a life change

So i haven't posted in a while...but then I knew that might happen...you see when you are training between 10 and 12 hours a week, whilst working 40-50 and still trying to sleep a good 50-60 hours it doesn't leave much time for anything else. Well it leaves about 6-7 hours a day for eating, showering, driving to and from places, grocery shopping, washing, cleaning and hopefully also seeing a friend or 2.

standard day:
04h30 wake up
05h15 training
08h00 breakfast
08h30 work
13h00 lunch
17h00-18h00 training (on monday, tuesday, and thursday)
18h30 supper
(19h30 maybe see a friend)
21h00 sleep (and if I dont see a friend this sometimes becomes 20h30 *BLUSH!!*)

The above has probably been the biggest change in my life- getting used to the fact that days are jam packed and that I have to sleep at least 7 hours otherwise my body throws a complete tantrum and I become Ms. Grumpypants. This "early to bed" thing also means that I don't have as much time to meet up with friends...so most of my socialising is done in the pool, on the bike, or in the gym! My friends have been great in A, still willing to be friends with me, and B, come and join me on my training excursions!

Don't worry, I am not becoming a complete hermit, I do still have a glass of vino every now and again, and the weekends do mean I can stay up past 9am but, in general, a few life changes have taken place!

And on that note...its back to work for me....

just keep swimming...(insert Dory voice)

I have been having some trouble with my ITB and went to see the physio last night and turns out I have an imbalance due to my glute spasming which is causing all the issues with my knee...sigh... She gave me some stretches to do and I hope that they work! Although, that said, I chatted to a really great biokinetist friend of mine, Iain, and he made a very valid point that stretching treats the symptoms and not the cause...so he has given me some exercises to do to check why my glute spasmed and to work on strengthening those weak areas! (Thanks Iain!)

The order of the day for training this morning was therefore swimming...and as Rob Ricardi was back, it meant drills...no easy endurance today! Man, did we swim! But it was a good session with some interesting "washing machine" practice (where you all swim in a big heap and simulate the start of a triathlon). I have tried to remember all the drill for those of you interested...

400m warm up
50m arms only (really slow arms)
50m arms only (even slower arms with 2 strokes per side)
200m catch up stroke
100m sprint
50m washing machine (2 x 25m)
50m washing machine (25 sprint 25m rhythm)
125m washing machine (25 sprint, 50m rhythm)
125m washing machine (25m sprint, 50m rhythm)
100m sprint
100m easy (50m backstroke, 50m breaststroke)
25m underwater
25m doggy paddlle
Total: 1400m (I think! I have a feeling I may have left off a drill set or two, but I was mainly focused on not dying!)

And that's a drill session....it may not seem like a lot of distance but the sprints get the heart racing and it makes a good change from counting tiles for 120 laps!

Due to the ITB I won't be running tomorrow but will instead put in a solid spin (and maybe brick it with a swim) and then take it easy for the rest of the day!

Happy training!

x

and it continues>>>

So the last post (the first post on this blog) was to play catch up on the last three weeks... my "note taking" started on good 'ol Facebook but I thought it best to upgrade to a blog! Yes, very brave of me I know, let's hope I manage!

Yesterday was a public holiday (happy woman's day all you wonderful woman!) which, in terms of getting some training in, is a great thing...unless you have runner's knee and live in JHB, with your road bike temporarily residing in CT. What this then means is that the early morning 90 min spin class is cancelled, replaced by a 45 minute class with a "guest instructor". Any of you having had the joy of attending such a class by such an instructor know why I did not even consider this as an option. For those of you who don't know such pleasures...please save yourself some agony and give the class a skip. They are not permanent instructors for a reason.

Ok, so spinning was not an option. Running was definitely out of the question due to runner's knee needing a good 48 hours rest. So... that left swimming. Not wanting to miss out on the benefit of having a whole public holiday to kill I decided that a 3000m was in order. In a 25m pool that means 120 laps.

I happily tottered off to the Virgin Active in Bedfordview and began the swim...after 1000m I was bored. I had spotted every UFO (unidentifiable floating object), counted every tile and raced everyone in the lanes next to me. Instead of dying of boredom ( I am very considerate of others in the pool and a waterlogged corpse is VERY unattractive and off-putting) I stopped.

Unfortunately this stop resulted in another stop which means my 1 x 3000 became a 3 x 1000. Not the end of the world, I know. But still means that the dreaded 120 lies ahead of me. if any of you can help with boredom beaters in the pool then please let me know!

Swim done I began with the natural follow on of such a swim...the munchies. And not any old munchies...the 24 hour post-swim munchies! Yikes, I ended up eating for the rest of the day ( I tried to keep it healthy but a little nibble of black forest cake on woman's day is allowed I think :p)

Not the greatest use of a public holiday for training but at least some km's were put in (and calories...whoops!)...will have to work extra hard the rest of the week (which has a 4 hour (2 x2h) split spin in!! ).

happy training all
x

And it starts>>>

So I have had a few questions as to why it is that all I seem to do is swim, run and (at this point) spin (which will become real cycling soon!)...well the answer is simple... IRONMAN 2012..

