4 weeks until Ironman Austria!

With my mind and body in a good place, I'm itching to get on the plane to travel to Europe for our 5-week European race-cation. While I'm already getting sad about leaving Campy for over a month, I know he will be in great hands between my good friend Christie in North Carolina and my mom. This weekend concluded another big week of training which was sprinkled with some lighter sessions to rejuvenate the body and mind. 

This weekend included:
21 running miles
5:20 hours riding

(I was suppose to swim on Sunday afternoon but decided to go for an easy spin with my mom instead)

Now you may be thinking that these are "long" workouts and you are correct. But in reality, these were my weekend totals as the training that I do is much less than most Ironman athletes in training. It's also more about specificity than quantity. I'll admit that I do have years of endurance in my body but I still believe most Ironman athletes overtrain and get way to caught up in chasing miles over what's happening within those miles.

Here's the weekend training breakdown, which was done solo since my other half was in Raleigh for last minute decision to race the half ironman (spoiler alert - Karel won his age group and placed second overall amateur and ran a personal best of 1:22 off the bike. Wahoo!):

Saturday
AM workouts
~4 hour bike (outside) as:
Warm-up on rolling hills
Main set: 
6 x 10 minutes (build by 2 starting at Ironman effort) w/ 7 min EZ spin between
2 x 20 min at Ironman effort w/ 7 min EZ spin

47 minute brick run (in the pouring rain - yippee!) as:
10 min form focused running
30 sec walk
20 min Ironman effort
30 sec walk
10 min above Ironman effort
30 sec walk
Cruise home with good form

PM run:
41 minute form focused (podcast listening), happy, easy running w/ 30 sec walk break each mile

SundayAM workouts
1:43 run (which includes stops/recovery breaks) as:
Warm-up to my "loop" behind Furman (it's a .62 mile loop with 2 right turns per loop. Each loop starts with a gradual downhill, gradual uphill with a kicker at the end, gradual downhill, false flat and then downhill to finish the loop):
MS: 8 loops (each loop takes me around 4:50-5 minutes) - all sustainable-strong but build each loop so that #8 is my best.
90 sec rest between

Easy 80 min spin with my mom immediately after the run. 

With 12 years of endurance triathlon racing, I've tried many different approaches to Ironman training. While I believe some amount of endurance training is necessary to build aerobic fitness, I sadly see far too many athletes spending weekend after weekend training slow (or way too hard) with long miles. While there's a time and place for certain "extreme" workouts, these should not be the norm when training for an Ironman as the body becomes stale, exhausted and burntout. Recognizing that a key requisite to Ironman success is being able to resist fatigue for as long as possible, an important component of planning Ironman training is designing a program that helps build resilience and strength while also building aerobic fitness. Knowing that intense training, strength training and frequency training can all help build aerobic fitness, there is much more "bang for the buck" with low-er volume training that includes specificity, often at a higher than race-pace effort. This training also puts the mind and body into different situations that require good fueling and hydration as well as mental and pacing techniques that can be employed on race day. While I'm not saying that other approaches are wrong, we have had great success in this lower volume/higher frequency approach and I can't wait to see how it pays off in less than a month!

Weekend recap: Mini training camp

Whew. What a weekend of training.

A few weeks ago, our professional triathlete Ericka planned a visit to Greenville from Friday-Monday so that Karel could install electronic shifting on her bike. When we saw that the weather forecast was nearly perfect for outdoor training starting on Friday, Ericka was able to get off work one day early and head from NY to Greenville on Thursday.

Since Ericka trains indoors on her bike for all of the winter and requires layers to run outside, this was a great opportunity for her to train outside and put all that indoor training to good use before her season of racing starts in late April. We have been coaching Ericka since October and she is becoming a very durable and resilient athlete. With a great mind on her strong body, this weekend of training (aka mini training camp) was beneficial for us to see how she bounced back from workouts and mentally and physically dealt with a bit of an intentional training overload under our guidance. While Karel and I were able to join Ericka for all of her training sessions in this mini training camp, we had specific training sessions for her to do each day as this camp was all about her and her needs.

