...

Many who know me know that I'm a pretty emotional person. The problem is, I've overcompensated for this by being emotionally retarded. When things come up that stir up any type of emotion in me I basically shut down and wait for it to subside before I address it. For this I apologize because I won't really be able to express my sadness for the loss of Ben Horne.


I first met Ben through Huy while snowboarding at Mammoth Mountain:


https://picasaweb.google.com/111603142825937196976/20100116MammothMountain#5428355590408642562


It was his first time at Mammoth and he might have been the happiest person on the mountain.


During a conversation about his triathlon training, I told him that I could never train as much as he does because I'm a lazy bastard and lacked much motivation to get out of bed every morning. The message he in a sense gave me was that it's not about motivation or laziness, it's just doing what you like/love. In the short time I knew him I sensed that his positive attitude towards life was all he needed to accomplish what he set out to do. The loving words I've read from others seem to confirm this.


I shy away from writing in a public forum because I don't want others to think that I'm self aggrandizing. I just want to share my activities with those who care to peak into my life. This is my way of thanking people for caring enough to read my brain-splash.

I'm Finally Sweating

Earlier in the summer I may have said that I felt like I wasn't sweating enough. I am happy to report that today's workout produced more sweat than I was used to.


Not sure if my body is just getting used to the heat or my increase in salty foods is helping with my water retention.


Today's workout was a 1.5 hour ride and a 5 mile run. Stats weren't that important, I felt fine though.


Recover included Clif electrolyte mix w/ a raw egg and added sugar, small bowl of rice w/ soy sauce, half a sweet potato w/ salt + pepper and now I'm eating dinner (rice + stewy meat w/ oxtail). Pretty ghetto recovery but I've been lazy this week.


Just some notes. Cranked up my bike seat quite a bit. Not sure if I went on my last ride w/ it too low...very odd. Quads started burning early so that was my cue to raise the seat.


Ordered a ridiculous looking helmet...and decided to wear the jersey I bought at REI for $4 for the tri. Probably will rock Nike running shorts for the bike ride and run.


I'm curious to see what I can crank out w/ continuous pedaling and not having to worry about traffic etc. I think I'd be happy w/ 16.5 mph which would put my saddle time to ~6.5 hours during the tri.


No major updates and no injuries, yay! I credit my consumption of stewy stuffs for staying away from injuries.


Oh, I may experiment w/ putting together my own gel. My base would be:


http://www.edenfoods.com/store/product_details.php?products_id=104050#nutrition


Highlights are, maltose and glucose and then sucrose and fructose should make it sweet. It also claims to have a touch of protein. Anyways, this would be super cheap and it's always fun to play around.

Biking Efficiencies and Nutrition Plan

Yesterday's workout was pretty uneventful so I won't get into it.


I did go to REI and pickup aero-bars though! I was a bit nervous about getting them and didn't really think I'd like them. But I've been toying around with getting deep into my drops and it just kind of felt nice. I also have decent hip flexibility so I don't lose any power being bent way over.


So anyways, I threw em on yesterday and gave em a roll today. Pregame nutrition included:


A blueberry muffin with sugar sprinkles on top because it looked good in the case


A redeye coffee (drip coffee + espresso) because I've been really sleepy


My phone failed me during my ride and didn't record the last portion of my ride. Needless to say this was pretty disappointing because this felt like the pace I'd want to go during the race.


This is what it spit out:
http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/Tuanvy/2lqk0ll29ogbhumu


Throwing out all the erroneous data and averaging it out, it come in at about 16.5 mph over the whole ride. I felt pretty good after the ride, even ran to the market to grab some food and eggs.


Nutrition during the ride:

• (3) packets of shotbloks over the duration of the ride ~4 hours
• (2) 25 oz bottles w/ 1.25 scoops of cliff electrolyte in each bottle
• (2) 25 oz bottles refilled near the lake around the half point mark
• (~4) protein balls? One at each hour or so.

As I said, I got off the bike feeling pretty good.

Immediate recovery food:

• .5 lbs of a sweet potato salad
• Malto sugar
• .5 lbs black been salad (looked good)
• Not sure, just looked good
• Foxon Park kola local soda made with real sugar
• Already said sugar

Please don't eat as much sugar as I do! All together what I ate doesn't cover the calories I burned during my ride.

And...now I'm hungry again.

