My Secret Race

-         I take oral injections daily of cottage cheese.  I’m not happy about it, but it’s what I have to do to compete.  And if you think about it, everyone else is doing it too so aren’t I just doing what it takes to hang with the rest of the competition?  I have to use code names for it because my wife and friends think it looks disgusting and I don’t like to gross them out.  I’ve called it clabbered up milk, pelican shit, or Scottish sheep.  That last one because it sounds similar.  Or just sheep for short.  I think Angie really knows what I’m doing when I say it, but it makes me feel like I’m pulling the wool over her eyes when I say things like, “I’m gonna go orally take in a sheep.”

-         I don’t do a whole sheep, because the glow period – the period at which people can physically catch you doing a sheep – lasts longer, so I microdose and get it out of my system quickly.  I do my sheep right before bedtime, and I love the feeling as I lay there in bed with the chill of the casein protein coursing through my veins.  I keep telling myself as I lay there, “If I’m microdosing on sheep, how many sheep are the other guys doing?” 

-         I’m amazed that some of my racing friends are so nonchalant about the way they store their cottage cheese.  I know one guy that keeps it right on the front of the top shelf of his fridge in the original container that it came in.  There it is with a big label, “100% Whole Milk Grade A Cottage Cheese.”  I mean, anybody could just walk in and open his fridge and they’d be like, “Whoa, wassup with this?!  You’re totally on the juice, man!”  That’s why as soon as I buy my cottage cheese, I take it out of the container and smear it into a white pasty pile on some aluminum foil and stick it behind some sodas in the back of the fridge.  Cuz, nobody likes leftovers in some grungy looking crumpled up aluminum foil.

-         I have a generator attached to my refrigerator in case the power goes out.  That way I can make sure that my cottage cheese is always kept chilled at the right temperature.  A lot of people don’t realize that those little lumps of white stuff are living tissue and they have to be kept refrigerated or they spoil.  They die.  A friend of mine once raced after bagging a bad sheep.  He won his race but he was never right after that.  I’ve heard of other racers hiring people to house sit when they go on trips just to make sure the power doesn’t go out and spoil their sheep.

-         I buy a carton of Silk chocolate soy milk every week and keep it in the fridge.  It looks just like something you would hide a bag of blood in, and if you picked it up and squeezed it you would think it even feels like a bag of blood inside.  I call it my BB, and it’s soooooo delicious.  Sometimes I pretend a racing friend looks in my fridge and sees it, thinking I’ll be swelled up like a dog tick with a BB in me for Lake Kristi.

-         There’s a phrase I used to hear when I first started racing…”wayvoseebacon.”  Sometimes it’s used in a derogatory manner like, “Man, I sucked at the Sunday Morning 10 Miler.  I was running wayvoseebacon.”  But sometimes it can be used almost as if they’re bragging: “I was flying at the Thursday Night World Championships and I was riding on wayvoseebacon!”  Then I realized the phrase is actually “juevos y bacon” – Spanish for “eggs and bacon,” meaning I only had eggs and bacon in me prior to the ride.  No cottage cheese.  I look back on when I used to race wayvoseebacon and I don’t know how I ever managed to finish races like that.

Outer Banks Half Ironman 2012

So, I won my first Half Ironman.  To be honest, I feel more than a little silly about that.  I finished in 4:37, and won by 7 minutes.  All this means is......a lot of really good athletes must have had mo' betta things to do.  And I'm cool with that.  Cuz, dammit, I won. 

 Carl likes it.

We were told there were 137 participants in the race.  Disappointing numbers considering they ran a beautiful full page ad in Triathlete magazine all year long.  But it is what it is. 

