June Training Disclaimers and Apologies

Based on my experience last year, I felt it was only fair to prepare everyone for what to expect from me during the month of June (my peak, high-volume training time in preparation for Ironman).  Much like a disaster-preparedness plan, these are some important items to keep in mind over the next month when dealing with me.

1. My life for every day for the next month will be: wake, eat, train, eat, work, eat, train, eat, work, eat, eat, eat, sleep.  And repeat.  Until I want to kill myself.
2. If I am grumpy, irritable, or agitated, it is nothing that you did.  I am just tired, hungry, and sore from having my crotchal region rubbed raw by a bike seat. 
3. The Amanda Threat Levels are as follows:
• Stage One: Toddler Tantrum - Keep calm and say soothing things and I am likely to back down.
• Stage Two: Crazy Beeotch - Laugh uncomfortably and find a way to disengage from conversation.  Flee for safety.
• Chernobyl Meltdown (a.k.a. Mega Bitch Mode) - Run away before I start throwing things.
4. Every time you talk to me, I will complain about how I want my life back and am never doing this again.  Tears may or may not be involved.
5. I will suspect and/or outright accuse family members of stealing my energy gels, even though I am the only one who considers them food, and I seem to forget that I now go through five of them during a single long run.
6. When you complain to me about exercising, I will smile and nod sympathetically, but inside I will be cursing you and wishing I could be doing your workout plan instead.
7. At any given time, I will be covered with a combination of any or all of the following:
• Body Glide
• Aquaphor Gel
• Icy Hot
• Neosporin
• Preparation H (for shrinking saddle sores...what were YOU thinking???)
• (I fully expect to leave a slime trail like a snail everywhere I go.)
8. On that note, if I also leave behind little white flakes, it is not dandruff.  It is just my dried-out skin from swimming in chlorine constantly.
9. Do not invite me to a party.  I will come and I will eat ALL your food.  Even the unidentifiable stuff in the back of the refrigerator.  
10. In fact, every time you see me, I will probably be shoving food into my face.
11. And complaining about how much I have to eat, which I know rallies lots of sympathy.

Now I have done my due diligence and you have been warned.  Just remember, despite it all, you are my friends, and it is your unwritten responsibility to deal with my crazy ass.  Keep calm and carry on.

I Didn't Want To Do It Today

Today started fine.  I woke up, did some foam rolling, and ate my usual breakfast...which actually isn't really "usual" anymore, because it keeps growing.  It started as a homemade egg sandwich: 1 egg fried in coconut oil, on an Ezekiel sprouted-grain English muffin, with a slice of organic deli ham or pastrami (depending on my mood).  As Ironman training grew, that wasn't cutting it anymore.  Now it's turned into a 2-egg omelet with reduced fat provolone and ham/pastrami, accompanied by an Ezekiel English muffin slathered in peanut butter.

That's what I had this morning as I got ready for my bike ride to work.  I have been riding my bike as much as possible to and from work in order to chip away at my weekly bike mileage.  It's been a great way to save gas money and get in my training at the same time (I think my gas costs last month were like $25). 

Everything was fine during the morning, but I noticed that, by the time work ended around lunchtime and it was time to close up, my stomach was totally empty.  I ate a Clif bar and prepared to bike home.  The whole way home I was cranky and pissed off in general.  My legs ached, I felt light-headed, and every way the wind blew annoyed me (literally...I am not being funny here...I was literally mad at the wind directions). 

As I got closer and closer to home, I started to make excuses to stop when I got there and not train today.  I just did not want to do it.  I was moody, tired, and totally unmotivated.  However, I put on my self-trainer cap and said " 'I don't want to do it' is not an excuse."  So I sucked it up when I got home, scarfed down a PowerBar, switched to my triathlon bike, and got back out there.  I repeated, "Shut up and do it," in my head more times than I could count.

And then a really crazy thing happened.  I started to feel good.  PowerBar to the rescue!  All the fatigue, bitterness, and anger were just symptoms that I was severely bonking.  For those of you who don't know what bonking is, "bonking" is endurance-sport slang for not having enough fuel (namely carbohydrates) to sustain physical activity.  You start to feel sluggish and light-headed as your body tries to deal with the fact that there just isn't enough energy to power the whole factory.  So some areas experience "brown-outs."  That is exactly what had been happening to me earlier.

I continued to munch on pretzels during my long ride, feeling a little bit better each time I did so.  But I was still dangerously close to bonking, as it seemed that, just after I ate, my stomach started to growl again.  If I was a car, it was like driving with the needle on "E" and then just putting in a few drops of gas every mile.  Despite it all, I managed to finish, slurp down an energy gel, and do a 2.7-mile brick run after.  AND it was my fastest brick this season.  I've been averaging about 10-minute miles on my bricks (a.k.a the runs performed immediately after bike rides, usually done at an easy pace).  Today I averaged 8:37 per mile without feeling any different effort-wise.  Just imagine what I could do with my fuel topped off!

So, with all the hard work done, I entered all my food and exercise into My Fitness Pal, a calorie-tracking app.  No wonder I was so light-headed -- not only was I bonking, but my calorie count for the day after all the training was -575.  I was actually in deficit even while fueling during my workout.  It looks like the breakfast is going to have to get even bigger.  (I know, these are horrible problems, right?)

I am SO glad I sucked it up and did my training today.  I definitely could have bagged it, but I got a good amount of work done.  And I have to say, I am feeling pretty tough.  I just feel strong.  I am the leanest I have been since I can remember, and it's all thanks to just being consistent with training and mindful of my food choices.  I even took a selfie to celebrate.  

