The 5th Discipline

Even the fastest rest

As triathletes, we spend an awful lot of time swimming, biking and running.  After all, doing something over and over again to get better at it is pretty much how things work.  So we swim.  We bike.  We run.  And then we repeat this cycle at least a zillion times.  The more savvy triathletes among us also practice transitioning from the swim to the bike and from the bike to the run.  This is very smart because fast transition times mean faster race finishing times.  And faster finishing times means extra bragging rights on the blogs and triathlon Internet forums.  Swimming, biking, running and transitions are universally accepted at the 4 disciplines of triathlon.

A Google search and/or hiring a coach will result in more advice than you'll ever need when it comes to swimming, biking, running and transitions.  What about recovery, though?  Pretty much everyone is aware that rest is important.  But beyond a general acknowledgement of the importance of recovery, there is very little information about how to actually go about it.  This is unfortunate.  Because while resting, the countless hours spent training start to pay off - you get stronger with rest.  There are many ways to rest, and one of my favorites is simply just sitting on my ass.

The 5th Discipline in action

I take sitting on my ass very seriously.  In fact, I'm doing it right now - I'm kicked back and my feet are up.  I have a laptop balanced on the right arm of the couch and the universal remote is on the seat cushion to my left.  The TV isn't on yet, but I guarantee you that this will change within 15 minutes.  I haven't decided whether I'm going to check out what's on Universal Sports or rent a movie from OnCommand.  Either way I'm not worried, because I'm not going to have to move an inch to do it.

On the coffee table in front of me sits a sliced apple and a bottle of sparking water.  But the truth is I might not get around to touching them.  Because to get to them I would have to move about 2 feet.  Though I usually don't consider moving 2 feet getting off my ass, it's still farther than I feel like moving tonight.  Luckily there is a bottle of still water on the table behind me.  It's within easy reach, so I'll be able to stay hydrated.

As I do with my workouts, I try to start with a clear scope and objective for my ass sitting sessions.  For example, my plan tonight was to get on the couch (scope) and not move (objective).  I've always felt that it's very important to try and include those close to you in your world of triathlon, so I told Mary that she was more than welcome to join me.

Sitting on your ass should not be considered "active recovery" - you still have to do easy swims, bike rides and runs.  Rather, sitting on your ass should be considered "active passive recovery" because it requires a conscious decision on your part to do absolutely nothing.  Conversely, sleeping is "passive recovery".  Although going to sleep usually requires some modicum of conscious thought, the benefits of sleep do not manifest themselves in the same ways they do when you are sitting on your ass.  Because when you sit on your ass, the sheer joy of same introduces a significant layer of mental satisfaction into the equation as your body works to achieve homeostasis.

It's likely that as the knowledge base about triathlon continues to grow, most of it will continue to focus on swimming, biking and running.  However, don't let this deter you from sitting on your ass.  The good news is that with a little bit of practice involving a lot of sitting on your ass, you will become an expert in no time.  Enjoy!

Be The Lemonade

There have been a few things going on this week:

• Mary is in Boston at an e-tailer's conference.
• Ian was sick all day Tuesday with a slight fever.
• I felt sick Tuesday afternoon, felt better Tuesday night, felt sick again yesterday evening and felt fine again this morning.
• My left knee has a twinge in it.  I might have just made the word "twinge" up, but what I mean is that I'm feeling something going on there.  It's not pain, it's not even a dull ache.  Rather my knee is simply reminding me that it is there.

Needless to say my workouts have suffered a little.  I normally wouldn't get too bothered by this because I rarely have to deal with conflict in my training schedule.  But this week is a little different because I am in the peak training phase before I taper for Santa Cruz.  I probably could have handled any combination of 2 of the 4 exceptions without much difficulty, but having them all hit at once has been a little challenging.

The week started off normally on Monday with my scheduled swim workout.  But with Ian sick on Tuesday (along with my body trying to decide what it wanted to do), I missed a bike and a run session.  I swam again yesterday, but had to cut it short to pick up Ian.  Today I ran.  I was supposed to do 800M repeats, but due to the knee I started the run not entirely sure what I was going to do.  I ended up playing it (semi) safe and did about 30 minutes at tempo instead, which still made for a great run.  My knee is still twinging, but it's no worse (or better) than it was.

I'm supposed to do a recovery bike ride tomorrow morning, but I don't have anything to recover from.  So I think it's best to change things up for the rest of the weekend.  Tomorrow I'll do Sunday's swim.  Saturday I'll ride with OC Velo.  Subject to what my knee wants to do, I think I'll join the "A" ride to go a little longer than I have been lately (75 miles) and then do a very short run.  Sunday, I'll join OC Velo again for a recovery ride followed by a run somewhere between thirty minutes and an hour and fifteen minutes, again depending on the knee.

Mary is back tomorrow afternoon and hopefully the knee twinge ends up being nothing.  That way I can hit it smart and balanced next week since it's the last big one.



 

Big Brick

Today I went out and did what I'm calling a "baseline brick" for The Big Kahuna 70.3 triathlon in Santa Cruz early next month.  First I went out and rode just over 53 miles with OC Velo.  Then I came home, changed and headed straight out for a 10 mile run.  Both are familiar distances on their own, but this is the first time I strung them together to see what would happen.

Laguna Canyon

The ride was south through Newport Beach, Irvine and Laguna Beach.  It was a pretty routine ride and at times a little more mellow than I had hoped for.  One of the highlights of the ride is a 2 mile climb to the height of land on El Toro Road in Laguna Woods and then a gentle 6 or 7 mile descent down El Toro, into Laguna Canyon and on to Pacific Coast Highway.  To me, this particular stretch of the ride affords a perfect view of the classic Southern California landscape.  The south end of El Toro Road is especially wild, running through large areas of coastal chaparral.  Laguna Canyon is a deep, twisty canyon that ends at one of the nicest beach communities around.

