Junk In, Junk Out - Cycle 13

 Several years ago I went to go listen to Steve Born speak. Born is the Technical Adviser for Hammer Nutrition, who has worked with numerous professional cyclists and athletes, and also a multiple time RAAM (Race Across America) finisher, he is also a member of the Utracycling Hall of Fame. Hammer Nutrition is a worldwide sports nutrition company specifically geared toward endurance fuels and all-natural health and wellness supplements. I am a big fan of their products and would probably use more if not most of their products if my budget could afford it. When Born came to Appleton, he came to speak about his philosophies of fueling endurance sports and sports nutrition. During his lecture, he specifically discussed eating habits outside of training, in other words, your general diet. He put it very simply and blunt - Junk in, Junk out. Personally, I have always tried telling myself to treat my body like a finely tuned machine, as opposed to a garbage disposal. This past week, we had my parents over for a game of dominoes. The previous 2 cycles (this one included) I have completely neglected my diet. It's actually rather embarrassing/pathetic. Now, I have talked about my dad in previous blog posts and is effect on me getting started and keeping me motivated in the endurance sport world. While we were in the middle of playing our game of dominoes, I found myself snacking on our kids' Easter candy....again. My dad, as usual, gave me some crap for eating like crap and bluntly said, "Junk in, Junk out." Truthfully, he hit the nail on the head - What I was putting in my body was simply that - JUNK. It was doing no good, other than short term satisfaction, there was no nutrients, no vitamins, no minerals, just sugar and fat. It was going to do me no good, there was no need for it. And to be honest, I wasn't even hungry. It was simply eating partially out of habit and partially due to having a mindset of "I earned this."

I know I have several posts in the past about my diet and how I either struggle with my self control or my choices of food intake. It's funny, because my wife often gets on my case for eating "weird" foods of putting so much effort into eating right. She often says I eat too good and need to "live a little," all while knowing exactly my lack of self control when junk food comes into our house. During holidays or other family get-togethers I have family and friends looking to me like I eat perfect. When truthfully, I don't. I share the same struggles as just about every other person. I love chocolate, peanut butter, ice cream, and baked goods; and when you can combine all those into one delectable dish like an "All Lovin No Oven" ice cream creation from Cold Stone Creamery, or a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough/Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard from Dairy Queen, it's pure heaven to me. Granted, I do eat pretty well majority of the time (80/20) and work my ass of during training and my training volume is a lot more than most. This is why I am able to give the false appearance of eating "twigs and berries" all the time.

The fact of the matter is, when it comes to my training plan, I am able to make all the difficult sacrifices and stick to it as though my life depended on it. But, as soon as there is candy or other junk food in our house, I can't stay away from it. I was doing really well from January until about my birthday, the beginning of March. I was able to shed some of the weight I had put on since running the Boston Marathon, but now my weight has been stuck in limbo between 170 and 165. I have written on here countless times that I would ideally like to be around 160 and 155 throughout my race season this year. So here I sit, already a week into April and my first A race of the year (Green Bay Marathon) only about 42 days away (6 weeks) and I am sitting at 170 pounds. After the Lakefront Marathon, I was about 175 pounds and told myself I was not going to race at that weight again, and promised myself, I would not make the same mistakes in my 2013 race season. So much for that...

Easter was right in the middle of this past cycle. So on the 30th I went over to my Sister-in-Law's house for a large Easter get-together with a ton of food and treats (your typical family holiday spread). I ate way more than I should have and mostly of food I didn't need to be eating, such as carrot cake, cookies, jelly beans, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, etc. On Monday, I made a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Dough dip to bring into work. It was absolutely delicious. While I was making it, all I kept thinking to myself was, "wow. there is NOTHING healthy in this" and "how much more sugar and fat is going into this dip?" It was like as soon as I thought I had enough ingredients in the dip, I would add something else, it was like the ingredients list just kept going. So, I had my fair share of that on Monday and of course, I brought the left overs home and continued to snack mindlessly on that throughout the remainder of the week - on top of all my kid's Easter candy. On Friday, we brought the kids out to Glass Nickel Pizza for lunch. Saturday, we went out to a local Mexican restaurant with our close friends Pat and Melissa and they also brought Melissa's mother's famous peanut butter bars. So it was a terrible week for my caloric intake with all the Easter candy I continuously snacked on throughout the week on top of all the eating out.

I know I tend to eat more when I am tired from my "turn-around" days and from working 3rd shift in general. I also know I tend to eat out of sheer boredom and out of habits I have formed over the years. These are all compounded with the fact that I lack self control to simply say no, when I very well know I shouldn't be eating something. Also, as a creature of habit, I have developed some habits of eating at specific times, or creating the mindset of I need to eat to fuel. I even find myself eating more sue to simply having kids. It seems like when they do not finish their dinner, I find myself eating their left overs to not throw it away. What it comes down to is I need to realize I do not need to eat as much and/or as often as I do. With the Green Bay Marathon 6 weeks out and after that I will really be getting into the bulk of my Ironman Training, NOW is the time for me to make some specific changes to my eating habits. I am going to start making smarter nutritional choices and start feeding my body for my training. Yes, I realize I have said this, or something similar, in the past. I have tried eating a vegetarian diet, paleo diet, and gluten free diet. So, whats different this time. Honestly, I don't know. Maybe, it's my realization, that I have some sort of problem. Maybe it's just the timing, with a marathon a little over a month away, and my lifelong dream of the Ironman in September. What ever the reason is, something needs to change. I need to starting thinking about what I a putting in my body. It's ironic that I am writing about this today, because there was just an article put out my Ironman.com discussing the importance of proper fueling throughout training for an Ironman. You can read that article here - "Eat for Performance, Not Reward." I do not plan on bringing back my food journal and documenting all the food I take in on a daily basis, as I am not concerned about the amount of food I eat - my concern lays in the quality of food I am eating not the quantity. I do plan on being more diligent weighing myself everyday and documenting the weight. Yes, I realize that daily weight can fluctuate 2-5 pounds simply by the amount of food intake and hydration levels, but I have found that on the 1-2 days following a day or two of overeating I avoid the scales as to think that my food choices never happened.

