"Aerobic-Focused:" Code for "Really Long"

Week five was what our training schedule innocuously referred to as an "aerobic-focused" week. Our long run jumped up to an hour and ten minutes, our long bike to 2:15, our swim to an hour, and all of these things were to be performed at under 75% of max heart rate. Per the schedule, I had been doing quite a few runs under 75%, so that wasn't too much of an adjustment. In fact, my ability to run in an aerobic state is showing dramatic improvement, something that encourages me greatly! When I first started I had to walk frequently to stay under a heartbeat of 150 beats per minute. Now I can run at a half-decent pace (half decent for ME -- don't get too excited) for what seems like forever at 138! When I started this heart rate training I had hoped that it might solve the riddle of why I am so exceptionally slow, and I think it's working!

As it turns out, what I thought was a moderate run pace was actually jacking my heart rate way up -- high enough that I couldn't maintain it for long distances. In the short term slowing down seems counterintuitive, but I'm discovering that as my body gets better at processing energy aerobically (using oxygen and burning fat rather than glucose) my pace is picking back up and I can hold that pace for distances that used to demand walk breaks. It's encouraging.

That said, I do feel like each workout lasts forever. The runs aren't too bad, but the bike this week was brutal. I decided to ride with my friend Barbie down in Kona, despite the fact that they issued a high wind advisory for the area. We started out and immediately it was just like a bad joke. Determined to follow my training plan, I down-shifted and down-shifted trying to find a gear that allowed me to stay within the aerobic heart rate zone. Barbie probably thought I was crazy. In my two easiest gears, I could barely keep my heart rate where it was supposed to be, the head wind was so bad. It howled in my ears, it felt like I was cycling dragging a beached whale down the highway.

Knowing that the return trip would be significantly faster with the tailwind, I added an extra 20 minutes to the trip out. Turning around felt like losing 100 pounds and growing wings! We flew back to Kona! Even with the time adjustment, we arrived back over 10 minutes early, meaning that the trip out had been over 50 minutes longer than the trip back! I did a little cool down to add some extra time, and then we filled up on some delicious post-ride burritos. All in a day's work.

Honu 2018 Training - Week 4

As I finish up Week 4 of my training plan for Honu 2018, it is becoming remarkably clear that either doing two Ironmans in a row resulted in some pretty remarkable strength gains, or allowing myself to train at higher intensities is simply unleashing the result of last season’s endurance focus. This week I ran ten miles for my long run, at a pace much faster than the 70% of max heart rate pace I did most of my Ironman running at, and it felt excellent! My legs hurt less, I never reached that point where every step felt like a battle… whatever it is that's happening, it's fun and I’m enjoying it. Also of note, Sean and I signed up for the Mini Monster 70.3 on February 11th on a whim, so apparently I’m going to be doing a half Ironman in six weeks. I always have to keep things interesting...

The first three weeks of my re-entry to structured training were purely run-focused, getting accustomed to my Run Less Run Faster half marathon plan while incorporating just two very low key, easy bike workouts to reintroduce myself to structured training and feel out my schedule. This week (after missing a week due to a really fun stomach virus), I amped up one more level, adding a bike workout focused on hill repeats, several power intervals to one of the other bike sessions, and two swims -- one at the pool and one in the ocean.

Since changing jobs, I have to get up much, much earlier to get my workouts in. However, it also means that I am home much earlier and that I have a lot more time to put toward coaching, both of which make me feel a lot better overall. I hated getting home at 8pm for the last two years, rushing to make dinner, eat, and quickly get to bed before getting up the next morning to do it all again. I am a much happier person when I have a little more time in the evenings, and it only took a few early mornings to remind me that awful as it feels when the alarm goes off, I really do enjoy being up to watch the sunrise. There is something special about seeing starlight turn into a wash of pinks, yellows, and purples.

