Friday, March 09, 2007

What a great weekend! I had a really good weekend of working out and recharging. Saturday just about wiped me out, but it was just awesome! Coach Phelan suggested that I meet him at the Landry Center for a Dallas Aquatic Masters swim before riding the bike store ride at Richardson Bike Mart. I was a little nervous to commit, but went for it. Until now, I have been a little unsure of my abilities and fitness level. I am not sure if coach was checking for a baseline or what... he just keeps pounding his fists saying, "VOLUME!" So Saturday morning I put on my suit, loaded the bike, packed some snacks, stopped at a Starbucks for a MEDIUM coffee and headed downtown. Coach and I arrived early so we had some quality time to rap about training, life and the things we all enjoy.

I entered the pool area and began the search for swim toys that would work for me. I purposefully left my gear in the truck knowing it would be provided. After a minute buried in the flipper bin, I began to regret my decision. Whoever is in charge there has something against size 12 flippers. There were some ambiguously labeled "9-11," plain "10" and "13-14." Just no "12." I guessed low and went with the "9-11" option... I should have known! That is a big range and reality meant 11 was stretching it and getting it on my size 12 mallet would be even less of a reality. When the kick set came, i found myself clinching my toes with foot cramps just trying to keep them on. They were stretched so tight, I could just see one flinging off and into another lane! Ugh. Anyway, after selecting the junk I needed I began my final approach to the pool. I was a little nervous about the lane I would select for my first group swim since age 18.

As I approached the pool with a nervous grin, arms full of swim implements, fully aware of myself, I scanned for anything familiar. My eyes and grin met the lady holding the clip board. I began a nervous ramble of information that would assumably help her determine the best lane for me but was interrupted with an "I know... take lane three there." My eyes followed her arm down to an outstretched finger pointing to a 25 meter piece of real estate churning with accomplished swimmers.

"Lane three?" I said to myself, "thanks a lot coach!" I quickly realized that I had seriously oversold my swimming abilities... to someone (DAVID!), or they were inflated beyond reality... The workout went exactly as I expected... I went our too fast and blew up about half way through. I was so self conscious that I stopped doing flip turns after blowing one and snorting half the pool through my nose. Coach and the Morganator kept saying things to me between sets... my head was pounding with the sound of my heart beat and I could not hear any of it. I just smiled and nodded. When I did speak, my voice crackled and was hoarse. I finally sat out a 50 and clung to the wall only to have Mrs. Clipboard look down and laugh at me with her hands on her hips (one still clinching the clipboard) saying, "we call that a masters moment. At this point I had lost count of the laps and distance... I was just trying to finish. With one set left I began thinking and quickly remembered that I had a 45 mile bike ride after this! About that time, BAM! My right calf locked up in the most unholy Charley horse ever. Luckily it was the last set and I was done. I had a hard time scaling the edge of the pool due to the workout. It ended up being about 3000 meters, give or take a 50. I was nervous about being able to hang on the bike.

I showered, put on the bibs and hopped in the car, making way to the bike store. The whole way I was pounding gu, cliff bars and various fruit. I giggled once with a mouth fool of banana thinking about how bad my gas would be later...

The really amazing thing is that the swim did not really affect my bike ride. I felt great! I could tell that my right calf was tight but after a few miles it losened up enough to let me keep with the pack. I tried to stay tucked in, well at least as well as an 6 foot 1 225 fat boy can. It was a little nerve wracking at first riding very tight and fast in the pack. We were on the 9:05 ride, which is notoriously fast. The pace was 25 to 27. I hung in well. They almost lost me at highschool hill, but I made it and was able to recover quickly enough to tuck back in. The ride was going great and I was feeling strong and no sign of slowing. Then: "pssssssssssssssss!" A flat! I flatted with about 15 miles left. Luckily, Gary from the Bike Mart stopped and had an extra tube. I was telling coach as we were about a mile into the ride that I had forgotten my flat kit. It never fails! The ride back with Gary was good, we visited about various new bike parts, wheels and life. We rode slowly but I still ended up with a 21 average.

It was a great day and a great workout! I love the way I am feeling and the fitness that I am achieving!
What a week! There were a lot of changes for me this week, but I made it! The crazy work week ended last night with a company happy hour. The happy hour turned into a come to Jesus meeting... everyone became very open about their frustrations after round 5 of cocktails. I was the only one not drinking, so unfortunately, I will probably be the only one that remembers it! Oh well, it was long overdue... I just hope some things change for the better as a result.

Wednesday night I took much of the week's frustration out on the bike. I rode the Irving Criterium. Since I turned my Cervelo into a fulltime tri bike, I have been riding my Steel (853) Lemond. I love that bike but was intimidated at first glance around the pack... my Lemond was the cheapest bike in the bunch by about $1,000. Everyone there was on Colnago, Kelley, Orbea, Seven, or something really high end... I could tell right away that I was in elite company. The ride itself reminded me of racing as a kid. It was such a blast to jockey for position in the line, play cat and mouse, chase attackers... the whole bit. I felt great! The speeds were high, around 27 to 29 on the straights. My ego had a huge boost when I found myself in the lead group or chase group with plenty of gas to spare. I countered one attack and overtook the attacker on one lap and stayed off for a lap and a half. It was awesome. When I attacked, my speed was 32 and nobody was on my wheel. I LOVE that stuff! Especially being as fat as I am on a cruddy bike! It made me want to start road racing again... but I will forget about all of that and stick to the plan. My performance that night made me feel good about my fitness, although it was a short hour and a half crit. We will see how I do at distance this weekend!

