I have to say… yesterday was a crap-shoot in terms of training. After such a great day of training on Sunday, my legs were tired and my energy was low. After a long day of being on my feet at work, the last thing I wanted to do was train. So I didn’t. The guilt I felt was not what I would like to feel often in the next few months leading up to Ironman. I think there needs to be some leeway in letting me bail from training. Maybe a couple “get out of jail” free cards a week. Or better yet, a realistic schedule. I am meeting with my coach on Wednesday, so I will talk to her about it. Also, I know that I need to set my Ironman a little higher on my priority list. The hard part of training for Ironman isn’t just the physical part, it’s the commitment part; one must give up certain things in order to train. So I’ve decided that I won’t go to any shows that fall on a weeknight, that includes Sunday.

That being said, this morning I went for a stellar run! A 4.8km run with some sprint intervals in there. It felt good, even if the wind was fairly cold on my face. This morning it is -8oC and a pretty strong 17km/hr wind, making the windchill -15. Winter is here, my friends, and it’s only going to get colder. While I’m not always “for” cold, I definitely like the crispness of the air in the morning, as the sun starts peaking over the horizon. Ahhh, winter. There’s nothing quite like it.

Tonight at running, we did a lot of short intervals. It was hard, but good. And I didn’t even feel like I was going to throw up!

It helped that I ate some good food before I went. I also had a smoothie which helped with keeping my intensity. My smoothies include soy milk, frozen berries, hemp seed, and frozen bananas. So good! I love the smoothie train.

So tonight, we did 4 sets that went like this:
5 x 200m in 26 seconds, 26 second rest
5 minute rest between sets

It was good to remember what it’s like to be consistent and find a rhythm that works well. We kept the intensity up and our group even did our last 200s in 25 seconds. While I think that this work is a little “exact” to be doing for triathlons, it really helps with form and finding a rhythm. It also helps to work on form. Apparently triathletes are known for their poor form. I’m definitely working on mine and these workouts will definitely help. My coach used to be a hurdler here, so he is all about form. While some people think that he’s too intense and too hard on us, I think that we are lucky to have him coaching our club.

Workout ratings:
Energy level: 9/10
Skills worked on: 8/10
Fun level: 9/10
Overall: 9/10 – a great workout!

This is my own concoction that I throw together every once in a while. I made it last night and had leftovers today. I absolutely LOVE making and eating it. This is what I do:
~ Start stir-frying the onions, gardlic, carrots, and green peppers until the carrots are softish. I add the curry powder, cumin, and turmeric while it’s all cooking together.
~ I then put in the chickpeas and stewed tomatoes, and add some more curry powder and cumin. And then add a little salt. Let it simmer until the rice is done…. Voila! Crystal’s Chickpea Curry! So easy, nutritious, and tasty!

I usually eat it with brown rice, which I start at least 15 minutes before I start stirfrying the vegetables.

In total, I made enough for 4 servings, which would be about 12 grams of protein from the stirfry and rice together. Last night I had two servings and today I ate two servings as well.

Nutritional breakdown:
Chickpeas, 1cup:

Tomatoes, canned, whole, no salt added, 1 cup:

Carrots, raw, chopped, 1 cup:

Brown rice, long-grained, 1 cup:

Yesterday, I did what I am considering these days as a “long” run. An easy pace for 8.75km along the river. The run started out kind of painfully. My shoulders were tight and my glutes were screaming at me. It must be residual from Tuesdays painful run. After I did a thorough dynamic warm-up and took it easy for the first kilometre or so, I settled in. I haven’t went on a longish run like that in a while, so I wasn’t sure how I would feel. It took a long time to warm-up and get my rhythm, but I did eventually get it. It was after about 6 kilometres that I felt like I could run forever. I love that point in a run. The point where everything feels loose and good, the breathing is even and uninhibited, and there is nothing that is hurting… and I feel like I could run forever, Forrest Gump-style.

After the run, I did a 40-minute yoga session from my “Power Yoga for Happiness” DVD that I absolutely love. I did the workout called “Daily Dose of Bliss” and it was quite blissful. After that, I felt good and grounded for the rest of the day. Not to mention thoroughly stretched and limber. I love yoga!

This morning, I woke up at the crack of 9:30 and decided to go swimming at the YWCA. I did a continuous swim for 2200 yards. I discovered that either I swimming extremely fast 500m intervals or it was a shorter pool. I think it’s the latter. It was a good swim, but nothing really to write home about. Other than my shoulders feel tight now. That’ll work itself out tonight at running, I suppose.

