Week of rest

After a few weeks of some mostly good training, I finally have to back it down a bit.  I've been pushing the mileage lately on both the run and bike and seeing some reward mostly on the bike.  My running isn't were I'd like it to be but it is where it should be right now.  As for the swimming, well...I have a lot of work to do on that.  I have been swimming about 2-3 times per week but I'm at one of those points I'm not seeing much gain lately and may need to seek some help.  Quite simply, I need to be a better swimmer and I'm nervous about swimming without my wetsuit in Kona.  For those non-triathlon readers, the wetsuit is a huge help as it creates a lot of buoyancy, especially to pull up the hips to swim like a boat on top of the water as opposed to a dog swimming through water.  It is even a greater help to people like me who aren't the strongest swimmers. 

Up until now, the goal of all my training has been building an aerobic base; trying to get more efficient in all three aspects.  Pushing the big mileage has certainly taken its toll, mentally and physically.  Yesterday I did what was supposed to be an enjoyable easy 16 mile run but it was neither enjoyable nor easy.  I got clipped TWICE by bikers while on the trail.  This hasn't even happened to me once before.  As my friend Jess would say, "Ryan, you're bold."  And that held true yesterday after the second time someone clipped my arm biking.  I said a few choice words and continued on my way.  The less-than-fun continued as I had to stop 4 times to stretch my legs to loosen up my hamstring just so I could continue running.  I really hate having to stop while on a run as it throws off my rhythm but I really couldn't go on.  I was exactly at the half-way point when I felt a slight jerk in my lower hamstring in a step I made from the trail to the sidewalk.  Unfortunately this meant the run was over from a training standpoint and the goal was now to just make it home without further hurting myself.  This wouldn't be that big of a deal except I was 8 miles from home and I hadn't given myself any extra time more than what I needed to make it home, shower, and get off to work, especially now that I was at a slower pace.  This is just a stupid minor injury that came up when you don't rest when you should.  I have been planning a down week for the past month but this week was a little easier at work so I thought I would try to get a couple extra days in before work gets busy starting tomorrow.  This almost never works.  I need to be smarter that if I'm supposed to rest, I should rest. 

The reason I was so hell-bent on getting a couple good days in is that starting tomorrow, I switch back to working with patients in the hospital rather than in the clinic.  This makes for earlier days, usually later evenings, more overnights, and sadly, no days off until June 23rd.  So no long rides on the schedule and any long run means a 3am wake up call.  But first an easy week. 


Most of the yin and yang of my training is the direct opposite of what is occurring at work.  Fortunately for me, my residency is not a strenuous as many other specialties and, at least this year, I'm afforded the opportunity to focus more on training.  This month work pulls back at me and my training will take a backseat.  It will be a good time to both rest my body and refresh my mind.  Then I can switch the focus of my training to going faster rather than merely completing distance. 

My training I feel is mostly on par with where it should be at this time of year.  I'm very relieved to have been back training again after what amounted to almost 5 months off from any productive running with my hip flexor strain.  At this point I'm most nervous about the swim.  The bike is going very well and I know I can my run where it needs to be.  Last year at this time I was running great and found it difficult to maintain that fitness through the fall.  I'm certainly not in race shape right now, but I feel I have built a pretty good base even with those months missed. 

A quote I came across hanging in the locker of one of my favorite Dolphins players a few years back that has kept me going these past three months of long, monotonous training:

"If you want something you've never had before, you have to do something you've never done before."

Input versus Output

For the past week I've been vacationing in South Carolina staying at a beach house south of Myrtle Beach.  I've been able to get in some pretty good training having nothing on the agenda but enjoying the time off, relaxing at the beach, and training.  On Wednesday, I decided to do my long bike ride and track everything I ate and drank for the entire day.  After people hear about my training, the question I most often get is "How much do you eat?"  While this is certainly the highest end of the range as it is the longest workout I will do prior to Kona and perhaps the most calories burned.  Also, again I am on vacation and my dessert rule does not apply during vacation so  few things on this list that certainly bumped up the calories aren't typical for me.

The first group is what I ate & drank while on my bike. I started my workout at 6:30 am and biked for 140 miles and then ran 2 miles barefoot on the beach.  According to my heart rate monitor, I burned 6716 calories during this workout that totaled 7 hours and 43 minutes.  By my calculations, I consumed 2,060 calories while on my bike.  This also is a little higher than normal as I don't usually eat that much trail mix but I didn't have my usual granola bars while on vacation. 

