On Hiatus

via TriRig

What a race and pretty sure it's a go again next year, this time standard distance instead of sprint!

Head on over to usatriathlon.org for results.

Sorry to cut this short but here's a heads up for some of you who have been following my posts, I'm going to be taking a break from blogging to focus on other priorities. The page will still be up if you haven't caught up with old posts. I'll put up new stuff when I can (just not so much like now) and share via Facebook to save your time from revisiting and wondering when I'll ever post something new.

Happy early May!

Taper Day 5

A whole day off before the race leaves me feeling not as pumped on race day and just performance awkwardness with under stimulated legs. If I don't throw in something small to keep the muscles stimulated the day before, it just takes longer to settle into a pace during shorter races. I perform best when I get warmed up the day before. That's why I always choose to schedule complete rest the day before the last day of taper so I can use that last day feeling all refreshed and tap my legs awake with the efforts I plan on using tomorrow.

Today was, again, some quick bursts of race pace but at shorter bouts rather than a minute and a gear run through on the bike--just shifting around to make sure it runs smoothly.

5:00 WU spin
8:00 of gear shifting fun, throwing along some 15-20 sec bursts of race pace at high cadence
2:00 recovery spin and set to a favorable gear to start with for tomorrow

and transition into running for 10 mins including several 15-20 sec accelerations (or strides) at race pace with about 1-2 mins of jog recoveries. The point of this workout is to get a feel of race pace again comfortably without "muscling" it. Stay relaxed while getting the mind and body prepped for the hard effort tomorrow.

Cool down walk with a couple knee drives, hip circles and forward/backward swings.

Decided to not do burpees today. The last thing I want to feel is tensed up neck and shoulders the day before the race!

A total catch-up of 129 burpees coming up tomorrow evening. Lucky me.

Taper Day 4

Complete rest day today. I always have the second day before my race completely off. If my race's on Saturday, it's Thursday. If Sunday, then Friday. You'll see why I taper this way tomorrow.

Except this week's a tad different from all my taper weeks since I'm stuck on the Burpee Challenge. I didn't want to do extras last week or make it all up next week after my race which could've been favorable options to getting a well-rested week. Wanted to maintain my burpee fitness so did 63 burpees broken into 20, 20, 23 at a pace that doesn't leave me too winded. All done at 5am. The earlier, the better so I can have the whole day to back off in order to push hard when the big day comes.

6am Mobility & Flexibility
WU 300m row
Spine twists with PVC
Bent over twists
Wall squat (with elbow drag)
Squat hold & twist

Work through the following 2x:
2 min back foam roll
Band torso twist (with partner)
Side lying rotation with foam roller
Quad rotation (on all fours)
Child's pose rotation

Taper Day 3

via Jordan Weeks

Woke up at 3:15 am. I blame my cat, Max, for training my internal clock to get up way earlier than necessary. It used to be 5:00 am, then 4:45, 4:30, 4:00, 3:45 and now he demands his breakfast at 3:15 am. He knows I'm deaf so he has his ways of kicking me out of bed. Paws on my face, nasty cat snot on my face from his wet nose, licks my eye, walks across my neck constantly until I gag and choke and even sit on my face if I refuse to obey his orders.

Fortunately, he won't be around this week because I'm housesitting until next week and I was thrilled to have the whole pre-race week of slumber without him, hoping to sleep and drool like a baby but I guess my inner clock wouldn't allow it. Bummer!

I'm not feeling sore at all so that's a good sign. Let me repeat, no more strength training this week.

5:30am swim (sprint)

WU: 200 swim, 100 kick, 200 pull, 100 drill/swim

Main set:
100m time trial (hard), 100 easy
50m hard, 50 easy
25m hard, 25 easy

Repeat same warm up: 200s, 100k, 200p, 100d/s

4x50, 1&3 hard, 2&4 easy
6x25, 1&3&5 hard, 2&4&6 easy

100s, 100k, 100p, 100d/s

4x75, 25m hard, 50m easy

CD: 100-200m

_________________________

10am cycle (interval)
Work on short bursts of race pace. Just like Monday's run--another last chance "taste" of speed and efficiency into the legs that you plan to use in the race as well as finding the right gears for uphill, downhill and flat riding. Recoveries are very, very easy with no effort at all.

WU 20:00
Main: 8x2:00, 1:00 hard-1:00 cruise, 2:00 recovery spin
CD: 5:00-10:00

and.... 62 burpees. Broke it down to 30 then 32. Nice easy steady pace all throughout both sets.

Taper Day 2

I was a very good girl yesterday. Originally, the plan was to do Crossfit yesterday at 5am, Kettlebells at 7am today and Crossfit again tomorrow (Wed) and that's it for the week. Had to think twice and snap out of that temptation. The more I stress my body during race week, the more I see the race as just another time trial or part of my training to prepare for the next upcoming races. Bad habit.

Now the plan is to do just one strength session this week. The earlier in the week, the better for me so I can recuperate from any soreness.

Experts usually recommend cutting back on strength sessions during the week of your race or two weeks before depending on intensity of training, duration of the race and other factors. For me, at least 3 days of recovery is fairly enough to get back on track for a sprint. It would've or might have been better if I skip strength sessions for a week altogether but nah, not for a small race like this. I'm stubborn like that. But an Olympic distance or a full marathon, I'd take my recovery more seriously!

via Urban Fitness

6am Mobility + Flexibility
Worked on spinal mobility. Went something like this:

• Spinal warm up twists with PVC
• Foam roll upper back with arms crossed across chest
• Spinal extension and lateral flexion with medicine ball
• LAX ball back massage starting from the bottom of your back up to the neck
• Child's pose hold for about two mins

7am Kettlebells
Complete Circuit Style (1 min rest between sets)

• Strict Press R+L 3x5
• Lunges R+L 3x5
• DBL KB Batwings 3x15sec
• Renegade Plank 3x30sec

Conditioning (10:00 AMRAP--as many reps as possible)

• 10 Russian Swings (40lb)
• 5 BW Squats
• 3 Burpees

Plus, extra 7 burpees to get to 61 for the 100 Day Burpee Challenge.

