Week 13 recap: Mom, you probably don't want to read this.

This is a nice illustration of how NOT to combine training and school…

2/21/2012

Summary of today (fairly typical for a Tuesday)

4:30 Wake up

5-7:30 Swim and lift weights

9-6:30 Class and lab

6:30-8 Attended a lecture/did some networking

8-9:30 Running and abs

10-? Dinner and homework (sometimes, not today) or sleep (usually)

I got home at 9:30, made a quick dinner and tried to work on my presentation but I was too tired and sore, so I went to bed.  

2/22/2012 

I woke up early enough to do my 45 min bike with 15 min transition run, but wisely chose to push it to the evening and start working on my presentation immediately.  I spent all day working on it but when 5 PM rolled around I hadn’t practiced it at all.  Someone in the lab I’d like to join told me that acing the presentation in this class was pretty much a requirement to join that lab.  So of course I was feeling a ton of pressure to do well, but when it came down to it, I was showing up unprepared.  I usually don’t get nervous speaking in front of people, but apparently when I have 40 minutes of information to go over, I haven’t practiced and I need to do really well, I get really nervous.  I stammered through the first couple of slides with lots of pauses, considered just running out of the room and never coming back, and finally got in to a little bit of a groove.  About half-way through though, I started to feel like I was going faint.  My vision got fuzzy, I broke out in a cold sweat, my ears started to ring and I got really dizzy.  I had to give the rest of my talk sitting down, still feeling weak and shaky.  So basically, it was an f-ing disaster. 

I got home, called Nate crying (the second time in a week he had to deal with that…) and finally realized that I wasn’t handling school and training.  I couldn’t just work harder and get it all done.  I had been prioritizing training and this time it really might have screwed up my future.  I decided to rework my goals and focus more on just finishing the race rather than pushing myself for a competitive time.  Finishing in 11.5 hours instead of 14 won’t get me in to a lab where I’d actually enjoy my PhD.  Given these realizations, I didn’t end up doing my workout, but did all of the reading for class the next day (which honestly, hadn’t happened this yet this quarter).

2/23/2012

I didn’t do my swim workout or my 1 hour bike ride today.  Mostly it was silly excuses: I still felt weird and groggy and didn’t want to pass out in the pool (I probably wouldn’t have), I wanted to arrive to class rested (I still fell asleep in class) and Gonzaga was playing BYU and I wanted to watch (and Sarah had a bunch of homework so I didn’t want to distract her by riding my trainer and yelling at the TV).

2/24/2012

It’s like I’ve done a 180; with lower time goals I have no motivation to do anything, so I didn’t swim again this morning.   I managed to work my 1 hour run in between experiments in lab.  I left lab with enough time to swim before evening commitments, but arrived home still without motivation.  I REALLY wanted to take a nap.  Then, (corny as this sounds) this quote on the inside of my ice tea label gave me the motivation:

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”  - Confucius

I made it to the gym and swam for 45 minutes.  I didn’t turn away when I saw that there were limited lanes available and I didn’t go home when I realized I could only get in part of the workout.  I did what I could and felt good about it afterward.  And I decided to go back to my old goals.  School WILL come first (because it’s not going to get any less stressful), but I’m holding on to that 11.5 hour, 6 hour bike leg ideal.  I need to approach training with a slightly competitive attitude, otherwise I’ll end up on that beach in Coeur d’Alene as unprepared as I was for my presentation, and I’d really rather not drown.

2/25/2012

Bike 3 hours with a transition to 30 minute run (I love running off the bike!)

2/26/2012

1:15 run, heart rate mostly in Z1 (126-145) because I was pretty sore.

2/28/2012

Fast-forward to Week 14, because most of what I wrote last week sounds pretty hypocritical (I can’t have a competitive time goal, no wait, I need a competitive time goal…).  So here’s how today has gone, as an example of how the school-training balance should be approached, and will continue to be approached:

I was up until midnight last night finishing a homework assignment, which I think I understood pretty well.  I set my alarm for 5:30 so I could get in my swim and still get a reasonable amount of sleep.  I turned off my alarm and got up at 6:30, so didn’t get to swim, but figured I was fine postponing it until Wednesday.  I went to class (prepared!) and lab and class and then to the gym to run for an hour and do weights/abs.  A new quarter starts tomorrow, so I don’t have anything that needs to be done for tomorrow’s class and can go straight to bed after the gym.  I also won’t be in my new lab tomorrow, so I’ll have plenty of time to fit in the swim workout and start working on the take home test that’s due on Monday.  If neither of those things were true, I would have done a short, high intensity run sometime today and not worried about making up swimming or lifting.  See?  Healthy plan.