The climb and the descent

It's good to have great training partners, and I've got one.  About 15 miles out of Huntington Beach, Craig told me to get on his wheel.  He wanted to hammer but knew I needed to stay as fresh as possible for the run.  We made it back to Huntington Beach pretty quick, hitting 22 or 23 miles an hour when we had the road to do so.  When we got back to town, Craig headed home to get ready to see Cowboys & Aliens with his son.  When I got home, I got ready to run.

Bolsa Chica Beach Path

I was in and out of the house in 15 minutes.  Not quite the transition time I'll want to lay down in Santa Cruz, but then again I won't have to change clothes and check my e-mail on race day.  The route I took is a familiar one - out of the house, west to the beach and then south on the Bolsa Chica beach path.  At about 7 miles, I turned inland and ran back to the house.  It's essentially a big quasi-triangle that circles the Bolsa Chica Wetlands.

It was a pretty typical run, save for miles 2 and 3, where for some reason things got a little rough.  But by the time I hit the beach I had found my legs and finished the run strong.

The Stats:

The Bike - 53.32 miles in 3:08:34; Average speed 17 MPH

The Run - 10 miles in 1:22:27; Average pace 8:14/mile

As I mentioned, I would have liked to have had a faster bike split.  But you know how group rides are sometimes, and all things considered I'm happy to go with the flow.  Luckily, the second half was the fast half and despite drafting off of Craig for the last 15 miles, I definitely felt the ride in my legs when I started running.  I'm happy with the run.  I'll be going for a faster pace on race day but I feel today was aggressive enough to test my ability but not so over the top where recovery is going to take awhile.

Going into this workout, I was pretty sure that things would go fine.  That said, I'm glad to have done it as it was definitely a confidence builder.  So when it comes time to execute the race next month, I'll be building off some experience.

July Wrap Up

See ya, dude.

July was a pretty good month training wise.  But I'll get to that in a second.  The more important news is that as of this afternoon, Ian is now riding his bike.  It took a few months of negotiations to convince him that he was ready, but when we finally closed the deal this morning we didn't waste any time.  I took the training wheels off after lunch and we headed to the park.

I probably held the saddle for all of 15 seconds before I let go.  In all honesty, he didn't need my help.  When he looked back that first time and saw I wasn't there, he immediately fell over.  That was it though, and after that he was riding on his own, back and forth between Mary and I.  Sure, it's still a little shaky and his turning needs a little bit of work.  But look at the picture, he's riding.

We got Ian going on the bike between today's pool workout and long run.  These two work-outs wrapped up the month for me, and it's a month I'm feeling pretty good about.

July ended up being just over 47 1/2 hours of total volume.  The good news is that I'm feeling strong and think I'll be able to hang in there for another 3 weeks before I start to taper for Santa Cruz.  And the bad news?  I guess there really isn't any bad news.  But I do have a few concerns.  The first is I hope I'm doing enough, because this schedule has pretty much maxed me out in terms of available time.  My second concern is that since I am maxed out, how in the world am I going manufacture the additional time needed if/when I decide to register for a full Ironman next year?

Buoy line - Belmont Shore

My weeks have more or less settled into the following routine:  Monday is a 75 minute pool workout.  Tuesday is an hour's worth of bike intervals followed by a 4 or 5 mile run.  Wednesday is back to the pool for 75 minutes, but if I'm feeling a bit adventurous I'll head to Belmont Shore for an open water swim.  Thursday is a 1 hour speed-work session.  Friday I do a 90 minute recovery ride.  Saturday is back on the bike for 3 to 4 hours followed by a 4 to 5 mile run.  Sunday is another 75 minute pool workout and a 1 1/2 - 2 hour long run.  Every 3rd week I cut back by about 30% and take Sunday off.

I really like how the schedule flows.  Monday's swim is a great active recovery day and I'm always hitting Tuesday's workouts feeling really fresh.  And Friday's recovery ride has been setting up the higher volume weekends quite nicely.

LegoLand

I'm going to change things up next Saturday, though.  I feel like I need to do a long brick - like a 50 mile bike and 10 mile run.  These distances back-to-back are uncharted water for me and I want to have an idea about how it's going to feel come race day.  Plus I want to do a full dress rehearsal of my nutrition plan.

Even though this coming week is not a recovery week, the brick on Saturday will allow me to take Sunday off and take Ian to LegoLand.  The hotel we stayed at last weekend when I was racing at Solana Beach last week was right next door, and so that's all he's been talking about.  Since Mary is going to be out of town for work, it'll be a good day to take him - Mary's more of a Disneyland girl, and since she's been more than generous accommodating my schedule, I owe her one...

Halfway Through

My playground....from space

As of today, I've done the first 8 weeks of my 16 week 70.3 training plan.  So far, things have been pretty good - I've just had to keep my daily schedule tight and most of the time this has allowed me to get done what needs to be done.  There's the occasional conflict for sure, but that's more or less a universal problem I'd guess.  The great news is that my motivation has stayed high and actually keeps increasing.

My weeks tend to look like this, though every 4th week is cut back by about 30% and Sunday is off.


MONDAY - POOL WORKOUT (1:15 - 1:30)

I've learned to enjoy this.  I'm now up to 2500 or 3000 yards per workout.  I'll mix things up, but every session includes a warm-up, drills, sprints, a pyramid of some sort and a cool down.  I've started to drive to Irvine to do this.  It's a 20 minute drive but the pool gets half the use that my local pool does.  This was a big part of learning to enjoy the workout.

TUESDAY - BIKE/RUN BRICK (1:30 - 2:00)

Normally I'll do an out-and-back along Coast Highway with a turnaround somewhere in Newport Beach.  I usually throw in some intervals for good measure.  For the run, I've got a couple different 4 or 5 mile loops around my house, and I usually decide which one it's going to be as I leave my neighborhood.

WEDNESDAY - OPEN WATER SWIM (1:00)

I've been doing this swim in Belmont Shore.  Up until the Solana Beach Triathlon (which is in 2 weeks), I'll do quarter mile timed repeats.  After Solana Beach, I'll start doing swims more in line with the 70.3 swim.  It's been pretty crowded with swimmers lately and that's made it really fun.