Real quick, made an observation at REI. Pretty much everyone is using maltodextrin (yay). Not sure if Clif changed their formula and switched from brown rice syrup to maltodextrin or they just started calling brown rice syrup maltodextrin. Either way, this makes buying gels a lot easier!

I'm probably going to switch to Hammer gel (bought a flask at REI) so my body isn't surprised during the full.

Good day all!

Just a Summary

Nothing ground breaking in training.

Monday: Recovery swim from Sunday

Tuesday: 2 hour rough bike ride, lots of high intensity stuff

Wednesday: ~1 hour bike ride w/ the fixed gear (tested out my legs and still felt really heavy)

Thursday: Swim, working on technique, I think I'm improving, may revise my swim time goal...we'll see

Friday: traffic messed up my plans to swim, long nap, 12 mile run at 7' 32" pace

Tomorrow I plan to ride 2 hours and test out my running afterwards...

Sunday I'm planning on a long bike ride, trying to figure out protein during the bike ride.

This week I picked up electrolyte tablets: NUUN and Camelbak. As far as I can tell they're pretty much the same. I actually liked it! I took one in the morning and I feel it helped me retain some water and essentially pre hydrate for my workouts. This seemed most effective on Tuesday where it was crazy hot out.

Peace!

First Twenty Miler

Due to the heat and subsequent constant sweating I decided to try out electrolytes. I wanted to replace goodies lost during sweating but not add the extra sugar. Went to the store and picked up Nuun and Camelbak's Elixir. Nuun tastes pretty good...I don't know if one or the other "performed" better since I was just using em to pre-hydrate for my long run.


I don't know if this counts but I had a cranberry orange scone about an hour before my run. It was pretty damn good. I also had some ice coffee...all around goodness.


Workout:
20 miles at 7' 59" pace.


I had hydration/fuel issues during the last...I'll say 4-5 miles. Even though I ran at night, it was still hot and humid. The last 8 miles were done in a downpour. Luckily I had my handy nerdy visor!


During the workout I tried out Hammer Heed (single pack) and a Clif Shot (gel). Next time I'll need a water refill at about the half and probably another gel. I figure during the race I can swap out a bottle at the half mark since I think the run is done in a loop.


Post run:

• 3 slices of sprouted grain bread w/ butter on top and tons of honey
• Carbs + protein
• Butter is good
• Honey = sugars
• Scoop and a half of Clif Shot Electrolyte, 2 raw eggs, water shaken and poured into a cup
• Clif uses a lot of brown rice syrup which is high in Maltodextrin (two glucose molecules combined...supposed to have a higher glycemic index than glucose/dextrose by itself)
• Eggs are usually the standard method of measuring how easily digestible a protein is
• Rice and beef liver
• Starch = carbs
• Beef liver has a lot of goodies and it taste pretty good!

I was going to eat some sweet potatoes but was too damn full after this. Fell asleep on the couch waiting to recover to make some chili. That will be my project for tonight.

Overall I feel fine considering this was my longest run. My second digit toe nail (foot) is sore, I think I might lose it. I've lost maybe a quarter of it before...everyone told me I'd lose the whole thing, but they lied to me.

Time for work. Oh, I'm writing this in the morning because I was too damn tired last night.

More of the Same

Nothing out of the ordinary. I'm discovering that my appendages don't sweat very well. I honestly think this is contributing to a heating issue. During workouts (like yesterday) I kept thinking it might be beneficial to ask Huy to standby with a bucket of a ice to dunk me with.


Sugars:
While grabbing a cup of coffee from the Sik coffee club I curiously picked up a packet of Splenda, the "zero calorie sweetener." I read the ingredients: "Dextrose and maltodextrin" if you were following anything I've been saying...I've been searching for maltodextrin because it is a sugar easily absorbed. Dextrose is industrial glucose which is what the glycemic index is based on. Basically, Splenda is made of sugar and sugar. The reason why how they can claim zero calories is...they base their servings on 1 gram and 1 gram of sugar < 5 calories. FDA says they can claim zero.


Anyways this just goes to show the importance of just reading the ingredients in what you eat. My general rule is...if I don't understand it, don't eat it...and don't read any claims on packaging.


I have to admit that running on the trail in Hamden was...kind of cool. The fireflies where out so it made for an aesthetically pleasing run.

