Week minus-25 done

Apparently Minus 25 is a musician.

TL;DR

• Another week down
• Listen to your coach
• Tired
• No back-up plan
• Some good news in my non-athletic life
• Next week: no fun

Another week down

As I write this (March 23) there are 175 days, exactly 25 weeks to Barrelman. My Chronic Training Load (TrainingPeaks’ single-number estimate of my fitness) is 18% higher than last week, 82% higher than at New Year’s. Logged 7 workouts on 5 days for 4 h 17′. Covered 27.4 miles (most of that virtual). TrainingPeaks gave me a Training Stress Score of 215 and identified 20 Peak Performances.

Listen to your coach

Bit of a story here, but let me be clear: it didn’t work out. Coach Mary had set Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday as:

• Tu: easy run/walk 40′
• W: intervals on the bike trainer
• Th: easy run/walk 30′
• F: off

Tuesday was a stressful day. I had a proposal due that day to a prospective client; while everything was under control I was still metaphorically biting my nails until it went in. The weather was spectacular for mid-March in Toronto, so an easy run/walk outside would’ve been wonderful. But those intervals called to me: I wanted something genuinely but quickly hard, where I’d get sweaty and beat up and feel I’d done something. So, without consulting Coach, I altered the order:

• Tu: intervals on the bike trainer
• W: easy run/walk 40’
• Th: off
• F: easy run/walk 30’

The bike intervals on Tuesday went great. As usual these days when I’m doing bike intervals I used TrainingPeaks’ newish training platform. Ok, so far so good, right?

Wednesday’s run was meh. Good things: ran outside in shorts and short sleeves!

But I had no energy. My ærobic fitness was fine, but my legs had nothing.

And then, on Friday, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to do the run I’d rescheduled to the day, so I ended up doing brisk walks to/from the local strip mall where I had some things to do.

Bottom line: I was not able to execute the plan, and therefore I didn’t get all the training benefit I could’ve; I didn’t “surrender to the plan”. Basically one run/walk didn’t get enough energy, and one didn’t happen.

Tired

• Did my “long ride” (on the trainer, using Rouvy to ride in Taiwan; TBH kind of boring)
• Went to a pizza place in the Cliffside neighbourhood
• Went to a folk music concert in a church
• Ended up going to bed very late
• And getting up early
• Ran 18 laps (I think) on the 200m track at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre
  • Too tired/low on energy to do the full 24 laps Mary wanted
• Got pushed hard by Arden in the gym
• Almost fell asleep in the car on the way home

I’d forgotten what heavy-training tiredness tastes like. There’s an added piquancy being older. I kind of like it, to be honest, though it makes getting anything done on Sunday tough.

Vagueness can be good

Stock pic of a management consultant. If he’s drinking with his right hand why is the saucer on his left?

For years I’ve chafed under my old job title, Senior Transit Technology Specialist. So much of my work doesn’t remotely fit under that heading. As of April 1 I’ll be a Senior Management Consultant II—basically I can do almost anything under that title. This comes is a move up a grade in the firm’s system, and a modest raise. After a rough year it’s nice to get some good news.

No back-up plan

If toward August my coach and I decided I wasn’t ready for a half-Ironman, my back-up was Ironman 70.3 Florida in mid-December. The current American administration’s attitude to Canada and Canadians has pushed that right off the table. So we now have no back-up plan.

Next week: no fun

Colonoscopy Wednesday. This is my seventh or eighth (who counts them?). My mother died at age 54 of colon cancer that had spread, so every five years or so I have a routine scope; nothing’s ever been found, so it continues routine. The scope itself I find uneventful; it’s the prep that I hate. Monday and especially Tuesday will suck, and of course blow a hole in my training.

I do have a goal, though: to ride outside on Saturday. Sick of the trainer. I have my “forever bike” to get some miles on.

A fortnight of red cards

TL;DR

• Too many red cards (i.e. more than zero)
• But … am I back?
• Still no swimming
• Spring comes to Toronto
• Life gets in the way
• “You never had control …”

Red cards!

I use TrainingPeaks to receive workouts from my coach, and to log what I do. The workouts are shown as “cards”; in the future they’re white but in the past their colour depends on a couple of things. Red is unequivocal: “Workout was not completed”. As a result of “surrendering to the plan”, these are rare—but the last fortnight has seen 3(!).

Part of my growing up is learning that “bad” workouts don’t exist: they’re good data; are missed workouts also data? In this case, Yes.