THURSDAY - RUNNING SPEED WORK (1:00)

Chris K sent me 3 workouts a couple months ago and I religiously rotate them.  I probably should be doing this on a track, but I don't.  I do it along the beach path instead.  It's the one workout I always look forward to doing but hate while I'm doing it.  But I'm always glad I did it.


FRIDAY - BIKE (1:30)

Depending what's on tap for Saturday's ride, I'll either treat this as a Z2 recovery ride or work in some intervals.  Because my Fridays are tight, I've got to do this workout in the morning and keep it within the hour and a half time-frame.  This means I don't have enough time to get into the hills, which would be nice to keep things fresh.  Oh well.  By the way, for the first 4 weeks of the plan, this was an off day.

SATURDAY - LONG BIKE/RUN BRICK (3:30 - 4:30)

For this, I'll join the scheduled group ride with either OC Velo or Outspoken and then head home for the run.  The ride is usually between 55 and 65 miles and the run between 4 and 6 miles.  I'll be increasing the run length just after Solana Beach.

SUNDAY - LONG RUN -or- BIKE/RUN BRICK -or- SWIM/RUN BRICK (1:30 - 2:00)

Since my plan is on a 4 week turn, I'll do each of the above workouts over 3 consecutive weekends with the 4th Sunday as an off day.   My plan does schedule these, but I tend to go with what I'm feeling like doing while still making sure that I do cover them all in every turn.  Today was a good example - the plan called for a swim/run brick but I woke up feeling a little uneasy about my run and decided to do a long run instead.

You'll notice there aren't any days off, except for that 4th Sunday I was talking about.  I was concerned about this before I started the plan.  But it's worked out OK.  With Wednesday being a fairly light swim day and the option to use Friday's ride as active recovery, I've consistently felt good and have not had any major issues.  Plus, if I need to take a day off, I just take it.  I've done that once so far I believe.

My diet has been in training as well.  I've been cutting out all sorts of foods over the last year, like foods that amounted solely to empty calories and processed foods.  This isn't exclusive - I don't think I could live without ice cream for example.  But I would like to think that all but the most extreme nutrition enthusiasts would view my approach as reasonable.

Yet despite the changes, I found they still weren't enough.  The mix of foods (especially carbohydrates vs. protein) was off, because I stopped losing weight and was still about 10 or 15 pounds over were I wanted to be come race day.    So I've changed the mix.  I now try and keep my carbohydrate intake as low as I can, adjusting it up or down against expected training workload.  I'm still working on getting it right, and when it has gone wrong it's usually been the case of running out of fuel.    Overall, I've replaced the carbohydrate decrease with increased protein intake.  I've dropped 5 pounds in the last month.  So I'm going to stay the course and keep working on finding the right balance.

Mentally, I'm feeling pretty good.  I'm pretty excited actually.  I'm spending as much time with the family as I can, but I also know that they expect me to take a break after Santa Cruz.  I'm totally fine with this.  Taking it easy for a few months before I start it all up again in December to prepare for Oceanside will be welcome by everyone.  The truth is, I haven't taken a real break since I started in triathlon over 2 years ago.  Check out this chart from July of 2009 when I first started logging workouts.  Some months are bigger than others, but I've more or less kept my foot on the gas since the start.

Monthly training since July 2009

It's summer, so all my clients are out on tour and work is busy.  But I'm managing fine with that too. I'm also lucky that I can use the slightly odd hours required to work with the bands to my advantage.

So that's where I'm at.  What do you think?

Yoga

One of Kovas' barefoot running pals was there

After last Friday's bike fitting, when we couldn't get me into a more aero position because my flexibility is so awful, I finally decided it was time to do something about it.  I'm like that.  Though I might be acutely aware of an issue for a long time, I usually decide to act on it as the result of a singular circumstance or event.  And when I do, I jump right on it.  I have a lot of things on my bucket list.  But my bucket list is also like a mystery grab bag - I never know what I am going to tackle until I get a hair up my ass about it.

Wednesday workouts currently call for core work.  But I thought it might be a good idea to substitute it with yoga instead.  I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about yoga past a general understanding that it addresses flexibility issues and that many of the yoga postures would work my core anyway.  So the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.  My gym had a class scheduled for 5:30.  The schedule simply said "yoga" though, so I had no idea what that meant.  Was it a beginners class where I would be fine?  Or was it a more  advanced class whereby walking through the door is an acknowledgement that the attendee has a basic understanding of what is about to happen and knows the bare minimum as to not be a liability to the class?  A mystery.

But what's the worst thing that could happen?  I figured if I got there early enough I could claim the spot nearest the door and then make a quick and quiet egress if the shit hit the fan.  So I got there, claimed that spot and waited for the class to start.

Once we started, I quickly learned 3 things:

- Yoga is hard.
- If I had any lingering doubts that me being inflexible was just a big misunderstanding between me and my body, the proof is just too irrefutable to deny anymore.
- Yoga is awesome.

I knew it was going to be hard.  I've heard enough arguments between yoga enthusiasts and their detractors about the relative difficulty of yoga, and always sensed that the enthusiasts where right.  But you can't put a face to the pain until you meet that face.

As to the flexibility?  I was maxing out at about 50 or 60% extended compared to almost everyone in the room.  I was the only one who's knees started quivering when I tried to touch my toes.  And I was the only one who fell over during the one leg balancing postures.  I went down - hard and loud, to the soundtrack of a new-age flute solo dubbed over the sound of a bubbling brook.

But despite the challenges, I loved it.  It's enough of a core workout so I didn't miss a thing by substituting in the yoga.  And there is no way I would never have thought to move my body into most of the postures we used on my own.  Plus I liked the tempo of the class.  Over the hour, we started with a warm-up, then quickly moved into some really challenging stuff and then had a nice slow cool down where by then end we were just lying on our backs.

