Gainesville
I was feeling a little dizzy Monday night before I headed to GHFC. It was a short swim and hour run, and I figured I'd knock both out late-night since I actually had to work all day. Again, I have no fucking idea how people with real jobs do this. Anyway, I was feeling a lot like I was the night before I went to Seattle, which is to say short of breath, dizzy and overheated. I also knew that I'd done a 3 hour run feleing much the same way a week ago, so even if this run wasn't spectacular, I was determined to get it in.
Swim: recovery swim
5 x 200 (50 Easy, 50 Build, 50 Easy, 50Hard)
2 Lipodrene
I knew something was off when I got in the water and it felt like a pleasant cool wave coming over my body. The GHFC never feels like that. A chilly cesspool, maybe, but never that refreshing kinda cold. I was mentally a little out of it, and ended up doing a 400 meter EBEH for the first set before recalibrating the math in my head and realizing I only had to do one lap of each instead of two. That was sign two that I was not doing well. Sign three came when I felt short of breath during the easy laps, and was dogging some short sections of them. Not much, as I don't really allow myself to do that much, but that kind of mental let-up is not something I've experienced in the pool in months.
The sets went ok, but it was not my strongest swim ever. I took long intervals in between to get my breath back, but couldn't shake the heavy-chested feeling I had. This is not cool. I finished the swim, changed over, grabbed my gel and my water and headed to the treadmill.
Run - Aborted
I got on the treadmill and programmed it as I always did. As it started to speed up, I felt my body being unable to keep up with even a 6.0 speed, and quickly brought it down to a walk in the hopes of getting in a good warmup. But as I walked, I realized I couldn't even breathe right walking. I was just tired and dizzy. I could have kept walking for an hour, but what's the fucking point of that. Better to save my energy and try to knock it out the next day.
But this is not a good sign. I have less than 4 weeks to go, and I can't rest too much going in. That being said, I understand the only way to shake this kind of illness is to rest. I honestly have no idea what to do. Hopefully this will go away on it's own, but every time I think, ok, that's over (like after the bike ride in Panama City) I have a workout like this where I keep feeling like I'm gonna pass out. Eating helps. I don't know. Hopefully I can use this week to rest up and finish up strong the rest of October.
Showing posts with label aborted workout. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aborted workout. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
T84 - IDGAF Day - Bike/Run Brick, Swim
Gainesville
This is becoming a disturbing trend. IDGAF, for the unaware, stand for "I Don't Give a Fuck," which was completely my attitude today. Again, this felt like one of those workouts I was squeezing in, even though I had all of Sunday free to do it. I just didn't much feel like getting off the couch.
Bike - 60 minutes
2 Lipodrene
I took my bike into the shop Sunday morning at the crack of 2 p.m. and had it back in an hour, realigned and retaped and ready to roll. So when I got home I was actually pretty motivated for the workout. So much so that I decided half an hour down Waldo-Williston would be a good trip. It's a little more hilly than Hawthorne, but not too bad. It was also the site of my worst ride ever last cycle, the one where I couldn't sleep so I decided to ride early, found it freezing cold, and ended up averaging about 15. But that was in February. It was cold. I was perpetually stressing out about my girlfriend leaving. And I wasn't sleeping. And oh yeah, I'm a little better of a cyclist now. So I figured no big deal.
One again, I figured wrong. I knew something was wrong when I was going 24-26 the whole way down Waldo. As I said before, you really don't notice when you have the wind at your back, and I looked for flags or trees or something and everything looked still. But whatever, I just figured this showed how much I'd improved. Notsomuch. I turned around and for some reason just lost all motivation. The trip back is all uphill, into the wind. Not something I'm a fan of. It didn't help that I couldn't drop down into Aero because of the massive wound on my right forarm, and my shoulders were jamming up, still residual from the accident.
Basically, I was pissed, felt like shit, and didn't want to be there. So even though I averaged about 20 on the way down, I was going a steady 13 a lot of the trip back and ended up averaging 17 for the ride. That's 1 mph slower than I did on my 5 hour ride, which included the crash. Not only that, I turned around at 28 minutes, and made it back in 1:05. Meaning the return trip, of about 9 miles, took 7 minutes longer than the trip down. So maybe that road really is that bad, and it wasn't just my poorer conditioning and stress that led to that awful, awful ride back in February. But who knows. Maybe the run would go better.
Run - 30 minutes
Alright, so get off the bike, have another spoiled yogurt PowerGel and do a nice run to the stadium and back. Can't fuck that up, right? Well, again, I started out strong, but by the time I got to the stadium I was fucking starving and didn't really want to run back. Again, just started chopping my steps, and by the time I got to about 11th St., I decided to say fuck it and walk the rest. Just didn't want to finish. I really don't know why. I'm not sure if the accident took a lot out of me, or I just had a shitty attitude today, but workouts like this need to be few and far between
Swim - 12x100. Practice bi-lateral breathing every other set. Do much later or earlier, but not within a few hours of the brick session
1 Lipodrene
I got back around 5 from the wasted Bike/Run and followed the advice on the card. Headed over to the pool about 9 p.m., which was nice because nobody was there. I was supposed to practice breathing every other set of strokes, but after about one lap (50 meters) of doing this, I said "Fuck this." Lung capacity is one thing I really haven't worked on, and since I was in a shitty training mood I wasn't about to push it. No excuse, I just didn't give a fuck. So I went back to normal breathing as I went through the motions to get this done. I didn't even time myself. I didn't care.