Sorry for going on and on about my diet, but it is without a doubt the #1 concern I have about my training. It is in the back of my mind with every meal. I feel as though if I can come forward and be honest with my junk food bad habits, I can hope to assign some accountability to my choices.

Brief Recap

 Other than making all my poor nutritional decisions this previous cycle was actually pretty productive. Due to some slight schedule shifting due to shifts in my work schedule because of training days, this past cycle saw two 50 mile bike rides, one which was done as a brick with a short 2 mile run afterward and a second which was done as a stand alone bike ride. For my second 50 mile ride, I really wanted to go out hard and ride faster than I did during my brick bike. In the end my second ride was 5 seconds longer than the previous one. I blame it solely on the wind. My average heart rate was about 10 bpm higher than my first ride, but just a tad longer, which shows that I was working harder in the second ride, most likely due to the wind. I did not have a long run scheduled during this cycle as it's scheduled for the first day of the upcoming cycle. I also had my longest swim to date this cycle at 3000 meters (1.89 miles). Things are setting to build up, especially in my run training, leading up to the marathon in May. My bike and swim distances will continue to build, but the volume really won't build until after the marathon, due to concentrating on my run training right now. My long intervals are growing and will continue to do so leading up the race. I am up to 8 sets of 800 meter (0.5 mile) repeats. In the past, I have always done these workouts on a track, at 2 laps per repeat. This year, I have chose to run these repeats on the road. I opted to do this, first, because the track is under a foot of snow, and second, I read an article about the mental factor of running in the road, as this is where the marathon is run. 800 repeats are naturally a difficult workout. It's not a short sprint, but it's not a long tempo run. It's still near 100% effort and then you compound that along with minimal rest, 800 repeats are one of my trusted marathon speed workouts. I did make a small swap in my scheduled training plan because of unplanned weather. I swapped out my long bike ride with my swim/bike brick workout. I woke up Saturday morning to about an inch of snow, which was forecasted. To avoid biking in the snow, I did my bike on Friday and the brick on Saturday.

Favorite Workout

My swim/bike brick workout, which I did on Saturday instead of the originally scheduled Friday due to forecasted snow. I had scheduled a 3000 meter swim followed by a 15 mile bike. I planned out my own swim set, which I have never really done in the past. My goal was to incorporate a long set built around some short speed sets to simulate fatigue. I sandwiched a 1000 meter set between a couple pull/kick sets and short 50 meter sprints. I swam the 1000m set at a moderate pace. I averaged 0:55/50m and finished the 1000m in 18:37, which wasn't blazing, but I didn't want it to be. So I was happy with my swim. Immediately after getting out of the pool I joined a spin class at the YMCA and rode for a little over 45:00.

Moving Forward

The upcoming cycle isn't necessarily a recovery week as far as total volume is concerned, but it does have a short long run and no real long single workout, other than the 20 mile long run on day 1. The long run will consist of a 12 mile goal race pace tempo run at the end of the 20 miles. My plan is to run 7 miles at a moderate pace, and then run 12 at 6:50/mile pace and cool down for 1 mile to total the 20 miles. My total cycle volume will increase by a little over 6%. Along with a 16 mile long run, I have another 50 mile brick bike with a 3 mile run. I also have 2 days with 2 workouts along with one day at work were I picked up a 4 hour block of overtime. It will be a balancing act (as it usually is) to balance my family life along with my training and work. The positive is that after my double back day on Monday (training from 7-3pm and then go back to 3rd shift that night from 10p-6a) I only have 4 more days of work until my weekend. Friday is my "Friday" this rotation, which leaves me with a weekend of Sat, Sun, Mon.

As always I have a few pictures from the past cycle and thanks for reading! Hopefully next week I can write about my successes with my eating habits!

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

My phone's wallpaper to remind me of what it takes to reach my goals.

Maya and her Gymnastics ribbon.

A little over an inch of snow....on APRIL 6th!!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Dough Dip -  A little bit of Heaven and Hell in a bowl.

My biggest supporter - Delaney, showing off her new sunglasses.

Another Cup of Coffee, Please! - Cycle 12

I love coffee, I always have. Even before I worked 3rd shift, my day wouldn't start until I had a cup (or 5) of coffee. Now that I work 3rd shift regularly, my coffee consumption has increased. This past cycle left me craving two things... Sleep and coffee. It was a balancing act, so to say. The more sleep I got, the less coffee and visa versa. I opted to pick up a 4 hour block of overtime over the past weekend, because, really, who couldn't use the extra cash. Plus, it fit perfectly into my training schedule. It was sandwiched between my double workout day on Friday and my double workout day on Sunday. So with three straight days of getting up early to either workout or go to work, I was lacking in the sleep department and left seeking coffee from the moment I stepped out of bed.

It sounds odd and I catch a lot of grief about it from my wife, but, I have been treating my training plan like holy scripture lately. I created it knowing days that would have to be flexed or tweaked to make other days work. Granted, life does happen and I have been making changes as we go. But when it has come to planning unnecessary things, such as going to a Brewer's game, or picking up optional overtime at work, I'd be lying if I said I didn't check my training plan first to see if; A) It fits into the plan with little or no changes or B) I can make it work with some minor tweaks here and there.

