Podcast - Escape from Alcatraz 2011

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Welcome to the ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ podcast episode!  This is a show all about one of the most amazing events in the world - Swimming from Alcatraz to shore, then biking and running all around the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge.
 

 We talk on the show how I pre-swam in the bay and almost threw up from the cold.  I ended up having to wear three swim caps to stay warm enough to do it!  Many thanks to the amazing Jamie Patrick for helping me out.

Escape from Alctraz was my personal Kona of Olympic distance racing, in that I had to qualify to gain entry and it was in an absolutely stunning and challenging location.  Making the swim from Alcatraz to shore was a lifelong goal come true! 

Not only was the swim challenging, but so was the bike and run.  Check out the HR graphs below and scroll down to the bottom to see the actual hill profiles.

- BIKE http://www.movescount.com/moves/move2089546

- RUN http://www.movescount.com/moves/move2089547

In the end, I did great!  I finished in the top 20%, which is awesome for a qualifier race.  I even wrecked on the run and got this sweet (not really) wetsuit burn across my neck.

The podcast is FULL of audio from before and after the race with some truly amazing people.  Listen in to get the soundscape of what it was like to be there!

At the end of the show, you will find out what is next on the radar.  You won't believe it!

Thanks a million for all you supporters and stay tuned!  :)

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Convenience Makes the Difference

The biggest factor that caused me to get overtrained last winter was setting up a workout room with a treadmill and bike trainer (rollers).  I was able to put in a lot more volume using specific tools that allowed me to focus on higher intensities than ever before.  It was great until I become burned up.  I had to take a month off to recover enough to get back to normal.  

After the trip to Alcatraz and doing IM Texas, my gear has become a bit scattered.  This weekend was the first time I had the opportunity to try to reassemble the "training cave", and it took a while to get it done.  Doing so, it made me think about how important convenience is to good training.

When I train with the equipment in that room, I leave everything so that it takes minimal effort to get started again.  This is easy when you have a dedicated space for training.  Emily doesn't get on my case about leaving stuff out or put things away where it takes forever for me to find them again, killing my workout time.  Basically, I can get on the treadmill or bike in about five minutes or less.  This is vastly different than getting together all the gear for an outdoor run or ride.

Eliminating all the fuss to get started on workouts makes the initiative to get moving a lot more effective.  Make an effort to create a dedicated space to put your equipment so you can grab it quickly and you will see huge benefits.  This is important for both indoor and outdoor workouts, not just for those who battle it out on treadmills and trainers.

Cool Trick for Workout Music

If you want music during your workout but don't want to or can't bring a music player along, there is a simple trick to carrying a tune in your head:  Right before you start, play one of your favorite songs with headphones and then turn it off during the best part.  Your brain will keep repeating the tune in the background while you train.  It works surprisingly well.

Still, you should also take care to not let a song you don't like be the last thing you hear.  This results in a very annoying tune in your head that you just can't shake.  Ungh.

In other news, I was sad to see one of my ultra-running heros, Anton Krupicka, was injured pretty badly the other day.  Heal fast, my friend!

The Floating Rest Day

I decided to quit doing "rest days" on a specific day of the week this year and have enjoyed great rewards from it.

The problem:  Taking a rest day every Monday or Sunday or whatever most people do is not as beneficial as one would hope.  Sometimes you feel great on those days and could do a workout, but you can't, because it's your rest day.  And then, some days you are beat down, but you have to to go run or whatever because it's on the calendar.  Ouch!  

The solution:  Learn the signs of needing some rest and then take the day off when you need to.  If you wake up with an elevated heart rate or you feel the need to sleep in, then rest!  You will come back to training stronger than before and continue your improvements faster than if you kept on training, beating yourself down.

Allowing yourself to use floating rest days is a more sophisticated and elegant approach to training.  It takes a new level of discipline to "let go" of the calendar and do it, but it is very worth it!  I trained with less volume this year and got much faster using this method, and you can too.

Enjoy your training!

Podcast - Ironman Texas 2010

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Hey, everybody!  Welcome to another awesome episode of ZenTri!  We have race audio and a review of Ironman Texas, audio from RAAM training Team Feat of the U.K., and audio and review of 13.1 race with Emily!

Links to heart rate and speed graphs for the bike and run. (Coming shortly) 

Video of the IMTX swim start

Other good stuff - 

Link to The Honey Badger One-Hour Workout.

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