A blog about triathlon, running, and other endurance stuff I like to do

Have you ever been long-into a ride, run, or swim and you just reach that mental exhaustion point?  I don’t mean your legs are tired or your heart and lungs are bursting… you’re chugging along and sorta just reach a point where mentally you just don’t have the desire to move that leg or arm one more time.  For me this happens on a regular basis; not frequently but definitely regularly.  It’s an odd feeling.  If it happens on a run it’s like I just don’t want to run any more and suddenly I have to really focus and just keep the legs moving and telling them to move.

I’m no psychologist and don’t really feel like I’ve got any real mental insights but I do have some anecdotal results that lead me to believe something… if you try to smile during those times it seems easier to keep going.  I know, sounds really cheezy and crazy but I’m telling you: try it sometime.  Now, the key is not to just force an awkward, non-real smile but to think of something that genuinely makes you smile.  You have to really focus on it, try to remember all the details surrounding the thought and then let yourself enjoy the moment.

I sometimes think about funny things my kids have done or said.  Or, I think about things I really enjoy doing like going boating at Lake Powell, or skiing on a bright sunny day in fresh powder, or eating really good food at my favorite restaurant.  Sometimes I think about funny things that haven’t actually happened but that might happen… like, “what if I lost my balance on this treadmill and just wiped-out all over the place, right in front of all these other people pounding away in their own little iPod-trance-worlds?”  Today, at mile 7 of my run, I saw that Volkswagon commercial with the little kid dressed as Darth Vader… what a great commercial and it made me really smile.  You get the idea… just something to focus on other than the monotony, the pounding, the breathing, etc.  And, somehow when that smile breaks out you feel a little lighter, a little less tired, and a little more elevated.

I saw this funny video today and thought I’d share it… next time your needing a little lift just think about this dude getting pummeled by the guys in the boats.

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Yesterday, the MLK holiday, I returned home from a 4-day training camp held in St. George by Coach Keena.  It was a great preview of the Ironman St. George course and we had several days of unbelievable weather, great training, and some good coaching and insights into how to be better triathletes.

Friday consisted of of travel to St. George and a 9 mi. run along one of the toughest hill sections of the marathon course.  We started in downtown St. George, headed North and West until reaching Bluff St.  North along Bluff until Red Cliffs Drive.  This is where the good climb started.  South up Red Cliffs and along that road until we each did about 45 minutes.  The idea was to do a good 90 minute run along the course.  Coming back down we really picked up the pace and ran hard the entire way back.  It was a tough run but it felt so great to be outside and have weather warm enough to wear shorts and a light sweatshirt.

After heading back to the condo Friday night I inspected my bike — hadn’t ridden it since my crash in early December!  Days earlier everything looked ok when I did a visual inspection.  However, when I actually ran through the gears I found the rear derailleur was bent and interfered with the rear wheel spokes.  I panicked, what was I going to do for the big ride the next day?  Luckily I found some simple tools and with pliers, a hammer, and some pounding I was able to straighten the bent piece.  However, now the shift alignment was the same as it had been and the gears were ghost shifting, etc.  Quick use of the trusty iPhone and YouTube and I was messing around with high/low limiters and trying to get the shifting dialed-in.  I’m no expert, never adjusted shifters before, but I have to say I’m pleased… the bike is shifting better than it EVER has after having it “tuned up” at the local bike shop!  Sorta makes me wonder what I’ve been paying for!!

Saturday consisted of a good swim workout at the local pool which started at 6:30 a.m.  I didn’t sleep well Friday night (probably got a total of 3 hrs. sleep) and finally just got up at 5 a.m., made some breakfast and headed to the pool early.  I was the first car in the parking lot so I relaxed in the warm car for about 15 minutes until the remainder of the group arrived.  Great workout with lots of pointers and tips from Coach Keena.

Ready to head out on the 46-mi Veyo loop

Saturday we had a group dinner at the Pizza Factory — we refueled with pasta, salad, chicken, and vegetables. It was a tasty meal followed by some nutrition training specifically for race-day and planning the right amount of calories during the right times. It doesn’t matter how hard you train if you run out of calories. Can you say “BONK“? Poor nutrition planning and you’ll be out of the race.

After swimming we had about an hour to change and get ready for the bike ride.  We did a 46 mile loop from St. George out to Gunlock Reservoir, up several “wall” hill climbs to Veyo and then back to the starting point.  Strong headwinds near Gunlock made it a slow, painful grind to the top of the loop. A few of the climbs were about 18% grade; yes, that’s pretty steep!  Boy, was I glad when that ride was over.  Roads weren’t very smooth so LOTS of vibrations; that made for some saddle soreness — youch!  Probably one of the toughest rides I’ve been on.  Still need to download my Garmin and look at the elevation details, etc.

