Coach's are an integral part of any winning team. As I tackle my quest to be called an Ironman I know I need help. I am getting help. I am part of a team and I have a coach. My coach is named Mike Winn. He is USTA cerftified coach and aquaintance from past competitions and teams. I am really part of a couple teams as well. With Mike as my coach, I am part of Vanguard Endurance. Locally, we are a small group(10-12) of triathletes who are doing a variety of races including several that will do Louisville with me. I am also still part of our local tri club T3. So, it's kind of like you have your family and then all of your relatives.
So what does a coach and teams do in an individual sport?..... A lot. Mike does a myriad of things. Probably most importantly, he sets my training schedule every week. This is based on his plan and my results and with a few adjustments to help allow for family life and work. This is quite a juggling act at times but one we have done successfully for about 3 months now. As part of this process and for each of my workouts , I load all my data from my triathlon specific watch to a website called trainingpeaks. It documents things like; heart rate, pace, changes in elevation during the activity, duration of the activity, duration of a certain exercise within the session, and the location and time of day of the workout. I also personally input daily metrics there such as my weight, resting HR, hours slept, general feel, and then comments on the workouts. What this all does is it gives Mike a set of metrics he can then analyze and compare to benchmarks and standards to assure my health, my progress, and ultimately and hopefully my success. The other little sneaky part is that it is like a lie detector you can not cheat, cut short, or skip a workout when there is data to show. Mike also does several other things. He coaches you on the physical forms to the sport. This can include running form, bike position, and swim stroke. Lastly, he is that voice. That one that is not family or friend that gives you that push, asks, answers, critiques and gives reinforcement. These are all so critical to getting yourself to and above your limits that alone would be beyond measure.
Being part of a team is great too. As a person who has always been a part and enjoyed teams, I have a great fondness for my team Vanguard and T3. These are individuals with similar aspirations and mindsets yet with differences to our reasons. They fill so many roles in this process. They are people to push you during a group workout. They are that person that you know if you don't show up for a workout will ask where you were and how you are doing. They are people to get insight from and to engage in discussion and planning. They are that familiar face on a race day that gives you a lift through reassuring conversation or explanation, a gesture or calling out "you got this" when you cross paths on the course, and they help bring you home as you approach the finish line. They are also those people that give relief to your family and friends who are not triathletes who are tired of hearing about triathlon form you.
For me, comfort comes in numbers. This is not numerals but numbers. For a sport that is quite often spent alone with constant thoughts bouncing between your ears. Its good to have those numbers with you. To break that mind numbing cycle of thoughts while alone. As I move towards and will participate in Louisville, I will not be alone and it will be awesome to do this with others I call teammates. It just makes it more sweeter.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
You are what you eat.
There is no doubt that this title has truth alebit litterally or not is the question.
For me, I do not find that I imitate the above image nor do I have a place on a reality TV show as the next honey boo bob with my go go juice (Mt. Dew and Red Bull mix). My diet is pretty square, a function of time and place, and I do not really go with organics, gluten-free, vegan, and or restrictive diet. I just like good old comfort food that I was born and raised on and I really have a pretty open palliate with no real GI distresses.
The one thing I have noticed during my training and in recent years is that what I do take in does reflect in my performance when I am training. The days of slamming a quick meal or going the other way and skipping one all together can result in a total bonk. Bonk is term used in endurance sports to describe the absolute absence of energy in your body midst a workout. It is miserable. It is a very similar feeling as to when you are nearing the end of a twenty-four hour stomach virus and every ounce of energy is exhausted and you ache incessantly.
In the longer distance triathlons many athletes and trainers will reference a fourth discipline (1-swim, 2-ride, 3-run); 4-nutrition. There is essentially two areas for nutrition. The nutrition you use leading up to the race and then the nutrition you will use during the race. This fourth discipline gave me pause as I do not have any experience at these longer distances where nutrition can easily ruin your entire race or cause phycical harm and as well I have very limited experience in sports nutrition out side of what I read. So, even though I have stayed at my fair share of Holiday Inn Expresses I have hired a sports nutritionist/dietitian to help. Outside of the rationale of helping me meet my goals for this race I thought this would be a good check on my 40 years of food experience.
Last Friday was my first meeting with my nutritionist. This was an initial consult. Prior to this meeting I had filled out some general health questionnaires as well as completing an activity and food log. She then took my data and produced a report depicting my nutrition summary. Good news mom, you did a good job. My nutrition was not too bad and my meals are pretty well rounded. This was even with a breakfast for dinner meal we did one night. I was a bit deficient in my proteins and some of my fruits and veggies. These deficiencies are in part due to the demand of my current workout level and the higher demand my body needs to rebuild with these nutrients. Additionally, we covered a hunger satiety scale. This is a scale that helps you gauge when your are hungry and when you are full and if you concentrate on keeping yourself with certain zones your caloric intake will be fine without counting them. Lastly, we reviewed my food preferences and then built some meal plans to help alleviate some of my deficiencies. It was all really great info and it gave some good piece of mind that what I am eating not just for myself but also for my family is contributing to good health.
