Friday Catch-Up Post

Sorry for the lull in posts, here's a brief catch-up on the last few days:

-Tuesday biked to/from work, 29 miles round trip
-Wednesday did another midnight run, 4 miles
-Thursday biked to/from work, 29 miles round trip
-Friday (today) I was able to fit in a 38 mile bike ride

By the way, have you all met Bill and Danny? Trust me, I have... ha, ha, of course I'm talking about Hurricanes Bill and Danny. Hurricane Bill drenched me last Saturday in a 'torrential' downpour type of way. While this afternoon, I believe I caught the early part of a steady drizzle throughout my ride from Hurricane Danny. I arrived home soaked again, though it was much cooler out today at 67F. Ah well, it's just some wind and rain, I didn't melt.
...
So I've made some less than stellar nutrition decisions this past week, and I ended up feeling a tad bit sluggish prior to and during my workouts. So this only highlighted the importance of nutrition. Thus far in my training (for the better part of the last 20 weeks), I've been eating very healthily, very purposeful - cooking a lot at home and taking in fats from outside food within a few hours of a planned workout. Been consuming potassium rich bananas before workouts and protein rich foods (as much as a vegetarian can get; lentils, nuts, cottage cheese, etc.) after long hard workouts to help the muscles repair. Make no mistake, I certainly have been enjoying eating, especially many yummy indulgences, but it's the occasional lack of balance in my nutrition that then throws off my performance in training. And one lackluster workout can have a domino effect on a whole week, so bottom line for me: stay disciplined in my nutrition and eating habits.

Back In Stride

Got back in stride today (Monday) after the crash on Saturday and taking Sunday off. Did an easy-paced 4 mile run (midnight run!), a little slow with an average heart rate of 144. It had been four days since I ran, so nice to be out there along the river again.

Full Day Off

So after stringing together 35 consecutive days of workouts (22 of which I did multiple workouts in the day), I finally took a full calendar day off today. I had actually planned to take today off earlier in the week, and then of course yesterday's debacle of a ride sealed that plan for sure.

Body is fine from yesterday, but looks like I'll be skipping some swim workouts while my wounds heal (gotta stay out of the pool). In the meantime, I'll add in some runs instead and up my running miles.

Weekly totals:
Swim 4750 yards -- Bike 127 miles -- Run 18 miles

Crash! Rain! Flat!

I swear this day must have happened just to spice up this blog!

What a day this was... Before I go on, I'll quickly say that yes, I did crash on my bike today. But I'm fine. Just a few scrapes and road rash, the usual deal with such incidents, nothing to be concerned about. Here's the story of my day:

The plan: 56 mile bike ride followed by a 4 mile transition run

Started out on the tri-bike, nice easy start on my way out of the city and into the nice, quiet suburbs... Less than 5 miles into my ride, I approached an intersection (the road had a small divider) where a car from the oncoming direction was in line for a left turn. I saw him. He saw me. Then, with the right of way, as I continued approaching the intersection, he lurched forward as if he was going to continue with his turn and cut me off. Two instinctual reactions ensued. I screamed "Nooooooooooo!" and squeezed the heck out of my brakes... the bike immediately started to fishtail for what felt like an eternity. I couldn't believe I kept the bike upright for so long actually. I remember thinking that I might actually come out of this ok. My feet were clipped into my pedals, and I was probably going too fast for unclipping to have helped. I never thought about unclipping in those split seconds. Probably staying clipped in gave me better control of the bike anyway, just apparently not enough to avoid crashing ;^) So I went down, I mean first I slowed down considerably by braking, and by the time I was on my way down, I guess then my shoes snapped out of the pedals and I was able to 'lay down' the bike as gently as one could while crashing.

What happened to me? I literally bounced up off the pavement and only caught a view of the driver passing through the intersection waving his hand. He didn't stop, even to check to see if I was ok. There was no other significant traffic on the road, no car behind me or such. So I let my bike lay in the street, and just stepped up on the sidewalk to assess the damage to my body: two big scrapes on my left arm/elbow, a nic on my left thumb, and a scrape through my bike shorts on my left thigh. (Later I discovered a small scrape on my abdomen as well.)

