you. The Computrainer is the human equivalent of a gerbil wheel. You set your back tire on a computerized roller and lock the hubs in place. The trainer is connected to your computer and there are bike courses from all over the world programmed into the software. The back wheel is the only thing that moves, and the computer takes such readings as how much wattage you are creating, how fast you are going, and how many calories you are burning. So, you ride along, never really going any where, but powering a little video game version of yourself on the computer monitor. Needless to say, it can be a bit boring. However, being a resident of one of the most bike unfriendly cities in the world, this is my best option.
I rode for 45 minutes and listened to the local DJs drone on about who knows what. It was not a stellar workout, but I got through it and I fel good that it is behind me.
This week is all about getting back into the training lifestyle. Karen, my coach, will slowly build me up over the next few weeks to prepare me for the long workouts that will be so essential to success on race day. Until then, it is all about building the aerobic base.
Anne and I made a major diet change this weekend as well. We are trying a completely gluten free diet. Gluten is basically a protein that is found in most breads, pastas, and cereals that we eat regularly. It can cause some serious gastrointestinal issues and it is found in most foods that are made by humans (not natural). In order to be gluten free, we are learning about such things as Xantham Gum, Millet, Quinoa, Potato Starch, Tapioca Flour, Rice Flour. I swear I have learned more about food in the past few days and it is really pretty fascinating. According to a book that we are reading about gluten free living, 50-70% of people are "gluten intolerant." That is a pretty stagerring figure when you think about how much gluten is in the foods that we eat on an every day basis. Anyway, I will keep you posted on our progress.
I have a weight lifting session that I still have to do today, but that is relatively easy compared with the morning bike ride. It's not that 45 minutes is a long time for me...it's just that I had no motivation. An unmotivated workout is always a tough workout.
More to come. Thanks for checking in.
For those of you who have never been on a Computrainer, let me describe the experience for you. The Computrainer is the human equivalent of a gerbil wheel. You set your back tire on a computerized roller and lock the hubs in place. The trainer is connected to your computer and there are bike courses from all over the world programmed into the software. The back wheel is the only thing that moves, and the computer takes such readings as how much wattage you are creating, how fast you are going, and how many calories you are burning. So, you ride along, never really going any where, but powering a little video game version of yourself on the computer monitor. Needless to say, it can be a bit boring. However, being a resident of one of the most bike unfriendly cities in the world, this is my best option.
I rode for 45 minutes and listened to the local DJs drone on about who knows what. It was not a stellar workout, but I got through it and I fel good that it is behind me.
This week is all about getting back into the training lifestyle. Karen, my coach, will slowly build me up over the next few weeks to prepare me for the long workouts that will be so essential to success on race day. Until then, it is all about building the aerobic base.
Anne and I made a major diet change this weekend as well. We are trying a completely gluten free diet. Gluten is basically a protein that is found in most breads, pastas, and cereals that we eat regularly. It can cause some serious gastrointestinal issues and it is found in most foods that are made by humans (not natural). In order to be gluten free, we are learning about such things as Xantham Gum, Millet, Quinoa, Potato Starch, Tapioca Flour, Rice Flour. I swear I have learned more about food in the past few days and it is really pretty fascinating. According to a book that we are reading about gluten free living, 50-70% of people are "gluten intolerant." That is a pretty stagerring figure when you think about how much gluten is in the foods that we eat on an every day basis. Anyway, I will keep you posted on our progress.
I have a weight lifting session that I still have to do today, but that is relatively easy compared with the morning bike ride. It's not that 45 minutes is a long time for me...it's just that I had no motivation. An unmotivated workout is always a tough workout.
More to come. Thanks for checking in.
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