About The Off-Season
On October 19, 2011,
in Blogs,
by Mauricio
from Mauricio's Triathlon, Running, Fitness, Motivation & Inspiration Blog
As triathletes and runners, do we have such a thing as an “off-season”? We may look forward to less training, in volume and intensity, but can we afford to take “any” time off?
For me the answer is no. Not that I can’t afford to take the time off because I sure I could, but I don’t really want to sit around and do nothing. After I finished Ironman Louisville I took what seemed to be just a few days off. Mostly to rest my mind and refuel my spirit, to ponder and enjoy the immensity of what I had just gone through. Yes, they were tired.
When the time came to get back to training I asked my coach to train me to run a sub 2 hour half marathon. For those of you wondering what the big deal is… well, for me it’s huge in two ways. One, I have never trained or raced for time. It has always been to “finish” doing the very best I could. And second I ran a 1:57:something three years ago and have not come close since.
I have three half marathons on my schedule already, but I have given up the idea of a sub 2 hr for a couple of reasons. One… my heels are killing me. This is the first time ever I have to deal with pain, not discomfort but pure, intense pain. Self diagnosis: Plantar Fascitis. I have a doctors appointment but… Read the rest
On October 7, 2011,
in 
This morning I did my first EVER trainer ride to a DVD. I was pretty skeptical and was not sure how this would hold my attention. It’s the rare show or movie that I can actually sit through. No way it would motivate me. I braced myself for some boredom. Boredom didn’t stand a chance.
Usually my Coach prescribes the trainer workouts, I program them into my Garmin Edge, and I settle in to watch old episodes of Biggest Loser or Modern Family or whatever. So this was a departure.
I popped the RIDES DVD in and off I went – me, and about a dozen VERY strong and fit cyclists in Southern California. Except I was in my house in Virginia, with no helmet!
I got sucked in pretty quick. There’s a dashboard along the bottom that tells gives a cadence range, heart rate zone, and level of perceived exertion. I love numbers! It counts down the time for each phase of the ride. (The DVD includes a card that shows all the info in tabular form if you want to plan ahead.)
There is a coaching voice-over (can be disabled) that I found that to be really useful. As a fairly newbie cyclist (2 years) when I am on the bike trainer, all I really think about is general effort as it registers in my legs and lungs, plus some technique in terms of pedaling full circles. But the coach had lots… Read the rest
About Being Fit vs. Being Healthy
On September 29, 2011,
in Blogs,
by Mauricio
from Mauricio's Triathlon, Running, Fitness, Motivation & Inspiration Blog
Of course you’re fit. You swim, bike and/or run for hours and miles at a time. You can out-endure anyone close to you without even trying. Your physique is envied by models everywhere. You can lose weight without even trying and your body fat percentage is the goal of every top professional athlete. Yes sir. You’re fit alright.
But are you healthy?
I have been thinking about this for a while now and even more so after the unfortunate death of a triathlete at the start of Ironman Louisville this year. Of course we’re fit, but are we healthy?
Those of us that got a late start in the sport, have a lot of ground to make up. As for me, I was overweight (198 lbs), in pain from bulging, herniated and ruptured discs. I have had numerous surgeries on my toes and ankle, leaving a constant nagging, if you will, on my lower extremities. Add to that the fact that I have high cholesterol due to family history and the very unhealthy diet that I followed for many a day. In 1988 I had an asthma attack which landed me in the emergency room, at which point my cholesterol was discovered to be over 500; “a walking heart attack” I was told I was.
In 2006 I turned the corner and saw the light. It was there blinding me, much like a train coming at you in a tunnel. I did not want… Read the rest
Yesterday I went for a ride with a new group. We covered a tough 11 miles in an hour and change, on an out-and-back course with just one refueling stop — ice cream. The guys took turns pulling and fortunately they let me hang on the back, that draft was the only way I could keep up. They had the typical ride banter – you know, Xbox, Minecraft, farting, burping, and a little bit about equipment, that sort of stuff. I saw some unusually high cadence action, and at times feet would literally fly off of the pedals. I got a little nervous when we approached baby strollers and small children, but fortunately all pedestrians remained safe.
