Two months to go

Well, the Fierce Tortoise had a bad couple of weeks - skipped several workouts and ate a bunch of junk. But that's over! Moving on!

We’re two months out from my first sprint tri, so it’s crunch time! What are we doing training wise?

Run: If I can get through the swim and bike, it’s over. I will finish. I've pretty much decided I'm going to walk the run portion (or at least the majority of it). Therefore, I've decided to stop running and just train the swim and bike since they are my weakest events.

Swim: I'm swimming every morning Mon-Fri and progress is agonizingly slow, but as the Old Tortoise says, slow progress is still progress. I can't do more than 50 yards without resting. I’m sure I’ll get better, and I can backstroke if I have to during the race to catch my breath. I’ll be slow, but I don’t care about my speed.

Bike: My goal is to bike in the evening, but the weather won't cooperate (too cold, windy, rain, snow)! I suppose I could ride in bad weather, but I'm going to have a hard enough time biking without adding layers of clothing, fighting the wind and worrying about slipping and falling. Gotta do something though – time is short. I may start hitting a spin class and then get outside on the bike as soon as spring gets here.

On a nice positive note, two people at work yesterday asked me if I’d lost weight. That felt good! I’m definitely wearing that outfit again.

Oh, and the triathlon class I mentioned – turns out it’s an extra $65, and the scheduling didn’t work with my school schedule, so forget that!

Twelve weeks to go

The triathlon is twelve weeks from yesterday. It was about three months ago when I started training, so I guess I’m halfway there. Let’s do a progress report based on the eight disciplines of triathlon training that I wrote about.

FIERCE TORTOISE TRIATHLON ACADEMY

MID-SEMESTER PROGRESS REPORT

1. Swim: Much better than when I started. I have a full swim stroke, but I’m not very good at breathing yet. I get out of breath very easily – maybe I’m swimming too hard or not enough. I’m confident I will make the distance. If I have to, I’ll just backstroke.
Progress: B

2. Bike: I’ve only done one real outside bike ride. It was very difficult! I’m concerned. In the race, it’s legal to walk your bike, or stop to rest, but I very much want to ride the full distance. I need to get more saddle time once it warms up.
Progress: Incomplete/not started

3. Run: I’ve been doing interval training for about two weeks. I walk for two minutes and jog for 90 seconds. Gradually the time will increase until I’m running a full 5k. I already plan to walk part of the run, but maybe I won’t have to! That would be great. And I absolutely have to be able to run across the actual finish line, even if I walk the three miles before it.
Progress: A-

4. Transitions: Haven’t really practiced these, but since I don’t care about time, I don’t really have to do them quickly. Mostly I will need checklists so I don’t forget anything. I still don’t know what I’ll wear. I won’t be able to change after swimming, so I’ll wear the same thing for the whole race. Do I bike and run in my bathing suit or swim in my gym shorts?
Progress: N/A

5. Mental: This is not a problem. I’m motivated, I’m focused. I will do this race; it’s not even a question. I mix up my training so I don’t get bored.
Progress: A

6. Nutrition: Ah…well. Yes, Mr. Hall, and what exactly are you eating these days? My food choices are not stellar. I like having pizza and chocolate and nachos! Not every meal, but more than I should for an athlete in training. I’m tracking my nutrition and calories, which makes me more aware of what I’m eating. Sometimes when I’m making a choice I picture myself in full race gear saying “Dude, please just eat one cookie. It will help me out a lot in April.”
Progress: C-

7. Recovery: I’m great at this. I stretch all the time, before and after exercise. I warm up, I cool down. I listen to my body and if I need a day to rest, I rest.
Progress: A

8. Studying/Learning: Still all over beginnertriathlete.com and other sources of tri knowledge every day.
Progress: A

Instructor’s notes: Overall, Matt is showing strong progress towards his goal of completing a triathlon. He could benefit greatly from better nutrition. In the spring, he needs to get on the bike as much as possible. Additionally, he is a fierce tortoise.

Triathlon class at my gym

Yesterday morning after Pilates, I chatted with the instructor a bit, and as with any conversation I have now, the word "triathlon" came up. She told me the gym used to have a triathlon training class, but hasn't for a while. I was bummed that they "used to" have a triathlon training class.

And then!

This morning at the gym I saw a sign - they are starting a triathlon training class next week! It specifically states "sprint triathlon" which is the distance I'll be doing. How exciting!

I think my training has been going okay on my own, but it will be great to train with a coach. The main danger in do-it-yourself training is imprinting bad habits. (For example, I can't watch myself swim, so I don't know if my arm is too low or my head isn't tucked or whatever.) The saying is "practice makes perfect" but the truth is "practice makes permanent." If you practice bad form, you will learn bad form.