By the way, I'm sorry I'm using terms like "really challenging stuff".  All the postures have names, I just don't remember many of them.  I was too busy trying to inhale and exhale correctly, which I really couldn't do that well either.

Anjali Mudra

The one movement name I do remember is the Anjali Mudra, or the gesture of respect.  We'd come to this at the end of each series of postures.  Right away, I found it to be really powerful and cleansing.  Something about being in this position instantly revitalizes you and gets you ready for what's next.

This morning, I feel like I had a workout.  And I can't say that I feel this way after every "core" workout I've done.  So I'll definitely be going back.

Sea Trials & All Hail The Spinach

Next Sunday, I'll be racing at the San Diego International Triathlon.  The race is at Spanish Landing Park, which is just south of the Airport and just north of Downtown.  I did this race last year and it was great.  It's a fairly prestigious local race, and this year will be the 28th addition.

Though tagged as an "International" distance race, it's actually not quite that long.  The swim is 500 meters short at 1000M and the bike is 10 kilometers short at 30K.  But except for the swim (which is about 200 yards longer) it is exactly double the distance of the Solana Beach Sprint Triathlon.  You may recall from a post a couple weeks ago that I'm going to try to finish Solana in under an hour next month.

So this race will be a bit of a test.  I figure if I can finish this in about 2:04 or so, I'll theoretically be in good shape for Solana.  But there is an emphasis on "theoretically" - in real terms I'm not going to assume anything.

Last year I finished in 2:13.  I had one of my better swims, but just an OK bike and run.  But that was a year and thousands of training miles ago.  Hopefully, the natural progression of improvement will be shining favorably on me next week.

The bike course is a great.  There's a little bit of a climb up a peninsula of land called Point Loma, but once you summit, there are a couple of mildly rolling laps on top before you make up any time that may have been lost on the ascent with a screaming descent.  Still, I'm going to have to nail that climb.

The run is dead flat along a seawall.  From last year, I remember that despite my so-so performance, I really enjoyed this run.  I'm looking forward to doing it again and turning on the heat a bit.

Overall, I'm feeling pretty good.  I finished week 4 of my 16 week 70.3 training plan today on a high note with a decent 27 mile tempo ride this morning and a 6 mile recovery run this afternoon.  As I've mentioned before, the plan has restructured my training weeks quite a bit.  So I can feel my body responding to the changes.  I got a little bit lazy this spring in terms of workout structure, and my body got a little bit too comfortable with the monotony.  Well, I don't think it's comfortable anymore.

The only challenges I've faced are longer recovery times due to the more intense workouts, be it running speed-work or cycling intervals.  Though not wanting to cause an uproar amongst my middle aged endurance colleagues,  I'm not going to BS myself - I think some of this comes down to age.  Not that this particularly matters or can't be worked around, but making this assumption is probably the best move I can make when it comes down to trying to offset it with adjustments.

The adjustments I'm making are all dietary.  Protein intake is going up and carbohydrate intake is going down.  In practice, it's pretty simple.  Breakfast is no longer granola and fruit.  Instead it's hard boiled eggs and Greek yogurt.  Between meal snacks are no longer Clif or Odwalla Bars.  Instead it's turkey slices.  Carbohydrates still have their place obviously, but the emphasis for them will be as fuel specific to training and racing.  Finally, there will be a huge spinach salad with dinner every night.  Spinach is incredibly nutritionally dense, and I'm hoping that the flavonoids and anti-inflammatory properties kick in while I'm resting.

I'll report back about the diet changes in a week or so.   Hopefully I'll have some good news in the race report as well.

Epic Saturdays - The Brick

Craig & I

I knew I was going to be out late last night, so when I called Craig yesterday and asked him if we could head out this morning at 8:30 instead of 7:00 (and he agreed), I felt a new sort of gratitude that will henceforth be reserved only for the best of training partners.  Due to work commitments last night, I got home at 1:55 AM this morning. The alarm was set for 7:30.  Normally on Saturday it's set for 6:00.  Obviously, eight hours of sleep is ideal.  But the difference between four and five and a half hours is huge for me.

Today's training schedule called for a brick session: a two and a half hour Z2 ride and a 30 minute run.  Craig is racing tomorrow at the Bailey Bikes Criterium, so he was looking for more or less the same, sans the run.  So off we went, right on time.

When we hit Pacific Coast Highway a pretty large group passing perpendicular to us through the intersection.  So when we got a green light, we chased on to the back.  But after all that it ended up that they where not moving very fast, so we passed through and carried on.

A few miles later we got caught by a group from Adobo Velo while we were waiting at a traffic light.  These guys where looking strong and organized, so when the light changed we latched on to the end of their train to feel out if it was cool to join them.  No one seemed to mind, so we enjoyed a brisk 7 or 8 miles before it was time for us to get off PCH and head into Newport & Irvine.

False flat through Turtle Rock

Craig and I had decided to ride OC Velo's Sunday recovery ride route.  It's the perfect length for what we both wanted to put on the books today, and though not a particularly challenging ride, there are enough bumps in the road to keep things interesting.  For the next 20 miles we rode through Newport Heights, The UCI campus, Turtle Rock and Bonner Canyon before making our way back to PCH for the run in back to Huntington Beach.

When we got back to Pacific Coast Highway things got interesting.  Timing is everything and as we where taking a left onto PCH from MacArthur, we joined up with a couple of other guys and started riding together.  The pace was fast/comfortable and we kept getting lucky with the lights.  Being somewhat committed to keeping the integrity of my Z2 workout intact (read: acting like like a precious baby), I stuck on the back and let everyone else do the work.  But after awhile I started feeling guilty and worked my way to the front, just to be stopped by one of the few red lights we did hit.

When we started up again, I was the victim of something I do all the time which is forgetting to shift into a lower gear while rolling to a stop.  So stuck in a 50/13 (or so) gear, it took me forever to get going again.  And by the time I did, I had to hit it pretty hard just to catch on to the back again.