Settling into a routine is key in training this far in advance for one race. The pot of gold at the end of this very long rainbow is hard to see, so it’s important to incorporate the workouts into my daily life.

Lately, I’ve been having a hard time settling into this routine. It’s mostly because of my hectic and chaotic life at the moment. Working shifts and trying to fit in workouts is fairly difficult. This summer it was much easier because everyday I worked the same hours. It’s basically a mental hurdle that I have to get over… and soon.

Last night I had a good session at swimming from 10-11pm. I’m enjoying the late-night sessions because they tend to not interfere with the evening, which is nice. The session went like this…
300m warm-up, choice of stroke
4×50m, 25m skull/swim (skull=arms-only)
25m drill/swim
6 x 100m freestyle, 5-10 seconds slower than race pace
200m non-freestyle
6 x 50m, 25m kick/25m swim
6 x 100m freestyle, at race pace
200m cooldown
Total= 2400m

I swim in a lane with 2 other girls who are a bit faster than me. This is a good thing because it makes me kick it up a notch. Last night I started to throw in the ol’ flip-turns, which I haven’t done in a long time. I basically have to do the flip-turns because the other girls do them. It also makes everything faster and smoother. Plus, I don’t get that extra breath of air when turning, which I tend to rely on too often. It’s taken me a while to get back into flip-turns because I only do them when I’m truly comfortable with swimming and my stroke.

I go back-and-forth on whether flip-turns are useful or not because they are never used in triathlons. However, I’ve come to learn that they are useful in the pool. When you’re swimming and get to the end of the length of the pool, stopping your whole body to change directions stops the flow of the stroke. When flip-turns are used, it keeps the flow going. This is key in a triathlon and I think that flip-turns might be good for this. At the same time, they are hard and sometimes I get water up my nose. Because I taught myself how to do them and I’ve never had it verified that they are correct, I’m a little self-conscious about them. I’m worried that I flip crookedly or that my push isn’t right and that I’ll be judged by the others. Sometimes the ego gets in the way of training. It’s kind of weird, but it is a barrier that I need to get over. Perhaps I’ll talk to my coach about my flip-turns. That’s what she’s there for!

This swim session was really good for my form. I actually felt like my stroke was coming together. I’ve been a fairly good swimmer for most of my life and I’ve been coached for a while, but my freestyle stroke always needs improving. Last night I tried to experiment with my hand and thumb position in the water. Trying to make it more like a spoon and less like a fork. I am slowly, but surely learning to push the water with my hand, not move my hand through the water. Pushing and feeling the water on my arm and hand is key in accelerating the stroke and pushing the whole body forwards. In triathlon, it is important that one doesn’t use up their legs during the swim. It is very important that most of the swim is done with the arms. It’s really the only time that the arms should really be tired. The rest of the race, they are just making things less difficult for the legs. It is important that I work on this now so that I can work on speed and endurance in the next phases of my training.

I just wish the biking and running would be at this same point. That’s where settling into the rhythm of my workouts is key. Rhythms of the workouts, of the stroke, of each step and breath, and of each pedal. Triathlon is really about rhythm. Three different rhytms put together in one race. I love this sport.

It would be really great if we could just get along. Cooperation will get us a long way and right now we’re not cooperating very well. I understand that you’re a little sore and I can give a little leeway, but soon you’re going to have to keep up with me. Especially if we’re going to do Ironman in under 13 hours.

Tonight at swimming, you were definitely performing better than in the recent past. Your performance went well with my yogi focus. Soon enough, we will be a swimming machine. Tonight we did 2400m in under an hour. We can do better.

Thanks for listening.

Yours truly,
Crystal’s brain

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness… an athlete’s enemy. I have been plagued by DOMS ever since Sunday, but I have walked, run, biked, stretched, and swam through the pain. I actually think that it has helped. On Monday I was pretty sore, but I did yoga in the morning, worked all day, and still managed to swim over 3000m at our coached swim session that night. However, I ended up with a headache at the end from my sore neck – a chriopractor appointment was made.

On Tuesday, I got up early and wanted to go for a run. I thought I’d take it easy since my hamstrings and glutes were pretty sore. Just a slow 5km run. It turned out to be THE SLOWEST 5km I’ve run in a while. My legs were so sore. It took me over 45 minutes to run the short route I had set out. It was brutal. Nonetheless, I had to go to work, where I walked almost the whole day. Most of the day was spent in pain, but by the end of the day I felt a lot better. My legs had loosened up and my back was feeling a bit looser.