The swim looked a lot longer than 1.2 miles.  And the water off of Roanoke Island was a little bit choppy.  Not enough to be considered rough, but it did mess with your breathing pattern a little, and if this were your first open water swim it might have been a little frustrating.  They started the women and teams first, with all the dudes 3 minutes after.  I went ahead and seeded myself in the front with my training buddy, Carl Bonner, right next to me.  (Aside: this is Carl Bonner's first Half in, like, 10 years.  His wetsuit too, which looked tired and unprepared, and I was afraid it would come apart when he put it on.)  As soon as we started I noticed at least two guys shot out ahead of me.  I assumed there were perhaps a couple more on my blind side, but I just settled into a pace and, once I noticed my typical tendency to drift to the right, I started my usual chant of, "Veer.  Left.  Veer.  Left."  I caught almost all of the first wave by the first turn buoy, but could see a couple swimmers ahead by 50 yards or so.  At any rate, an uneventful swim, and I didn't feel like I was doing anything spectacular despite the 22,000 yards of training I had put in during the last two weeks.  When I got out of the water, though, I saw Angie and heard her say, "Really great job, honey!"  She said it as if I had done better than usual.  I wondered what she knew that I didn't.

 Trying to remember if this thing zips up or down to get off.

Taking off on the bike I noticed my right ass cheek was really sore, like someone had taken a sledge hammer to it.  I've felt that before and have no idea what that's all about.  It went away.  I wondered how far back I was from the front, and put my head down and just got into a good, hard rhythm.  I passed a relay team and 3 girls from the first wave before I got to the great big long bridge that takes you to the mainland and right into some heavy headwinds.  There's one thing about that bridge that I now immediately remembered from doing the sprint race here a couple years ago.  It has these massive metal teeth about 2" wide that separate each section for expansion, and you have to guide your bike right over a tooth pointing away from you or you're gonna take one right to your front tire.  It looked like the makings of a flat tire, and I wasn't carrying any repairs of any kind.  I passed two more relay teams on that bridge and then headed north on the mainland.  This section is flat and boring and you can see a huge distance up the road.  Nobody up there.  How far ahead are these guys, dammit?!  With a turnaround coming up, I started trying to pick out what few landmarks I could so I'd be able to get an idea of the time gap if I saw somebody coming the other way.  And then I was at the turnaround.....all by myself!  I yelled out to the volunteers, "Where is everybody?!?!"  I checked my watch and headed back south.  The next guy was 110 seconds back, and the next guys were a bit behind him.  Then there was Carl, who hollered something encouraging and I gave him a thumbs up.  At the next turnaround I had a 4 minute lead.  I was liking this!  And the guy in second looked a little muscular, as if maybe biking was his strength and he probably wouldn't be able to run me down. 

Coming back on the bridge with a tailwind is an awesome feeling.  30 mph and feeling like you've got no chain!  As I was coming into the first lap turnaround back at transition, I got real cautious.  The road had a lot of potholes, I already knew there was a turnaround to negotiate, and there was a car that might get in the way, lots of people, and it was a dumb spot for a water station.  I picked Angie out of the crowd, told her I loved her (I wanted everyone to know she was the wife of the dude winning!), and accelerated out of there.  I now had 7 minutes on 2nd place.  And I was acutely aware of one thing: the fatigue I often feel around mile 30 of a half iron doesn't exist when you do a half in the middle of Ironman training.  Awesome!  The first lap had gone down at an average of 24 mph.  I expected that to drop a little on the second lap and it did, down to 23.5 mph.  The wind had picked up noticeably on the bridge, and my back was getting a little sore.  It was great seeing Dr Bob, Katy, and Carl on that second loop, and the motivation from putting time on my nearest competitors kept my spirits up.

When I came into T2 it was pure mayhem.  All the things I had taken inventory of after the first lap were magnified by all the cyclists coming in for their second lap on top of the Olympic folks coming in to T2 with me.  I tried a flying dismount between two gals struggling to get off their bikes and nearly took us all out.  Then I tried to weave through some Olympic guys running with their bikes into T2 and nearly got taken out by one that couldn't keep his bike up.  My T2 attitude was much more relaxed than usual with the lead I had, so I sat down to put on socks (Noooooooo!!!).  I had a Red Bull there so I popped the top and tried to down some swigs as I started the run.  I took a second to actually open a trash bin and toss it in there despite the lady that offered to take it from me ("Wow, did you see that?  What a nice guy." as I tossed it away myself!).