For the first time in this (macro)cycle I had one of those periods of fatigue that have bedevilled my training in the past. One workout I started warming up on the treadmill (brisk walk) and just … stepped off. No energy. But all other indicators, particularly my heart rate, were fine. So what had happened?

During that week I’d had a tough session with Phil the physiotherapist; couldn’t work out the next day. Then the day after that I had a tough strength session with Arden; couldn’t work out the next day.

Phil’s thought after I raised this with him is that he and Arden are getting my body to do what it doesn’t want to do and it takes a lot of energy. Is it worth it? Yes; when Phil works on me, needles me, I feel … quicker, lighter, smoother, more relaxed. (Some readers may recognize that mantra.) I remain very hopeful that getting my body “aligned”, top to toe, will allow my muscles, tendons, and skeleton to do what my heart and lungs are capable of. At my age, after a long lifetime of carelessness about my kinetic chain and a propensity to twistedness, this is a big process.

But—and I think this is a key point—if nothing else comes of this quest to do a half-Ironman, being freer and more capable in my body will pay rich dividends to the end of my life.

But … am I back?

Maybe?

Despite the negativity of the foregoing I’ve had 24 Peak Performances over these two weeks. I’ve run the farthest I’ve run in 47 weeks (see above), and in shorts, too. So I’m still progressing.

“For want of a nail …”

On December 19 I had the toenail of my left big toe removed. Until it heals swimming is not permitted. (Everything else is fine.) It “should” take 5 to 6 weeks to heal. It’s been 12½ weeks but still has a scab over about half the old nailbed. Yes, it’s better; yes, it’s no longer swollen or painful; healing is progressing. But probably no swimming until my next appointment with the chiropodist, April 3.

Spring has sprung

The definition of spring used in English-speaking North America (at least) is the period between the March equinox and June solstice. This is dumb, but I’ll save that rant for another time. Meteorological spring began two weeks ago. We haven’t yet had seven consecutive days with mean temperature above freezing, though the seven-day average is now well above. Regardless. In yesterday’s sunny 10°C≈50°F I went for my first run outdoors in Toronto this year in shorts and short sleeves. You will, however, note the snow in the background; the steep path into the ravine behind me was covered with ice.

Planned, if unwanted, holes in my training

The next two weeks see a quartet of fillings, and a colonoscopy. All stuff that can’t be put off to after the half-Ironman so we have to accommodate them in the plan.

“You never had control; all you had was anxiety.”

I am a huge fan of Oliver Burkeman. His long-running column in The Guardian was always interesting and readable, and his books are all edifying; my favourite, which I recommend to everyone, is Four Thousand Weeks. He also does a semimonthly newsletter, The Imperfectionist, which I also strongly recommend.

The March 13 number of The Imperfectionist introduced me to the phrase in the heading, and it resonates strongly to me. He attributes it to Elizabeth Gilbert, and quick googling tells me it’s from Eat, Pray, Love. Everything about that book (e.g. the description in Wikipedia; the trailer of the film) confirms I wouldn’t like it; am I wrong?

Eventful week: Jan. 27–Feb. 2/25

Stock photo, of course. Why is there nothing written on her sticky notes?

TL; DR

• Signed up for two triathlons
• Longest trainer ride in ages
• Highest 5-minute power ever?
• Unhappy treadmill walk/run
• First personal training session in years
• Shallow thoughts: craving v. resistance; more surrendering to the plan; trying to stay away from the news
• Next week: news about my toe; more personal training; Super Bowl

Signing up

I’ve been resisting signing up for my “A” event; I feel it puts a box around me. I am paying attention to whether it gets close to selling out. I don’t mind paying a higher registration fee not to have that box around me.

But at Coach Mary’s behest I did sign up for a sprint triathlon in June and an Olympic in July.

For June I’m signed up for Rose City, which is in Mona’s hometown. I did this race a few years ago, so I’m familiar with the course. And the swim and transition area are precisely the same as Barrelman’s. We’ve even reserved a room at a semi-skeezy Travelodge next door to a Tim Hortons—which was exactly our arrangement when I did the race before.

For my July Olympic I signed up for the Toronto Triathlon. Kind of interesting: you swim in the waters of Ontario Place (lots of local controversy) and bike on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway. (A friend of mine wonders if the Toronto Triathlon and the Bike for Brain Health [ex–Ride for Heart] will continue to use the Gardiner and DVP once they become provincial highways.)

Not our actual car.

