Babe I'm Leavin' (not really)

After a rest day which everything except babysitting my kids, went wrong, I woke up today and felt somehow energized. No idea why, makes no sense, I went to bed at 3AM and for some reason felt great. I guess today was a bootstrapping day where everything fell apart yesterday so there was no other choice today but to start from scratch and move on.

Okay the entire previous paragraph needed to be expressed. I realize it makes no sense to anyone but, hey, no one is reading this anyway. I know.

Today was a longer swim day than I had done in the previous two weeks. After a 300 warmup, I did 500 nonstop with flipturns, followed by 5 sets of 300 (150 moderate, 50 kick, 50 backstroke, and 50 hard). The 500 nonstop was easy, but as I got to the end of my 5 sets I noticed I was very much out of gas. I blame my nutrition.

A good breakfast for me is a bowl of Cheerios or Oatmeal and maybe a banana with a good dose of water with coffee. I only had coffee and almonds because I was distracted all morning. I didn't bring any Gatorade or anything to the gym either. I also didn't eat well last night and went to bed hungry so my tank was empty. This has happened before and I suffered in the workout today. I still finished and did fine, but I learned the important lesson of sticking to good nutrition before and after training.

Song in My Head - Best...Song...Ever. I was in the supermarket after the gym and heard Desert Moon by Dennis DeYoung, former lead singer of Styx. I swear to God I had to stop myself from turning to the guy next to me and talking to him about this song. We had just got MTV when this came out in 1984/85 and they played this song ALL THE TIME. Awesome video as well I think I have heard this song three times since it was on the radio. Watching it again rules. Thank goodness for Youtube. Today is looking much better than yesterday.

Long May I Run

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Monday was my long run day. I have been complaining for the last few weeks on how much my long runs have been killing me. Today was going to be a 90 minute run so I was expecting a little more of the same. Fortunately it was a great day. I set out of the house on my usual, hilly course. My heartrate was a lot lower than usual, I got pretty far out and found a golf course to run around, by the time I exited, I was a lot further out than expected and made my way back home. I arrived home in 105 minutes, which I am guessing was about 10 miles.

My legs were sore but strong. I even kicked it pretty hard for the last half mile so I feel my legs are starting to come around. This was the longest training run I have ever completed and amounts to just under the distance I have to run in the race. With that as a guide I think I am in decent shape for at least finishing with nine months to go. I was certainly encouraged by today.

In addition, my 6 boxes of Mallomars. For those of you who have never been to the Tri-State Area, Mallomars are the greatest cookie ever made. They are popular in New York and the surrounding suburbs and virtually nonexistent any where else in the country. There is a good article on them here. In Washington, they are impossible to find. So I had to go onto Amazon.com to get them. But they are here and I have 6 boxes (whoops 5).

Song in my head - "Down About It" by Lemonheads. This is off their 1994 album, Come On Feel The Lemonheads. I am learning this on guitar now so I am getting closer to learning all of the songs from this album on acoustic. My life then will be complete.

Resting My Case

Today is my official rest day of the week. When I last posted, I was not looking forward to Friday and dreading my Saturday workouts.

They actually went very well. To back up, I think I was suffering from some winter doldrums, which I am still in. It is cold and miserable here in the Pac Northwest, the sun rises at 7:30 and sets at 5 and there seems to be no time or energy to do anything. So to change my perspective, I threw on some Hawaiian music, swam, and basically had a little summer in January.

The swim went great. I had two sets of 500s plus 1000 in various warmup sets and whatnot. Did the 500s with flipturns with no problems. I have the timing down pretty well and I am learning to execute the turn with the perfect body position and streamline out properly. It is still tiring over 500 but any other distance is cake.

The next day I got up at 5:30, stared at the wall for 45 minutes, put my clothes on, and hit the Foothills trail for 2 hours followed by a 15 minute run. The ride went very well for my second time outside this winter. I was bundled well this time so no worries. My fitness was sluggish at first, but the second hour called for a few pickups so I sprinted on virtually every straightaway. It really made the ride fly by and I was happy with my speed.

To say I am beyond my fitness from last year is an understatement. I am doing well and trying to recover as best as possible. We'll see how next week goes.

Song in my head - Luchini by Camp Lo. This was a big song when I was DJing in college. I must've wasted $1000 on worthless CDs back then, easily, before Itunes. This was one of them.

When Will The Pain End?

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This a pre-workout posting because I am having a difficult time getting into the pool today. Very sore from yesterday. The muscles around my hips, and quads and everything are killing me. I am beginning to wonder if this is what my training experience will be like forever.

In my younger days when I trained for hockey or boxing, I would have a few weeks of soreness while getting fit for the sport, but then I would reach a plateau of feeling pretty good. That plateau has not come yet. I keep telling myself that I was in horrible shape last year and this base-building period is necessary to acclimate my body for the new level of fitness I am pursuing. If so, I apparently was very very far away from Half-Ironman fitness.