Here's the recap of the mini training camp (the bike/run routes were planned loops/routes so we didn't go by time/miles). The below run times/distances are mine as Karel and Ericka are much faster runners than me. All of our workouts can be found on Strava for maps:

Friday AM: 
4:47 bike (83.5 miles) with a planned 45-minute strong effort interval through Rocky Bottom to the Continental Divide (~10.5 miles, 1780 feet of elevation gain).
28 min run off the bike (3.68 miles, 260 elevation gain)

Friday PM: 40 minute, 2200 yard swim
Warm-up: 600
Pre set: 4 x 150's (snorkel, band, buoy)
MS: 1000 swim with paddles and fins

Saturday AM: 
1:20, 4700 yard swim
Warm-up: 400 swim, 300 as (50 kick, 25 swim with fins)
Pre set:  2 x 300's as (75 smooth, 25 strong x 3)
MS 2x's (first round with buoy, paddles, ankle strap)
200 smooth into 50 fast. Rest 10 sec
150 smooth into 50 fast. Rest 10 sec
150 smooth into 50 fast. Rest 10 sec
100 smooth into 50 fast. Rest 10 sec
100 smooth into 50 fast. Rest 10 sec
100 smooth into 50 fast. Rest 10 sec
100 smooth into 50 fast. Rest 10 sec
400 with snorkel (buoy and ankle strap)
Repeat

Saturday AM (right after swim): 
1:30 hr run (10.2 mile run with 640 elevation gain)
WU: ~40 minutes smooth, form focused with stops and stretches
Pre set: 1 x .67 mile loop (slight downhill, gradual uphill, gradual downhill)
MS: 4 x .67 mile loop (same as above) with 90 sec rest
Then: 15 minutes form focused running

Sunday AM: 
5:10 bike (89 miles with 7200 feet elevation gain)
All endurance riding with the last (almost) 2 hours as sustainable strong.

Sunday AM (right after the bike)
35 minute run (4.47 miles, 351 elevation gain)

Sunday PM (about 3 hours after the morning brick)
20 minute run

Here are some pictures from the weekend to showcase our amazing cycling playground!

Stopped at the Firestation near Flat Rock to fix Ericka's headset that came loose. Thanks to Fireman Allen for having the right metric allen wrenches for Karel to fix her bike. 

Bakery stop at Flat Rock! 

Long workouts/weekend training reflections

Resilience and mental toughness come to mind when summarizing this past weekend of training.

Here's the run down:

Saturday:
Bike: 4:05 ride (70 miles) with 5700 feet elevation gain and one tough 4.5 mile (35 minute) climb up Sassafras mountain. Prior to that climb, we did a hard effort up to Rocky Bottoms - around 4 miles of climbing.
Run off the bike: 2 x 15-20 min smooth effort running with 6 x 30 sec of hill bounding (with 45 sec rest) in between the intervals (total: 48 minutes, 5.64 miles, 407 elevation gain
PM run: Smooth running for 43 minutes, 4.94 miles, 276 elevation gain)

Sunday: 
AM Run: Smooth endurance on rolling hills for 1:45, 12.7 miles, 617 elevation gain
PM group swim: 1 hour/2800 yards

Prior to this weekend, I had a solid week of training - a lot of frequency workouts. As the week went on, I was carrying around a lot more fatigue and working through a bit more niggles than normal but that's all to be expected at this point in my training block. Strength continues to be a focus in all of my workouts (including strength training) so I am feeling very fit and strong right now, but not so fast....and this ok!

Thinking back on this weekend, it's not surprising to see endurance athletes training with this much high volume at various points in the season, especially in peak training before an endurance event. However, I feel it's important to recognize that higher volume training is not a guarantee to athletic success on race day. Many athletes check off long distance workouts on the weekends that involve little structure or specificity or lack the necessary consistency in training to gain true physiological improvements. Instead of gaining fitness, confidence and race readiness, the athlete ends up exhausted, burnt out, injured or sick. In other words, just because you are an endurance athlete, you don't need to be collecting a massive amount of miles/hours over the weekend just to prepare for your upcoming event. Long workouts make sense if you are have prepared yourself to absorb the longer time spent training.