Classes were held at GTX. Go check it out! 

Taper Day 1

via A Costa Rican

5 days until the Duathlon National Championships in Oro Valley. As much as I'm tempted to continue my usual training schedule, I'm going to start directing this blog to this week's taper as a reminder to take it easy.

I always ensure my training regimen includes a week recovery every three weeks (focusing mostly on endurance and speed) to avoid overtraining and guarantee a rejuvenated body and mind for another 3-week cycle of hard training. Tapering, on the other hand, is slightly different from recovery weeks. The length of taper depends on how fast you recover and the duration of your actual race. If it's a full marathon, most training programs strongly recommended two weeks average worth of taper or possibly more especially for older athletes who find that 2+ week taper is ideal for optimal performance due to age-related decline in speed of recovery.

This Saturday's race is only a sprint so I'm expecting about an hour finish or maybe less. Since the course is shorter than standard distance, I've decided to taper just for this week.

I personally hate tapering. My body's acclimated to waking up early in the mornings and I'm already out of the door without thinking. Tapering gets me terribly restless with all the pent-up energy I normally expend in training. I don't like to rest but I often have to remind myself to cut back gradually, by volume and intensity, especially during this week.

For my restlessness' sake, blogging will help with the reminder and keep me motivated (well, just a little) to rest. I won't be putting anything crazy that could backfire the recovery process and I know there are others reading this. You might find whatever I write this week boring or not as useful, I apologize for that but just for this week, I'm going to write down my progress as a personal note for myself so I can look back and gauge how recovered I feel by week's end and for the race.

Just because it works for me doesn't mean it should work for you. Experiment and create a taper schedule that works for your current fitness level and individual needs. Use training programs as a guide but you know your body better so don't be afraid to make slight adjustments if you need to!

Ok so, it's Monday. Taper day one. Here goes.

5:30 am swim (aerobic)
WU: 200 swim, 200 kick, 200 pull

Main set:
3x400m, #1-2 moderate, #3 hard
3x200m, same pacing as above

Pull:
2x(400 lungbuster, 200 hard)

CD: 100-200m

11:00 am interval run
WU: 10:00 at easy pace
Main: 8x1:00 at slightly below race pace, 2:00 recovery jog
CD: 10:00 at easy pace

Basically, this workout is just to maintain the speed built during previous training. Short bursts with high cadence and strong form within those minutes with longer recoveries. You don't want to feel pooped by the end of the workout--the goal is to finish still feeling strong like you can run another mile more!

Also, note the 11am session. I'm choosing to run at the hottest time of the day to get myself comfortable, once again, in the heat because the sprint race is at noon. Shoot me.

Snowmageddon Bruises

via DCPhotoTour

Cruising through Facebook news feed got me to a link by Active.com: "Embarrassing Running Problems"

I don't recall any embarrassing running "problems." I've had problems, but they were never an embarrassing issue. But there was a moment I'll never forget.

During Washington DC's all-time record high Snowmageddon in February 2010, the roads, sidewalks, cars, buildings and everything else was completely buried in snow and ice. It was a huge gleaming dump and running was the last thing on my mind.

Growing up in Arizona, I had no idea how to run in such inclement weather like this. I had planned to wait until the all the snow melts but as days went by, I went crazy. Frustrated depression came with an intensified craving to give what my body and mind needs. For every avid runner, it's a horror to be stuck in the house not being able to do what has long been part of our daily morning routine like brushing our teeth.

One day, my roommates and I went to run errands. The city was completely dead, with no one out there except for a couple runners. It left me wondering how they could glide so effortlessly in the snow. They made it look so easy, so piece-of-cake and I thought..... "really?"

I put on my big girl panties and went the next morning. A four mile run turned out to take an hour to complete along with some slips and near falls.

The worst part? While making a turn around the White House, there was this guard standing in front of the gate and I guess I didn't want to look stupid with a panicked face, my frenzied eyes on the watch for ice and glued to the ground with a jog that looked more like a tip-toed, brisk walk on a full bladder. I wanted to make an impression and decided to change my form to how I normally run so he'll assume I'm from the area and have been running in this no-biggie kind of weather for years. Bad idea.

Doing my best imitation of DC runners in the snow was an epic fail. I slipped and landed on my left hip right in front of the guard. He came to offer a hand to help me up but I insisted I didn't need any help. I was in so much pain and tried to cover it up by getting up and quickly getting back into the grind to shake it off like it was, again, no big deal.

Bad idea #2. Before landing one foot in the front of the other, BAM. I slipped again on my butt and my face got hot. Instead of pain, I felt blood rushing to my face with the rest of my body numb from the cold. It was beyond embarrassing. I wanted to hide and this time, I had to take his hand to save myself from more humiliation. This all happened 2-3 feet away from where he was standing. Why, God why. Why there and not anywhere else?

I got hideous bruises with one the size of a tennis ball the next morning, my hips sore and achy but at least, I know I'll never face him again. I don't regret the run at all. It's nice to say one day: "Yeah, been there. Done that," so that next time, you'll be sure not to do anything stupid.

Lesson learned.