 Heading out on the run course, with Cory the biker escort dude in front.

I had an escort biker on the run, since I was leading the race!  I gotta say this is the coolest thing.  And he was pumped about it!  He was hollering out to people, "I got the first half ironman right here!"  And then they'd look at me and barely clap.  "Yeah whatever.  Good job.  Yay."  These folks had already applauded 200 Olympic runners ahead of me.  His name was Cory, and I got the sense he was a talker if I had had the energy to converse.  He asked where I was from and maybe some other stuff I can't remember.  As we came up to the first water station he asked what I wanted.  "Coke."  No Coke. After that he asked if Pepsi was okay.  In my head:  Geeeeez!!!!!  This is no time for a Pepsi Challenge, I just want some caffeine!  After a nod, he went ahead to the next aid station and got a Pepsi ready.  A whole can of Pepsi.  I guess I just assumed a half iron race would have flat Coke at the aid stations.  I took a couple swigs but the bubbles weren't working for me and the whole thing went all over me anyway.  Cory said he had water and Gatorade on board if I needed it.  This escort thing was starting to prove a great advantage.  After that he asked what I wanted at the next station and I said water and Gatorade.  He was great as he zipped on ahead at each station and I could hear him directing where one guy should be with water and one should be several paces further up with the Gatorade.  He did this Every.  Single.  Aid.  Station.

I got a rush seeing Katy and then Dr Bob, just after he made the 10k turnaround of the Olympic course.  I hollered out and then told Cory that Dr Bob was the man.  Then there was that turnaround that Bob had just gone around, and beyond that was like this crazy void.  The rest of the Half Iron course, and for all I knew it looked like a barren wasteland that nobody had ever set foot on.  It was weird how there had been all these runners on the Olympic course and now all of a sudden silence.  Just me and Cory the bike escort dude.  I hit a low point at mile 5 and told myself to push through.  I had been running a 6:45 to 6:50 pace so far.  Perfect.  But there was something lurking from within that told me things were gonna go south.

I was still pumped up enough because I had my own turnaround to hit in another mile or so, and I wanted to see what the gap was on second place.  As soon as I turned I looked up the road and there was nobody in sight.  There was no way I was gonna get caught, but my pace had already slowed to over 7:00/mile.  By the time I met the 2nd place guy going the other way, I had over a 10 minute lead.  Doing great!  And I was on pace to go sub-4:30, which I would have told anyone before the race was not only the goal, but in my mind "easy pickin's" given the shape I thought I was in even without a proper taper for this race.  But just then I felt the wheels start to come off.  And it was totally mental and I knew it!  Everything was going just fine, but I just felt the will oozing out of myself.  Carl ran by somewhere around then and we high-fived and he told me I was rocking this thing, but I knew right then that was it.  That's the last bit of stimulation I get before the finish line.  I was now running all alone with no more feedback from time splits, no more friends to see on the course, nothin'.  And I hit a mental wall.  At mile 9 I started walking through the aid station (which as I had suspected, was shared with the 2nd place guy as he came around, giving him a little hope I'm sure) wondering what my problem was.  I got going again but my pace had slowed way down.  At least I wasn't panicking about getting caught.  I knew the lead was more than enough, but I was letting my goal slip away and it ate at me.  I decided to just be happy that I was moving, and now that I was back on the Olympic course I was passing stragglers from that race.  I gave encouragement to every one I passed, many of which were walking.  "Come on, I'm hurting too.  Let's do this!"  I know it got one of them running again at least.

 There is nothing like the sight of the finish line........!!!

Just prior to the finish I thanked Cory for his kind words and help out there.  I ran in and had just won my first Half Iron distance race!  That felt pretty good, but deep down I was horribly upset that I had fallen apart on the run.  My whole point of doing this race was to feel confident and on track for my training for Ironman Florida in November, but all I feel is way behind.  I have a tendency to get weak in the head and fall apart.  I guess that's something to work on.

