June 18: Eating Like a Lumberjack

I have serious concerns about my ability to carb up for this tri event.  I'm really trying to eat like a lumberjack for a few days and so far today I've gotten down a veggie burger, a few Doritos, and a lemon scone.  And I'm stuffed.  Like I won't wanna eat the rest of the day.  When I was a young woman I was a professional at pigging out (much to my chagrin at the time).  What happened?

June 17: Longest Bike Ride Ever

Today I rode from Vienna out to Ashburn on the W&OD trail.  Things to remember before undertaking a trip like that on a sunny hot day:  sunscreen.  And sports goo.  Oh, and it helps to have eaten a decent meal sometime beforehand.  A cup of yogurt doesn’t give you much to go on.  So I was kinda riding on empty but thankful for my natural nervous energy, which I can channel into physical energy, it turns out.  I finished in time to change my clothes in the parking lot and head to wonderful Dr. Krakos, the chiropractor who tuned me up to be in perfect alignment (or as close to that as possible for me). 

What I learned from this bike ride:  I have no desire to ride much further than I went today.  Two-plus hours on a bike just seems like ENOUGH.  While riding I thought about the distance I was covering and how people used to get around on horses to cover these distances, and how much physical energy it took just to go a few measly miles that I don’t even think about when I’m in my Prius. My only exhaustion from driving around here is from sitting in traffic.  But our pioneer people, they must’ve been exhausted all the time and chowing down like lumberjacks just from the sheer physicality of their travel.   

With the Tri only 5 days away, I feel like I have to focus my training on learning how to eat like a lumberjack. 

June 15: Who can tri without yoga?

After my 2+ hours of training yesterday I got up and did hot vinyasa power yoga this morning, Down Dog Yoga style.  My thinking was that this total sweat-dripping experience would help drip out the lactic acid build-up in my legs.  I’m not sure if that’s true (see previous blog entry about beginner’s mind), but it sounds good.

Honestly, I don’t know how any serious distance athletes survive without yoga.  All that cycling and running yesterday left my legs like concrete and my joint tendons and muscles all tied up in tight little knots.  Boy does it feel good to stretch everything out in a 92-degree, high humidity environment!  And how do athletes SURVIVE without doing backbends or headstands?  What great counter-moves to being hunched over on a bike and upright for so long.

So I noticed while in warrior 2 pose (one of my least favorite yoga poses, btw), that my legs, while tired, didn’t burn like they usually do.  My quads, which usually hate that pose, were completely silent about the matter.  The “ugh, I hate this pose and it seems so easy for everyone else and why do we have to hold it so long, this sux!! “ banter was completely absent.  Could my female warrior energy be growing stronger?  Taking on a different perspective? 

Soon I’m going to the gym to complete my training for the day by swimming a mile.  And I will attain one of my other tri goals, which I forgot to mention before:  time my workouts so that I only have to wash my hair once a day.  Who said I wasn’t goal-oriented?

June 14: Am I a "Serious" Female Warrior?

Today I did a 20 mile bike ride and followed it with a 3-ish mile run.  In between, Doritos and Cheetos were consumed, I’m not gonna lie.  The run was easier this time, but I was still sloowwww and my foot ached, even taped with KT tape.  Pain: just gonna have to make friends with it.

A friend commented that I am really taking this tri training seriously.  Well, duh.  It never occurred to me that working out for 2+ hours a day could be interpreted as serious, but I guess it is.  I often tell people I love working out, and if someone would pay me (a lot) to do it, I’d do it all day long.  I once had a leadership coaching client who spent some time as an Olympic hopeful, and I secretly salivated with envy when she described to me her Olympic training schedule, which basically consisted of inhaling her sport or some kind of training preparation for 12 hours a day. 

There’s nothing more head-clearing than good hard, sustained exercise.  In fact, since I’ve been training for this tri, I have found that the room in my brain usually reserved for useless chatter and worry seems to have shrunk.  It’s like I’m just not “thinking” as much.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to become a Ryan Lochte or anything (although I do admire his “qualities”), but what a gift to have a semi-quiet mind!  It is easier for me to achieve this through exercising all day than it is through an hour of meditation.