I think around set 8 I actually started pushing it, either because I was warmed up, or the Lipodrene kicked in, or because I saw a light at the end of the tunnel, but the last four sets actually felt really good. So at least I ended a shitty day on a high note.
But I can't afford many more bad workouts during training weeks. I got a month of balls-out training to go before I taper, and I need to make the most of it. Sometimes a couple of bad workouts in a row motivates you to crush the next one, and I hope that's the case here. This trend cannot continue.
This is becoming a disturbing trend. IDGAF, for the unaware, stand for "I Don't Give a Fuck," which was completely my attitude today. Again, this felt like one of those workouts I was squeezing in, even though I had all of Sunday free to do it. I just didn't much feel like getting off the couch.
Bike - 60 minutes
2 Lipodrene
I took my bike into the shop Sunday morning at the crack of 2 p.m. and had it back in an hour, realigned and retaped and ready to roll. So when I got home I was actually pretty motivated for the workout. So much so that I decided half an hour down Waldo-Williston would be a good trip. It's a little more hilly than Hawthorne, but not too bad. It was also the site of my worst ride ever last cycle, the one where I couldn't sleep so I decided to ride early, found it freezing cold, and ended up averaging about 15. But that was in February. It was cold. I was perpetually stressing out about my girlfriend leaving. And I wasn't sleeping. And oh yeah, I'm a little better of a cyclist now. So I figured no big deal.
One again, I figured wrong. I knew something was wrong when I was going 24-26 the whole way down Waldo. As I said before, you really don't notice when you have the wind at your back, and I looked for flags or trees or something and everything looked still. But whatever, I just figured this showed how much I'd improved. Notsomuch. I turned around and for some reason just lost all motivation. The trip back is all uphill, into the wind. Not something I'm a fan of. It didn't help that I couldn't drop down into Aero because of the massive wound on my right forarm, and my shoulders were jamming up, still residual from the accident.
Basically, I was pissed, felt like shit, and didn't want to be there. So even though I averaged about 20 on the way down, I was going a steady 13 a lot of the trip back and ended up averaging 17 for the ride. That's 1 mph slower than I did on my 5 hour ride, which included the crash. Not only that, I turned around at 28 minutes, and made it back in 1:05. Meaning the return trip, of about 9 miles, took 7 minutes longer than the trip down. So maybe that road really is that bad, and it wasn't just my poorer conditioning and stress that led to that awful, awful ride back in February. But who knows. Maybe the run would go better.
Run - 30 minutes
Alright, so get off the bike, have another spoiled yogurt PowerGel and do a nice run to the stadium and back. Can't fuck that up, right? Well, again, I started out strong, but by the time I got to the stadium I was fucking starving and didn't really want to run back. Again, just started chopping my steps, and by the time I got to about 11th St., I decided to say fuck it and walk the rest. Just didn't want to finish. I really don't know why. I'm not sure if the accident took a lot out of me, or I just had a shitty attitude today, but workouts like this need to be few and far between
Swim - 12x100. Practice bi-lateral breathing every other set. Do much later or earlier, but not within a few hours of the brick session
1 Lipodrene
I got back around 5 from the wasted Bike/Run and followed the advice on the card. Headed over to the pool about 9 p.m., which was nice because nobody was there. I was supposed to practice breathing every other set of strokes, but after about one lap (50 meters) of doing this, I said "Fuck this." Lung capacity is one thing I really haven't worked on, and since I was in a shitty training mood I wasn't about to push it. No excuse, I just didn't give a fuck. So I went back to normal breathing as I went through the motions to get this done. I didn't even time myself. I didn't care.
I think around set 8 I actually started pushing it, either because I was warmed up, or the Lipodrene kicked in, or because I saw a light at the end of the tunnel, but the last four sets actually felt really good. So at least I ended a shitty day on a high note.
But I can't afford many more bad workouts during training weeks. I got a month of balls-out training to go before I taper, and I need to make the most of it. Sometimes a couple of bad workouts in a row motivates you to crush the next one, and I hope that's the case here. This trend cannot continue.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
T82 - The Problem With Miami Workouts- Swim, Run
Miami
I went down to Miami for the UM - Georgia Tech football game which was, hands down, he most fun I've had a sporting event in a long time. Definitely an experience worth the five hour drive. That being said, the 3-hour tailgate followed by the 3 hour game followed by a night out at the Tavern led me to feeling a little on the dehydrated and awful side when I woke up Friday morning. I took some Advil and drank some Vitamin Water, and by the time I decided to hit the beach at 2:30 I thought I felt alright. But Miami workouts, they're rarely that good.
Swim - 40 minutes (out of 75 assigned) Open Water
2 Lipodrene
Since I was going to be a place with ample opportunity for open water swimming, I decided to switch around the workout order this week and do this open water swim first. Made sense. So I went over to Key Biscayne with Lindsay, Lauren and Nat, who were nice enough to watch my stuff while I went to train in Biscayne Bay. It was a pleasant Friday, so they got a nice beach day, while I got in my open water swimming.
The problem with swimming off Crandon Park is that the water is so damn shallow. It's great for going to the beach with your family, shitty for open water training. Like I'd go for about 100 years or so, and then all of a sudden I'm grabbing sand on every downstroke, It didn't help that the scab on my right forarm was burning or that my shoulders were still feeling jammed from the accident three days prior. So the strokes were tough, I was constantly having to get up and walk to deeper water, and the water was fucking hot.
