Top of the Key

Yup, still here, training, working, eating, sleeping…blah blah blah…you get the picture.  Can you tell I’m a little burnt?  Need motivation, you selling any, let me know.

So after a big Saturday, again, and then a long swim on Sunday, I’ve entered the last week of Peak.  I have less than 3 weeks till IMAZ.  Still feeling pretty good about where I am physically and mentally.  Today was an 18 mile run which I planned to have Jeff Keil ride alongside to help me through it.  I’ve had enough of running with a camelbak, and Jess can’t ride because she’s still in the boot.  So Jeff offered to help, I accepted without hesitation.  I planned to do 2 - 7 mile loops around Cherryvale and Marshall Road.  A bit hilly, but overall a good simulation for IMAZ where the hills are small, and it’s all concrete.

Started out slow, building to 8 min miles until about mile 3, then it was 13 miles of race pace (7:00-7:30).  Tim wanted it to be within these limits, not any faster, not any slower.  A good mental test to stay in the zone, push where necessary, ease off too when needed.  It was real windy, and i had some doubts that I would be in that pace area when finsihed, but just kept running and ticking off the miles.  Taking one by one.  Jeff was trying to block the wind for me and that helped.  Other than the wind, the morning was perfect conditions.  I’ve been so very lucky to have these warm sunny days this late in the year.  Very lucky!

I ended up hitting my goal, without too much strain on the legs and feet.  7:21 pace for 13 miles.  I’m always shocked to see the numbers like this.  I know it’s all relative, and right there riding next to me is someone who just ran Kona in 2:58 (6:47 miles).  I learned a while back  in life that you need to surround yourself with better people and feed off their habits, advice, attitudes, etc…  Listen to what they have to say.  Absorb the advice, and then, only then ask quesitons.  You WILL get your butt kicked if you train, ride, run or whatever, but what you learn is priceless.  And today, I learned alot.  I’m ready to race, with 3 weeks left to get rested. Thanks Jeff for riding alongside.

Photo courtesy of Jeff

Thursday has become a routine for me lately, Masters at 6am, swim for another hour after that, then work, then my brick.  And I’ve been so lucky with this weather.  I could be battling the trainer in the basement these days, but not this year.

Another solid swim yesterday, that’s all I can really say.  My goal is to be solid, steady, and whittle down my time over the next few years…yeah, years.

Rode in the afternoon pretty hard, the wind was kicking up, which is ideal for IMAZ, and the legs started to feel a bit tired.  I pushed it though, relying on heart rate and speed, as well as perceived effort.  I know i might have been a bit over what the plan was, but the speed wasn’t showing that.  It was just my legs.  In my mind, I wanted to push through the leg fatigue and see just how well I could run off the bike feeling like this.  That’s one thing this year I’ve tried more often…the unknown.  Why not, I already know i can run a 4:05 marathon in an Ironman.  Try somethign new, different, push it more, different nutrition at different times, mix it up.  don’t be afraid to try new things.

Finished the bike, and immediately hit my goal race pace for Ironman.  Today also gave me the opportunity to try out my new shoes that I’ll be wearing next month.  The Nike Lunar Trainers.  So light, and now I know, pretty fast.  I ran very well and hit a pace that I don’t usually get on this particular loop, which includs 2 loops up BlueBell, down Mariposa.  For those that don’t know where this is, in Boulder, if you drive up Baseline towards Chataqua Park, these two roads are the side roads to the south, following a similar ascent for about .5 miles.  Tim has me working more and more hills into my race pace, to get a feeling for running up hill, but also keeping speed and cadence on the downhills.  Which also get your legs used to the pounding of running downhill.

Overall, I can feel the Peak.  It’s here, my body knows, my mind knows, now if I can just bottle it up and release on Nov. 23.

So to mix it up a bit, and since I need to post as it’s been 3 days since I was last in here, I figured I’d offer some insight into what I eat for meals, and specifically what I do for recovery, which I think is almost more important than what you do during training.  First off, some meals that I’ve been consuming lately:

Breakfast: Egg Wrap
I mix 4-5 cage-free egg whites, and one yellow, scramble with red peppers and sometimes broccolli, and throw it in an organic whole wheat wrap.  The tortilla wrap is usually warmed up in the toaster oven for a few minutes to keep everything hot.

