In My Image (triathlon prep. life.)

If you're reading this, you may as well stop now because this will probably read more like a personal journal than a public blog.

Anyways, ever since uni ended and i stopped wrestling, my endurance/cardio system has sucked. I'm almost 30 and have smoked for about a decade. I'd never cared much until a couple years ago - i always had strength and a six-pack, so i just paid lip service to cardio and never really gave a shit about true "health", only "looking healthy". As i become an old man i find that i have the same desire for "actual" health as i used to for "looking healthy".

About a year ago i started toying with long(er)-distance biking, and quickly decided i would compete at some point. through the past year the focus went from biking to triathlon (swim/bike/run), and i decided I WOULD do a triathlon at "some point". Very recently, maybe a month ago, i decided for sure i would do a triathlon soon (ie sometime in 2012), and i found out which one is my target/aim. I finally spoke of this commitment to someone last night, and goddamn does it feel real now!!

That said, this will be a mashed-up blog of training entries, and the generic garbage i used to post as facebook statuses(sp?) (i "quit" facebooking earlier this year lol).


EVENT:
RACE FOR THE BOOTY TRIATHLON (LoL)
Manatee State Park, FL
Race is:
Swim 0.2mi; Bike 20mi; Run 2.0mi

 

Right now it's the swimming/running portions i'll need the most work in, as i should be competitive-enough on my bike.

I intend to update this blog with my daily workouts, but am going to start it off with some general info, and then the past week's in here to start it off.

diet- very solid / 9/10 (high-calorie; freshly prepared; balanced-enough macro's; supplemented with multi's, vitC, Mg, Zi, fish oil, protein powder and lotsa water. oh and probably more coffee/caffeine than appropriate. NSAID's taken pretty regularly but always in relatively low dosages)

general "health" - have been slowly but surely increasing cardio for over a year. am a smoker, and while my overall nicotine consumption is on hte lower end, i definitely make it worse by the frequency (ie i'll smoke frequently enough but only smoke 1/4-1/3cig at a time). No substance abuse issues aside from smoking cigs (do get stoned <legal, fake weed of course!>, but do not believe it hinders me). Am not really a drinker anymore, most i'll drink is few times a month but "drinking" for me is still 4 or less. in the past month and a half i broke the 3-4 drink line once, but when meetin new bl folk irl what can ya do? ;PPPP Sleep is proper and stress is standard/minimal

Access/ability to train:
I live a couple blocks from the ocean, from nice running/biking trail (pinellas trail), and have great biking routes depending whether i wanna ride on empty streets or with traffic.
i, luckily, have the ability/time to do double-daily sessions so long as i keep intensity/duration within reason; basically, i have the time/means/ability to really push my training if i so choose.

sat 9/29-
bike 6.5mi
danced/entertained 3.5hrs (gotta love it ;PP )

sun 9/30-
rest

mon 10/1-
rest (sick? phlegmy(sp?) and heavy coughing that lasted through til now, mostly better)

tues 10/2-
run 1.0mi
swam (?mi)

wed 10/3
run 0.5mi
pushups/gen. Xtraining

thurs 10/4
gen.Xtraining

fri 10/5
bike 7.5mi
swam (~1/8mi...uuggghhh swimming is w/o doubt the weakest link, by far)

sat 10/6(so far for the day)
run 1.0mi
(updated to add:
1/8mi swim + 30min playing in teh ocean <lol>
bike 7.5mi

 

HOLY F'ING SHEEET!! A dolphin just tried to be my friend while swimming!!!! I was like 40-50' from the dock, kinda treading water and watching the sunset and then out of nowhere the water breaks from a dolphin jumping out! Like 15' max from me!
omg i swam outta that water faster than i've ever swam. maybe dolphins can be my swimming coaches
sooooo cooooool ;PPP

 

sun 10/07
run 1.0mi+1.0= 2mi
pushups/general crosstrain

(EDIT- just realized that every time i add a workout it's throwing my blog to the top, so going to just keep editing this post with my workouts)

mon 10/08
bike 20.5mi

tues 10/09
run 1.0mi; sprint 1/2mi

weds 10/10
swim 0.5mi (FWIW, all swimming is done in the ocean. moved recently and dunno anywhere indoors)

thurs 10/11
bike 25.5mi (6.5mi at easy pace to feel out new parts and settings. went home and tuned some more, then 19mi. This new setup is hella fast, actually had to throw a rear brake on - now i'm like a child again doing skid stops every time i get a chance ;PP )