Well, ok - nothing too bad, pedestrians came by to offer their help. Two ladies from a local business offered a hose to wash my wounds and then some neosporin and bandaids. They were very kind. My bike ended up mostly unscathed. The left brake lever got scuffed up a bit, no damage to the frame or anything else that I could tell.

So I was ok and my bike was ok. I asked myself whether there was still a bike ride left to salvage out of the day? I decided so. So I got back on the bike and continued riding. The crash could have been much worse for sure, so I felt lucky really. I mean I made no contact with the car, and I didn't have anything broken. I've ridden over 2000 miles in the last 19 weeks, so I guess something like this was bound to happen.

About an hour later, after already riding through some large puddles and small sprinkles, it absolutely poured for a good 15 minutes. It came down like a waterfall. I had to pull over to wipe the stinging sunblock out of my eyes. Oh what fun to ride in the rain. Actually I'm serious, it felt very refreshing. So, ok - my bandaids had long since sweated/fallen off, my scrapes were pulsing a tad bit, but I was far more distracted then by being completely waterlogged from helmet to cleats. I exchange pleasantries with a couple other riders out there along the wet and wild roads. We're all in this together.

Anyway, eventually the clouds drifted and the sun poked its way through. "Wow," I say to myself with about 20 miles left to get home, "what a great day this turned out to be." I navigate the roads and continue cruising at a still pretty decent pace given the crash and the rain. After all that, what else could go wrong!?

Ha ha, yeah... about 8 miles left in my ride, I felt a knifelike slash to my rear tire, all the air gushed out in an instantaneous swoosh. There was an inch long cut right through my tire, must have been a piece of glass. I could have changed the tube, but the tire no longer offered any protection. Luckily I was about a mile away from a bike shop where I could get a new tire. So I started walking...

Let me tell you, cycling shoes are not meant for walking. Well, not more than like 20 steps to get to and from your home to where you can ride. Their soles are very stiff, so it was a click-click-click-click.... experience for a long stretch. Along the way, another postulate rang true. Wet feet + wet shoes - socks = blisters! Ugh, walking in those wet cleats without socks was giving me some major discomfort. Sucks.

Anyway, finally got to the bike shop, and after way too long a wait, got a new tire and tube mounted, then got back in the saddle and spun my way home, satisfied that I finished my initial planned ride. Was seriously contemplating going for that transition run, but then decided against it so as not to exacerbate my new blisters.

This day will not break my spirit, if anything, it only strenthens me.

Thanks for reading.

Right Back In the Pool

Wednesday's little anxiety episode while swimming didn't last too long. I got right back in the pool first thing Thursday morning, and did my full set of laps/workout, no problems this time. I guess it's akin to getting right back on the horse, in the batter's box, etc.

Then biked to and from work, and once I got back home did a 7 mile transition run. Whenever I do a brick (bike-then-run workout), I try to imitate a race-like transition to practice running with heavy legs right after biking. For me this means making sure I'm running within 10 minutes of returning from my ride.

So Thursday was the first day in which I substantially did all three disciplines (swim, bike, run) in a single day. Granted the workouts were spaced apart, but I did 1250 yards of swimming, 32 miles of biking, and 7 miles of running (all of those workouts were between 25-30% of the overall Ironman distances).

Now on with Friday...

Mind Over Water

Made it to the pool today, seemed like the usual thing, nothing out of the ordinary really. Got in and started doing my planned workout, but partway through it as I was doing a series of consecutive laps, I kinda lost it - some odd feeling of anxiety crept its way into my mind. All of a sudden, the pool became the size of the ocean and depth of the sea. Irrational fears washed over me... Will I be stranded in the middle of the pool? Can I make it back to the edge of the pool?

Up until that point my form was fine and my split times were reasonable, I just simply had to stop. My mind got the best of me. So I did stop. Hung off the side edge of the pool for a little bit and was finally able to regroup, putting the fears out of my mind... Grabbed the pull buoy and on the next even minute of the clock at the pool, continued with my workout and rattled off a longer series of consecutive laps.