Top of Snow Canyon, finally a descent!

Sunday – day off and definitely needed.  Took a LONG nap.  Had some great sushi, salmon, and noodles at Samurai 21 that evening for dinner.

After 22 mi ride from Sand Hollow, now ready to RUN!

Monday – met at 8:15 a.m. to caravan to Sand Hollow reservoir for our bike ride.  It was a great 22 mile ride although it was pretty painful to get back in the saddle!  The ride has lots of up-n-down hills but none of them are real killers (those are saved for the Veyo loop!) and ended at Chuckwalla trail head where we transitioned to a 6 mi run.  We decided to trail run as traffic on the IMSG course was heavy and the soft trail would be a nice relieve on joints, etc.  The run was just incredible — sunny skies and about 60 degrees plus lots of beautiful red rock scenery!  It was a great end to the amazing training camp… now I sort-of wish I was committed to doing Ironman St. George!!

Overlook from Gila trail at about mile 3

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Finally, the holidays are behind us!  Don’t get me wrong, I love the Christmas season and all that it represents but this year seemed a little off.  Not really sure why but somehow it feels good to have the weight and stress of the season over with and looking forward to the new year.

This past week has been terrible from an eating perspective.  Holiday treats are about my very most favorite thing — I think it started with my mom many years ago when she would make the most gourmet sweets… hand dipped caramels, the smooothest fudge, home-made peanut butter cups, tediously fashioned ‘thin mints’, turtles, the crispest and lightest peanut brittle (may have been a little Davis family secret recipe goin’ on there), and even some divinity on occasion.  The kitchen would be lined with candy tins full of all the holiday cheer.  Now, the torch has passed to my wife and she does an equally amazing job.  Seems that one of her goals is to make more candy than can possibly be consumed by the seven individuals in our home.  The holidays would be a great time for some natural disaster to occur — we’d have so much candy on hand we could just hunker down at home and not even venture out for weeks!

I’ve done my share and tried to consume that candy so it doesn’t go to waste.  Unfortunately, after all the sugar and fat intake I’ve felt old, tired, and sluggish for too long.  Today I finally got back to the “routine” and after some good core and upper-body strength training I actually looked forward to 90 minutes of cardio.  60 on the bike followed by 30 on the treadmill.  It left me feeling comfortably spent.  40 lbs-ago I used to just feel absolutely exhausted after just 30 minutes of cardio (running, circuit training or whatever).  Now, 90 minutes leaves me feeling invigorated, even energized for the remainder of the day.  When I don’t get that heart-rate going for a while in the morning I just feel like a sack of goo all day; plus, the low-back doesn’t ever loosen up either.

I don’t have to make New Year’s resolutions just yet… but this past week has given me a few ideas

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Felt great today — good little workout with some weights and then 20 mi on the bike and a quick 30-min run afterward.  Energy was good but….

The winter training hasn’t bothered me yet, until today.  There was a distant, nagging feeling in the back of my mind.  Started to have that anxiety feeling, the one that’s way back there like somebody following you in the midst of a crowd.  There doesn’t seem to be an immediate threat but you know its there and you can feel it.  You sorta hope it will go away but you’re really just kidding yourself because you know it will catch-up to you sooner or later.  I hate that part of the winter… the dread of getting on an exercise bike or on that treadmill one more time when it’s cold and gray outside.  Bleh.

After getting home from the gym and taking care of some business items I started doing some research on shoes, specifically trail running shoes.  Type, <enter>, click, click, click, and I found myself watching a video of something that gave me some inspiration:  Navy SEAL David Goggins.  This guy is just amazing.   He started extreme endurance events to “test his soul”.  He runs 450 miles per week!  My favorite line from the video is where he says,

“I don’t just train for an hour or so, I train until something is uncomfortable, and that’s when you know who you are.”

Enjoy these videos and let me know what you think.

 

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Winter is a tough time for people to train. I love getting out side on the bike and for a good run or even going to the lake for a weekly open-water swim. Now, I’m basically relegated to the indoor pool, exercise bike (or trainer or spin bike), and mostly the treadmill.

