Watch that flu bug....he'll knock you down!

Bottom Line: It HURT! Don't get what I had.

Let me start this post with some personal info. I stay out of hospitals unless someone I know, including me, has at least one foot in the grave. The hospital is the LAST place I want to be.  I also take pills about twice a year. That means there are two occasions each year when I will break down and take an ibuprofen, motrin, or some OTC thing like that.  I don't like taking meds because it's not natural to put that stuff in my body.

This past week was one of those occasions when I put meds in my body. The flu knocked me down for three full days! And that's not including the day I fought it off.

Monday: woke up early finally and got in a workout. During the bike trainer, it started to hurt a bit, so I backed off. Then at the pool, it hurt some more, so I backed off some more. Then while lifting weights...yeah, I backed off cuz it hurt more than expected.  I got to work, and ABSOLUTELY HURT all day. I chalked it up to some kind of good workout (yeah right! I backed off an easy day!).

Monday night: I woke up in the middle of the night because I was shaking/shivering uncontrollably. Couldn't warm up! Wifey got some hot tea, and that settled me down. Thirty minutes later had uncontrolled sweats. Thirty minutes later, uncontrolled shivering.....you get the idea how that went. I was wondering if I should be scared, and my wife was wondering how to get me to the hospital with two kids staying in their beds.

Tuesday: woke up at 7:58. Supposed to be at work at 8! Called in, said I might be there at 9. Wife woke me up at 8:56. Called in to say I would be gone all day. What was I thinking? Shivered and sweated all day. Took ibuprofen, some Nyquil stuff, and some cough drops. Hurt all day.

Tuesday night: slept in three hour spurts til the hot tea wore off and I woke up shaking. At least it was predictable!

Wednesday: still at home. shivering and sweating wore off a bit. Now the congestion and sore throat kick in. I can't talk at all.

Wednesday night: can't breathe at all cuz my nose and throat are completely congested.

Thursday: still at home. RAGING headache in the morning, and then I realize I haven't had coffee in two days because I was drinking tea. Three nice strong pots of coffee later (yeah, I'm a bit attached!) and head feels right at about 1pm. Still can't talk. No shivers or sweats, so I can at least kill time watching a movie.

Friday: back at work. sore throat a bit.

Saturday: Ski day! Not 100% but close enough.

Clear Priorities allow Clear Focus

No doubt that any athlete with a family and a job has trouble finding the opportunities to make the most of consistent training. Kids, spouse, housework, yardwork, cars, maintenance, burned out light bulbs, dirty diapers, throwing the balls around, time at the park, etc etc etc.....they all add up to missed workouts because we all put our families first (as it should be).

So how to solve that problem? Set clear priorities of effort for spouses based on time of the day or whatever will work for you and allows you to focus on what you want during a specific period of time. My personal example is below.

The last two months have been hard for me because Noah is still waking up at night and early morning. That means I never know if I'll be able to get in a morning workout session. Last year worked great because Paul almost always slept til 7:30, and so I would get 100% priority from 4:30am - 6:40am for my workouts....if Paul needed anything between those hours, Tera would take care of it. And then from 6:40 until he left for school, I would take care of Paul. Tera and I had a deal that clearly defined the priorities of each of us for a set period of time, and that allowed us both to succeed in our goals.

So tonight we made the deal again, a bit different, but the deal has been made. I will get up and give Noah a bottle anytime after we go to bed, and then I get to not worry about it from 4:30am - 6:40 again, just like last year. This allows us to both KNOW EASILY what is supposed to happen in the fog of the night. No questions. No arguing. We both understand what is supposed to be happening.  I get to KNOW that I'm going to workout in the morning, and the added pressure of that being my only "window of opportunity" will get me out of bed. Tera gets to know that she'll be able to workout in the morning, too. And, most importantly, our kids will be taken care of appropriately. The juggling act is solved, at least for now. If Noah starts sleeping all night, then I'll be that much happier.

Other examples could be a specific time right after the work day, like 5:30pm - 6:30pm where you get to do a workout after work, but then take the kids the rest of the night. Even if that is the deal for just one night per week, it is one night per week that you get to focus. Choose a night that doesn't have many interruptions that can break the deal....the maturity level comes with how you handle it if you get home later than expected and realize you only have 30 minutes instead of an hour....then what? You shutup and do 30 minutes because that was the deal.  Trying to muster more out of the deal because of circumstances neither of you can control doesn't help anyone. Roll with it, and go for something for the 30 minutes in the name of consistency and keeping the deal.