Reinventing the Wheel

So in engineering reinventing the wheel is probably one of the worst things you can do once you realize you've done it. The most efficient way is to just find someone who invented the wheel and roll with it. This brings me to the following:


http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/07/12/how_to_make_scrambled_eggs_with_moderation_goldilocks_style_.html


(If you know me well, you know I'm a Slate follower)


Anyways, those who have spent any time around me know I eat eggs. At my peak I've eaten 5-6 eggs a day solid. This diet contributed to my disbelief that cholesterol consumption does not lead to elevated blood cholesterol after the doctor said I had "very low cholesterol." Anyways the person describes exactly how I like my eggs...except I usually forego any milk/creamer. Except! I have been throwing in cheese, which is delicious.


I find this article funny because it is the opposite of a "scroll-down disaster" (a term I also picked up from Slate podcast when discussing The Busy Trap (NYTIMES) on the Slate Culture Gabfest Podcast). A recent of example of a "scroll-down disaster" for me was the following article: Two Spaces...(can't finish). Notice a trend?


Anyways I've been slow as of recent but today I made a breakthrough. I nutted up and ran.


Let's see how well this pastes (oh yes, this came after a ~1250m swim):

MILE	TIME	CHANGE	AVG PACE
1	7:00	--	7'00"/mi
2	14:09	+ 0:09 (-3%)	7'09"/mi
3	21:23	+ 0:05 (-2%)	7'14"/mi
4	28:22	- 0:15 (3%)	6'59"/mi
5 *Fastest	35:10	- 0:11 (2%)	6'48"/mi

This gave me some hope. Recovery food included just normal dinner food...chicken thighs, sweet potatoes, chicken stock, spinach, stewy stuff.


Tomorrow I'm hoping for a good workout!

It's Been Too Long

That's what I should say (post title) to Thuy every time I see her (but I don't because I'm a jerk).


Anyways, got back from a week away from lovely (being sarcastic) Connecticut to spend the week in Portland galavanting, boozing and all around bumming around.


I must admit going home always throws me off. Food wise it actually started off great. Curry was a good recovery food, and Bun Bo with some extracurricular joint chewing filled my bone stock quota. Then there was some awesome liver and cheese action happening during a picnic. After that, it was all down hill. Most of the blame goes to the heavy boozing.


Anyways, over last week I did a 14.5 mile run, a 5 mile run with cousin Bobby, 2 miles worth of 800m's with the bros and some good ole' street racing! I lost terribly but made it up with a glorious impromptu 400m relay with some guys and gals.


Back to it. Yesterday I went for a run in the morning (4 miles) and then swam 2500m at night. I followed it up with a quick gym workout session and tried jumping on the bike trainer (terrible, I will not be using one...ever...again). Total workout time: 2 hours.


Today I went for an hour long bike ride followed by 8 mile run. Total workout time: 2 hours.


I'm not going to list my stats because...it'll make me sad. I've slowed down a huge amount. In fact, I ran the 14.5 faster than my previous two short runs. My hammies are extremely tight and I'm having a hard time loosening them up.


I'll just jump into some fun and general stuff. Here's my new breakfast!

I call it, "I don't know how to make an omelet so leave me alone." It has Italian sausage, 2 slices of bacon, 2 eggs, vermont cheddar cheeeeeeese, and baby spinach. It's good, and it allows me to eat more than just a sandwich. Oh the biscuits are the usual sprouted grain business. I think I've explained all the reasons why I eat all the crap in there so I'll leave it out. I'm fortunate enough to like spinach, high in a lot of stuff...just look it up.


Now to my sugar search. I found it! Hammer makes stuff w/ straight up malto! I tried some Hammer Heed gel today and liked it a lot...except the packaging was horrendous. It's okay though because they sell a bottle I can just dump into a water bottle or something. I spent about 10 minutes reading the back of all the gel packets at REI while Thuy was spying on me. She said my actions were a candidate for her breaking up with me. I took her seriously so we left immediately.


Oh, I've been pretty content with just sticking food and gels in my compression shorts while riding. It's probably the most ghetto method I've seen but...again I'm sure others have done it too.


Anyways, I plan to try the mess out of Hammer to compare it to Clif. Clif tends to use brown rice syrup which I believe is high in malto but I sometimes think they try to be a little to..."unprocessed." I figure at this point, I'd rather go w/ stripped down sugars and added minerals like salt and blah blah blah. Anyways, we'll see which works out better.