On becoming a triathlete.

You are what you eat

catriathlon — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:24:38 +0000

I haven’t written much, if anything, about nutrition, but I’ve realized over the course of training that it is pretty important – both what you eat during the race, as well as what you eat before/after training. While in the past, and at the beginning, I had no problem rolling out of bed and pushing through the workout, saving a big breakfast for post-shower. After a couple miserable workouts, where I felt sluggish even though I knew I could physically do it, I realized it came down to having enough calories to feed my muscles.

If you followed the Olympics at all, you probably also heard about Phelps’ ridiculous daily intake of over 8,000 calories; his breakfast alone is probably enough to feed me for 3 days:

While training for a triathlon doesn’t require quite that much intake, your body does need about 200-300 calories per hour of physical activity. I was pretty skeptical about the various energy supplements before, like clif shots and gu, but after trying the clif shots, I’m willing to give it a try on race day. The point seems to eat or drink whatever will most immediately give your body a shot to push through the race.

I also have pretty terrible eating habits in general: While I really enjoy good food and eating out, I am also a terrible cook or usually too lazy to make anything. So, during the week, I often end up snacking on random things for dinner and, if I’m lucky, I will eat a couple servings of fruit after coming home from work. Lunch is usually my biggest meal, but again, often I don’t choose the right nutrients and go for the quesadillas rather than the broccoli. During work, it’s also easy to forget to bring my own snack – I tried keeping almonds at my desk (demolished) and bringing in yogurt & granola (about a 30% success rate) – so end up raiding the kitchen for gummy bears, snickers or oreos. I suppose the one plus is that I’m not a big fan of chips or soda.

Another interesting observation coming out of all this training is that greasy foods seem to have a much greater effect on my body. I largely avoid really greasy items anyway, but now if I have pad thai or even a slice of pizza, I absolutely feel it the next day, just sitting in my stomach and refusing to be digested.

I suppose it’s too late to reform my dietary habits but, come race day, I’ll have some clif shots with me. I’ll also be drinking lots and lots of water in the days before, and loading up on pasta the evening before. The morning of, I plan on having some instant oatmeal and a banana, and maybe a pb&j sandwich. I’ve found that I’m usually so antsy and nervous that I don’t want to eat ANY food, but will just force it down. Of course, in making sure my body is properly fed, there is also the risk of having to find a porta potty during the race…

Countdown: 4 days!

game face

catriathlon — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:10:40 +0000

well officially one week left. time to taper. sleeping in tomorrow will be great.

workout summary:
2xspin (60min, 45 min)
1×5.6mi run
1x1hr swim
1xbrick
1×1/2 mi swim + 14 mi ride

She was a fast machine

catriathlon — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:48:15 +0000

The long-promised bike post: I think this was the most difficult purchase I’ve made, ever, and the largest single purchase as well. It was definitely something I thought about a lot, and took me almost a month of dropping into local bike shops, hassling any/all friends who knew something about bikes, and bothering the Team in Training coaches. I would walk into a shop, become mentally overwhelmed with all the things to buy (shoes, gloves, glasses, bottles, cages….) on top of the bike itself, and walk out empty-handed. So, in piecemeal fashion, I accumulated my cycling shoes, gloves, and a pair of glasses, plus numerous glossy bike catalogs before I decided to make the leap.

Here’s my baby:

It’s a 2007 Trek 2100 ZR, and so far I am loving it. To back track a bit and share some of the useful tidbits I picked up along the way, I should start from the beginning of the process:

The first thing to decide on is what kind of bike to buy. There are many different bikes out there, but most people are looking at road, mountain or hybrid bicycles. Road bikes are, in my mind, like the sportscars whereas mountain bikes are like the SUVs, while hybrids are like sedans: Road bikes are made to go fast. They are the least comfortable, but the lightest. The slim, smooth tires provide minimal friction on the pavement. Mountain bikes have more shocks and comfortable saddles, with wider, knobbed tires for greater traction and are useful for trails and uneven terrain. Hybrids are, as the name suggests, somewhere in between the two: not as light or fast as a road bike, but not as comfortable as a mountain bike.

