Garmin Vector Pedals - update 1

I was supposed to give an update on the pedals a couple of weeks ago.  But, they didn't function the way I wanted them to so I made some more adjustments, made some adjustments on my bike seat, made some more adjustments to the pedals, changed my bike seat, changed my bike seat again... yada-yada-yada.  Anyway, I didn't want to give an update when I only had faulty data that I didn't know what the cause was.  So, as for the pedals, after I have everything pretty much set, or as good as they're going to get for now, they work ok.  As far as I can tell, they work exactly like any other power meter.  Although, if you don't have the torque right, you're going to get different outputs.  Which is annoying because if you take off the pedals, you have to set the torque exactly to how it was before to get the same output.  I think this is a user error, but for $1500 and the selling point that they are easy to install and move to different bikes, I think the torque should have some wiggle room and still achieve the same output.  I compared the pedals to the CompuTrainer at my LBS and the CompuTrainer was always 10 - 20 watts higher than the Vector.  It's not a huge deal because if I'm only using my Vectors then I'm always going to be using the same equipment to measure my output and gauge my effort.  It's just a little discouraging to feel like I'm working harder than the power is reading out.  Oh well.  I'm going to try re-installing the pedals one more time.  If it magically starts working how I want it to, then I will post an update.

 


10/3/14 Update:
After some trial and errors and taking my time, I have learned how to successfully, install/uninstall/repeat the vector pedals.

After buying a 15 mm wrench with a long handle, removing the pedals is a lot easier.    



If I can't apply enough pressure using my upper body, I steady the bike and use my legs by putting one foot on the wrench and pushing down.  But, so far I've only had to do that once.  Other times I just need to wrap the handle with a towel so it doesn't dig so much into my hand.

As far as re-installing them, make sure to add some grease to the threads of the pedals to make it easier to get them off later.



Hand-tighten the pedals first, then snap in the back piece of the silver/grey pedal pod, then tighten with the regular wrench just enough so that you would need the wrench to unscrew them.  Then use the torque wrench with the attached crows foot (the picture below shows 19 mm, but you will need a 15 mm with 3/8'' Drive) to tighten down to the recommended torque: 34 - 40 Nm or 25 lb/ft.  I have installed the pedals 3 times successfully.  Each time, I set the torque to 40 Nm and my readings have been consistent after each install.  So, I recommend just going to the full 40 Nm every time the pedals are installed.



Hope this is helpful to someone.  Please let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer them.

Garmin Vector Pedals

So I took the plunge and invested in a power meter for my bike.  And, when I say investment, I really mean it.  They are not cheap.  I was able to find a decent deal online for the Garmin Vector pedals at $1500.  See what I mean?  An 'investment'...

This post is kind of a review, but also a 'lessons learned' about the Garmin Vector.  My reasoning for buying the Vector was because it was just as much as the crank set power meters, but I could move them around if I wanted.  I had contemplated the Stages power meter (PM), was actually really close to buying them, but then decided that 1) I just bought a new crankset and I didn't want to pay extra to replace one of the cranks and 2) it would be harder to sell if/when I decided to sell them.  This is because with the Stages, you have to pick the right crank, or buy the whole crankset which makes it almost as much as the Vectors or any other power meter.  So, if I just bought the one crank, in order to sell it I would have to find someone that needed that specific brand crank and size.  If this is confusing, you can check out the purchasing options of Stages here.

On to after the purchase.  I got my pedals on Tuesday and was super excited until I spent 2 hours trying to get my old pedals off.  They were on so tight neither Daniel nor I could get them off.  I was sweaty and aggravated and wanted to throw my bike across the room.



I didn't though.  On Wednesday I took my bike to the closest bike shop around me first thing when they opened, smiled big, and asked them to please help me take off my old pedals and put on the new ones.  They did.  All was good in the world again to me.  That is, until I got home and realized that I am an idiot.  I put my bike in my car, laying it down on one side  Well, it put so much pressure on the pod that it snapped!  I didn't notice when I first put my bike in my car, but as soon as I pulled it out, I knew exactly what I did.