Swimmin' on the Cheap

I've begun exploring some alternative options for swimming training that won't hurt my wallet.  I only really swim twice per week and the rest of my training is done either outdoors or at home, so all I need is a place to dip in and get in about an hour or so of swimming. 

Local high schools that have pools usually offer an early morning community lap swimming option.  However, BH-BL only offers this during the school year, and although Ballston Spa High School offers it year-round, it runs from 6-7 am (EARLY!), and only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  Granted, if it's the only option available, I'll suck it up and do it, but I work late nights and need my beauty sleep too.

So naturally my next choice is to explore the local lakes.  Not only is it free, but the times are flexible (basically swim when you want as long as it's daylight).  I would love to be able to do a local triathlon club group swim, but they are usually in the evenings and that's when I work.  So I used today as an opportunity to both get my bike training in and investigate potential outdoor swimming options.

Now, what I didn't know is that Weather.com is a friggin' liar.  I checked the hour-by-hour forecast for today and it said sunshine and 0% chance of precipitation.  Apparently that means hurricane-force-winds threatening to blow you off your bike, annoying spittle rain that creates the fear that you will get caught in a downpour, and chilly overcast skies.  What would normally have been a nice, enjoyable ride turned into a fight against headwinds and a potential storm. 

If you saw a nut-job on a bike today who was holding the handlebars for dear life and swearing at the wind, that was me.

Regardless of the weather conditions, I got about 30 miles of biking in.  First I headed to Scotia to check out Collins Lake, which boasts a beach and swimming area inside Collins Park.  I knew going into it that the lake would not be open, as previous years it has not opened for swimming until late June.  And I also knew that it might not even open at all this year since last year it was closed due to contamination from Hurricane Irene.  But I wanted to check it out anyway, which I did.  There is a bike rack located at the park entrance, so it would be easy to bike here, lock the bike up, and go for a swim.

On my way to the next swimming destination, I made a stop at the bank and post office (because why not?).  Then I headed to Ballston Lake via the bike path, checking out the Outlet Road access pier.  The parking area is a little bit sketchy; I would not feel confident leaving my bike there, even with a lock (there isn't even really anything to lock it to...).  So I would have to drive.  But then what to do with my keys while I swim?  Anyway, it didn't seem to matter because when I got to the dock, there was a sign posted that said "No Swimming or Diving from Pier."  Plus there was a lot of garbage in the water, and nasty muck.  Not very inviting.  If anyone knows of a swimming access point to Ballston Lake, please let me know so I can check it out.  Other than the yucky dock, it looks like a very nice and tranquil lake.

So, all in all it was a good day.  I got to explore some potential summer swimming options and get a nice little bike workout in too.  I think my next order of business will be to try out the morning swim at Ballston Spa High School and see how busy it is.

Getting my Biking in Gear

This year I've decided to make the bike my primary training focus.  Last year, I focused on my swimming and brought that up significantly.  I'm not worried about my running; that is by far my strongest of the three disciplines and by the time I get to that portion of the Ironman, it is just going to suck regardless.

I want to go into this year's bike leg even stronger than last year, with bulletproof knees that can withstand any minor glitch and continue the course unfazed.  I am biking three times a week -- two shorter rides and one long ride to build endurance.  Along with that, I am trying to bike everywhere I possibly can to get in extra miles here and there.  Plus it saves gas money!

I had found that my second short ride of the week was becoming boring and tedious, so my approach changed.  Instead of treating that one as a training ride, I turned that ride into an "errand ride."  Whatever errands I have to do for the week, I am using that training day to bike to complete those errands (banking, work-related chores, etc.).  That way, I still get in the same amount of mileage, but it breaks things up mentally.

Today was my longest training ride yet this season.  I was very lucky because my friend and Ironman finisher Greta accompanied me.  I have a lot of trouble doing training rides with friends because my work schedule (as a small business owner) is highly unpredictable.  Often I don't know when I'm training until an hour or so beforehand.  It is a unique alignment of the stars when I can find some scheduling stability in my training.

I both dread and am grateful for rides with Greta, because she is much faster than me on the bike and plans hellishly-challenging courses.  Even though they can be tough rides, they force me to improve.  It is important to train with people stronger than you because it motivates you to get better too.

We did a 42-mile ride today that consisted of many hills, which surprisingly weren't as difficult as I'd thought they'd be.  Don't get me wrong, there were swear words flying constantly (yes, the infamous Potter Road hill was in the mix), but I was impressed with my leg strength going into this ride and realized that I am much stronger than I was at this stage last season.  It tells me that all the winter training I did is paying off.

Upon finishing, I did a short 1.5-mile brick run.  It is appropriately named, because my legs felt like bricks.  I think this might also have been a bit of bonking since I don't think I brought enough food with me on the ride.  In triathlon, everything you do in one stage affects how you perform in the next stage.  Under-eating on the bike catches up to you on the run.  I'll just be more mindful of that next week and bring more PowerBars and pretzels.  But otherwise, it was a great ride and an excellent confidence-builder!

12 Weeks Out

Ironman Lake Placid is only 12 weeks away.  That means that it's time to really dial in the training and accept the fact that this is the stage when Ironman begins to take over my life.

My base building phase is over and now it's time to start upping the mileage to ridiculous proportions.  That means most of my free time will be spent in the pool, on the bike, or on my feet running on the road.  Thankfully it looks like Spring has finally arrived, making outdoor training much more pleasant. 

As a heads-up: any crabbiness on my part is probably a direct result of Ironman training.  I apologize in advance for potentially biting your head off for no reason.

I will spend the next several weeks testing the thresholds of my training volume, pushing up to the race-day mileage before scaling down in the final 3-week taper.  

Let the fun begin!