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Showing posts from September 1, 2011

Tofu and Pineapple salad

Karel just sent me my last BIG build before Kona. Yesterday was a lovely day off from structured training and it included hip exercises, stretching and 3 LONG walks with Campy. Today I had a wonderful swim which followed a moderate intensity strength training session (around 20 minutes). My body is feeling good (much better than a few days ago) and I can't believe how quickly time is flying by. I have been staying super busy throughout the day so I find myself welcoming my training as it is a time to clear my mind and brainstorm. Tonight I will be speaking at the Trek Store of Jacksonville (San Jose location) for an event that is open to the public, but is also the monthly Hammerhead Triathlon Club meeting. I am so excited to speak to so many triathletes and future triathletes/runners :) A common thought that continues to pop into my head is the idea that I am a vegetarian training for the Ironman World Championships. Certainly I don't feel that I am healthy because I don't

Training camp Day 4

That's right, I'm just as surprised as you. There's a day 4 of the Trimarni Kona training camp. However, the last day of the camp was specific to swimming. Thankfully, no more weight bearing exercise as my body has done more than I could ever expect and I could not be more delighted with my endurance, speed, power (specifically my power to weight ratio on the bike) and ability to overcome mental and physical fatigue. Today was about putting in just one more quality workout when my body and mind wanted to scream "no more" but I found myself also hungry for more. I have to admit, my body is tired (can't wait for some quality sleep!) and a bit on the sore side. My body feels somewhere around day 3 or 4 post-Ironman. I found this saying on a website http://potential2success.com/develpomentaltoughness.html: Mental Toughness- Having a physiological edge that enables you to be consistent, confident, focused, and determined during high pressure situations in order to

Training camp: Day 3

There are a few sets from my College and High School swimming days that still make me cringe when I think about them. There is one specific set from college that I will never forget as the set required complete focus and the right mentality in order to successful complete. The set was 8 x 50's on no interval, however if you wanted to get out of practice in time for dinner you had around an hour to complete the set. Sounds simple until the coach reminds us that the set is "NO BREATH" from a start and you must complete 8 of them. The funny thing about this set is if you think about it, swimming for 30ish seconds (my time back then for a 50 yard easy swim) while holding your breath shouldn't be that hard. However, it never failed that I would always end up taking a breath with no more than 5 strokes to the wall (around where the flags hang). Why was it that I couldn't make it to the wall? Sure, my body was filling with lactic acid as I was holding my breath and

Training Camp: Day 1 and 2

First triathlon 2004 IMWI 2010 As athletes, there's no getting around the fact that we love working hard for our goals. Sometimes we don't have a specific goal in mind, but rather a list of possible outcomes but I think we would all agree that we all have dreams of finding personal success in our sport of choice. One thing that I have learned over the past 7 years is that it takes time to build an athlete. Because we all have different strengths, weaknesses and differing lifestyles, we all have unique ways of achieving our goals. I have voiced my opinions on nutrition and training, in terms of quality, many times in previous blogs so I find it important to say that the building of an athlete is not simply dependent on being athletically gifted. I don't believe that success has to do with finishing times, pace or speed but rather how you compare yourself to years past in terms of becoming a smarter, fa

Proactive Planning

"A good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there" For those who know me, there is no getting around that I am a planner. I love setting a goal and working months and months towards that goal. I would think of myself more of a long-term than short term planner because I like to give myself time to put together all the pieces which help to make my dreams come true. I find that if you rush time with your goals, you will often forget pieces to you puzzle (goal) and sometimes, never find them or take a little extra time to locate them. What may surprise you is that I am not good about logging workouts on Training Peaks and it sometimes takes a day or two to upload my power meter to WKO for Karel and me to analyze. I also don't make grocery lists and I don't religiously use a calendar to keep track of important dates. But somehow, it all works. Sometimes I wonder if my head is filled with too much information b