Eventually, I got out to water that was deep enough to swim pretty far. The training card called for me to practice sighting, which I did none of, constantly ending up swimming in towards shore because that is where the current was going. I fought the current pretty well for most of the swim, until I hit the end of the park. The end of the park was about a mile from where we set up on the beach, and I thought it would make a good turnaround. But as soon as I decided to turn it around, I started to feel like yacking. Not like on the bike, where it lasts a few minutes and goes away. I mean I seriously felt like sitting down and ralphing for a while.
Sadly, I was out way too deep to do so, so I swam in towards shore to a spot that was shallow and tried to puke. Almost did it, but not quite, so I just sat there hoping it was just the Lipodrene hitting my stomach and that it would wear off. I started feeling better, but as soon as I started swimming again, I wanted to yack. I'm not sure if it was the saltwater or the motion of the waves (the current wasn't bad, but it was definitely knocking me around)or the hangover or the fact that the water was hotter than the air, but I was not feeling up for the rest of the swim. So after a few more attempts, I decided this was now officially counterproductive and swam in to shore and walked the just-under-a-mile back to the towels.
As it was I ended up doing about 1.2 miles, I think. Which isn't bad. but was just over half what the workout called for. I ended up swimming for about 40 minutes, which again is a decent training value, but I wish I'd have done more. Really, the alcohol and lack of sleep in Miami make for some shitty workouts here. Like I'm just trying to get them in instead of focusing on the training value.
Run - 60 Minutes
I was out of gels, and didn't really feel like having a Cliff bar before running, so all I was working off was the Tropi Chop Max I'd had for lunch. Which was enough. Lindsay was nice enough to give me her 3 mile run route in Coral Gables. Which of course completely confused me. I had done a run by their house last time I was down in August, just for fun, and remember not being able to see which street was which because of the fucked up Gables street signs on the ground. I also remember them living in a numbered section where the numbers turned to names, making it doubly confusing.
So I hit the road with no iPod and no nutrition or supplementation, and spent most of my time trying to figure out which street was which so I didn't get lost. In other words, I couldn't really focus on going fast, just on knowing where I was going. And I hate doing runs where I don't really know how far I have to go or have any landmarks, because all you can think is "Where am I? How far have I gone? How much time have I been out here?" And, honestly, I wasn't feeling my best anyway.
The first lap of this course I felt like I ran ok, aside from having to stop a lot to look at street signs and figure out where I was. The second lap was pure apathy. Just getting it over with so I could hurry up and get to Happy Hour. Yeah, I know i said I had to prioritize training. And it's easy to do in Gainesville because I'm not seeing people I don't see every day. And it wasn't so hard in New York because I scheduled it in, and visited people around that schedule. But in Miami, I guess it's tough. I not only have a lot of people I want to see there, but a lot of old habits that I'm used to insofar as going out.
So that all being said, I think I'm going to only have one more Miami trip before the Ironman. Probably for a half-marathon in October. I just can't stay disciplined enough when I'm down there, are I also end up spending too much money, even when I barely go out. Sad, but then again I'm moving back in December. After the Ironman, and plenty of time to slip back into old habits then.
I went down to Miami for the UM - Georgia Tech football game which was, hands down, he most fun I've had a sporting event in a long time. Definitely an experience worth the five hour drive. That being said, the 3-hour tailgate followed by the 3 hour game followed by a night out at the Tavern led me to feeling a little on the dehydrated and awful side when I woke up Friday morning. I took some Advil and drank some Vitamin Water, and by the time I decided to hit the beach at 2:30 I thought I felt alright. But Miami workouts, they're rarely that good.
Swim - 40 minutes (out of 75 assigned) Open Water
2 Lipodrene
Since I was going to be a place with ample opportunity for open water swimming, I decided to switch around the workout order this week and do this open water swim first. Made sense. So I went over to Key Biscayne with Lindsay, Lauren and Nat, who were nice enough to watch my stuff while I went to train in Biscayne Bay. It was a pleasant Friday, so they got a nice beach day, while I got in my open water swimming.
The problem with swimming off Crandon Park is that the water is so damn shallow. It's great for going to the beach with your family, shitty for open water training. Like I'd go for about 100 years or so, and then all of a sudden I'm grabbing sand on every downstroke, It didn't help that the scab on my right forarm was burning or that my shoulders were still feeling jammed from the accident three days prior. So the strokes were tough, I was constantly having to get up and walk to deeper water, and the water was fucking hot.
Eventually, I got out to water that was deep enough to swim pretty far. The training card called for me to practice sighting, which I did none of, constantly ending up swimming in towards shore because that is where the current was going. I fought the current pretty well for most of the swim, until I hit the end of the park. The end of the park was about a mile from where we set up on the beach, and I thought it would make a good turnaround. But as soon as I decided to turn it around, I started to feel like yacking. Not like on the bike, where it lasts a few minutes and goes away. I mean I seriously felt like sitting down and ralphing for a while.
Sadly, I was out way too deep to do so, so I swam in towards shore to a spot that was shallow and tried to puke. Almost did it, but not quite, so I just sat there hoping it was just the Lipodrene hitting my stomach and that it would wear off. I started feeling better, but as soon as I started swimming again, I wanted to yack. I'm not sure if it was the saltwater or the motion of the waves (the current wasn't bad, but it was definitely knocking me around)or the hangover or the fact that the water was hotter than the air, but I was not feeling up for the rest of the swim. So after a few more attempts, I decided this was now officially counterproductive and swam in to shore and walked the just-under-a-mile back to the towels.
