Maintaing It On The Hamster Wheel Of Life

I had two fairly lengthy swim workouts on Monday and Wednesday of last week. One was in my "home"pool YMCA, which often approaches temperatures resembling the sun. My swim on Wednesday was at  another  YMCA pool, and the water temperature was a good 10 degrees cooler. I honestly could have swam for hours in that pool. Well, except for the fact that I find going back and forth in a pool analogous to a hamster spinning on a wheel going nowhere—no offense swimphiles. Seriously, what a huge difference a pool can have on your performance. I think the best swim workouts I have had while training this pre-season were when I did that little residency down in North Carolina at Appalachian State University. The pool was amazingly fast, cool, and relatively quiet at all hours of the day. That is exactly the type of atmosphere I need to get through a grueling swim workout. Of course, we are now into May, and I barely have a month left before my first triathlon of the season—6 June—at Keuka Lake. I am racing an Olympic distance that day. The difference between the air and water temperature that day could be about 30 degrees! I have had friends tell me that they could not even feel their extremities until they started the run course. Oh joy!

I ran a 47 minute 10K on Friday—a vast improvement for me from a few weeks ago. I had done a short 25 mile bike ride on Thursday and went I went out Friday for my 10K, my legs felt really strong. However, I really do have to get in the gym following my semester to do some weight training. I feel like I have lost a lot of muscle from all the endurance training. More, with my schedule still crazy for another week, I feel like I am barely maintaining my cardiovascular fitness, let alone strengthening it.

The good news is that I followed my week with a 56 mile bike ride on Saturday with Scott. The ride was hot, hilly, and windy!  It got up to about 82 degrees. I know what you southerners are thinking—"you wimp—82 degrees?!  I'd be wearing my winter jacket." Keep in mind that western New York is a bit different than say, anywhere south of the Monogahela line. Spring fluctuates between  40 to 80 in the span of 24 hours. I took another work induced off day today, but it is okay. I still have a lot of stuff on the burner. I am going to try and get in a ten mile run tomorrow afternoon between classes.

Okay, some of you might know that I have been compiling some questions for Dr. Alex McDonald, a professional triathlete, and member of the Timex Multisport Team. Hey, any time I have a chance to pick the brain of a Kona-qualifying MD, I seize the opportunity. Carpe Diem friends. So, the following questions are in no particular order, but they are all questions that I have had over the years, or I have heard friends ask about training. If any of you can think of any other pertinent questions—feel free to add any thoughts or questions you have.

Questions for Dr Alex McDonald:

1) One of my biggest fears about training for triathlons is that I will get sick days leading up to a race—or worse—feel ill on the day I am suppose to race. How do you  negotiate a race that you've spent time, energy—not to mention some serious dough in the case of Ironman—but know that you are not operating at 100%. Has this happened to you, and what have you done?

2) There is a lot of talk about proper nutrition, leading up to, and during the race. I find a lot of contrary information. Is the best rule, just to use plans as a template, and determine your  nutritional needs on your own by how you feel during training?

3) I have a love/hate relationship with swimming. When I have the time to do the volume consistently, I can not wait to get in the pool. When I miss a workout or two, I feel like I am learning how to swim all over again.

4) We all have busy lives. When some of us are not busy with our part-time jobs training for Ironman, we like to put some "valuable time in the bank" at home with the people that matter. Have you learned any skills through the years to balancing family life with a high volume of training that you could share?

5) I've noticed that my workouts are stronger at certain parts of the day than they are at others. Perhaps—like Superman—I am in constant need of vitamin D from the sun for power—but I really have a problem feeling fast when the sun is not out. Should I train when my body feels the strongest?

6) How much of a difference will a triathlon specific bike make on the bike and run portion for the age-group triathlete?

7) How do you do negotiate your season when you sustain an injury that is going to keep you from training for a prolonged period of time?

8) We all know that you have to invest a lot of time in the physical component of triathlon, but do you have any suggestions for the first time half, or full ironman about any mental preparedness that you can do to get ready. Do you do any visualization with regard to running or swim form?

9) For an amateur. deep wheeled rims might shave a whole minute off of an ironman distance course—maybe. What one piece of gear DO you think would make a significant difference for the age-group triathlete that they might be overlooking?

10) What was your introduction into the sport and how long do you think you will continue to race triathlon?

Okay, that is all I have, for now. Of course, answers bring up new questions. When I get responses to all of these, I will post the questions again along with the answers. Finding more time here in the next few weeks! Miss writing as much as I want.

Finally, congratulations are in order for my blogger friend Bob over at ironbob-ironbob.blogspot.com for a amazing performance at Ironman St. George. Way to go hombre! Can not wait to hear the full race report.

Until next time, train smart!

Ask A Pro: An Open Forum With Dr. Alex McDonald

I received a really exciting email yesterday from my friends over at Timex about Dr. Alex McDonald. Dr. McDonald is  professional triathlete and a Timex Multisport Team member. The team members—made up of 50 elite and amateur athletes from U.S., Australia,India,Ukraine, Mexico, Czech Republic, Estonia, Canadaand the United Kingdom—just took part in the team's preseason training camp at the Timex Performance Center in East Rutherford New Jersey. The camp—which took place Thursday 18- Sunday 21, February—featured state-of-the-art performance evaluation and analysis. Each athlete was afforded the opportunity to gain in-depthknowledge about their individual performance indicators: biomechanical testing analysis, VO2 Max testing andMELT Method training, under the direction of a collaborative team of sports medicine and training experts led by New York Giants VP of Medical Services Ronnie Barnes and Polly de Mille of the Hospital for Special Surgery.

Timex Multisport Team member Alex McDonald, MD, a professional triathlete and medicaldoctor from Durham, NC, participated in a unique dual role - as both a participating athleteand member of the medical counsel led by Barnes.  


Now the really cool part: Dr. McDonald is going to answer our questions about training and sport performance. Of course, I have a sleuth of questions I could fire away about all things triathlon, but I want to give all of you the opportunity to respond to this with any training questions of your own. Think about it. How many times will be able to fire questions to a professional triathlete AND medical doctor? Unless you have cell phone numbers for Craig Alexander, Chrissy Wellington, and Dr. Oz, the opportunities for a professional athlete to make themselves accessible are often quite rare for amateurs like many of us. If any of you have questions regarding all things triathlon, please submit a question to this blog post. I will compile a list of question and answers in a future post. 


Update: I just started week 10 of training and it did not go so well. I completely bonked today in the pool. I am not sure why. Well, I have an idea. After two great swims in North Carolina. I went for a forty minute swim today, but I could only get through about half of it. I could not get my heart rate under control. Turns out, I am still really tired from my week in NC, and I was very dehydrated when I got in the pool this afternoon. Oh, and Clif Builder Bars—although the greatest post-workout bar— is really not an adequate substitute for lunch. Hoping to get back on track tomorrow. 


Interview: I am still writing my post on race entry fees following my interview with Jeff Henderson, race director of the Musselman Half, Portland Triathlon. and Fly By Night Du. More soon. Happy Training everyone!