If you want to attend, the meeting will be at the Farragut TN Rush on January 25 at 7:30 pm in the bike room. I'll buy you a Gatorade.

A real run

Since I started this journey, I have been "training to train." I've been up (almost) every day working out, mostly generic stuff like the elliptical machine to train my system to breathe hard for a long time and get used to sustained effort. Not least of all was just getting used to working out all the time.

But now the new year has arrived, so it's time to start Training.

Swim: I've been swimming at the pool for a while already. I was doing drills and resting whenever I needed (wanted) to. Now I will focus more on actual full-stroke swimming and getting used to distance. I'll increase my distance each week without stopping - this week I'll swim 25 yards and rest, next week 50, next week 75, etc. which will get me to the race distance of 400 yards just in time for race day.

Bike: I have my bike now, so I need to get it out on the road. Unfortunately it's January, so it's cold. (Right now it's 18 degrees outside.) I want to set a minimum temperature of 40 degrees for outdoor training, but is that really an option? Do I need to just HTFU (Harden Up) and get over it? There are indoor trainers that attach to your bike but right now I can't spend the money. Spin class? Hmmm.

Run: I found a website (www.podrunner.com) that has free downloads of workout music. One program is the "Couch to 5k", which is a nine-week series of podcasts. Each week is an interval training set. The music is mixed at two tempos, one medium, one fast. This week there was a five minute warmup at medium tempo, followed by alternating periods of 60 seconds of uptempo (running) and 90 seconds of medium tempo (walking), then finally a three minute cooldown. Each week the times increase until finally you're doing a full 5k. I did it last night around the pond at Pellisippi State.

More about yesterday's run: I came home from work, dressed and headed to the track. It was 39 degrees and very breezy. The sun was going down. I brought extra clothes in case I was cold, and after one lap I went to the car and put on everything. I was wearing:
Shoes & socks
Workout shorts under yoga pants under warmup pants
Long sleeve athletic shirt under a windbreaker (with the hood up)
Nylon ski mask with earmuffs
Gloves
(and I wish I had worn another shirt and my wool mittens!)
About twenty minutes in I had a "what the hell am I doing?" moment. I was freezing, breathing hard, wearing a pretty ridiculous outfit, running in the dark dodging goose poop. I knew Cortney was at home making dinner and I could be on the couch in front of the fire. Then it really hit me hard: yes, I could be home, but I wasn't. I was on a damn track, doing something very difficult, just because I wanted to. I knew then that I would complete the triathlon in April, and my eyes teared up (whether from emotion or biting wind, it's hard to say).

Hooray for me! Fierce tortoise!

And we're back! Again. The holiday binge is over. There's still chocolate all over the house, and I'm still eating it, but once it's gone, it's gone.

2009 Fitness Goals

1. Nutrition

I will eat better. Real food at mealtime. Fewer snacks, especially late night. Smaller portions of better food, with an occasional splurge meal once a week. Avoid fast food and sugar as much as possible. Water to drink.

2. One race per month

Once a month I'll do a sprint triathlon. I have planned real races for April through September. For the other months, I'll do a simulated triathlon in the gym.

3. 250 pounds

Get my weight down to 250 by next New Year's Eve. That's about a pound a week, which is very doable. I'd rather make this a waist size goal, but weight is much easier to track.

4. Keep it up!

Continue steady regular training.

InSimTri 1: Success!

InSimTri? What? That means "indoor simulated triathlon," which is a thing I made up. The Trideltathon in April is a 400 yd swim, a 6.2 mile bike ride, and a 3.1 mile run. So today my brother-in-law Mike and I went to the gym and did all of those distances in those activities. I didn't care about my time at all; I just wanted to see if I could complete all the distances back-to-back. And I did! Here's my "race report."

Race: InSimTri 1 - Knoxville TN - 12/20/08
Sprint triathlon - 400 yd/6.2 mi/3.1 mi

PRE-RACE:
Ate a banana and a dinner roll with peanut butter. Drank some Gatorade, got my bag together, called Mike, drove to the gym listening to awesome music to get pumped.

SWIM:
400 yd - 30:46
Ridiculously slow, but I didn't care about time. I'm still doing Total Immersion drills, so I don't even swim with a full stroke yet. I did the Double Underswitch the whole time with rest breaks after every 25 yards. Very very slow, but I am the FIERCE TORTOISE, and I completed the distance! (Mike did about four lengths and had to quit. He is generally in good shape, but hasn't trained at all at swimming, and I think this was a big wake up for him.)