As it was I ended up doing about 1.2 miles, I think. Which isn't bad. but was just over half what the workout called for. I ended up swimming for about 40 minutes, which again is a decent training value, but I wish I'd have done more. Really, the alcohol and lack of sleep in Miami make for some shitty workouts here. Like I'm just trying to get them in instead of focusing on the training value.
Run - 60 Minutes
I was out of gels, and didn't really feel like having a Cliff bar before running, so all I was working off was the Tropi Chop Max I'd had for lunch. Which was enough. Lindsay was nice enough to give me her 3 mile run route in Coral Gables. Which of course completely confused me. I had done a run by their house last time I was down in August, just for fun, and remember not being able to see which street was which because of the fucked up Gables street signs on the ground. I also remember them living in a numbered section where the numbers turned to names, making it doubly confusing.
So I hit the road with no iPod and no nutrition or supplementation, and spent most of my time trying to figure out which street was which so I didn't get lost. In other words, I couldn't really focus on going fast, just on knowing where I was going. And I hate doing runs where I don't really know how far I have to go or have any landmarks, because all you can think is "Where am I? How far have I gone? How much time have I been out here?" And, honestly, I wasn't feeling my best anyway.
The first lap of this course I felt like I ran ok, aside from having to stop a lot to look at street signs and figure out where I was. The second lap was pure apathy. Just getting it over with so I could hurry up and get to Happy Hour. Yeah, I know i said I had to prioritize training. And it's easy to do in Gainesville because I'm not seeing people I don't see every day. And it wasn't so hard in New York because I scheduled it in, and visited people around that schedule. But in Miami, I guess it's tough. I not only have a lot of people I want to see there, but a lot of old habits that I'm used to insofar as going out.
So that all being said, I think I'm going to only have one more Miami trip before the Ironman. Probably for a half-marathon in October. I just can't stay disciplined enough when I'm down there, are I also end up spending too much money, even when I barely go out. Sad, but then again I'm moving back in December. After the Ironman, and plenty of time to slip back into old habits then.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
T53 - Technical Difficulties...ABORT! - Bike
Gainesville
WARNING: POST CONTAINS EXCESSIVE ADULT LAGNUAGE
I had brought my bike into the shop the day before I left for Miami. The main thing I needed was to get the fucking computer fixed, I just can't ride right without it now. Sad, but true. I also needed to get the back wheel "trued," which basically means realigned to where it's supposed to be. This was likely a result of my getting rear ended by a Mercedes on a freeway in Orlando back in May. My rear tire was also pretty worn, so I got that replaced as well.
So I get to the bike shop and the first thing I ask the guy is "Did you guys get that computer fixed?" to which he gives me a very quizzical look, picks up the work order, and says "I forgot to write that down." Awesome.The one fucking thing I needed done, and dipshit didn't write it down. But, as he rolled the bike out to me, it was working, so I took it home.
I really fucking hate putting my bike into my car, as a 4 door Saturn S2 is not exactly made for carrying bicycles. I've figured out how to do it, but on a day like today where I was just not in the mood for any sort of glitches, fitting it in was not a chore I looked forward to. So I did what I always do when things require any sort of precision:I forced it in. Taking it out was easy, but as I rolled the bike down the ramp of my parking garage, the computer went out again. As someone who has been known to go into a fit of seething rage if a restaurant dares to put cheese on my burrito, you can imagine my fury when my fucking computer was still out. I took the bike back (easier to put back in my car again) and tried my hardest not to flip out at the bike store people. They're nice, and I need to keep a good relationship. The kid fucked around with it for 10 minutes before I left to pick up my sister for lunch.
I picked my sister up, and she commented on how much bigger and tighter my calves looked, and how much weight I'd lost around my midsection. Julie is never one to hold back on compliments, but she won't blow smoke up my ass either. So that was nice to hear. It was also the highlight of the training day.
After lunch, I get back to the bike shop and the guys tells me my sensor is dead. I'd have to come back on Monday when Tommy, the owner, is there to see if they'll fix it under the warranty. They fucking better. Especially since I bought the thing at this shop less than a year ago. At this point I had 3 options. First I thought
"Leave the bike here since you only have 2 short rides this week. Just use the stationary at GHFC until then."
then
"Well, I could just buy a new one now and keep going."
or
"Well, the thing is mission capable. No reason to miss training. Sack up and deal with not having the info you want." Needless to say, I chose option 3. Trevor told me to "listen to your body, you know how fast you go." Which I suppose is partly true, but I need external motivation. Whatever, I looked at it as a challenge.
Bike - 90 Minutes
2 Lipodrene
So I got home and took the bike out, computer-less, at 6. By the time I hit the head of Hawthorne and had no traffic noise, I noticed this scraping sound in my wheel. I had been riding well, but the sound was driving me nuts. So I stopped and spun the wheels to see if I could figure out what it was. Nothing. Rode some more, still scraping. So I shifted from big ring to small ring. Still nothing. I freewheeled to see if it was the chain, and the noise continued. I got to the beginning of the hammock and decided the bike was officially in worse shape than when I'd brought it in. I fucking hate that shit. I hate depending on people to fix your shit, and they make it worse.
