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!

DANGER DANGER DANGER

It was so easy.

Well, it's Thanksgiving, I'll get up early and help Cortney clean the house a bit and maybe see if I can help with the food some. And then afterwards, of course, I'm crammed full of food and the family is here, so let's visit and go for a little walk and watch a movie, and then bed. No workout.

Next day I'm off work, so let's get up and clean up some dishes and man, the weather is great, so this is a perfect day to rock some Christmas lights, and now I'm tired and let's just relax and then bed. No workout.

Today, well, it's Saturday, I mean, I don't usually go to the gym on Saturday anyway, so it's okay if I don't go...and then Sunday is a day of rest...

I am in the Red Zone of training right now. I haven't gone more than one day without working out in a month, and now I will skip four days in a row. I have plenty of "reasons" (i.e. excuses) why it's okay, but I am trying very hard to stay aware of the dangerous region I'm in, and I WILL NOT let it slip past Monday.

Although Monday I really should go in to work a little early...

New record low weight!

I hit a new record low weight today, as you may have guessed by the post title.

I haven't been too concerned with weight loss during this program. Male triathletes who weigh more than 200 pounds (like me, definitely) have their own division. They're called Clydesdales. (Women over 150 are called Athenas.) I figure if there are so many big competitors that they need their own division, I'll have plenty of company. I am keeping a spreadsheet (nerd!) of my weight, but it's more for mild interest and entertainment than a major area of focus.

I have noticed changes in my body. My legs are hard and muscular and I notice little things that aren't obvious to others, even my wife. Things like how my stomach feels when I turn over in bed, or how my calf muscles touch when I sit with my legs extended. I'm losing fat but gaining muscle, and that's why the scale seems like it's going slow, and why I'm not depending on it to tell me how well I'm doing.

One reason I've started thinking about my weight more is that it seems blindingly obvious that carrying less weight in a triathlon would be an advantage. Less weight = less effort = better race. So I'm keeping a sharper eye out, but still not on a special diet or anything.

What else? Still up at 5:30 to hit the gym. It's early, but it's great having that out of the way every day. I never have to miss a workout because I'm tired at the end of the day or feel rushed to get home to spend time with Cortney. And all day long I have the pride that already that day I have taken steps towards my goal, which makes it easier to walk away from the candy bars in the vending machine. It's a big old feedback loop, y'all.

The eight disciplines of triathlon

How do you train for triathlon? Most people know you need to work on swimming, biking, and running. But for me, there are actually eight parts to training. I’ll list them all and address what I’m doing about them currently.

1. Swim 2. Bike 3. Run: The big three. I’ll write other posts for each of these, so I won’t go into detail here. I plan to train to 125% of race distance. Train hard, race easy.

4. Transitions: The switch between sports. Transition 1 (T1) is the change from the swim to the bike. Transition 2 (T2) is the change from the bike to the run.

T1 will be, well, challenging is too strong a word, but it will be something. I’ll be all excited and stupid from being in the middle of my first triathlon and I bet I’ll forget something. I’ll need a mental checklist. I’ll have to towel off, put on socks, shoes, race number, helmet and sunglasses, and go.

T2 shouldn’t be that hard for me. I’ll just rack my bike and switch my helmet for a visor. I’m wearing the same shoes and the same clothes.

I’ll practice both of these transitions before the race. They’re part of my time, and I would like to be on autopilot as much as possible so I don’t forget anything important.

5. Mental: This is my #1 training area right now. I'm spending a lot of time at the gym, but I’m spending even more time thinking about the race and what I need to do to get there. I’m still establishing the habit of regular exercise. I’m doing really well, but I can’t become complacent (a lesson I learned from Mr. Obama). I have motivational music I listen to while I work out that says I’m going all the way, never surrender, I won’t back down. I visualize all parts of race day, from getting up early to the post-race meal. I just spend time believing.

6. Nutrition: This matters a lot for longer triathlons. I'm doing a fairly short sprint triathlon, so it’s not much of a concern for me. On race day, I’ll probably have my regular breakfast of oatmeal and coffee plus lots of water and/or Gatorade during the race.

Food is a concern during my training, however. Since I began training, I am more conscious of what I eat. I’m thinking of food as fuel for the machine instead of snacking as a hobby. In general, I'm eating less and eating better, and when I have a splurge day on the weekend I feel okay about it because I'm burning 500-700 calories a day at the gym.

Specifically, I try to eat a huge breakfast, a big lunch, and a modest dinner. I have a banana first thing in the morning to fuel my workout, and maybe again in the afternoon if I get hungry. I drink water all day long.

7. Recovery: Often forgotten but vitally important. I rest when I need to, I stretch a lot, and I am very careful not to increase my workout level too quickly.You don't make gains during your workouts; you make gains between your workouts.

8. Studying/Learning: I’m absorbing books, magazines, websites and podcasts about triathlon. I’m picking up little tips everywhere and saving them in a Word file for review. (This is, honestly, part of my addictive/obsessive personality where I completely get consumed by a new interest for a while.)

Current workout program

My current workout program:

On weekdays I get up at 5:30 and go to the gym. Mon/Wed/Fri are land days. I do a brick of riding the stationary bike for 6.2 miles, which takes about 22 minutes. (6.2 miles is 10k, the distance I’ll be doing in my first sprint Tri in April.) Then I “run” on the elliptical machine until I have to leave the gym at 7:00. That usually lasts about 33 minutes, or 2 miles. This way I am practicing both of my land sports.

My original plan was to do the bike and run legs of the tri as a regular part of my workout. That would make the race easy since I did it every day for six months. Unfortunately, I have to run slowly to keep my heart rate from going crazy, so I can never get to my race run distance of 3.1 miles (5k) before my time is up (and I do not want to get up at 5:00!) so I may stop doing the bricks at least one day a week and just do the elliptical machine.

Tue/Thu are swim days. I’m just getting started with the Total Immersion program. Today I got to drill 3 (of something like 15 total). I’m not even using my arms yet, just learning to balance in the water.

Weekends are wide open. I may walk a 5k, or go hiking, or work in the yard, or go to a yoga class, or maybe even take a rest day. The weekdays are for the tightly scripted gym regimen and the 5:30 reveille, but the weekends are just for fun. (And sleeping in!)

And do you feel scared? I do.

And do you feel scared? I do.
But I won't stop and falter.
Howard Jones - "Things Can Only Get Better"

This song played while I climbed the sterneous hill today. I realized that I am not scared about my ability to complete the triathlon in April if my training continues. I am already way ahead of where I thought I would be this far into the training. I'm losing weight, my clothes fit better, I don't gasp and choke at the top of the stairs at work.

Then I looked at the conditional part of my previous thought: "if my training continues." I realized that I am scared of my ability to continue my training. I have quit a lot of things in my life; or, to be more accurate, I have abandoned and failed to complete a lot of things, and I do not want that to happen here.

I have to remember that the days when I really really don't want to work out are the days when I need to do it the most.
I have to remember that I'm gonna be iron like a lion in Zion.
I have to picture getting up the morning of race day, driving to the race, swimming in the pool, biking the race course, running across the finish line, chowing down after the race with my wife and brother-in-law, and looking at my finish line photo at my desk.
I have to remember that I am FIERCE TORTOISE.