That's a Wrap + Why I'm so Sore!

Sunday marked the end of my second 3-week training block/build of 2010. The second was way better than the first. I pushed harder, got that much closer to puking during a few high-intensity workouts and survived a little longer on a couple key rides, runs and brick sessions. As a result, I saw some numbers that made me happy. Except for swimming. It seems that as volume increases with bike/run, and in general, my progress in swimming is plateauing a bit. But, thankfully, I have some new knowledge and ideas to help get results I want in the pool (more on that later).
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Valentine's Day was the icing on the cake for the big training block, and if it hadn't been for the HOT sunny weather and my love of the outdoors, I don't know if I would have stuck to the plan of a.m. long, hilly trail run & p.m. ez/mod 2-hr spin. Part of me just wanted to lounge around and rest.... But there was no way I could miss out on the gorgeous day. So (with El Moro/Crystal Cove still closed) I ran at Whiting Ranch, which just reopened Saturday since the SoCal storm mayhem we had recently. All the mud and trail destruction became a good excuse to make the first 1.5 miles "easy" as not to eat sh*t. At about mile 2, you hit the big hills, Mustard & Dreaded, which are killer hard even at a walking pace. Here's a picture from the base; the actual "top" isn't even in sight:I swear I almost broke down in tears because it hurt so bad "running" up. But once at the top, I rested, chatted with hikers and got inspired to run back down to the base and do a repeat. Crazy, but glad I did. I ended up passing two dude runners who looked very fit and about my age on my 2nd jaunt up; we struck up convo at the top. One is a marathoner-in-training, the other a former competitive cyclist. At that point I was hurting, but I knew more hills were coming. So I asked if they wanted to run with me knowing it would keep me motivated, plus it was their first time on the trail so I could play their torture tour guide. They were all about it. So I ran. They followed. We tackled the next big hill, and I made it up with a HR max of 185. Now that's work, but it felt awesome to crest the top.... I credit the guys for helping me to push; they were like my V-day surprise! In a weird, painful way.
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Then the downhills finally came, with lots of fun and technical single track where good footing is key to not rolling an ankle (learned the hard way last year). The marathoner almost held onto my pace the whole time, but I got an edge in the last couple miles where it flattens out... somehow the speed in my legs turned on--I think it was thoughts of a yummy lunch that awaited.
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All in all... that 9 miles of running--with 2,100 ft of climbing--put me at nearly 30 miles for the week and just about 90 miles within the last 3 weeks. (I'm currently training 14-16 hrs per week.)
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After some refueling and moaning/laying on the floor, I got my butt in gear for the ride. I told myself to just take it ez and not overdo it. After last-minute planning, I got in my intense long-ish and very hilly ride (w 5-mile t-run) on Friday with my boss, who's a freakin stellar athlete.... translate: OUCH for me! That was my "big one" for the week, so Sunday it was just about spinning and enjoying the outdoors some more. Surprisingly, 2 hours in the saddle went by really fast and I felt better after that then when I started.
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But today I feel like I got hit by a truck. That's largely in part due to a full day of Jessi Stensland's MovementU clinic on Saturday. She had us doing tons of AWESOME functional movement exercises that are perfect for dynamic warmups and overall body maintenance aka developing a body that's balanced, resilient to injury, healthy, strong, well-aligned and, most importantly, a performance machine.
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If you haven't heard or seen Jessi's MovementU, I highly recommend attending one/checking it out. It's a full day, but don't think about it as if you're "losing" training hours; rather, you walk away with more knowledge to boost your performance that, in my opinion, beats missing a Saturday's 4-5 hours of sbr-ing. Plus, you're moving and being active the whole day with Jessi, and if you're like me and haven't been doing these functional exercises, then I guarantee you'll be more sore than 4 hours in the saddle leaves you! I swear!!
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Not to mention, she serves some excellent food, too. All homemade by her. How does she do it all?! I have no idea... but I can guess that it's her dedication to an athlete's well-being.

The MU crew (including some of my CSUF Tri Team friends!!)....

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Last but not least... I said on FB/Twitter how I got to spend Valentine's with my one true love, the sunny outdoors. Ha! It's true, though... beautiful days spent outdoors in nature are all I need at this point to keep me happy and sane.

Workouts: Pandora and The Devil

First of: If anyone is in or around Lake Forest this Saturday, Feb. 13, come to Jessi Stensland's MovementU Clinic held at Core Performance. I'll be there ALL day and am super excited. More info at www.movementu.com.

On to my post... working out...

I really enjoy training with other people, but given my ridiculous schedule I'm often forced to train solo. (Yes, the ongoing joke is fairly accurate: I have a gagillion jobs, and just added on another. More on that soon... very excited.) Good thing is, I'm pretty self-motivated and self-disciplined, so I work hard even if no one's watching.

