More Recovery Aid

New toy to be used in conjunction with the foam roller.  Feels great and is small enough to stash in the car for the many weekend trips I've been taking.  Iron Sherpa is an expert at packing for the trips, which requires not only normal clothes but all the training gear and related accessories too.

This thing is great - you roll it on your muscles as you see fit, and you can apply as much or as little pressure as you want.  In fact, because it's smaller, it's more versatile than the foam roller.  I'd recommend The Stick over the foam roller.  It's good for the neck, back, quads, shins, calves... you name it!

After Week 18

Work this week started getting busy, and unfortunately the first thing to be sacrificed are swim sessions.  Since runs and rides are usually in the morning, I can get those out of the way before the workday starts.  But swims are usually scheduled for the evenings, and if I can't get out of work in time, I end up skipping them.

I'm still nursing a hurt left shoulder, and it prevents me from using proper form during the swim.  I feel some dull pain in the shoulder as I rotate for each stroke, but approximately 1200 meters or so into a swim session, I really start feeling the pain and also start noticing my left/right differences.  I asked a few friends for a sports doctor recommendation (after my coach suggested it) and will be making an appointment with on to check out the shoulder soon.  The hope, though, is that the pain will disappear before I even have a chance to meet with the doctor.

In general, the swim does not worry me.  I know I'm not a fast swimmer but I can get through it just fine without being too exhausted to jump on the bike.  The bike potion I'm fairly confident on but running a marathon after swimming and cycling... well, that still has me worried.

The weekend was another travel weekend to Palm Desert, where I had to attend a work retreat. The good news is it was free, included a massage and plenty of down time to enjoy the resort. The bad news is it cut into training time and that's another weekend without an open water swim.

Though as we get closer to Ironman, the focus has been on endurance rather than intensity, we did a hillclimb on Saturday instead of the usual massive mileage ride, in part because of work-related scheduling conflicts (ok, that and a massage appointment), and in part because my boss wanted to climb Highway 74, just south of the resort we were staying at.  We climbed up to a vista point, for a total uphill riding time of just over one hour and nearly 2,500 ft elevation change.  The views were spectacular though.  All in all, a great weekend of a mix of training and relaxation.

Bike: 41.75 miles + 45 minutes on trainer

Run: 11.7 miles

Swim: 1700 meters (1.05 miles)

Total Time: 9:30 hours

After Week 17

This week included a course preview weekend in Tempe.  Redoing all three loops of the bike course and did one lap of the run course.  I had the misfortune of trying to do my course preview on the same weekend as the Soma Triathlon in the same place.  Much of their course overlapped the IMAZ course.  Arizona is still a very hot place.

The long bike ride was very educational for two reasons: (1) the course and its elevation changes are
now hammered into my brain.  There will be no surprises come race day.  (2) I learned I need more nutrition than I had been planning.  Previous rides capped out at one hundred miles, and even then I was a bit nutrition-starved.  This time, I bonked at mile 100 but still had an additional twelve to go.  The problem, I surmised, is that at the beginning of the ride/run, I have the benefit of the calories from breakfast.  But I burn through those as I'm taking down 150-200 calories per hour during the training session.  Then a few hours later, I'm out of breakfast calories but still need more than the 150-200 calories I'm taking in.  So while that amount of hourly intake works (with breakfast) for the first few hours, my caloric intake needs to be increased by at least another 100 per hour towards the middle and end of the training session.

On the way out of Arizona, we stopped by the new Tri Sports brick 'n mortar shop in Tempe, where I was very tempted to buy a new Cervelo TT bike, since the 2011 models are on heavy discount.  Luckily (or not so luckily, depending on how you see it), they didn't have my size.  But, we did get to stop by Rebel BBQ for some delicious BBQ goodness.

Bike: 112 miles + 110 minutes on trainer

Run: 19.0 miles

Swim: 3650 meters (2.26 miles)

Total Time: 14 hours

Gear! Because a Little More Carbon is Always Good

Recently, I purchased a new pair of running shoes.  The running store folks told me to go a half size up, because the front of my toes were rubbing the front of the shoes, which may have attributed to knee pains.

Similarly, my cycling shoes are also snug around the front of my feet.  This past weekend, I did a 112 bike ride that left a few of my toenails quite tender, likely because I'm pushing up with them on the shoe. My toes also are snug to the front of the cycling shoes.  Although I'm not sure if it is related, the muscles at the back of my right knee seems to be very tight.  I figured similarly to my running shoes, I may need to upsize my cycling shoes.

My current cycling shoes are "normal cycling" shoes, with three velcro straps.  This time around, I'm buying "triathlon" cycling shoes - made to be easier to take on and off during transition and while moving on the bicycle.