The other reason why I never considered that I am being “serious” about this training is because I am approaching it with a STRONG beginner’s mind (we’re talking pre-school consciousness).  I’ve never done a sprint tri and I haven’t set a goal time.  My outfit matches poorly, I’m clearly no pro.  But I do have goals, and they are as follows:

1.       Finish, and not in last place (any other number is fine).

2.       Be fit enough that my brain is unflappable, so I can stay anchored in the present moment even when it’s tough.

3.       Have fun, yes, fun.

4.       Honor the female warrior in me (actually this goal will be a by-product of goals 1 - 3)

June 12: On the Bike

Today was the day to get comfortable with Jan’s racing bike and clock some distance on the road.  I am happy to report I achieved those goals:  I biked 20 miles on the w&od trail on a really hot, humid day.  After getting the bike seat adjusted at the bike store in Reston and figuring out (almost!) how to work the gears, I was in really good shape, I thought.  About 3 yards into the trail, I made a sudden stop because I thought I forgot my car keys, and my left clip didn’t unclip so down I went.  Yay, I thought.  I knew I was gonna fall sometime, and I wanted to get it over with early.  It was only a bloody knee, but probably a mis-aligned knee too, as I was gonna come home and run but my knee felt too funky.  Off to the chiropractor first.  Thanks to the helpful guys in the truck who stopped to see if I was okay.  And how embarrassing that I couldn’t have just fallen out of sight of everyone!

That bike trail is another world.  A very testosterone-laden world.  It was not highly traveled during the time I was on it, and of the people I encountered I only saw one or two other women.  Mostly it was fine; one or two times I was on high alert.  But no evil came of anything so I’m gonna go with it’s a safe trail. 

Covering that distance was not hard, although it took a lot of time and I was so afraid at times of going airborne, so I just backed it down.  Who can account for a cat running out in front of you, or a dog that an owner isn’t watching who suddenly wants to visit?  All the critters, they gravitate to me, which is fine, but not when I’m going 35 miles an hour.

I am still wobbly on the bike and feel like a total outsider to this biking world.  It’s kind of like a cult.  I just tell the other cult members hello, I’m clueless, I don’t know what I’m doing, forgive me, I will try to stay upright and ride in a straight line.

June 11: Approaching the Limits....Again

Today I did power hour hot yoga, which was fun and it GAVE me energy.  So, still in my sweaty mess mode, I went to the gym and swam 42 laps again.  I swam quicker this time, even though my arms felt more tired.  I think I’m finally starting to figure out this swimming thing, which is really embarrassing to say after all these years.  But the “crawl” is basically named that because one does indeed “crawl” down the lane.  I never really felt that before, but I did today.  I tried to remember all the stroke advice I’ve received from the “experts” who have done this forever and have good-naturedly shaken their heads in disbelief at how lousy my stroke is, but it’s so much HARDER when you have to do the proper stroke! I watched other swimmers at the gym and they were SO doing it wrong and they could go forever.  That’s my idea of swimming!

After swimming I sat in the sauna with argon oil all over my hair.  This swimming stuff is tough on skin, hair, etc.  My hair color is gonna be neon blonde/white soon.  My head is like a beacon in the dark. 

June 10: I love exercise

I love exercise.  It’s just amazing how the body works and movement feels like magic. It's the only time when my mind really lets go and lets my body take over.  So yes, I’ve recovered somewhat from yesterday, even though I felt massively tired most of the day and at first thought I couldn’t possibly do dance class.  I did a little yoga on the deck in the heat and humidity, which helped limber me up a bit.  And which also showed me that I had tons of energy for yoga.  But then yoga tends to put energy INTO the system (all that breathing!) and sweating out toxins.  I could’ve done a full yoga class if I had the time, but decided instead to head to dance class.  Dance class starts with a warm-up that is super core-intensive…lightweight by power yoga standards but I felt it this time.  I followed the choreography surprisingly well and gave my inner female warrior a high-five afterwards.