I’ll be doing this race a week after we return from our two-week drive to and from Nova Scotia. Doing what I expect to be fairly heavy training during that trip will be a challenge!

Going long

Friday saw my longest trainer ride since (checks TrainingPeaks) Nov. 17. Nothing special but as much as TrainingPeaks Virtual looks like a Zwift copy I rather like it.

I do not look like this guy—in case you were wondering. But that is our treadmill model.

Saturday saw me set out on my longest treadmill workout ever—but my knee wouldn’t let me do it. Sometimes I can soft-walk it out; but it didn’t work. Monday is another go at it, but I was surprised at how much the “bad” run dispirited me.

But there’s no such thing as a “bad” workout, right? Every one is a lesson? I think the lesson here is

• Do more deliberate floorwork before a walk/run
• Keep at my work with physio and trainer to build flexibility/mobility

I’ve got the power

I was set a short trainer workout on Sunday. Lots of easy riding but 5×(30″ flat out with 30″ easy). For some reason TrainingPeaks asserted I set my all-time record for 5′ power:

Can TrainingPeaks make a mistake? I know to most of my tri friends 152 W over 5 minutes isn’t anything special, but still. (BTW all-time = the 4⅓ years I’ve had a smart trainer.)

Going heavy

Is it even safe to lift 55 lb dumbbells? (25 kg in new money)

First personal trainer session, just getting a measure of how much weight I can handle for 10 to 12 reps. Still left me pretty sore the next day.

The Pan Am Sports Centre is part of a complex with the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus and Centennial College’s Morningside campus. Consequently it’s full of students. I wasn’t the only Old Person there but we were definitely in the minority; and there weren’t many middle-aged folks. 95% of the shirts—not kidding—were plain black. I think I’ll wear something very colourful next week.

Craving v. resistance

My kryptonite

I crave ice cream, especially butterscotch ripple with caramel sauce (as pictured). But when I have a bowl I feel bloated and gross.

In the cobra pose—ready to strike

I resist doing floorwork; say to myself, I’ll do it in a minute—but the minute never comes. Yet when I do it I feel great: loose, light, ready.

Why is that? I dunno. It takes a conscious act to remind myself of how I feel afterwards for both the craving and the resistance.

More surrender

Three more steps on this long path of surrender, of leaving overthinking/overcontrol behind:

• A few days ago I realized I could close the panel on TrainingPeaks’ calendar that summarizes your training load and gives you TP’s one-number-to-rule-them-all fitness score. I don’t need to know! And if I know it I’ll fuss about whether it’s improving fast enough. That’s my coach’s job.
• When Coach Mary suggested I sign up for the Olympic in late July I noted it was right after a two-week motoring trip. She asked if I thought I could do it, and I replied it was up to her. If she thought I it was feasible, it was.
• In my daybook (which sort of follows the Bullet Journal methodology) I make each day’s workout a to-do, with very little notation, often not even the length of the workout.

Staying away from the news

The front page of Saturday’s edition of Canada’s largest-circulation newspaper

Especially in Canada the new American administration is imposing a lot of uncertainty. On top of that (as the pic above shows) we’re having a general election at the provincial level (my American friends can think of that as a state election). And at the federal level we’re in a weird interregnum with Parliament prorogued, the unpopular Prime Minister in a lame-duck phase, an intra-party election for his replacement, and a general election a near prospect.

I’ve been a regular news follower for, well, decades. When I was a tween(!) my parents kept their subscription to The Globe and Mail because I read it. But nowadays I dunno. I’m focusing on sports and on triathlon. Not listening to political podcasts, even from my favourite commentators. Staying away from Twitter, er, X, where years of my curation have led to a feed mostly full of happy/interesting things; but now there’s too much unpleasantness and uncertainty. I’m rereading a Poirot novel right now. I guess I’m just … surrendering.

Next week: Feb. 3-9

Looks like a quiet week on all fronts (except the political; see above). Will have my first “real” personal training session, even if I don’t have a black T shirt. Mona and I are going with friends to a concert by the Lightfoot Band, so we’ll hear a lot of Gordon Lightfoot’s music. (Along with my indifference to ice hockey, my not particularly liking Lightfoot’s music does put my Canadianness into question.)

Speaking of not being Canadian, Sunday is the Super Bowl, 6:30 p.m. in my time zone. I will actually watch the game, and do chores during the halftime show. Am looking forward, tho’: not rooting for either team, but hoping for a competitive, well played game.