What this means....

1. I get up at 4.30am

2. I go to bed by 9pm

3. I often smell like chlorine

4. I eat ALL DAY!!

5. You might need to socialise with me in the pool or the gym...

I am sure there will be a few more interesting adaptations to my lifestyle and when I come across them I will add them to the list...but until then... here goes...I look forward to seeing you along the way, and , of course, at the finish!!

I am thinking of keeping a blog...but not sure I'll have the time (haha!)...but there might be a sporadic appearance of notes!

Thanks for all your support

xxx

29/07/11

One of the hardest things about doing a triathlon (well for me anyway) is having to train for the swimming part of the race. To motivate oneself to get out of bed at 4.30am, when it is 1 degree outside, and to jump into cold water (no, it is a heated pool but compared to the temperature of my warm, cosy bed, it is cold) is a bit of a challenge. Then, to swim up and down for an hour (sometimes an hour and half) without wanting to fall asleep again, is even more of a challenge!! Don't get me wrong, the feeling when you get out of the pool (bar the wobbly legs and arms) is the best feeling- but to get from bed to best is the hard part!

That's why I am SO thankful for my swim squad...what would I do without the constant motivation ("ah come now Tracy, a paraplegic slug would swim faster"), encouragement ("much better than last week, Trace, you didn't look like you were dying today") and support (if we tie her to the buoy maybe it will help?") that they give me. Thats the reason I go back every week... Bedfordview Athletics Club...you guys rock :p

Ok, Ok so its not that bad (maybe a bit of the chlorine has gone to my brain!) but really, if I can suggest anything to anyone thinking about a triathlon, and the swimming part seems as terrifying to you as it did to me, then join a squad. Having people to swim with makes all the difference in the world! I don't think I would manage the bi-weekly chlorine plunges without people there to make it slightly more entertaining and I think, at the end of the day, if you can get through the first couple of weeks then you are well on your way to swimming towards the end of your first triathlon!

So now, having been put through my paces this morning, it is time for a cup of coffee and a hot shower- this eau de chlorine is not a winner (I would put it in the same catagory as the new Paris Hilton fragrance).

P.S for those of you wanting an idea of a typical swim session at this time year then below is today's swim...it was an endurance swim and I will post the speed session next week)

400m warm up

150m (25m with fist, 25m x 1 finger, 25m x 2 fingers....full hand)

100m (4 x 25m sprints) 30sec rest between

1250m pyramid (50m, 100m, 150m, 200m, 250m, 200m, 150m, 100m, 50m) 1 min rest between

100m cool down

Total: 2000m

01/08

So I knew there would be some dietary adjustments that would have to be made in my pursuit of my first IM completion...and my first giant leap in that regard was to try to eat eggs. For those of you that know me well, you know that the sight of a googly-eyed fried egg, a bald-headed boiled egg or jelly-bellied poached egg turns my stomach inside out and makes me fade in to a pale green colour. However, considering the protein content of eggs, and my need to support my poor overworked muscles, I took the plunge and ordered scrambled eggs on rye this morning...they arrived...stared at me, and promptly got smothered under about 10 liters of tomato sauce. (To be fair on the poor mangled eggs, they weren't half bad...with enough pepper and tomato sauce I think I will be able to do this thing) What I have to mention is that whilst I was (sort of) happily consuming my tomato eggs one of the personal trainers walked past with his victim's, I mean client's, breakfast...2 cups of boiled brown rice and a banana. Delicious. Not. I was feeling rather accomplished with my eggs but the sight of that "breakfast" has made me rather nervous as to what other plunges into the realm of IM eating I am going to need to take!! And if that's for breakfast...whats for lunch?! Yikes!

So here goes with the rest of the day, eggs eaten and 1.5 hours of spinning complete! Bring on swimming later...and lunch (whatever it may be!!).

05/08

So Friday is always swim day, and because I (wrongly) assumed this week would be a sprint/drill session (as last week was an endurance session), I did my own endurance session on Tuesday night. Basically I swam until I couldnt swim any more, than I stopped, had a rest, and swam some more. The result: a 2.5km swim (100 laps). So when I got into the pool this morning and was told that today was a 1 km time trial I was a little nervouse. Add the fact that I was told I was the pace-setter and you have a recipe for a nervous disaster.

All things considered, it wasn't that bad. I survived and was rather stoked with my 15:50 time (for 40 lengths). I have also checked (twice!) that next week will indeed be a sprint session so I can safely put in my Tuesday night endurance session! Phew!

(I also have to mention that this swim was done post-birthday celebrations...which involved WAY too much food and WAY too much birthday cake!!! (and a little tipple of wine!) so hopefully next week, after better nutrition, I can improve on my time!

P.S the swim session was as follows

400m warm up

50m head up crawl

100m kicking

1km time trial

100m sprint (4 x 25m)

100m medley

50m underwater (2 x 25m)

200m cool down

Total: 2000m