Before going to look at a bike, it’s also important to decide on a) what kind of investment the bike is and b) what your budget is. By a), I mean how long you want the bike to last, how committed you are to using it, etc. and by b), well, given how quickly things add up, it’s important to set a dollar amount before going out and getting caught up in all the cool additions an extra $100 can get you.

So now you’re at the bike store. And you realize there are rows and rows of beautiful bikes. How do you pick a one? Not easy, but the answers to a) and b) above help with this decision, since in choosing a bike, there will be different tradeoffs to make. The advice I got was, for a road bike, to at least have a carbon-fiber fork and carbon seat stays. Carbon tends to be pricier for bikes because it is lighter and absorbs more vibration from the road, but isn’t totally essential – my bike has a carbon fork and stays, but the frame is aluminum. Then, there are different levels of components. For more carbon, to stay within your budget b), you might have to trade down a level on componentry.

I realize this is getting a bit long, so I won’t go much more into that. I found it important to feel comfortable about who I bought the bike from as well. Given it was my first go round, I felt I had to depend a bit on the bike shop for recommendations, so I wanted to feel like I saw the most appropriate/best value/best fit bikes. Definitely take the bike for a test ride. Negotiate a little. They should also fit you to the bike. Most bike shops should be able to send you out the door ready to ride, so don’t forget to pick up a pump, repair kit and spare tubes. And a helmet.

By the time I was able to navigate this mess of information, I just couldn’t wait to take my bike out for a ride. Still a lot to learn as to basic maintenance and repairs so that I don’t have to always feel like bringing my bike into the shop, but since that first big purchase – well, it’s really pretty much $0 additional cost each time you go out for a ride. And yes, it is really addictive.

Countdown: 10 days

gizmos & gadgets

catriathlon — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:58:29 +0000

While getting ready for practice the other day, I realized what an amazing amount of stuff I have accumulated over the past few months in preparation for this race. It’s funny, there’s always people joking about how you have to take out a second mortgage to pay for the race, and it really is true – there is something for every aspect of the race and every stage from training to race day, and at all different price points. So what does my gear list look like?

SWIM
- goggles
- wetsuit
- swimcap
- swimsuit

BIKE
- bike (+ new seat and pedals)
- cycling shoes
- water bottles x 2
- cycling shorts
- jersey
- helmet
- cycling gloves
- bike rack
- lock
- tire pump
- road kit w/tools and spare tubes

RUN
- yanx (elastic laces…yes)
- shoes
- running hat

GENERAL
- sunblock x 2 (face and body and all spf 45+!)
- sunglasses (with interchangeable lenses for cloudy/sunny days, didn’t even know you needed that)
- sport watch (have yet to learn to use all the timing functions)
- tri shorts
- tri jersey

Pretty lengthy, right? And there’s even more: Transition bags, towels, aero bars, gu/powerbars/clif shots/etc., not to mention all the choices within each category – it really becomes a huge financial investment, and difficult to just run out the door with all the gear you need! The bike part was by far the most expensive portion for me, considering I had to buy a new bicycle. On that note, the long overdue bike post will be coming soon. In the meantime, I’ll be sorting my gear…

Countdown: 14 days

Dress rehearsal

catriathlon — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:07:12 +0000

I’d meant to write sooner - our second triathlon run-through was this past Saturday, August 23, at Zuma Beach in Malibu. It was not an official race, but the Team-in-Training coaches/mentors/staff put together a pretty well-run simulation, including being marked up with your race numbers and age, race bibs, transition area…plus free food and water.

The route we completed was pretty near the full race with the exception of the swim, which we did in 2 laps of about 300 yards each. Given the cooler water temperature and a significantly smaller amount of bodies in the water, I felt much better on the swim, though it still was not that fun. It’s almost all mental, really, because seeing the buoy at some indeterminate number of yards off in the distance is discouraging, particularly when you swim a few strokes, look up, and it seems as though you have made zero progress. In the pool, at least every 25m you have a wall to touch and turn around. I ended up just counting my strokes to keep my mind occupied. Also doesn’t help when completely lacking in ability to swim a straight line.