Morning Snack:
Kashi Seven Grain Cereal (like Grape Nuts) and Non-fat Vanilla Brown Cow Yogurt.  A pretty good power packed snack

Lunch: Chicken Sandwich
I usually buy the chicken breasts from the deli at Whole Foods, I sort of burnt myself out on cooking chicken breasts a few years back, and haven’t recovered.  This does the job nicely though.  Slap the breast on some whole wheat bread with spinach and horseradish mustard, and that’s pretty much it.  Maybe some Pita Chips or baby carrots on the side.

Afternoon Snack:
Anything from an Organic Honeyscrip Apple to a Banana or Carrots with Lemon and salt over them.  Usually if I have a workout, I’ll pack in a bit more, maybe a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Dinner:
The past three nights, all the same thing.  2 grilled 96% lean grass fed bison burgers (no bun, just plain), 1/2 grilled red pepper (right now, red peppers are $1 at Whole Foods), and then baked Brussell Sprouts with olive oil and some pepper.  And last night I added a spinach salad with some cranberries and an organic bartlett pear.  Salad dressing has been Whole Food’s Lite Honey Mustard.  Tonight I’m breaking from that meal, need to give my taste buds some options.

RECOVERY:
The biggest focus of my training over the past 3-4 months has been recovery.  First thing I do coming back from a big workout, which lately has been most days, is to drink water.  Then immediately drink 6-8 oz of low fat organic valley chocolate milk with a scoop of whey protein powder, and 2 B Complex vitamins.  While that’s thrown down my throat, I also eat a PowerBar Recovery Bar.  That gets me settled for the first 30 min.  Then when the stomach is ready, it’s time to eat a meal.  But following this regime for months has had a big impact, I think, on my ability to get up the next day, and do it all again.  Plus massage once a week, couldn’t do without that, but as far as nutrition, this is what’s working for me.

PRE-WORKOUT:
Before workouts, like a run first thing in the morning, all I’ve been taking in is coffee, and a the PowerBar Smoothie’s.  I have at least one of these a day.  I find them easy on the stomach, yet still giving me the energy to perform the workout.  It doesn’t sit there in your stomach like a clif blok might, or a gel.  For me anyway, this has been another big factor in accomplishing my workouts and finishing strong.

Hope this sheds some light on nutrition for some of you.  I have switched the huge carbo loading at night, like pasta  and rices, to a more vegetable focus.  I do have eat Brown Rice Pasta 1 or 2 nights a week, but not as much as I was doing leading up to CDA.  Same with morning breakfast.  Jess and I would have 1/2 bagel with peanut butter and honey every morning, what’s that, 3-1/2 bagels a week?  Too much, and I can feel the difference too.  Keeping it light, natural.

Less than 4 weeks, I’m counting workout by workout now, and all that’s left is some solid race pace efforts and staying healthy.

Taking me a bit longer these days to update the blog, wonder why?  Saturday was a solid swim in the morning, and then met up with BSG to ride in the gusty conditions.  It really helped to have a friend out there riding with me, as I do almost ALL my workouts solo, minus 1 masters workout per week and then the occasional ride like today.  And it was huge on the mental side.  After BSG and I parted ways, I rode a few more miles, some fast efforts to see how the legs were responding…not bad.

Off the bike I ran 10 miles really strong.  Started the first mile with some defizzed GoFast to give my system a jolt, and wanted to start trying new things.  It worked as far as I know, but Tim later commented that too much too early can backfire.  So next time, I’ll be using Sugar Free Red Bull or Rockstar. Actually, this upcoming Saturday I’ll give it a go.

Then off to the HEP party, where I met a few new athletes that I’ve heard about, but never actually met.  Good times, everyone had their own stories to tell, experiences from the past year, and a few still are racing Ironman late in the season.

Sunday involved my big swim, but most importantly, I dedicated the whole morning to Harry and Lhasa.  They needed to get to the dog park, and swim, and roam, and get in trouble.  They were swimming fools.  Lhasa was retrieving the ball too, other dog owners there were surprised to see a Berner go after the ball…and swim.  Then we walked for a mile or two, just enjoying the morning, nothing really planned.  Got back home, and they slept ALL day…I mean, all day.  Just now they jumped off the bed, because it’s dinner time.

Had a pretty good feeling about my swim workout today.  Moving it to Sunday was a good change, i’m a little worked from Saturday, but fresh because it’s the first thing of the day.  I’ve worked alot on my stroke and technique since CDA, and I believe it’s paying off now.  I write sometimes about the stabalizer week, and how you get a little ‘taste’ of your fitness from the 2 previous week’s workouts.  Well, Saturday was the run, and today was the swim.  I felt fresh, and building through the swim I was getting stronger, more comfortable.  I even set a new PR for 100 yards, which Craig has me do as part of the warm up.  Things are clicking.