I still don't know what happened there. I was in a nice pool with calm waters and a lane all to myself. I can only hope this doesn't happen during my next visit.

Went out for a 7 mile run later in the evening, after the heat subsided slightly; kept my average heart rate below 150.

Early Start, Back in Form

Had a super early start, out the door before 5:30am so darkness was still settled on the city. Met up with Ashley for a great ride and learned a slightly new route, 31 miles in total. Came back and did a 4 mi run (avg HR of only 149). It was still pretty darn hot this morning, but I felt and performed so much better than this weekend, so feeling back in form. Will hit the pool in the evening for a 500 yard dip to work on my swim technique.

Not Fully Recovered

Wow, I was really drained yesterday, and today being another 90F+ day wasn't helping matters... I'm still not fully recovered from yesterday. Ouch. Body was feeling sluggish most of the day. I did actually make it to the pool, but had a lackluster performance. Did the same pyrimid workout (1-3-5-7-5-3-1) as the other day, but considerably slower. Oh well, hoping it's a case of two steps forward, one step back...

The Heat Is On

Ugh, another hot and humid day. Rode and then ran. Started out early, but really didn't matter, the heat set in pretty quickly (mid-80sF). Suffered during the last hour of the bike and through the entire run. Ah well, what'cha gonna do... Skipped my swim today; of all things, a swim would've made the most sense on a day like today, but I was just too spent. So I ended up a little light on the swimming this week.

Weekly totals:
Swim: 3750 yards
Bike: 134 miles
Run: 28 miles

12 weeks to go...

Rockin' the Big Chainring

Yesterday (Friday), did the following 'pyramid' swim workout: 1-3-5-7-5-3-1 continuous laps; a total of 25 laps for 1250 yards. Did the 3, 7, 3 continuous laps with the pull buoy, the others without. Rest between each series was about 30-45 seconds. Held very consistent splits for each lap throughout the workout, so slowly gaining endurance while keeping my form and speed.

Today (Saturday), rode a mid-distance 38 miles on the tri-bike, the whole ride in the big chainring. (This essentially means that overall it was a bit harder to pedal the bike, especially up hill.) Thankfully, the route I took didn't have any major hills, so I could manage well enough. The main point was to build some more muscle in my legs, instead of using the smaller chainring and spinning a bit easier at certain points throughout the ride (my cadence was between 75-85 rpms instead of 85-100 rpms). It was a very good ride, very hot (80F+) as I went exactly mid-day, but that's all good training I say.

Towards the latter portion of my ride, I was hauling along hugging the white line on the right side, but a car was following me instead of passing since the road was a bit narrow at that stretch. Once we came to a clearing and a traffic light, the driver, a sweet older lady, pulls alongside me, smiles and says 'You were going 30 back there, pretty good.' I smiled back and said 'Thanks!' as she pulled further ahead. Yeah, I was definately rockin' the big chainring. Finished the ride in yet again, the fastest average mph pace I've ever ridden.

Putting in the Swims

A bit dull these last couple days I suppose. Just putting in the swim workouts. Yesterday (Thursday) got to the pool a bit late (er, well I guess 6:30am isn't exactly 'late'...), but still fit in a good 1000 yards before heading off to work. Still doing half my swim workouts with a pull buoy, flotation device used to keep your legs up in the water in order to isolate practicing my upper body form/stroke. Later in the day, went for a 3 mile run around Lake Quannapowitt near work in the afternoon.

Today (Friday), will find my way back to the pool. Thus far, I've been doing 100 yard repeats, throwing in an occasional 200 yard stretch as well. Today I'll try to go a bit longer and see how it feels, in terms of cardiovascular swim fitness and ability to hold proper form. There's definitely an order and approach to my getting better with swimming. It's threefold and simply goes like this: form, speed, endurance. Thus far I've been working on my form, which has been considerably different from the past two years. With that refined form (still a work in progress of course), I've improved my speed (good in the early laps, slowed for the later laps). So now I should start mixing in some endurance. Ok, so on with it...

