Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Welcome to the good life… After an intense 45 minutes of yoga, followed by my trademark corkscrew abs circuit, and the foam roller, day two and three are now in the books, and I am getting used to this “pro” life. I will not bore you with the details about the specifics of my workouts because that would just be so typical wanna-be-pro triathlete blogger move but instead the top three things that I have learned thus far so that hopefully you can sit back, reflect, and then think to yourself: either “this kid is full of shit” and/or “just blow it out your ass Hague” (to quote Blazing Saddles, one of the best comedies ever) 1) Stress kills workouts: According to the CDC is the number one killer of triathletes and their workouts. My major problem as an athlete is that I think too much. I over analyze everything: what my wattage is; my heart rate; my pace; whether I am doing it enough; whether I am training too much; my swim form; my nutrition; my weight; my body image; so pretty much everything. This really destroys my motivation, my workouts, and my training. However, this week, I have tried my best to shut my mind off and be relatively stress-free week (at least mentally, physically definitely not). Instead of knowing my swim workouts ahead of time, my coach is giving them to me the moment we hop in and as we are doing the workout. I therefore focus not on what is ahead but what I am doing right then. I am also not wearing a watch and going off effort. Liberation! I love geeking out on data and analyzing my workouts after the fact but during, its better for certain workouts to just listen to my body. (note for some workouts that are HR and/or wattage specific I am not tossing away my Garmin anytime soon).People say that the main difference between pros and amateurs besides pros being genetic freaks, is that they have more time to recover from workouts. While I disagree with this since the majority of pros hold full time stressful jobs not to mention families, pros I think know how to deal with stress, and their good management and control of this stress sets them apart 2) I have an appetite of a 250lbs lumberjack: With all this training, I am working up an appetite. I am pounding down the food but still am hungry. However, I am fueling with quality foods. Our kitchen here is stocked with plenty of dark leafy greens, avocado, fresh salsa, sweet potatoes, squash, lean protein (cottage cheese, sardines, chicken breast, organic sprouted tofu), and no refined carbs, which is odd for many athletes. I have found that this diet cleanse has helped me recover from morning workouts before mid day and evening sessions. I am not focusing on the quantity of the calories as much as I am the quality. Regardless, with all this training I need to fuel properly. If I don’t, then this ship is sunk. 3) Plans can and should change: Workout schedules are not set in stone. If they need to change then they need to change and that is fine. This week, I had some high expectations for myself and what workouts were on each day, but many of these workouts have changed. We have moved swims, bumped bike rides, added runs, and changed the intensity based on how we were feeling. This flexibility makes life and training so much more enjoyable than stressing out on the myth that I “should do this” or I “absolutely need to do” A few other things that I have learned: 1) Hummus and mashed cauliflower is awesome 2) Drink water during swim workouts 3) I have a small obsession with Felt bikes 4) I need to do more yoga 5) Always bring an extra water bottle in your bag wherever you go 6) Henderson, NV is an ideal training environment Well its almost 8pm which means its bed time. I think I may be going to be earlier than the old folks living next to us. I hope you have had many (s)miles today!



After an intense 45 minutes of yoga, followed by my trademark corkscrew abs circuit, and the foam roller (all of which were harder than the double swim), day two and three are now in the books, and I am getting used to this “pro” life. I will not bore you with the details about the specifics of my workouts because that would just be such a typical wanna-be-pro triathlete blogger move. Instead, I will bore you with the top three things that I have learned thus far so that hopefully you can sit back, reflect, and then think to yourself: “this kid is full of shit” and/or “just blow it out your ass Hague” (to quote Blazing Saddles, one of the best comedies ever)
1)                 Stress kills workouts: According to the CDC is the number one killer of triathletes and their workouts. My major problem as an athlete is that I think too much. I overanalyze everything: what my wattage is; my heart rate; my pace; whether I am doing it enough; whether I am training too much; my swim form; my nutrition; my weight; my body image; so pretty much everything. This really destroys my motivation, my workouts, and my training. However, this week, I have tried my best to shut my mind off and be relatively stress-free (at least mentally, definitely not physically). Instead of knowing my swim workouts ahead of time, my coach is giving them to me the moment we hop in and as we are doing the workout. I therefore focus not on what is ahead but what I am doing right then. I am also not wearing a watch and going off effort. Liberation! I love geeking out on data and analyzing my workouts after the fact but during, its better for certain workouts to just listen to my body.  (note for some workouts that are HR and/or wattage specific I am not tossing away my Garmin anytime soon).People say that the main difference between pros and amateurs besides pros being genetic freaks, is that they have more time to recover from workouts. While I disagree with this since the majority of pros hold full time stressful jobs not to mention families, pros I think know how to deal with stress, and their good management and control of this stress sets them apart
2)                    I have an appetite of a 250lbs lumberjack: With all this training, I am working up an appetite. I am pounding down the food but still am hungry. However, I am fueling with quality foods. Our kitchen here is stocked with plenty of dark leafy greens, avocado, fresh salsa, sweet potatoes, squash, lean protein (cottage cheese, sardines, chicken breast, organic sprouted tofu), and no refined carbs, which is odd for many athletes. I have found that this diet cleanse has helped me recover from morning workouts before mid day and evening sessions. I am not focusing on the quantity of the calories as much as I am the quality. Regardless, with all this training I need to fuel properly. If I don’t, then this ship is sunk.
3)                    Plans can and should change: Workout schedules are not set in stone. If they need to change then they need to change and that is fine. This week, I had some high expectations for myself and what workouts were on each day, but many of these workouts have changed. We have moved swims, bumped bike rides, added runs, and changed the intensity based on how we were feeling. This flexibility makes life and training so much more enjoyable than stressing out on the myth that I “should do this” or I “absolutely need to do”
A few other things that I have learned:
1)                    Hummus and mashed cauliflower is awesome
2)                    Drink water during swim workouts
3)                    I have a rather large cottage cheese addicition (if its good enough for Dave Scott, damn it its good enough for me)
4)                    I need to do more yoga 
5)                    Justin Beiber and LT intervals go hand in hand
6)                    Henderson, NV is an ideal training environment

Well its almost 8pm which means its bed time. I think I may be going to be earlier than the old folks living next to us.

I hope you have had many (s)miles today!

No comments:

Post a Comment