WELL, things are going FUCKIN.FANTASTIC right now. I cannot recall the last time i felt so good - i honestly keep feeling like i'm bordering mania, especially after workouts (this is a good thing, not mania in any crazy/looney sense, just a super-strong natural "runner's high" type feeling. and yes, i'm getting into runner's-high state during run/bike workouts reliably now which is fun. not so much for swimming yet tho)
ANYWAYs i've been able to keep my body where i need it an d impressed, both at the body's ability to do what it's doing, and my knowledge that allows me to do things to get this state out of myself. My daily cigarette consumption is super steady and on point for the slow reduction (towards quit on/before the triathlon), i'm waking up earlier each day w/o alarm clock (i'm NOT a morning person), i'm eating/drinking like a beast w/o needing to force it AND w/o getting heartburn for some reason (i'm a tums/prilosec person - but have not been, for the first time in forever, over these past few weeks), i'm energetic/positive almost always, i'm making gains in all 3 events that have me on schedule for my dec.1 triath, etc; it's just awesome.

The ONLY drawback is that, at this point in my training, i fear that my momentum is going to slow soon if i don't get more technical (well my biking/swimming). For biking, i really need to find my(or buy a new) speedometer, because just doing "good intensity" isn't cutting it - i did 25.5mi yesterday, was whipping through downtown for 5+mi of that racing in traffic (mah fav sporting in the world), figured i'd be dead today - I'm not even sore. I need to get a speedometer back on there so i can carefully up my intensity, i don't think i have 'the feel' for it like i used to (yesterday shoulda been a mph or two faster, clearly).

and for swimming, my technique is turrrrible. i never really learned how to swim properly, i just kinda flail around lol. since swimming is the 1st of the 3 events, i MUST learn technique better because otherwise, once racing other people, i'll absolutely push too hard and spend myself during the swim, screwing over my performance in the other 2 events. (luckily for me, the swim is only 1/4mi - clearly not so much an endurance swim as a technique/speed swim)

 

fri 10/12
run 1.0mi (50:50 light jog : full sprint). biking/swimming go fine midday, but running in the sun wasn't happening like i needed it to

 

Since you were previously an athlete competing at competition levels, you must know what "overtraining" is?
I always stay at a low intensity level for about 10 to 14 days when starting an exercise routine. This way I dont over-train and lose interest
The first solid month of bodybuilding ie. anerobic exercises, with all the adaption your body is making to meet the demands of lifting weights, offers the most gains you will make in a period of time.
Do you know what lactic acid high intensity interval training is? That feeling you get in your muscles when you max out and cant do any more? Thats lactic acid. Metobolic waste, the breakdown of muscle tissue. You can do specific training to make your body a higher performance "machine". I have some experience doing lahiit ( lactic acid high intensity interval training ) for about two months. I recorded my data on paper. I found that after a week long break my performance in terms of "how good I felt" doing the exercise went downhill.

lahiit is very demanding when you do it correctly. I think its best to do it on a stationary bike or someplace safe ( no heavy traffic or Moms with kids in strollers etc ). I guess you could do it running or even dancing. The point is to tax a muscle to its max, thus producing lactic acid. Then comes the interval part. You take a 30 sec, 60 sec 120 sec cool down ( or you can do it by "feel" ) respectively. I use to repeat this routine for a 30 min 3x a day when I was in a country club jail. My rest periods between intervals ranged from 2 to 5 minutes.

Also, you should research stretching if you havent yet. Stretching is part of performance athletics. You gotta be careful though. I read that you shouldnt do "static stretching" ( holding the stretch at a comfortable level for 45-60 seconds. ) before athletic performance. I guess it hinders your muscle fibers ability to "bunch up" when executing a strong movement.

 

Hey Joe, post times for your mile!
I'm guessing you do it in sub 7 min.?

 

beagle- ya i absolutely know about overtraining - NOW! See, i never really understood how to apply it to cardio/aerobic training, and only recently learned how to keep myself safe from it (i'm not close to overtrainig right now, i'm adding volume/intensity as my body can handle it and am very very very aware <and overly paranoid> of overtraining - i don't have the time right now to waste on recovery from too-intense training).
I've done my 'acclimation' and am just keeping my progress/momentum going at this point ;PP
Agreed re 1st month gains - but this is NOTHING like anaerobic progress, which is something i had to learn (and am still blown away by how knowing that, and understanding aerobic progress, is helping me so much!). I think i'm in that sweet spot right now of being past 'prep/acclimate', and am in the nice "beginner gains" of aerobic metabolism.
Re lactic acid, yes, that's basically the crux of what i didn't know and am so psyched to have learned. My anaerobic knowledge led me to train improperly for cardio - i would *always* gas myself, making it impossible to recover quickly enough to really see progress. Right now i'm finding that knowing where my lactic threshold is - ie, that level of intensity that's right beneath the point where the body cannot clear lactic acid as quickly as it's produced - has allowed me to train like never b4.
for lahiit, yes, i'd only do bike (well, focus predominantly on bike)- i can push myself on bike WAY more safely than swimming/running, simply due to the nature of biking (it is incredibly easier on my body than the other 2, for obvious reasons).
re stretching, no, stretching b4 competition hinders muscles. muscles work better colder (though they're obviously easier to damage when cold). and ya i'm all about stretching, am kind of a yoga-nerd hah!