Dragon Boat Racing

So yesterday (Wednesday) threatened rain and thunder showers, but that didn't stop me from commuting to and from work on my bike. Whatever, it's just water, I won't melt. Luckily, I escaped any stretches of rain. Came home and went out for a 7 mile run along the Charles River. Same route as usual, start at the Hatch Shell, head down the Esplanade along Storrow Drive past the Mass Ave bridge, cross the river at the aptly named River Street and come back around along Memorial Drive on the Cambridge side.

So, while I was chugging along on the Cambridge side, I happened upon two dragon boats in the river (one with 10 paddlers, the other with 14) that were very close to shore and about to race each other. One of the crew counted down from 5-4-3-2-1-GO! And all the folks started paddling furiously. It was just at that "GO" moment that I became even with them, so I found myself unwittingly a third wheel in a two boat race. I thought it would be fun to see how my 150 beats per minute heart rate pace fared against these boats/paddlers. I was just a bit faster, and after about two minutes I had pulled forward from both boats about 15-20 yards. So I guess I did a little dragon boat racing last night.

Good Stuff Run

Got up bright and early again today and headed out for a quick 20 minute spin on the bike. It was supposed to rain this morning (and I did catch some light sprinkles), so I bagged a full bike workout for a quick spin to warm up the legs and then transitioned to a 7 mile run. Ran my fastest 7 mile training split thus far. Not quite yet a breakthrough run, but still good stuff. Later in the evening hit the pool for 500 yards.

Pseudo Rest Day

So from a calendar perspective, I've worked out 23 consecutive days. What, no rest day you ask?

Well, last winter I attended a triathlon night at a local bike shop, and a local pro triathlete (Olympian Jarrod Shoemaker) spoke about taking rest amidst his tough training schedule. And he made a good point. If you take a whole calendar day off, you could actually end up taking two "days" off. Instead, he said that you can continue working out on consecutive days, but by spacing out workouts on one morning and then the evening of the next day, you actually get a full 24 hour stretch of rest in between, effectively a rest day.

So this is what I did between Sunday and Monday (today). My workout on Sunday ended in the afternoon, and I waited until this evening to go for a swim. So there, I rested :^)

Yet Another Sunday Brick

Headed out on the tri-bike today since I've gotta make sure I put some miles on that bike in prep for the race. Felt pretty crummy for the first 20 minutes, kept trying to convince myself to just make it to a few landmarks along the route. Once I would hit a landmark, I'd convince myself to keep going to the next one. After about an hour, my legs started to feel better, and my pace picked up. I think it takes me about an hour to properly warm up on the bike.

In any case, I rode a total of about 40 miles, the full intended ride that I planned. And actually, it was a great ride. I arrived back home having ridden the fastest average time I've ever ridden on a solo ride. I'm very happy about that.

Followed the ride up with a 4 mile run, but partway through I felt a tiny pain in my right shoulder. It persisted for a couple minutes enough to make me slow to a walk for a bit. After I massaged it, the pain subsided and I was able to resume my run.

Skipped the swim today.

Weekly totals:
Swim: 3200 yards
Bike: 158 miles
Run: 25 miles

13 weeks to go until the race...

Daybreak, Bike, Run

Peaceful Saturday morning, riding up Beacon Street with a clear view of the moon. And a view of the river at daybreak from the Mass Ave bridge.

Rode this morning with Parth, my total was 54 miles.
Followed the ride with a 4 mile run.

Daily Summary

Woke up today and ate a half bowl of leftover rice and lentils. Out early and rode the bike to the pool, caught a nice morning view of the moon. Swam 1200 yards, felt good, first laps was able to hold form, subsequent laps became more of a struggle. Biked back home. Ate a bowl of total raisin bran, followed by 2 waffles, a handful of almonds and some yogurt. Once at work, had a PBJ as a mid-morning snack. Went to a mexican place for lunch with colleagues. Had a very large burrito (see pic although it doesn't do it justice).

