You blink and it's May

I can hardly believe that I wrote the previous post 4 weeks ago!! How's that even possible? I suppose this is what happens when your life changes drastically and you try to keep up with the new rhythm. But more about this later... The first race of the season is less than 2 months away and I am NOT freaking out. Nope. I'm good. I am also a terrible liar.

Here's something that doesn't lie. Strava.

As you can see, I only averaged 2-3 workouts a week, but when you think about it, my work as an arborist IS a daily workout. They call us something like... industrial athletes, I kid you not. (Check this out - "Caring for your body as a production arborist"). The ISA even mentions something about a sawdust triathlon. Wait, what?? I suppose it counts as training after all.

This must be the core workout

Now, back to the other kind of triathlon. Alas, I only managed to train in 2 of the 3 sports. And let's not debate whether triathlon is one sport or three, or more, mmmkay?

I ran 5km three times and biked 7 times, with the longest bike workout being 2h. I still have a long way to 3h on the trainer, but it should be doable before June comes around. I may even bump my FTP by 5 points or so. As to running, the goal is to get to 10km before the end of the month.

Just for fun, here are the Trainer Road bike workouts I did, in order of progression:

• Ericsson 1h
• Bays 1h
• Carson 1h
• Glassy-1 1.5h
• Baird-1 1h
• Boarstone 2h
• Phoenix 1.5h

Last but not least - 8fit: I completely forgot about it. Seriously. I kept ignoring its reminders and eventually it left me alone. Yesterday, however, I was in mood for Yoga and I did a quick Neck and Shoulders routine which felt amazeballs.

I also found some wonderful breakfast ideas and I already tried one today:

Chocolate Banana Pudding

• 1 serving of instant Maple and Brown Sugar Steel Cut Oats (PC blue menu)
• 120ml soy milk
• 1/2 tsp raw cocoa
• 15 almonds
• 1 banana

Directions: microwave the milk and oats for 2.5min, mix in cocoa, almonds and banana slices. (Optional add in 1tsp sesame seeds and a pinch of salt)

Ready in 5 minutes and absolutely delish!

I'll try to blog more often, as I settle into a routine. Easier said than done, I'm aware. But at least I'll tell you this. I am not going anywhere. ;-)

IMMT Training Week 2: The Calm Before the Storm

The week after a race always feels like a lazy one. You want to recover, to take it easy, to be good to yourself... and since I ended racing Robbie Burns 8k last Sunday, I had to deal with a few aches that showed up afterwards. I had some mild back pain and my calves were super tight, mostly from running in my old KSwiss which I hadn't worn in 2 months. My glutes were also sore, but not in an alarming way, and by the end of the day on Monday almost all pain was gone. I still went to physio and after talking to my therapist about my lack of hip pain in the last 2-3 weeks, we decided that it was finally time to set the therapy aside and see where the workouts take me. However, I am going to continue the strength exercises to try and get me some Glutes of Steel. I am going to miss my therapist and her torturous contraptions.

Pro stretch, vibrating plate, cupping. My therapist is cuter than your therapist.

Swim

I was supposed to swim on Tuesday night, but I had to go to a meeting and it didn't happen. On Thursday I went to the group swim with the tri folks and that turned pretty epic.

Warmup:
200m swim
2x[50m kick + 50m sailboard]
2x100m pull + paddles
Main set:
3x100 descending on 2:10
100m pull easy
3x100 descending on 2:15
100m pull easy
3x100 descending on 2:20
Last 10 min: relays

Basically, you take the fast 50s from the past week and you multiply everything by 2 and remove 5 seconds per 50 in the process. I called this "go faster or drown trying".  During the 2nd (or was it the third?) interval I almost puked in the middle of the pool. I had to stop and walk a few steps because my stomach was rebelling with each breath. I have no idea how I managed to get through the full set.

I didn't swim again until Sunday when I could not get myself to think of anything else but zoning out with a pull buoy, and that's exactly what I did: 2000m pull non stop. Given that I received my first workout schedule from coach, if there was going to be one last time to relax, that was it. And if I sound a bit scared, it's because I am. 

Bike

Pettit on Wednesday

Tried to keep the cadence high enough, but it wasn't too exciting. Enough to get me sweat. Mission accomplished.

Fletcher on Saturday

Take two Pettit, shorten the intervals a little, put them back to back and you get Fletcher. I didn't even choose it on purpose, I asked hubbs to pick it for me. But I didn't complain, it seemed to be the right one for the longest ride so far this year. The instructions said to add a few controlled spins in the middle, which you can guess from those spikes on the graph. I was too lazy, or too scared to do more. They got me coughing quite a lot though, and my puffer lived to tell the tale, covered in sweat just like me.