o and i'm not under 7min miles yet, and am not comfortable enough to post times yet rest assured that my entries will contain how long these workouts take me once i'm not embarrassed enough LOL!

 

am psyched you're gonna do this triath with me, is really cool to have someone for this
are you still in your 1st 10-14d or have you been biking up there? like said in pm it fine either way cuz i can meet in your hood so that i'll be halfway into my workout when i get there

 

fri 10/12
1.0mi (again; 2.0mi for the day)(+1more so:
3.0mi total

sat 10/13
6.5mi bike (rest day, decided it made sense to take one and i wasn't as eager as normal so took it easy)

sun 10/14
2.0mi running
1/2mi swim

kinda messed up and got sick during my 1st workout today went the long way to the ocean(.5mi), swam(.25mi), then ran back(.5mi); by the time i got to my block (where i do cool down walk) and i went into light jog, i got real dizzy/stumbly and yacked :/ unsure whether it was the workout (i have always done my swims as solo workouts, and usually lay on the dock or sand after i swim to calm down), the 12p FL sun, or a combo thereof.
fully better this eve, ran another mile and set a new 1mi record (no, still not comfortable sharing times just yet, lol)

monday 10/15
bike 19.5mi

tues 10/16
bike ~45mi (with 30min break halfway visiting my brother )

weds 10/17
bike 6.5mi. Took it pretty easy, my legs and man parts are kinda sore from yesterday

thurs 10/18
swam ~1/2mile
The water was pretty still today, i'm unsure if it was that or me getting better in the water, but def my best swim yet. Still leaves a TON to be desired, as i still haven't learned "proper" form and am just doing what seems best lol.

ran 1.5mi

fri 10/19
16mi bike

sat 10/20
1mile for time (6.29, my new best; shibby!!!)

sun 10/21
bike ~28mi

mon 10/22[/B
swim 1/2mi
~20-25min heavy stretching / 'yoga'. am including this because this session was far more of a workout than relax/stretch. flexibility is up a TON lately, which is saying something cuz i've always been flexible!

tues 10/23
run 1.0mi
bike 18mi

 

I think I'm in the best shape of my life right now, if not then the best since highschool, and the feeling is indescribable.

When I began charting #'s seriously, around the beginning of october, my 1st week of training netted me 4.5mi running, 15mi biking, and 3 swims. The past 7 days netted me 6.3mi running(although my *times* running are the real improvement there), 88mi bike, and 4 swims (significantly longer, and faster). My resting heartrate was mid-90's throughout the 1st week of october. It was 77 about a week ago. My sleep schedule is so strict I can basically fall asleep when I choose anywhere between 11 and 1, and I awake within 20min of 8.30a at least 5d outta the week. "late" for me now is 9.30, and there are days I'll wake before the sun comes up, fully rested and energetic. I should note I've never been a morning person in my entire life, and that this new concept is incredibly alien to me, but it's just amazing. I've lost fat and gained muscle despite already having had a great bmi/bf%, a phenomena that is almost exclusively restricted to completely new trainees (with the tan from the FL sun, ya i'm loving the way i look ;PP ). I'm doing yoga 2 or 3 times weekly and have noted serious increases in flexibility, particularly strength/balance while flexed.
I could not recommend serious triathlon training enough, it is unbelievable. It simply has to be experienced to be understood.

Well, on with the numbers ;PPPP

wed 10/24
6.5mi bike
1/4mi swim

thur 10/25
2.3mi run (21.4min)
29mi bike
short ocean swim

fri 10/26
off (light yoga)

sat 10/27
6.5mi bike
various pushup/body-resistance exercises

sun 10/28
3.0mi run (in ~23.5min )
~27mi biking (with a short ocean swim in CRAZY waters thanks to Sandy)
40min 'intermediate' yoga

 

Youre crazy man haha thats whats up though i wish i had the willpower to work out like that

Outta curiosity do you do drugs and still manage to train this good?