I stuck around the finish line to shake hands with 2nd and 3rd place.  To me, that's important.  I cheered Carl in as he came in 5th place.  He's a good training buddy and lightened the mood of this trip a great deal, as anyone that knows him would expect him to do.

Katy, Carl, Dr Bob, and I after the finish.

To those of you that know you coulda kicked my butt out there, thanks for not showing up!  It was a fun race and a fun weekend.  I'm deeply humbled and sore all over. 

Richter, out.

Ironman Florida 2012 Training: What's Different this Time Around?

1.    1.    I’m doing a lot of training with my long time buddy, Carl Bonner, who’s also training for his Ironman comeback at Florida.  Training with Carl is interesting.

2 Runners, 2 Cups.  Carl and I have never been accused of having a serious side.

He’s had a couple bad wipeouts in the past that were car related, including being hit by one during the Fiesta Biathlon.  As a result, he’s a little jumpier than the rest of us when we’re on the road.  We’ll be in the middle of a hard interval and I’m doing all I can do to maintain pace and we’ll come up on an intersection with no traffic coming either way.  I’ll yell, “CLEAR!” and motor through and then look back……there’s Carl stopped at the curb waiting for God knows what.  If we come up on a dog most of us cyclists just yell, “DOG!” and it’s up to you to take evasive action as you see fit, but you still gotta be aware of staying with the peloton.  But Carl’s protocol is to yell at the dog: “GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” By then we’ve put a gap on him and it’s just Carl and the dog blinking at each other.  I’m not sure what the dog makes of this but I bet it’s very entertaining for him. Carl also doesn’t like me running on the asphalt against traffic.  So running with him is like having a little bitty wife on your shoulder as a backseat driver.  But it’s all good.  He’s a great training buddy and doesn’t complain when I steer us onto extra crappy roads.  I often wonder if he’s more sensitive to that stuff since he’s a road/building civil engineer nerd.

Last Saturday we did a pretty tough 126 miler on the bikes.  Towards the end, poor Carl’s neck and back locked up like a Khia video.

His neck went out so bad when he got to my house and tried to make himself a sandwich he couldn’t look up on the fridge to see where the bread was!

2.    2.    I’m not as fixed on nailing the mileage according to plan, especially on the run.  I’ve been following the plan probably 98%, but if I feel like running less than the plan says than I cut out what feels right.  It might be smart training……then again, maybe it’s slackin’.  When I laid out my plan, I put every possible mile into training that I could anyway.  It looked good on paper.

3.      3.  I’m trying to bike more.  I felt like I didn’t get enough bike training in for IMCDA 2011 or St Croix 70.3 2012.  Both races I felt that those were my weak legs.  I’m trying to strengthen that for IMFL.  But fitting in more cycling when you’re already doing 22.5 training hours a week and trying to do your job…..well, it’s kinda tough.

4.     4.   I’m experimenting with Red Bull as a caffeine boost during my long workouts.  It sure feels likeI get a good kick in the balls after I chug one anyway.

At least, when I’m struggling during a long run it motivates me to know that this is at the next aid station…..

5.     5.   It’s not really something new that I’m doing, but this IM has a new vibe in that there are 4 of us Tricredible dudes doing this race: Carl, Bert, Kyle and me.  Carl and I train together a lot, so we know what each other is doing.  Bert and I compare notes constantly at work, and we meet for a few training sessions as well.  But Kyle’s under the radar.  We kid about it as if he’s training in secret.  We all wonder what he’s doing.  But it’s just fun to have buddies to compare notes and try to one-up each other on the training numbers and stuff.

6.   6.     I might be more paranoid about getting as much sleep as possible than I have been in the past.  I get antsy if I’m not in bed by 9, and after 9:30 I start to visualize myself turning into a pumpkin.  On Saturdays, after I’ve done my long brick and still have my long run to do early Sunday morning, I’m typically in bed, exhausted, by 7:30.  Minimum 8 hours of sleep per night, but more like 9 or 10 is what I’ve been getting.  At least I feel great in the morning and relish my free time with a cup of coffee prior to going to work.

