#14: Sometimes, well, the bear eats you..........I need a sarsaparilla

***DISCLAIMER*** The following blog is not for the weak......a topic I hope never to have to discuss (or experience) again......the dude abides.


What started out as a strong week headed into Saturday with great anticipation (or something).  It was to be my first full-day brick, the kind of fabled workout that gives ultradistance its mystique......the kind of workout that invokes the "You did WHAT yesterday?  Seriously, you're nuts" defense by friends and family who enjoy less active pursuits.  The kind that really tests your progress so far, and believe it or not, in a bizarre way, I was actually looking forward to it:  6 hours bike + (up to) 2 hours run........I can do this.


Well, if you're one of my 647 clicks (BTW THANKS FOR READING, YOU ROCK.....my goal was to break 1,000 and you've put me well on my way), you know I've been feeling pretty strong lately and perhaps it was about time for that "1 step back"......except I didn't know it until about 4 hours in; up until then, things were going smoothly, just as planned.


THE PLAN? Ride for 6 hours and run for (up to) 2, depending on how things felt. To do that, nutrition was going to need to be done right: consume up to 2700 calories and up to 160 oz of fluid. 


From a caloric standpoint, this is substantially less than the 600-800 calories per hour lost, but is about what my system seems to be able to handle during regular conditions (+/- 300 to 350 per hour) and that included: PB&J sandwich x2, Powerbar x2, Banana x2, "Gels" x 6. In regards to fluid losses, I'm figuring a replenishment rate of around 20-25 ounces per hour (i.e. 4 bottles of Ironman Perform and 4 bottles of water).  Both of these are on the higher end of the "generally accepted" spectrum.  Most references recommend a bit under 300 calories per hour during endurance activities and b/t 17 & 20 ounces of fluid, but since one of my training goals is to condition my body to handle the nutritional processing required to get through 12-13 hours of racing, and I've previously handled around 300, I'm pushing that aspect a little bit too.


Seems like a lot from the fluid standpoint?  It's simple really, when I exercise, I am a sweaty beast.  EEEEEW.....truly, 20oz/hr is probably not enough.....there are many people over the years who can probably speak to this (ask anyone who's made the mistake of touching my post-workout clothes)....suffice it to say, water retention during exercise is not my problem......however fluid LOSS has been a problem in the past. Not just from the dehydration side of things, but also a mechanical problem.  You see, when you use a stationary bike trainer there is no wind to blow-off the droplets.......I've learned the hard way that sweat can slime-up the front break on your bike so badly it doesn't work and now?  Well, I've now learned that it can cause a bike computer to short-out.  CRAP!! (more on that in a bit), but for now, suffice it to say that after getting over the monster hill in Utah, the bike computer started freaking out......and then.....nothing.  4 hours of strong workout data lost and a dead bike computer to boot.......technical difficulties.....FROM SWEAT!



Well, at least I'll have my run right?  Sort of.  Cutting the bike portion 2 hours short did some screwy things to my nutritional plan (most triathletes take in the majority of their calories on the bike to avoid the dreaded "runner's trots" associated with too much in the gut and a lot of up/down sloshing around).  I waited about a 1/2 hour, you know, like the old eating-before-swimming myth.....but regardless of my "determination" to do it right, it wasn't enough.  About 50 minutes into my run and my GI System decided it was not a fan of this new change of plans......if you ever had this experience....you know what I'm talking about.....if you haven't, it's the ugly side of endurance training and I'm sorry you had to hear it here first......the general gist is that for a host of reasons (salt loss, dehydration, heat-intolerance, improper nutrition strategy, running before "processing", intensity routing blood to the muscles and away from the gut and others) the body can't clear the contents of the gut efficiently enough and GI revolt ensues......this is why runners often can tell you where every porta-john, public restroom and private stretch of woods exists in their general vicinity......let's just say if you ever meet a one-socked runner.....don't shake his hand!  I could go on, but that's what Google-images is for.....and whereas I'm not one to use the raunchy to get my point across (not today anyway), let's just say if you are bold enough to go searching, I've already told you everything you need to know to understand.....and why I'll never coach someone to "leave it all on the field". 