I thought I'd share a couple "fun" workouts I like to do that help the time fly by:

PANDORA-INTERVAL TRAINER SESSION

Everyone loves Pandora, duh! You get a whole radio station based on the genre you want to hear, how cool is that?! Well it's perfect for a bike trainer session alone in your room. Get your favorite upbeat station going, then whenever the song changes, you change what you're doing on the bike... sort of like a fartlek bike workout where you can switch up lots of variables: intensity, big gear/small gear, cadence, power, single-leg drill, etc. Songs are roughly ~3 minutes long, which is good for a lot of stuff, but sometimes I'll do a double or triple whammy: big gear "climb" for 2+ songs.

I have a Lady Gaga station I'm currently hooked on for this workout. However, my neighbors are probably questioning my sanity.... crazy music blasting from open windows when it's freezing and dark outside. Hm. Also, watch out for classic rock stations... lots of looooong psychedelic instrumental solos. That's when they were all on drugs back then haha.

THE DEVIL'S RUN

Mmm mmm good. I dubbed this track workout the "Devil Run" yesterday because there are lots of 6's involved. Oh, the crazy things that go through my head during workouts.

Here it is.... can be done on a track or on a one-mile stretch of land.

- 10 min warmup
- 6 x 1-mile (1600), on 2-3 min rest
- Negative splitting each mile
- Goal: keep each mile in the 6-min-per-mile-pace range (6:00-6:59)... unless you're fast and can do it in the 5-min or faster range, but then it's no longer the Devil Run haha.
- 10-15 min cooldown
- Total time: 60-something minutes (more if longer rest intervals or longer WU/CD)

See the theme of 6's? I swear I'm not promoting the devil :)

I did this workout yesterday for the first time since way back pre-Clearwater '09, and I was happy with the outcome. Faster than I did it last year. Splits: 6:36, 6:25, 6:20, 6:13, 6:13, 6:11.

The funny thing... it felt easier with each mile, like I was giving the same (hard) effort but a slightly faster pace resulted. However, after mile 6, I was done; a mile 7 would not have been easier haha.

So those are a couple of my fav workouts!

Have fun!

Recap

I can't even express in words how much fun I had at the Tri Expo. From the second I arrived, I was surrounded by friends and familiar faces. I also had the chance to meet some Internet/email friends in person. I swear, my mouth was yapping the whole day. I'm surprised I was able to stay coherent for it all. Didn't get home till midnight... so late for me!

One of the coolest new friends I finally met in person is Dr. Allen Lim. He works directly with Lance Armstrong and Team RadioShack and is an world-renown exercise physiologist. He's probably the best resource I could ever imagine having as I go through my master's program and do my thesis. My friend/pro triathlete Jessi Stensland put us in touch a while back, and I'm so thankful she did... Allen is not one of those weird nerdy science dudes; he's way laid back and funny but still smart as hell, and I feel comfortable asking questions and picking his brain 24/7 even if I bug him or sound like a total exercise phys novice, ha. I'm trying to get him to take me along on Tour of California and Tour de France with Team RadioShack :)

Jessi Stensland leading a MovementU seminar; Allen Lim marching at the far right:

To top off a perfect day at the expo, we had quite a random/entertaining group of people together for dinner at Costa Bravo in PB. Tatiana, Kevin Koresky & Joe of finishline-multisport.com, Jessi, Allen and some of his friends. I don't think I've ever sat at a restaurant for that many hours while having fun and eating good food (like the paella below) the whole time.

The group (ps - Allen is the guy with the giant smile haha):
I was bad again, peer pressure!:

I'm surprised I survived my Saturday long run after Friday's craziness. But 12 miles later... it didn't go as bad as I expected. I have to thank my mom for inspiring to get out there and go (she was running close behind me on our whole loop). I almost took the day off because I was so tired and was suffering in the sleep department.

I made up for all my "sinful" activity on Saturday night by cooking a healthy meal and going to bed very early.

Sunday Sara and my CSUF friend David joined me for a 3-hour ride. I had lots of hills planned, with some good ones right around mile 30... perfect training for Oceanside! I have another post planned on elevation gain stats. Some of you noticed on FB: My Garmin said we climbed 5200 feet, my iBike said 3200 feet. I do have comments/thoughts on this, but also want your opinions!

Somehow I squeaked out a 30 min/4ish-mile run after the bike. Then Sunday night, Tatiana and I met with the RAHA Cycling Team. I am so thankful to be involved with an amazing group of people who (like I said on Twitter) care about helping others/giving back on top of racing hard and having fun as a team! These "individual" sports aren't so solo after all. Check out more about the "giving back" side of RAHA here: Bahati Foundation.

Lastly: FOOD. I am a total believer that good food aids in good performance (duh, right?). I also don't mind "splurging" on certain occasions; I think it's healthy and sometimes there's no other option... except not eating. However, 95% of my life is spent eating HEALTHY. One of the biggest things I strive for is getting in a lot of fresh foods and a lot of color... like my dinner last night:
Quinoa with mixed veggies, barbecue chicken breast (with Trader Joe's BBQ sauce), steamed sugar snap peas and sauteed eggplant/bell peppers/onions. Salt on all of it (I'm a salt fiend, but I can be!). If it's not this, it's usually broccoli stir fry, fish and a sweet potato, which I had Saturday actually--all things I NEVER get sick of for dinner!