Cruise Control

Well, my race is in 6 days and I've done all I can do at this point. This isn't like a final exam where I can stay up all night studying. All my "studying" has been done over the last several months. This week I'm going to tone down the workouts, get in the slow lane and put it in Cruise Control.

I had my last major triathlon workout this weekend, and it was rather tame in comparison to other workouts. It was an indoor brick: 60 minutes on the stationary bike at a moderate pace followed up immediately with a 60 minute light jog on the treadmill.

I decided to keep it low intensity because I want to make sure I'm fully rested & ready for this race. Not only that, the last thing I want to do is injure myself the week before the race! Better be safe than sorry...

I'll swim 1 more time this week and shut that down also. The swim will be low intensity also, focusing on my form. I usually swim for an hour, but I'll probabbly swim for 30-45 minutes only. The plan is to start focusing on the mental aspect of the race on Thursday. At that point I'll assemble all my gear and start the mental checklists...

In addition to doing an indoor brick, I lifted weights at home in the 2nd bedroom. (I have a treadmill, weights, stationary bike & treadmill at home. Once I hit powerball and get the mansion I'll build an indoor pool after I cuss out all the haters! lol) I've only been lifting once a week for the last month or so because I wanted to give myself an extra swim or bike workout. To my pleasant surprise, I haven't lost any strength over this last month. After the race I'll take a couple weeks off then go back to lifting 2x a week.

My gym does not allow cameras or videos on the premises, so I decided to use this opportunity to show some of the exercises I do while lifting. Most triathletes lift primarily during the off season, but I prefer to lift year round because I simply enjoy lifting weights.  The exra weight isn't good for the sport though. The lighter a person is, the faster they are. Luckily, this race has a Clydesdale Division, for guys over 200 pounds (I'm 210) to even out the playing field a bit. For women, the Athena Division starts at 140 pounds.

After a brief warmup of jumping-jacks and stretches I start with ab exercises:

I do 50 reps of the bicycicle crunches followed with 20 of these:

I also do regular crunches and leg raises (not shown.)

At this point I start my routine:

Bench press (2 sets of 10.)

At the gym I prefer dumbells, but I don't have the proper weight at home, so I use the barbell:

Next is seated dumbell lateral raises (not shown) 2 sets of 10.

For my back I do bent rows. I alternate between the barbell & dumbells. 2 sets of 10:

Next is seated shoulder presses. I prefer dumbells because of the greater range of motion. 2 sets of 10 as always:

From here it's bicep curls. I alternate between standing with the curl bar, seated with dumbells, or standing (as shown.)

Next is triceps extensions laying on the bench (not shown.)

I don't work my legs too much with weights because my knees aren't the best in the world.  I prefer to save them for the run workouts and when I walk/run the stairs.  But when I do work them, I'll do light lunges & squats:

After this, I'll do more ab exercises like I did at the start of the routine,then it'sa wrap!  The total workout is about an hour.  I'm not a bodybuilder so  stick with basic exercises, which works for me.  I prefer to workout at the gym because there's more energy, space, and better equipment there, but it's good to have equipment at home too. I can't go as heavy at home either.  I'll have to invest in more equipment.  One day!  lol

So, as I said before, the majority of my workouts are done.  I have 1 more swim workout left and then it's time to focus mentally.   I'm concerned about the bike. That's going to be my biggest challenge.  Once I get off the bike I'm good!  I'll talk about the actual race & my gameplan on the next blog.

Thanks for reading!  Till next time, Peace! 

Balancing Acts

Training for triathlons is tough! Not only do you have to juggle 3 different sports, but you have to make sure you don't neglect 1 (or 2) in the process. A couple years ago, I had to swim at an outdoor pool, and seeing how Flaw-da is the Lightning Capital of the world AND it rains EVERY SINGLE DAY in the summer, my swimming lagged behind my biking & running...

Then you have to work, and if you work a lot of hours or your job is stressful, your training can suffer because rest is CRUCIAL. If you don't get your rest, there's no way you can perform well...

Seeing how some of my co-workers might read this, let me say I have the BEST job in the whole wide world! (cough)

And last but certainly not least, there's the time you spend with your family. If you get too involved in work & training, etc, your home life will suffer, and an unhappy home is NOT a good thing, training or not!

So, there's the dilema. You MUST find that balance to make sure all aspects of your life are in balance and in order.

And sometimes, that means you have to make sacrifices. Even though my race is less than 2 weeks away, I made a sacrifice. The wife & I went to Orlando for a quick weekend getaway.

Tearing myself away from training is always tough for me cuz I enjoy it so much. It's been a part of my life for so long I don't know what it's like NOT to train. But I must force myself to get away sometimes. Even I need a vacation from training! lol

There's a small problem when I go on vacation. When I go, I leave EVERYTHING behind. I mean everything. I don't think about my job, bills, training, or my diet. Yep, my diet. When I go on vacation, it's party time! lol

Like I said before, my race is in less than 2 weeks. I've been ok with my diet for the last several weeks, but from Friday till yesterday it was as if I didn't know what it meant to eat healthy. I can front & say I eat good all the time, but why lie? lol

It all started Friday with a bacon double cheeseburger from Friendly's then this dee-damn-liscious chocolate brownie sundae for desert:

Then Saturday we went to see "Salt" with Angelina Jolie. GREAT MOVIE! What made it even better was the medium bag of popcorn (with a "dab" of salt) with the extra butter, and medium coke. Excellent! lol

After the movie we walked around & did some shopping. I didn't buy this hat, but now I wish I did:

If a hat don't say "Nike" or Oakland Raiders on it I don't want it! But maybe it's time to switch things up a bit & try get my "Grown & Sexy" on! lol

Then there were the 2 long island iced teas I drank while partying it up at the B.B. King Blues Club at Downtown Disney! It was a GREAT place to eat, dance & hear some good live music. Highly recommended!

