The Details + Training Log (Jan 6-12)

Here we go!

First The Details. I understand that everyone reading this is not in the same situation that I'm in. Everyone reading this will come from different backgrounds, different families, different structures. But the cool thing about triathlon is that we ALL started somewhere. Every single one of us at some point could barely make it 25 yards across the pool. Or barely made it up that first hill on that $100, super heavy Target bike. Maybe  we even walked/jogged that 50 pound overweight body for a run. Just over three years ago, all of these things I just mentioned were true. I started there and now I am here - trying to qualify for the biggest stage in triathlon. Kona. It's really important that people know I didn't get to the fitness level I am at right now off of talent. It was all work, early morning wake up calls and BELIEF & DESIRE to get fast.

I'm going to give you an overall idea of what my day-to-day is like without giving away my whole life. I really want to translate the whole family-work-workout ratio. The sacrifices made, the times I screw up or lost focus and hopefully inspire some out there to try and do the same so they can reach their goals.

So here's the details:

Family: I have a beautiful wife of 10 years, Amy - who you will see a few guest blog posts in the future from. She'll tell her side of the story and maybe give you some more insight to what REALLY goes on around here haha. I have two kids - a daughter that is 5 and a son that is almost 4. Amy is a stay at home mom.

Career: I'm the Director of Marketing and Business Development for a company down in San Diego. It's an hour commute each way. For three years I made that commute each day and as of about a year ago I am able to work from home 2-3 days a week now. Don't kid yourself though, I don't have it easy because of that. I'm often attending late night functions, all day golf outings and trade shows which is not ideal for training for an Ironman.

Finances: With only one income - triathlon is a probably one of the worst hobbies I could have picked! With a SoCal mortgage, a family to care for, bills and races/hotels to pay for - needless to say money is tight. I debated whether or not to include a "Donate" section on my website because it can come off tacky - but I really don't care. If you want to help contribute to my Journey, you can donate HERE. And thanks for considering!

Structure: If your situation is anything similar to mine then you know you have to make quite a few sacrifices to make it work. For me, getting up early is key which means getting to bed early is important. So I basically structure my day around getting to bed by 9pm. I need those 8 hours of sleep otherwise I usually get sick or see a decrease in performance. I'll discuss this more on Thursday's blog post.

[caption id="attachment_2558" align="alignright" width="225"]photo (16) Rocking the Wattie World Championship Kit![/caption]

So there you have it. Hopefully this gives everyone an insight to what I'm up against each day going into these workouts. As far as training goes, some days I can get in a double workout, some one, some none. I imagine most of you out there are the same: each week is so different with family/work schedule which makes it even more difficult to stay consistent. Every Saturday is not going to be a long ride or every Wednesday a Masters swim - which can be a good in a way because you're always shocking the body and switching things up. Doesn't make it easy though. That's why I've learned to just take things day by day and not have a schedule etched in stone because things come up and you have to be willing to adapt and be as consistent as possible - key in triathlon!

I'm still toying with the idea of the best way to post my workouts. For now I'm going to write out everything and then highlight/take screen shots of my key workouts of the week. Eventually I might link up my Garminconnect account or maybe Strava. In the meantime you'll just have to trust what I put down is what I'm doing. There's no reason to lie about what I'm doing - it's just a hobby! lol. I have no shame or anything to hide, hopefully this gives you some insight!

January 6-12
Things to note: If you saw THIS post you'll know that I cut my fingertip off on Christmas Eve so I haven't swam in about a month. So this was another week of just riding and running. My wife and I also celebrated our 10 year Anniversary so we left the kids with the grandparents and headed up to Yosemite for the weekend. This weeks focus was all about trying to get in some good quality sessions while staying healthy before heading out of town.[hr]
Monday: Fri-Sun of last week was pretty brutal so Flanny and I decided to make this just a single day.

Trainer Threshold intervals (copied/pasted from Training Peaks account):
30 minutes WU
3 x 10 minute Z4 (Threshold)
5 min recovery between efforts
Let your legs recover fully during the 5 minutes between intervals so you can ride consistently.
4 x 20 sec right leg, 20 sec left leg, 20 sec both legs
Z2 remainder (total 2 hours)
Post workout notes: I don't have a power meter yet (very soon!) so it can be really hard to gauge my effort levels. I basically go as hard as I can without slowing down to much. This workout crushed me. I'm on Season 3 of "Walking Dead" via streaming Netflix and I felt like I was a "walker" after this. One thing to note: I do not watch TV which frees up an amazing amount of time in your life (more on this later). The only time I'll watch is when I'm on the trainer - just not during intervals-music for that! And I also watch the Charger games, although no more games this year :( [hr]

Tuesday: Again, without swimming - we have another single day. I work in San Diego on Tuesdays and hit this workout on my way home at night.

