3-18-08 (25 of 92) SwiB

First night off of recovery week, but it was still a recovery length workout. I swam 30 laps in 14 minutes, and pedaled for 29 minutes (covered 8.9 miles). I kind of lagged in the first minutes of my bike ride, and spent in inordinate amount of time doing math in my head trying to figure time/distance/pace info. I should have done all of that before I started pedaling. The result was that I spent the ENTIRE time trying to catch up to what I thought was a good goal - - 9 miles in the 29 minutes. I busted it pretty hard for about 26 of the 29 minutes - pushing my self to hit goal times that I kept missing by the slimmest of margins, but I was closing in. If I'd had another 5 or 10 minutes of pedal time, I probably could have evened the pace up. 1/10 of a mile short of a daily training goal.

Lesson learned - set your time based distance goals before the sweating starts.

I've also been experimenting with carb-gels. I bought up several packets of PowerGel brand gels this weekend, and have been trying them on workouts that I know will last over an hour. I shouldn't have to fuel too much during the race - probably a gel before I start, and one about 9 miles into the ride, so I don't crash on the run. I want to make sure they aren't going to mess up my stomach, or make me want to pitch my guts on the course. The Vanilla flavored is kind of nasty tasting - too sweet. Of course, that's the first ones I found, so I bought more of them initially. The others I have (berry-banana and orange) both have caffeine in them, so I'm curious about that interaction. So far, no stomach problems, per se, but I can feel them in my gut into the workout. I took one before I left the office for my workout to give it time to get in my system before the swim, and I felt it a little heavy in my stomach towards the end of my swim. I also took one about 8 minutes into my bike ride. Same result: small discomfort towards the end of the workout. Gu makes a gel that I'll probably try next, as does Hammer, but I'll need to order those online. I found some Clif shot bloks @ Dick's, but they look too messy to use during a race.

I've also been taking some protein shakes after my harder workouts. I laid off almost completely during my recovery week. I figured that since I wasn't working as hard, or as long, that I didn't need to consume the extra calories that come with the protein shakes. But I wanted the protein for recovery and to build a little muscle mass.

I took some pictures of myself on Oct. 5 of 2007. This was about when I hit my goal weight of 150 lbs and when I started swimming. I intended to take pics again several months later to see if I could see any changes. I wish I'd taken pics in January of 07 (before I lost 40 lbs). I'll post the pics in a couple of days in slide show - probably on a side bar or Flickr slide show.


I found a video on the torrent a few weeks ago called "Triathlon- Eyes of the Elite" - - the name makes no sense after watching it, but it was a documentary following several of the US triathletes that competed in the first Olympic Triathlon in Sidney in 2000. I didn't realize how young the sport was. Anyway, they were speaking to a former Kailua-Kona Ironman winner (multiple winner, actually), and he said something that stuck to my ego ( I guess because it's kind of an arrogant and bold statement). He said (paraphrasing here) that Triathlon is about pain- you put your body in a lot of pain to participate. If you can't deal with the pain, then you should find another sport. For some reason that sentiment keeps coming up during my training times. Over the sound of the water splashing in my ears while I sucking for breath above water, or over the sound of the music blasting in my ears while I see the other people in the gym chatting/laughing in the mirrors - I hear that thought: "suck it up or find another goal" - " must go faster".