Everything I read says that Winter should be your “base” building months.  So, I guess that’s what I’m going to do.  Still no concrete race plan for 2011 so I don’t have any targets yet.  Can I go wrong if I just work on my base?  Really, the thing I’m most worried about is my run; it’s the weakest of the three legs for me and I’ve always told myself that, “I hate running.”  Finally after last year’s efforts I think I’ve gotten over the hump with my running and find that I can actually enjoy it now.  Just need to sit down and figure out what the strategy is now… how much and how often should I be running.  Seems like 10k, 3 times a week would be a good start.  Ah, the challenges of trying to self-coach!  Someday, when I’ve got lots of extra play money I’d love to have a coach do all the “thinking” for my training.  Seems like it would be so nice just to show-up and do the training and workouts — that’s the easy part

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Couldn’t swim today because the scrapes and cuts are still too fresh.  Plus, it will probably gross-out anybody else in the pool!  Mon & Wed are my usual swim days; I still got up at 4:40 a.m. and head to the gym.  Got there a smidge after 5 and wanted to get a good cardio effort in today.  Just for fun I checked the pool for my swim buddy, Doug.  Nope, he must have been pinned to his bed by the blanket monster.  Slacker!

No strength training today – not enough time.  Rode the bike for 1:15 doing 3×1 intervals; good HR at 145 x 160 for the sprints.  Enjoyed my Stinger Waffle and lots of water; then I had time to get in a few miles on the treadmill before heading home.  1 mile at 7.2, incline 1 then 1 mile at 8.0 incline 2.  It was a good hard push for the finish.  Home by 7 to read and get the kids off to school.

Road rash didn’t bother me too much while working out – still pretty stingy when I get in the shower though.  Ouch.  I’m hoping that in 5 to 7 days I can get back in the pool and be back to a full regiment.  Just have to wait and see…. patients, young Grasshopper.

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After yesterdays bike crash I was pretty mad – just mad that I let it happen.  Mad that my favorite jersey and my favorite (not to mention expensive) jacket is now garbage.  Don’t feel like I can just go out and blow a bunch of money to replace everything.  So, that may mean no outdoor winter riding this winter.  Hello spin bike, trainer, gym bikes… hello boredom!

That anger fueled me into working out today.  I knew the road rash would be uncomfortable and knew I’d get a few looks for others at the gym but I didn’t care — got some strength training in and then ran 5 mi. on the treadmill.  Actually, the road rash didn’t really bother me until sweat started running onto it; that stings.

After a good session I always feel better.  A little better adjusted and de-stressed and a little better perspective on things.  Clothes can always be replaced.  Just really glad I didn’t sustain any serious injuries – crashing at 26 mph could have been oh-so-much-worse.

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It was the warmest day we’ve had here in a while and a friend sent me a txt around noon asking if I wanted to go riding today.  It was about 50 degrees and a ride sounded great!  Too much time on the bike indoors gets really boring and getting out on the roads would be awesome.

We headed out on a favorite ride of ours.  It’s about 47 miles total and covers a good portion of the Utah Half 70.3 triathlon course.  Winds were non-existent and we made good time through the country roads.  Very little traffic was out and it was just a great ride.

On the home-stretch there is a long, flat section that we really like; it’s great for a pace-line and just mashing out some speed.  We were cookin’ along at about 26 mph and I was in second position in the line.  I looked ahead, then down at the lead’s wheel, maintaining a close but safe distance.  Suddenly the front rider slowed down; no brakes applied but he stopped pedaling and the wind resistance slowed him down quickly.  Just then I glanced up to see three large St. Bernard dogs running at us from a farm house that we were passing.  My friend in front turned slightly to move further into the road just as my front wheel had overlapped his rear wheel by mere inches.

Out tires connected and my front wheel was quickly push out and away from my bike causing me to slowly begin to tip over.  Not much I could do but watch and realize that I was going down!

Most of the ground impact was on my forearm and elbow.  I tucked, ducked, and rolled to a stop in the road.  Ouch!  Everything on me seemed to hurt for a few moments.  Then I looked over myself and tried to asses the damage.  Good road rash on my right leg, mostly my upper outside thigh and knee.  Elbow took a good blunt-force blow and I thought something might have been broken.

In the end, luckily, there are no serious injuries.  Just about ALL of my cold weather riding gear is shredded — shorts, jacket, jersey, gloves, leggings, shoe covers… all just toast.  Now that I realize I’m pretty much ok I’m starting to get miffed at the total $$ damage to my gear.  Gave the bike a quick once-over and I think everything is ok there — the bike really didn’t take any impact; that was all on me

Moral of the story?  Stuff happens.  I don’t believe this accident was anybody’s fault.  However, I will definitely pay more attention next time even when I’m not the lead in the pace line.