Food                 Qty                            Total Calories

Gatorade           80cal /12oz  x 80 oz          530                                        

Granola bars      4x 100                              400

Trail mix             3 packs x 280                  840

PB                     1 tbsp                              100

Jelly                   1 tbsp                                50

Bread                2 slice x 70                       140

WORKOUT                                           2060

Pre-workout breakfast (6am):

Shredded wheat 2 cups                              360

Milk                   1 cup                                 90

Post-work-out breakfast (at 2:45pm):

Egg bake            1 slice                              350

French toast       2 pieces                            350

Light Syrup        2 tbsp                                 50

Immediately followed by post-workout lunch (at 3pm).

Bread                 2 slice x 70                       140

Cheese               1 oz                                  100

Mustard              1 tbsp                                20

Turkey slice         5 slice                                60

Tomato                2 slices                              10

Salsa                    ½ cup                               50

Tortilla chips         ½ oz                                 70

Afternoon guilt-free vacation snack (5pm)

Pina colada          6 oz                                 525

Ice cream            1 ½ cups                          450

Whip cream         3 tbsp                              150

Strawberries        2                                        10

Dinner (7pm):

Glass wine           4 oz                                    90

Bitburger beer     12 oz                                 150

Sautéed Veg       1 cup                                 100        

Wheat bun          ¼ bun                                  50

Fried calamari     1 cup                                 300

Salad w/ honey mustard                                200

Shrimp & scallops 1 cup                               260

Grits                    1 cup                                110

Bread pudding     1 ½ cup                            450

Carmel cake        1/5 serving                        200

DAILY TOTAL                                       6,755

So there is the verdict, 6,755 calories in versus 6,716 calories out.  The calories out does not account for my basal metabolic rate which is about 1700 calories per day.  So for equal balance on this day I would have needed to consume about 8,400 calories which I did not.  

I do have to note there is some inherent inaccuracy with this.  Research states that even dietitians have up to 10% error with keeping and calculating dietary records (non-dietitians have about 20%) so this is certainly an estimate and there are many sources of potential inaccuracy but I'll admit is is interesting to know just how much I burn and take in.  

I will do this again as I go further in my training on a more typical day when my primary source of calories comes from food other than pina colada, bread pudding, and ice cream.  

Thanks for reading and for the suggestion from those who asked me to do this.

ChiTown Half Marathon

A lot going on since the last post.  I will get to a couple topics over the course of the next few days.  I’m heading down to a friend’s wedding in South Carolina on Wednesday and hope to do some updating while I’m away for the next few weeks.  

First, the race report from the ChiTown Half Marathon.  My last post was the day before that race.  I went into the race with one primary goal: to not get injured.  My secondary goal was to run a decent pace of what I thought to be 1:18:00 or better.  I didn’t approach this as a true race.  I tapered for about 2-3 days and didn’t alter my normal life/work schedule much at all.  I actually took home call the night before which meant fielding calls from patients in the middle of the night.  I intentionally didn’t take this night off as I wanted it to be a reminder that I wasn’t trying to go all out during the race.  Quite simply, I wasn’t in good enough shape to do that and not hurt myself.  I don’t have a good enough base yet to do that.  Unfortunately, one of these reminder calls came less than 20 minutes to gun time and about 4 minutes before my home call shift was finished.  So that meant I had to pause my brief warm-up to hear an update about a patient from a nursing home.  Not a big interruption but something to take the focus off the race none-the-less.  

The morning was a beautiful 45 degrees without much of a wind; couldn’t ask for better conditions.  The gun went off and the pace was quicker than I expected.  I was thinking I’d run about 6:15 per mile and the leaders would probably start at 6:00 per mile.  Since I hadn’t been running much, my internal pacing was entirely off and I was going to cue off of them.  Unfortunately, my estimate of their pace was quiet off as they ran through mile one at 5:30 and me at 5:45.  I did quickly settle into a rhythm and clipped off most of the miles at 5:50 to 5:55 pace.  I was pleased with maintaining this tempo and wanted to maintain until the last two miles before I challenged myself.  I mostly ran with another runner until he stalled with about 2 miles to go and I went around him and didn’t slow down.  I finished 7^th overall out of almost 1600 people in 1:17:09.  Felt pretty good to get some of the cobwebs out but unfortunately I paid for my pacing indiscretions the next week as I had to cut back on my workouts.  In hindsight, I wasn’t ready to compete and I didn’t hold back as much as I hoped I could.  

After that week off, however, I was able to ease back into my mileage and get some good pacing in.  Most of the training thus far has been long, slow distance primarily focusing on building a wide aerobic base.  I’m putting some miles in but it is by no means intense.  

The next post will likely be in a few days.  I do have a few topics to cover including thoughts on training partners, questions about motivation, recharging your batteries, and personal thoughts on depression and tragedy.  If you have specific questions you’d like me to address, please let me know by leaving comments or sending me an email.  Emily, I will get to your request to write out my food diary including total calories consumed per day.  I’m still not at my big training yet so I’ll hold out until that happens.

Thanks for reading!