Here's a picture of what the pod is (not broken, not on my bike):


My next course of action was to super glue it.  Which worked, but I had to apply about 5 coats and wait about 4 hours.  I put one end of the tape on the back of the pod and the other end on the pedal to hold the pod in place so the glue could dry.  It lasted through a 75 min indoor trainer session Wednesday night and about 1.5 hours of a close to 2 hr ride on Saturday.  On Wednesday I did two other things.  1) emailed Garmin, told them my story, and asked them if they would send me a free or discounted pod this one time.  They emailed me back on Sunday (yeah, 4 days later) and said they would this one time send me a free pod replacement.  Minor points deduction for the delayed response (this is only because they do say the will get back to you in about 2 or 3 days) but major points added for sending me a replacement pod.  2) I ordered a pod online that I could get in a few days.  I ended up getting the one I ordered online on Saturday.

After a little lounging around I got to work putting on the new pod.  Here is where the 'lessons learned' starts to really kick in.
Lesson 1) You really have to put a lot of elbow grease (weight) into getting the pedals off.  I was getting sweaty again and on the verge of tears.  I was literally standing on the wrench and pushing down with my foot.  



After about 20 minutes of trying to get the pedal off it finally budged and I was stupid happy.


Lesson 2) When removing or installing pedals, think of removing the pedals as requiring you to loosen the pedals by turning in the same direction as pedaling backward.  And, to tighten go the same direction as pedaling forward.  All of the videos and tutorials that I watched and read online kept saying that you need to turn the pedals clockwise on the non-drive chain side (side without the chain) and turn it counter-clockwise on the drive chain side.  For me, this was kind of confusing.  I know what clockwise and counter-clockwise are.  For whatever reason, it would just get mixed up in my head.  Then I watched one video that mentioned the pedals are self-tightening, so when you pedal they automatically tighten some.  Which is why the pedals can get on so tight (Lesson #3 here).  And, why for me it seems more logical to think of it as tightening is the same way as pedaling forward and loosening is the same way as pedaling backward.

Lesson 4) Power meters don't like to talk to your Garmin 910xt or any other wrist GPS device when it's on your wrist, especially when you're outside.  When I was riding indoor on Wednesday, I was getting pretty steady data.  I didn't really know what to expect, so I thought getting a couple of 2 or 3 second drops a minute was ok.  I went for an outdoor ride on Saturday and got hardly any readings at all.  I figured it was because the broken pod that was super glued just wasn't working right.  But, Saturday I put on the new pod, re-calibrated and rode on Sunday.  Sunday I got about 10 minutes worth of power data out of an hour ride.  Can you feel my frustration at this point?  I went online and scoured the internet forums for something, anything, that would help me.  I finally came across a forum where it was an actual Garmin support staff answering the questions.  Someone had the same problem as me and it turns out that when you wear the watch on your wrist, the signal can't reach the watch as well as if it were in the middle of the handlebars.  It semi-works indoors because the signal can bounce off the walls and then eventually hit the Garmin (hence why I was some worthwhile readings on Wednesday night).      

So, after all of this, I will try one more ride indoor and one outdoor using the power meter tomorrow and Thursday with my watch on the bike in between my bars.  Not sure where I'm going to put it, but I'll try to finagle something and will post my outcome.  Wish me luck!          

On My Mind Update

I posted a lot in 'On My Mind', so thought I should give an update on it all.

1) Isagenix - I deem the 9 day cleanse successful.  It's been over a month and I have been able to keep 5 of the 9 pounds that I lost off.  I will take on the 'Race to Maintenance' at the beginning of August to get ready for Augusta and IMFL.  My reason for waiting until August is to train heavy and race light.  'Race to Maintenance' is 5 days of Shake Days with 1 to 2 normal meals and snacks throughout the day, then 2 Cleansing Days.  Repeat until you reach the desired weight.

2) Harbour Island Athletic Club - I think I am going to stick with this club.  Everyone really is super nice and I haven't missed any of my swims in the last 2 months.  This is because I can't use the excuse 'I don't have enough time'.  Because really, 99% of my swim workouts are only about an hour.  Meaning, I can leave my house and be back in 1.5 hours.  It's hard to talk myself out of swimming when I know it will only take me 7 minutes to make it to the pool.