Group Track workout: At Cal State San Marcos with the North County San Diego Track Club.
20 min up, 2 laps of stride the straights, jog the curves.
2x1200 @ Half mary pace w/60-90 sec recovery (avg'd 5:50, 5:40 pace)
2x800 @ 5k-10k pace w/60-90 sec recovery (avg'd 5:19,5:11)
2x400 @mile pace w/60-90 sec recovery (avg'd 4:54, 4:56)
1 mile at 5k-10k pace (5:16)
c/d (total 1 hour)
2014-01-13_1000Post workout Notes: I'm happy with the way my running is coming around. I led this workout even after four hard days in a row. I've seen some big gains lately which is perfect timing with the Surf City Half Marathon coming up in three weeks. [hr]

Wednesday: With the anticipation of me leaving town that weekend we had to get in a big day today.

3 hr Long ride: 2:53, 51.5 miles, 1500 ft of climbing - AVG 17.8mph
Easy run (non brick):
40 mins, 4.28 miles - AVG 9:28 pace

Post workout notes: I worked from home so I got up at 5am, worked from 5-9 - then rode 3 hours. Ate a big lunch, worked from 1-5, then put in a 40 minute easy run. Something to note: my easy runs are sloooooow. I don't even look at the watch, it's usually in the 8-10 minute mile range. I just go off of feel, with nothing to prove, all to gain. Kenyans do the same thing. After dinner, playing with the kids, reading stories...etc I had 30 minutes where I put in some stretching, foam rolling (something I'm trying to do more of). Some alone time with the wife, packed for our trip and then it's lights out at 9pm (about the same every night).[hr]

Thursday: Single day. Thursdays I work in San Diego. Today my boss let me off a little early to get a head start on our Anniversary weekend. After putting in final prep plans for the weekend I jumped on the trainer for some big gear work:

Big Gear Trainer session: After a 60 min warm up on the trainer I want you to do 5 x 3 min big gear (hard enough to slow your rpm's to 40-50) with 1 min of high cadence spinning between (100 rpm+). Ride the remaining time in Z2 (total 2 hours)

Post workout notes: Again, another QUALITY session. Flanny doesn't put a bunch of fluff or extra miles in. I have a limited schedule so each workout is planned with a purpose. I have a sick love for big gear intervals. I love the burning legs feeling - this is bike specific strength training.[hr]

Fri: We got up at 3am and drove 7 hours to Yosemite. After checking into our hotel, we hiked 6 miles and climbed up to three different waterfalls. Breathtaking! [hr]


Saturday: Flanny had a specific running workout for me, but with the trip it just wasn't going to happen. This weekend was all about celebrating our 10 year Anniversary. So we woke up, had a huge breakfast and hit a big day on the trails. Normally I would never input "hiking/jogging" miles into my log but this one was actually pretty difficult. We ended up hiking/jogging over 9 miles with 3k+ of climbing in altitude. It was one of the best days of my life. We were surrounded by beauty and on our way down it got misty and foggy and we ran most of the way home in this dream-like setting. Unreal. Something I'll never forget![hr]

Sunday: After traveling back home I got in an easy 40 minutes of running to shake the cob-webs out as my legs were pretty sore from that hike! 4.5 miles, 8:53 pace.[hr]

Totals:
Bike: 121 miles
Run: 16.4
Hike/Jog: 15.1
Total hours: 14:47 [hr]

So overall it was a great week. Our little getaway felt like it recharged us for the year! I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store and excited that you can follow along with me.

2 comments:

Will said...

Good luck James!! I will be interested to follow along. And Congrats on your 10th Anniversary. Big milestone. You definitely did the right thing in focusing on that this week.

Have you thought of using Trainer Road for virtual power on the trainer until you get the power meter? It is cheap and great. Plus you can start climbing the learning curve of power sooner than later.

Good luck!!

jwadams5k@hotmail.com said...

Thanks Will! I have not tried trainer road before, although my SRM is in the mail, shipping to me as we speak - so I am beyond excited. Thanks for reading!

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