Ever heard the term "diet roller-coaster"?
Well, I never really hold a strict diet, but I can assure you that I'm on the training roller coaster.
It's not that the motivation isn't there. I have plenty- it's just finding time to train.
Every time a new obligation comes up, I cringe...and can only think of how many hours worth of training it's going to cost me.
Maybe I should stick to night training. The problem with this is the resulting sleep debt and inevitable over-training that comes with lack of rest.
I am going to start running on my lunch breaks....doing that 4 times a week will add an easy 2 hours to my week.
The path to fitness is rarely a straight line. There are peaks and valleys mixed with frustrating times and amazing times. I'm currently frustrated, which can only mean that soon, great things will happen.
On the race scene, I'll do a 5k next month to support the local running scene, even though I haven't done any speedwork. It'll hurt, but it will be nice to get out of my comfort zone.
Also, I think I might give the Pineland 50 Mile Run in May a go as well. I barely trained last year and went 10 Hours 29 Minutes, and was the youngest male in the field. At least I'm putting some hours in this year...that race will hurt a lot less as a result, I'm hoping.
Man, thinking back to that race last year...all I can remember is hitting the marathon mark, knowing I was only about halfway done, and just feeling smoked. By mile 4o, I knew it was going to be a long walk to the finish. It was so hot that day... I couldn't walk right for two weeks after. I live for that stuff.
I'm considering riding my bike from Turner to that race just to give myself a little added workout...probably end up being a 11-12 hour day that way. Enough thinking, time to do.
Bike time!
"I know what I was feelin', but what was I thinking?"- Dierks Bentley
-kp
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Speaking Of...Skiing and Moose
My abs hurt.
Yesterday was a relatively short but intense day.
1 Hour on the bike at 95-100 RPM.
30 minute circuit on weights(heavy on the abs)
30 minute swim
1 hour ski.
Skiing was pain.
Going heavy on my abdominals was great in that it worked a part of my body that is way weaker than it should be, but it made skate skiing super difficult. When skate skiing, you really stabilize yourself with your midsection, and draw a lot of power from that same area when poling. Needless to say, I'm sore today.
Speaking of skate skiing....man, it's about as close to perfect as you can get right now at the NHC. Fast, hard, and just awesome overall.
On Monday I was out there around 8AM, listening to my mp3, just loving the conditions.
I come upon moose tracks, moose poop, and moose pee "basins". That's the only word I can think of to describe these massive holes in the ski trail. I guess the trail is just so icy and hard-packed that when the moose pee, they make these 2 foot diameter holes in the trail.
As I'm wondering the physics of this phenomenon, I look up, and 30 feet away is a huge moose. He went into the brush about 1o feet off the trail and let me pass. It had to be a male..it was too big to be anything else. It's hard to tell right now without their antlers. Even without the antlers, they still seem pretty imposing at 10 feet away!
And speaking of Monday, what a strange day.
I woke up, swam, skied, and came home for a second round of breakfast.
After eating, I felt light headed, and this persisted through the whole day. I stayed in bed all day, and slept 10-11 hours that night. Woke up yesterday- everything was fine.
As I have said before...sometimes, higher training volume than you're used to will hit you pretty hard when you least expect it.
I feel ok today. Sore. I have energy, and I didn't sleep on my shoulder wrong, which I have a nasty habit of doing. I need to stretch.
I just thought I'd put a quick report in.
Gotta go to work!
kp
Yesterday was a relatively short but intense day.
1 Hour on the bike at 95-100 RPM.
30 minute circuit on weights(heavy on the abs)
30 minute swim
1 hour ski.
Skiing was pain.
Going heavy on my abdominals was great in that it worked a part of my body that is way weaker than it should be, but it made skate skiing super difficult. When skate skiing, you really stabilize yourself with your midsection, and draw a lot of power from that same area when poling. Needless to say, I'm sore today.
Speaking of skate skiing....man, it's about as close to perfect as you can get right now at the NHC. Fast, hard, and just awesome overall.
On Monday I was out there around 8AM, listening to my mp3, just loving the conditions.
I come upon moose tracks, moose poop, and moose pee "basins". That's the only word I can think of to describe these massive holes in the ski trail. I guess the trail is just so icy and hard-packed that when the moose pee, they make these 2 foot diameter holes in the trail.
As I'm wondering the physics of this phenomenon, I look up, and 30 feet away is a huge moose. He went into the brush about 1o feet off the trail and let me pass. It had to be a male..it was too big to be anything else. It's hard to tell right now without their antlers. Even without the antlers, they still seem pretty imposing at 10 feet away!
And speaking of Monday, what a strange day.
I woke up, swam, skied, and came home for a second round of breakfast.
After eating, I felt light headed, and this persisted through the whole day. I stayed in bed all day, and slept 10-11 hours that night. Woke up yesterday- everything was fine.
As I have said before...sometimes, higher training volume than you're used to will hit you pretty hard when you least expect it.
I feel ok today. Sore. I have energy, and I didn't sleep on my shoulder wrong, which I have a nasty habit of doing. I need to stretch.
I just thought I'd put a quick report in.
Gotta go to work!
kp
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Road to Ruin
I'm excited to be alive today.
There are so many things on the precipice of going full speed ahead that my head is spinning.
The races I'm directing are shaping up every day.
The triathlon club is growing every week.
The athletes I'm coaching are getting better by the minute.
I'm wrapping up my first double-digit-hour, 7 day training week in months.
And I come to the realization that endurance sports are the reason I was put on this earth.
Give me a bike, a lake, a trail, a mountain...anything, and people who are all about it, too. There's something so rewarding about being around people who are outdoors-oriented.
Nothing is negative. No one bitches about the weather, or the economy, or their lack of whatever it is they want.
