Well, I made it to a recovery week and I was really looking forward to it. As the last few week wore on I felt a little more tired than I was in the beginning of the training plan and I'm sure this will continue until July. Last week I swam twice covering 6500 yards, ran thrice covering 32 miles, and rode thrice covering 123 miles. This week calls for 4000 yards of swimming, 24 miles of running, and only 65 miles of riding.
I think I wrote this before but I don't feel like checking so... the training plan will continue building for three weeks (by adding distance and intensity each week) followed by a recovery week. These four week periods get the body ready for the demands of racing an Ironman without beating you up too badly. I keep reminding myself of the phrase "pain is speed entering the body" and just try to get through my workouts with a little energy left over.
Something to file in the "meaningless milestones" folder: After Saturday's long ride on the trainer I crossed over the 100 hour mark for riding on the trainer for this winter. This is really not a big deal since I have been in the basement since October but I'm hoping the time will pay off once I'm out on the roads again. Here is a little bit of trivia for you: Madison Square Gardens was built as a velodrome venue because bicycle racing was so popular back in the day; racers would compete in six-day races and ride hundreds of miles.
People keep asking what I am eating while I am training so here is a typical day of eating for me. I usually get up and ride or run, if I ride I usually have at least a banana while riding and sometimes an Ensure plus (350 calories) if I'm riding or running long. For breakfast (at school) I have a cup of coffee and eat a bagel and cottage cheese as well as throwing down some vitamins: vitamin C and E, glucosamine, fish oil, and a multi-vitamin. During the pre-lunch period I have an apple, two clemintine oranges, and three bananas along with a liter of water. For lunch I might have a few sandwiches on whole wheat bread or whatever leftovers we have from the previous night's dinner (pasta, anyone?). I finish another liter of water by the end of the day and then ride by bike back home where I usually have a snack (like a bowl of cereal) and then have a dinner which varies in size depending on whether I am swimming later. After I swim I usually have another bowl of cereal before bed so I'm not famished in the morning and don't have energy to exercise before school. After a long ride (over 2 hours) or a long run (over 1.5 hours) I will have a glass of Gatorade as well as a scoop of protein powder mixed with milk.
In my rudimentary calculations, I figure I am burning around 2000 calories by just doing my normal daily activities and then around 850 calories an hour running, 900 calories an hour riding, and 550 calories an hour swimming. So, if I do a 2 hour ride in the morning and a 1 hour swim at night, I will have consumed 4350 calories for the day. Two weeks ago I check to see how many calories my heart-rate monitor calculated I burned only while exercising and it said 6538. If I eat a typical day's diet as I describe above, I'm coming in at about 3800 calories (not including Gatorade and protein shake) and I have been holding my weight about where I want to. I will probably drop a couple of pounds in the month before the Ironman so I have less weight to drag over the 140 miles.
Well, this turned out to be a long post and I hope I didn't bore you with my ramblings. Thanks for reading.
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