3) Strength Training - I have been sticking to my strength training regimen of at least 2 days plus the one day of strength training with Jon.  Some weeks this makes my legs or arms dead for the tri training stuff, i.e. swim, bike, run, but I just try to push through my workouts and give all that I can.  No rest for the weary, or wicked ;).  I have also been sticking to my plan of not eating carbs at night unless I have a big training day or race the next day and not eating before a workout if the workout is less than 90 minutes.  I think both of these have contributed to me keeping off those extra pounds.

4) Races -

• HITS went pretty good.  I finished 5th female overall, 1st in my a/g.  Definitely glad that I dropped down to the Olympic distance.

Swim - 27:17
Bike - 1:15:26
Run - 44:44
Total time - 2:30:16
My bike could have been better, but there was quite a bit of wind.  Everyone was talking about it after the race so I was glad it wasn't just me being a wimp.  My run was awesome though.  The time off and dropping to the Olympic distance was a good idea.  I didn't have any issues with my Achilles.  This is the first time I've participated in a HITS race.  I enjoyed it.  The venue was good; setup and coordination were good also.  I would do this race again and recommend it to others.  

• You can check out the recap for Haines City 70.3 here.
• Hurricane Man was cancelled because of weather.  I ended up doing 80 laps in the pool (booooo!  Soooo boring!)  

Ironman 70.3 Haines City 2014 Race Recap

This race turned out good so I feel obligated to write a recap.  If for nothing else, to help remember what I did pre- and during- race time.

Tuesday 04/08/14
75' Spin, 45' ROB (run off the bike).  I asked the class if they would stay for 75' because that's what I had on my training plan and they agreed.  It was nice to have the company AND not have to change my training.  For the run,  I was supposed to find a hill, but there is no such thing around where I live.  I got on the treadmill and tried to mimic the first two of the three loops of the race run course.  This was the workout:
.3 mile @ 0 incline, easy pace
1 mile @ 5 incline, 9:27 pace
.25 mile @ 0 incline, 8:00 pace
.25 mile @ 3 incline, 8:00 pace
2.7 mile @ 0 incline, 7:47 pace
1 mile @ 5 incline, 9:27 pace
.25 mile @ 0 incline, 8:00 pace
.25 mile @ 3 incline, 8:00 pace
.55 mile @ 0 incline, 7:30 pace
Run time - 56'
Run distance - 6.55 miles

Wednesday 04/09/14
100's to failure swim, 30' easy run, and 30' strength training.  This is the last day that I did any strength training and it was mostly body weight stuff and some abs.  On the run, I tried to do 30' of the same workout from the previous day but with a little more warm up and cool down.
Swim distance - 3000m.  I did 18 - 100's between 1:34 and 1:37
Run distance 3.2 miles

Thursday 04/10/14
45' Bike, 30' ROB.  The run was supposed to be a progressive run, getting faster for mile 3 and 4.
Bike distance - 18.1 miles
Run distance - 4 miles

Friday 04/11/14
I did not workout at all on Friday.  I did, however, have 4 glasses of wine, coal fired oven wings, and half a pie of pizza from Cristino's in Ybor for dinner.  That place is soooo good!
This is the day that I started drinking 8 oz. of beet juice... 3 days of beet juice, up to and including race day.  I drank it before I started drinking.

Saturday 04/12/14
I did a short 10 min. swim to test out a wetsuit I was borrowing since I have a nice hole in the crotch of mine.  Suit worked out nicely.  When I was done, I put on my running shoes and did a 2 mile test run of the course.  Mostly to tackle the awful hill that is at the beginning of every loop to get a feel for it.
I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on Ezekiel bread for breakfast.  I didn't eat again until 5:00.  I grabbed some sushi from Publix and a yo-yo cookie.  I've always had some sort of sweet the night before a race or even the morning of.  I used to eat mini powdered donuts before races.  But, now I just stick to the night before.  I ate the sushi around 5:00 and held off eating half the cookie until 6:30.  I save the other half for after the race.  Throughout the day I was sipping on a 24 oz bottle of Gatorade.  2nd day of beet juice.  I was in bed by 8:00

