The IronBaby

Yes, I am insane

I got up on Saturday morning with the intentions of punishing myself more than ever before in my life.

Went to the pool at about 7:30, did 42 laps in 46 minutes and felt pretty good about it. Paid attention to style and breathing.

Then I went home, got on the bike and started pushing pedals from Westminster towards Boulder. It was cold and windy, I dressed up warm, winter gloves, skull cap (yes, I do learn from past), 2 layers of clothing with a windbreaker jump suit on top. After my nutrition research I decided to switch my food supply to energy gel packs instead of energy bars. The bars have protein and I do remember after my 90 mile bike ride of two weeks ago that those bars were sitting in my stomach like bunch of bricks.

I bought a few Gu and a few Beestinger (made with honey) gel packs. The cashier at Whole Foods suggested Enervitene, and I also found Carb-BOOM on the web. I got something to experiment with. I took it easy on the bike ride, stopped to eat every 45 minutes - the Gu and honey gels are pretty good, stopped at gas stations a couple of times to warm up and have a cup of hot tea with honey. I did 56 miles in reasonable time without being exhausted, changed into dry clothing and proceeded with the run.

I was told that the bike/run changeover is the hardest part of triathlon. No kidding. It took a while to get moving but after a couple of miles I was OK. I was well dressed (1 layer with a windbreaker) I got some reasonable rhytm and started making plans for maybe running 12 miles. How far can I make it? My legs felt a bit tired but didn't hurt, I was really paying attention to my step and to my knees, I was running from my hips (as told by my rolfer Duffy). Things were good for an hour (about the first 6 miles) until I recalled someone stating on the web that you can function out of your reserves for about 45 minutes.

Holy crap, it hit me hard. I could hardly move my legs and the last 3 miles took about 45 minutes. I should have had some Gu with me. I made it home totally exhausted, drank a large cup of hot water with honey and cinnamon, then followed up with a full dose of Hemp organic protein. Went to see a movie with Nancy, periodically feeding myself with oranges, Lara bars and ample supply of water. I cooked chicken with spinach after we came home and consumed quite a bit of it. I stayed away from carbos for the most part.

When I woke up on Sunday morning my legs hurt pretty bad, but I felt them healing. I took the whole day off and consumed mostly protein foods, some vegetarian (tofu, hemp), others animal based (eggs, meat). Treated myself to several hot tub sessions, too.

Lessons learned

1. Carbos before and during workouts. This is not a weight loss exercise anymore. This is about endurance. When I was going for weight loss in the spring, systematically starving my body was a good way to drop some weight (well, not starving but maintaining an energy deficit). This does not apply anymore.
   
2. Proteins immediately after. Apparently my body can do some magical things with proteins. Today is Monday and I was able to run 4+ miles with guys at work. No problems, with only one day of rest after a grueling IronBaby. I am beginning to believe in plant based proteins such as hemp. I also started consuming hemp and olive oils. Other than protein, hemp also provides omega-3 oils, amino acids and all that good stuff. I have never recovered this quick (I am 46 years of age) so I have no choice but to attribute my quick recovery to the hemp protein. Of course all this stuff is organic, natural, etc.
   
3. I can do this. I know I can. The idea right now is to complete, not to compete
   
4. Take a few gel packs with me on the run that takes more than an hour.
   
5. Don't get hurt.

I wanted to see how far I can make it and how bad really is the change from bike to running. It is pretty bad but it's doable. I was taking my sweet time between the discipline changeovers but still managed to finish this in about 8 hours. Which is encouraging. And I ran further than ever before in my life. After 4+ hours on the bike. Not very fast but further!

Training goals

1. Sustain swimming a lap in under a minute. Currently it's about 1:05 - 1:10
2. Sustain 112 miles biking at 18mph @ 155 abpm.
   
3. Sustain 26 miles running at 6.5 mph @ 155 abpm.
4. Do it all in one day.
   

I think all of the above are quite challenging from where I am now. I may need to back off, but I would prefer not to.

Things that will work for me in Florianopolis:

1. Altitude. I am training at 1600 meters above the sea level. Let's see. More oxygen concentration at sea level translates to more oxygen in my blood (my red cells are quite used to living in thin air, therefore binding as much oxygen as they can), which translates to slower heart beat at the same energy output. I think anyway, the reality may be different. One thing I am pretty sure about is that it is not going to work against me.
   
2. Wet suit. Apparently any amateur can wear one. I should probably learn how to swim in it first.
3. Humidity. Two-edged sword. If it's too hot, it may just kill my stamina. Overheating must be one of my concerns. On the other hand, training in the arid Denver area is kind of hard, too. Hmmm, definitely something to keep on my mind.
   

I should probably aim at doing a full test triathlon sometime towards the end of March. That would give me almost two months to recover and improve my endurance. Other than that, I still don't have a training plan. It seems to be kind of materializing. Probably not an ideal situation, but to put it in the words of the wise (rolfer Duffy): "Listen to your body, grasshopper".


What's next?
Take it easy this week, focus on running. Running is my weak spot. I did manage to run for some 45 minutes at 6.1 mph at 155 abpm today. That is very encouraging. I may go swimming once or twice. The plan is to go skiing on Saturday, and to take time off on Sunday.

My weight fluctuated from high of 188 (bad boy) of about 10 days ago to low of 174 on Saturday night.