7.     7.   I’m not focused on that Kona slot for this one.  Really I’m not.  In truth, I don’t think I’m good enough to snag it.  But I AM focused on killing it during this race, PR’ing the distance (this is my first flat course IM, so you’d think that would be an easy goal), hammering in training as best I can, and showing up on the start line in better shape and spitting more fire than I have before.  I have bad days and I have at least one a week where I just don’t wanna do this, but for the most part the gumption is there, and I want to show up at IMFL as if I may not do one of these ever again.  And I’m determined to keep Angie and mom waiting for me at the finish line much less than they have for the last 3 of these things.  Where that all gets me, I dunno.  I guess all I’m counting on is a finisher’s medal and hat and a well-deserved beer.

8.      What hasn’t changed: I’m still being anal about nutrition and weight.  For example, early in the week my dinners are usually more protein based (like salmon with a side of steamed veggies) and small portioned to keep the weight down and the recovery from the weekend’s efforts in motion.  I add a side of rice or pasta or something to my meals towards the end of the week to get some extra carbs in for the weekend workouts to come.  All alcohol is strictly verboten.  The weight I’m trying to maintain (160 or less) is hard enough without drinking, so I don’t need the empty calories.  Plus, it seems to mess with muscle recovery, and when I’m going as far as paying for recovery supplements and vitamins it seems kinda silly to waste that money by drinking at the same time.  I did indulge in a sip of beer Sunday night right before I poured it into a pot to make some French Onion soup though.  And.  It.  Was.  Delicious.  As for my weekly training routine, it’s pretty much the same as the last couple of events I trained for.  Frank Fisher turned me on to some of Joe Friel’s techniques – like biking a couple hours before the long run and some other stuff – but I haven’t figured out how to make the grand scheme fit around my work schedule so I’m sticking to what I know how to do for now.

That’s pretty much it.  To be honest, I’m amazed I’m as gung ho as I am for this race after putting a lot into the last Ironman and then again for St Croix earlier this year.  I don’t know where this energy comes from. The heat of the summer took a lot out of me as well, and made it hard to train and really tough to feel good about what training I was getting in since every mile I felt like a slug in the heat.  The cooler weather we’re having now is just what I need to kick up the gumption a few notches, and I’m looking forward to this Saturday’s Outer Banks Half Iron race.  More to come…..!

September Numbers So Far (9/19):

Hours Exercised: 47.72

Weight: 159.6 lb

Gumption: 96.3%

Bike Distance: 529 mi

Run Distance 105 mi

Swim Distance: 15 mi

It's Fiesta Time!

At some point during all this multisport endurance phase of my life, I got the notion that competing in races wasn’t enough.  There’s always been a side of me that enjoys owning a project, and directing a race seemed like a fun task to get into.  That opportunity showed up when Kip Sloan (well known as the so-to-speak eccentric director of all things involving running here in Pitt County) offered to turn over directing duties of the Fiesta Biathlon to me back in 2007.  I was a little bit daunted, but as a lover of this great event – the longest running road race in Greenville at 26 years – and even previous 2-time winner, I was excited to take on the task.

Angie and I did it together from the get-go, and our vision was naïve enough that we thought we could blow this event up to epic proportions.  Our goal was to bring it back to what it was in the ‘80’s when it would get 200 participants or so, both newcomers and competitive racers (nowadays, a 55 minute effort will easily win the race, but back then it would have only been good enough for top 20!).  We wanted to upgrade the shirts, offer cool, unique trophies, hand out fun prizes, and really pump this thing up.

You gotta understand what we were up against, though.  Back in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s if you wanted to do a 5k or duathlon or triathlon, you might have to travel a couple counties to get to the event.  There just weren’t that many.  Nowadays, even in our little town of Greenville, you can easily pick any spring weekend and find two 5k’s and a duathlon/triathlon all right on top of each other.  The competition has gotten fierce due to the popularity explosion of the sport and all the charities that try to put on events to bring in some support dough.  So, we had our work cut out for us.