The long islands were pretty good too!

Not to be outdone on Sunday, it was all about the all you can eat breakfast buffet at Ponderosa!

Look at all that delicious syrup! If I was at home I woulda licked the plate when I was done, but when in public you gotta act like you got some sense! lol

It was at this point I remembered I have a race coming up, and that I might want to start eating healthy agin. So I tried to repent and eat this crap:

I'd rather have had more sausage dipped in maple syrup, but I had to pull back! lol

All in all, we had a great time. It was really good to get away, and now I feel recharged and ready for reality. That means back to work& back to training!

Today was another vacation day forme. I usually have my long work out on Saturday, but since we were out of town I had my workout today. I went to Flatwoods and rode 49 miles. Here's a quick vid of me starting the ride:

The ride took almost 3 hours and I saw maybe 15 people the entire time.

Seeing how it was a Monday, the place was deserted:

I saw a baby deer, a wild turkey and this turtle:

The 1st 28 miles were good, but the last 21 were kinda tough cuz it was kinda windy. Actually, tougher than I would have liked. I wish I had more time to train, but I can't do anything about that. I just gotta give it my all.

Tomorrow it's back to work, and then back to the pool. Yep, my mini-vacation is over. Balancing Acts are fun. Can't wait for the next Vacation Balance!

Thanks for reading! Till next time, peace!

Beneath The Surface

I haven’t been posting much lately because I've been so busy! Yes, I've been training for the Florida Challenge Triathlon
on September 12, but I've had to sacrifice writing my blog, which sucks because I use it to track my progress...
 
With that said, my training has been going well. I haven't had any injuries and my energy level has been high. Instead of lifting weights twice a week I’m doing it only once.  To my pleasant surprise, I haven’t lost any strength.  I’m maintaining all my strength.  I still have a bad habit if staying up waay too late, but this is an ongoing issue that I've been dealing with since I was 7. I'll deal with it sooner or later! Lol
 
Lately, I've been putting a lot of emphasis on my bike & swim. I've talked about the bike constantly: I'm bad on the hills, so I have to train harder on the bike to get better.
 
But since this race has cutoff times, I have to make sure I finish each discipline within a specified time to continue! They haven't done this in years past, so to not finish because of a slow time is unthinkable!
 
That all comes back to the bike. I MUST have a strong 56 mile bike ride: a ride where I'm not worn out at the finish and can finish the 13.1 mile run in 1 piece.
 
A crucial aspect of that is how I START the bike, which comes back to the swim.
 
This sport is a challenge because you have to be good at all 3 disciplines. If you neglect 1, it'll show during the race and you'll suffer. My weakest for this course is the bike because of the hills (even though it's my fav.) As a result, I've been hitting the bike more, but I haven't neglected the swim or run.
 
If I neglected the swim, I could start the bike tired, and the toughness of the race is compounded dramatically. If I can start the bike feeling good, then mentally I'll feel better and possibly parlay that into a good bike and great run!
 
So I have been working VERY hard on my swim, specifically my form. I've been doing a lot of reading on swimming form and drills, as well ad watching swimming meets with Michael Phelps and other top stars.
 
Hey, if you're gonna do it, do it right by emulating the best in the business!
 
What I'm looking at is their form. More specifically, what they're doing UNDER the water.
 
All the important stuff when it comes to swimming happens beneath the surface. That's where it all happens: your speed, power, and form. It's all under water.(My friend Ster-Fry told me that years ago and I’m finally getting comfortable with the concept.) And better form equates to less energy used while swimming AND faster times...
 
Last night I hit Sea World to do some laps.  I call it Sea World because people can look thru the big glass windows and watch you swim while you exercise.


 
I really wanted to videotape myself swimming, but the gym forbids video on the premises.  I can understand, but all I wanted to do was video myself swimming a couple laps to critique my form.  But rules are rules, so all I got is this pic…lol


 
The trick that I’ve read countless times with the forward crawl is:
 
 reach out your arm to grab more water.  No short, choppy strokes.  Long & smooth
extend your stroke and have a longer glide thru the water
“grab” the water when bringing your arms thru the water
Have an “S” motion with your arms under water.
 
I’ve also read that it’s best to focus on form and not worry about  speed when working on the above.  I’ve been doing that all year and have seen some improvement.  I’m still the Black Turtle LOL, but I can feel my stroke improving, my glide extending, and  
 
 The longer your glide, the less strokes you use, and the less energy used as a result.  That’s exactly what I need when it comes to the swim.  I just want to do enough to have a decent swim.  I’m not trying to be the first outta the water.  I just want to finish the 1.2 miles feeling relaxed and ready for the bike!
 
Thanks to the focus on form, I can finally say I’m not the slowest in the pool at any given time.  I’ve even had people compliment me on my swimming.  Me getting compliments in the pool are about as rare as Haley’s Comet, but I’ll take them any way I can!
 
All in all, I’m slowly gaining confidence.  I think I’ll be ready for the race.  I’m going to keep fine tuning my swim, hitting it HARD on the bike, and have some long steadt distance runs up till about a week before the race.  At that point I will let my body rest a bit & work on the mental aspect of the race.
 
It’s going to be VERY tough, but I’m also going to make it fun!
Thanks for reading!  Till next time, peace!