Race Day! Sunday 04/13/14
I set my alarm for 4:10 AM.  That gave me 30' to get ready.  My plan was to eat at 4:30 (2 hours and 48 minutes before my wave) and be out the door by 4:45.  I actually was done by 4:40, but didn't pull out until about 4:50.
Breakfast:
Bagel from Publix with whipped peanut butter and banana slices.  Last 8 oz of beet juice.  Monster vanilla light coffee drink.  I drank half of this and then threw it out.  I didn't want it to upset my stomach, but I wanted the calories, nutrients, and of course caffeine!
I got to the race site around 5:10, 5 minutes to park, and was in transition by 5:45.  Sarah and Shirah turned out to be racked right next to me.  So, I chatted with them for a bit while I was setting up my area.  I thought my back tire was a little low, so I borrowed someone's pump and filled it up.  The transition isn't the best.  It's U shaped and slightly uphill.  I was at the bottom of the U.  So, it made it easy to find my bike at least.  They had water in the transition area for you to fill up your bike and there was also a bike mechanic around to help with pumping up tires or checking out other quirks.  After I left transition, I walked to meet the rest of the TRIBAL and Mad Dog groups.  Kelly was nice enough to watch my transition bag so I didn't have to take it all the way back to my car.  I went to the bathroom shortly after meeting up with them and that was the only time I had to go.  I didn't have any stomach issues or have to pee the entire race.  I did get a little nervous pee in the beginning but I was able to take care of that in the water (ewww.  LOL).  30 minutes before the swim, I took a gel.
My outfit - LG tri top, SOAS tri shorts (LOVE THESE SHORTS!!!), nike pro compression sports bra  

Let's get to the good stuff:

Swim course:
This swim is a little weird.  It's in the shape of an M, so there are a lot of turns and you need to do a lot of sighting.  I think this was the first year ever that wet suits were allowed because they moved the race up a month and so it was still cool enough for suits.  Not freezing though, which was nice.  When you get in and out of the water, it's very mushy and grassy.  Feels really gross under your feet.  There are also patches of deep holes (for me at least) that require you to keep swimming when you think you should be close enough to shore to walk.  
Execution:
I used a borrowed Xterra sleeveless wetsuit, used my Tyr Special Ops goggles, and remembered to use my Tyr ear plugs.  Those things are amazing!
I recently read some article on tips for mastering the swim.  I took away a few pointers and tried them out on this race.
1) warm up beforehand.  To do this, I ran back and forth in the sand about 5 times to get my legs loose and air and blood pumping through me.  Once I was in the water, I dunked under a few times and swam side to side and out and back (wherever I could find room).
2) position yourself on the outside, furthest from the first turn buoy.  This is to avoid getting caught in the 'windmill' where arms and legs are just flailing everywhere.  I started in the front on the far left.
3) don't stop swimming.  Even if you grab someone, just keep swimming.  I am really bad about this.  As soon as I see bubbles in front of my I think feet around are going to start kicking right in front of me and I will stop.  Every time I accidently grab someone's leg or foot, I stop and see what's around me.  This time, I just keep swimming.  Except for one time when I pulled some guys arm down.  I stopped to say I was sorry.
In the end, I was happy with all these points.  I will continue to execute them and hopefully it will work in IMFL.
I should mention that the swim coach at Harbour Island Athletic Club also gave me a couple of pointers on my swimming style that I thinking helped me.
1) open up more.  Meaning, don't swim sense tense with everything so close together.  Reach my arms out as far as I can
2) follow through on the stroke.  Instead of cutting the stroke short when pulling it out of the water, follow through.  I like this better than short strokes anyway.  I am not a sprinter.  To me, short strokes are for sprinters.
When I got out of the water, I started unzipping my suit and running up the sand hill.  I didn't stop or slow down.
Swim time - 35:11.  I wanted to do under 33 minutes.  Oh well.
Division rank - 6

