I’m Either A Moron Or Just Relaxed, The Jury’s Still Out…

Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Workout: Swim (Benchmark)

Location: UBC Aquatic Centre

Heart Rate Range/Zone: Zone 2

Average HR: N/A

R.P.E. : 12

Average Speed/Pace: N/A

Pre-Workout Hydration: 500ml of OJ/Ginger Ale 60 minutes before start of set

Pre-Workout Nutrition: six eggs, four slices of toast (early dinner)

Post-Workout Hydration: one 591ml bottle of G2 Orange

Post-Workout Nutrition: half of a turkey and swiss sandwich with peppers, sprouts, cucumber and tomato (mmm mmm good), one banana

Activity:

• 45 minutes of TI drills
  • 2 x 10M back balance
  • 2 x 25M lead hand sweet spot
  • 4 x 25M skate
  • 2 x 25M skate with head and arm variations
  • 4 x 25M skate with breathing
  • 4 x 25M dolphin skate
  • 4 x 25M single switch (nose down)
• 30 minutes of 25M freestyle lengths, focusing on technique and glide, 10-20 seconds recovery between lengths
• 5 minute cooldown with TI drills

Positive improvements/habits: Although my time per 25M is still around 35 seconds, my recovery rate is getting faster and faster. I should be able to start combining and swimming longer stretches uninterrupted soon.

Valuable lessons: Freaking yourself out never helps. I was so tense heading into the water that I had to physically stop myself during my drills and remind myself that this is supposed to be fun. Although I’m still struggling with incorporating the breathing into my drills, I know it’s coming - I can feel it. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I’m not going to become this amazing example of TI training after two practices. Reality check, bub.

Strains and Pains to Note: Hip wasn’t a problem today, or should I say, this evening. I managed to jam my middle finger on my right hand loading some suitcases into a car today, and my God does it hurt like hell. I may have sprained it, cause it’s definitely swollen and insanely tender. Luckily I don’t need that finger for anything to do with my triathlon training, so it won’t hold me back!

Why I’m A Champion: I’m keeping my eyes focused on the goal now. This time around, my training, my preparation, everything has been different than my first tri last year. It’s that whole conscious/unknowing versus conscious/knowing thing again. Last year I was freaking out around this time because I wasn’t sure if I was ready, if I’d trained enough, if I had everything I need, if I was mentally prepared - I simply had no idea what I was walking in to. This year I have a point of reference, and as a result, my entire mental makeup has been altered. I’m not stressing about this race, at least, not as much as I normally do. However, I of course reserve any and all rights to have a complete conniption 24 hours before the race. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have a meltdown at some point.

Anyway, my point being that this time around, things haven’t been as frantic and chaotic as they were for my first tri - I’m so relaxed about this one, I’m almost comatose. I’m starting to view it as just a small step on the way to my next major goal - the Esprit de Montreal next September. I’m sure once I’m on the beach at 8:15 on the 25th, and that horn goes off, all of the nerves and tension will come to the surface and I might start freaking out and trying to drown the person next to me…you never know. But for right now, I’m viewing this as one more step towards my two major goals in this sport. Whereas the first tri last year was a journey completely unto and towards itself, this is now about something far bigger.

Today’s Menu:

• Breakfast: blueberry bagel with cream cheese, three TImbits, a mug of coffee with 1% milk and 4 raw sugar cubes.
• Lunch: a Teen burger, large poutine and diet Root Beer from A&W (when I get that hungry apparently I have no self control).
• Dinner: six eggs, four pieces of toast, 2 cups of OJ/Ginger Ale, a banana, half of a turkey and swiss sandwich, one bottle of G2

…And Sometimes When Life Gives You Lemons You Break Out The Cake Form And Make Meringue Pie…

Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Workout: Bike (Benchmark)

Location: Condo gym - recumbent cycle

Heart Rate Range/Zone:Zone II Hills Workout

Average HR: 122

R.P.E. : 13

Average Speed/Pace: 12.8MPH

Pre-Workout Hydration: 500ml of water 15 minutes before start of set

Pre-Workout Nutrition: one Clif Toffee Nut bar

Post-Workout Hydration: four cups of apple juice

Post-Workout Nutrition: dinner (see below)

Activity:

• 5 minute warmup on stationary recumbent cycle
• 40 minutes on cross-country hill training program, 9.75 miles covered, resistance between 8-16, 120-140 average watts at 12.8MPH average speed
• 5 minute spin cooldown with no resistance

Positive improvements/habits: One more workout…one more step closer to my goal. Vitamins, lots of water. Got some long stretches in after the session, and that’s a great habit that I’m building.

Valuable lessons: Clif bars are awesome if I’m ever in a position where I need energy within 15-30 minutes and don’t have time to make something. I gleaned a lot of juice from that bar before I went down to the gym tonight. I definitely need to learn to structure the rest of my life around my training, especially in my hardest training week (like this week), because things almost went sideways today what with the busyness and the forty million things I had to run around and do. Also, late night dinners, like after 10pm…bad idea. I had a horrible night’s sleep and need to either just have a quick snack or chuck down a couple of bananas and some fruit juice.

