Thursday, October 22, 2009

Yoga and the splits.

I know i haven't written in a bit. Not much is going on. I am on base work. To that end, last night I went to yoga last night for the first time ever. I have to say, it was pretty cool. There were a couple points where I could feel my muscles were really stretchy, and in other places not so much. I think warrior poses will help with my running and increase of my stride. I think that the dog poking his butt in the air, and the boom-shack-a-lacka that we did when we did the dog butt pose, will help my shoulder instability a lot. I also think that my hip instability that I have been experiencing since the race will get better with some of the front split-style stretching poses. I also know that while I did really well with the front to back flexibility, when we did the lying down butterfly thing, and the sitting with legs spread and reaching forward stretches I likely looked quite freakish with my knees poking up in the air.

Other that that, I am going to kick it up a little more. I am pretty disappointed with my food choices. There are good choices to make, and I have not been making them. Donuts and peanut butter pretzel bits at the office, dinners have been easy to fix and kid friendly, but not as healthy as they could be. Snacks are happening too much, and 3 beers are steadily becoming a nightly phenomenon. And I have not been drinking lite ones. Just a series of less than good decisions will curtail the efforts I have been making.
Cmon man! get with the program!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Building back a base.

Mornings are my time to work out. I find if I put it off, it doesn't get done, and it has to get done. Mornings are the time when I get the main workout done for the day, and I have a main and an optional. Main is usually either a build workout, or a speed workout. Example; tomorrow is wednesday, and I have a run and a swim. The run is the main workout, tempo run, 5 miles. The other workout is the swim, drills and 200s, which I can do either on the way to work, or on the way home. Since I need to be back for 7 so that the rest of the family can do their thing.
Thursday is a bike and weights. My sons want me to take them to the YMCA to lift, and so i will have 20 min warmup run, then weights. Morning bike is 25 miles with some moderately hard intervals. Friday is Swim in the morning (4x500s), and run in the evening. I need a gear on here to help me post the workouts. That would be cool. All of this leading up to my 70.3 in May.
Other stuff: I woke up this morning and noticed that I have pimples all over, mostly on my torso and arms. Also, I have more than the normal number of weird whitehead/ingrown hair things. Weird and gross. Sorry, should have warned you.
I have not heard from the doctor about my potassium test. The hypochondriac in me says it might me Addison's disease. Sometimes I want there to be something there so that the weird joint issues that come up have some reason, and that all I have to do is take a pill and things will all be normal.
Joints seem loose. I think 2 weeks was too long to not keep up endurance training. Getting back into it is harder than I think it should be. I am taking it easy for now, because the base and strength have to be good and solid before I start the full-on speed workouts. My joint hypermobility is frustrating, and the docs said the solution is to be ultra fit. Well, I would say that since I completed a 70.3 in Augusta I am fit. Now for ultra-fit.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Ending of recovery.

Recovery is finally ending from the 70.3 in Augusta. Yesterday was "walk to school" day, so I knuckled down and walked with the youngest and one of her friends to school. There is a fast way, and a slow way to go. I went the fast way (roughly 1.5 miles) to school walking with the ladies. Then I planned to run the long way home (roughly 2 miles). The run was at an easy pace, and rather than concentrating on breathing or heart rate, I focused on keeping an even cadence, and trying to stretch out my stride a bit. I noticed from the pictures at Augusta, and from other races, that I run like an old man. Very VERY small steps, and so when I see all these people passing me who are running with the same cadence, I naturally go "what the hell?". So essentially, I am working to increase speed while keeping the same cadence. (roughly 85-90).

The run, while at an easy pace and cadence, was still kinda rough. I can still feel some muscle fatigue from Augusta. As I focus on running, I will keep the biking and swimming, and plan to add some off-season weight training and some yoga and/or tai-chi.

On a side note, I looked at the Ironman Miami 70.3 race today and it looks like it is roughly 1/3 filled already. If I am doing that one I had better sign up soon. I also need to sign up for the Gulf Coast Tri in May if I am going to race in that one. Any sponsors out there up for paying my race entry fees? I would sign up for lots more if I could afford them.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

So begins running season.

For every season, turn...turn...turn. My run's the weak one, burn, burn, burn. I choose YOU sad runner pokemon! Time to kick up the run. Tri season is over for me, and my next "A" race is the 70.3 Gulf Coast Triathlon May 8th of next year. I have one or two "C" races, and I want to see if I can get into St. Anthony's for an olympic distance "B" race. Between now and then, I am going to step it up a notch on my running. This means learning how to run more efficiently, and speeding up and stretching out. This season's flat 13.1 portion of my "A" race in Augusta was a pitiful 2:50. Just under three hours.
So, how am I going to do this?
1st: coaching. My coach is going to help me get my run under control, and get me going. I have never really learned to run. I played basketball in High School and College, but nobody ever sat down and worked with me on running. Before beginning training, the most I had ever done was about a mile. I could not do that well, and I spend a lot of time sprinting, but not really running.
2nd: friends. I have several friends who want me to go running with them, and they are willing to help me out in this area too. I am thankful for friends. I probably would not still be in this if it werent for the friends I have made in the area.
3rd: mileage. I think this is likely a subjective topic, but I think that practice at a pace, and putting in the mileage will likely help in my distance, speed, and form.
4th: high potassium?: ok, i asked the dr. office that I go to about my labs from when i went there in April. I wanted to see if there were any weird things on there, and see how my cholesterol was. I figured that they had them, and since I did not get a call, that the labs were just fine. I come to find out that they did not have my labs, and that the information was not sent to them. They asked the lab for the information, and when they got it, they called me up and asked me to repeat them since the ones I did in April showed high potassium. HIGH POTASSIUM??? ok. I had been working out hard for about 3 months, and was about 3 weeks away from doing my first olympic distance triathlon. This means exercising 5-6 times a week, and putting in some serious hours training for endurance. If anything I should have had not enough potassium, not too much. I have a serious issue with not taking enough electrolytes, and so if the tests show I have too much I can only imagine that there is something that may be off.
So, some of the things that I looked up which could be an issue (in order of what I think the likelyhood is): thyroid disorder- My mother and sister have a thyroid disorder, and this could be the reason I have not lost any weight, even though I am eating just a little more. I do not know anyone who can work out as much as I do, and stay the same weight. HOLY CRAP. I weighed in at 240 lbs at the HIM, and that is what I weighed at the beginning of the year! I mean, CMON! My mom (who has a thyroid disorder) says I do not have the bone-weariness. Maybe I do, and just think of how awesome I could be if I didn't!!! I can not dismiss that I have been tired, but just thinking that it is the exercise. Huh. Something to think about.
too many bananas- this is the #2 most likely thing. Maybe I had a smoothie or a multivitiman or something that temporarily elevated my potassium.
diabetes. - not in my family. my kids may have this as an option, since my wife has family history, but not me. I have a likely cholesterol issue from genetics, but not diabetes.

I am not sure if there are any more reasons, but if there is one I am leaving out, please comment.

So, I didn't mention the other part. I have one more week of recovery from my 70.3 as far as exercise goes, but tomorrow I begin logging my resting HR, and every scrap of food or fluid that goes into my body. After a couple of weeks of that, then I will work with the coach to fine tune my diet for weight loss. Slow and steady wins the race. At 1-2 lbs per week, I should be able to lose quite a few pounds before my race in May. The key will be to lose fat, while sustaining muscle mass. This is key because if I lose weight, and keep my muscles, the massive power I have been using to motor this large body around will be used to move my smaller body around at a much faster rate. WhooHoo!
Wish me luck. I am going to need it.