T1 - 3:20

Bike course:
The bike course starts off with a nice little hill right when you get out of transition.  If you do this race, REMEMBER to set your gears to easy.  After you get pass the first .5 mile, it's relatively flat and fast until mile 27 in which the climbs start.  They end around mile 42.  The wind wasn't too bad this year.  There are 3 stations, one about every 15 miles stocked with water, Perform, bananas, and gels.  Probably some other stuff, but that's what I remember.
Execution
I put on sunglasses that were driving me bonkers in the beginning because they wouldn't sit right with my helmet.  I almost threw them on the ground and said forget it, but I just bought them and didn't want to look for or pay for another pair.  I used my Lazer Tardiz aero helmet, a pair of Wigwam socks, and LG Tri-Lite bike shoes.  For my nutrition, I had 2 scoops of Infinit and 1 squirt of MiO Energy in a bottle on my back holder and water in my Profile Design bullet water bottle that sits between my handle bars.  I also had 2 gels in my bento box.  I drank the Infinit mix about every 15 minutes and took the gels at mile 25 and 50.
I didn't even make it a half mile before I saw that I had a flat tire.  I used the same wheels that I used at Des Moines and the same thing happened.  I pumped my back tire up in the morning, and by the time I got on the bike, it was flat.  I was pissed, but glad I brought Pit Stop this time.  I was back on the road in less than 2 minutes, but was praying the whole time that my tire would hold up.  Thankfully it did.  I have to say that tubular tires are kind of a pain and are expensive to replace the tire.  But, fixing that flat in 2 minutes was awesome.  
Bike time - 2:39:19.  My goal was 2:40:00.  So, I did pretty good considering I had to give up 2 minutes to fix the flat.
Division rank - 8

T2 - 1:58

Run course:
The run course is hard.  It's 3 loops, with each loop starting off with a .8 mile ascent.  There is very little shade.  There are aid stations about every mile with ice, water, Perform, gels, pretzels, oranges, bananas, and coke.
Execution
I took 3 gels with me on the run.  I put them in my shirt pockets at the beginning of the race.  So, when I got to T2, I just needed to slide on my run shoes and grab my race belt and visor.  Shoes I wore were KSwiss Kwicky QT2 (LOVE THESE SHOES), race belt was Fuel Belt with just the bib holder, and the visor was my usual black Nike visor.  My plan was to take a gel at mile 3, 6.5, and 10.  It ended up being 3, 6, and 9.  I had a couple of oranges on the course, a couple cups of Perform, lots of water, and 1 cup of coke at the very beginning.  These were my thoughts:

• "Run Happy... with good form".  
• "Who am I?  I am a Champion!"  - I got this from a motivational video I watched on YouTube about a week before the race.  It was simple and easy enough to remember but tough enough to keep me pushing myself

  I didn't stop running except for through one aid station on the last loop.  I tried not to look at my watch and just run.  Not worrying about how fast or slow I was going.
Run time - 1:48:15.  My goal was 1:45.  But, I am not upset with a 3 minute difference.
Division rank - 5

Overall time - 5:08:03
Division place - 5

I missed the World Championship slot by 11 seconds.  There were two slots available.  1st and 2nd didn't take the slots so it rolled down. 3rd and 4th place took the slots.  And, I missed 4th place by 11 seconds.  I try to think about all the ways I could have made up 11 seconds.  Not having a flat tire is #1.  Not stopping at the aid station, paying more attention to my pace on the run, not stopping to fix the timing chip that was digging into my ankle...  Woulda, shoulda, coulda.  I didn't go into this race trying to qualify for World's.  I just wanted to beat my time from last year.  Which I did by 14 minutes.  I like racing.  Not stressing about how I'm going to afford racing.  So, it's probably better that I didn't get it.  The World Championship for 70.3 this year is in Mont-Tremblanc, Canada.  I could probably do 2 or 3 other Half or Full races for the price tag that it would cost me to race in Canada.  At least at the Hy-Vee 5150 Championship, if you place high enough you win money.      

    




  

Isagenix 9 Day Cleanse

The 9 day Isagenix cleanse is over.  It's actually 11 days, but either way, it's over.  And, I'm going to have pizza tonight for dinner and I'm going to enjoy every last bite.  I'm going to give a quick review and then let you know my results.