Week 12: F-ing Stressful

Overall this week was really stressful.  I had a lot to do for school that I meant to do over the weekend, but didn’t because I was sick.  I was short on sleep because I was staying up late to work on everything.  Some mornings (Friday) this meant postponing a workout that otherwise would have been done.  On Thursday I felt like I needed to make a huge decision about school, but I didn’t have enough time to gather enough information to make that decision.  It was the first time I felt like Ironman could potentially compromise my future.  By Friday afternoon I was feeling more in control though and ready to tackle everything school, life and training could throw at me.  Let’s hope that feeling lasts after the caffeine and sugar wear off…

2/13/2012

Rest Day.  I’m catching up on all of the things I haven’t had the motivation to do over the last week, including emailing the professor I want to do my next rotation with.  Of course, since I put it off so long, he’s now full and I have to find someone else in the next eleven days.  This next rotation needs to be a good one, if my 2^nd rotation doesn’t want to take me I’m not a huge fan of my other two options. I’m pissed at myself for putting this off so long.  And of course there’s still a long list of other things I need to deal with.

2/14/2012

So Sarah and I stayed up late last night delivering heart-shaped cookies that we’d baked to our friend’s labs.  It was pretty fun, but I probably shouldn’t have sampled so many cookies.  Quality control I guess?  I tried really hard to talk myself out of it but I got up at 5 to swim this morning.  It went better than I expected, I’m still feeling a little sick but I was able to breathe okay through the whole thing.  I used a pull buoy during my drills and once again noticed a difference in my stroke efficiency.

I did my 45 min run on the indoor track and felt okay, although I think the 5 minutes of Z4 (175-185 bpm) took a lot out of me because I broke out in chills and a cold sweat about half way through lifting weights.  So I went home and had soup right away.

2/15/2012

 Bike 45 transition to 15 run

2/16/2012

Swim (main set: 7x125 w/ 20 s rest, 7x75 w/ 15 s rest), strength training (3 reps of 10), 60 bike with 5 minutes Z4 (166-176 bpm). 

2/17/2012

1:12 run (was supposed to be 1:00 but I got a little ambitious) with 5 minutes Z4. I booked it up a hill for that part, or at least it felt like I was booking it, by the top it was more of a crawl.  But I felt really good when I turned on to a gentle downhill and ran pretty fast.  I was supposed to swim 3000 yards straight but I was really stressed out with school so it got rescheduled (thanks Nate for reminding me that it’s okay to do things like that sometimes).

2/18/2012

I meant to get up at 6 to do Friday’s swim workout, but I was up until 3 Friday night hanging out with by best friend Kia, who was visiting for the weekend.  By the time we made it to the pool at 8:45 all the lanes were full of aerobics and Master’s classes, so I just did my scheduled workout of 2:30 bike with transition to 0:15 run.  Starting to run after biking for 2:30 is WAY different than only biking for 45 minutes.  My toes were numb and there was a sharp pain in the top of my right knee for the first few minutes of my run.  I think the latter was from the end of Friday’s run; it was getting dark and cold towards the end, so I was striding out on a pretty extended downhill portion to get home faster.  

2/19/2012

I made today my rest day because the pool still would have been full, to give my knee more of a break, it was Kia’s last day in town and because I had a lot of school work. 

2/20/2012

I finally did my 3000 yard swim!  I was feeling pretty congested and had some trouble breathing for the first half, even though I was going really slowly.  I had built it up so much in my mind by this time that I allowed myself as many brief pauses at the edge as I needed to cough or adjust my swim cap or whatever.  Anything to get through it and convince myself it wasn’t a big deal.  I felt pretty good by the end and even did an extra 100 yards.  I’ll probably increase it by 100 every time I do this workout over the next ten weeks, then when I get to the 3500 yard swim in the next block, it won’t be intimidating. 