Training itself this week went well. My tempo run (6 miles) felt great and although the speed interval run on Thursday of 5 x 1000 in Zone 5 felt like it might kill me at the time, I made it through and felt great afterward. Puako is a great place to do intervals as it is flat as a pancake, and provides a welcome respite from the monotony of the track. Hill repeats on the bike were actually fun in a sick sort of way (what has happened to me?), and getting on the bike after the tempo run helped in avoiding sore muscles.

Getting back to swimming was… cold. The Ka Milo pool felt like there might be chunks of ice floating in it -- something I truly don’t understand given that it never gets below 70 down there. I jumped in, gasped for air for a bit, did my 1800 yards, finally finding my stroke after about 600, and then promptly ran to the hot tub to reheat myself before showering. On Friday I swam in the ocean, and it took me a full 40 minutes to convince myself to get out of the car and into the water, it was so windy. Indeed, the water was choppy, murky, and full of weird currents that pushed and pulled me every which way, but getting back into the ocean always feels good on some level.

I also had the revelation this week, as I took the three minutes to warm up in the hot tub, that it has been far too long since I took just a little tiny bit of time alone to just soak up the beauty of my surroundings and not think. My mind has been so completely taken over by triathlon -- planning, training, strategizing, analyzing -- that I don’t think I’ve just sat and thought of nothing but how beautiful it is around me since May or June of last year. Now, I love thinking about triathlon, that’s no secret, but I remembered, sitting in that hot tub listening to the wind in the palms and watching them sway above me, that sometimes it is also important to quiet my ever-busy mind. I scheduled 10-15 minutes of this into my days the rest of the week, and it gave me peace like no amount of rest has -- a peace that has eluded me ever since Ironman training kicked up last spring and my schedule became packed down to the minute, constantly frenzied and driven and rushed.

The weekend arrived and I hit my long run: ten miles, eight of which were to be held at a pace between 10:15 and 10:35 per mile. I had also decided that I wanted to negative split the last three miles. For my sanity more than anything else, I ran from Waikoloa as usual but went out the opposite direction on the highway, away from Mauna Lani instead of toward it. This meant that when I turned back toward the resorts all I had to run was the hotel loop (4.75 miles) instead of passing the turn off and running additional distance. I don’t really know why more people don’t run that direction, because it’s actually quite pleasant. Gentle grade, nice views… anyway it was a good run and I felt strong. As I passed King’s Land I saw Sean on his golf cart and after trying in vain to muster enough breath to yell at him, I chased him down instead, adding an extra .1 miles to my route. The hug was worth it. (He may disagree, given how sweaty and smelly I was).

Sunday we are back to doing our “long” ride together, although for now long is only two hours, which after months and months of Ironman training feels like a lovely little jaunt. As usual, I told Sean to go on ahead if he wanted to go faster than me, since I generally like to keep my long rides in a solid Zone 2. He stayed with me until the big hill, when I again encouraged him to go ahead, assuming that he would blow me out of the water on speed. Surprisingly, though, I found myself hanging with him, at which point I decided that since it was only a two hour ride I may as well push a little more than usual and see if I could hang with his pace. Sure enough, I could, and not even pushing big gears to do so! I tried to keep my cadence fast and light rather than mash the big gears, and I made it through the whole ride feeling good and averaging 18mph, above my target pace for Honu this year. Most interestingly, I felt like I got a glimpse of what my cycling can be, much like years ago when by accident I found my perfect running stride. It’s an odd feeling to feel exactly what it should feel like, yet to know that you won’t be able to replicate it consistently quite yet. For the running it took over a year before I was able to reproduce that feeling on demand. Hopefully for cycling I can capture this feeling and technique a little faster, given where I’m at in training compared to back then. Either way, it motivates me to know that it’s possible, it’s out there. My body is capable of it, somewhere in there.

Despite the challenge, I am looking forward to next week. More hard runs, more hill repeats, more (cold) swims, and more learning. Gotta love this sport.