For the Louis Garneau Tri-Lite triathlon cycling shoe, that means one fat velcro strap.  Going a half size up will also provide extra room for my toes.  Another reason I chose this shoe was for extra ventilation.  Most of the top of the shoe is mesh material, unlike my current shoe which, when compared to this shoe, has limited ventilation.  Can't wait to try these on the bike.

Sherpa Reversal & Doing a Mary

Being an Iron Sherpa is hard work.  There's the food, the support, the training, and a whole host of other stuff too that takes up an enormous amount of effort and time.

So I try to lighten the load and help out a bit.  With the rather large amounts of food I eat every day now, Costco is the grocery shopping destination.  Usually Costco-sized bulk items are too much for any one person (or two) to finish before things start going bad.  But apparently I eat enough to get through Costco-sized items.

One day, I offered to hit Costco on my way home from work.  On that particular day, I had no evening training session planned so it worked out well.  Plus I wanted to get gas too.  I asked Iron Sherpa to send me a shopping list - I absolutely need lists because even if there were only two items, I'd probably forget one if I didn't have a list.  Iron Sherpa, having memorized Costco's layout, sent me the following list, probably because she knew I'd get lost and be completely unable to find the most basic of items:

At first, I thought, "hey, I can find these things just fine!" But then, once I got there... I must admit that the counterclockwise directions were hugely helpful.  Guess she's right to have no faith in my domestic skills.

Then, after some discussion of 2013 plans (read: post-Ironman) , Iron Sherpa decided she would like to train for and run a half-marathon and a full marathon in 2013 (and do a half-Ironman as well).  In triathlon talk (and maybe running circles too), that's doing a half-mary and doing a mary (and a HIM).  Iron Sherpa asked that I don't go around telling people she wants to do a mary, but instead I should say a "marathon."  Iron Sherpa doing a mary, I like the sound of that. I will help her!

Of course, this means I get to play the role of Sherpa (and coach).  First thing to do: set up a training calendar.  Using Google Calendar, I set up a weeks' worth of schedule for Iron Sherpa - what will be her first week of scheduled, regimented training, and shared the calendar with her.  Then I noticed an unauthorized addition to her calendar!



Unauthorized entry! Not a part of the plan!

 Sherp sherp.

The Magic Number is 341

341

Remember that number.  It will be my bib number for Ironman Arizona.  As with all Ironman events, they will provide live athlete tracking service on www.ironman.com during the race day.  All you need is my bib number.  I imagine you can also track by the athlete's name.

341.  Not a bad number to be racing with.  3 + 4 + 1 = 8.  Lucky number for Chinese people.

Gear! Where the Rubber Meets the Road

I've been long overdue for new shoes, and finally decided to go get a pair.  It's a good idea to go to a dedicated running store as the employees there always seem much more knowledgeable than the general sports stores, such as Big 5 or Sports Authority.

The employee who helped me used to run marathons fairly regularly and claimed to do upwards of one hundred miles a week.  A thin, wiry man, it seemed completely plausible and he definitely knew what he was talking about.  As it turns out, my shoes were probably too small, causing my toes to rub the front end of my shoe, which may have been the cause of my knee pains on longer runs.

Beyond that, shoes, I am told, should be replaced very three to four months, as the soles wear down and the shoes generally lose a lot of their support when the materials start getting soft.  Of course, that might advice from someone just trying to make a sale.  So I looked it up - and the advice ranges. However, all of the articles seem to agree on two things: when to replace a show (1) depending on a number of factors including running style and weight, and (2) ask five different people and you'll get five different responses.  One article stated 400-600 miles on a shoe, another put it at 300-500 miles.

Both articles say "listen to your body."  My knee pains should have been an indicator that new shoes were in order. 

brightly colored cartoon shoes

I've had these shoes for approximately a month now, and the knee pain has disappeared.  My toes aren't rubbing anymore, so no skin blisters.  All this from new shoes and going a half size up.  The new shoes are Brooks PureCadence, dark gray with lime green highlights.  I think a lot of the new shoes with multiple highlighter colors makes the running shoes look like they belong on a cartoon.  These are nice and subdued looking but with highlights for visibility, which I like.

Cartoon shoes do look nice though, but I feel like they draw a good bit of attention, and since I'm not a super fast runner, I'm not so sure I want to be drawing that much attention to myself while running!

Back to the new shoes.  They are fairly lightweight and in the totem pole of Brooks shoes, are on the lower end of support/weight.  I have tried their lightest shoes, partly because minimalist/barefoot running is so in vogue right now and I wanted to try it for myself, but never got used to it and don't think I'll be getting into that.  The first time I tried them on, I also tried on a pair of Asics.  The Asics felt like a normal shoe, whereas the Brooks felt like it was a cocoon for my foot.  I was sold.  Now that I've put in a good number of miles in them, they're broken in and feel great.  The lightness helps with cadence but still the shoe offers enough support for my feet so there are no random aches and pains.