Even though it was fairly good report my time with the nutrionist is not done. I have several more appointments to work on the other areas of my nutritional plan. These will be focused on gauging my progress towards incoporating the veggies, fruits and proteins, as well as working on the nutrition plan I will need to consume during my events themselves to help assure I make that finish line.
So while I run to get some steak and eggs and a fresh fruit bowl. I leave you with this video that depicts an extreeme bonk via Ironman. Sorry if an ad runs first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTn1v5TGK_w
For me, I do not find that I imitate the above image nor do I have a place on a reality TV show as the next honey boo bob with my go go juice (Mt. Dew and Red Bull mix). My diet is pretty square, a function of time and place, and I do not really go with organics, gluten-free, vegan, and or restrictive diet. I just like good old comfort food that I was born and raised on and I really have a pretty open palliate with no real GI distresses.
The one thing I have noticed during my training and in recent years is that what I do take in does reflect in my performance when I am training. The days of slamming a quick meal or going the other way and skipping one all together can result in a total bonk. Bonk is term used in endurance sports to describe the absolute absence of energy in your body midst a workout. It is miserable. It is a very similar feeling as to when you are nearing the end of a twenty-four hour stomach virus and every ounce of energy is exhausted and you ache incessantly.
In the longer distance triathlons many athletes and trainers will reference a fourth discipline (1-swim, 2-ride, 3-run); 4-nutrition. There is essentially two areas for nutrition. The nutrition you use leading up to the race and then the nutrition you will use during the race. This fourth discipline gave me pause as I do not have any experience at these longer distances where nutrition can easily ruin your entire race or cause phycical harm and as well I have very limited experience in sports nutrition out side of what I read. So, even though I have stayed at my fair share of Holiday Inn Expresses I have hired a sports nutritionist/dietitian to help. Outside of the rationale of helping me meet my goals for this race I thought this would be a good check on my 40 years of food experience.
Last Friday was my first meeting with my nutritionist. This was an initial consult. Prior to this meeting I had filled out some general health questionnaires as well as completing an activity and food log. She then took my data and produced a report depicting my nutrition summary. Good news mom, you did a good job. My nutrition was not too bad and my meals are pretty well rounded. This was even with a breakfast for dinner meal we did one night. I was a bit deficient in my proteins and some of my fruits and veggies. These deficiencies are in part due to the demand of my current workout level and the higher demand my body needs to rebuild with these nutrients. Additionally, we covered a hunger satiety scale. This is a scale that helps you gauge when your are hungry and when you are full and if you concentrate on keeping yourself with certain zones your caloric intake will be fine without counting them. Lastly, we reviewed my food preferences and then built some meal plans to help alleviate some of my deficiencies. It was all really great info and it gave some good piece of mind that what I am eating not just for myself but also for my family is contributing to good health.
Even though it was fairly good report my time with the nutrionist is not done. I have several more appointments to work on the other areas of my nutritional plan. These will be focused on gauging my progress towards incoporating the veggies, fruits and proteins, as well as working on the nutrition plan I will need to consume during my events themselves to help assure I make that finish line.
So while I run to get some steak and eggs and a fresh fruit bowl. I leave you with this video that depicts an extreeme bonk via Ironman. Sorry if an ad runs first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTn1v5TGK_w
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
She's a Brick
The training is continuing with a rather predictable routine at this point. The one exception to my grind was Saturday. As an Indiana winter would have it, we got a nice bump in temps at the end of the week and into Saturday. It was definitely temperate enough to take some training outside. The only conflict was the fact that I had signed up and paid for my indoor cycling therefore the bike was not going to be able to hit the salt and gravel covered roads of Indy.
My schedule for the day was a swim workout at 6AM, cycling at 10:30, and with the outside pleasantries my riding buddies planned to do a run right after the bike session. This is called a brick workout. Like Hoosier there is not a a real definitive answer to where the term brick comes from. The most fitting seems to be B-bike, R-run, ick as in icky. Any way, this will be the first of many and something I have done in the past. They are an essential phase of you training and its definitely one that is not pleasant. The real purpose is to simulate race conditions and to begin to build muscle memory for such changes. When you suddenly change a repetitive action on your body it does not always respond well. With the longer races its even more drastic due to the length of activity or time in a similar motion. For those of you less active folk, its kind of like getting out of the car after a long ride. Next time try to start running as soon as your feet hit the ground for a little more pleasure to your arrival.