While endurance workouts are a component to preparing for an endurance event, we must not forget that it's the work you do prior to these longer sessions that help you better prepare for race day. Without the right foundation, you may be piling training stress to a weak and fragile body. Although the work that is done in the early part of the season is not as glamorous (or epic) as the longer sessions that make one feel hard core, like an "endurance" athlete, these workouts should be seen as your criteria for the longer sessions. Do your homework in the early season so that your body can better withstand the higher intensity/higher volume training when it's appropriately planned in your training.

Every athlete has the ability to work hard all season long but some choose not to apply the work ethic until there is some type of pressure of an upcoming race. Falling short on the preparatory work prior to the more specific race sessions is not the formula for athletic excellence on race day. While you can still check off those longer training sessions in the 4-8 weeks before your race, these sessions will do little to change your physiology or will allow you to dial in the many components that make for successful racing - like nutrition, pacing and mental strength - compared to if you did these sessions with months of previous work behind you. While I know injuries/sickness/life happens, you can't skip steps in building your foundation. There are no short cuts or quick fixes when it comes to the work that needs to happen to properly and safely prepare your body for an endurance event.

Nearing the start of my 12th consecutive season of endurance racing, I've always been one to embrace the grind and appreciate the process of preparing for a half or full distance Ironman event. Training is also a needed escape to reduce stress, give me energy, boost endorphins and let my creative thoughts flow. But on top of the joy I have for training/exercising, I think about my workouts of the day as a way to move me closer to my season goals. It isn't within one workout that will get me fit but instead, it's the accumulation of consistent workouts that allows for continued growth and development with my athletic skills and fitness. At 35.5 years old, feel stronger, fitter, healthier and more resilient now than when I did my first Ironman at the age of 24. Throughout my journey as an endurance triathlete, I've learned that success on race day doesn't come from checking off weekend long workouts in the 8-12 weeks before a big event but instead, nailing the basics every single day while building the strongest foundation possible to withstand future training stressors.

I am very excited to see what this season has in store for my body. I am bringing 12 years of learning, exploring and challenging my body - along with setbacks and obstacles that have helped me become a smarter and more grateful athlete. I am proud of my body for where it is right now in my training and I am extremely thankful to my body for letting me do what I do with it on a daily basis.

And to finish off my weekend recap, I can't forget about my new furry friends that I met during our shake-out spin on Friday afternoon/evening.

Weekend training recap - goodbye snow, hello sun!

Well, Mother Nature did her thing and took us by surprise with a few cold, snowy days earlier this week. But the snow was not worth complaining about as it was beautiful while it lasted and come the weekend, we opened our house windows as it was 60+ degrees! 

Since the snow had melted around our area come Friday evening, we were so excited to venture outside for a few hours of road biking on Saturday morning. Since we ride on very quiet country roads, where we see more farm animals than cars, we had to negotiate a few sections where the snow had not yet melted. Karel has the skills to ride thru anything but I didn't take any risks and I got off my bike and walked through the icy sections. Three hours and 35 minutes later, we covered around 4300 feet of elevation gain and finished the workout with a 25 minute/3.2 mile hilly run (Karel ran 35 minutes - 5 miles). In the evening, I did my typical PM run for added running frequency but this time it was a short treadmill run for only 15 minutes just to shake out the legs. 

After a great night of sleep, I had my pre-workout snack of rye bread (note to self - I need to make more waffles!), PB, jam, banana slices and Greek Yogurt, filled up my hydration belt flasks with 1 scoop of Cranberry in one flask and one scoop Strawberry kiwi in the other flask of  Base Hydro (a product that I am testing out right now). After ten minutes of glute/hip exercises, Karel and I headed out for our run workout. 

We had a specific route planned for this run workout as this was a very specific set that requires a specific "course" for proper execution.

After a few miles of our warm-up to get to the "start" of our main set, we were ready for the "money maker" workout (in other words, a quality training session that builds confidence and fitness).