All this to deal with, and we still had to make money for our charity (the first year it was Uptown Greenville, but after that and still to this day the event benefits the Mediation Center of East Carolina, which I’ve always joked sends bigger bullies to your kid’s school to beat up on the bully that is pestering your kid).  The previous couple years had not been moneymakers in the slightest sense.  Making money for the charity had to be foremost in our minds if it was going to be any sort of success at all.

If you don’t know this first hand already, here’s the single most important message of my post: it is WAY harder to put on an event than to participate in one.  What a great lesson to learn and a wonderful experience, but man it takes a lot of work!

I can’t say we breathed a lot of new life into the Fiesta Biathlon over the years, but it still is going on strong, and this weekend is its 26^th event.  It’s not going anywhere and I’m glad to be able to say that I was a part of its history.  But this is Angie’s and my last one that we will be directing.  We’re turning it back over to Kip.  It’s been lots of fun, but very stressful trying to put it all together on top of a career and all the training I already put myself through every spring.  I expect next year to be a little different for Angie and I, and it’s just the right time for us to turn over the reigns to someone else.

But don’t count me out just yet – I may be there to toe the line at the 27^th Fiesta Biathlon to get my old “title” back!

Bruce's Top 10 Tips for Eating Healthy (and Perhaps to Lose Weight)

Losing weight and keeping it off is not easy by any means.  There are few of us who are lucky enough to have a metabolism that allows them to eat whatever they want (curse you Phillip Rowan!).  I am certainly not one of those and can guarantee you that if this 160 lb’er were to stop all this exercise and eating right I would swell up like a dog tick to at least 215 lb.  I know that because that’s where I was before I started all this triathlon stuff.

So, I thought I’d share some ideas on how I perceive eating healthy.  I’m not an authority by any means, but I’m a fella that, through discipline and good habits, has consistently been able to go from an already healthy BMI in the off-season to 5-7% body fat by the time triathlon season starts – about a 15 lb weight loss as needed.  I've been accused of not needing to lose weight, yet in my mind I know there's a certain range at which I'm most competitive.....and it's important to me to be there by whatever big race I'm training for at the time.  I certainly don’t claim to have the secret to getting lean, and I would never suggest that any one part of doing so is easy and can be accomplished without discipline, consistency, and hard work.  None of this was invented by me, but perhaps there’s a nugget in here for you.

1.      When you’re hungry, understand what it is you’re hungry for.  Just because you feel like eating something doesn’t mean you should look in the fridge and grab whatever looks appealing.  Maybe you’re low on sugar and need a small adjustment.....so grab a piece o' fruit.  Maybe you just worked out, feel low on energy and need some protein.....so dive into some almonds.  In other words, know the difference between what your body needs and what your brain wants.  Develop a habit of listening to your body and don't eat "what looks yummy" just because it's there.

2.      Develop a daily meal routine with healthy items and stick with it.  You might have to adapt a tolerance for a little bit of monotony, but try to pick something you like and that you think you won't get sick of.  The consistency ensures you always eat what you need to and you don’t create alternatives that are unnecessary.  For me, I bring a mid-morning snack to work consisting of a banana, an almond butter and Nutella sandwich, yogurt, and a Diet Pepsi.  And lunch is always a salad with a side of low-fat cottage cheese.  The bonus for me personally is that when I work out at lunch, I know lunch is the same old thing after I get through, and there's no temptation to cut my workout short so I can get to that plate of leftover bbq ribs my mouth might have been watering for all morning if I had played that way!

3.      There’s no such thing as a “reward day.”  Consistency and discipline are tantamount, so it’s not okay to say to yourself, “I ate healthy for the last 3 days so I’m going to reward myself tonight with a pizza.”

4.      I prefer “actual food” to meal replacement shakes, but I’m not against the latter if you’re the type of person that eats on the go and doesn’t have time for a sit down meal, usually breakfast.  Which leads me to.....

