Who's Going to Lead?

Looks like American Chris Lieto may not be setting the pace on the bike in Hawaii this year.  Read the full interview from Triathlete Europe here, but he's picked up an injury and feels that full Ironman may be out of reach this year; though he plans to continue with 70.3.

Vice

no, not that vice

Generally, my diet follows the previous health and nutrition post, but I failed to mention a few things: salt, coffee (caffeine) and peanut butter.

Salt - all savory meals that I cook are doused in salt.  When cooking for my partner, I salt for flavor, serve her plate and add another helping on mine.  I'm aware this isn't totally healthy so try to keep it in check by only using himalayan rock salt/ never table salt and never adding salt when eating out.

Caffeine/ coffee - strong, black, sometimes bitter and sometimes sweet, I love coffee.  Living in East London with a coffee addiction is like a chocoholic moving in with Willie Wonka.  Sat morning post training, Sun afternoon catch-up, break from work?  "Let's grab a coffee."  For most people that's just a saying for 'let's grab a seat, relax and chat,' but for me, it's literal.  I try to limit one per day, generally successful, and having left the cafes of Redchurch St and Haggerston behind should help.





Peanut butter - does life get any better than relaxing with a flick and jar of pb?  Growing up, my diet was half pb&j (no, I wasn't very healthy) with a high pb to j ratio.  Most of those habits have been left behind, but pb remains: straight from the jar, covered in chocolate, cake or ice cream form, doesn't matter.  I'm good not buying it, if it's not there, I don't think about it; but once it's in the cupboard, there's no guarantee how long it'll last.

Health and Nutrition

A most important aspect of endurance racing, I may spend more time thinking about health and nutrition than actually training!

While training for Ironman UK, I worked with a sports nutritionist and took a very clinical approach (measured and tracked all calorie intake, lots of supplements, tried depleted state training, etc; read here).  While it was great (I dropped to 8% from 12% body fat in 6wks!), it was too much:
- still had race day stomach problems despite detailed approach
- the time to measure and write everything down
- the inflexibility of requiring certain intake at specific times depending on training sessions
- lean towards non-natural help of supplements (though nothing illegal)
- no need to be at 8% body fat half way through training (may be better holding on to some to absorb the volume of training)
- as much as I like to think, racing is not my life nor my profession
- the monetary cost of it all.

Reflecting on the experience, I want to keep things simple for now (though I plan to continue reading on the subject).
- well balanced diet, 50% carb/ 30 prot/ 20 fat, through well balanced meals with lots of veg and fruit (the more colorful, the better!)
- 4 to 5 meals through the day, higher calorie intake around training sessions
- higher carb/ protein ratio post high intensity and close to even carb/ protein post moderate sessions (though no throwing a fit if can't get it perfect!)
- no tracking of calorie intake unless I have concerns about weight or body comp
- limited supplements, whey protein (otherwise 30% protein intake is tough), fish oil (more for skin than athletics) and vitamins A, B, D and iron (accommodate general health through high training volumes)
- target peak body comp on race day only (allow sweets, a few brews, etc until 10wks before the race then clean through race day)

Going with the simple/ flexible approach, an approximate target for Tango and MDS is 62kg and below 10% bf.  Honestly, my bigger concern is losing too much weight from all the running as post MDS I'd like to get back to triathlon requiring 3-4kgs more muscle (5% total body weight!).  So, I set a lower limit of 60kg/ 132lb that if I start moving toward, I'll take action (up calories/ speak with a nutritionist).

As of Tue this week, I was 63.4kg/ 139.5lb and 10.6% bf.  I'll track this every rest day going forward.

Ending with a general philosophy from many nutritionists/ athletes, "fuel your body for performance and optimal race weight and comp will naturally follow."

IV

Week four, the first "absorb" week.  This week saw a reduction in mileage, 37mi/ 59km, to allow my body to absorb and repair from the work done in the first three weeks.  I'm a strong proponent of this training technique as it helps you avoid injury and gives you extra time every few weeks to recover mentally and spend time with friends and family.

After Wednesday's post, I made up the run on Thursday.  Mentally, it was hard to stay in bed on Wed, but an article from Chris McCormack on staying injury free helped me not to feel guilty about it.

Thu - 60min w/ 1x 5min HMP, after Wed, I still wasn't feeling great but could tell it was more laziness than my body asking for rest.  So, headed out in the rain and hammered the one 5min interval.

Fri - 50min w/ 5min MP, standard session.

Sun - 1.45 moderate run, ran this along a path in central Kobe which includes hills.  This path is shorter than the one in Ashiya that I've been running, so tougher mentally to keep doing loops, but the hills are worth it (and required given Tango's 500m climb 60k into the race).

Mon - 1.45 moderate run, back on the flat path in Ashiya to explore some routes I haven't seen yet.  Worth the trip because I found another beach (that's three now)!  More rain causing one of those ego shattering falls that runners take every so often ('really, this guy can't stay on two feet, how can he last 100km!?!'), but no major injury to report.

He's Back!