I also had my 2nd appointment with Mike LeMere of Prevea Sport's Medicine in Green Bay this past week. Mike is the head athletic trainer of the Green Bay Marathon. As I mentioned in my last post I was selected for a Running Gait Analysis which involved a video taping of me walking barefoot from the rear, side, and front and then running in my kicks, from the back, side, and front. After we finished with the video taping Mike did a pseudo physical evaluation of me, looking for any tightness, weaknesses, imbalances, or current/potential injuries. The initial evaluation took just shy of 1 hour. I went back in on my first day off for the 2nd appointment, which consisted of reviewing the video and going over personalized strength and stretching exercises to help correct flaws in my running gait. Some things that Mike found in my gait was that I run very erect. He pointed out that I should have a more aggressive forward lean. He also found that along with running upright, I tend to bounce, rather than glide. Ideally, you should have minimal vertical displacement when you run, and I was basically jumping repeatedly. Mike also picked out a very minor weakness in my left hip, specifically my gluteus medias. This was evident by how my knee and foot would point out during my recovery leg swing forward. The videos were very telling. It was useful to actually see yourself running for a change as opposed to looking at a still frame picture and attempt to evaluate my running form, as I have done in the past using the race day photos from the sponsored photographer. The program Prevea uses is called Dartfish. The program allowed Mike to draw lines and arrows and such right on the tv screen, much like you see during football games. I received a copy of the video footage on a CD, but am unable to embed the videos onto my blog due to the formatting. The videos are in Dartfish's unique format and will only open in Dartfish programs. I was, however, able to take a screen shot of a couple of the videos showing the unique capabilities of the program. After reviewing the footage Mike showed me a variety of exercises to help improve my running mechanics. In the end, the weaknesses in my mechanics are very minor and Mike even said that he had to pick something in my gait to attempt to correct. All in all, my running form is pretty good, but obviously there is room for improvement.  I honestly feel as though the fact that I ran a hard 18 mile run the day before had something to do with the fact that my running form was a bit off.  But, none-the-less, I would still definitely recommend this service if anyone was on the fence about it. I would definitely recommend it to an injury prone running, who has been battling injuries such as IT band syndrome, planter fasciitis, or tendinitis in the ankle or knee.

Photos from the video depicting a slight hip drop in my left hip, as well as a rear view of my vertical displacement.

Photos from my video depicting my erect posture and excessive bounce in my stride.

I also mentioned last week that I had been having "issues" with my left foot, specifically the toes of my left foot. Well. I am happy to report that the pain has more or less subsided. I addressed this topic with Mike at Prevea during my Gait Analysis. He believed it to be caused by a large callous on the bottom of my left foot which is putting extra pressure on the tarsals and metatarsals in my foot. Every now and again, I will notice that specific sensation in my toes, but I am ruling it to be "just one of those things" that arise with repeated strenuous activity, such as running.

My diet has been so so. It has not been great, by any stretch of the imagination, but I have kept my weaknesses in check. I have ditched the food log. I opted to do this for a couple reasons. The first being the fact that I have developed a routine that I feel confident in and feel that I have developed a strong sense of an appropriate amount of food to intake on a daily basis without logging every morsel I put in my mouth. Secondly, it was consuming a lot of time that I would rather spend doing something else. Don't get me wrong, the food log helped me develop a routine I feel confident in. It also assisted with general knowledge of portion sizes of the foods I commonly eat. But it was just getting very repetitive in nature and it got a point were I felt I was not benefiting from taking the time to log the food I was eating.

I have also since allowed myself to include more wheat products into my diet. I have gotten to a point with the increased volume in my diet that I was constantly hunger and just seeking out food. I still opt for healthier options of wheat, such as high quality breads or even sour dough breads, quality dinner rolls, and high quality pastas. So it's not like I am abandoning ship and eating cookies, graham crackers, and other highly processed wheat products here. I am just allowing a little more leniency to increase my daily caloric intake as my expenditures increase.

Brief Recap

 This past cycle was the first cycle of the build phase. The total volume was high in comparison to previous cycles, but the total volume was pretty evenly spread out over all the workouts. There was no one or two workouts that shared the majority of the volume. This was partially due to having a 8 hour training day scheduled on one of my scheduled off days from my work rotation. I also had 2 two-a-day workouts scheduled this cycle which kept my total training volume high, without one long training day. The one long day of training was on my 2nd off day where I had my weekly long run scheduled. I scheduled a 16 mile run with no race pace work. I wanted to try something different for this run by running it with no water, no fuel during the run, and no pre-workout meal. Granted, I ate a large meal the night before with a sugary dessert, but stopped eating around 7:30pm. I woke up around 6:30am and had a couple cups of coffee with no food and headed out the door by 8am. I did not take in any food and kept my pace slow to attempt to stay in a aerobic state (aka a fat burning zone). My pace was slow and easy. I never once craved any food or felt that I needed water. I was actually surprised. I finished the run in 2:07 and felt fantastic. The purpose of doing an unsupported run like this was two fold. I wanted to first and foremost force myself to do it, for the mental training aspect of it, to reassure myself that I can run without calories. I also wanted to use it as a judge to find an appropriate amount of calories I personally need during my training. I also did it for the physical benefits of running strictly on my stored glycogen and fat stores. There comes a point in training were you eventually deplete all your glycogen (sugar) stores and force your body to rely on fat stores for energy. When this happens there are countless physiological benefits experienced by our bodies. Some of these include, generally becoming more efficient, an increase in mitochondria production, and better utilization of fatty acids for energy.