Run

I went on the treadmill twice this week, once at work for 35 minutes easy and once at the gym near my house, while everyone else was watching the Superbowl. I don't understand the Superbowl, but I was looking forward to the commercials. The only one I remember was the one with David Beckham.

I ran for 45 minutes, then jumped in the pool. Isn't my Superbowl party cool? I had about 100 guests, but they left before the half time, I think they all wanted to watch Bruno Mars and the RHCP with sound. Without me. Oh well.

In a nutshell

I was planning to exercise for at least 7h, but sandwiched between a race and a coach's schedule, I had to adjust my rest days. I ended up with too many of them, but I compensated by being really good about my physio exercises. Did them 3 times and I even added 3 x 1min plank each time. Gotta do what you gotta do... 5.5h is still better than nothing.

Push it, push it real good!

It is time for a bike update, before I turn on the Around the Bay excitement. HINT: It's ONE WEEK from now!! Ok, enough with the caps or I'll lose my voice before the race. Biking, or rather trainer rides, have been going really well and I don't hate burying myself in the basement, just yet. Kurtie, Neo and I are still in our threesome honeymoon, how cute. We do it 4 times a week:

Monday: 1h easy spin
Wednesday: 1h-1h30 hard workout
Saturday: Long aerobic ride (currently at 2h30)
Sunday: 30 min ez spin after the long run

I just finished the last workout about half an hour ago, and I'm happy once more to have completed them all as requested. Last week I thought I didn't push hard enough over the weekend, but given how difficult Wednesday's group spin with the coach was, I must have looked for an excuse to do the minimum, if that means something. One could argue that spending 2h on the bike isn't minimum effort, but for sure it made me feel like a lazy bum. 2h at 50% FTP is nothing to be really proud of in my books, unless you count patience as a virtue.

This week though, I decided to draw a clean slate and push myself a little more. For the hard ride, coach said I should do "Mist" on Trainer Road, which contained a series of hard intervals. To give you an idea of the effort level, it feels like you are pushing hard up a hill, then you run out of breath half way, but try not to pass out and finish the interval while maintaining the same power, no fading. Repeat 6 times, all the same. I must have gained some power since I first started working on my trainer because I didn't feel like death and even better, I smashed 9 of them records with this ride.
Look at them pretties!

The last two power peaks are there because I felt like it, I was getting bored, not because they were required by any means. Show off! But I was actually curious to see how high/hard I could go for a few seconds at a time. To put these results in perspective, the highest peak is not even the half of what my hubbs can do, but he's a guy and he likes to show off too.

Anyway, I felt really proud of myself after this ride, like I was ready to conquer the world.

For the Saturday long ride, I chose another Trainer Road workout, this time called "Goodale". What I like about those long aerobic rides from Trainer Road is that they aren't boring. If it was just a flat line I would shoot myself trying to hold a somewhat challenging pace, but with those, you have to keep paying attention because the power level changes every 3-4 minutes. I put on a movie "Beasts of the Southern Wild", but it was totally underwhelming and pretty boring too. I think I'll stick with Nick Cage or Christian Bale from now on. Last week I watched "Drive Angry" and that was much more fitting.

During the 2.5h I ate one homemade energy bar (recipe here, wink wink) and drank a bottle of Gatorade and one of water. I was a bit hungry by the end, but I knew that I only had to do a 15min run off the bike, then have lunch, so there was no need for more. 

Two more records down with this one as well. I think I am getting decent at biking on the spot. Not sure I even want to get back on the road for now, where all the crazy drivers and potholes are. Given how Mother Nature is teasing us with another snow storm next week, we may have at least another month or two to feel warm enough to go "out there" where the "wild things are". Oops, another boring movie reference. I better end this post before I start talking about "Life of Pi" too.

Otherwise, I promise not to talk about my bike for at least another week, unless something super crazy happens, like a shredded tyre or a broken shoe. After Mother Nature, I am tempting the Devil ... heh heh. Too many movies in my head. Time for bed.

Gratuitous Salt 'n' Pepa reference link here. Get your mind out of the gutter!

Life is good

It's Sunday, I finished my 2h long run, had an ice bath, then pizza for lunch. I even had a haircut. Life is good.