Thankfully, I was able to limp my way back to the ranch......and retain both socks.....but after a technical crash and a (quite literally) screeching (or perhaps groaning) stop to my run.....I was done for the day.....3 hours short of goal.......get that bear a napkin.

And so......on to next week.....redeem thyself.

The time has come, the walrus said, to bugger off and go to bed!  (Hans Stoeve).

Mike E.

#13 Whew....it's getting too hot in this pot

It's been said that if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water it will try to jump out, but if you put it in at room temperature and bring the heat up slowly it will just bathe-away until it's someone's dinner.  No matter which side of the boiled frog as food conversation you shake out on, the concept is not much different than the life we often find ourselves in........the slow changes in life that we don't even realize are happening until something truly boils over.....we often see it with people who get "the talk" from their doctor about their health and decide to turn the ship around.....but it happens to all of us....we so often are a product of our environment/social circle that we forget to realize the effect, good or bad it's having. 


For me, it seems I was slow-cooking myself to an injury by eeking every last mile out of my running shoes......most people agree that getting 350-500 miles out of a pair of shoes is about right, with the extremists claiming to get more.....if you do the math, this means about 6months to a year (max) for a typical runner. Sure, that's a pretty wide range, but there are a lot of variables at play that can accelerate the material breakdown....

• how old are the shoes?  Born-on-dating anyone?
• Are you a "clydesdale" or "athena" (triathlon's way of saying "of larger frame")?  
• What surface are you running on primarily (concrete being harder than well groomed trail)?  
• Where do you strike (heel vs. mid vs. forefoot)?  
• What weather are you running in (dry vs. hot vs. cold, etc)?  
• Are you prone to injuries or pain syndromes? 
• And probably some others that I don't give much emphasis to (or I'm forgetting)

For me, I'm a pretty medium build most of the time (getting damn near "small" lately though....mixed feelings about this), I run on all sorts of surfaces, but mostly road surfaces so firm to hard, I started as a heel-striker, but as I learned more about efficient mechanics I refashioned my gait to primarily a mid-foot strike pattern.  I run in all types of weather and although I've had my share of lower extremity aches/pains (especially of the knees), I'm usually pretty resilient to injury.


But recently, which I've posted, I've had some discomfort off and on in my R (back of the) knee......where a bunch of muscle tissue comes together (hamstrings, calf-group, popliteus).  It has been feeling pretty good lately, but it's definitely the longer or harder runs that seem to flare things up......it's been dragging on too long for my liking so it was time to start picking apart the issue.  And so, I decided to look back and see if/how my shoes were contributing......not good.


I bought the pair I've been wearing in November 2008.  YIKES!  Not exactly practicing what I was preaching about 6-12 months.  I knew it was going to be over, but I really didn't realize I was pushing it so far.  In early January of 2009 when I stopped tracking this particular pair of shoes I had an estimated 410 miles on them.  I actually bought another pair of the same shoes, wore through them during 2009-10 training and once they (pair-2) were completely shot, (and perhaps forgetting how far gone pair-1 actually were), went back to pair-1 sometime last fall when I couldn't stomach paying any more for hobby-gear.


My training log from there says I put another 70-ish miles on them, but I didn't log anything from November through Early December when I was training casually (off season).......so I'm figuring I was probably up around 600 miles on these shoes......a high potential for the aches/pains I was experiencing being at least in part due to shoes.  But it wasn't until I looked at the tread-wear compared to the new shoes that I realized my pot was boiling......


I decided to go with something that would hold me a bit more neutral on my R this time around (video at some point maybe), but essentially the same shoe.....Brooks Defyance (old) and Brooks Glycerin (new).  See if you can tell which is which.

  

OK, so not terrible so far right?  Besides the dirt and some curvature that the feet cause after 600 miles....the old shoes look....uh, old.  

Maybe you can spot why it was time to replace from the next few pictures....

                    

  

And so, I'll be monitoring my symptoms closely over the next 100 miles or so.....


WEEK IN REVIEW

I love recovery week......it's not easy, but you feel like you have so much more time and by the end of the week, the body and mind are ready to get back to action.  Was scheduled for just over 9 hours of training and got just over 8 (missed one of my swims mid-week).  Feeling recharged though.  Despite arguably one of the 10 worst runs ever on Saturday (wind was brutal and I totally missed the mark in planning my "ensemble"), the run on Thursday was strong, the ride on Saturday was solid and I felt good in the pool today once I got my rhythm.


