Getting fired up!

Our deep freeze continues and I keep making continual and lengthy motion indoors without going anywhere.  An interesting conversation arose last week that left me in reflection.  The conversation was with my daughter late on Friday.  We were discussing her result from a lengthy swim meet earlier that night.  Her result from the 500 freestyle was far from desired.  I was trying desperately to keep a fatherly position of support while doing some coaching without the proverbial "ripping her a new one" as we "discussed" the performance.  Any parent will agree that these conversations are like walking a tight rope 20 stories up.  One wrong step and its complete doom. I won't deny she shed a tear or two but I felt there was good that came from it.  I felt that I had to let her know I love and support her but at her age and level of competition a greater effort needs to be present in order for her performances to capitalize on her capabilities. Oh and I forgot to add this was all in the presence of her mother.........now let's make that a tight rope walk with a person on your shoulders and a gusty cross wind. Anyway, one area we talked about was pre-event preparation.  We talked about having a routine and plan to maximize your performance.  I then asked her how do you get "fired up".  A blank stare came back at me.  I dunno was the response.  What am I suppose to do she asked.  At first thought, I thought this would be an easy answer.  Then as I pondered, I grew a bit more perplexed.  I began to feel like I was explaining love, beauty, or serenity.  For me and I am fairly certain for most, you begin with explaining what it is for you. The hard part becomes that what it is for you does not necessarily work the same for all.
Pre race for me is a two edged sword between keeping serenity and creating insanity.  It is what I have used in past events and  I will use for each race this year. It just seems to work for me.  I am not saying that every performance has been stellar but I have left most races satisfied with my effort.  I approach pre-races with three P's:  Preparation, Peace, and Power.  I will progress and overlap a bit of each as I lead up to my race but each will have a distinctive stage.
Preparation is both mentally and physical.  I typically begin with a list. This is checklist of my gear and ancillary items I will need.  It can be mind boggling the amount of "stuff" you may need to just swim, bike and run. This can include everything from the big stuff like your bike (and yes athletes have forgot them before) to the little stuff like rubber bands for stabilizing my shoes on my bike pedals when I doing running/flying mount. I will lay out all of this "stuff" out on a bed (not the bike) and then categorically pack it up in my triathlon specific back pack.  It is highly important to pack this way so as to insure no panic attack race morning when you think you forgot something.  I have a swim bag, bike bag, and run bag, etc,  This content will change by race type and weather conditions.  I will also prepare mentally. This includes going through my transition routine, where my bike is in the coral, where I go from event to event(including a walk of each path), reviewing course maps, and other race strategy.  Preparation goes in to high gear once you are to the race and getting signed in and setting up your transition(where you will change between each leg of the race).  I will not detail that now as you may already be near complete boredom.  This is critical portion though that can actually disqualify you if not done properly.  For another time......
The peace portion is an important aspect for me.  Race morning is an anxious time where doubts can quickly creep in.  For myself, a relative newbie to endurance events, anxiety is usually at a premium.  Most races and including Louisville will start in the wee hours of the morning.  Arrival to the course and pre race activity is most often in the cloak of darkness.  The start is always shortly after sunrise.  I find those sunrises aid in the peace process.  I usually have some simple music playing in the car on the way to the race and on my headphones once I get there.  Additionally, I often try to find an out-of-the-way place near the start after I am nearly ready for the race.  I take this time to zone out a bit, get myself collected, pray, and to be thankful to be there. 
In the 5-10 minutes before the race I begin to raise may power.  This may be listening to some motivating music or just running inspirational thoughts and quotes through my head.  I will also typically do a little running in place or physical movement to get my blood pumping.  The goal is to get that warm, tingly, adrenaline feeling rushing throughout my body so as to peak my performance right at the start.
To each there own and you will see a wide variety of actions on a race morning. Maybe with this written detail I will be able to better explain to my daughter what pre race is all about.

Brrrrrrr

The training continues.... I have to admit I am sick of winter.  We seem to be stuck in a real rut of cruddy weather.We have gotten a blip or two of pleasantry but they have become just an awful sadistic tease.  The last couple of days have been especially brutal. We have been in the low 20's as highs with 20-30 MPH winds.  Windchills have been sub zero.  Rolling out of bed and the house in these temps is demoralizing when you see teens on your car temperature gauge. 
I am sick of: The bite of the winter wind swirling though your lightly layered work out cloths, your hands going numb when mounting the bike to the car, the seeping coldness through your body as you  make your way through a cool down walk with a sweaty body after a run, the standing on the edge of the pool knowing you have to get wet when the walk from the car turned you to an ice cube, the ever present darkness or quickly fleeting daylight, and meteorologists. 

So what do you do..... you get some motivation.  Here is some videos I watch to get me up and may give you a better visual for what this Ironman thing is. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr-8lyEAUg0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsaYO8nNjSU

Thinking warm thoughts...