Really ruined not only the ride, but more or less the whole afternoon. I am not a fan of these short rides anyway, and this one was particularly demotivating. I don't like to abort workouts, but I felt like this one may have caused some serious damage had it continued. And again, it was short. I ended up being out just under an hour. Fucking shitty ride, and these fuckers better get this shit unfucked tomorrow, because I'm not dealing with any more technical malfunctions. I'm putting in the fucking work, I expect the same out of my equipment. Thank God this week is light on bikes so I can take the time to get it fixed. Next week is bike intensive and, somewhat fortunately I guess, Klueber once again flaked on our East Coast roadtrip. Meaning that, on the bright side, I can get in all the training I need.
I have to add in some rest days, though, because I had counted on having more days off than called for on this trip. If I don't take them, I'm going to finish the cycle 2 weeks before race day, not exactly what I want to do. I'm sure I'll figure it out. No Klueber, you did not do me a favor by canceling the trip. This is what you call finding a silver lining.
WARNING: POST CONTAINS EXCESSIVE ADULT LAGNUAGE
I had brought my bike into the shop the day before I left for Miami. The main thing I needed was to get the fucking computer fixed, I just can't ride right without it now. Sad, but true. I also needed to get the back wheel "trued," which basically means realigned to where it's supposed to be. This was likely a result of my getting rear ended by a Mercedes on a freeway in Orlando back in May. My rear tire was also pretty worn, so I got that replaced as well.
So I get to the bike shop and the first thing I ask the guy is "Did you guys get that computer fixed?" to which he gives me a very quizzical look, picks up the work order, and says "I forgot to write that down." Awesome.The one fucking thing I needed done, and dipshit didn't write it down. But, as he rolled the bike out to me, it was working, so I took it home.
I really fucking hate putting my bike into my car, as a 4 door Saturn S2 is not exactly made for carrying bicycles. I've figured out how to do it, but on a day like today where I was just not in the mood for any sort of glitches, fitting it in was not a chore I looked forward to. So I did what I always do when things require any sort of precision:I forced it in. Taking it out was easy, but as I rolled the bike down the ramp of my parking garage, the computer went out again. As someone who has been known to go into a fit of seething rage if a restaurant dares to put cheese on my burrito, you can imagine my fury when my fucking computer was still out. I took the bike back (easier to put back in my car again) and tried my hardest not to flip out at the bike store people. They're nice, and I need to keep a good relationship. The kid fucked around with it for 10 minutes before I left to pick up my sister for lunch.
I picked my sister up, and she commented on how much bigger and tighter my calves looked, and how much weight I'd lost around my midsection. Julie is never one to hold back on compliments, but she won't blow smoke up my ass either. So that was nice to hear. It was also the highlight of the training day.
After lunch, I get back to the bike shop and the guys tells me my sensor is dead. I'd have to come back on Monday when Tommy, the owner, is there to see if they'll fix it under the warranty. They fucking better. Especially since I bought the thing at this shop less than a year ago. At this point I had 3 options. First I thought
"Leave the bike here since you only have 2 short rides this week. Just use the stationary at GHFC until then."
then
"Well, I could just buy a new one now and keep going."
or
"Well, the thing is mission capable. No reason to miss training. Sack up and deal with not having the info you want." Needless to say, I chose option 3. Trevor told me to "listen to your body, you know how fast you go." Which I suppose is partly true, but I need external motivation. Whatever, I looked at it as a challenge.
Bike - 90 Minutes
2 Lipodrene
So I got home and took the bike out, computer-less, at 6. By the time I hit the head of Hawthorne and had no traffic noise, I noticed this scraping sound in my wheel. I had been riding well, but the sound was driving me nuts. So I stopped and spun the wheels to see if I could figure out what it was. Nothing. Rode some more, still scraping. So I shifted from big ring to small ring. Still nothing. I freewheeled to see if it was the chain, and the noise continued. I got to the beginning of the hammock and decided the bike was officially in worse shape than when I'd brought it in. I fucking hate that shit. I hate depending on people to fix your shit, and they make it worse.
Really ruined not only the ride, but more or less the whole afternoon. I am not a fan of these short rides anyway, and this one was particularly demotivating. I don't like to abort workouts, but I felt like this one may have caused some serious damage had it continued. And again, it was short. I ended up being out just under an hour. Fucking shitty ride, and these fuckers better get this shit unfucked tomorrow, because I'm not dealing with any more technical malfunctions. I'm putting in the fucking work, I expect the same out of my equipment. Thank God this week is light on bikes so I can take the time to get it fixed. Next week is bike intensive and, somewhat fortunately I guess, Klueber once again flaked on our East Coast roadtrip. Meaning that, on the bright side, I can get in all the training I need.
I have to add in some rest days, though, because I had counted on having more days off than called for on this trip. If I don't take them, I'm going to finish the cycle 2 weeks before race day, not exactly what I want to do. I'm sure I'll figure it out. No Klueber, you did not do me a favor by canceling the trip. This is what you call finding a silver lining.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
T42 - Nuking The Village - Bike/Run Brick
Gainesville
This is an expression I learned from the guy who taught me how to blog, a fellow named Matt in New York who wrote a blog called the IJC. I won't talk about him here, but the term refers to a night when you go out drinking, and start doing shots and chugging beers like a moron to the point that you are either incoherent and passed out by midnight, or you power through the entire night being "that guy," who requires extensive babysitting. Either way, you went too hard, too early, and now at the end you're a total fucking mess. I didn't go out drinking, but today's workout, I nuked my village. Think I just got a little too excited and forgot I had a brick.
