2007 is OUTTA here!!

HEY HEY! can you believe its like already a few days into 2008??!!! wow. I'm not even mad...I'm impressed!! (haha..can you name that movie line???) Ive been a bit out of the blogging loop for the holidays...I'm trying to recall what I've done over the past week....i got a really good 4 hour ride on the trainer in (Saturday)...watched "the good shepard" and then the St. Croix 70.3 coverage....i think i need to stick to watching "spinnervals" when i ride on the trainer...it makes it go faster. watching movies while riding isn't really fun at all. i feel like i watched the whole thing but couldn't tell you a damn thing about what its about. ah well. Crowie is a rockstar though...if you saw the St. Croix coverage--his stride is sick!!! and i can't believe how fast richie cunningham looked! what else did i do....got two really nice back to back runs in over in central park...a 14 miler and an 8 miler...that was sunday and monday. I did 2 solid hours of good interval bike work last thursday on the gym bike--felt like i friggin rockstar--held a 110+rpm pretty effortlessly on a level 13 and my HR stayed in zone 1. it was wild....i used the day before as a recovery day and clearly the 4 dumptruck loads of food from christmas eve and christmas day dinner that i inhaled fueled me well. I finished with a 45 min run and although i had a bit of jelly legs initially, i got my run legs back pretty quick and felt super strong for the duration. Yesterday was new years day and HOLY COW did i start the year off right. i ate. like hard. and i did nothing. like i was a big degenerate waste of life. i woke up. went to brunch....or should i say brunch buffet....and tripped that assembly line up like 3 times. it was obscene. i loved every minute of it. eggs benny and bloody marys...oh justice of the peace. haha. then i went home and layed on my couch all day watching tv...until i got up to make dinner...i did chicken on the grill and it was so sweet with a perfect new years day Cabernet. then i fell asleep on the couch. brilliant. simply a brilliant way to start off the most hardcore training season of my life.

so the games begin in full swing tomorrow with a 6am bike class at Cadence..followed by a run and an endless pool session. My new schedule is looking like this....

Sunday--long run (2hrs) ez swim local pool
Monday--1 hr coached endless pool swim, ez run (45 min)
Tuesday-2:30 hr indoor bike, 1 hr endless pool swim
Wed-swim at local pool, Run focus--speed work,
Thurs--same as Tuesday--Bike 2:30 hr, run off bike-1hr, 1 hr endless pool swim
Fri--swim at local pool, core +strength, ez run (45 min)
Sat-Long ride (4+hrs) followed by 1:15 run.

I'm looking forward to it. I really like ironman training....this season will be a bit different--i liked 2007 because i did all those LONG LONG hours for lake placid over the winter and into the spring. it was great following placid because i could just focus on shorter more intense sessions in prep for my half IM and for clearwater. it was really nice to split the year up like that. this season my focus is getting to Kona so it will be interesting to see how i feel following placid and maintaining those long sessions in the saddle.

i just submitted my posting for the April Triathlete mag CKC section--(you send your submissions in months before so that they can get everything prepared and published...) they asked us to write about some biking tips/advice. the submission can only be 100 words or so....i have a lot to say on this subject as the bike is my true passion. (just wait for the issue that asks us for our "swim tips"....i think i may say something in the line of Swim tip #1: don't listen to me cuz i suck. swim tip #2: you actually have to get in the water if you want to get any better.) but back to the bike...this is some pretty good advice--i think--for newbies....im no expert and some may disagree...and if so, please comment cuz i would love to hear your thoughts...

The bike...oh the bike....its either you best friend or your arch nemesis. if you don't like the saddle...FORGET about doing a full ironman because you just will have no fun. i think you can learn to love it. or at least temporarily convince yourself that you love it. i love it...like i may be weird. you could burn my house down...i will be pissed. if you touch my bike without a loving hand....i may just bust out a tazer and not so gently put it on your heart. I've been riding my dream bike...a P3c with the Carbon HED bars and 3 spokes. I fall asleep to his lovely presence...so perfectly fit on his podium in my room. His name is Jackson...because you don't know whether he is black or white. haha...i am super particular about his ascetics and there is not a lick of any other color on him. all B+W. He is a bit pissy these days because he has been temporarily replaced by my new Cyfac which Cadence so generously led me to. I haven't grown the bond yet with him. I got him late in the season and have not rode him outside yet....only inside on the trainer. I feel good about him...he is beautiful!! Hand made frame...Zipp 606 set...vuka bars...Hes going to be fast. I'll be sure to share his name once i figure it out....depends on when i get him out on the road....maybe I'll just call him cadence. that's fairly fitting.

