Last Long Week!

The end is near.

This weekend was rough. 100 miles on the bike and then 22 miles on the feet.

Run went okay considering...pretty wiped afterwards.

Anyways thought I'd share an article today:

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/08/sunny-side-up-in-defense-of-eggs/261600/?single_page=true

I've already read that intake of cholesterol does not necessarily equate to having high cholesterol and heart disease. It seems to boil down to all the other crap we eat junking up our system and throwing everything out of whack. Anyways, it was nice to see the article in the Atlantic!

First Century Down

Today I completed my first century! I was going to hold off for the
event to break all my cherries but I couldn't resist. And having
significant doubts on the bike, it felt good to do.

Pre ride I had:
• Some sourdough baguette (sugar, apparently sourdough has less phytic acid)
• Olive oil + vinegarette + salt + pepper
• Peppered Bacon (so delicious)
• Egg from farmers market fried low heat in the bacon fast with some
added olive oil (less heat the better, keeps the goodies in tact.)

Washed it down with a cup of coffee. Seems it either speed up the
digestion our the feeling of fullness.

On the tide I had:
•1.5 oz yogurt at about the 2.5 hour mark
•1.5 oz yogurt at about the 4 hour mark
-a lot of the protein solutions involve either whey or soy. Both of
which I'm not a fan of. I figure yogs has all the goodies to help you
digest the protein. Plus it taste good.
-A little saturated fat on the ride is nice to help with the hunger too
• Probably had about...5-6 25 oz of liquids. 32 of those were
gatorade...had to reload on the road
-Gatorade is soo good! It's formula is okay, I skipped the low calorie
for some extra sugar and added dextrose (industrial glucose or simple
sugar). Skip powerade on workouts...it's mostly fructose
•1 oz hammer gel. They'll have this during the tri, good formula and taste good

Overall it was great. If I had more water on the ride it would have
been perfect. I ran out about 20 minutes out so I started getting a
little headache. I jumped off the bike to see how my legs felt and
everything was ready to go! I was elated.

Post meal...hodge-podge of stuff starting with a boiled yam with salt
and cheddar on top.

Topped it off with the picture, 2 beers and bread.

I'm stuffed and sleepy!

Gluttons

Apparently we as a nation wastes 40% of our food. I'm sure there are
plenty of legitimate reasons and worst statistics out there. But this
made me think about my own eating...I probably eat twice as much as
someone my diminutive size. I probably eat more than the obese person
you stare at on the bus. Frankly...I'm tired of it...I don't get how
anyone does this on the regular. In a sense I feel a little guilty,
but at the same time we should feel fortunate that food is something
we can afford to take for granted.

Training is...I sadly look forward to my long weekend workouts because
I'm completely put out by these weekday workouts. I've become
agitated, irritable impatient and largely antisocial because "it's all
business." I have one speed now, "go."

My advice to all the people out there with aspirations of doing a tri.
Take solace in the fact that you can do it, and do something else.

1.5 Hour Pool

Recovery

Week-end Summary

As I type this I feel a sense of panic. Did I not change my font the last few posts? How embarrassing! Sorry to all the serif haters out there (myself included).

Monday: 1.25 hours of swimming + ~.6 hours of hard running
Tuesday: 1.4 hours moderately hard ride on the bike + ~.9 hours hard running
Wednesday: ~1.9 hours hard ride
Thursday: 1 hour swim + 1.1 hours of hard running
Friday: felt like crap so easy spin on zee bike and hour of slow running
Saturday: 3.1 hours hard ride (hopefully IM Pace) + 1.2 hours running (hopefully IM Pace)
Sunday: 1 hour easy ride + 2.1 hour run (hopefully IM Pace...faster than Saturday!)

Apparently that ends up being ~17.5 hours...for the whole week. It feels like a lot more hours...Honestly a little shocked and sad. *I just got a complaint that my typing is too loud. I'm currently gchatting w/ the Thuyzor (my Tri Muse).*

Anyways, as long as I can do the long workouts I don't have any qualms with coming under in terms of hours. I'm also leaving out time for strength training. Since I came from a lifting only background I feel like I have adequate leftovers from my previous life. I wonder if my assumption is accurate...

*I can't use "Anyways" again...*In regards to today's workout. I was a bit shocked at my pace during the 16 miles! I came in at 7'37" for the whole run. The fun thing is the first 4 miles were run above an 8'/mile pace so I finished pretty well. There were stretches of low 7s going on. I suspect the cooler weather has a lot to do with this.

Nutrition wise, sweet potatoes, beer, black turtle bean salad and whatever has been working out well. My legs are obviously sore but at least I can still truck it when needed.

I'm getting a bit excited to get in the open water and practice some modified kicks in anticipation of wetsuit usage.

Until the next time I decide to cut into my sleeping hours.

Coming Together?