Alistair Brownlee returned from an achilles injury for his first ITU race this year and took the top spot.  If that's not impressive enough, he won by nearly 40secs and did it on the 10k run where he split 29.51 (yes, that's a sub-30 10k off the bike!)!  Read more.

While I'm not British, I lived in London for the last five years so looking forward to possible gold and silver from the Brownlee brothers in August.

Flexible

6.30am and I promptly turn off the alarm.  I don't want to run today.  Both my physical and mental state are telling me to stay in bed.  'Maybe another hour of sleep then head out?  No, that'll start the day too late.  Don't be weak.  But all I want is more sleep!'


In an effort to be more flexible and listen to my body, I decided to stay in bed, take the day off and hopefully make up for it tomorrow.

Three

As with the first two, week three was a success over 65km/ 41mi.  Got in all the workouts, pushed through some slow starts and no sign of injury.

We moved to Kobe on Saturday which took the whole day, so I've moved the long runs to Sun and Mon.  This will stick as it's a better fit for my work schedule (may move again to Mon and Tue, we'll see).

Wed – 75min run w/ 2x 5min intervals on HMP.  Slow start, legs 'woke up' about 25mins into the run and hit the intervals bang-on.

Fri - 60min w/ 7.5min MP.  Legs still slow to get going (possibly build up of lactic acid, need to address), but eventually came to for a good session.

Sun - 1.75hr moderate.  My first run since moving to Kobe took me in all directions.  After 1hr, I was pessimistic about running trails when I found a "canal" like path that lead to the sea and a brilliant outdoor area/ running trail (pics to come in a later post).  Post-run, I unpacked my compression gear (will help with the lactic acid!), another boost.

Mon - 2hr moderate.  Another good run on the trail I found yesterday.  Thanks to the compression gear, my legs were alive from the start.  One point of dizziness, but pushed through (2hrs or longer, I'm going to have to eat something beforehand).

Scratch That

'Lance Armstong Faces Doping Charges, Triathlon Suspension'

Forget my previous post on Lance.  Seems he won't be racing Kona this year.

Week 2

Another good week of training.  60km/ 37mi of ground covered plus strength and conditioning and lots of stretching.

I’ve quickly gotten back into a running state of mind with 60min runs seemingly short and enjoying the long, early morning sessions.  Though limited in number, this was the first week of intervals, which went well, and were a good pick-me-up for the rest of the week.

My legs are exhausted but thankfully no sign of injury brewing.  I had a few niggles in both calves and the right hamstring after Saturday’s long run but nothing a bit of muscle relief/ cooling spray couldn't take care of.  Sunday morning was tough to get going, but the niggles were gone with no issues post-run.  My hope is to make it to week 4’s absorb week without sign of injury; after that point, my muscles should be adapted to the sudden jump in mileage.

Only 14 to go!

Training on the Ongagawa

While my ultimate destination is Kobe, I'm currently staying with my partner's family in Kyushu (Japan's southern island) while we look for an apartment.

Thankfully, her family lives near the Ongagawa, a brilliant trail for training.  I have no idea how long it is but have gone 10km in one direction without reaching the end!

Intervals

A quick post following my first interval session.  It’s been a while since I’ve done this properly, so my pacing is off and before today, I was worried that I lost speed.

Today’s session was 1x 5min interval at half marathon pace, 4.02min/km or 6.27min/ mi.  The first 45mins was easy after which I built into the interval with hesitance, ‘can my lungs handle this’ ‘can my body handle this’ ‘wow, from nothing to 5mins’ etc.

Soon those thoughts didn’t matter because the interval had begun.  Focusing on form, I pushed the speed, not a sprint but going pretty hard.  Legs flailing, brain focus waning, ‘get it together, it’s one 5min interval.  Focus on form and let the speed end up where it may.’

Watch beeping, the first km of the interval was done, 3.53!  I couldn’t believe it.  A huge boost for the last 67seconds.

Post interval, I finished easy with a big smile on my face, ‘some speed still there, now time to build on it.’

Lance Armstrong

Lance is back to where it all started, triathlon.  After an illustrious cycling career, he’s back to take on Kona, and what a start he’s had.  After an impressive showing at the Xterra World Champs in 2011 and a few podium finishes in 70.3 events this year, he took the top spot at Florida 70.3 two weeks ago and again this weekend at Hawaii 70.3 smashing Chris McCormack’s course record along the way (humorous given Macca’s most recent interview on the topic).

Can’t wait to see how Lance affects Kona in October.

Week One

First and most important, 54kms/ 34mi down and injury free.  Second, it’s been interesting.

I touched down in Japan about a week ago and the jet lag has kept me from sleeping more than four hours in any one night.  Generally, I’m in bed by 10pm and up at 2am, lay in bed for 3-4hrs and finally get up for training.  Not great execution of recovery.

However, despite a few odd feelings in my left calf (not exactly pain, but definitely not right), the double stretching and conscious effort to rest during the day is doing the trick.

It’s definitely warmer here, c. 25C/ 85F and humid, than London (which is good for ultimate goal of MDS) so I'll make changes to fuel and hydration strategies but nothing major at this point.

All four runs were moderate pace with no intervals.

Hoping the week has exhausted me enough to sleep through the night.