Bolsa Chica Flats

I got another chance on the Bolsa Chica flats with about a mile before Craig and I would be turning onto Warner Ave.  Once on front, I gave it everything I had.  And today I ended up having a lot - I pulled the last mile at about 28.5 MPH.  This effort garnered me quite a hefty compliment that I didn't deserve from a rider who must have just joined on with us - As he was laying on the praise it occurred to me that clearly he had missed my previous 10 miles of wheel sucking.  As I write this, I am still struggling with the moral dilemma that this compliment has created - if he only knew.

When I got home, I quickly changed into running gear and was out the door for the run.  The run felt good and was otherwise uneventful.  I ran out of my tract, through Huntington Central Park, down some side streets, along the perimeter of the wetlands and then home.  I listened to a band called Cave In on the iPod.  That's about it.

This was my 3rd time out in the Zoot Energy 3.0 shoes.  I've got 20 miles on them now, and I'm still not sure about them.  We shall see.... 

The Bike:  48.17 Miles/2:31/19.1 avg. speed
The Run:  5.01 Miles/40:21/8:03 avg. pace

A Bike/Run, A Bike & Run And The Pool

Gear

Over the weekend, I finished up week 1 and started week 2 of a 16 week 70.3 training plan.  And though it's only been a week (or perhaps BECAUSE it's only been a week), so far so good.

The plan definitely changes the way I spend my training time.  For example, I usually join OC Velo and set off to points unknown for a long ride every Saturday morning.  But the training plan calls for a bike/run workout every Saturday.  And since I have committed to following the plan's schedule more or less to the letter, it's not until Week 5 that the rides get long enough for the OC Velo ride to make sense.

Instead I opted to join the Out-spoke-n Cycles ride.  I should/need to be doing this anyway, as the shop is the main sponsor of a team that TRI714 are putting together.  So it all worked out perfectly.  And as a bonus, I got to sleep an extra hour.

Out-Spoke-n

Because it was a holiday weekend, only 5 other people turned up.  Everyone turned out to be a decent rider, but I could tell right away that most of these guys lacked any real group riding experience.  The planned ride was a 25 mile out and back route.  On the outbound leg, at any given time at least one of the five guys in the group was attacking off the front of what little group we had, only to blow up and fall behind, and then recover to do it again.  I must admit it was driving me a little crazy, because I like proper group rides.  So at the halfway point, I suggested we do a pace line back and explained the mechanics of same to those who didn't know what it was.  Everyone caught on pretty quick and for the return trip we where making good time taking :30-:45 second pulls each.  There WAS one guy who on his first few pulls could not resist the urge to really put the hammer down the millisecond he got on the front, but I gave him a little guidance on the matter and he did great after that.

Once back at the shop, I changed into my running shoes quick (not quite a proper T1 time but not bad) and set out for the run.  Out-spoke-n is right on PCH in Sunset Beach, so all I had to do is cross over to the beach side, get on the beach path and start running.  I did just over 5 miles out and back south towards the Bolsa Chica lifeguard station.  The run felt good.  Actually, it felt really good.  So good in fact that I was not the least bit annoyed that the day marked the first day for the next 3-4 months that I'm going to have to share the beach path with tons of out-of-towners.  When I got back, the Saturday farmers market that happens in the Out-spoke-n parking lot was in full swing.  There is a stand there making what look to be amazingly tasty tamales.  I was able to resist this time, though I doubt my will-power will last much longer.

Post wind & Velominati rule violation

Sunday called for another bike and run, but not as a brick.  Since I was riding alone, I took the TT bike out for this one.  It was windy Sunday - really windy.  When I hit PCH and turned south, I had a tail wind and hit 32-33 MPH pretty easy.  But even though I was having a great time, it didn't take much presence of mind to realize that I somehow had to get back.  So I couldn't help but start feeling a little bit of dread as the outbound miles flew by.  Eventually, all good things come to an end - after a few repeats on this little kicker of a hill near Hoag Hospital, it was time to go back.  And let's just say the ride back totally sucked.

But I did make it back intact and a few hours later, I went out for the run.  Again I did another 5 miles and again it felt great.

Heck yes, Stanford!

Today I hit the pool.  The swim is where I am really breaking it down to basics again.  After a 400 yard warm-up, I did a few 200's of various drills and then swam a 50-100-150-200-150-100-50 pyramid with each interval on :20 seconds rest, before doing some sprints and a cool down.  I tried, as best I could, to really think about one specific component of my stroke on each interval - reach, head position, body roll, pull and so on and so forth.  I was sharing a lane with a collegiate swimmer.  She was from Stanford if you can go by swim caps, and we got to talking a little.  After a bit of swim training small talk (to which I could add very little), she pointed out that I was crossing my stroke across the center line.  I'm always more than happy to get swimming advice, so I took note and made an adjustment.  And something changed, because I could definitely feel my shoulder and back muscles engaging in a slightly different way.

Looking forward to the rest of the week, I've got a short Z2 run and the El Dorado Criterium tomorrow, a core workout Wednesday, another swim and some run speed-work on Thursday, a day off Friday and then I'll basically repeat what I did this weekend next weekend, adding a bit of time to each session.

I'm into it.

January Wrap Up

Back of the FJ Cruiser This Morning

I can't believe January is already over.  I've still got a Christmas sweater sitting neatly folded in the original gift box.  And the Christmas lights, though off the house, have still not been moved the additional 4 feet from the garage floor to the shelf.  But then again, that's a pretty big project and may be better suited for when the days are longer - like July.

After the big December storms, Southern California was treated with a clear and somewhat warmer than normal January - the temperatures were hitting the high 70's at the middle of the month.  So that made for a lot of quality training outside.

Of the 31 days in January, I trained on 24 of them.  Of the 6 off days, 5 where scheduled for rest and I was sick 1 day.  All totaled, I ended up getting in just under 44 hours.