I know there are some studies out there that say it takes 7 days or 2 weeks or 30 days to break a habit.  Well, if it's 7 days, it's a lie!  After 7 days, I miss eating whenever I feel like it.  That includes just mindless eating in front of my computer while I work or during a movie or while at a friendly get together with finger foods.  Rarely am I ever actually hungry in these instances, but damn it, if I see a Dorito I want it.  That being said, there were only a handful of times, maybe 2 or 3 that I felt really and truly hungry.  I was also able to get in all of my workouts without passing out.  Although, my last 2 swims were challenging and I cut the last swim short by 450m.  On Saturday 3/22 I had a Honey Stinger Waffle in the morning before a 3 hour swim-bike-run training day.  I had one gel before starting the run and a protein bar that is allowed for my recovery/lunch.  On Sunday, I had track and completed 7.5 miles on one shot of the e+ energy that comes with the cleansing pack.  After track, I had the morning protein shake, ran some errands and went home.  When I got home, I convinced Daniel to go to the gym with me to lift some weights for about 40 minutes and did a 1 mile run with the dogs when we got back.  I took a shower, drank my afternoon protein shake and then Daniel and I tackled cleaning for about 2.5 hours.  This is one of those days that I felt really and truly hungry, to the point that I was light headed and could barely think straight or talk.  It wasn't late enough to eat dinner so I laid down to sleep to ignore the hunger.  I don't even have the words to describe how wonderful it felt to eat when Daniel and I finally got to eat dinner.

Let me back track a little and explain how the plan works (high-level).  It's 11 days long.  The first 2 days are pre-cleanse days that are just add'l 'Shake Days', followed by 2 Deep Cleanse days, 5 Shake days, and ending with 2 Deep Cleanse days.  What are Deep Cleanse and Shake days.  See below:

Deep Cleanse days - these are days where there is no real solid food except for 3 servings of one of the available snack options.  Every few hours you are either drinking the cleanser mix or eating a snack.  All-in-all on these days, the calorie intake is anywhere between 420 and 500 calories.

Shake days - on these days, you have an Isagenix protein shake for breakfast.  For lunch and dinner you can have either another shake or you can have a 400 - 600 low glycemic healthy meal.  You get a snack (options are listed for you but are generally no more than 50 or 60 calories) between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner.  Depending on your lunch, dinner, and snack options, you're looking at anywhere between 1100 and 1500 calories.

I don't know if completing this cleanse was easier or harder than racing Beach2Battleship.  As I was half way through the 1st of the last 2 days of the Deep Cleanse (last Wednesday), I was struggling to not snack on anything.  And, then I thought about the saying that I've seen around "Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels".  I got angry at this.  Instead, I thought "Nothing feels as good as full feels".  Not stuffed, but full.  That wonderful feeling when you've eaten something so delicious and you're stomach is happy, you're brain is happy, and you're just smiling from ear to ear.  Sorry, maybe that's just me, but eating makes me happy.  Maybe this is a habit that I need more time to break.  But, I'm not sure I want to.

Anyway, away from the tangent.  I hope that I am able to keep the weight off.  Hopefully I will if I can contain how many calories I am taking in.  I guess one good lesson from this cleanse is now I know that I really don't need as much food to workout as I thought.  Before I was taking in calories in some form or other before, during, and after just about every single workout.  I didn't notice any significant difference in my training during this cleanse, except the last two swims that were on the deep cleanse days.  

OK.  Now onto the results (drum roll please)...

	Weight	Body Fat %	Water%
Friday 3/14/14	123.8	17.9	61.3
Monday 3/17/14	128	* see notes below
Friday 3/21/14	119.4	16.9	62.7
Thursday 3/27/14	116.8	15.8	63.4

* The weekend before I crashed on my bike during a group training ride in Haines City.  I took a pretty nasty fall and had to call the rest of the day quits.  My hands hurt so bad that I just laid around Saturday and Sunday, taking anti-inflammatory and pain meds.  I don't remember eating 2 bags of Oreos or anything else that would cause me to gain 5 pounds over the weekend, but that's what the scale said and I wanted to mark my weight on the day we started.

In case you're curious about my workouts:
3/17 Monday - off
3/18 - 1 hr spin class and 40 min strength (legs and abs)
3/19 - :40 bike trainer
3/20 - 1:06 swim (3000m) and :45 min strength (upper and abs)
3/21 - off
3/22 - :30 min o/w swim, 90' tempo ride (30.62 miles), 34 min run (4 miles)
3/23 - 1:17 track (7.69 miles).  Went to the gym a few hours later for legs and abs

3/24 - off.  I was scheduled to do a swim, but it was raining outside and I didn't want to take a chance on it lightning.  OK, I know.  Lame.  My rationale at 5:30 in the morning is not always sensical
3/25 - 1 hr spin, 30 min treadmill run (3.25 miles), 30 strength (upper)
3/26 - :41 run (5 miles), 1:08 swim (3000m) - main set of this was 50 X 50 on 60"... yeah, barely made it through this one and the last 10 I had to take an extra 5 - 10" rest
3/27 - :57 swim (completed 2550m of 3000m).  The last 450 consisted of 50s X 5 with 20" between each and a 200m cool down.  I could do it.  My arms were jell-o.