Main Set: 4x's:
1/4 mile flatish loop around a park
2 minute strong uphill run
1 minute fast uphill run
Immediately turn around to run downhill as "fast" as possible
Stop and rest at the bottom for 2 minutes.

Each interval took me around 8.5 minutes and I covered around 1.1 miles (Karel was covering a little more distance than me uphill but we both finished at the same time and started at the same time). The main set took us around 40 minutes and I covered 4.63 miles, which included our rest breaks. The focus of this workout is all about form, posture and effort and not on pace. 

This main set has a lot of components in it which makes it one quality workout. Form focused running, strong uphill running and strong downhill running are all important components to improving run fitness off the bike - in our opinion, much more so than chasing a pace or settling for easy, long slow running.

After the main set, it was time to finish off our "long run" with a few more miles of running on tired legs. Another reason why this is the money maker run is the strength that is gained from the entire run. Even though our legs were tired and shaky after the main set, we quickly changed the focus and ran with good form for another 4.8 miles (or 38 minutes) to get back home. It would have been easy to run a straight route to and from the park (about 2 miles) but as you can see from the picture above, this is a very specific, hill-focused run workout to build resilience and strength for Ironman run training. And because of where we live, there are no shortage of hills that we include in our warm-up and cool down.

I was really happy to do this workout with Karel because he always keeps me stretching my comfort zone and knows how to get the best out of me, even when I am tired. Because of my love-hate relationship with running, I really appreciated his support during this run because it kept me confident for all four intervals. I felt very strong throughout this run and as my 7th run of the week (4 of those runs were each 10-20 minutes, all off the bike), I am thankful for a healthy and strong body.

To finish off the weekend, we had our 75-minute group swim at Furman which is something I look forward to every week. Even though we arrive exhausted at 5pm on Sunday evening, we somehow have our best swims at this swim practice thanks to the group environment and awesome coaching by Kristen. 

Weekend recap - snow and training

We are very lucky that we live in a southern city that provides us with all four seasons throughout the year. But even better, we can train outside year round. However, once or twice a year we get a beautiful snowfall in Greenville, SC. which forces us to train inside.

On Friday late morning, after our morning swim and strength session, we were shocked to see the rain turn into fluffy white snowflakes. We had over 24 hours of constant snow falling from the sky and it was absolutely beautiful. Although I was loving the change of scenery in our tree-filled backyard, Campy was not impressed as he is not a fan of anything cold and wet. I suppose when you are a 12-lb dog and live in a world where you can never be too warm or have too many blankets on top of you, there's nothing fun about voluntarily stepping outside, onto the cold, wet ground.

As for training, it was a nice change to spend two hours on my Tacx trainer with an hour of very specific variable cadence work. The main set was very mentally taxing but I found my legs getting super fatigued toward the end of the workout. It was a good type of hurt, which was then followed by a 25 minute run on the treadmill with a few 30 sec fast strides to open up the gait. In the evening, I had another run (well, power walk) on the treadmill for 45 minutes. This workout started with a 10 minute EZ jog and then I put on my 20-lb weight vest for a 34 minute interval main set of walking at a 15% incline. That workout had my legs shaking by the end but it felt so good to run for 5 minutes without the weight vest and at 0% incline.

At least I had a nice view from my workout room.

In the evening we watched the NBC coverage of the Ironman World Championship, which was incredible and super inspiring. Karel had a RETUL bike fit on Sat (and then again on Sunday) so we recorded the show for the evening.  Although I am still happy with my decision to turn down my Kona slot after winning my age group (and overall female amateur) at Ironman Chattanooga, I do believe that the Big Island of Kona is magical and I can't wait to return in October to watch Karel compete in his 3rd IM Kona.

On Sunday morning I opted to run outside, even though my workout would have been perfect for the treadmill. The sky was sunny and the snow had melted on the roads so it was safe enough to workout outside, even though the temperature was a tad cold (low 30's). I really enjoyed my long run which totaled almost 11 miles. The miles ticked away very quickly as the main set was a speed play set with different efforts throughout a 19-minute main set. This required me to really stay in-tune with my body which kept me engaged and present. I performed the main set twice and finished the workout with 2 x ~10 minute steady efforts. It was tough to get my legs moving again after the MS but it forced me to focus on my form (over pace) while running on tired legs (we call this fatigue based running form or FBRF).