Favorite Workout

For my birthday this year, my daughters got me a Finis Tempo Trainer, which is also known as a "wetronome." The purpose of it is to key in on pacing in the pool. You can set it to assist with your stroke rate, or the number of strokes you take per minute, to teach an even, smooth stroke. Or, you can set it to help pace your intervals to teach you proper pacing techniques. This past cycle I have made it a point to begin to swim longer intervals to be better prepared for swimming the 2.4 mile Ironman swim, sounds kinda obvious - right? Yea, well, The longest interval set I have swam to date during this training season was maybe a 500m set - which is just under a third of a mile. Granted my total distance covered during a swim workout has generally been between 1.25 and 1.75 miles, my individual interval sets have been relatively short. So this cycle I had a 2700 meter swim set scheduled. I wanted to take advantage of my new wetronome and decided to swim a pyramid set of 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700. I set my wetronome to 28 seconds per 25 meters. So hypothetically I would swim a single distance of the pool on every beep. I took 2 beeps (56 secs) of rest between each set. It was a good workout, tough, but good. I enjoyed training with the tempo trainer as it forced me to keep a steady pace throughout the interval. After I was done int he pool, I headed into the weight room for a quick strength circuit.

Moving Forward

This upcoming cycle has a few adjustments made due to scheduled 8 hour training days. As I mentioned before, I had a training day on my final off day so I made a small adjustment and swapped out days. So on my first day back to work, I have a long brick workout with a bike emphasis and then right back into my regularly scheduled training week leading up to my weekend. My build phase consists of alternates cycles, there is an A cycle and a B cycle. This upcoming cycle is a B cycle. So I only have 1 two-a-day scheduled this cycle, which will be nice. I was able to adjust my scheduled training days on my off days due to having a training day scheduled on Day 2 of the next training cycle. Having this training on a previously scheduled workday, gives me the night off before to counter the time spent at training (I hope that makes sense). So, my regularly scheduled weekly long run was bumped to day 1 of the next training cycle, which is why you don't see a long run scheduled during this cycle. I do have another long bike ride on my final off day this cycle. I plan on really pushing myself on that ride as it is a "stand alone" bike workout - no run following as there was on day 1. With the weather starting to make the turn for the better and starting to warm up, I will be doing everything in my power to get outside on my bike every chance I get. The time on the bike will be most beneficial for me come race day in September!

This upcoming cycle will also present several days of sheer gluttony. On March 30th, my sister-in-law is hosting the annual Easter celebration at her house and I have very little intentions of eating well that night. Then, my wife and I have already made plans for a Friday lunch date with the girls to a local pizza buffet at The Glass Nickel Pizza in Appleton. They quite possibly have the best pizza in the Fox Valley. And it doesn't end there....Saturday night, we will be meeting up with Pat and Melissa for our monthly date night and will be going out for Mexican food at a local restaurant just down the street from our house. And to top off the week of unhealthy eating, Sunday is my nephew's 1st birthday party down in Milton, WI. The only benefit I will have to eating like crap all week, is knowing that the next long workout isn't far away!

Below are the usual photos from the previous week.... and as always thanks for reading!
Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

Pretty much my exact feelings right now...

Delaney dying Easter Eggs

Maya and Delaney eagerly waiting to dye their Easter Eggs

Maya dying her 1st Egg of the year

She accidentally ripped the egg in half and was rather sad - haha!

Maya and Mom went to the movies - So it was a Delaney and Daddy night!

Same Ol' Situation - Cycle 11

Going into this cycle I was looking forward to a week of diminished volume.  But, to be honest - it seemed like any of the previous training weeks.  Not only did it not "feel" like a recovery week, I was battling a potential injury in my left foot - either my 2nd or 3rd toe to be specific.  The pain first became noticeable after my last long run on Day 8 of the last cycle.  It came on suddenly, almost like a "pop."  It felt as though my toes were attempting to grip and pull with ever push off on the road.  It was during the last few miles of my 8 miles at race pace, so the intensity was higher than usual.  It was as if a tendon or ligament snapped or was torn.  It didn't have a direct impact on my pace or the remainder of my run, however.  At the time I didn't think much of it.  Just "one of those things" that routinely present themselves over the course of training for longer endurance events.  Throughout this past week, I monitored my foot closely.  I poked and prodded trying to self diagnose some type of injury.  I couldn't figure it out.  Typically, with stress fractures (my worst fear) you develop a sharp pin point pain which is unbearable.  With most stress fractures you can find by simply running your fingers along your bones until you find the "sweet spot" that will make you jump.  So just about twice a day I would feel around my toes and couldn't find a certain "hot spot."  So I was 95% confident I could rule out a stress fracture.  Every other specific injury to the foot I looked up didn't seem to fit, based on a specific set of signs and symptoms.  My foot/toes showed no signs of swelling or bruising, which helped rule out a lot of the injuries as well.  I was able to finish all my scheduled workouts as well.  So as of today, I am simply chalking it up to a minor general "over use" injury that typically comes and goes over the course of regular intense training.

The rest of this past cycle was rather uneventful, truthfully.  I did find out yesterday that I was selected as the winner in a Facebook competition put on by Prevea Sports Medicine.  A couple weeks ago they posted a competition on through the Green Bay Marathon's Facebook page asking runners to share their best marathon training/racing advice.  Prevea is one of the title sponsors for the Green Bay Marathon.  I posted on the page with the following response:

Best advice for training/racing - build mileage slowly and consistently.  Practice your race day plan regularly in training and do not try anything new 1-2 weeks before race day and definitely not ON race day.

Luckily, I was selected as the winner and will receive 3 personal training sessions, a running gait and form assessment, training jacket, water bottle, t-shirt, towel, and shoe bag.  Everything in that prize pack is perfect for me!  I will definitely use it all, minus the personal training sessions.  First off, they are only good at a health club in Green Bay, and secondly, as a previous certified personal trainer, really what would I gain from it?  Not to sound "high-and-mighty" or anything, but come on, but would an accountant have someone else do their taxes?  The best thing in the package is the running gait analysis.  Especially coming off of my sore foot/toe.  I am really hoping to pick the sports doctor's mind about my toe and hopefully get some potential insight as to whats causing my discomfort on my push off.