I'm pretty happy with the volume for a couple of reasons.  First off, my body feels good, and I'm back to the "almost lean" state that I had managed to get to before Thanksgiving.  I think a lot of this comes down to keeping most of the running in Z2 so I was able to burn off some excess fat.  Secondly, I was able to put up these numbers with little or no conflict with work and family time.  Everyone seems happy.  So if they are happy, then I am too.

A couple of the January sessions will be fondly remembered.  There were a pair of 12 mile runs along the beach that where perfect, and then there was the legendary Santiago Canyon ride with OC Velo (TRI714 knows).

That said, there are a couple of things missing.  I need to be swimming more for one.  Secondly,  I need to find a way to get into the gym at least once a week, even if it's just for a stretching or core session.  I could even do this at home.

So all things considered, I'm giving myself an "A" on volume and a "C" on variety.  Does this sound about right?

The Triathlete Grows Up

More Night Maneuvers

I was emailing back and forth with Kovas on Saturday.  In addition to him turning me on to a great Beatles documentary on the History Channel (which led me to watch the Woodstock documentary that came on next which then led me to listen to nothing but Sly and the Family Stone for the rest of the weekend), he made a comment that, based on my Facebook feed, he had noticed that I hadn't cut my training back as I had originally planned.

I (of course) got immediately defensive.  But I knew he was right.  My volume hasn't decreased that much over the last month.  I'm only going to be a tad short of 40 hours for November, which has less to do with cutting back and more to do with taking time off while sick.

The truth is, I don't know how to take time off.  I have a vague idea that any good training regimen calls for athletes to take it easy for a month at the end of the season.  But I don't know the definition of "taking it easy". 

So I did some research.  And while opinions vary, the common recommendation is to stay active, but decrease volume, lose the heart rate monitor and work in some activities like hiking or mountain biking.  This way, you can preserve an aerobic base, but give your body and mind a much needed rest.

Of course, these recommendations are given with the assumption that an athlete has come off a season's worth of structured training.  But thus far in my career,  I've done little structured training.  My training has consisted of swimming, biking and running purely for the joy of it.  Sure, I reduce my volume every 4th week and occasionally run or bike up a hill twice.  I also modified my swimming workouts a few months ago to be more drill focused.  But I've never lived and died by a strict daily training plan.

So far it's worked out OK.  I've always managed to dig a little deeper when it's mattered and go longer or pull out a better split time.  But between Kovas' comment and poking around on the web this weekend, I'm starting to look at training differently.

In all honesty, a structured training plan scares me a bit.  Because the thing about I most like about endurance sports is the freedom.  And though I am careful to make sure I train in reasonable ratios amongst the 3 disciplines, I rarely take it further than what I mentioned above.  Academically, I understand how a structured plan would be beneficial.  In fact, it may be just what I need considering the concerns I had in a post last week about fitness gains in 2011.  But at the same time I am afraid of being beholden to a plan and having some of the joy sucked out in the process.  I don't want the party to end.

It's not the volume of training or the types of training I'll need to do.  Time can be manufactured and I am not afraid of pain.  It's the added layer of responsibility of having to do certain things at certain times that gives me pause.  I'm married, have a 5 year old son, dogs, a mortgage, two car payments and a job - Isn't that enough responsibility?  Apparently not.

I think I know what I need to do, and that's to try a structured training plan.  I'm going to need to be stronger for the Hawaii 70.3 anyway.  I was watching some video of the bike course. Between the long climb to Hawi and the wind it's going to require a level of riding I still need to get to if I want to race strong.  And of course I'd love to go faster, who wouldn't?

Perhaps this is me maturing as an athlete.  Yeah, OK, I had fun for two years doing whatever I wanted training wise.  But I probably owe it to myself to step up my game a little bit and really see what I'm made out of.  And if that means adding "structured training" to my list of responsibilities after my job, so be it.

So suck it up, buttercup.  But I do need to get that rest in first.

Swimming - This Time It's For Real (Hopefully)

Bag of tricks - kick board, paddles, fins and pull buoy.

Luckily, my constant frustration with swimming is subordinated by the desire to become a better triathlete.  So every few months I find myself circling back to refocus on swimming.  I've mentioned in the last few weeks that after the Orange Country Triathlon this weekend, I'm going to go into "off season mode" which will consist of a 1/2 marathon training plan and more swimming.

I've been using a swim coach for 3-4 months now.  I've always realized that it was helping, though I was frustrated by a lack of progress as compared to gains I've made with running and biking.  But in the last 2 weeks, I'm hopeful that a swimming renaissance has begun.  I've finally been convinced that it's time to focus more on drills and less on slogging away in the open water with crappy form.

It seems that my form has improved enough to bring the training to a new level, because my coach has added pull buoy, fins, and paddle drills into the mix.  You guys know me well enough to know that I am always up for new gear, yet the swimming stuff felt counter-intuitive at first.  My stubbornness,  often based on nothing even remotely substantial, was saying that swimming was all about the yardage.  Time in the saddle works for the bike, right?  Time on the road works for running, right?  Then why is swimming any different?

Yeah, well I've finally been convinced it doesn't work that way.  But the good news for me is that when the light bulb goes off I'm happy to go all in.  Better late than never, I suppose.

Paddles with a pull buoy?  My body roll improved immediately.  And for the first time I could really feel how I was using my leading arm to push my head out of the water to breath (and slow me down) before I started the catch.

25 yard intervals with a kick board and fins?  Love them.  I'd do them until my legs fell off if I could.

But my favorite is kicking with fins on my back while rolling left to right.  If I want to breathe I need to keep my lower back and butt up, otherwise I sink.  And when you are on your back and able to calmly do length after length, you get a new understanding of what it means to be comfortable in the water.

I hope these drills pay off in the long run.  I'm thinking at least 50% of my off season swim training will be drill focused.

The refocus on swimming all goes back to my race results.  My bike and run are fairly competitive, usually good enough to place me close to the front of the pack in my AG.  But I always blow the swim.  And though I don't do this to win, It wouldn't suck if I podium one day.