The rest of the week was pretty good. I managed to fit in all my workouts except one swim yesterday. I ran 4 miles last night and felt pretty good. I am going Monday to have a second opinion on my orthotics. I am having some right knee pain and some pain on the inside of my left ankle. I never had these before getting orthotics, so I am not sure what is up. The shinns are not as sore. I could feel my right one every now and again flare up in the run, but not too bad. I hope it is just my body adapting.

I am feeling a little better today: Sleep 8hrs, Stress 5, Fatigue 3, Soreness 5.

I have also begun to realize some of my hard work in the weight department. It seems that overnight I have dropped from 230 to 226. I weighed in at 226 the last two mornings. This really motivates me!

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Good Morning! Well, again, I made it up this morning for a little workout. Becca got in late last night after the Justin Timberlake Concert (no big loss that I missed that one!) and woke me up around Midnight. I was just asleep when the dogs started barking... I had a long hard day of a Sales Blitz and then Young Life Club with 6 High School kids in the car blasting Hip Hop as loud as my GM/BOSE speakers would go on the way to a beach party themed club! Needless to say, it was a taxing day yesterday and this morning came VERY fast. I did it though! I got out of bed and headed to the pool. This morning was a hodge-podge workout... I forgot my workout cheetsheet card in my sleepy state. So I did some pulls, kicks, fist drills, and breathing drills. All in it was a solid 2000 Meters.

As I swam and began to take notice of my mental and physical state to be recorded in my log, I noticed the ranking system was a little high: Sleep 6, Stress 9, Fatigue 8, Soreness 8. And I have only really started ramping up. Until now, it has been sort of whatever, swim as much as I can, Ride allot and run some. Then I started thinking about my week and past weekend so far... Saturday: Booked, Sunday: Full, Monday: Crazy then Young Life Club, Tuesday: Crazy Sales Blitz again then Young Life Committee Meeting... It kinda hit me: THIS IS GOING TO BE HARD! I am a little discouraged this morning. I am sore, tired and stressed and just getting going... I am hoping that work will calm down a little and maybe that will help. Until then, it will be a wild ride until Saturday!

Monday, March 05, 2007

Success! We, it is Monday morning and I am sitting here finishing a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee... the good news is, I just finished my run! I have successfully gotten up early to train! This may not sound like a big deal to you but for some reason over the past couple of years I have become a night owl. I used to enjoy getting up early and being the first to work. I am not sure what happened to me. Anyway, as part of the new serious me, I bounced out of the sack promptly at 5:30am.

Piper (my Golden) and I ran an easy 3 miles this morning, or what my coach calls a "maintenance" run. Not sure how it is maintenance, but I am sure there are many things I don't know about being an elite athlete (not that I will ever be, but who knows). The run was okay this morning. I was a little sore from this weekend, but not bad. I am hoping that the extra exercise will keep Piper from destroying another pillow while we are gone during the day.

Training this weekend was okay. I did not get a good quality long run in like I had hoped. I did get a longish run in, but the weekend did not pan out the way I wanted. I had planned to do my long ride on Saturday and long run on Sunday. I waited around for a buddy to ride but something came up and he had to bail. It was a horendously windy day on Saturday, so I decided to swap the run and ride long on Sunday, which was supposed to be nicer. I wanted to go somewhere and run due to being sick of the same old neighborhood route, so I hopped in the car and set out to a nearby park with a 3 mile path. All was going well until the tire went flat. It was mid afternoon Saturday and just one of those things that would not be quick but it had to be fixed. By the time I got it fixed, it was getting close to time to meet some friends for dinner so I opted for a short neighborhood run (3 Miles). Coach P's voice in my head said "volume... do antything... something." So I did.

On Sunday, I agreed to lead a training ride for Wachovia's MS 150 Bicycle Tour Team. I am team captain and organizing a 30 rider team to raise money to fight MS. As part of my duties, I lead a training ride. These are usually really slow, so I don't count them as training. Anyway, Becca was going to go with me, but following her crash Friday, she was out. I decided to take the opportunity to make it into a long ride. I rode from my house to White Rock Lake and met my group. We did two loops around the lake and then I rode home. The first loop was painfully slow, the second a little faster and the ride home was brutal fast into a 15 to 20 mph headwind. All in all, it was a good ride. I ended up with 55 miles and a 17 average despite the 12 to 13 first lap and 15 to 16 second.

I am really fired up about getting up this morning... I guess it is the little things. This week at work will be horrible and stressful. I hope the morning workouts will squelch that stress a little. Have a great day, thanks for reading.