Strains and Pains to Note: Twinged my right hip on the weekend and it’s been bugging me for a few days. Teri managed to get some of the stiffness and pain out of it on Monday, but I felt it twinge again during my hill climbing. At the end of the session, I spun my legs and cranked my seat out as far as I could to try and stretch it out, and that helped somewhat. I have a feeling it’s directly related to my hydration.

Why I’m A Champion: This week has been a real challenge. Whereas my hardest training week is supposed to be 100% about training, it’s been 100% about everything else but training. Consequently I’ve had to modify my schedule about three times thus far…the latest being tonight’s workout. It was supposed to be a 30 minute Zone 2 swim. Wednesday is supposed to be my 45 minutes Zone 2 bike Benchmark, and my 45 minute Zone 2 run Benchmark. Now, all of a sudden the bike gets moved to Tuesday, the swim to Wednesday, the run to Thursday morning along with another swim Thursday night and weight training. It’s been frustrating, but what I’ve learned has been invaluable.

I have to tell people to screw off.

Literally, sometimes.

If this is so important to me, it should be the first thing in my calendar for the week. Social arrangements, appointments for things, everything else should fall down the list…and this is a hard thing for me to learn because I have a very difficult time saying ‘no’ to people. I avoid conflict as much as possible, but if it’s starting to affect my training, I’ve got to put my foot down. Period. I feel like a champion today though because when I look at the calendar on my wall, over the past eight weeks I see a grand total of only three individual workouts missed, and two of those were weight training sessions. I’ve done all of the hard stuff (short of this weekend’s brick). It that way, every single time I can rearrange my schedule so I don’t miss a training session instead of writing it off and sleeping on the couch, it’s a huge victory.

Today’s Menu:

• Breakfast: two breakfast burritos from McD’s with a large coffee (2 cream, 2 sugar) and two hashbrowns.
• Lunch: a six-inch BMT from Subway with all the veggies, even the hot stuff, mustard and lite mayo; 1L of water.
• Mid-afternoon break: short cappuccino with two raw sugar
• Dinner: four small fish cakes, 1 1/2 cups of rice, 1 cup of baked beans, 1 cup of steamed veggies, 4 cups of apple juice

Time For An Unscheduled Asskicking

Monday evening I quickly hit the pool on the way to my massage therapy appointment. I’d resolved to swim twice between last Friday’s TI training and my upcoming session this Thursday evening. Peter had forwarded me an email with about seven drills he wanted me to practice at least twice before our next meeting, so I booked over to the Lord Byng as soon as I could after work, changed like a whirlwind and jumped in.

The first ten minutes were good - practicing my balance, finding my sweet spot, relaxing and focusing on soft shoulders and letting all tension go. I moved to skating, feeling my head floating, focusing my gaze on the bottom of the pool and letting the water bring my head to neutral. Everything was going great.

Then I tried to skate and breath, and all hell broke loose in my head.

It seems I have a bit of a mental block with this one thing. Unfortunately it is the gateway drill to completing my stroke and learning to swim with a minimum of effort, so it’s kind of important unless I get bitten by a radioactive trout and grow gills within the next week or so…

The logical side of my head knows what the problem is…once I move to skate and breath drills, suddenly there’s about five component pieces that have to come together in order to balance, extend, rotate hips, rotate head to shoulder, break surface and breath. It’s tricky because if my head raises even one inch too much in the rotation, my lower body sinks and the panic sets in that I won’t breech the surface quickly enough. There’s a real technique to this TI method, and it runs counter to my inherent nature - I want to be good at it immediately. Feeling frustrated, I talked to John Malone, my Guru of All Things Subtle.

John immediately placed everything in perspective for me. See, we humans learn in one of four modes.

1. Unconscious / Unknowing - we don’t know what we don’t know, and meander blissfully though a situation unaware because we don’t know
2. Conscious / Unknowing - we are aware that we don’t know what to do or what’s going on…this is where new skillsets and concepts are initially learned and internalized
3. Conscious / Knowing - we have learned and internalized the skillset or concept, and are actively involved with the process of doing/being
4. Unconscious / Knowing - the skillset/concept is completely internalized and becomes second nature…for most elite athletes, this is where they are mentally when they perform their activity.

Rather than fighting the process, John told me, enjoy it. Rejoice in the fact that I get to learn a new skillset. Part of the delicious process of being an athlete is constantly challenging oneself; if it was easy, everyone would do it. Once this notion had sunk in, my attitude towards the skate drills changed…and the next time I hit the water, every mouthful of chlorinated water, every gagging sputtering moment will be something that, in a sick little way, I’m going to enjoy. Besides, I don’t really have a choice now - as I mentioned to John, I tried to swim lengths normally after doing my drills, and my new programming ran headfirst into oncoming traffic aka my previous stroke memory. I’ve never felt so uncoordinated in my life, but the upside is that it let me know that the new stroke is starting to take in my subconscious.