Or it could be a three hour period on Saturday or Sunday morning. Again, the deal is the deal. If the weather sucks or you drank the night before and can't get the whole workout in, that's just the way it is. You get your allotted time period -- no more and no less -- so that the other person can have their time. They've surely planned it out to maximize the time, and screwing with the timeline could break the whole deal.  Obviously, there is some give and take on this, but if you are giving more than you are taking, then you need to realize the deal is probably in jeapordy.

God and triathlon

A perfect relation between God and triathlon...

"When Dick ran, he pushed Rick along in a wheelchair. Rick was dependent on his dad in order to finish the race. He couldn’t do it without him.
We see a parallel between their story and our own Christian life. Just as Rick was dependent on his dad, we are dependent on Christ to complete our Christian race."  


Read more at.Our Daily Bread.

If you don't know the story of Dick Hoyt, you really need to google up his story... or just read this. I had him as a desktop when my first boy was born....very inspirational.

Battle of Priorities

So, I basically let myself go for the entire month of July. Priorities clashed immensely in July, and May and June for that matter. Consistency plummeted, and then motivation took a hit.

Beyond family and work, I have other competing priorities....like this post at www.backcountrycutts.blogspot.com .  I can run, bike, or swim any day of the year mostly.

But the days for standing in the Lamar River are quite limited every year.

Stay At Home Dad - First Day Done

So.....I get to stay at home with Baby Paul on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning today and ending in early May. Tuesday and Thursday are the days that Tera is working this spring semester. I wasn't sure how it would go, and I wondered if I could get in workouts.

Today was the first day, and it went pretty well. I handled all his fussing and got some things done. As I noticed him starting to fade off into sleep at 4:00pm, I thought "This is my chance to get in my bike workout!" I moved him and his swing down to the pain cave and hopped on the bike. He woke up as I started the Spinerval video. I kept going, and got in the first set (5 min warmup, 10 minutes of work). At the beginning of the second set, his fussiness got to the point where I had to tell myself that Paul has the priority in life, and I need to get off the bike. Just as I was getting up my sweat! The first set was great!

Anyway, the minute I got him back upstairs he was back to hanging out casually and nicely in the swing. At that point, I was out of the frame of mind for a workout. Oh well. I thought about going to the gym this morning if he woke up at the right time, but he woke up at 4am instead of 5. When he was back to sleep, it was only 4:45am, so I went back to bed. Lazy bones!

Once I figure out a schedule, I think things will be better and I should be able to get in some 90 minute rides on the trainer. When we finally get the jogging stroller and the weather cooperates, I supposed I could go for some long, slow runs with him. That will be cool, but it doesn't really support my training plan the way I would like.

Interesting, while I'm on the trainer, I talk to him and tell him what I'm doing and what my goals are. He seems interested! It's like I'm teaching him everything I know, which only takes one workout, I suppose.

How crazy would it be to put him on a bike trailer to get outside on the bike? I don't think it will be safe enough, personally. And I don't think I'd be able to pay enough attention to him while I'm trying to hammer out a good bike ride. I'm putting this in the "no-go" category.

I have another ski/yurt weekend coming up this weekend. I don't know if my legs are going to be ready, but my mind sure is after the great skiing last weekend! The weather is supposed to be warm and sunny, too. We'll be there Sunday night, and the weather changes on Friday, so hopefully all the wind blows through on Friday and Saturday. Of course, the wind never stops around here, so who am I kidding?!

Not only am I trying to figure out a workout schedule for me, but Tera is also getting back into the PT mix. Last year, I could just workout whenever I needed or wanted to. Now, I have to consider who's watching Paul. If we get a good schedule, then all will be well.

One of the basic problems is that I'm not fond of hard workouts in the morning. If I PT in the morning, I find it to be a basic, low-intensity effort because I generally take a while (and a few gallons of coffee!) to wake up appropriately to put in a 110% effort. During the summer, I love a nice easy jog in the morning, but I can never get the intensity up physicall or mentally in the morning. Right now, I workout in the morning with a simple, easy swim and lifting weights, and that is working really well. I'll drop most of the weight lifting at the end of March, so my morning workout will become the swim time...after a few laps, I can get the intensity up in the pool sufficiently. It's also a good time for recovery bikes/runs.