Yesterday, I did a killer bike ride on my trainer, 3 intervals of 20 min each, called Eclipse. Nothing to do with Twilight. I switched on my TV for the first time in 2 months, watched Ellen, then Argo. Life is good.

On Friday, my work demo setup worked and I shipped it, and we had celebratory beer at the office. It totally turned the week's mood around, so I celebrated some more with a run outside in the snow. Life is good.

Thursday, I met with a local coach from my tri club. I am going to see him at least twice a week and he's going to cook a brand new training plan for me to finish Ironman Muskoka 70.3 later this year. Life is good.

Wednesday I did another bike workout on my trainer, called Ericsson. Nothing to do with the phones. I found my sweet spot. Workout data got botched in the upload, but I managed to fix it after upgrading to the latest software version. Life is good.

Tuesday I was alive and kicking, despite the lack of energy. Life is good.

Monday I accepted a DietBet challenge to lose 5.6lb in 4 weeks. I put in $30. If I succeed, I share $20,000 and some change with as many other winners out of 683 (as of today), so at worst, I lose $30, at best, I win them back and some more. Life is good.

I found on eBay the same set of Gap scarf and hat that I had since 2003, but lost sometime in the last month. Life is awesome!

There is good in everything, you just have to look for it. It's called positive thinking. Train at it everyday.

Enter The Pain Cave

I need some pick-me-up self-talk. The last post was filled with so much self-pity, I am not even sure I recognize myself - this isn't who I am 99% of the time. But once in a blue moon the 1% of crazy comes to pick up at my brain. I need to flush it all out, then move on, otherwise those thoughts keep on spinning inside my noggin and I get dizzy and start banging my head against the walls. Not pretty.

So here's me moving on. Moving onto the bike subject that is, because running's been taken care of for now. FYI, 16km this morning on the treadmill and just as prescribed by coach. It's so much easier to manage running in the right zones indoors where there is no wind factor, or inclines that shoot your heartbeat through the roof. 1h40 with Christian Bale and his Batman alter-ego, it felt like a breeze, so that took care of my confidence in sticking with a plan. Next!

Now, biking has been pretty fun too. I bought an indoor trainer and installed it in the basement, The Pain Cave as seasoned triathletes call it. I'm going to be spending quite some quality time with Neo and Kurtie from now on down there... ahem. Thank goodness it's not called the Red Room of Pain. I'd like my workouts to stay vanilla, thankyouverymuch. ;-)

Do you like my raiser block? I bought a real one since.

I also signed up with Trainer Road, a website recommended by DC Rainmaker, that provides cycling workouts and an application that you run on the PC and that is able to calculate the power you produce while biking thanks to the ANT+ compatible cadence/speed sensor. The folks at Trainer Road partnered with Kurt Kinetic and created a very accurate power profile for the trainer that I bought, so I know that I can trust the data. So far I did 4 workouts (they all have fancy names: Gayley, Baxter, Obelisk, etc.) and coach said that I should use the Base Intermediate 2 program for the next 6 weeks and see how it goes.

The night I hooked everything up I also did their 20 minute test to get my Functional Threshold Power (FTP) measured. Alas the program wasn't calibrated properly because I had not entered the correct wheel size and it brought another meltdown upon me after giving me an average power level of 106 watts, which was one of the lowest, if not THE lowest among the users on the website. I really felt like a complete noob. 

This is how exhausted I was at the end of the test. Hard to describe when you are swimming in your own sweat. However, the test did give me pretty much the same lactate threshold that I had found on my own last year, 164. 

For the second workout, Gayley, I corrected the wheel size and decided to push again as hard as I could in order to recalculate my FTP. And miracle, it went up by 60 watts thanks to the proper calibration. I got reassured and proudly jumped my number to 160. I felt like belonging to the brood again.

This is what the aforementioned workout looked like after I was done:

The yellow trace is my power output, the red trace is the heart rate. I chose to go incrementally hard so I don't die in the middle, and make sure that by the last interval I reach the same heart rate level as in the FTP test. I averaged the last 2 intervals to get my new FTP. Normally you have to follow the level of the blue blocks, but since I wanted to test myself again, I only used those intervals as a baseline. Here's for example what it looks like when you do it "right". This was the first bike workout of the two that I did yesterday (I may or may not be a bit of a perfectionist freak).

Bottom line, I am IN LOVE with Trainer Road. The two workouts I did with the new FTP were spot on. I also love my trainer, the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine, it's quiet and smooth and carries a life warranty. It will most likely outlive me anyway, but I promise to make it suffer for as long as I can. Who's your mommy now, eh?