Support

As a sport and exercise psychology major (MS- thats a master of _ _ _ _ as opposed to just b_ _ _ _ _ _ _), I know the importance of support for any exercise or fitness goals.

Obviously a lack of support would be a slight ding in the success scale. You want to quit smoking and your spouse continues to offer you cigarettes- not helpful! You want to lose weight and your mother-in-law brings over your favorite dessert, thanks!
I also know there is a difference between positive support and just neutral support. If you want the best chance for success you have to surround yourself with people who know you can do it even when you're having a bad day.

There has to be a positive show of support. Not just staying out of your way or not caring if dinner is later than usual. Ideally, they'd be saying- "let's just plan on dinner late so you can get your workout in" or "tell me what I can do to help with dinner to make it easy for you." Whether or not you take them up on it- you know you have their support and no guilt need apply!

So at lunch with my mom, who by the way is in her mid 80's, she asked just what this thing was I'm doing. By thing, she meant the Ironman. For some reason she could only remember the marathon, a thought for which I think other family members may have contributed!

I tell her about the swim and the bike, followed by the marathon.
"You're going to kill yourself!" Her exact words. Not usually at a loss for words, what do you say to that? In my world its called living! Seeking new goals, not necessarily easy ones, making sure that the regrets you have are about things you have done or tried, not about the things you were afraid to do. (I think that one came from my sister so there is family hope!!)

We live in different worlds my mother and I. Different generations. Different values in some areas.
So I'm working on a recruiting campaign at the moment. Hiring a coach puts someone else on my side- even if I had to pay her to do it! The guy who asks how training is going a couple times a week in the swim lane beside me. The ONE who said he'd be at the finish line if I'm going to be there. I think the deck is still stacked in my favor. Maybe I'll give my medal to my mom.

Official week 1 down

This has truly been the first week under tutelage of new coach so it's fair now to say how it's going. I've had a great week of workouts and yet have to say that I was without Dusty most of the week so I had much more ease in fitting workouts in around just work. I can fit my office and computer work in around workouts but not as easily around taxi-ing and meals and other details that always seem to crop up with kids!

Don't get me wrong, wouldn't change a thing, in fact he's one of the people that even now when I'm training I really want to be at the finish line. (So if you want to volunteer to take him down, let me know!) That finish line moment will be mostly for me I suspect but along those last few miles knowing who will be there will get me through.

This next week will be a test but not as challenging as some as its spring break, so I'll really have a pretty good first three weeks when I think about it. That will feel good- and even better that it will practically be April by then and outdoors training can start anytime as far as I'm concerned. Two and a half hours on the bike trainer is a pretty long time to hang out with yourself without any scenery! OK, not entirely alone, Truman occasionally removes the sweat from my face and then insists I throw his bone a few times but even he gets bored!

I do feel a difference already. I'm spending a lot more of the run and bike time in lower zones to enhance ability to use fat for fuel which will mean I have much more endurance in the long run- pun intended! I'm wanting a snack all the time too so between eating exercise and working there are mounting dust-bunnies under the bed. Better go do that marathon right now.

Coach to Coach training

It's been about 25 years since I put on a mask and drooled on a bike for a VO 2 test but I did it again on Friday. Suprising to me it went faster than I imagined. If you know VO 2 testing, you know that isn't great. It isn't golf. You want to go far and have a high VO 2 so you have longer to onset of fatigue and the ceiling that keeps you from doing more.

Part of the brevity of the test was the one minute vs three minute intervals I had imagined. That makes it hard and quick or quickly hard. The one plus was the comfort of the mask- it was remeniscent of Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs but green. That'll haunt you for a while. Big perk is I got to take it home and I can wash it in the dishwasher. I'm trying to think when I might want to wear it again.

So the findings? Vo2 close to 50ml/kg/min which is pretty good considering that an average college age female is 37-42-ish. Yet, my problem seems to be where I've taken to training at higher intensities (due partly to short of time workouts) is not optimal for fat burning. I am going to have to go back to long slow workouts for a while and get my body used to burning fat for fuel in order to help me with the duration of this event I've got on the calendar.

I went for an endurance run today with no HR indications - and found I was wayyyyyy out of fat burning zones if we take the bike test to run. Something like 20-30 beats over - that's a lot of slowing down. Hoping that with more exposure to longer runs that's going to change sooner rather than later. Likely it will- long runs on the treadmill haven't been high on my list of things I love to do.

Swim tomorrow and run again Tuesday. Bike is getting tuned up so its ready for a long, and quiet, ride on Wed. Coach Julie sent me a week of workouts post VO 2 and so here we go!