The morning swim was pretty intense so the stage was set for an active day. A fellow swimmer and I grabbed a coffee at the local shop to commiserate the workout and discuss performance and shoot the bull. Upon, gaining momentum from my caffeine I headed home to load the bike and drive to the cycle studio. The ride at the studio began with a high intensity and some push among fellow riders. I think the term testosterone in the air was mentioned. In fact a few others were going to have a time trial so the mojo was definitely present. With the level of intensity we started with, the rest decided to join in on the time trial as well. This is basically a flat course ride all out for 20 minutes. They really hurt you in a bad way. Needless to say I survived, but I will say the cookies did churn a bit a the last closing second but no eruption, thankfully. The great news was that I improved on my power measurement. This is the average wattage output or force you give for that period. I increase mine by about 10% in under 4 weeks. I am now riding at an average wattage of 249. For reference, this is still fairly paltry compared to high level riders such as those you may see in the tour de France. They run well into the 350 watts range for over 4 hours and can do 700 and 800 when climbing the Alps. Either way, my progress was very solid and I have definitely noticed the improvement. So, to do the brick, we quickly completed out studio session and headed out for a run. Fortunately, the studio sits right next to the Monon trail here in Indy.
This is a great multipurpose trail that is a converted railroad bed that goes from the far northern reaches of Indy all the way to downtown. Many cities have taken advantage of this type of real estate to do the same.
We headed north and did an out and back of 3 miles. This took us through the heart of Carmel in an area that has thrived from this very trail and the people that are using it. The trail was definitely bustling with activity with the 64 degree temps and slightly sunny. The run was good and all four of us enjoyed the chat on our results from the ride, our goals for the year and again just shooting the bull. Our speed was respectable and the conditions ideal. The brick workout was completed. Now I was hustling home to get the Christmas lights down in such loveliness.
My schedule for the day was a swim workout at 6AM, cycling at 10:30, and with the outside pleasantries my riding buddies planned to do a run right after the bike session. This is called a brick workout. Like Hoosier there is not a a real definitive answer to where the term brick comes from. The most fitting seems to be B-bike, R-run, ick as in icky. Any way, this will be the first of many and something I have done in the past. They are an essential phase of you training and its definitely one that is not pleasant. The real purpose is to simulate race conditions and to begin to build muscle memory for such changes. When you suddenly change a repetitive action on your body it does not always respond well. With the longer races its even more drastic due to the length of activity or time in a similar motion. For those of you less active folk, its kind of like getting out of the car after a long ride. Next time try to start running as soon as your feet hit the ground for a little more pleasure to your arrival.
The morning swim was pretty intense so the stage was set for an active day. A fellow swimmer and I grabbed a coffee at the local shop to commiserate the workout and discuss performance and shoot the bull. Upon, gaining momentum from my caffeine I headed home to load the bike and drive to the cycle studio. The ride at the studio began with a high intensity and some push among fellow riders. I think the term testosterone in the air was mentioned. In fact a few others were going to have a time trial so the mojo was definitely present. With the level of intensity we started with, the rest decided to join in on the time trial as well. This is basically a flat course ride all out for 20 minutes. They really hurt you in a bad way. Needless to say I survived, but I will say the cookies did churn a bit a the last closing second but no eruption, thankfully. The great news was that I improved on my power measurement. This is the average wattage output or force you give for that period. I increase mine by about 10% in under 4 weeks. I am now riding at an average wattage of 249. For reference, this is still fairly paltry compared to high level riders such as those you may see in the tour de France. They run well into the 350 watts range for over 4 hours and can do 700 and 800 when climbing the Alps. Either way, my progress was very solid and I have definitely noticed the improvement. So, to do the brick, we quickly completed out studio session and headed out for a run. Fortunately, the studio sits right next to the Monon trail here in Indy.
This is a great multipurpose trail that is a converted railroad bed that goes from the far northern reaches of Indy all the way to downtown. Many cities have taken advantage of this type of real estate to do the same.
We headed north and did an out and back of 3 miles. This took us through the heart of Carmel in an area that has thrived from this very trail and the people that are using it. The trail was definitely bustling with activity with the 64 degree temps and slightly sunny. The run was good and all four of us enjoyed the chat on our results from the ride, our goals for the year and again just shooting the bull. Our speed was respectable and the conditions ideal. The brick workout was completed. Now I was hustling home to get the Christmas lights down in such loveliness.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Feeling like a Hamster
Well, the weather has been brutal of late. The blizzard of 12' that never really was, did coat everything with about 10". We finaly hit the 40's for the first time since the 23rd of December. It just has not been conducive or as many remind me safe to train outside. Therefore, my training has gone inside to the point that I feel like a hamster in one of those habitrails. I am going from the treadmill, to the pool, to the cycling studio or spin classes inside.