ANYWAY...i am getting off topic. back to bike tips. As a newbie you are trying to figure out your riding style. this is often categorized into two very distinct styles based on what you find more comfortable. are you a small gear, high cadence rider? or are you a big monster gear, slow cadence rider? i am quite certain that you fit into one or the other. which style feels comfortable for you depends on your build up of slow/fast twitch muscles. depending on which system is stronger will for sure enable you to practice one style or the other. IDEALLY you want to ride both. you want to push a monster gear in a high cadence. sounds EZ right? no no no my friends, if it was easy, we would ALL ride like stadler. So how do you do that? you have to train your muscles to fire fast and build your muscular endurance up to be able to push that tough of a gear. it takes a long time.
When i started riding, i rode big gear slow cadence. my legs are strong. i am tall--6'1. i could push big big gears fairly effortlessly. BUT with a very slow cadence. my muscular endurance was strong--i could maintain that big gear for a long long time --but at that time, i had never raced 112 miles. i had ridden it often--untimed....under no pressure for speed. that was the difference. i could get away with it in short course...half im's. when i went out to lake placid, i had done lots of hours in the saddle but minimal interval work. my first loop of the bike course i rode something like a 2:35....which on Placid's course is friggin fast. i felt super duper. BUT by mile 75-85...i was toast. i just simply couldn't continue to push such a big gear for much longer...and to even think about running a marathon!! my muscles were just too fatigued. my second loop clocked in around the 3:15 mark. ouch! After placid I decided that i needed to change my training. i needed to learn to spin my legs. i had the power...but i needed to develop the twitch muscles that allow your legs to fire fast!! i started doing intervals with focus on cadence. 105, 110+ cadence rides on the spin bike. my favorite workout would be 4 min high cadence spin in that 105-110 rpm with a 1 min slow recovery. i would focus on that RPM number over the 4 min and would not let it drop. i would do that 10 times. then take a 5 min recovery spin and then repeat it for another 10 times. my resistance level would be just high enough that when i was spinning my butt would stay stable in the saddle and i wouldn't be bouncing. I did this workout a lot. and then after every 4-5 times, i would increase the resistance level up a notch. before i knew it--i was spinning big time resistance!! its an AWESOME workout. it takes several weeks...months...to get it, but when you do--it will help!!! hell, i rode a 224 in clearwater (and took a wrong turn and lost 2 min to getting back on course)...and granted the course is flat (and i DONT even want to hear about the massive drafting on the course...because I was the first wave in the water...there wasn't ANYONE to draft off of--.)--but i was spinning a big gear for a long time and when i got off my legs were TOTALLY fresh and ready to run hard. I'm not trying to brag...i am merely trying to emphasize the importance of this type of workout. if i had done this type of work from the beginning, i think i would have been way ahead of myself. BOTTOM LINE__get your cadence up and compliment the resistance level with the cadence. train your legs to fire big gears fast. Does this make sense?

okay what else...just wanted to mention how much i appreciate all of the feedback. I totally appreciate everyone that has personally reached out to me. I have had some unbelievably warm and wonderful compliments and I am so flattered that so many of you enjoy my posts. I love to know who is out there and checking in!! I try to keep things fresh and exciting. If you have any questions or are interested in me writing anything about anything in particular--please drop me a line! I posted a few more pics as well--One from christmas with mom and One from new years....figured it would be nice to see me when im not sweating all over everyone and everything. haha.

i think i have exceeded my time limit here...rambling again. guess i should go sweat out the 3 trip buffet meal....or maybe it was 4 trips....did i mention they had mini cheesecakes?