Oh, and back to the calf strain I was feeling on Friday, no signs of it all on Saturday.  So Todd really worked it out, and does great work as shown by the ability to suck one day, and then go out and basically do a 1/2 ironman the next day.

Jess comes home tomorrow, looking forward to all her stories of life on the east coast.  I think she enjoys my shocked face at some of the things that just never change.

Let’s see, after the rest day on Wednesday, I had a pretty good day on Thursday.  Drove Jess to the bus stop where we all (Harry, Lhasa and me) sent her off to fly home to Cape Cod.  We rarely fly anywhere, and usually it’s together.  So i’m the bachelor this weekend, hanging with the kids, and getting some stuff done around the house.  After dropping Jess off, I went to Masters.  They have been opening up the pool doors to the outside lately during the swims, and it creates this fog over the pool, very cool atmosphere.  Had 2-6 miles runs to do, so right after the pool, i jumped on the treadmill for 6.  That sucked.  Haven’t been on a treadmill since the winter, and I know why now.

Rode outside in the wind later that day, blustery at times, but bright and sunny.  These windy conditions are perfect for IMAZ, from what I remember, it was just as strong on the return trip on the Bee Line Highway.  Ran again off the bike, and felt great.  One thing I’m realizing…I’m ready.  It’s just waiting for the day to arrive.

Friday was quite a bit different…it was the perfect day.  Sunny, just warm enough, and I was prepared to do my run.  But a nagging little calf put my run on hold.  Tried at 9am, couldn’t do it.  Tried again at noon, no good.  Then finally at 3, I was able to run most of my mileage, and at first didn’t have my running stride, but 4 miles in, it kicked in.  Felt pretty good.  During the whole day though, i was icing, using the theracane, and the foot rubz ball on the calf…painful!.  But Jess has taught me that it’s necessary to do these treatments, it all helps.  No Ibuprofin at all!  I now feel strongly about seeking alternative methods, haven’t used Ibuprofin in over a year.  I always say that it’s best when you have  hangover, but those are foreign to me now.  And…since Jess is back home on the Cape, I needed to get my weekly massage in.  One of my friends and Jess’s classmates from BCMT, Todd Ackerman, was able to squeeze me in late on Friday.  Thanks Todd.

Rest week is wrapping up, way too quick.  Get through today, tomorrow, then I’ll only have 4 more weeks…piece of cake!

Rest day is here, and I needed it.  Need to soak it up over the next few hours, and then I need to start and think about the next few days.  Jess is leaving for the Cape tomorrow, had planned to run the Cape Cod Marathon, but a foot injury has knocked her out of racing.  But she is still going to the race, and signed up for support.  Something we all could do a little more of, give back to the races.

I’ve received some great advice and help lately that have begun to shape my race plan.  Taking it all in, digesting it, and then putting my own twist is what I plan to do.  Race day is fast approaching, less than 5 weeks left.

I rearranged my music selection to the right side, moved it up so you can get an idea what’s keeping me moving these days.  Alot of hard rocking fast tunes by the Dropkick Murphy’s, Linkin Park and Simple Plan to name a few.  My iPod hasn’t been used much lately, but every now and then I need a pick me up.  You know?  I’ve heard that a good 8-10 weeks out from the race is ideal for diving into the mental game, 110%.  Any longer, you might burn out and drive your motivation into the ground.  I might have stretched that a bit this go around.  I’ve found a renewed drive over the past 24 hours, starting with my bike last night on the PowerCranks.  Not sure how or when it happened, but it’s back.

Wrapped up a great week of Peak.  Pushed through the hard times, and glad I did.  Because Sunday I was able to tool around on the bike, and get another 300 miler under my belt.  Swam hard too, and since I’ve moved my bigger swim to Sunday from Saturday before my long ride, it’s worked out well.  Experienced many emotions during the week, but through it all, i had Jess there to push me out the door and get on the workout.

Week Numbers:
Swim: 12,100 yards
Bike: 313 miles
Run: 61 miles
Total Training Hours: 30

Didn’t think i’d get in another 300 mile bike week, but it slipped in there.  Running too, with the volume on the bike, i was pretty happy to see the run volume was accomplished.  Heading into a rest week of sorts, although if you saw my rest week plan, you wouldn’ think it was light at all. But I’m in Peak, and my days of hard training are numbered.   18 days of training, then 2 weeks of Taper.  SWEET!