August in Review

I'm not sure I've ever done a monthly training review before.  But I decided this month that I should look at the data and give myself a debrief.  Anyway, here are the numbers:

August 2010 totals:
Bike:	24h 02m 44s  - 428.98 Mi
Run:	12h 05m 23s  - 86.56 Mi
Swim:	7h 57m 38s  - 13557 Yd
Strength:	2h 10m

In total, I trained for just over 46 hours.  That's a good month for me, and even the ratios between the disciplines look good.  Well almost.  I should probably lose the strength training in favor of more swimming.  Two hours of strength training basically means I made it into the gym twice in August. That's more of a volume grab than a worthwhile effort to lift.  I've got 2 races left this year.  I need more swimming practice, especially drills in the pool.  I reckon I can revisit the gym in October.

August was the month of the bike.  I definitely feel like I came out of the month riding noticeably stronger.  For September, I'm going to have to leave the road bike in the garage in favor of the TT bike more often.  But other than that, whatever I am doing on the bike seems to be working.

As far as running goes, I'm happy with the volume.  That said, I'm going to start training for a 1/2 marathon in November (race is early February),  and I really need to put together a more comprehensive run training program than just going out 3 times a week and running a short, medium and long run.

Then there is the swim (Sigh).  I just have to keep working at it.  It's getting better, but the incremental improvement is on a completely different curve than everything else.  So like I said, I'll forgo the gym for more pool time, maybe try to squeeze out a few additional hours overall, and if worse comes to worse, pull off the running and cycling just a little bit.

For comparison, here are my August 2009 numbers.

August 2009 totals:
Bike:	85.23 Mi - 5h 57m 43s
Run:	53.22 Mi - 8h 30m 21s
Swim:	11400.00 Yd - 7h 45m

It's funny what can happen in a year...

Training Modification

I was going over the results from last Sunday's race with my swim coach tonight.  We agreed that:

- My swim was dreadfully slow;

- My bike was good, but there is still room for improvement;

- My run was great.

Basically, his argument is that I have it all back asswards.  Most of the burlier athletes he coaches manage to swim faster well before their run gets faster.  My swim time on Sunday was actually 2 minutes slower than last year.  But my running pace was 1:30 per mile faster than last year.

This improvement in the run, by the way, is why he feels I've still got speed to find on the bike.

In the 5 days since the race, I've realized that the 13 minute improvement over last year is something to be proud of.  This race was a great way to cap off my first year, and in the end it only deepened my resolve to compete.  And of course you can't discount the overall benefits of the added fitness.  But when I'm talking to a coach, we are talking strictly about performance.  And he reckons I've got some work to do.

So for the rest of the season, I'll be dropping a run day and adding a pool day.  That will mean 4 swims (2 open water, 2 pool) and 2 runs a week.  This will take some getting used to, because I really enjoy running.  But I might as well give it a shot.

The bike sessions will remain the same, but if I can squeeze out some extra mileage, I'll do it.  And I've got to do some more tempo rides as well.

We shall see what happens...

Just ride (or swim, or run)

When I was alpine climbing I got used to long slogs up snowfields just to reach the crest and find another long slog up another snowfield lay ahead.  Mountains where designed to play tricks climbers - it's common that routes have one or more "false summits" before you actually reach the top.

 Mt. Shasta, California.  False summits?  Look at that cruel ridge up the center of the picture.

Climbing a mountain is not unlike riding a bike or running.  Your legs and lungs burn.  This can go on for hours.  It takes physical strength to climb for sure.  But it takes mental strength too.

In the years between climbing and triathlons I lost a lot of that "mental strength".  A year ago a 10 mile bike ride was pure torture.  And I would make it worse by counting the miles down while obsessing about the distance ahead.  But I wouldn't necessarily finish the ride physically wasted.  I was letting my brain trick me into unnecessary drama.

I've been working on getting my mental game back.  Yesterday I rode south down PCH.  I had a tail wind and was flying - the computer showed a max speed of 27.8 MPH at one point.  This is a thrilling feeling for sure.  But I couldn't keep a little dread from sneaking it's way into the bliss.  Eventually I would have to turn around and ride home.

Soon enough that tail wind was a head wind.  And it was brutal.  But really, what where my choices?  I had to get home.  So I decided that for the 11 miles back I would not worry about speed and just spin it out as best I could.  I also decided I wouldn't look at the computer either.  I would just ride.

So I settled into aero and started pedaling.  I made up a dumb song that I can't remember just to keep a cadence.  I didn't obsess on any landmarks in the distance.  And I didn't look look at the computer until I got home.

And you know what?  I was pretty fast.  Not 27 MPH fast, but I averaged about 20 MPH back.  I managed to avoid the head games.  It was a bit of a "light-bulb over the head" moment.

Tonight was the Thursday night swim at Corona Del Mar.  I've been going to the pool every week to work with a swim coach and there is no doubt that my stroke is getting better.   But CDM had a rare 3 + foot swell on the go and after 100 yards I realized that tonight was not going to be the night where my pool work was going to get a fair test in the open water. 

 Add a 3 foot swell to this picture and that would be CDM today.

So I made up another dumb song I can't remember and kept swimming.  I'd get 6, maybe 8 decent strokes in and then I'd rise up on the crest of a wave and my form would go out the window.  But I refused to stress about it and kept going until I was done.

When I came out of the water I literally felt sea sick.  But when I looked at my watch, guess what?  I didn't loose any time due to the conditions.  I was surprised, but pleased that I found enough of something from somewhere to get it done.

Maybe I was a little slow on the uptake, but it's nice to be able to bring a old piece of the puzzle back into the mix.  Though it's early days with putting the mental stuff back in for triathlon, it was undoubtedly an essential part of climbing.

For me, it comes down to putting myself completely into the task at hand.  I have to remember that I love what I am doing, because otherwise I wouldn't being doing it.  And I have to trust that my hours of training will be there when I need them.  With luck it gets easier over time.