Life with a newborn

So I went into this second triathlon season having a very high but attainable goal and knowing that I'd be dealing with a newborn and everything that goes with that. Paul is two months old, born Oct 26, 2008. Training is going well, but it's getting the sleep I need that is tough. It's like I lost three hours each day. Paul is an awesome little man, but he doesn't like too sleep much when he's supposed to sleep (I guess he gets that from me!), and he seems to have a stomach that takes a while to digest and doesn't always feel great. I think I get more frustrated with why he cries more than I care about losing sleep. That frustration adds stress that I don't really want. Anyway....

Saturday was a beautiful day around here. The sun was shining in full force with no clouds or wind. That in itself is a great day after many days of snowy weather with lots of wind. It's the wind that really gets to me, which is funny cuz I grew up in North Dakota, where the wind is always blowing at least 30mph. And, I went to college at Univ of Oklahoma, you know...where the wind comes rushing down the plains....but after several years in Japan and then in SoCal, I got used to not alot of wind (except a month of Santa Annas, of course). So, a day without wind AND sun is special. We went for a snowshoe for one hour up a creek trail in the local mountains, and it was awesome. That was my workout for the day; nice recovery activity.

Sunday's weather was just the same. I found myself taking care of Paul and sitting inside. As he got sleepy in the afternoon, I saw my opportunity for a bike workout. I got in a good 80 minute muscular endurance workout. I actually skipped ahead four weeks in my muscular endurance bike plan, which is not good, but I guess that's where I'm going to be now. It's not that bad, actually, because I need to be at this point in the plan anyway because now I'm on track to be at two 30minute sessions at spring break at the end of March, when I want to be all outside for my bikes. I rode four sets of 17 minutes at avg cadence of 83. I wasn't very motivated other than to simply get in a workout, so I think I could have gone harder, but it's nice to get that workout in.

Monday I got back into the gym now that it's open. I did a 1x500 swim in 7:45 for a warmup to my weights workout and to keep a feel for the water. I was up to 2x500 on 7:45 before the gym closed for semester break, and I figured I wanted to ease back into the swim. My weight workout went well, and I started 10% lighter weights than before the break. Tomorrow I'll go back up to the weights I was at before the break, and then next week, I'll add some weight. I can feel myself getting stronger in the swim and bike, definitely.

Today was a great Spinerval 28 workout plus 20 minutes of steady state ride (SSR). I don't follow Coach Troy's advice for aerobic HRs; instead, I try to make it a hard, lactate threshold level for each set. For the 8x1min sets, I used my highest gear and keep a cadence of 85. Second set of 16x45sec, I used my second highest gear with cadence of 85. Then the third set of 20x30sec, I use the 15 gear and cadence of 90-95. The first two sets are good, but the third set with the easiest gear is hard to keep up. After a four minute break, I did a 20 min SSR that really felt good with the second gear up and cadence of 85-92. I don't know where that energy came from, but I found an awesome groove with some AC/DC, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest on the MP3! My heart rate monitor said I burned 1202 calories, which I find hard to believe. I do know it was a great workout though.

I'm using some Hammer gel during these workouts to keep up the energy level. I do half my workouts with no water or energy gel, and the other half with. I like knowing I can push my body with no water or energy to find it's absolute limits in the faster manner, which might not be the smartest thing to do, but as a Marine, I like to prepare my body for the worst conditions. When I train with water and energy gels, I certainly push the performance level up a notch, which is part of the Endurance Nation mentality of going fast during the winter and then adding the "far" after you've built the fast.

So that's the update for now. The rest of this week has swim/weights on Wednesday and Friday, and the muscular endurance bike on Thursday night. I probably won't get any runs in this week, which is ok because I'm not concentrating on that right now. I would normally run on Thursday at lunch, but I have a work meeting. Then Saturday I'm going to the yurt for all day backcountry skiing on Saturday and Sunday, which burns more calories than I'll be able to take in no matter what I try to eat; and, the endurance levels are definitely pushed during yurt weekends!

This week looks like it will be a high-intensity week but short on volume, mostly because of the gym hours. I would rather swim/lift in the mornings like I was doing before the semester break. That allows me to run at lunch, when the weather cooperates. I'm a bit of a fair weather runner, for sure.