The bike and run felt great. I think I might have done the bike even faster than at Hansen Dam, though that was 11mi and this was 18mi. On the run, I was actually able to settle into a groove and get decent speed on the second half (or what felt like decent speed…). I haven’t seen the official time, but I think I finished somewhere just about 2 hours, which is fair.

After these two practices, I think a reasonable goal for the actual race will be to finish in under 2 hours. I’d love to do 1hr 50, so will target that, but it will all depend on how race day goes! Fortunately, there will be some more open-water swims before then, including a workout tomorrow morning…

Workout summary:
2×90 min power yoga
2xrun (5.6 mi, 8 mi)
1x1hr swim workout
1x45min spinning

Countdown: 16

Officially a Triathlete

catriathlon — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 05:20:30 +0000

This past weekend was my first real triathlon, albeit a mini-tri. It was at Hansen Dam, somewhere north and east of Santa Monica. The distances were a 500m swim, 11mi bike and 3 mi trail run to finish. Given that it is only the fourth year that the event has been held, the expectation was for a fairly laid back event with many first-timers, and there were some of those, but there were also many people who were fairly experienced.

Here’s the reservoir where we swam:

And the transition area:

As you can tell, it’s pretty tight – I can only imagine how much worse it’ll be at a bigger race like Malibu! For perspective, there were roughly 380 participants here, versus over 2,000 expected for Malibu. You can also see, it’s really not that unlikely that you’ll lose your bike, especially when you’re in a rush. My bike was somewhere in the same aisle as the one with the red flag.

The toughest part by far was the swim – it was entirely miserable. It was probably one of the worst feelings in the world: absolute claustrophobia, panic, heat…I probably doggie-paddled 3/4 of the race, hyperventilating the whole way. I can’t remember at what point sheer panic took over, but I remember looking at the toes of the swimmer in front of me, swimming several meters, and then spending the remainder sweating in my wetsuit, fighting the overwhelming desire to flag over a lifeguard and just get out, unable to even force my head back underwater – it was only through the knowledge that I could swim the physical distance and that I wouldn’t do it in the real race that I was able use sheer willpower and force myself to paddle in, finishing 4th from last in my wave.

Chaos at the beginning…

And struggling to get out of the wetsuit ASAP!

Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to just get on my bike. The ride was great, as was the run, though I felt that I wasn’t running as hard as I could have on the run. At the end of the day, I was fairly happy with my results given the terrible swim portion. And of course, a sense of excitement and accomplishment at finishing the full race and feeling pretty good about it despite the rough start.

I ended up finishing 18th in my age group (out of 40) and 181st overall (out of 376) for 1:20:33.5 total time

splits:
swim 16:08
T1 2:50.0
bike 34:44.0 (~19 mph avg)
T2 1:35.3
run 25:15.8 (~8:30 pace)

Lessons Learned:
- On the swim: Will definitely need as much open water practice as possible with the wetsuit on. I never want that feeling of claustrophobia again
- Transitions: Coaches gave me a hard time for pinning my race bib on after the swim and messing w/my ponytail (it wouldn’t fit under my bike helmet). So, I guess a really good transition should only be 60s – 90s. I guess that means no time to throw on any hair product
- Transitions (2): The bike to run feels heavier than in practice!

Tomorrow is our practice tri at Malibu, doing almost the entire race. Looking forward to it, and my 5 am wakeup!

Countdown: 22 days

a few last photos, thanks to Felix for being a diligent photog for all of the TNT participants:

Happy and nervous pre-race.

Finishing strong.