Today I swim. I wish my lifestyle would accommodate midnight workouts because that seems to be the time of day that I am most ready to embrace a workout. When I wake up again, my first thought is usually related to skipping or how I will fit the workout in around family, or whether I can hit the snooze again. It's now 9:30 and I am gradually getting around to embracing the idea of fighting with obnoxious kids in the pool's locker room, the frigid temperature of the pool the first 5 minutes after you jump in, 2 500s with flipturns which sap my oxygen, and the sleepy feeling I have for the rest of the day. And swim days are my easiest days.

I've been trying to get my head into a different space...more of a winner's headspace I guess. To paraphrase Lawrence of Arabia, the key is not so much the pain it's "not minding" the pain. Either that or I could tell myself its just a f*cking movie. I read a cool article by Mark Allen talking about the mental aspects of the race and how to think like a champion. So maybe I just have to spend a little more time on this in my own head.

Song(s) in my head - To change pace a bit I'm choosing a couple songs from 70's Hawaii band Kalapana. If you ever go to Oahu, you will most likely hear some really cheesy Hawaiian easy listening music kinda like Somwhere Over the Rainbow by Iz. A really good band in that genre is Kalapana, whose great songs include The Hurt, Nightbird, and the Hall and Oates cover When the Morning Comes. Check out KINE. At least once an hour is a Kalapana song. Puts you in that relaxed, Hawaiian state of mind. I certainly need it today. Well if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get some Hawaiian Sun Lilikoi and a bowl of Saimin and go swimming.

Riding Alone Where the Buffalo Roam

I took yesterday off and rested and worked. Trying to squeeze as much rest into the base building phase without killing my fitness. So I have been resting outright on mild days while I am still pretty much constantly sore.

Today was a bike run brick which I was by no means skipping. I had been dying to get outside but hadn't been able to for one reason or the other. Once I get my bike on my car I am set, it is just a matter of getting from couch to car that is the problem.

Today was damn cold and nearly turned around about 10 times in the first 15 minutes during the ride. But I gutted the warmup out and was left with the final 45 minutes back to the start. The trail I used was really cool. It had been damaged in the flooding we had last week but the sights and sounds were awesome especially near the trailhead. I saw buffalo, rode through ice and moss and mud, and had a blast. One day I will write about how much more fun it is to ride outside.

I followed that up with the run, which, as well, was damn cold. I ran four miles. The first was basically me dragging myself at a pace not much faster than walking. I finally got fed up with myself and started moving out of sheer boredom and an urge to finish the run. I am pretty sure I was running in the 8:30-9:30 range when all was said and done. That's a good pace for me and I am going to use that as a guideline.

I go outside on Saturday as well and am very much looking forward to it. The roads are still dodgy and it is freaking freezing but well worth it in the end.

Song in my head: None, it is just ice. I'll think of one later.

A New Day

Today was Tuesday and I am in the middle of a busy week at work and home and in the gym. I got a good swim in today. It was very short at 1800 yards but the reps within the main set were longish at 300 yds each. I did them with flipturns, which, as all of my reader(s) know, scare, intimidate, annoy, and nearly kill me. The 4 300s went very well and I had some good energy and completed them quickly. The flipturns are starting to get tighter and faster. I am starting to think about my form and improving them. That is exciting because my goal in the pool is to get really strong in training.

I've touched on this before, that I realize flipturns mean nothing in the race. yes I get it. But I am not interested in getting faster in my race this year. At least I am not interested in killing myself to beat my 42 minute time. I am interested in becoming a better swimmer wholistically. To me, that means getting better in training and in the pool. I feel that an improvement as a swimmer in training will translate to better performance in the water. Besides I would like to avoid the pool as mch as possible this summer. Therefore I am sure I will have plenty of time to work on my open water speed.

That was a little bit of a rant and probably made no sense, but hey, no one reads this anyway.

Song in my head: For posterity sake, they inaugurated the new President today. I thought the speech was really good although I usually don't lean too much one way or another. But I will recommend Bring It On Home To Me by Sam Cooke, the best song R&B ever written, bar none.

Model Numbers

Back at it after some scheduling conflicts that made it difficult to shoehorn in my workout this weekend. Briefly, I skipped Thursday because I was tired but did it on Friday because Friday I could not cycle outside and was sick of cycling inside. Saturday I had to furniture shop all day and all night in Hell among other places because my daughter's crib has been recalled. All you childless readers prepare yourself for recalls, refunds, and store credits by saving your model numbers. Something I own apparently kills someone like once a month.

Hey that's a great idea for a website. A place to register your product so you are notified when they inevitably gets re-called.

Today was a 60 minute run of a little over 6 miles. I finished it pretty strongly. Last two miles were tough, other four were simple. Legs are getting there. I am actually starting to look forward to the 13 mile run now. I am doing a run focused routine now, which is exactly what I needed.

Tomorrow I swim. I'm looking forward to it.

Song in my head - It's About Time by my hero Evan Dando and Lemonheads. Be sure to check out a very young Angelina Jolie at the beginning of the video. I've been leaning it on guitar. It's easy. Buy their 2006 self-titled album, it's awesome.