5.      Breakfast is mandatory.  You need it to kick start the metabolism, and with a full day’s effort ahead of you the energy is imperative.  My breakfast is some fresh fruit – usually pineapple – and a piece of wheat toast with Nutella on it.  I wash it down with OJ and a coffee.  An hour later, I usually eat a Lara Bar (love these things for their minimal list of ingredients - pure goodness!) and a piece of fruit.

6.      Try to eat an early dinner.  If you’re like me and exercise late, make dinner as soon as you can tolerate eating after your workout.  In general, I make sure that all my eating is done well before 9 pm (a lot of my workouts push me to eat as late as 8:30, which is later than I wish, but I allow myself the indiscretion in light of a good 3 hour workout after I get off work!).

7.      No calories from drinks.  That means no sodas unless they’re diet, no juices, etc.  I do allow myself an OJ with breakfast (for downing vitamins, getting some additional vitamin C, and the caloric value is still high given the time of day it's consumed) and a chocolate milk post-workout to reap the recovery benefits from its high protein, but that's about the only place where I cheat on this rule.  In general, the point here is no “empty calories,” which many drinks - like sodas - are.  Unfortunately, this rule knocks out the ability to have alcoholic beverages, which I love.  You gotta decide if the sacrifice is worth it or not for whatever goal you’re working towards though.  But it’s really not a hard task to swear off the sodas, substitute a diet soda or two in place, and drink water all day.  If drinking water is monotonous to you, add Mio or some other low/zero calorie flavor additive.

8.      In general, dinner is a piece of lean meat (fish and chicken over pork and beef) and some steamed veggies, and a side of rice or couscous or equivalent if the extra carbs are needed for tomorrow’s workout.  I often add an apple or some sort of fresh fruit for dessert too.

9.      Look for casein protein as a recovery method for your workouts.  It’s in cottage cheese and milk, and is unique as it is a “time released” protein.  They say that’s a good reason to take it before bed – so the protein releases into your system throughout the night as your body recovers from the rigors of the day - but I’ve not tried it that way yet.  It’s available as a mixable powder if you want to try it in that form.

10.  I do allow myself a piece of dark chocolate (not a whole bar!) as a treat as long as I’ve completed my planned workout of the day.  My taste is expensive and I prefer Belgian, which is partly how I justify eating it (ie, Belgians like cycling, they allegedly make the best chocolate, therefore Belgian chocolate is good for cycling!).

Battling Burn Out and Eating Disorders

Feelin’ like I’ve been off the radar for a while here, but I’m right back into training and feeling on par with where I was this time last year.  In fact, I seem to be hitting all the numbers I hit last year this time – weight is crossing the 165 lb border on the way south, track intervals at the same speed, swim intervals the same speed, etc.  But I’m realizing how much I put into this training thing last year and it’s literally blowing my mind as I attempt to repeat it in order to be ready for St Croix and the early summer races.  This effort is taking a lot out of me!

I intend to stay on the plan through Lake Kristi in June.  After that, I’ll get off the wagon and allow some boozin’ and snoozin’ to preserve my sanity, with the idea of stepping it back up on September 1 to get ready for Ironman Florida.  Well, maybe sometime in August.  Maybe August 1.  I dunno.  But I’m gonna need a break for sure, and I’m already finding my mind drifts to thoughts of 2013 and not giving a rip about all this fitness and training stuff for a while.

Anyway, back to the here and now.  The body seems to be adapting to the training well, even though I now have 40 years behind me.  It’s the mind that seems to struggle the most through all this though.  Meals on time, no second helpings, no boozing, nailing every workout even when sometimes I just don’t wanna…..it takes its toll.  I’d love to sit on the porch and sip some wine tonight, but it isn’t in the cards. 