In conclusion, cleansing is hard.  Especially if you enjoy eating.  But, I'm glad I did this and got through it.  I am at a weight that I am much happier at.  My biggest concern is trying to maintain this weight within 2 or 3 pounds.  Anyone do other cleanses that they hated or liked?


    
 

On My Mind

I haven't written in a while.  Sometimes I'm motivated to get something on here and sometimes (most times) I would like work out or sleep than write something on here.  I wish I could just think something and have it translated into words and posted on here.  I do like having a sort of diary of my activities and thoughts but it's just more work to do to put it to paper (or blog).

Anywho, quick overview of what's on my mind:

I'm fat.  OK, not obese or anything.  But, for being involved in endurance sports and trying to compete, I am fat.  This is relative to my current situation, so no one get in a tizzy.  I've gained a lot of weight (for me) and have decided to do the Isagenix 9 day cleanse.  I hope it works because that -ish is not cheap, or really even reasonable if I'm being honest.  But, if it works and kick starts me losing weight then I can at least say it was worth it.
Details of current sitchiation (yes, I misspelled that on purpose):  Current weight is 125.6 (that was this morning).  I was 127 on Monday afternoon.  Even the 125 is 10 pounds heavier than I was during B2B 2.5 years ago and 16 pounds heavier than I was when I was in tip-top shape (108, 14% bf, 2008).  I would like to get between 110 and 115.  Specifically, around 112 +/- 2 pounds and at 14% bf +/- 1%.  I know 108 is almost un-achievable at this point since my bone structure has changed.  I know this because when I was 108, I wore a 32A comfortably.  Now, a 34B is comfortable when I have it on the loosest latch.
Action plan:

• No carbs at night unless I have a big training day in the morning.  
• No breakfast before morning workouts.  If the workout is longer than 90 minutes then I will have something or bring a gel, depending on the length, intensity, and type of the training session.  I have been doing this for 3 weeks now.  I thought that I would be super hungry during my workouts.  Especially the mornings that I had spin or swimming.  But, so far I have not felt hungry or un-energized during my workouts.  
• Isagenix 9-day detox.  The 9 day detox users have an average of 7 pounds lost.  So, if I can lose at least 4 pounds then I will consider that successful and will think about doing the 30 day weight loss plan to lose the remaining 8 - 10 pounds.
• Adding 2+ strength training sessions to my weekly workouts.  I currently do 1 day with Jon for functional strength training, so this is in addition to that.  I have been going to the gym during my lunch breaks on Tuesday and Wednesday or Friday for 30 - 40 minutes of just pure strength training - dead lifts, squats, leg press, pull ups, curls, tri extensions, etc.  Nothing fancy, just working on strength.  This is because you burn more fat with more muscle.  I have been doing this for 3 weeks now too.  

I'm trying out a new gym - Harbour Island Athletic Club.  They are expensive.  But, they have everything I need (classes, weights, and pool) in one place and it's only 2 miles from where I live.  Currently I have 2 gym memberships - one at Powerhouse which is 1 mile away and is strictly weights and cardio; the other is at LA Fitness which has everything I need, but the closest one is 5 miles from my house, is usually crowded, and sometimes charges me $5 because it's a Signature Club of which I am not a member.  Between Powerhouse and LA Fitness I pay $70/mo.  HIAC is $125.  Like I said, it's expensive.  I've tried it out for a week and so far it's been pretty nice.  I don't have to wake up quite as early in the morning to go swimming and it takes me hardly any time to get home (7 min to be exact).  Meanwhile, the closest LA Fitness on a good day with the light's being nice and there being little traffic, a one-way trip will take me 20 minutes.  That's 40 minutes minimum out of my day just to go swim.  I tried out a group class today and it was great.  Reminded me of a boot camp class I used to take at Bally's about 6 years ago and I think contributed significantly to being in such great shape at the time.  Everyone has been really nice too.  The front desk people, the members, and the trainers.  So, that's that.  Daniel's not into spending $100 to join that gym, but he gets 2 free months with me and then he can move over to Powerhouse or whatever.  I was hoping we would get to work out together, but after the 2 month free trial for Daniel I'm not sure that is going to happen.

