TRIATHLON TRAINING CONFUSION

This week after attending a workshop on Nutrition and Psychology for Endurance Athletes and doing a book search for the latest triathlon books, I realized how confusing making the best training choices can be.  As a self coached athlete, I want to research the latest and greatest training programs, nutrition plans, race strategies and gear.  Once you start digging into the different areas and networking with other triathletes and coaches, you really see how trendy these areas are.  Everyone thinks they have the latest and greatest approach to gaining an edge on their competitors.  Many people and professionals think they have come up with the best plan to help athletes reach the finish line or achieve a new PR.  Look around and see some athletes getting leaner and faster.  Look the other way and see other athletes getting injured and struggling with nutrition.  Sometimes, one area improves, while another takes a nose dive.  Many are starting over again after having to take an extended vacation from the sport due to injury, illness, work, family, or burn out.

While I take on the daunting task of choosing the best strategies for myself, I am lost in triathlete confusion.  One trend is to mix things up to trick your body into being prepared for the stresses placed upon it and not to repeat the same old routine, while another coach may recommend a consistent program to train your body through memorization ("muscle memory").

The other night I attended a talk where there were 4 different approaches regarding nutrition.  I will focus on this area when discussing TRIATHLON CONFUSION because it is one of my greatest needs to get leaner for Ironman Training.  Each member of the panel had strikingly different approaches to eating for performance and health.
Approach Number 1:  Raw Foods:  Eat 80% raw foods to get the greatest benefit from foods in their most natural state so the body can break them done.  You need amino acids vs protein so you can find the essential amino acids through a plant based diet.
Approach Number 2:  Paleo:  Return to simpler times when diet came from sources in their most natural form without chemicals, additives or preservatives.  This way of eating includes meat, fish,  organic veggies and fruits, and nuts (excluding peanuts, legumes and grains).  People that practice this diet are often into CROSSFIT training where you do short burst of continuous high intensity exercise.
Approach Number 3:  Metabolic Efficiency:  Teaching the body to utilize fats more efficiently by minimizing intake of grains, increasing healthy fats and proteins and reducing sugar and eating a combination of nutrients together during meals.
Approach Number 4:  Eat a balance diet 80% of the time without eliminating any food group.  Shop on the exterior of the grocery store and indulge 20% of the time.
PSYCHOLOGY of NUTRITION For Endurance Athletes:  Eat to Live/Train, Do not Live/Train to Eat, Avoid the Ripple Effect (doing everything because your teammates are doing it), and Life is a Journey, Not a Guilt Trip so if you are going to indulge, enjoy it.  Food should not be a reward for training, it should be used to fuel your body.  If you are struggling with weight, look at what you are eating and why.  If you are craving the same foods, underlying emotional issues need to be addressed vs craving a variety of foods, your body may actually need to be replenished.

I wish I could be as committed as each of the panel members to a specific diet, but there is something about each plan that I feel I could not "LIVE WITHOUT".  I love vegan food, but I do not want to give up meat.  I love healthy fats, but I do not want to give up grains.  What in the world is wrong with whole grains and lean meats.  And give up sugar......the whole world is made up of sugar and a spoonful helps the medicine go down!  It seems that triathletes are trying to move toward low carbohydrate diets for more fuel efficiency in burning fats and runners are still eating carbs, just choosing healthy whole grains.  I would love to just go exTREME (to the raw side, to the meat side, to the fat and protein side, and to the outside of the grocery store), but my history and personality won't allow me to put up too many boundaries (ask my family...I turn into a horrible monster).  I think I am still exploring what will work for me with the help of a nutrition coach and plenty of books.  I know the deeper I get into training, the better food my body craves.  I think Approach Number 4 fits my philosophy the closest, but I will continue to study the forever changing science of nutrition and the latest and greatest in how it affects performance.  I just know that I am carrying around a 20 lb weight trying to run, bike and swim and it is going to be so much easier to move when I can shed my fat suit!

Then you have other training decisions to make like distance, intensity, frequency, weight training, flexibility, power, agility with thousands of approaches.....go long, go short, skip the meaningless miles, etc etc.  We will save that for another day.  What voice do you listen to?

This week, I also learned that sometimes all you have to do is SHOW UP, to be a WINNER.  I met my friend from Seattle in Tucson and we raced in the USA Duathlon World Championship Event held in Oro Valley.  She wanted to qualify for World Championships in Spain.  I was not training for this event, but I did not want to sit on the sidelines, so I decided I would just train on the course and I signed up for the race.  They invite the top 17 athletes in each age group to participate in Worlds and so everyone in my age group was invited as there were only 16 (and I finished 15th!).  It was a humbling experience because without a swim, I cannot get a head start on the fast runners and the field was filled with fast athletes who came from all over the US to compete for a spot.  I had to just enjoy being out there and accept bringing up the rear on a beautiful fall day, on the rolling course with the rugged rocky Catalina Mountains in Tucson. 