Brief Recap

I hate to keep beating a dead horse, but this winter just doesn't seem to want to go away.  It gets frustrating when you have a set plan put in place and you want nothing more than to go out and successfully complete each task just as it is set forth.  But, when the time comes for a certain task, you are forced to modify that task due to something that is out of your control - you're hand is forced.  In essence, that has be the story of my first 11 cycles.      I went into this training cycle with a set plan, which I had laid out on here after the completion of the last cycle.  But, yet again, I had to make tweaks and modifications to work around Mother Nature.  This cycle had two pretty significant snow falls.  The first came on an evening before I had my scheduled run test. After work I came home and running a successful run test was unrealistic. The combination of the warmer temperatures during the daylight hours and the fridged overnight hours was melting the snow and forming puddles during the day and freezing them over night. Couple that along with an overnight snow fall and you have a recipe for some extremely slick conditions. I adjusted my plan and went out for a nice and easy 7 mile run. Right as I began I fell right on my ass. I made it maybe 100 yards before I took my first fall. I had gone all winter without a fall...until now, in March. I had to take extra caution throughout the entire run to try and avoid falling a second time on hidden ice patches. I had several close calls, but no other falls. The second snow fall came on the day before my scheduled long run. We were hit hard (relatively speaking for a March snow) with about 4 total inches of snow. It was significant enough that I had to break out the snow blower. It wasn't just a typical snow fall, but it came with strong winds, which brought heavy drifting, which definitely didn't help. So, with the extra snow on the ground on top of the forecasted sub zero wind chills, I planned my weekly long run to be done indoors. I had scheduled a total of 18 miles with 10 of them done at my goal race pace. I completed them all on the Heart of The Valley YMCA's indoor track. I was very lucky to start that my Sister-in-Law was willing to take my daughters for the morning and then take them out to lunch so I was able to complete my run. I am extremely lucky that my daughters have such a great Godmother who is always willing to spend extra time with my girls. It's great for them but also for me. Having the love and support from my family is truly special. There is no way in hell I would be able to train the way I do without the love and support of my family. So a big shout out to my Sister-in-law Lisa - Thank's so much!

The track at the YMCA, crossed over the word "Run" 200 times

The track is a moderate sized track, with 11 laps totaling a mile. I sucked it up and ran 200 laps, just over 18 miles. I couldn't stop at and odd number like 198 laps, so I ran an extra 2 to get a nice round number. I ran the first 6 miles at a moderate-easy pace and then turned up the tempo after that. I found that running a sub 7:00 mile on a short track is difficult, especially when there are other people on the track. I like to think that I ran close to my goal pace of 6:50/mile on the long stretches, but there is no doubt that I lost a bulk of my speed on the corners. Below is a "By the Numbers" of how the run went.

200: Number of laps completed
440: Number of calories consumed
21,400: Approximate number of total steps taken
800: Number of corners
4: Number of times I changed directions
39.6 seconds: Average time per lap

The remainder of the training cycle went really well. I stuck to the training plan and didn't need to make any changes (other than the scheduled run test) tot the plan. Instead of completing my originally scheduled run test, I took advantage of a local 5k I had planned on running to be my "test" to tell me where my run fitness currently is at. I posted a race report HERE for the race. It was a great race, all things considered. The course was longer than a 5k, so my time was obviously longer as well. Add to that the fact that the temperatures made it feel like it was the dead of winter, I was pretty happy with my official time of 19:07. I am especially happy with the fact that I took 3rd overall! It was my first time in any race were I actually placed in the top 3 overall. When I took a closer look at my results from my Garmin Watch, I showed that I actually ran at a pretty strong pace. So when you take in the totality of the circumstances that presented themselves on race day, I am very please with where my current run fitness is.

I also had another swim test this previous cycle. I went in to it with high expectations. I had felt as though my swim fitness was progressing very nicely. When it was all said and done, my times were considerably slower than my previous test. It showed me that I need to continue to swim and remain diligent with my form and technique training, and not skimp on the speed/tempo work. I am not dwelling on my unsuccessful test times, but using them as motivation leading up to my next swim test. My critical swim speed pace increased from 1:44/100m to 1:48/100m. My goal is to get it below 1:44/100m by the next test date.

Favorite Workout

I would have to say my favorite workout was my 7 mile run I completed on day 2.  It was originally scheduled as my run test, but due to the ice and snow I changed it to a simple run.  It was the simplicity that made it my favorite workout from this past cycle.  I went out without any specific goals for pace or distance. In fact when I left the house, my original plan was to run 6 miles.  But as I continued to run, I felt great and just kept going.  I ended up running a total of 7.60 miles.  I completed it in 58:26, not a blazing pace, but considering how slippery it was, I was plenty happy to just make it home with only falling once!

Moving Forward

The previous cycle was my last cycle of my Base Phase.  I now make the change to my Build Phase.  This is the phase where my volume....well, builds.  You can see that I have one more additional day of multiple workouts.  I am mostly looking forward to my day off on day 2.  It will be my first full off day since I was sick back on January 22nd and 23rd.  Now that my volume is getting longer and longer, I will begin to have more regularly scheduled off days, which will truly be a treat.  I also have a full day of training on my last off day, which will have a small effect on my brick training.  I will again just split the originally scheduled brick workout into single workouts before and after my day of training.  My weekly long run is just a recovery style long run down to 16 miles with no goal race pace work.  This will allow me to simple go out and just log some easy miles with out stressing about my pace.  It should be a good week of training!  Below are pictures and some videos from the week.  The videos are of the weather that kept me training indoors all week.  They are not all that interesting, but just showing you the snow and wind we had here in Wisconsin.