Bike - 1 Hour
2 Lipodrene (down to my last pill, that refill better fucking get here soon!)
I took yesterday off as my knee seems to have decided it wants to start acting up again (no idea why)and thought it better to switch the rest day that was supposed to be today to Monday, then do last Sunday's workout today and skip the Tuesday workout altogether. You lost yet? Basically I am skipping the first workout of this recovery week and doing the last one from the last week of Base 1 instead, since they are almost identical. ANYWAY.....
I had to wait until 4:15 to start the bike, and as I was getting my water bottles ready, Trevor looked up from his iPhone and asked how long I was going. Having just gotten his Super Cervelo fixed, he wanted to come along. Usually long rides with Trevor consist of me keeping up with him for about 10 minutes, wasting my legs, and dropping back for the other 2 hours and 50 minutes. But today was an hour, so I figured why not push it a little. See how long I could keep up. This is a guy who averaged over 20 for the entire Ironman, so it's a good lead to follow.
He managed to lose me at the first stoplight (I hit the red) but did wait at the trailhead. I kept up with him at a solid 22-24 clip until we got to some hills, where he kept that clip and pulled ahead. Well, lasted about 14 minutes this time, I thought. Still, an improvement. But once the hills flattened out he has slowed down and looked over at me when I caught him and said "I was just seeing if I could drop you. I can't keep that pace, shit. I thought I'd lose you a while ago." With that I shot up the first big hill in the hammock at over 20, maintaining that almost to the top. Trevor pulled back out in front for much of the rest of the ride, but I hung with him at 22-24, taking the lead a few times to give him a break from pulling. Although I made a point to avoid drafting as much as I could since that wouldn't really be keeping his pace as much as using his bike to make me go faster. But at the end of the ride, I'd more or less hung with him the whole time. Took a gel at 45.
When we got back to the light at Main, he was like "You're a real strong rider. The only way I'm dropping you is tactical shit like knowing when to push it going around curves and up hills, and timing light and accelerations. That's advances shit you can work on and get a good 20 seconds on people every time." He also advised me to start practicing using my small ring. Since I don't feel like a pussy now for using it, I feel like this should be to my advantage. But on flat ground, I can keep up with this guy. And that's a major stride from where I'd been previously. So that felt good. I ended up averaging 19.4 for the ride, and when I got back I had some serious adrenaline going. So I took the iPOd, feeling a good run coming on as well.
Run - 60 Minutes. At least, that was the plan.
Soooo, yeah. Learned a few things today. Good as my legs felt on that ride (they never burned for more than a few seconds, even going up hills) at minute 22 of run they went out. Now, granted, I was running up and down the hills on the backside of the campus loop at a much faster pace than usual because I was so pumped from the ride, and I had the iPod on. And though I've decided I was overusing that Silversun Pickups CD on so many levels, I think I can still use it for workouts. And it worked here. But as soon as "Panic Switch" ended, my legs did too. Like the just went "Hey, fuck you pal. These quads have been working harder than ever the past hour and a half, and you can just hold the fuck on while we take a little breather." So I took me second gel a little early and let them relax as I stopped and did some stretching.
Well, all that adrenaline must have made me forget about my knee, because as soon as I started up again, it was like someone had re-ripped my meniscus. Also, probably becasue I was tired I was plodding more than usual and putting more stress on my knees, but after another half mile or so, my knee was done. My legs felt better, but the knee was just not feeling this run. So, for only the second time ever, I adopted my "quitters punishment" policy and forced myself to walk the rest of the course home, even though turning around would have been a lot shorted. You're gonna be miserable either way, I figure, and the only way to be miserable for less time is to start running again. But every time I tried, my knee was once again telling me to go fuck myself. And I wasn't going to push it as I'd rather puss out on a run during a recovery week than do damage that may hinder longer runs down the road.
So a few things. First, on bricks, don't go balls to the wall on the bike. This was not a max effort today, but it was a hard effort, and having a 6.8 mile run after that I probably should have laid back a little. Also, on long runs after long bikes (or at least fast bikes) I'm going to stick to a flat course to preserve my quads. I don't feel bad about this given that the Ironman course is, in fact, completely flat. I may jsut do a series of stadium-and-backs so that if my knee gives out, I don't have to walk 4.5 miles home. On a bad knee.
I'm not sure why my fucking knee has decided to be a bitch again, but whatever. Short of surgery I can't really control that. But this is my last run of recovery week (in keeping with the recovering theme) unless I feel 100% on Sunday, which is a scheduled 90-minute run. The week after that is swim-intensive, so this should be just the break it needs before getting a real test in 2 weeks.
This is an expression I learned from the guy who taught me how to blog, a fellow named Matt in New York who wrote a blog called the IJC. I won't talk about him here, but the term refers to a night when you go out drinking, and start doing shots and chugging beers like a moron to the point that you are either incoherent and passed out by midnight, or you power through the entire night being "that guy," who requires extensive babysitting. Either way, you went too hard, too early, and now at the end you're a total fucking mess. I didn't go out drinking, but today's workout, I nuked my village. Think I just got a little too excited and forgot I had a brick.
Bike - 1 Hour
2 Lipodrene (down to my last pill, that refill better fucking get here soon!)
I took yesterday off as my knee seems to have decided it wants to start acting up again (no idea why)and thought it better to switch the rest day that was supposed to be today to Monday, then do last Sunday's workout today and skip the Tuesday workout altogether. You lost yet? Basically I am skipping the first workout of this recovery week and doing the last one from the last week of Base 1 instead, since they are almost identical. ANYWAY.....