It then dawned on me, that I would be in my new age group in two short months even though my birthday is not until August.  Thinking about moving up into the 50s and it actually happening are scary and exciting at the same time.  I have to accept that I am getting older, but I don't have to accept that my performance will not improve.  Look at the 89 year old who was the final finisher who crossed the line with a crowd of cheering athletes welcoming him home.  They save the best for last.  So back to training we go!  I had a great training weekend with a 3 mile run Thursday night on the duathlon course, 10 mile run with some hills and 11 mile ride on Friday, Duathlon on Saturday 5K run, 35K ride, 5 K run and finally a 10 mile climb up Mt. Lemmon (20 mile round trip) while my friends made it to the top for the cookie.  No cookie for me today.....but there will be a cookie in my future because I am getting HUNGRY!

HomeBaked Triathlete: Starting from Scratch

 

It may take more time and patience to produce a recipe from scratch rather than buying the "just add water" mix, but in the end home baked always tastes better.  This is the journey I am choosing to take this year to reinvent myself by starting over from scratch and right now I am shopping for the right ingredients and then I will figure out how to combine them into a final product that I can be proud of at the finish line.

I felt broken down at the end of my summer season followed by 6 weeks of forced time out.  My mind and body were out of sync.  When my mind was ready to get back to work after signing up for my next Ironman, my body gave out and my immune system could not keep up with the demands and then as my health finally started returning, my head was no longer in the game.

I was doing everything in my power to find motivation including posting my Ironman Finisher Picture everywhere, studying books and magazines, cut and pasting train logos to remind me Chattanooga is a coming and living vicariously through my friends upcoming Ironman.  My body and mind seemed to be rejecting my efforts at rebuilding stamina to workout and the motivation to overcome the mental and physical fatigue.  I felt defeated like I would not be able to return to that place I had gone before where you reach deep within your soul to be all that you can be.

What is the best way to cure a sick triathlete you might be wondering.  Just like a dead battery, sometimes we need a jump start.  I was signed up for a sprint triathlon in San Diego, so I had to cram for this race in a few weeks.  I almost did not even want to go, but these are the times that you need to "JUST DO IT" the most. 

So I managed to put in the minimum training to get through a sprint course.  I was pretty convinced that 1/8th of an Ironman was going to "feel" like the full distance at this moment in time.  To my delight after a relaxing run around the bay in San Diego, even though it did not feel like heaven, my pilot light was reset.  I came to terms with where I am at that moment and had hope that I could start this process over from scratch.

By accepting this, it made it easier to go enjoy the "SPRINT" and I was pleasantly surprised that sometimes cramming for a test pays off.  It was a great pre-test to assess "where I am" and "where I want to go".  I was pleased with the results and enjoyed the opportunity to use the sprint distance to refresh and rejuvenate.  The experience reminded me about the spirit of triathlon.  It was a great dress rehearsal, transition practice and speedwork all wrapped up in one.  Since it was an Esprit de She Event, it was fun bonding with old and new female triathletes.  There is something powerful about tri-ing with a herd of women!  I ended up pulling off a decent race finishing 11/56 in my age group and 119/417 overall (3/56 in the swim and 12/56 on bike (ave 18.6 mph) and 11/56 on run (ave 9:11 pace).  Now that I got a jump start....off to the shop I go for some base training, basic maintenance and maybe a few new parts!

Sometimes you have to clean out the closets and throw away the old stuff to make room for the new stuff that triathletes are made of.  Now time to go shopping!  What do you think should go into my recipe?

UNFIT

Inside the turtle's shell are cramped quarters with little air.  One must slow their breathing down, close their eyes, and quiet the mind in order to survive under the shell.  It is usually a place we go for protection while we are resting or recovering, but sometimes it can be an escape from the world.  This writer usually leaves out the darkest moments of her life as she does not like to write in the dark.  Perhaps this is dishonest or may be it is only half the story being revealed.  Today, the only word that really strikes me is UNFIT, if even that is a word.  Spell check has not told me otherwise, so we will just go with it.

This week, I started breathing better.  I had hope that I was finally regaining my health and I could finally start training for my next Ironman.  I have been trying to stock up on motivational strategies to generate excitement and motivation for training including:  posting my previous Ironman Finish all over the place, changing my profile picture, signing off with the train whistle to get ready for IM Chattanooga, and watching the IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS in KONA on my new Smart TV.