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

My Dad and I with our awards from the St. Pat's 5k

Supporting TheTriShop.com during the awards ceremony!

Picture doesn't do the weather justice....but trust me - it was crappy out.

First race in my Team Kit from TheTriShop.com

Had to snap a picture of my race results

 

St. Pat's Day 5k - Race Report

I had this race on my race schedule since I first became aware of it.  This was the first year this race was run in Kimberly, WI, which was convenient as it was literally about a 5 minute drive from my driveway to the start line.  When I did decide that I would do this race I had pictured a cool morning, maybe 35* and sunny, not warm by any means, but still not cold - a typical early spring morning you would come to expect in Wisconsin.  But nooooo, it had to feel like late January, in the dead of winter.  The race was originally scheduled to start at 7:17am, but with cold temperatures in the forecast, it was pushed back a whopping 13 minutes to start at 7:30am to allow the sun to come up and hopefully warm up more.  Well, that didn't seem to really make a difference.  The temperatures at the start of the race where hovering around 12*.  As if that wasn't enough there was also a decent wind from the North which made it feel like it as about 0*!  The only positive as far as the weather goes, was the fact that it was bright and sunny.

I had no real clear goals for this race as it was simply a "C" race - or a high intensity training day.  I worked a regularly scheduled 10p-6a shift the night before the race and I didn't make any adjustments to my training schedule as I was originally scheduled for a 6 mile run this morning anyway.  My outlook on the day was to still try to get in a total of 6 miles through a longer warm up or by adding a cool down after the race, or a combination of the two.  I just really wanted to still log about 6 total miles, some how, some way.  I also originally had a 10k run test scheduled on day 2 of my cycle, but was unable to complete it due to extremely icy road conditions that day.  So, knowing I had this 5k already on the docket, my plan was to use the race to help judge where my current run fitness was at.  On top of using the race as a run test, I still have a personal goal of running a sub 18:00 5k.  My personal best for a 5k was at the 2012 Jailbreak 5k with a time of 18:07.  That goal is always sitting in the back of my head when I toe the start line to any 5k race.  Plus after getting my race kit from TheTriShop.com this past February, I was looking for any opportunity to finally wear my sweet new gear in a race to do my part and support my sponsor!

Training Plan

As I already explained above, I viewed this race as a race, but still just another day of training.  I made no adjustments to my training plan to incorporate rest in the days leading up to it, nor did I incorporate recovery days for the days after.  I have reached a point in my endurance career that a 5k is nothing more than a short tempo run, even at race intensities, and therefore, there is really no need for extra attention for recovery.  The day before the race (Saturday, March 16th) I had a short interval swim session followed by a half hour strength session in the weight room.  I didn't hold back in either of the two workouts and treated them as any other workout on any other day.  As far as the day following the race I have a short "long ride" scheduled of 30 miles, which will probably be done on my indoor trainer due to the lingering cruddy weather in Wisconsin.  On Tuesday, I have my weekly long run scheduled in preparation for the Green Bay Marathon.  This week's run is up to 18 miles with 10 at goal race pace.

Day/Night Before the Race

Saturday night was my "Friday" at work, meaning the end of my work rotation.  So, I had worked 3rd shift for the prior 5 days and Saturday night was my 6th and final night before my weekend.  I went to work Saturday night after eating a good dinner at home of vegetable stir fry on top of a bed of quinoa, along with a salad and a banana and peanut butter for dessert.  I worked Saturday night from 10p-6a and stayed busy, which was nice.  I was happy that I got out on time, which is never a given, especially on a Saturday night, not to mention over St. Patrick's Day.  I never register for a race when I plan on working the night before just in case something were to come up near the end of my shift and I end up getting held over, just so I don't end up losing the money.  It's no fun paying the extra cash for the inflated "day-of-the-race-fees" but it's a small price to pay to guarantee I don't completely loose the money without even participating.  But, like I said, I got out on time and since they pushed the start time back by 15 minutes, I was there plenty early and got myself registered and left myself plenty of time for an ample warm up.

Getting to the Start Line

It was about 6:50 by the time I finished registering, which left my about 40 minutes before the start of the race.  I was very happy to have that much extra time, as I had thought I would only have about 15-20 minutes due to the fact that I was coming directly from work to the race.  Since I wanted to run a total of 6 miles as part of the 5k race, I decided to take advantage of the extra time and do a much longer warm up than I normally do for a 5k.  The weather was freakin' cold.  The wind chills had to be below zero since the sun wasn't completely up at this point, so I knew a good warm up would be beneficial.  I decided to run the course with my extra time.  My thoughts were that I would know what to expect as soon as the gun goes off and it would put my total miles at over 6 after I actually run the race.  My warm up consisted of running the first two miles at a comfortable, easy pace, and then begin to incorporate some "pick ups" throughout the last mile.  By the end of my warm up my GPS watch had a final distance of 3.25 and I didn't even run through the finish line!  With my warm up complete and knowing that the course was longer by at least 0.15 miles I was ready to go all out and put forth my best effort.

Miles 0-3.1

As the race started I went out a little more conservative then usual.  I never race a 5k with a heart rate monitor and run simply based on RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion).  Over my years of running, I have developed a pretty keen sense of pacing, just as many experienced runners have.  Throughout the first mile, I felt different than normal for the first mile in a 5k - it felt easy.  I was still within reach of the lead runner and in about 8th or 9th place overall.  I feel like I had extra speed in the tank, which is a GREAT feeling after the first mile in a short 3.1 mile race.  I debating cranking it up, but figured it was best to just hang with the pack of runners I was with and save any energy for the last mile - if I had any left.  Throughout the next mile, I held onto my current pace and my strategy of not loosing or gaining any ground.  Just before the 2 mile mark I started to crank up my tempo and began passing some of the runners in front of me.  The course was an out and back course, which allowed me to see exactly what place I was in at the 1.5 mark.  I knew I was in 9th place at the half way mark.  There was a pack of 5-6 guys within reach just ahead of me.  For the last mile I really pushed myself and before I knew it there were only 2 guys ahead of me, who were out of reach.  I finished as the 3rd runner to cross the finish line unofficially with a time of 19:07.