I made my appointment with the chiropractor to be after work, so I had to sprint there on my bike to make it on time. He said that considering the amount and type of exercise I’m getting, my body is handling it very well. I give a lot of credit to doing yoga 3-4 times a week. I’ll have to tell him that next time. I’m basically going to have to go see him every 2 weeks for as long as I’m training the amount that I am. I’m pretty okay with that because it really seems to help my body recover faster and I have little to no back pain anymore. That is worth it in my books. My chiropractor and I have just had our 1-year anniversary. Happy Anniversary!

I ended up taking Tuesday night off because I was bagged, but I’ve been doing a lot of biking lately sprinting on my commuting rides so I don’t feel that bad. Today is Wednesday and I am taking it off. That’s right, another Wednesday off. I think I am going to play Wednesdays by ear. If I feel ambitious and well-rested, then I will do a workout, but if I’m just not feeling it, I’m not going to push myself. 5am is very early to wake up and it really does mess up my body for the rest of the day. However, it’s a whole day that I’m not sure I can afford to take off. From past experience, though, I know that rest is just as important as activity. In all aspects of life.

Today was my first workout in over a week. I had a coached running session with the triathlon club. I thought that it would be no problem because I could go at my own pace, which I mostly did. However, the workout was really hard. We did a circuit session with a 200m sprint in between. The exercises we did were split jumps, push-ups, crunches, back extensions, and toe hops. This is how it worked…
30 seconds of split jumps
200m sprint
30 seconds push-ups
200m sprint
… well, you get the picture. We did that twice. I will repeat myself… OUCH! After the first set my stomach was so not happy and I had to sprint to the bathroom to relieve myself. I felt a lot better after our second set, but I still felt like I was going to throw up.

Also, after we warmed up, my chest started to hurt a little. It went away, though. I couldn’t help but hear my mom’s voice in my head telling me to get my heart checked out before I do the Ironman (I have an irregular heartbeat that I’ve had checked out before and it is perfectly fine). But I didn’t have it the rest of the time, so I think I’ll chalk it up to just muscles jamming on me.

After the drills of death, we did some hurdle work. Since I am significantly shorter than most of the triathlets in our club, I had a lot of trouble with it. Luckily, I am extremely flexible and could get my legs up very high to get over the hurdles. However, it’s the crotch thing that gets me with hurdles. It’s just really uncomfortable. I hope I don’t have any bruises! We basically did a lot of leg lifts and leg kicks. I’ve discovered that I can kick really really high. Good to know.

A week has gone by and I have barely trained. Sometimes life just gets in the way, making it difficult to train. This was one of those weeks. However, I should be back to training by the weekend.

This weekend is the Kona Ironman. Grant Bryden, Saskatoon’s most popular triathlete currently, is down there with his IronMATE Shannon Bews. They are posting blogs on STCI’s bulletin board. Check it out. Saturday is the big race, which can be seen at http://www.ironmanlive.com/. I hope that Grant has a great race!

While Wednesday was technically an “off” day for me, I ended up biking about 15 kilometres commuting, so I’ll count that as a light bike workout. )

This morning I did a 5km run with some short intervals in the middle. It felt good to get back to running after not running for about a week. Tonight was a late-night swim session with the Tri Club and it was pretty good:
200 warmup
4 x 50m, kick/swim
4 x 50m, drill/swim
4 x – 150m free
– 50m nonfree
– 50m fast free
– 50m easy nonfree
4 x 50m, kick/swim
4 x 50m, drill/swim
200m cooldown

Today I ran into a fellow Saskatoonian who’s going to do Ironman next year. She got an online coach, which she says she likes. It’s easier to tell them what she hasn’t done. ) I don’t know, I like the fact that I can call my coach and have a chat with her. I’m feeling very motivated right now, which is different from yesterday when I wasn’t feeling motivated at all. Having a day off work to organize my life was a good thing.

Another Saskatoon triathlete is doing Kona next weekend. He qualified at Ironman Canada, which is awesome. I can’t think of a nicer guy to cheer on. I’m definitely going to be watching it live online. I wonder if some triathletes are getting together to watch it on the small-screen. If so, I’d love to be part of that. Perhaps people could come to my house to watch it. I’m kind of set up for that sort of thing.