 

It doesn't require willpower once you get into a rhythm, which you can be in in like 1 or 2 weeks from your start if you're consistent. Quite the opposite actually - willpower's required to chillax and not overtrain!
Re drugs, yes and no. I couldn't fathom having done this when i was on oxy. Drugs to me right now are basically caffeine, which I cannot endorse enough. I can definitely relax with some incense here and there.
[remainder edited for off-topicness]

tues 10/30
Today, I made a mistake in my caffeine dosage when i switched from powdered(instant coffee) to pills. Got extremely uncomfortable (same way blow would make me feel), but went running and turned it into where i'm at this very second- super "runner's high" LOL. Day was:
biked 6.5mi, got a flat.
walked home 3.2mi, tried out my new caffeine pills (chewed 600mg), got stupid-uncomfortable so went for a run,
ran 4.71mi in 41mi57s (~9min miles)

right now WOULD be a nice time for some xanax or valz lol, not cuz i'm uncomfortable anymore but because i've got a snowball's chance in hell of geting to sleep anytime soon. hopefully benadryl/melatonin can help this out ;PP

 

As I type, my table feels cluttered - aside from my laptop, a drink and a pen, i've got: pack of smokes, a half-smoked cig i've been working on since before dark, my albuteral inhaler (that i've totallllly got a proper permission slip for), a lighter, and the instructional booklet that came with the 21mg nicotine patches i bought this afternoon (couldn't wait on the ones in the mail in longer, want/need more than are coming anyways). The idea is not to inhale a single puff once a patch has touched my skin; it didn't feel right to just start midday, am planning to smoke until bedtime tonight (still gotta figure out whether to apply a patch before bed or not). AAAaaahhhhhh this was long overdue, i've been sucking down smokes since highschool (11 years ago). If this time isn't successful, may as well just accept that i'll be a smoker forever - reallllly don't see that tho so now's the time (it's getting pretty ridiculous at this point tbh, i mean balancing cigs around distance training is f'ing moronic.


updates:
wed 10/31
biked 6.5mi light pace

thurs 11/01
biked ~53 mi
swam laps at the Y for a lil bit (1st time actually trying to train my stroke in a pool lol. HIGHLY preferable to the ocean)

fri 11/02
biked ~(edit: 13.5)miles, medium-pace

sat 11/03
19mile biking at max pace, very strong session
hauled a shit-ton of random crap to un-bury some shut-in i had just met

sun 11/04
after taking a 6.5mile light ride, and telling myself i'd chillax, i go and overdo it again. Afraid i may be flirting with overtraining right now, but then again i've been fearing that for over a week and am still making crazy gains...anyway after the 6.5mile warmup i:
- biked 4.4 at full/sprint pace to the ocean,
- .25-.30mile swim at a very strong pace,
- raced home 4.4mile to refuel,
- did a 15mile loop in a new way that seemed like a good idea: accelerate as quickly as possible to absolute max/top speed, slow down, accelerate to top speed again. Did that the whole way, basically staying right under the line of "too dizzy" lol.
(so, 30.5mile total bike)

 

I have 28days until my race. In the past 28days i've done:
20.75miles running
389miles bike
8 ocean/1pool swims

So i've got 28 more days to get ready for a 0.2mile swim / 20mile bike / 2mile run. and to think, i was afraid of being able to *complete* this race when I first decided i wanted to do it. Now that just sounds like another workout ;P

 

Yesterday, I had to ride around a stray palm branch at the top of a drawbridge on the causeway I swim out of. About an hour later i think that branch killed this guy.... there is never much/any debris at the top of that drawbridge (by the nature of the setup) so i'd be very surprised if it was a different branch that killed the dude. about 1-1.25hrs after i avoided that branch travelling the same way


Tree limb causes fatal bike crash on Dunedin Causeway

 

4.71miles running in 39:57 (two minutes - *exactly*, lol - off what it took for that loop last monday.)

 

HOLY F'ING SHEEET!! A dolphin just tried to be my friend while swimming!!!! I was like 40-50' from the dock, kinda treading water and watching the sunset and then out of nowhere the water breaks from a dolphin jumping out! Like 15' max from me!
omg i swam outta that water faster than i've ever swam. maybe dolphins can be my swimming coaches
sooooo cooooool ;PPP

when i was a kid i was swimming with a friend and we saw a watersnake swimming towards us.... now that will make you swim real fast to shore