Link to my Race Information from my Garmin GPS Watch

Post Race

After crossing the finish line, I took a straight beeline to get indoors for warmth.  The only thought that was going through my mind at this point was, 19:07?!?!  Here I thought I was running at a pace for a "sure thing" PR, and then I finish in a time more than a minute over my goal time?  According to my Garmin, the race was a total of 3.28 miles with an average pace of 5:50/mile.  Immediately I began attempting to figure out what my theoretical 5k time would be.  After realizing that I was not nearly smart enough to convert minutes and seconds into a theoretical finish time for an odd distance such as 3.1 miles, I just gave up and realized that I knew I ran a good race.  My mom and dad also participated in the race, so once they came in, we talked about the course.  A short while later, the results where posted - I was officially 3rd overall and 1st in my age group!  I was so pumped, it was my first overall top 3 finish.  My only regret/disappointment is the fact that the "official race time" looks rather pathetic for a top 3 finish.  The 3 of us hung out for the awards ceremony as my dad also took home an award for placing 1st in his age group, which was awesome.

Other Notes

I feel as though this race needs to have an asterisk due to the extra 2/10th's of a mile.  The fact of the matter is still that everyone had to run the extra distance - so in the end it was a level playing field.  Everyone had to run in the same sub zero wind chills, for the entire 3.28 miles.  So regardless if the race was 2.9 or 3.28 miles, I still took 3rd overall, and no one can take that away from me.  I just wish, when people ask, what was your time, I don't have to explain the longer time.  But, like I said, oh well, get over it!

Lessons for Future Events

The biggest thing I took away from this race is incorporating a longer warm up.  A typical warm up for a 5k would be a total of about 1 mile running with pick ups and active stretching.  This was the first time I ever did a warm up which lasted longer than 10 minutes.  Based on how this race went and how fresh I felt right out of the gate, I will definitely incorporate a warm up of at least 15-20 minutes for most, if not all distances.

What's Next

Well, its right back into training.  I have two more workouts left in this training cycle - an easy paced bike and my weekly long run.  This current training cycle is the last Base phase cycle.  After this cycle I transition into my Build phases.  The build phase is just that, the volume really begins to build, I begin to incorporate more two-a-day workouts and the weekly training volume builds setting up my final training phase - The Peak phase - or the race season.  The next race on my schedule is another indoor triathlon on April 13th.  I know I just said I would not do another indoor triathlon just a month ago, but this race is held at my local YMCA where I do all my swimming so I feel a since of obligation to support my Y.  Plus, they structure their race much better than the Oshkosh YMCA did.  They award points for each discipline based on how you rank in each individual event.  At the end of the race they total your points and the most points will determine your final place - not just your final distance covered.

As usual, below are pictures from the day!
Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

Before the run - hoping I dressed warm enough.

Results - 3rd place overall!  My dad 10th overall!

Rocking TheTriShop.com Gear!

My dad and I - He is the sole reason I am were I am today.

My first ever overall top 3 finish!

A Third and a Half - Cycle 10

 Before you start saying I don't understand fractions, or my math is terrible, let me explain.  First, my training plan consists of 30, 9-day cycles, plus a 31st cycle of 2 days, one of which is race day.  I just completed my 10th cycle, hence one-third of the way through my training plan - which is absolutely crazy to think.  I still feel as though I have a ton of time to prepare for this race.  In reality, I do have a considerable amount of time remaining, but at the same time - not really.  Now, where does the one-half come from?  My Ironman adventure began last September 10th, or just about one calendar year out.  The day of the race is on September 8th, 2013, which was 6 months out from March 8th, this past Friday.  So, you can see, I am in the exact middle of my journey from when it officially began on September 10th, 2012, hence the one-half.

Waiting in line to register.

It's absolutely mind blowing to me that 6 months have come and gone since I stood in line for several hours with a 2 year old and a 14 month-old to register for the race of my dreams.  It couldn't have gone any better.  The girls where amazing and the people around me helped me out too.  But that was 6 months ago.  Today, I have been training not only for the Ironman, but for several other races, for 90 days or 3 months.  I have about 180 days until I toe the line in Madison.  It's tough to wrap my mind around that fact, because in reality, it's 6 months out, but then I look back and see how fast the past 6 months have gone and I know that race day will be here before I know it.  So, I need to stay dedicated, motivated, and positive, and keep on keepin' on.

The past cycle had a lot going on outside of my training.  As I eluded to last week, my birthday fell on day 1 of cycle 10.  I took 2 days off from work at the start of my rotation to enjoy my birthday with my family and friends.  On my birthday, I got in my morning birthday workout (which I'll touch on later) and spent the afternoon with the the family at the mall, where I got to pick out my birthday present from Sarah.  I got some new shoes...that weren't running shoes.  I got a new pair of Croc Canvas shoes and a Brewers T-shirt.  After the girls took their afternoon nap, we had arranged a babysitter for the girls and spent the night out with our good friends at one of my all time favorite restaurants - Titletown Brewery in Green Bay, WI.