Race updates:

I somehow hurt my Achilles during Charleston Marathon.  Running RnR New Orleans 2 weeks later and then Gasparilla Half Marathon 2 weeks after that didn't help.  So, I am still trying to take it easy.  Easy meaning my longest run since Gasparilla has been 4 miles, one time, last weekend.  I have decided not do to the Sarasota Half Marathon even though I really like that race.  But, I need more rest on my Achilles/ankle and more time on my bike.  Jon is going to get a group together the same weekend to ride the bike course of Haines City 70.3.  So, that will be more beneficial to me than running Sarasota.  I am also dropping from the Half Distance to the Olympic Distance for HITS Ocala which is 2 weeks before Haines City.  And, I signed up for the Hurricane Man 2.4 mile swim on 5/3.  I have no goal for the swim.  I told Jon that I don't even want to train specifically for it.  Meaning I don't want extra training time devoted to swim just for this race.  I am doing it so that I can skip a pool session :) and to get a feel for a 2.4 mile open water swim in preparation for IMFL.  I would like to try to swim it how I would any long race (at about 80 - 85% of max) and see where I come in at.  I never give 100% in the swim of a race because it wears me out too much.  I like to build in my races.  Meaning, I start out at about 85% of max for the swim, progress to about 95% of max for the bike and then give whatever I have left for the run.  This works great for the longer distances, for me.  For the sprints and sometimes even the Olympic distance races, it's balls-to-the-wall all out effort until the end.     

      

2013 Recap, 2014 Thoughts

Everyone else is posting a 'year in review' kind of thing so I figured I would put one out too.  Not sure how much I'm actually going to remember about the year, but let's give it a shot.

I had some good races:
Sarasota Half Marathon
St. Anthony's Olympic Distance
Rev3 Half Distance

Some not so good races:
Hy-Vee Championship

And, a race I will never forget:
Boston Marathon

I made some new friends and had to temporarily say good-bye Sarah.

Here is the breakdown of my training (from Training Peaks):

Swim - 244,892 yds (139 miles), 83:56:10
Bike - 2,659.78 miles, 191:36:31
Run - 1,240.48 miles, 187:52:19 (this includes road races)
Strength - 111:12:33

Yeah, that was a lot more than I would have guessed.  Especially for the swim.

I qualified to race as a pro/elite at Rev3 Sarasota and I am planning on taking the opportunity (for now).  I want to see how much better I can get over the next 6 months first.  I think  how I perform this coming summer will tell me if I really am ready for the challenge.  I know I"m going to have to put in even more hours training and at a higher intensity that in 2013.  So, if I can make it through the summer and still want more, then I will be more confident taking the pro card.  I know I am going to get my ass handed to me and I know it's going to hurt every time even though I know it's going to happen.  I think what's going to hurt even more is that I probably will not place in anything.  At least for the first year.  This is what I'm telling myself now anyway.  

Other thoughts for 2014:
Non-tri Life - Well, I'm getting married in about 6 weeks.  So, that's a biggie.  Daniel is done with school so we are planning on doing a big trip this year since we didn't get to go anywhere (non-race related) last year.  I'm looking forward to spending time with Daniel... when I'm not training of course.  My goal for 2014 is to balance work-tri-personal life.  I want to focus on my personal life more.  This is something that doesn't come very easily for me.  I am so much better at spending hours working out than doing anything that involves human interaction for longer than 30 minutes... unless I'm drinking ;)

Tri-life - I'm working with Jon full time until at least IMFL.  I'm sure he's going to kick my butt with training and has already warned me that after my two marathons coming up I was going to have to put in more time at the pool, ugh.  I'm dreading it already.  So, I still don't really have goals here.  A broad streaking one is to be bad ass for IMFL.  Is that good enough?  LOL.  It'll have to do for now.