I had to wait until 4:15 to start the bike, and as I was getting my water bottles ready, Trevor looked up from his iPhone and asked how long I was going. Having just gotten his Super Cervelo fixed, he wanted to come along. Usually long rides with Trevor consist of me keeping up with him for about 10 minutes, wasting my legs, and dropping back for the other 2 hours and 50 minutes. But today was an hour, so I figured why not push it a little. See how long I could keep up. This is a guy who averaged over 20 for the entire Ironman, so it's a good lead to follow.
He managed to lose me at the first stoplight (I hit the red) but did wait at the trailhead. I kept up with him at a solid 22-24 clip until we got to some hills, where he kept that clip and pulled ahead. Well, lasted about 14 minutes this time, I thought. Still, an improvement. But once the hills flattened out he has slowed down and looked over at me when I caught him and said "I was just seeing if I could drop you. I can't keep that pace, shit. I thought I'd lose you a while ago." With that I shot up the first big hill in the hammock at over 20, maintaining that almost to the top. Trevor pulled back out in front for much of the rest of the ride, but I hung with him at 22-24, taking the lead a few times to give him a break from pulling. Although I made a point to avoid drafting as much as I could since that wouldn't really be keeping his pace as much as using his bike to make me go faster. But at the end of the ride, I'd more or less hung with him the whole time. Took a gel at 45.
When we got back to the light at Main, he was like "You're a real strong rider. The only way I'm dropping you is tactical shit like knowing when to push it going around curves and up hills, and timing light and accelerations. That's advances shit you can work on and get a good 20 seconds on people every time." He also advised me to start practicing using my small ring. Since I don't feel like a pussy now for using it, I feel like this should be to my advantage. But on flat ground, I can keep up with this guy. And that's a major stride from where I'd been previously. So that felt good. I ended up averaging 19.4 for the ride, and when I got back I had some serious adrenaline going. So I took the iPOd, feeling a good run coming on as well.
Run - 60 Minutes. At least, that was the plan.
Soooo, yeah. Learned a few things today. Good as my legs felt on that ride (they never burned for more than a few seconds, even going up hills) at minute 22 of run they went out. Now, granted, I was running up and down the hills on the backside of the campus loop at a much faster pace than usual because I was so pumped from the ride, and I had the iPod on. And though I've decided I was overusing that Silversun Pickups CD on so many levels, I think I can still use it for workouts. And it worked here. But as soon as "Panic Switch" ended, my legs did too. Like the just went "Hey, fuck you pal. These quads have been working harder than ever the past hour and a half, and you can just hold the fuck on while we take a little breather." So I took me second gel a little early and let them relax as I stopped and did some stretching.
Well, all that adrenaline must have made me forget about my knee, because as soon as I started up again, it was like someone had re-ripped my meniscus. Also, probably becasue I was tired I was plodding more than usual and putting more stress on my knees, but after another half mile or so, my knee was done. My legs felt better, but the knee was just not feeling this run. So, for only the second time ever, I adopted my "quitters punishment" policy and forced myself to walk the rest of the course home, even though turning around would have been a lot shorted. You're gonna be miserable either way, I figure, and the only way to be miserable for less time is to start running again. But every time I tried, my knee was once again telling me to go fuck myself. And I wasn't going to push it as I'd rather puss out on a run during a recovery week than do damage that may hinder longer runs down the road.
So a few things. First, on bricks, don't go balls to the wall on the bike. This was not a max effort today, but it was a hard effort, and having a 6.8 mile run after that I probably should have laid back a little. Also, on long runs after long bikes (or at least fast bikes) I'm going to stick to a flat course to preserve my quads. I don't feel bad about this given that the Ironman course is, in fact, completely flat. I may jsut do a series of stadium-and-backs so that if my knee gives out, I don't have to walk 4.5 miles home. On a bad knee.
I'm not sure why my fucking knee has decided to be a bitch again, but whatever. Short of surgery I can't really control that. But this is my last run of recovery week (in keeping with the recovering theme) unless I feel 100% on Sunday, which is a scheduled 90-minute run. The week after that is swim-intensive, so this should be just the break it needs before getting a real test in 2 weeks.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
T6 - The Party Must Go on Hold - Run (sort of)
Miami
Run - 90 Minutes
So I spent the weekend in Miami, drinking until 5 AM Friday night, waking up at 11, then drinking again Saturday night only to wake up at 9 for this run. And I had partied pretty steadily through the last 2 training cycles, so I figured no problem, right?
Yeah, notsomuch. The combined 16 hours of sleep over the previous 3 nights plus massive amounts of alcohol and some pre-run sex thrown in didn't exactly make for a stellar workout. I'm not sure which was the biggest contributor, but this was both the first time I'd drank and had sex since this training cycle started. The drinking will definitely be the easier one to cut out.
At any rate, I knew it was going to be a bad run when I got up and found my shoelaces had been eaten by my friend Jimmy's dogs two nights earlier when I left my gym bad unzipped when I was staying at his house. It got even better when I found my awesome new $40 headphones had also been breakfast for his cocker spaniels, forcing me to buy a set of cheap Memorex ones at a Walgreen's in South Beach, which had sound quality on par with a 30-year old AM radio. My new host was nice enough to lend me some shoelaces, but the support pad in the right shoe had also been dogfood, so needless to say the run was off to a bad start.