“Surrender to the Plan”

Kimberlee tells me that your mantra doesn’t have to make sense to other people. That’s good, because I can’t even explain it to myself. Physio Phil caught sight of my Road ID and asked what SURRENDER TO THE PLAN meant. Been thinking of that question for days; here’s my first cut at at an answer.

I am a planner. Give me a goal and I’m awesome (if I do say so myself) at breaking down the work to the goal into steps, identifying constraints, setting intermediate milestones, and all the guff that got PMP after my name.

The controlled anxiety that lets me be a good (I think) project manager doesn’t seem to work well for my triathlon journey. This year I’m doing something different. I have a coach I trust. She agreed the goal was feasible. She writes the plan. Every week or two she gives me the schedule for the coming weeks. I do what I can to execute. The only “planning” I do is to look at the coming few days and figure out when, where, and how I’ll do the workouts. As I wrote last week I don’t even want to know my training plan for the coming months. I’ll take it one bite at a time and not worry about the coming bites. I am surrendering to the plan.

Bonus Taylor Knibb content: After I wrote the above I watched Bob Babbitt’s post-win interview with Taylor Knibb at the Ironman 70.3 world championships. I loved what she said: “it’s kind of … like Christmas every week when [my coach] puts the training in and then I get to see what I get to do”.

Purely at a technical level—does she use TrainingPeaks? I mean, lots of pros do and I’d like to think we have that (if nothing else!) in common. Seriously, though, does that mean that she doesn’t concern herself with the arc (mesocycles, macrocycles) of her training? Just agrees with her coach and manager and family what races she’ll do, and lets her coach work out the plan and schedule? If so, that’s awesome.

33 weeks to go: Jan. 20-26/25

In response to last week’s blog my friend Tony wrote to me that “eating an elephant is hard”.

This week’s serving of elephant saw my first uses of TrainingPeaks Virtual (formerly IndieVelo). I was going to use Zwift rather than FulGaz, because Coach Mary had sent me a structured workout and I’ve found the real-world courses of FulGaz don’t mesh well with a structured workout. Reading Ray Maker’s articles on TrainingPeaks’ acquisition of IndieVelo and Rouvy’s acquisition of FulGaz made me think that TPV might be pretty good for doing coach-set structured workouts—and so it was. I did a free ride Sunday and that saw me climbing lots of hills; I guess an unscheduled strength workout. But so far I like it.

(As a gratuitous aside I will say that how Ironman handled the sale of FulGaz to Rouvy doesn’t speak well of the new administration’s managerial competence—especially in a company whose core value proposition to customers is operational excellence.)

(Stock photos are so funny.) Big win for me: I actually ran for a few minutes, albeit on a treadmill as breaks during ærobic walks. Didn’t get too dizzy or bored or anything and nothing hurt. Very happy. It does help watching narrative TV, I think:

My injured toe got stepped on early Saturday which messed up my training—didn’t want to put the unhappy toe under the pressure of a shoe, or even my weight more than necessary. Otherwise the toe is still healing slower than expected. After 5 weeks it should be fully healed but here we are, with seepage and sloughing off of skin. Yuck. Except when it’s stepped on it doesn’t stop me from walking, running, cycling on the trainer, or doing strength work (see below)—but no swimming.

Over all I lost a day this week (see paragraph above) but altogether a good week: progress.

After I publish this post looking forward to 7 hours of top-notch NFL football. Who ya got?

Next week: Jan. 27–Feb. 2/25

Finally got the fitness assessment (sic) that was prerequisite to starting strength work. First session with the personal trainer is Thursday at the Pan Am Sports Centre’s gym.

I didn’t think the trainer and I had a thorough enough discussion about my goals, so I emailed this to him afterwards:

I’m interested in a strength programme for two key reasons:

• To support my triathlon goals, specifically to do a half-Ironman later this year
• To fight back the effects of age, and just generally to be better able to cope with daily life (lifting things etc.)

I don’t think I’m very interested in flexibility, but I am very interested in mobility (strength through range of motion).

I have a triathlon coach who sets me ærobic workouts—swimming, cycling, and walking/running. These are the core disciplines; strength is in support. Right now we’re ramping up; last week I did 3¾hrs of ærobic workouts, but there’ll be more, probably topping out at something like 12hrs weekly in late summer.

I’m not at all interested in addressing weight/body composition in personal training.

To be frank I’m uncomfortable in a gym; I’ve never liked going to a gym by myself; I have no confidence in my competence. In the 40 years I’ve been doing “sport” (I started late) I’ve always done ærobic things, and mostly by myself.