One of my favorite quotes says "You can't get much done if you only work on the days when you feel good" by Jerry West. I think this saying holds true for the weather that you can't just train on the days when the weather is too your liking. I'm not one to complain about the weather. Good or bad, I love to move and use my body as it does as much for me physically as it does mentally and emotionally. And if weather is not ideal outside, I have no trouble working out indoors. I always remind myself how lucky I am to do what I can do with my body and there are many people in this world who do not have the freedom or opportunity to workout on a daily basis. 

Private training camp/weekend recap - stretching the comfort zone

I remember when I was in graduate school, working towards my Master's in Exercise Physiology, and I just loved studying the information that I already knew. In other words, if there was a topic that I understood really well, I would often find myself re-reading it or testing myself over and over again because it made me feel confident that I really understood the information. But then when it came to topics that were difficult and unfamiliar, I would often find myself pushing those aside so that I could go back to reading what I already knew.

Does this sound familiar?

It's very normal for athletes to enjoy doing what is easy and familiar. This is often referred to a comfort zone. If something is unnatural or scary, it is not welcomed and typically, it's not as fun as what is well-known and comfortable.

Whether it's a fear of the unknown, worries of messing up, concerns of making mistakes or fear of trying something new, staying within the comfort zone is an obstacle that keeps many athletes from reaching their full potential. Similar to my enjoyment of studying what I already know, I eventually had to force myself to step outside of my comfort zone to learn new information ....and this is where the growth happens.

If you keep doing the same things over and over, you can expect the same results. 

Although it's never easy or comfortable to stretch a comfort zone, if you don't step outside, you will never discover new things about yourself that you never knew existed.

In an attempt to stretch your comfort zone, you may find yourself stepping too far outside, which then creates unnecessary anxiety. The optimal zone of stretching the comfort zone is to discover a place where you are just slightly uncomfortable but you can still perform well and be productive with learning new skills. 

"In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety." -Abraham Maslow 

The cool thing about a comfort zone is that it is always moving. There's a good chance that you are doing something now with your body that was once uncomfortable, scary or unfamiliar. But now you feel strong and confident with your at-one-time anxiety-provoking skill.

To grow, develop and learn as an athlete, it's important to always put yourself into a place where you are slightly uncomfortable. To reach your goals, it's important to always find new ways to challenge yourself to a new slightly new level of discomfort. Success is not limited to the athlete who is genetically gifted but instead, the athlete who is on a constant pursuit to push outside of the comfort zone. 

From Friday until Sunday late morning, we spent our time with Trimarni athlete Adam Granoff (who also happens to host the Intelligent Racer Podcast - highly recommend listening to this great podcast) for his private training camp here in Greenville, SC.

Adam is currently training for IM 70.3 Syracuse and Ironman Lake Placid after completing Ironman 70.3 St. George. Adam is on a constant pursuit of self-improvement and that is why he wanted to stretch his comfort zone with us for over 10 hours of training in 2.5 days.

Adam worked hard for every workout and he learned a lot. We made sure to address his strengths to build his confidence and to help him work through bad habits as he continued to improve his swim-bike-run skills. It was a productive, educational and challenging 2.5 days of training but we could not be more pleased with what we were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time.

Friday: 
AM
2.5 hour skill focused ride working on managing variable terrain
20- minute hilly brick run

PM:
1 hour skill focused swim w/ race simulation efforts and sighting

Saturday: 
AM
4.5 hour ride, including a climb up (and down) Caesar's Head mountain
15 min brick run on the Swamp Rabbit Trail

PM
RETUL bike fit
Pizza dinner in downtown Greenville

(So great to be joined with Veronica of Veronica's Health Crunch for dinner)

Sunday
AM
1:10 hr easy spin on the swamp rabbit trail
~90 minute long run, finishing with hill sprints