On the bike for three hours right into an hour and twenty minute run.
~17 mi/hr on the bike
~7' 50" pace on foot

Probably my hardest and best workout. It ended up being ~55 miles on
wheels and 10 miles on foot. During the ride I ate...

25 oz of my concoction:
• Barley Malt Syrup
• Lime juice with a little rind
• Peach juice
• Sugar
• salt
Basically everything is there to offset the trouble taste of the syrup

25 oz of water...m my drink was stiff to say the least

One pack if shot bloks

1.5 oz yogurt
• Prepping for long workouts, splashing in some protein

1.5 oz hammer gel
• Tired of bloks

I figure it's best to food up on the bike where I can just chill if I
end up over eating. But over loading on the run will probably lead to
major gastro problems and having issues keeping my heart rate down.

For the run I just did water and a scoop of clif electro. Tried to
keep it light. I think I've been over eating on my workouts.

Anyways, post workout meal was l kind of a disaster. Market had no
sweet potatoe salad so I went with a brownie, although it was
delicious, it gave me a headache after I went home and had a slice of
sourdough/butter/maple syrup. Maple syrup is awesome to have around
when you need to sugar something up.

For dinner I'm having beer and I just finished a gnarly raw burger. I
am a firm believer that a rare burger is the only way to go. Plus you
can wipe up all the fat droppings with your fries.

Tomorrow is a rough run day.

Oh yes, I plan to open water swim at least once a week until the event.

toodles

Wet suit

Tried out my wet suit for the first time. I was a little worried
getting a size small but I think the size is good.

Had a little trouble swimming back straight...but I think a few more
times of swimming out to bouys will help out.

Swimming in the sound confirmed my fewer that I would be disgusted by the act.

Busy busy

Been kind of crazy busy lately. Got back from visiting the Thuyster on Sunday evening. Good thing last week was supposed to be a recovery week because I did absolutely nothing all weekend except swim in the ocean for a tiny bit and give Thuy a piggy back ride run for all of twenty feet.

Last week was kind of freaky. I dropped a ton of weight, slept all day Tuesday, then followed it up by little sleep for the next few days.

This weekend I ate as much as possible starting off with two brownies and an egg sandwich from Starbucks. The rest of Saturday was full of all sorts of Vietnamese food in Westminster.

Anyways skipping forward to this week...

My watch is broken (won't sync) and doesn't seem to like picking up a GPS signal. Thuy got it from Nordstroms so I can just swap it out...problem is they don't carry it anywhere close to here. Not sure what I'm going to do.

I've been doing "brick runs" during the weekdays which have been getting better week to week. You basically ride your bike for an hour (today was an hour and a half) and then run like no one's business. At least that's how I've been approaching them. So far so good. After a solid bike ride I can still run low  7's without my heart exploding.

Recovery food hasn't changed much. I made sweet potato salad so that's my go to and then I just follow it up with dinner.

I'm off!

Post Work Dash

It's amazing how much can be accomplished if one can get out of bed early to go to work.


I worked today so I figured I could swap my long run w/ my long bike ride for the weekend.


After work I went for a casual bike ride and tuned up my bike: aerobars tweaked for some symmetry and comfort, handlebars dropped a spacer, and seat tilted a little up (I feel like I've been sliding a bit).


This week I experimented w/ some stuff. I created my own sugar drink:

• Barley Syrup
• This is the main junk, maltose is supposed to be the business when it comes to sugar.
• Aside from sugar it seems to have some other goodies too.
• Lime Juice
• Tastey
• Most energy drinks have citric acid in them
• Lime zest
• I don't know, I'm making cocktails I guess
• Peach juice
• Barley syrup taste like...barley peach juice will add some flavor
• I seem to work well off peaches
• Salt
• To add salt

Overall I think it worked well. Nutritionally it should be similar to other energy drinks except I made it and it was a tiny bit cheaper :).

So what did I do with it?

Run: 20 miles @ 8 min/miles with some sections were I pushed it. So a lot of push/recover. It was pretty hot so every time I got a nice breeze I'd push.

I've been doing these long runs in laps to my place. This is a motivational road block because once I get home, it's really hard going for another 8.5 miles or so.

Lap 1:

http://nikeplus.nike.com/plus/activity/running/TuanVy/detail/2020893533

This one was mostly steady.

Lap 2:

http://nikeplus.nike.com/plus/activity/running/TuanVy/detail/2020887914

Started out slow but finished okay.

Recovery food:

I made sweet potato salad. I was inspired by the grocery store down the street from me. It was pretty easy to make...took about an hour to get two batches...I finished a bowl right after my run while cooling down in the bath tub.

Sweet Potato salad: Stole it

Some slight variations of course but for the most part that's what I did.

I feel pretty sick right now, too much food...I can't tell if I'm hungry or full or need water though. Hopefully I recover well enough to get on the bike tomorrow. It's supposed to be pretty damn hot tomorrow.

Too much info!