I went out yesterday on a 37 mile bike ride which is the longest ride in the last few months and finally felt like my legs were connected to the rest of my body .  For that I was grateful, but then the truth was revealed in how difficult the ride was for me.  It was not too hot, too cold, too hilly, or too flat, it was simply that I am UNFIT.  What would once be an easy short ride took a great deal of time and effort.  It is not something I am unwilling to give, but it is certainly discouraging to look back at your abilities a year ago, especially when you see other athletes preparing for their Ironman races.  (I also ran 1 hour and swam 30 minutes this week..so sad that those feel like the IM distance at this very moment).  You are almost willing to KILL for that feeling of determination, strength and invisibility for just one more day.  But that feeling is EARNED.  Even the pros rarely give up a few days of training to sustain the ability to be at the top of their game at the right moment.

Life happens and keeping up an Ironman pace of life for a recreational athlete is not always top priority.  Instead of looking at being unfit as depressing and staying inside my shell, I know I need to FIGHT and earn back the fitness that makes you strong in mind, body and spirit to TRI another day.  It is just hard when you are knocked down to the ground.

I am trying to remember this bottom of the barrel feeling so each month when I look back, I don't get discouraged as I am slowly climbing back to the top of my game.  Let me imagine now what it will look and feel like in 50 weeks when I am 50 years old and competing in my 2nd Ironman race fit and strong and ready to go.  It is a hard image to focus on, but I am going to create this picture in my mind until my painting comes to life!  In the mean time.....I JUST KEEP TRI-ING!

WHISTLE WHILE YOU TRI


High Ho, High Ho, Back to Work We Go
With a Hee Hee Hee and a Ha, Ha, Ha
High Ho High Ho High Ho

With a swim, swim, swim and a run run run
And a pedal pedal pedal, being unfit is so not fun
High Ho, High Ho, Back to Tri We Go

It is dark inside this shell! Still trapped!

Well as my husband would say in the IT world, problems take a while to solve.  Computer guys are so patient in trying to figure puzzles out.  I think my patience is wearing thin.  My Reboot is not going so well.  You try different ways to close out your frozen screen and one of these times, magically everything will come back fresh and new and work like it is supposed to.

This week has been filled with trying out different remedies as the gunk I have been gagging and choking on for the past month seems to have miraculously relocated to my sinuses.  My smoker sounding cough has been extinguished (never smoked one in my life as I was violently overexposed as a child by my parents and had a strong aversion to anything you light up!) with the remnants now residing in the dark cavities of my shell.  In lieu of a return doctor's visit to scold my doctor for not listening to me the first time around, I evaluate and treat myself daily for free (minus the cost of home remedies and future bill for my deteriorating mental health).  No fever and fluids still clear with slight color and thickening, treat self for congestion and find some draino.  So, I stocked up on Emergen-C Immune Plus,   Allegra, Zicam Cold Remedy, and NeilMed Sinus Rinse.  I think the rinse is the most effective tool so far, but as soon as I take a clear breathe, more fluid drains and gets trapped.  I can deal with the gunk and manage the symptoms, but the chronic fatigue really gets in the way of being a triathlete.  Luckily the events that are coming up in October were supposed to be fun short races and fun get a ways.  Even a short workout seems to take a lot out of me, but the benefits outweigh the cost, because I need my daily fix.  Every day, I tell myself I will wait one more day before going back to the doctor as we know just showing up at a doctor's visit scares away all the symptoms and the doctor cannot find anything wrong with you.  It might be worth the 120 dollar office visit that I pay out of my pocket to scare the symptoms away. 

With all that said, playing tug of war with the mucus streams, I have managed to get 3 short runs in this week 20-30 minutes a piece, 3 bikes rides of 20, 30 and 15 miles, and 1 20 minute swim.  I have been researching different training programs and one site I came across talked about including 3 weeks during your pre-season training to focus on your weakest link in the tri-chain.  Surely, I can complete a sprint triathlon in 2 weeks.  I am sure it will feel like an Ironman to me, but it will only make my next IM in September 2014 taste that much sweeter after being knocked down to the lowest of lows.  Sometimes we need our bodies to take over and hold us back!  But it is dark in this shell and I am going to poke my head out soon, kicking and screaming.

My plan for the next 2 weeks is to try out "working on one of my weakest links", my bike and try and get fit for my first training session with my bicyclologist, Jeff.  I have had to cancel a lot of appointments this month, but if you don't have your health, you simply cannot reap the physical benefits of training.  It is time to put the POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING BACK IN ACTION.

"Let me out of here", the turtle screams.  "I do not like the darkness, that is unless I am running the marathon portion of an Ironman."