And getting my weight back down to sub-160 is consuming me.  I nailed it last year by my early May half iron race, and all is on schedule to do so this year too, but I feel like I have this creepy exercise induced eating disorder (I know there’s a name for it, but if I don’t use it then I feel like I’m not quite admitting I have it).  Two bites of chicken from completing a half a breast last night left me in disgust of what it might have done to my morning weigh-in had I given in to them.  So, I threw them out.  I went to bed early just to make sure I wouldn’t feel a hunger knock later that evening.  I have two scales in the bathroom and I check my weight every morning on each of them – one because I’ve always trusted it, and one for a “second opinion.”  This healthy lifestyle is, perhaps, not the most healthy after all.

So, how does a Kona qualifier do it?  Clearly, they must have more talent to draw from so that the sacrifices aren’t unbearable.  But I can just imagine what a rearranging of lifestyles it is to be one.  I will never understand how one does it with kids and a career. 

All in all, I suspect this is really just some form of burn-out trying to get hold of me.  I made a mistake doing that late fall marathon last December as it didn’t allow me enough of an off-season to bounce back into my routine here in the late winter/early spring.  I still have good days but there are a few bad days in there where I just don’t want to perform.  So, for now I’m just trying to cowboy up to the training but also looking forward to that post-Lake Kristi beer……

A couple notes about the shoulder.  Since the cortisone shot in January I’ve had much improvement.  The PA suggested possible surgery in the long term but for now the shot seems to be doing the trick.  The only time I notice discomfort is after I’ve swam yardage over 2500.  It’s noticeably weaker on the pull phase of my stroke, but otherwise bearable.  I still ice it from time to time and try not to raise my right arm above my shoulder any more than I need to.  I miss doing lateral raises in the gym when I hit the weights but I’ve been diligent to exercise the rotator cuff in place of that.

Spring is happening all around and now there’s still daylight after work for a good workout.  At the very least, there’s gumption to be drawn from all o’ dat!  Peace out!

BAMFs

When you think of a BAMF, who comes to mind?  Probably not this guy, but I'd say he fits the bill.....

This is Juan Jose Mendez, and he's a paralympic track cyclist with an obvious handicap.  I love this picture, because despite the handicap, there is shear determination in his face and he looks like he's flying! 

Today was a big day for BAMF's as Lance Armstrong rekindled my 1999 man-crush on him by coming in a close second in his first on-road triathlon since his early days before he stole babies from the Frenchies at the Tour de France.  I figured he'd throw down a 4:05 or something for today's Panama 70.3 half ironman, but 3:50?!?!?!  Never mind he's 40 now.  Awesome.

Awesome performance in Panama today by Juan Pelota himself.

So why all this talk about BAMF's and what does that have to do with the Richter Kid and his training?  I woke up for the Sunday Morning 10 Miler to find 9 degree windchill temps and near 20 mph winds. Earlier in the week I had tried to breathe some life into this (lately) poorly attended run amongst the locals by adding on a pot-luck style breakfast in the park afterwards.  When the forecast told of winter's ugliness that would collide with my plans I was afraid the event would unravel before any of us even woke up.  But what a great group that showed up today!  Tyler and Jarrod made a longer run out of it and tore up the course running 6:30's or better.  Choo came out on tired legs from placing 3rd in a 5K yesterday and ran some early social miles with us.  Amy (after running 12 miles prior) kept me company for a fast (for me!) 69 minute 10 miler - damn, she's a BAMF for real! Marina, Jason, Emily, Lizz, John, Katie, and Troy toughed out their run as well, and though we all started with numb fingers and frozen snot we completed our run and even finished what we said we would do by having a freezing breakfast in the park.  Angie, Vince, Hank, and Tyler's girlfriend (I didn't get her name!) came out to support - more BAMF's! - and eat with us, and even though we never got the eggs or bacon cooked in the frigid temps we at least had great coffee, fruit, shrimp and grits, muffins and more!  On a day where many enjoyed the comfort of their warm beds, this crowd showed they were BAMF's and got out in the cold and carried out what they said they would do.  And that's damn inspiring to this.............BHMF!!!!

The Breakfast in the Park crew warms up after a great Sunday Morning 10 (or whatevah) Miler!!