T1:
9:11
Transition times are usually around two or three minutes, but this one was different than a real race. We went to the locker room and changed out of our swim gear to normal workout clothes. I'll have to find a way to simulate a real T1 before race day. Right now, I can't, because dripping water all over the gym is frowned upon. I also need to do this faster to simulate the heart rate and balance change without a long rest in between.

BIKE:
23:51 - 6.2 miles
On the stationary bike. I kept my rpms around 90 the whole time and my heart rate around 140-150. I usually train my HR around 130-140, but hey, it's race day, so let's pump it up! I used the Hill program to simulate changing terrain. Kept drinking water. I realize I need some wrist sweat bands because I use the towel a lot to wipe my face. No difficulties at all. Next time we'll do this on a spin bike.

T2:
?:?? (2:00?)
I forgot to hit the split button on my watch, so I don't know exactly how long this was. I'm guessing two minutes - I walked around a little and refilled my water bottle.

RUN:
37:35 - 3.1 miles
Again, real slow, and again, I didn't care. I started feeling my legs about 1.5 miles in. I train every day, so I can go 45 minutes no problem, but at this point I had been going for an hour non-stop. It wasn't difficult, but definitely noticeable. I think this will go away with time and more training.

TOTAL TIME: 1:43:23
(For comparison, the DFL (Dead Last) time for the Trideltathon last year was 1:44:35, so at least I won't be last!)

POST-RACE:
Good long time spent stretching, more Gatorade.

TAKEAWAYS:
Hooray, I can do it! The swim was definitely the weakest leg, but only because I haven't learned a full stroke yet. I'm positive that once that comes together I'll be okay. As long as I can swim one length (50m) I don't care if I have to rest between laps.

I plan to do this once a month, increasing the realism/difficulty every time. The final InSimTri in March will be on a real bike outside and real running outside too. I plan to have a full swim stroke by January and we'll use spin bikes. For February, we'll run on treadmills, or outside if we can get a fairly warm day.

Oh yeah baby, I'm a (sim)triathlete! FIERCE TORTOISE

And we're back.

The Thanksgiving splurge weekend is over, and I got back on the horse pretty easily. I hit the elliptical on Tuesday instead of swimming to try and burn off some extra calories. My weight spreadsheet tells the story pretty well - I gained a couple of pounds, but frankly it was worth it. I do not want to restrict myself during the holidays too much.

I'm excited about January - when the holidays are over, there won't be so much deliciousness surrounding me. There's something wonderful within arm's reach of just about every seat in the house, and I love it all. I know I could lose more weight if I cut my calorie intake. I burn about 500-600 calories each day at the gym, then I come home and eat pie and candy and pretty much wipe out that gain.

Do I sound like I'm complaining? I'm not. Like my wife said, last year I wasn't working out at all and I still ate the same, so I'm still better off. Worst case I am still training my cardiopulmonary system for endurance.

Speaking of which, I can definitely tell an improvement in my endurance level. I have started trying to go faster on the elliptical machine rather than just going slow at a high resistance. I set the machine to maintain my heart rate at about 70% of my max (130 bpm). This trains my body to burn fat instead of sugar (glycogen), which is better for endurance. You can burn the sugar out of your muscles pretty quickly, but fat burns slow, so it's a better fuel source.

I do about 45-50 minutes on the machines, and I realized this week that the only reason I don't go longer is that I have to leave the gym to go to work. It's sweaty, and it's work, but I don't collapse afterwards from the exertion. I actually feel pretty good. I'd love to find out how far I can go before I really feel tired. I think soon I'll go on a Saturday and do a little tri rehearsal, with a swim, bike and run all in the same day.

I also plan to accelerate my swim training. The Total Immersion program has sixteen drills before you're really swimming with a full stroke. I've been doing one drill a week, so I'm up to drill six. At this pace I won't be truly swimming until March, and the first race is in April. I'm going to try doing a new drill each time in the pool, and also adding a swim day on Saturday. This will get me up to a full stroke in January, and I can train a full swim stroke for three months before the first race.

Man! This stuff is boring. I can't believe anyone but me would ever read this blog. But thanks I guess. If you're reading this and thinking about doing a triathlon, I say go for it. It's changing me already in ways I never thought of. I'm more disciplined and focused on the future in every aspect of my life. I'm healthier and my clothes fit better. I am doing something difficult that takes a long sustained effort, and every day I succeed at it makes me more sure I can do it and makes me think I can do more in life. I absolutely recommend it. Take a step and change your life!