They rave about the workout, the scenery, or the new shoes they just bought.
I've underestimated the power of training with others.
I somehow forgot that training with someone as fit or stronger than you makes you harder.
We skied last night for an hour, trading leads. After the workout was done, we both revealed that there were times that each of us was ready to puke, but neither of us was willing to let on at the time.
You just don't get that kind of workout by yourself.
I am already more physically fit than I was probably all last year. Now, the goal is not to let it slip...not get stupid, do some superman stuff, and end up injured.
I would say my mental fitness is strong, but that doesn't correspond to ultra mental fitness.
Can I keep my mind quiet past the 6-hour mark at this point? I doubt it.
I won't even go to the 24, 30 or 45 hour mark. Yikes.
Less than 7 months out from the Triple, I know how much work there is to be done.
I won't hesitate to admit than I am scared, but it's a good scared, like right before jumping off a cliff into deep water.
There's a major journey ahead, it's going to be highlighted by a lot of amazing feats I never thought possible a few years ago. Where will this ultra-life take me? What will I be doing next year? What will be possible 10 years from now, when I'm at an Ultra-distance peak?
"Never stop exploring. If you aren't constantly pushing yourself, you're leading a numb existence."-Dean Karnazes
There are so many things on the precipice of going full speed ahead that my head is spinning.
The races I'm directing are shaping up every day.
The triathlon club is growing every week.
The athletes I'm coaching are getting better by the minute.
I'm wrapping up my first double-digit-hour, 7 day training week in months.
And I come to the realization that endurance sports are the reason I was put on this earth.
Give me a bike, a lake, a trail, a mountain...anything, and people who are all about it, too. There's something so rewarding about being around people who are outdoors-oriented.
Nothing is negative. No one bitches about the weather, or the economy, or their lack of whatever it is they want.
They rave about the workout, the scenery, or the new shoes they just bought.
I've underestimated the power of training with others.
I somehow forgot that training with someone as fit or stronger than you makes you harder.
We skied last night for an hour, trading leads. After the workout was done, we both revealed that there were times that each of us was ready to puke, but neither of us was willing to let on at the time.
You just don't get that kind of workout by yourself.
I am already more physically fit than I was probably all last year. Now, the goal is not to let it slip...not get stupid, do some superman stuff, and end up injured.
I would say my mental fitness is strong, but that doesn't correspond to ultra mental fitness.
Can I keep my mind quiet past the 6-hour mark at this point? I doubt it.
I won't even go to the 24, 30 or 45 hour mark. Yikes.
Less than 7 months out from the Triple, I know how much work there is to be done.
I won't hesitate to admit than I am scared, but it's a good scared, like right before jumping off a cliff into deep water.
There's a major journey ahead, it's going to be highlighted by a lot of amazing feats I never thought possible a few years ago. Where will this ultra-life take me? What will I be doing next year? What will be possible 10 years from now, when I'm at an Ultra-distance peak?
"Never stop exploring. If you aren't constantly pushing yourself, you're leading a numb existence."-Dean Karnazes
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Reporting For Duty
It's a sunny tuesday morning here in Presque Isle.
There's no doubt in my mind that Spring is only a few weeks away.
I'm kind of sad to see winter go. Typically around this time of March, I'm raring to get on my bike and start a new season, but I'm enjoying winter in the county. The skiing is absolutely phenomenal, and for once in my life, I've found a network of people that are amazing to train with.
Pretty much on any given day, I can call someone up and go skiing, biking, running, or swimming. And everyone is awesome.
Race Report
Von, Jon, and I traveled downstate on March 1st to give the first-ever Maine Winter Triathlon a go.
It consisted of a 4k Snowshoe/10k Bike/6K Skate Ski.
We kind of decided to do it on a whim. Von and I had only run on snowshoes a couple of times, and it actually proved to be one of the hardest legs of the race. I had all I could do to keep my heart rate from going through the roof, so when I got to the bike, it was pretty much damage control.
I tried to push the red-line as much as I could without going into debt, knowing the ski was to follow. I got off the bike in 6th overall.
I hoped I could make some ground up, knowing that fewer people can skate ski as well as bike and run. It's a much more technical sport.
I skied for most of the 6K by myself. In the last kilometer, I was rewarded by the sight of 2 athletes skiing slowly up the hill ahead. I passed the first one quickly, but the other guy heard me coming and wasn't exactly willing to let me overtake him.
He shot off like a rocket, and I had to go to the well to stay with him.
On the homestretch, I skied on his tails, but he wouldn't let me pass, so I pulled into the tracks on the right and double-poled past him, just in time to cross the finish line in 4th overall.
It was a really great day. I think we're going to go down and do the whole New England Series next year. It's a great way to stay in a triathlon frame of mind in the off-season without getting burned out mentally.
Training Report
My training last week was not ideal. I just felt tired. Perhaps it was after-effects from the race. I only trained for 3.75 hours, and took 4 days completely off. I think I just needed to recharge my batteries a little bit. I have those weeks here and there.
When doing high volume training at a low intensity, you tend to not realize how tired you are until it hits you all at once.
Right now, I'm just working on getting to a place in my training where I can do a 6 hour training day with no issues- ie: IT band, Achilles, and Quadriceps tendon.
Realistically, I am about 3-4 weeks away from that. Once I achieve that aerobic and biomechanical base, I can start putting longer days back to back, which will happen midsummer. After that, I can start putting LONG days in- 10, 12, 14 hour workouts...and working on my sleep-deprivation training...yay.
The day is calling, and it's telling me the weather is perfect for a run today...maybe even minus the tights.
I'm signing off, quoting an old aquaintence, Damien, who just happens to be the World Bench Press Champion(181 lbs, and benches 605!!)..."Ain't nuthin' to it but do it!".
Awesome.
Kale
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