Nutrition


My intake this week left a little to be desired......I battle sometimes with the need to eat and the desire to eat healthy.  Couple that with running all over the place last week and I missed too many meals.  My weight is showing it, I lost almost 3 lbs by Friday, but I stepped it up this weekend and should be back on track.  I'm sure for many people this sounds like a great thing.....but it's not....it so important to ease the weight down and not fluctuate too much if I'm going to get the most performance bang for the buck.....I'm about 4lbs off race day weight and in the single digits of body fat.....need to plateau for a little while.


NEXT WEEK
Going to be tricky to pull this one off.....got lots of hours to log and a busy week.  Nothing a little creativity can't take care of though right?  We'll see.




I wish you the best, because that's what you deserve (Harry Harrison)


Mike E.

#12 Break on through; SET.........pull

Training is a finely tuned game of details.  Push a little bit, back off to recover, push a little more, back it down again, etc.  The push can be intensity, duration or frequency, but the back-off part of this balance might just be the more important part of the equation if the goal is to keep building.  Not only from an injury standpoint, but from a performance standpoint as well.


In part, this is real-life wisdom gained by people who have either pushed too hard (incredibly common) and blown-up somewhere along the training route (or worse yet during the race), or the people who didn't work as hard as they could have and were faced with the constant nagging of the "could-a, should-a".  However one renowned MD/Researcher, Dr. Herbert Benson (formerly of Harvard and the author of "the relaxation response") has shown that this breakthrough, or "breakout" as he and his coauthor call it, is a predictable response, something you can actually work for.....you just have to put a 1908 law of Psychology (Yerkes-Dodson) to work for you.  This law, which says that as you increase the stress on the system, it will get more efficient and performance will increase.....but only to a point......(perhaps a less famous way of saying "that which doesn't kill you will make you stronger") and it's an unbelievably important concept for any athlete, especially the endurance athlete to deeply understand......It is at this point, when the springboard is really loaded up (so says Benson), that you just have to let-go......and go you will!



Because of the sheer volume of training required to complete an ultra-distance race like an Ironman, so much can go wrong by not understanding and internalizing this concept.....too much struggle and overuse/over-training/burnout will set in.  Too little struggle and you simply won't be prepared by race day.  To a certain extent, the knowledge gained from years of PT Practice, working with athletes (which if you ever read the walls at Pro-Activity you'll understand is something we consider every person) at all levels coupled with a fairly diverse personal sports background has been an advantage for me, in that not only have I had some personal experience with this balance, but I understand the science behind what I'm feeling and can therefore make a pretty quick determination of whether it's just "hurt" or truly "harm".  That said, being relatively new to endurance-sports (first event was the 2008 Philly Marathon), I've still had the "luxury" of learning several lessons the hard way.....but I think a breakout might just be on the horizon.


WEEK IN REVIEW - Training
This week felt to me like the springboard may be loading up.....14 hours of training, which is still a bit light (would've liked to get in a little more work in the pool and possibly 1 more run), but the workouts were much higher quality this week.  Did a "self-select" run on Monday and felt great.....not only did the body feel good, the speed was faster than I expected over the +/- 6mi. and the hammy-area is almost pain-free (YES)!  Was able to get in a solid "long run" (14 miles) mid week, even if I got some crap about my cool hat and reflector vest and felt about as strong as I could hope for on the monster-brick (5hr bike + 1hr run) on Saturday.  My body was fatigued for my swim today which forced me to cut back on it some (there's that balancing act again), but I'm now into a recovery week.....time to "let go"......and I'm ready.


Nutrition
Things are on track so far......have gotten a few "did you lose weight?" questions recently, without any significant whispering about looking ill, which, if you read my post from a few weeks back, says that I'm not at race weight just yet.  I'm probably about 7lbs off, which puts me about where I should be.  I still need to put more into my nutrition/hydration though.  I thought after last week's miscalculation on calorie intake during the "long day" I got it right this time......nope.  I managed to take in more calories, but still wound up down 4 lbs by the end of the workout........I really have to get this right b/c if I'm losing this much fluid in NJ over 6 hours, I can only imagine what the dry air of Utah is going to do to me over 12hrs........thankfully, it's not thaaaat far off.....I'm not experiencing any real symptoms of dehydration or hyponatremia (low sodium)......but this is going to be huge on race day, so it's a training variable I have to get under control.