Glad to be done!

celebritriathletes

catriathlon — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:49:46 +0000

The Malibu tri always has lots of celebrities – there may even be a separate wave for them – so people like David Duchovny are always there, and as my friend informed me today, J. Lo will also be doing her first tri:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20219913,00.html

Maybe Matthew McConaughey will be on lifeguard duty.

pain inventory

catriathlon — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:18:51 +0000

After an exhausting practice, a long move (to a new apartment in Santa Monica!), and a slow-motion fall on the bike:

- sprained pinky toe
- bruised (i mean really bruised) thigh
- scraped knee (picture to come)
- pulled muscle
- generally, sore!

Well, not that bad, but will post the ooey-gooey picture of my knee once there is internet in my apartment. It was a silly fall, while going up the hill at Griffith Park on our second loop. I was just exhausted, tried to stop near the top, and kind of tipped over into the gravel, managing to scrape my knee up pretty impressively.

2 observations over the last few practices are that (a) I need to eat more before training. In the past, it has always been ok, but now nutrition makes a noticeable difference. Especially with these longer practices, often first thing in the morning, I find myself running near empty with my stomach mutating into a chasm of hunger about 2/3 of the way through. And that last third always feels so long. (b) I’m not sure what the cause may be, but I have also found myself almost wheezing from being out of breath during the more difficult practices. I hope I just have some slight cold and that it is not some sort of newly developed asthma, if that’s possible.

countdown: 32 days

update: here’s the knee, upside down

back in the game

catriathlon — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:59:14 +0000

Did not mean to be MIA for so long, but have been back from vacation for 2.5 weeks and training hard again. Mexico was great, and we were fairly active, though I still have numerous bug bites covering my legs. The mosquitoes down there are vicious, to say the least.

With just about 40 days until race day, I’m starting to hit panic mode. A little inventory of my training leaves me both amazed at the progress I’ve made since training has started – and afraid at how much more I have left to do.

SWIM: Well, we swam a mile at last week’s practice. Having never been a swimmer, and being someone who “swims uphill”, I was pretty amazed at being able to finish in decent time and without being too winded at the end. My main concern is speed and efficiency, so I’ll do my best to work on form. We had an informal open-water swim this weekend – freaky! It was the first time I’ve been out that far in the ocean. It was both exhilirating and a little scary to look down and see the ocean bottom so far beneath me (yes, there are beaches in LA where the water is clean enough to do that). I can’t wait for the wetsuits to arrive this week, however – even a “warm” Pacific Ocean is too cold for me.

BIKE: I do have a bike – made the plunge and purchased a beautiful piece of work about 1.5 months ago. Since some people have mentioned wanting to hear about the bike buying process, I will be sure to take some bike photos and write a dedicated post soon. Fell off my bike for the first time this weekend. Embarassingly enough, I was not even going fast or clipped in. It was on a nice, laid back ride on the Strand down from Santa Monica to Manhattan Beach. I somehow managed to ride into the sand and scrape my knee. Oops.

RUN: We had a sprint workout this past weekend that kicked my butt. It felt great to be back on a track, but I’d forgotten how painful running intervals will make you feel. I haven’t been as good about my endurance runs, so will work on ramping those up again over the next few days.

I’m hesitant to set goals as of yet, but will do so after the next 2 weeks. We have some big weekends coming up: The Hansen Dam Triathlon on August 17, and a practice tri the following Saturday. Hansen Dam is a 500m swim, 11mi ride, and 3 mi trail run. Our practice tri will be roughly the same distances as the actual race. So for this week and next, I will focus on being ready for these two events, then set a few goals once I see where my times are coming out.

south of the border

catriathlon — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:39:16 +0000

After a thoroughly relaxing Fourth of July weekend (don’t worry, still did a hard 50min run + hill/1hr hike), I am finally posting to say…I will be gone until July 19. 11 weeks to go until the race. Until the next update…

playlist
Black & Gold – Sam Sparro
Don’t Stop the Music – Rihanna
Ready for the Floor – Hot Chip
Great DJ – Ting Tings
When I Grow Up – Pussycat Dolls
Sex N’ Money – Benny Benassi
Mercy (Remix w/The Game) – Duffy
Californication – RHCP
Escape (The Pina Colada Song) - Rupert Holmes