Tuesday, May 04, 2010

link between inflammation and fat

Chronic stress begets chronic inflammation, which chronically elevates cortisol, which induces insulin resistance and belly fat accumulation. 
-from MarksDailyApple.com

I don't agree with everything about the Primal lifestyle on Mark's Daily Apple, but I do think the above statement is 100% true. It backs up what I have observed in myself about hormone levels and fat during hard endurance training. The best way for me to reduce the effects are to aim for an anti-inflammatory diet.

Monday, May 03, 2010

good workouts

Strength Workout
30 lat pull warmup (55-70)
30 jumping pullups with controlled down
30 burpees
30 box step ups for each leg (24 inch box)
30 side lunges with 25 lb plate held at chest
20 push press (started at 45, maxed at 55) - no improvement here, status quo
30 deadlift (started at 45, maxed with 15 reps at 75lbs) - yikes, found my weakness here!
40 bench press (started at 45, maxed at 85) - haven't done this one in a while, big improvement
4x30 seconds plank - I should be better at this. Needs work to hold longer.

Bike
45 minutes, spin class with: [3x (4x30 sec max/30 sec rest)]

Run
30 minutes, 3.7 miles, treadmill
[10 min@8:30 pace, 10 min@7:20 pace, 5 min@7:40 pace, 5 min@8:30 pace]
The 7:20 pace run was the hardest part of today. I was nearly anaerobic and really had to work with my mind to keep it going. I chose to do this on the treadmill because I knew it would force me to get the workout done as planned, no cheating on the paces.

My renewed warrior mindset went to the test today and I won. When I let myself off the hook by cutting a workout short or doing fewer intervals or going less intense, I am only hurting my own race performance. I need to challenge my body to do things it doesn't want to do when I am training so that I am prepared to do that when I am racing.

Sunday, May 02, 2010

ironman race nutrition

I have never nailed my Ironman nutrition in a race, but I think this time I have it down. Proper nutrition is so crucial to having a good race. The distance is just too long to wing it, and if you make a mistake, you are going to suffer. I have practiced this two weeks in a row and is working! Here is the plan for Ironman race day:

Breakfast - oatmeal with protein powder, flax, almond butter, banana, green tea

Pre-race - Justin's PB squeeze pack, PowerGel (chocolate w/ caffeine) - 300 calories

Bike - 2000 calories and 6 bottles of water as:
Solid food mix - fig bars, raisins, raw dates, almonds, Larabar - 1000 calories
FirstEndurance EFS Electrolyte drink - 200 calories
FirstEndurance EFS Liquid Shot (diluted in one water bottle) - 800 calories

Run - 1000 calories and water every mile
100 calories every 3-4 miles as gel or whatever looks good at aid station
Alternate water/Cola at aid stations

reality check

I was pretty down about my result from Galveston 70.3. It wasn't a PR and was my second slowest 70.3 next to my first one 5 years ago. My placement in my age group was disappointing. When hard work doesn't appear to pay off, I start to wonder why I am doing all of this. Earlier this week, I was having serious doubts about myself as an athlete and was even starting to think about just doing Ironman TO FINISH. Seriously... to finish? That is giving up. I don't give up and I don't give less than 100%. Ever.

Bottom line - at Galveston I should have gone harder on the bike, and I should have put sunscreen in my transition area so I wouldn't have fried on the run. Things have to go wrong in order to learn. I learned about pacing. I learned that 90% effort is not good enough. That race is done, it's over, and it's time to move forward.

I start fresh right here, right now. I have my fitness and my attitude. I will go into the final 8 weeks of Ironman training with a renewed warrior spirit and a belief that I can and will do whatever I set my mind to.

lots o miles

Saturday 
Bike 91 miles steady riding [5:38 as 2:24 out/3:14 back], road bike

Sunday 
Bike 53 miles with intervals [3:00], tri bike

I did a lot of biking this weekend. Yesterday I joined the Austin to Shiner G.A.S.P. ride, doing 45 miles with them and then turning around to go back 45 miles on my own. The event is a 100 mile point-to-point ride and had 2000 riders, and lucky for them, they had a tailwind the whole way. For me, I had that tailwind only for the first half of my ride. Doing events like this makes a huge difference in getting the work of these long rides done because there are so many people out there to chase and try to keep up with.

Today my ride was all work though - 3 hours on my triathlon bike, aero position, intervals. I went out early to hammer it out on Parmer Lane, and the time actually went by really fast. It was cloudy with not too much wind - excellent conditions. My intervals were 2x15 minutes hard (5 min easy riding), 2 x 25 minutes hard (5 min easy riding). Once my legs were warmed up, I felt great. These are the kinds of efforts I should have been putting out in the race last weekend.