I am going back to camp this week!
This will not be your traditional camp (however there maybe s’mores on the last
night). It will be 6 days in sunny and thankfully warm Henderson, NV right
outside Vegas. While void of pine tress, bears, and tents, this is an ideal
environment for a training camp because it not only is where 70.3 World
Championships are in September but also where my coaches are based out of. I
have not seen my coaches since last September so seeing them again will be fun
and beneficial. Since they coach me “virtually” through TrainingPeaks and my numerous
text messages, it is really hard for them to see how I am progressing and to get
their feedback on what I need to improve on (especially in the water).
Moreover, my friend Mary Robbins (the other part of Team MAC (Mary and Chris)
Attack) will be joining me. She is an awesome swimmer so hopefully I will be
able to pick up some good tips on my form. She also is great at keeping me
sane, balanced, and motivated through both my training peaks and troughs. I may
have the opportunity to hook up with one or two Wattie Ink team members who
live in Henderson who can help me rock these workouts as only Watties know how.
We already have some epic workouts planned. Here is what the week is looking like:
·
Sunday morning: 5 hour ride as (30 min warm up,
6x30 minutes at MAF/race pace with 10min recovery),30 min cool down), 45 min run
up to Race pace if I am “feeling” it. Then in the afternoon an easy flop swim
to shake out the legs and work on form, followed by yoga and foam rolling
·
Monday morning: Morning fasted run: swim with my
coach, who is purposefully keeping me in the dark on these daily swims to break
me of my “anticipation anxiety” and so that I do not stress out about them,
which as been a problem. If he is designing them though, then they are
guaranteed to be good. Mid
morning: 2-3 hour ride depending on time 1 hour at moderate pace. PM: Swim
number #2 with a focus on form and pull, yoga, TRX training
·
Tuesday: easy morning run and then swim of
100x100 (yes I am going to try to finally do it failure is not an option! PM: 2 hour easy ride recovery ride.
Yoga, foam rolling and stretching
·
Wednesday: Morning swim with the coaches. Mid morning/early
afternoon: long run (20 miler), Evening: TRX and yoga
·
Thursday: Morning swim with coaches. Mid Morning: 2-3 hour ride with:
hill repeats. Afternoon: OFF or
easy run and yoga
·
Friday (race day): TT in the water, TT on the
bike, TT on the run.
·
Saturday: Travel back home :O[
This is going to be intense and is open for some massive
changes depending on how my body feels and is reacting. Regardless it will
definitely be a super stretch week.
Camp
will also be a perfect time to focus on good quality nutrition. Mary and I have
sworn off sweets and most processed foods for the week. We do not eat this
normally any way but we are taking it to the next level. There are exceptions
like Lara bars and a few gels to practice race nutrition but overall 95% off
our kitchen is going to be pure if not 100%. Staples of this week will include:
avocado, spinach, kale, broccoli, sprouts, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts,
cabbage, sprouted tofu, variety of squash, sweet potatoes, almond milk, eggs,
Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, green tea, vegan protein powder blend, fish,
hummus.
In
addition to cleaning out the proverbial pantry, my focus this week is to
de-stress—after all this is supposed to be a vacation. I will be free of the
stress of work and familial obligations so that I can focus on training and my
body. I am looking forward to being able to get a good night sleep without
having to wake up at 3:30 to a training session in before work, daily yoga,
foam rolling, an anti-inflammatory diet, and compression tights are going to be
essential to get through this week.
Some may regard this as a boot camp;
a friend of mine remarked that my schedule looked like a mixture of what came
out of the “Biggest Loser” and the movie “Saw.” For me though this is heaven!
No comments:
Post a Comment