The lack of fresh air just seems to make it so artificial. Yet, with the technologies at hand and the plan in place I continue to "build". I have definitely noticed an improvement in my cardio and my recovery times are getting much shorter between hard efforts.
It has also allowed me to focus on my swim which I am sure will become a bit less emphasized when the weather turns. It is also an area as I have said where my history lacks. I am continuing to swim with the SSC masters swim group. We do time tests, about every two weeks, so I am getting great feedback on my improvement. The large cuts in times are becoming less due to improvement but the feel for the water is a world of difference from 2 months ago.
Many of the members also have kids in swimming as well. It makes it very family friendly. So one day when the two practices overlapped some one had the brilliant idea of a relay race by families. Uh oh, this may not be too pretty. This is not to say my daughter is slow, it's to say I am. So were were pitted against 5 other family combinations. So as we prepared, we talked out or plan, or should I say Rachel told me our plan. Dad, don't make us finish last. Great, I am not sure I have ever been told that in my sporting life. So with quick fatherly wit, I struck back with you better get us a good lead then. Well let's just say we did not win, but we did not come in last and it was not all due to a big lead. It was great to see the families coming together and competing and having some indoor fun.
So with warmer weather in the forecast I am hoping to escape the cage and get some real air. With Indiana weather, you take it when you can as we still have a couple months of this stuff to come and I am out of sections to add to the habitrail.
The lack of fresh air just seems to make it so artificial. Yet, with the technologies at hand and the plan in place I continue to "build". I have definitely noticed an improvement in my cardio and my recovery times are getting much shorter between hard efforts.
It has also allowed me to focus on my swim which I am sure will become a bit less emphasized when the weather turns. It is also an area as I have said where my history lacks. I am continuing to swim with the SSC masters swim group. We do time tests, about every two weeks, so I am getting great feedback on my improvement. The large cuts in times are becoming less due to improvement but the feel for the water is a world of difference from 2 months ago.
Many of the members also have kids in swimming as well. It makes it very family friendly. So one day when the two practices overlapped some one had the brilliant idea of a relay race by families. Uh oh, this may not be too pretty. This is not to say my daughter is slow, it's to say I am. So were were pitted against 5 other family combinations. So as we prepared, we talked out or plan, or should I say Rachel told me our plan. Dad, don't make us finish last. Great, I am not sure I have ever been told that in my sporting life. So with quick fatherly wit, I struck back with you better get us a good lead then. Well let's just say we did not win, but we did not come in last and it was not all due to a big lead. It was great to see the families coming together and competing and having some indoor fun.
So with warmer weather in the forecast I am hoping to escape the cage and get some real air. With Indiana weather, you take it when you can as we still have a couple months of this stuff to come and I am out of sections to add to the habitrail.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Happy New Year
My resolution for 2013 was set awhile back. Finishing Ironman Louisville is well on its way. Therefore, my New Years celebrations were without much thought. I have already tediously planned and set benchmarks for 2013 to help assure success. With any goal, a great cause for failure is a lack of setting periodic points in which to measure progress. It is at these points you can identify weakness, short comings, pitfalls and/or confirm progress. For me, this involves setting a race plan for the entire year. This is a schedule of races leading up to peak performance for my "A" race(Ironman). This plan is carefully set so as to measure yet also not compromise yourself physically. It requires a careful balance of fitting races within the training schedule. Yet, with these races and specifically the longer ones like the half's there is a significant tole on the body which some recovery is necessary to allow the body to heal and regenerate back to proper form. The other ingredient is including some fun. This involves including races of interest, one's that you just like to do, and some that are just enjoyable. You will see my race card for 2013 below that incorporates this all. Feel free to come out and see the craziness that is Triathlon.
Here is to a healthy, happy, and properous New Year.
Here is to a healthy, happy, and properous New Year.
| Race Plan Mark Nigh 2013 | ||
| Event | Type | Date |
| HSE Indoor Tri | Indoor | 2/24/2013 |
| Pi Kapp Ride (Metric Century) | Bike Ride | 4/13/2013 |
| Carmel Sprint Triathlon | Sprint | 4/14/2013 |
| 500 Mini Marathon | Half- Marathon | 5/4/2013 |
| Muncie May Triathlon | Olympic | 5/11/2013 |
| Geist 5K | 5k | 5/18/2013 |
| Toughman Richmond, IN | Half- Ironman | 6/1/2013 |
| Ironman Muncie | Half- Ironman | 7/13/2013 |
| Ironman Louisville | Ironman | 8/25/2013 |
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