If you know me at all, you know I am a HUGE fan of craft beers, and enjoy nothing more than going to the breweries themselves for truly hand crafted fresh brews.  I also mentioned in my last post about cycle 9, that I had been eating like absolute crap - but it was my birthday weekend, so I kind of accepted it.  Well, that continued right on through the weekend.  I splurged and ordered a sampler tray of every single brew Titletown had available (13, plus a root beer).  My overindulgence continued right into dinner.  I ordered a hamburger.  Now, let me explain something here, this was the first burger I've ordered at a restaurant at least since Maya was born 3.5 years ago.  It could even be longer.  I have made hamburgers at home before, with grass fed beef or other game meats, which were harvested locally, but never a normal restaurant hamburger.  Not, only did I order just a hamburger, but a PB&B Burger.  That's right, a peanut butter and BACON burger!  Oh my god!  It was so freakin' good.  It was worth me splurging and getting the hamburger.  After dinner (and a few more beers) we headed back to our friends house for some carrot cake (yes - more carrot cake), drinks, and games.  It was such a fun night.

To finish off my birthday weekend, we went to Cold Stone Creamery for dessert on Sunday night.  Cold Stone is by far my favorite place for ice cream treats.  It's ironic that it's also probably the most unhealthy of all ice cream places.  It was a great way to end my birthday weekend.  But, I knew that Monday morning it was right back to reality.  Yes, there was no breaks, it was right back to eating properly, training hard, and work.  The best part of my past week of work was I took 2 days off at the start of my rotation leaving me only a 4 day work week.  The downside was I had court on one day and two midday trainings on top of the 4 day work week.  The trainings didn't go as long as I thought, but the fact that I still had to wake up in the middle of my sleep to come in for training and then return home only to catch some more sleep before going back to work, still makes for LONG days.  In my 4 days of work, Monday-Thursday, I had to make 7 separate trips to and from Oshkosh, which is about 25 miles from our house.

At the very end of this post are a bunch of pictures from the past cycle, including training and my birthday weekend.

Brief Recap

This past cycle went really well.  My volume continues to grow and my body continues to adapt to the longer stress.  Recovery is still top priority, even though I have been slacking in my daily foam rolling and stretching.  I was pretty happy with the minimal weight gain from my birthday weekend and found it pretty easy to get back down to were I was before my weekend food "bender."  In my opinion, the weather in Wisconsin has finally made the turn to start feeling like spring.  All of days which would normally be snowy days have turned into rainy days.  The temperatures are now hovering just above freezing, which is having a significant impact on the standing snow.  We also got to spring forward this past Saturday night/Sunday morning which, if anything, has a mental effect.  Make no doubts about it, it's Spring time (at least that's what I'm telling myself).  I have put away all my winter coats, I am no longer shoveling, and I am doing everything I can to do all my workouts outside again.  I got outside for one bike ride this past cycle which was a breath of fresh air - no pun intended.  It was cold, don't get me wrong, but even though it was 12* with a light wind when I started, it warmed up to 27* by the end of my 25 mile ride.  The sun was out and the birds were chirping, so even though it was cold, my ride even had a spring time feel to it.  

Favorite Workout

I knew what my favorite workout of this cycle was going to be even before I did it.  On my birthday I planned a workout of 29's, since it was my 29th birthday.  I planned a 2900 yard swim followed by an indoor bike ride of 1:27 minutes - or the duration of a 29 mile outdoor ride at a 20mph average speed.  I caught a back-to-back spin class at the Appleton YMCA to get in my 29 "mile" indoor ride.  My intentions were to head right into the lap pool after.  I changed out of my cycling gear and into my swim suit and headed to the pool, just to find out there was a huge swim meet at the Appleton YMCA all weekend and all the pools were closed for the remainder of the weekend.  Of course something had to go wrong...  I was left with 3 options - 1. Go to the Neenah-Menasha YMCA and use their pool; 2. Go to the Heart of the Valley YMCA and use their pool; or 3. Skip the swim workout all together and just enjoy my birthday without the swim workout.  Obviously, #3 was a viable option, considering how much I was looking forward to this workout.  So, it came down to the Neenah-Menasha or the Heart of the Valley YMCA.  I had to go out of my way and go down to the N-M Y as the HOTV had swim lessons all day Saturday.  I was able to get my swim workout in which is pictured below.  It was a great workout.  I couldn't help but think about my life as I progressed through my workouts.  I would think about each year of my life for every 100 yards I swam.  It was actually kind of neat.  I would try to think of a big event that happened during that year of my life.  From my golden birthday when I turned 2, to getting engaged when I was 21, and having each of my daughters at 25 and 27.

Moving Forward

This upcoming cycle is a scheduled recovery cycle.  My volume is being cut by 12.5% or 1.5 hours.  I have scheduled a couple of fitness tests during this week because of the decreased volume to allow adequate recovery from each test.  I have a scheduled run test along with a swim test.  The weather still isn't nice enough to schedule a bike test yet.  If that changes, my 30 mile bike ride on day 8 will be changed to a bike test.  Depending on my work schedule (if I get out on time), I will do a quick 5k road race on day 7.  The 5k is just down the road from our house, which makes it pretty difficult to pass up.  The route actually runs right past our baby sitters house.  I had a 6 mile run scheduled for that day, so my plan is get in a quick 1 mile warm up before the race and follow it up with a 2-3 mile cool down.  So even though it's a recovery cycle, the intensity will still be there, but the volume will take a significant hit.  My goal this cycle is to use my foam roller and stretch more frequently, which will be needed with the higher intensity work outs.

Below are all the pictures from this past cycle - enjoy!
Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

Yet another indoor bike session - in my cow prints!

The beer sampler place mat - each of the little circles will be covered by that type of brew.

 

My 14 beer sampler platter!

 

My PB&B Burger - Absolutely Delicious!!

A long weekend of partying takes its toll on little angels.  :)