Sometimes You Make A Plan, And Have To Adapt…And Adapt…And Adapt…

Date: Sunday, May 11, 2008

Workout: Strength Training & Flexibility

Location: Condo gym

Heart Rate Range/Zone: N/A

Average HR: N/A

R.P.E. : N/A

Average Speed/Pace: N/A

Pre-Workout Hydration: 500ml of water 15 minutes before start of sets

Pre-Workout Nutrition: None - still full from dinner…that’s what you get for working out at 11:00pm

Post-Workout Hydration: 500ml of water immediately after workout

Post-Workout Nutrition: 1/2 of a Clif Cool Mint Chocolate energy bar

Activity:

• 5 minute warmup on stationary recumbent cycle
• 6 x 3sec. active isolate stretches (AIS)
  • overhead stretches
  • lying back stretches
  • arm swings
  • standing quad stretches
  • upper-body rotations
  • neck rolls
• Machine leg press - 80lbs., 1st set 12 reps, 1 minute standing quad stretch (30 seconds per side), 2nd set 8 reps at 100lbs., 1 minute standing quad stretch (30 seconds per side)
• Machine lat pulldown - 60lbs., 1st set 12 reps, 30 seconds upper-back stretch, 2nd set 8 reps at 70lbs., 30 seconds upper-back stretch
• Double-leg hamstring curl - 40lbs. machine weight, 1st set 12 reps, 1 minute seconds standing hamstring stretch (30 seconds per side), 2nd set 8 reps, 1 minute standing hamstring stretch (30 seconds per side)
• Machine chest press - 100lbs., 1st set 12 reps, 1 minute chest stretch (30 seconds per side), 2nd set 8 reps, 1 minute chest stretch (30 seconds per side)
• Floor calf raises - 40lbs. per side free weights, 1st set 12 reps, 30 seconds standing calf stretch, 2nd set 8 reps, 30 seconds standing calf stretch
• Ab crunches - 3 second hold, 20 reps, 30 seconds of stability ball drape ab stretches, 20 reps at 3 second hold each, 30 seconds of stability ball drape ab stretches
• Superman - 10 second hold, 2 reps, 30 seconds of lying back stretch between and after reps
• Tricep extensions - 70lbs. machine weight, 1st set 12 reps, 1 minute triceps stretch (30 seconds per side), 2nd set 8 reps, 1 minute triceps stretch (30 seconds per side)
• Dumbbell curl - 50lbs. per side free weights, 1st set 12 reps, 1 minute biceps stretch (30 seconds per side), 2nd set 8 reps, 1 minute biceps stretch (30 seconds per side)
• 5 minute cooldown on stationary recumbent cycle

Positive improvements/habits: Hitting the gym late at night, making it a habit no matter what happens during the day. Discovering that Clif bars are really a damn good recovery option for me.

Valuable lessons: I loaded the Crystal Method Drive disc onto my iPod, but it’s still not heavy enough for me. I found myself getting bored of my music halfway through my workout…definitely need to get some time in front of iTunes before this Thursday’s weight training.

Strains and Pains to Note: Just a bit of shin pain left over from Saturday’s brick. Surprisingly enough, that’s it. Not bad for having spent my entire day on my feet, cleaning our condo.

Why I’m A Champion: The entire day tried it’s hardest to go sideways on me, but I wouldn’t let it. Originally I wanted to go down first thing in the morning, but started cleaning our condo and wanted to finish that. Then I thought I’d go down before we left for dinner at my folks place. That didn’t happen, so instead of just sloughing it off and thinking ‘meh’, I got pissed and promised myself that I’d go as soon as we got back home. Luckily we forgot to put our sheets in the dryer so I had at least 90 minutes to get a good workout in before we could make our bed and get some sleep. See, sometimes things just work out for the best. I’m tired as hell today, and I’ll probably crash out at 10pm tonight, but I got my damn workout in, and didn’t let my brain dictate to my will/desire/body. Shut the hell up brain. I’m putting you out with the dog for the next 20 weeks until my season is over.

Today’s Menu:

• Breakfast: two PB&J sandwiches (back when I thought I’d be going down to workout in the morning…oh well, I had a lot of energy to clean the condo), 1 mug of tea with skim milk and 1 1/2 tsp of raw sugar
• Mid-day snack: 1/2 of a Clif Cool Mint Chocolate energy bar, 500ml of water, 2 small mugs of tea with skim milk and 3/4 tsp of raw sugar each
• Dinner: two small bowls of home-made chili, 2 dinner rolls with butter, 2 bottles of Sleeman’s, 1 cup of Thai sesame veggie salad, 1/2 cup of potato salad, one slice of chocolate tuxedo cake, 1 mug of coffee with half and half and 1 1/2 tsp of sugar, 1 glass of Lake Breeze Blanc de Noir pinot wine, about 18 ripple potato chips (damn your snacky goodness!!)

Average Speed Of A Walking Cat

You know, every now and then I like to look at my blog stats…just to see how people are finding me through random Googles searches.

Yesterday someone found my blog by typing in ‘average speed of walking cat’.

I…it……I…….ummmm……

Yep, I got nothing. I can’t outdo that. Although the person who found me by typing in ‘breaking up with crackhead’ is a close second.