I also did Sunday’s workout in the evening (60 min run Z1-Z2 on the indoor track with Sarah and 30 min bike, ~100 rpm, Z1).  Then banana pancakes for dinner!

Week 11: a little sick

Monday 2/6/2012

Rest day! I got a massage in the evening, which was flippin’ awesome.  I went for the deep tissue massage and it definitely worked out some of the knots in my back.  I’m not sure if they’ll stay loosened up after tomorrow’s swim workout though, I think start getting one every couple of weeks, preferably on a Sunday so I have a full day to enjoy the effects.  There’s a massasge school close to campus that has pretty good rates, so I might actually be able to afford biweekly massages without selling my liver, which is good cuz I’ll need to sell that to pay for race wheels...

Tuesday 2/7/2012

Another shitty swim workout.  I think Thursday’s went so well because I did it later in the morning after fully digesting my normal breakfast.  I had some baked oatmeal about 45 minutes before starting this workout and I don’t feel like it made it to my muscles until the last part.  It’s most convenient for me to swim first thing in the morning, but I don’t want to start getting up at 3 to have breakfast for my 5 AM swim.  I’ll try 2 gels before Thursday’s and see if they get into my system fast enough without making me sick.  Also, swim workouts are longer now (~3000 yards instead of 2500) and I’ll start doing one on Friday’s as well, so now I get to fall asleep in class 3 days a week.  Yay!

Wednesday 2/8/2012

Lifted weights, biked 45 minutes and ran 30 minutes.

Thursday 2/9/2012

I swam faster than my lane-mate this morning!  I think she was a beginner, because she seemed really confused when I asked to split the lane with her, but still – small victories.  My main workout was 16x25 yrds with 10 seconds rest in between, 600 yards with a pull buoy (no paddles) and another 16x25.  Normally the 16x25 workouts annoy me, but I really enjoyed this one.  Doing the 600 Pull really changed my stroke for the rest of the workout.  I stopped using my legs as much, but had better hip rotation so my times were pretty much the same, but my heart rate was much lower.  

 

In the afternoon I started feeling a little sick, so I took a nap and did my 1:15 bike workout while watching Gonzaga beat St. Mary’s (Go Zags!!!).  It’s another recruiting weekend, so I went to dinner before the game and a salad, and no free beer, so I’d still be able to ride.  Some of my friends were giving me a hard time for being so healthy but I wasn’t about to tell them it was because I still had to workout.  I’m already enough of a walking stereotype.  

Friday 2/10/2012

I don’t feel well. This is not allowed.

Saturday 2/11/2012

I slept most of yesterday, only getting up to go to class or fulfill my recruitment weekend duties.  I skipped the evening portion of it, and since that included free food and beer, I knew I wasn’t just convincing myself I was sick to get out of my workouts.  I didn’t do my swim or hour long run, but I think it was worth it.

I woke up today feeling a little better, still a little feverish, but I thought I’d attempt a fairly easy bike work out.  I kept my rpm’s and heart rate pretty low and made it through 2 hours feeling alright.  I didn’t sweat as much as usual, but I’m not sure if that was due to being sick or just working at a lower intensity.   I still don’t feel 100%, but I don’t think I made myself any worse, so I’ll still try to run tomorrow.  

I don’t know if it’s mostly due to being sick but I’m feeling very overwhelmed.  I feel like I have a dozen important things that I should be doing, but I have no motivation to do any of it.  I just want to sleep, maybe read Runner’s World.  

Sunday 2/12/2012

I took today off from working out again.  I’m hoping that I’ll be pretty much better after today and tomorrow’s scheduled rest and ready to jump back in the pool Tuesday morning.

Week 10: Ant invasions and other nightmares

This was the final week of the Base phase; I did around 11 hours of aerobic training and another hour of strength and core work.  I was sleep-deprived pretty much the whole time, as you’ll see below, I could barely function in class and lab throughout the week.  However, I’m going to start doing the “competitive” plan from my training book now because I think I’ll be way more mentally and physically prepared for the race.  My weekly training time will keep increasing to a maximum of 20 hours per week in April.  So I need to find more time to sleep and still get my homework done.  Goodbye social life (such that it was…).  