A Little Bounce

I am happy to report that my cold was short lived and did not cost me a single lost day of training. By late on Thursday I was back to about 85% and nearly full go again by Saturday. The lasting effects or debilitation on my current stamina has been next to zero. In fact, I am coming off of some serious progress. Maybe the cold and intense therapy brought me back even a little stronger. Thursday the 7th was really where I felt that turn and increased optimism. I had a fairly good swim which was a vast improvement from Tuesday which was pure torture in the pool. I was also due a run that day. The weather took an unpredicted leap in temperature that day so I chose to do a run outdoors on the Monon trail near Carmel. I am not sure if it was the pep from that half spring like warmth or the threat of fleeting daylight or my lack of sufficient clothing to truly match the temps, but my 6.5 mile run was quick. It was at a pace I usually don't do at that distance. I was very pleased at the time and that I made it back to my car before complete darkness. This day gave a great lead in to my scheduled recovery day on Friday.
My Saturday 6AM swim came with a really fresh feeling. My swimming reflected this and some others in the pool noticed my vigor and improved speed. I think somewhat to their dismay.......Nigh in lane 3 was making us all push. That's what's great about swimming as a group.....there is that other person or persons to keep you going and making you dig a little harder. From my swim I headed home and loaded my gear for cycle studio. Our group ride there had several fresh faces I had not ridden with. These were some people very fresh to indoor computrainers. Thus as part of the training a time trial would be done to set power zones. I have talked about this process in previous posts. It's 20 minutes all out leave your guts on the floor. The consensus was to do it with all eight riders. This was three weeks out from my last test so I was not so sure what to expect or if any improvement would be realized. The ride went well, I started strong, kept my endurance throughout and was hammering it hard at the end . By the end I was a puddle of sweat and improved my average wattage again by 13. It was some serious gain and great reinforcement for the training I have been putting in.
Sunday brought a long run. This is definitely not my favorite but a necessary evil. The weather was mixed but mild for early February so my wife(training for the Indy mini marathon too) and I decided to give it a go before the expected rain and despite some strong breezes. She was doing 6 miles and I was doing a set of intervals that would leave me running for about an hour and forty five minutes. Therefore we ran a similar path not in the same manner. The run went really well and I felt good despite some strained sections when I was headlong into the wind at mile 8. I finished nearly 9.5 miles having to cut it a bit short due due to the rain. I would have probably gotten about 10.5 miles in if the weather would have held. It was a little frustrating as I wanted to get over 10. I was pleased with my leg strength at the end which tends to wain after 8 miles. This was the biggest distance I had run in many months. Yet just at over 1/3 of what I will need in the race.
I am excited with feeling the progress yet cautious to the long road ahead. I am also thankful to those supporting me and encouraging me. Thank you.

Pain vs. Hurt

Exercise is never easy and the limits to how much one can exercise will vary by person.  With age comes a decrease in this range and your risk of injury tends to increase.  Injury recovery increases with advancement in age.  At this point most of you are like duh, I am ready for something interesting that I don't already know.  Wait for it.  When exercising, there is always a level of discomfort.  Unfortunately, our bodies are built in a way that its this level of discomfort that must be endured for a period of time in order to increase performance by rebuilding itself stronger from its previous state.  Many will say that capability of exceeding this pain threshold the longest makes for elite athletes during and in preparation for competition.  The interesting part becomes in that you can push too far, do not let the body rebuild or recover, or cause physical damage that requires extended convalescence.   
My coach sent out an email about a week a go with a statement I found to be interesting.  He asked us if you know what is pain and what is hurt, you should.  With the type of training we have been doing this line can be blurred and often more so by our mindset but its one that you must be cognizant of.  A hamstring can be sore or it can be pulled or even worse detached.  All of these have a consequence.  Knock on wood, I have not had serious physical issues such as others I have known who endured stress fractures, torn rotators, meniscus issues etc.  Failure to recognize the onset of physical ailments can seriously compromise an entire season.  With my age (I hate typing that) injury can be a total derailment to the goal.  Its also partly why I chose to pursue this now.  You never know where you will be physically in a year for the next race. 
My issue for the week began with a tickle in my throat during the Superbowl.  NO it was not due to the power outage.  That tickle quickly progressed in to a full cold early Monday AM.  Following my ride at 5:30 AM I went straight to CVS and collected my walking pharmacy in an effort to reverse the onslaught.  The good news as of this Wednesday AM is that the tide was somewhat stymied.  I have congestion, bit of hack here and there, and lungs definitely not full go but I am functioning with no increased symptoms and feeling OK.  I have also maintained every planned workout so far including 4.5 miles outside last night in the 32 degrees. I am being very cognizant of all my symptoms and their level of intensity so as to not push myself to a level of sick that will cause extended circumstances or worsen my health.  I am in hopes of maintaining till Friday where I am scheduled for a full rest and recovery day that will push me back to a better place or closer to healed.   Therefore, I would say I have pain but not hurt.  Albeit medicating for the pain. 

Current Regimen:
Mucinex
Cold Ease
Extra Vitamin Dosages
Extra Rest
Plenty of Clear Liquids (had to take a pee break twice while typing this)
tea with honey
Vicks Vapor Rub
Eating Tons of Fruit
Chicken Noodle Soup
Extra Electrolytes
Steamy Showers to loosen chest and head

Any other sure fire cold remedies are welcome for me and all to read in this season of crud.