2010 - Day 1

Standing in my bathroom, shrouded by the blue glow of my laptop monitor, hitting refresh like roadie bidding on eBay for spandex. That's how day 1 of my 2010 XTERRA and Ultimate season started, and day 6 as a graduate student.
I managed to avoid waking up runnerwife, totally opening my eyes, and still took the top spot on the podium in my online class. You see, today started at 4:55am so I could submit two papers for graduate school. The first two students to write their papers on the same topic close that topic for the course. So the only way to prevent having to write additional papers for an open topic is to be one of the first two students to submit your paper. I'm a competitive SOB. Not dressed, not coherent, and not too thrilled to be awake I successfully submitted my papers (1st) at the 5am start...Welcome to 2010. Year 3.

AM - Morning weights (4x12):

• pullups
• pushups
• body weight rows
• lateral DB raises
• swimmers

Lunch - 1/2 mile run, light yoga

PM - 3hr ultimate practice incl. abs
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Morning weight 174 (heaviest ever)
RHR 56 bpm

One week off-season

Until this year every fall brought the end of the competitive club ultimate season. Congrats to JAM, PoNY, Alpha Cobra Squadron, and Guillermo Y Comania for all making Nationals this year. I’ll miss hanging out in Sarasota.For the past several years the end of ultimate season meant weeks/months of physical therapy and rest - torn psoas muscle, torn meniscus, cyst on my PCL, and the usual bumps and bruises. One reason I decided to race XTERRA this year was to take a physical break from playing ultimate and use the year to build some strength and explore some different sports, while still qualifying for a national championship. Mission accomplished!

I’m still undecided about next year. Do I return to Ultimate? Do I use my 1^st year of XTERRA experience to build an awesome plan of attack for a second year and redemption in Tahoe? Or do I live a more balanced life playing some ultimate, racing some local XTERRA races, skiing, backpacking, and just being active….?

Well, until I make that decision I’ve decided to join A in running the 2009:

I’ll be clear about this – I hate running, but if I want a better 2009 XTERRA season spending time training for this ½ will be a serious plus. If I go back to ultimate or just want to be active in 2009 this training won’t be that bad either. It’s just so much running….

So with my one week of rest after XTERRA 2008, I’m officially training again. Those of you that know me are not surprised at all.

Monday: 30 minute low intensity run

Tuesday:: 30 minute bike / core work

Back from Denver

I had a great 5 days in Denver and Boulder. What a beautiful part of the country. Not as much training as I hoped to get in while I was there, but plenty of good times with close friends. Thursday we went to a Forrest Yoga class taught by one of our friends. Because it was one of the first classes at a new studio we were the only ones there. That meant we had almost 2 hours of private yoga with one of the best instructors in Denver. Sweet! Friday and Saturday were the UPA College National Championships where I was able to support the CUT boys in their run to the semi’s (farthest they’ve been since my senior year in ’03). I never managed to get away from the fields and up in the mountains, but I was content to support the team with the mountains as a backdrop. Despite getting back late Sunday night I was back at it on Monday with a good swim workout and run on Tuesday. Stay tuned for new changes to my racing schedule….

Training Update:
Monday: Swim 2000m, heavy on pull sets / resistance training and abs
Tuesday: Run 3 miles, close to race pace with hills / resistance training

I miss that feeling

Something that I have come to miss in training for XTERRA (compared to Ultimate) is the ability to “play”. What I mean by that is that in Ultimate while you do your conditioning, drills, and strategy sessions you almost always get to the play the sport during some of your weekly practice time. I never understood how much I enjoyed the ability to line up against someone and play at 100% - sprinting, playing D, or making the big throw. Playing is different from practice like racing is different from training. The problem is that during training I never get to race. Most of my sessions I have to do solo, because no one is ever doing the exact training I am, and it is counterproductive to go all out 100% during training sessions. There are intervals to keep, HR requirements, and just some long haul endurance swims/rides/and runs which are nothing like racing. The thought of only competing in a couple of races a year feels like far too few right now. I have an intense desire to put my training to the test and measure where I am in my training, but I have two weeks until that happens down in Georgia. In Ultimate, you can always push yourself in a scrimmage and measure your progress. I find that I really miss that opportunity in my training now. Perhaps I’m just missing how to do that in endurance training and it takes time and a different set of measuring sticks; I hope that is the case. Until I figure it out I’m just going to have to deal with all the competitive energy flowing through my veins.

Thank you XTERRA Wetsuits!

I’ve accomplished one of my goals for this rest week and decided on my wetsuit for the season. This season I’ll be racing in the XTERRA Vortex 2. XTERRA offered an incredible deal on this wetsuit and with Ft. Yargo in only a couple of weeks I needed a quality suit that would be here for race-day. My wetsuit should be here next week, which gives me some time to get comfortable in it and practice getting in/out of it prior to my first race.
My hamstring continues to be a problem even with daily RICE treatment. I may look into getting some massage before the end of the rest week so I can go into my last two weeks of training before the race as close to 100% as possible. We have flood warnings in affect for Nashville and all surrounding counties because of the heavy downpours today and forecasted for Friday. That makes it a good week to be catching up on sleep and the other parts of life that I miss out on while training. It has been nice to sleep in every morning, getting my recovery workouts in during lunch and after work.
Tonight I coach the Vanderbilt Ultimate teams for one of the last times this season. It has been a different season coaching the men’s and women’s teams, only doing conditioning, and not traveling with the teams. I wish I had the time to devote more to the teams (at tournaments and during the week), but this year was a realistic compromise of what I could actually offer.

Training Update

Thursday: Track workout - 2 mile warm up, 4x200, 4x400.  The 200's are L5 followed immediately by a L4 400, and then complete recovery.  This one sucked.

Friday: Rest

Saturday:  Swam a ladder workout.  I felt really fast and pushed hard through all 2,400 M, then I jumped on the bike and hammered out 10.

Sunday: Up early, and biked to Percy Warner, ran two laps (both directions) and then biked home.

I've been busy coaching the Vanderbilt Men this weekend in the Music City Tune-up.  More crazy weather here this weekend.  The trails are soaked =( 

Getting in the groove

Tuesday
After returning from the bay area Monday night, it was right back to training on Tuesday. I hit the weights during lunch on Tuesday, and it felt good to be back in the gym after a long weekend of rest and relaxation. The workout was straightforward, a warm up on the elliptical machine and then some intense chest/back work. While my lifting program hasn’t changed (for now) since I started my formal tri training this week, I have been trying to incorporate as much functional strength training into my routine as possible. This means lots of pushups, dips, and different styles of pull-ups. Interesting article in Outside that turned me on to the Monkey Bar Gym philosophy, which has been huge. I can tell it is paying off, but functional strength exercises are much more humbling than free weights.
Wednesday
I was up early and in the pool before sunrise. The water was cold, the air was cold, and it took me a while to get warmed up, especially since I was trying to keep my hr down. Swimming comes so easily that I’m able to really enjoy my workouts, even evaluating my stroke and body position is fun. I was tough pressed to find my own lane this morning, I’m guessing the cold weather is driving everyone indoors. A quick costume change and it was off to work. I got in a quick workout after “Unity Day” during lunch, mainly just a warm-up with stretching and pull-ups for good measure. I’m looking forward to Thursday as I get to coach and workout with the Vanderbilt Ultimate team. I always work harder when I’m coaching.