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It was great to be back at it early today.  This past weekend was a big-fat zero for workouts.  After being worn down throughout all of last week I didn’t get up Saturday until about 9 a.m.  Too much to do with Christmas fast-approaching and lots of little projects that have been pushed off.  So, it was a catch-up day at home.  Did some shopping and made the mistake of visiting Cabela’s at about 1 p.m.  There were about a million people there and the checkout lines were about a 30-minute wait.

Sunday is always my rest day so no workouts there either.  We finally pulled out the Christmas tree and while my kids were decorating I seemed to just drift-off to sleep on the couch.  Only a short snooze but I felt much better after my lazy-day nap!  After enjoying Sunday dinner with my in-laws it was off for an early bed-time.  By about 9:30 p.m. I was fast asleep.

So, as 4:30 a.m. rolled around I felt pretty good.  Not too bad pulling-out of my groggy sleep state.  After a quick banana and filling my blender-bottle with some morning nutrition it was off to the pool.  I arrived a few minutes after 5 a.m. and my swim buddy, Doug, was already warming up.

Today’s swim workout consisted of 2×100 warm-up.  3×500 focusing on technique and working on better bi-lateral breathing.  I still am not real smooth when breathing on the left side but am seeing some improvement.  One of the 500′s I used a pool buoy and worked on lengthening my stroke — still trying to get my strokes per lap down around 15.  Took a lesson from local pro Heath Thurston and one of the many good pointers I got was that my stroke was too fast and I could be more efficient.  After the core workout I did another 500 cool-down; slow ‘n steady just focusing on all aspects of my technique and form.  Total yardage: 2200.

After the swim I had time to get in some strength training.  As usual, I did about 15 minutes of core; single-leg planks, ab bench with 35lbs added, invert situps with 45 lb plate, leg lifts.  Followed that with chest/tri circuit and was done by 6:50 a.m.

Post workout nutrition – still wondering what I can do better here… just basically had a recovery protein shake with some extra carbs added in the form of natural honey.  As I’ve been watching my caloric intake lately I think I need to bump it up a bit.  So, I’ve started adding honey.  I get my honey from a friend of mine who owns a premium honey business, Budge’s Honey.  This is the best-tasting honey I’ve ever had!  My daughter, who tells me she hates honey says, “I love Budge’s Honey!”

How can I describe it?  If honey were a rock band most honey would be like… Spinaltap; Budge’s Honey is like Dave Mathews.

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Don’t know the rest of you are with your training but I definitely have days where I feel absolutely worn-down, weak, and like my limbs are made of lead.  Then, there are other days, like today, where I feel like an absolute super hero.

I started today with some strength training.  A good set of core exercises followed by some shoulders and upper-body weights.  I was feeling pretty good after that and decided that I’d start my cardio with some time on the bike.

I ride an upright-stationary bike that has power output on it.  I usually like to do 3 x 1 minute intervals with my 1 minute segments targeting about 160 to 165 HR and about 300 watts.  The 3-minute “rest” sections are usually at 140 to 145 HR and 200 watts.  I run those intervals for 60 minutes and find this is a pretty good workout for me.  Whenever possible I always try to run at least 1 mile after a bike session.   I like to run my post-bike mile at about 7.5 min/mi.

Today seemed different and for some reason today I was able to sustain 225 watts (25 higher than my usual) and keep my HR at a good 140 to 145.  I felt good so I cranked up the output during my sprint sections and was pumping out 350 watts.  I kept having to reign myself in as I felt like a had more energy than usual.  My cadence kept creeping up to 110 or so; I usually like to have my cadence around 95 to 100.

After the bike I jumped on the treadmill and started my 1 mile usual deal.  I quickly had 3 miles knocked out and still was breathing slow & steady and was still breathing with my mouth closed and my HR steady at 150-ish.  I bumped up the pace for another mile.  Then I still felt like there was a lot of room to go so I put the treadmill up to a 2.0 incline and 7 min/mi.  That got things pumping.  After 1 mi at the high intensity I was maxed.  I slowed it down to a cool-down pace for about 5 minutes.  After my HR recovered I still felt REALLY good — so I decide to knock out 1 more mile at my normal pace.  Putting in 6.2 miles total.

I’m still trying to figure out why I felt so good.  I haven’t had any rest days and certainly haven’t gotten any extra sleep.  The one thing I’ve changed over the past week or so was the addition of a new supplement I’ve been trying called Extreme Endurance.  It is supposed to reduce lactic acid and increase aerobic threshold.  Well, if today’s workout can be attributed to this product than I am sold!  I have a starter pack that lasts two weeks — after that I’ll have to re-evaluate and decide if I should get some more.  So far it seems like great stuff.

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