Monday 1/30/2012

Rest day, which was great, but everything made me feel stressed out.

Tuesday 1/31/2012

Some days it feels like everyone around you is better, smarter, harder working and faster than you.  Today was one of those days.  While doing my main swim set (1x300, 3x200, 1x300) this morning, my lane mate passed me (flew by me might be more accurate) while doing her warm up.  That was disheartening.  She could be an Olympic swimmer for all I know but I feel like I should have progressed a little more by this point.  Maybe I need a swim coach. Or maybe I need to try harder.   In my journal club this evening, which is largely based on the discussion and critical evaluation of a scientific article, everyone around me was coming up with great questions about the quality of the experiments and ideas for other things to try.  I had one question in mind, but someone else asked before me, so I ended up contributing nothing.  I had read the papers, I just hadn’t gotten anything important out of them.  It didn’t help that I was so tired that I kept nodding off; this is a class of 10 people, including 3 professors, mind you.  Once again, disheartening.  I need a new plan for Tuesdays because I am not functioning to the level that I need to.  This new plan will probably include gummy bears, I didn’t have any tonight and they’re my go to for staying awake.

Wednesday 2/1/2012

I got to do a longer brick this morning (45 min bike to 30 min run) and it was awesome!  I ended up watching Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA” music video several times because my Ironman motivational videos didn’t load properly.  It’s a surprisingly good to bike to, at the tempo corresponded well to my RPM’s.  Then I headed out and hauled ass on the run portion.  My heart rate got a little high towards the end when I was going uphill, but I averaged 8:04 min/mile overall and was around 7 min/mile for anything flat or downhill.  Both paces are pretty excellent for me.  I swear I run faster off the bike.  After that workout I’m in much better spirits.

Thursday 2/2/2012

Morning: Well I’m back to feeling upset with myself.  I was up later than usual the last couple nights working on a homework set and ended up sleeping in until 6:50 this morning.  I meant to get up at 4:30 to get in my swim, lifting and 1:15 bike ride before class.  I was still able to ride for 45 minutes but I’ll have to be in lab less today to get everything else done.  Gonzaga’s playing at BYU tonight and I’m going down with a couple bus-loads of other alumni to watch, so I won’t get any workouts in this evening.

Afternoon: My swim workout went really well today.  I did another 2500 yard straight swim, it took me 51 minutes (compared to 45 and 53 minutes for my last two); so while it was slower than I would have liked, my splits for each 500 were negative and my stroke felt smooth and comfortable for the first time an awhile.

Friday 2/3/2012

Well we (Gonzaga) lost last night.  It was unfortunate, but if we’d won I probably would have been hung over today.  I actually felt like I was running faster than usual, I was on the indoor track so I didn’t have my GPS on, but I lapped a girl wearing a Ragnar shirt several times, so that’s got to be worth something.

Saturday 2/4/2012

Question: what’s one of the last things you want to deal with when you’ve just finished a 3 hour trainer ride?  Answer: ants invading your bathroom.   Watching them crawl across the ceiling towards the shower made it really hard to “enjoy” my ice bath.  They just waltzed right in a space in the window frame to help themselves to some water.  Didn’t even knock first!   I gave the interlopers plenty of time to leave on their own, and then I was forced to squish them all.  Oh well, on a more positive note, I made it through my 3 hour bike ride without getting up and walking around!  I even felt powerful and motivated at the end, mostly due to watching the video below repeatedly.   I considered doing some pushups when I was done, but came to my senses and stretched instead.

Sunday 2/5/2012

I had a terrible dream last night about Ironman.  It was ten minutes before the race started and I hadn’t set my bike up (water bottles, race number) or checked it in to the transition area, I hadn’t been body-marked and I couldn’t find my wetsuit.  Of course I missed the start of the race and tried to convince an official to just let me jump in the bike portion.  I’m sure that was just the first of what will be many Ironman bad dreams.  Yay.

On a workout note, my muscles were really sore and tight again for this morning’s run (how shocking…).  They felt better half-way (45 minutes) in, but I think I’ll try to go for a massage tomorrow to loosen up for the coming week.  

Motivational Video: