These Go To 11 - My SML Preview

It's finally here! Saturday marked my last tough workout before I tackle two straight weekends of racing. First up is the Appalachian Power Spring at Smith Mountain Lake this Saturday and then I follow it up with the Kinetic Half at Lake Anna.

Last week was pretty intense and I broke through some barriers that I didn't expect. I completely surprised myself on Thursday during a 55 minute negative-split run. The way back I went at my upper-tempo or lower threshold pace. I chose the latter and ended up running my fastest ever 5K in the process. Granted, I've only run two stand-alone 5Ks so I didn't have much to base it on. But this was a major indicator that all of the effort I've put in on the run has paid off.

Saturday was my longest brick of the year. It was a 2.5 hour, mixed-intensity, bike session followed up with a 1:15 run. The first six miles of the run were supposed to be at my goal HIM pace and I ended up about 20-30 seconds faster per mile. Whoops. I was consciously telling myself to slow down but my legs had other plans so I just went with it.

So Smith Mountain Lake is this Saturday and it's a race that I've experienced both success and frustration. I've done it twice and each time the swim has not gone as planned. I don't know if it's the cooler water temperature or the beach start, but I've always struggled to get comfortable in the water. This year should be even colder since we can't quite seem to break into spring-time weather. My plan is to do a much longer swim warm-up than I have in the past.

My main goals are to have fun, be safe, and leave it all out on the course. If I do that then I think I'll have a good result since my training has gone so well this year. Coach Jim has certainly cranked it up to 11. There's a reason I've seen the term "threshold" so often in my training.

What I Feel Like When I See The Word "Threshold" In My Cycling Workout Description

Five times 5 minutes at threshold today. Hold on to your butts!

Why I Just Got An EKG

Death in endurance sports is very rare, but it gets a lot of attention. Last year it seemed like each weekend I would read about a death that occurred during a triathlon - and 99% of them happened during the swim. Why?

Well, I'm not a doctor but I play one on the internet. Seriously, though, there are probably a million reasons and I imagine that each case is drastically different. Dan Empfield at Slowtwitch addresses the issue in a series of articles.

And that leads me to today and the first "physical" I've had since I was a teenager. This is something that I've put off for too long, which isn't anything "macho" but more like stupidity. I checked out just fine but requested an EKG. My doctor understood where I was coming from but still took the time to explain to me what would it would mean (time and $$$) if something suspicious looking was actually found. Mainly he was concerned that I would have to go through a battery of tests that took a lot of time and the end result would be that I was still okay. I elected to do it anyway, just for peace of mind. By the way, he guessed the actual cost of an EKG is about $120 so even if my insurance is a POS and doesn't pick up the tab, I can handle it.

My EKG - it's all good.

Just because my EKG and physical came out find doesn't mean I won't be cautious. I'll still do a solid warm-up both prior to my regular workouts and races. I'll still eat a balance diet (although it might be heavy at times on beer and bourbon).

With that done I'd like to go train except it looks like the North Pole outside. Seriously, it's April 4! Since I took the picture below about 5 minutes ago my track in the sidewalk are already covered.

WTF? It's April!

The Traveling Athlete

If I'm doing my job correctly, which some will say is rare, I should be on the road 30-40% of my time. This poses some pretty unique problems training for a triathlon.

When I signed up to be coached by Jim McGehee I told him to plan my workouts like I don't travel at all and I'll find a way to work everything out. Amazingly I don't think I've ever had to skip a workout but  it hasn't been without some serious rearranging.

The run workouts are the easiest to fit in. Every hotel has at least a treadmill but it's also fun to find routes in the various cities I visit. So far I'd have to say my favorite city runs are around Central Park in New York and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The Ulmstead Park in Raleigh is pretty sweet, too.

The start of my run from Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Surprisingly, finding the time to swim isn't actually that hard. For now I just swim twice each week so it's much easier to book-end on the week. I can't tell you how many times I've boarded a plane smelling like chlorine and still sporting goggle eyes. Most major cities have aquatic centers or a YMCA with reasonable hours for lap swim, too.

Fitting in my bike workouts is the toughest part of traveling. I don't bring my bike with me when I travel because it's a huge hassle. If I'm driving somewhere there is no guarantee I can fit it in my rental car. So when I'm scouting hotels to stay at I always look for one with an upright bike in the fitness center. It's not the same as riding outdoors or at home on my trainer, but it will do. The Marriott East Side in NYC actually has a nice spinner bike with aero bars and a killer view!

The other hard part about the bike workouts is that they are often the longest of the three disciplines and finding the time to fit it in is not easy. This will really get hard as I ramp up for Ironman and I imagine I'll finally have to bring my bike along on a few trips.

Perhaps the hardest part of traveling is my nutrition. A lot of my appointments revolve around meals or receptions where the food is heavy and the drinks often heavier. At the end of a long day it's really easy to fall into the trap of unhealthy eating and one, or two, extra drinks. I have no real strategy to prevent it other than my weak will power.