What techniques do you use?

At The Crossroads

Crossroads of my training world

Ominous title? Not really.

I went on a Garmin data analysis bender this evening and upon review of the various charts and graphs, I realized that I pass through this intersection on almost every run and ride I do. Plus it also happens to be the place where trail access for the Bolsa Chica wetlands is located. So I declare this spot as my training epicenter. It's where Warner Avenue meets Pacific Coast Highway.

Conveniently, there is a great Mexican restaurant and sushi bar here too.

Sorry I just wasted time you'll never get back with the above drivel. But wait, there's more...

The Haiku that everyone have been leaving are great. I was a little worried that the guys would not take part in fear that their man card would be debited for writing a poem. But apparently they all realized that Ninjas probably wrote Haiku before going off to battle so everything is cool.

If you missed yesterday's post, you may have no idea what I'm talking about. So here's the deal - I am running a granola and breakfast cookie give away in conjunction with Erin Baker's Wholesome Baked Goods. Essentially, all you need to do is comment with a Haiku and you'll entered to win some baked goodness. The details are here.

Speaking of food related give aways, both Kovas at Midwest MultiSport Life and Rad Runner at Rad Runner are also doing contests at the moment. Please check them out, as both are awesome. Kovas has heart smart cookbooks from CanolaInfo and Rad Runner has vegan cookies from the Alternative Baking Company.

Alternative Baking Company's cookies at my local juice bar. These things are incredible. That's a sweet hook-up, Rad Runner...

I'm a couple articles into my new position as the Triathlon Examiner for the examiner.com's Los Angeles edition. Though I need to get out there and report on some local local news, I want to periodically write profiles on the every-day athletes like ourselves. If you are from the LA area, cool. If you aren't, that's cool too. Personally, I think the profiles will be interesting and newsworthy because we are truly the backbone of the sport. If anyone is interested in being interviewed for this, hit me up at 17281posse (at) gmail.com.

Since I've been back from Vancouver, I've been hitting the training pretty hard. That said, I'm a little annoyed that my available training time comes in hour to hour and a half blocks. For running and swimming it works out OK, but I feel like I should be riding longer. But I do what I can do and the last 5 days have been great.

I just found out I need to go back to Vancouver again next week, but I think it might just be for a night. That would be great because my next race is the San Diego International Triathlon on the 27th and I feel like I could use some pretty intense training next week so I can taper the following.

That's it for now...

Getting There

My "Speed Lab"

I'm getting faster. I'm getting stronger. And I'm getting smarter, at least when it comes to triathlon. And I have to admit I'm pleased about it.

Now this is not intended to be a "look how great I am" post, though it's going to be a bit hard to live down the first four sentences. Rather, it's a humble reminder of two things - First, you are never too old to learn. And second, good things come to those who wait (and work their asses off)

"A-ha!" moments seem to be something you have less of as you get older. I'm not sure why this happens. Maybe we are less reluctant to try new things. Maybe the circumstances of adult life makes it harder to experiment. Maybe we tend to become more anesthetized to them and don't even realize it when they happen. Whatever the reason is, it's too bad. Because "A-ha!" moments are pretty cool.

I had a pretty nice "A-ha!" last week at the pool. Anyone who has read my blog for more than a week knows that I have a big problem with swimming. I certainly have no fear of the water, and I have enough endurance to swim race distances. I'm just slow. I finally broke down and hired a swim coach. We met for the first time and within 15 minutes, he showed me some things that immediately made sense. I still have a lot of work to do, but I am developing a new set of tools in which to do it. File this experience under "why did I wait so long?" for sure.

Now I just operate: Go to my coaching sessions, re-learn the bits that I didn't retain the previous week, work at it, stay focused, work at it some more, stay positive, and then keep working at it.

Scene of the crime - a first degree "A-Ha!" moment

And I'll start on this swim endeavor knowing that time investments do work. I was looking at my training logs for the last 6 months. While looking at the numbers, it struck me how much faster I was running. I was obtusely aware that my speed was going up, because my elapsed times over normal routes where going down. And of course I can't go 100 yards without obsessing about my pace on the Garmin. But not until I had my training log graph it all out for me did I realize that I had shaved over a minute off of my average pace December. And this has been without any fanfare - no additional RPE or any of those brutal "I can't wait until this sh*t is over" miles. It just happened.

Did you ever hear of the "10,000 Hour Rule?". It's a hypothesis by English sociologist Malcolm Gladwell that says (and I am really simplifying this) if you put 10,000 hours into something you will come out a master.

Malcolm Gladwell - I truly dig his style but that hair is not at all aero.

Do I agree with it? I'm not sure, probably not. Mostly, because I don't live in a bubble and I can probably name 10,000 things that would get in the way of my pursuit for 10,000 hours of anything. But academically, it's pretty cool premise and just another way of saying the same we've all heard before: Practice makes perfect.

I'm probably not ever going to be an elite endurance athlete, at least in the sense of a Lance Armstrong or Chris McCormack. For one thing, I'm a big dude - Endurance athletes are lithe and lanky. I should have stuck with football. For another, I'm getting older. And I don't mean that as an excuse, I just mean I accept the physiological realities. That said, I'm not peaked yet and I have every intention of declining as slow as possible.

But that doesn't mean I can't be smart about what I do have. Actually, what I should say is that we can all be smart about what we have.

And we are.

When I read other blogs I'm always struck by how much work is being put into EVERYTHING, not just the sport of choice. As the author(s) of said blog(s), you are all training as much as you can while managing everything else in your lives. And you still find time to write about it, articulately and honestly. In every case, dedication is 100%. The attention to detail is 100%. And you are constantly striving for a little more speed, a little less weight, or whatever your goals are.

I would love to compete with any of you. It would be inspiring.

It's funny, at least for me. For the most part my training is a solitary pursuit. And I kind of like it that way, it's my alone time. But I come to the blogs for interaction. And to learn. This is where I really get my education.

So I'm getting there, and I thank you all for the help.