Towards the end of the day, stepped out for a ~3mi run around Lake Quannapowitt, my first run around the lake since I've been working at this office. Not sure why I haven't run it before, maybe I'm spoiled by having the Charles River so close to run along near home. Anyway, there are some nice serene parts along the lake (see pics, hard to see but there's a person sail-boarding in the distance).



Had a post-run snack of another PBJ and a handful of tasty cashews. Overall was a nice Friday.

Cycling legs vs Running legs

Today my cycling legs were feeling pretty sluggish on my commute to work. Made it out and back ok (and even remembered to bring my shoes ;^) but definately feeling the wear of all these workouts. Immediately switched into my running stuff and headed out for a 4 miler after my ride home and interestingly ran it faster than any other training run thus far, and with an average hr of only 152, right in the heart of my zone2. It could be that I'm sacrificing my cycling legs for stronger running legs. Well, nonetheless - it's an improvement, so I'm happy about that.

Swim and Walk

Yesterday (Wednesday) was another passing workout day; hit the pool earlier in the day and then had a nice long walk in the evening. It was the 18th consecutive calendar day that I've worked out. On one hand I feel like I might need a complete day of rest (both physically and mentally), but on the other hand I know I need to continue putting in the training. Hopefully this feeling will pass...

A Day in My (Cycling) Shoes

Well, it was bound to happen. I rode in to work as normal, got to my desk and unpacked my backpack. First took out my laptop, docked it in the docking station and powered it up. Then pulled out my clothes for the day before I headed over to the shower, and well - uh oh - apparently I forgot to pack regular shoes to wear. Oops. So I ended up just wearing my cycling shoes around the office. No big deal really, most of the office is carpeted, and no client meetings or anything like that today, but definately gave a few colleagues a good chuckle over it ;^)

Swim+ and Pilates

Swam a quick 800 yards in the pool today and felt really positive about my swim technique... I did 8 x 100 yard repeats with anywhere between 15-45 seconds of rest in between each repeat. I think I've brought my 100 yard time down by about 8 seconds already! Very happy about that...

After my swim, I met up for lunch with good buddy and former b-school classmate Rich. Amidst our catching up, he mentioned playing ice hockey, which of course got me thinking about my playing again sometime too (I played hockey for 7 years in my younger days). Well, maybe I'll consider it after my race, for now I'll put that idea on ice (pun intended)...

This evening I had in store another mix-it-up workout: pilates. Alyce offered me to join the class she goes to, so I said 'why not'. It was a decent workout, main focus was on the "core" (abdominal muscles, etc.). Enjoyed the class and followed it with an easy-paced 3mi run home.

Sunday Brick

So yet again I had a workout plan for the day, but altered (i.e. shortened) it based on how my body was feeling. Still I got in a decent brick workout: 20 miles on the tri-bike followed by a 7 mile run. Now 14 weeks to go until the race...

Midnight Frisbee

Just past midnight last night, I got out of the Loews Boston Common movie theater having watched "Funny People" with my cousin. Pretty funny flick, as was "The Hangover" which I saw last weekend. Anyway, I crossed the street to walk through the Boston Common and totally randomly, I'm asked by a couple folks to join them in tossing around a frisbee; they had an LED lit frisbee since it was dark. So that was a fun, random little 15 minutes. Made me think back to having played Ultimate Frisbee years ago.

Early Ride and Swim

Started this morning's ride at 6am... there was one lone scull (crew boat) in the middle of the river at daybreak, here's the view:

Rode with Ashley and Taylor. Originally the plan was to ride to Walden Pond, go for a swim and then ride back - but I changed the plan at the last minute. We'll try to do that another time, but right now I need to stick to the comfort and controlled environment of the pool in order to work on my technique a bit more. So came back from the ride and then headed over to the pool and did 1100 yards. Technique is hard to keep consistent, so trying to isolate specific aspects with drills. Fitness in the pool feels fine though, I'm not really winded or out of breath while swimming. Gonna keep at it...