Mindset
Happy to be going into a recovery week......I'm not completely spent, but I'm definitely tired and can use a little recharge.  Have to say though, youtube comes in handy here.....don't know if it's just hearing Al Trautwig's voice bringing me back to Yankees Baseball on MSG, or the truly extraordinary stories that come out of this Ironman thing.....


Check out this one, which tells the story of Blazeman, an "every-man" afflicted with a death sentence of the worst kind who told his family that he would finish even if they had to roll him across the finish line.......if you can watch this video and not be moved or inspired to get up, get moving and breakthrough today.....I suggest you check your pulse.


Love a little.....that's what it's all about (Craig Matthews)


Mike E.

#11 get tough cupcake......no one said this was easy!

I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.



To just "fit in" the 15-17 hours per week of dedicated training time (not to mention the prep, recovery, fuel, etc) is a serious task.....one that is forever complicated by those other little details in life that seem to keep popping up (full time job, a busy spouse, a trio of active kids, etc).   Sometimes I have to remind myself of a very simple, yet incredibly powerful statement:  

life is hard....stop whining  

Although much more eloquently stated in The Road Less Traveled (the book, not the Frost Poem): No one said it would be easy, it's not going to get easy anytime soon and you wouldn't value it as much if it were......once you get over and accept that Life is indeed hard (for you and EVERYONE ELSE), you'll stop crying about it and just get on with "doing the hard stuff" already.....then AND ONLY THEN will things get easier.


Last week was one of those weeks.  My body was sore and tired and my mind was anything but focused.  My training volume was down some, the quality of my workouts were good, but not great......is this really worth the effort?


Sure, dips in motivation are to be expected, which is why I built a recovery week into my training plan, but this had a lot of the features of burnout.....so after my frazzled ramblings last week I decided to try to dust myself off and start rolling my boulder up the hill again.  And ultimately, I'm glad I did.


Week in Review:


Training: This week, not only did I get around 13 hours of solid training into another hectic week (15-17 would've been ideal, but it was hectic) but I made some solid progress toward the end-goal.  

• In the pool, I'm continuing to progress and feel like if I keep doing things right, I should peak at the right time.....I did 80 laps today, which besides insanely boring, is roughly the distance of the swim.  I was definitely tired by the end and my shoulders were nearing their limit.....but again, huge mental lift to know that I'm within striking distance.....

• On the Bike, I got over "the hill" once (check out the map below courtesy of MapMyRide which shows the roughly 25-30 mile climb, sort of like stair steps).  Getting over that beast was HUGE for me.  Not only was it hard, my legs were like jell-o by the end of the workout, but it was a major mental lift......of course on race day, I get to do it twice.....so I've got some work to do yet.....but this was a definite victory.

• Surprisingly, on the run, my legs felt good on the flat of the treadmill after the 4+ hours on the bike.....stronger than I expected....obviously the treadmill is not the same as the uphills I'm expecting in Utah.....so way too early to be excited about it, but progress here too.

Nutrition:  Saturday's workout was my long one.....4.25 hour bike bricked with .75 run.  I consumed an estimated 1800 calories, which included nearly 120oz (a gallon is 128 for reference) of fluid, pretty good I thought......somehow I still managed to lose 3.5 lbs during the workout.  Mostly fluid loss of course (even though I probably burned somewhere around 2700 calories)....but I still need to work on this.....it's way too much loss in one workout and in general, I should be striving for caloric neutral at this point.  Otherwise, nutrition has been decent.


Mindset: As mentioned above was feeling a little rattled and the little nicks & bumps I'm sustaining, the latest being the back of the R knee (popliteus, hamstrings & gastroc) hasn't been a huge help here.  Thankfully, it is improving.......and although my brain knows that the volume of training definitely lends itself to the ebb and flow of over-training boo-boos, it's pretty annoying.  Overall though, ready to take another step forward.


Bye now keemosabe, (Dan Ingram)


Mike E.