I parked on 1st and Collins and started out, planning to go up to 25th street and back on the hard pack sand along South Beach. My knee was still bothering me, so I figured this would be a good way to do the long run for this week. While I was not hungover, I was definitely tired and lackadaisical after about the first mile. The Lipodrene was not kicking in and actually making me rather ill, since I had opted to do Lipodrene for breakfast again. I made it up to 25, turned around, and half-ass shuffled it all the way back. Sad ass run, if you wanna call it that.
SO THE PARTY MUST GO ON HOLD....
No motivation, no fire, no nothing. You know why? Because drinking and fucking and Ironman training do not mix. I realized today that doing an Ironman is not simply saying "Hey, I'm gonna do longer workouts now. No biggie." It's not Matt the 21-year-old frat boy going to the gym and sweating off his Vodka Red Bulls and ecstasy from the night before. It's fucking serious shit, and a full life commitment.
I'm not saying I'm going to quit drinking until November 7. That would be near impossible. I'm also not saying I'm going to celibate for the next 5 months. That would just be stupid. But the partying needs to be cut back, and perhaps saved for special occasions.
What I realized is that in every decision I make between now and Panama City, my first consideration needs to be "How is this going to affect training?" Like most guys, my first consideration in every decision up to this point had been "Is this going to get me laid?" But as of now, that needs to change. As of now, before I decide to go out drinking, or go home with someone, or invite someone over, I need to consider whether or not it will adversely affect my commitment to the Ironaman. It may well succeed where so many girlfriends have failed.
I also need to prioritize sleep and eat good meals at night. The burger and fries I had at the Midtown Sports Bar last night does not qualify as a good meal. Again, I'm not turning into a salad eater. That's just not me. But I will make sure dinners and whatnot are substantial if I have a long workout the next day. I'll also be ordering some vitamins this week.
Today, I learned that the Ironman is no fucking joke. It's a life commitment, not just a time commitment. I'm glad I learned this on a relatively-short run in week 20, because now I know that this has to take top priority for the next 5 months. I've partied enough, or at least enough for a while. It's time to do something different. Then, once it's over, if I still want to, the party will rage again.
Run - 90 Minutes
So I spent the weekend in Miami, drinking until 5 AM Friday night, waking up at 11, then drinking again Saturday night only to wake up at 9 for this run. And I had partied pretty steadily through the last 2 training cycles, so I figured no problem, right?
Yeah, notsomuch. The combined 16 hours of sleep over the previous 3 nights plus massive amounts of alcohol and some pre-run sex thrown in didn't exactly make for a stellar workout. I'm not sure which was the biggest contributor, but this was both the first time I'd drank and had sex since this training cycle started. The drinking will definitely be the easier one to cut out.
At any rate, I knew it was going to be a bad run when I got up and found my shoelaces had been eaten by my friend Jimmy's dogs two nights earlier when I left my gym bad unzipped when I was staying at his house. It got even better when I found my awesome new $40 headphones had also been breakfast for his cocker spaniels, forcing me to buy a set of cheap Memorex ones at a Walgreen's in South Beach, which had sound quality on par with a 30-year old AM radio. My new host was nice enough to lend me some shoelaces, but the support pad in the right shoe had also been dogfood, so needless to say the run was off to a bad start.
I parked on 1st and Collins and started out, planning to go up to 25th street and back on the hard pack sand along South Beach. My knee was still bothering me, so I figured this would be a good way to do the long run for this week. While I was not hungover, I was definitely tired and lackadaisical after about the first mile. The Lipodrene was not kicking in and actually making me rather ill, since I had opted to do Lipodrene for breakfast again. I made it up to 25, turned around, and half-ass shuffled it all the way back. Sad ass run, if you wanna call it that.
SO THE PARTY MUST GO ON HOLD....
No motivation, no fire, no nothing. You know why? Because drinking and fucking and Ironman training do not mix. I realized today that doing an Ironman is not simply saying "Hey, I'm gonna do longer workouts now. No biggie." It's not Matt the 21-year-old frat boy going to the gym and sweating off his Vodka Red Bulls and ecstasy from the night before. It's fucking serious shit, and a full life commitment.
I'm not saying I'm going to quit drinking until November 7. That would be near impossible. I'm also not saying I'm going to celibate for the next 5 months. That would just be stupid. But the partying needs to be cut back, and perhaps saved for special occasions.
What I realized is that in every decision I make between now and Panama City, my first consideration needs to be "How is this going to affect training?" Like most guys, my first consideration in every decision up to this point had been "Is this going to get me laid?" But as of now, that needs to change. As of now, before I decide to go out drinking, or go home with someone, or invite someone over, I need to consider whether or not it will adversely affect my commitment to the Ironaman. It may well succeed where so many girlfriends have failed.
I also need to prioritize sleep and eat good meals at night. The burger and fries I had at the Midtown Sports Bar last night does not qualify as a good meal. Again, I'm not turning into a salad eater. That's just not me. But I will make sure dinners and whatnot are substantial if I have a long workout the next day. I'll also be ordering some vitamins this week.
Today, I learned that the Ironman is no fucking joke. It's a life commitment, not just a time commitment. I'm glad I learned this on a relatively-short run in week 20, because now I know that this has to take top priority for the next 5 months. I've partied enough, or at least enough for a while. It's time to do something different. Then, once it's over, if I still want to, the party will rage again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)