We are already talking about our next cycling adventure. Thanks for the ride, boys!
I was cleaning off my bike today to get it ready to be transported via a friend’s van up to Nationals tomorrow and discovered a big-time flat front tire. I tried to pump it up and heard the telltale pshhhhhh sound of rushing air coming out between the tube and rim. I’m wondering how long it was like that and if it happened during Sunday’s race? At any rate, I certainly dodged a bullet.
I have tubeless tires that came on the bike and found out they have to be filled with sealant periodically. I had no idea. Just like I had no idea for the first month of bike ownership that with a presta valve you have to unscrew the end before filling the tire or you are doing nothing. Duh. I did a lot of nothing.
What else do I not know?
Ugh. So it will make an emergency trip to Just the Right Gear tomorrow, because my car is in the shop getting a new radiator today so I can make it to the airport on Thursday.
Maybe I need to go back to my days of riding horses, but with my luck we’d throw a shoe!!
How weird is it that I find such beauty in the heart rate chart resulting from this morning’s interval work?? It appeals to both my engineering and creative sides I guess.
Now that the fun is over, it’s on to the real work of the day. My mom and dad are visiting later next week (yay!!) from Pittsburgh so I have some weeding (bleh) and cleaning (more bleh) I want to have to get done.
Evan and I at last year’s Turkey Trot in PittsburghRelated to family, my nephew Evan, a recent college grad, threw out the idea of he and I doing a half-IM together next year. He’s from Ohio and I don’t get to see him very often but we share a cool connection through triathlon. Unlike me who started with sprints and olys and am working my way up, he launched into Ironman (finishing IM Louisville last year) and then moved into other distances. I’m really proud of Evan for having the guts to do an IM especially with no formal coaching and I’m sure lots of naysayers. He’s finding his own way through the sport and through life, and no doubt the lessons he is learning through triathlon will serve him well as he moves forward with his academic and professional career.
While June was a busy month for racing, July and early August are reserved for a solid training block to get ready for the second half of race season. I’m averaging about 12 workout sessions a week for swim, bike, run, and strength training. That translates to roughly two-a-day workouts six days a week and one day off. Sessions of course vary in intensity, duration, and purpose. Coach Jim and Kurt keep things fun and interesting (busy brain = happy me) and it is very rare that I don’t look forward to a workout. I try to knock out both workouts one after the other early in the morning to push my endurance and to keep the day clear.
I know I’m gaining strength and confidence and ideally that will translate to upcoming races August 13, 14, and 20. The tendonitis is all but gone thanks to a mix of ice, acupuncture, massage, and strengthening, and so is the bit of pre-run anxiety I had been experiencing because of it. It feels great!
I wrote about tackling some daunting (for me) swim intervals recently. This week were two notable challenges on the bike and the run. On Tuesday Coach Jim made had me do a time trial through our valley and up the big hill into town. The only time I could fit this in was mid-day when the boys were at camp and it was 91 degrees out. I often laugh thinking to myself that one… Read the rest
Ellett Valley, where I often rideWhere we live – the terrain, weather, population density – is a significant factor in our training. On my bike ride yesterday, my thoughts turned to what it would be like to train in other locations. Sometimes I think it might be nice to be closer to a lake or ocean, or maybe have a more temperate climate, or have at least a few flatter places to run, but I’d never give up my mountains!
Yesterday’s bike ride came at the end of a tough week in terms of training, car issues, family logistics, and some stressful work issues for my husband. I couldn’t get out for Saturday’s ride at my normal early hour because we had our season-ending championship swim meet all morning. Despite being worn out and facing some hot weather conditions, I could hardly wait to get out and hit the shady back-roads of our mountains and valleys. The valley roads curve gently as they follow along streams and creek beds. The mountain roads can twist sharply to follow the contours of the land, often concealing steeper grades that suddenly appear to challenge the legs and the heart. Then you are treated to the sweet reward of the descent on the other side! Deer are abundant and I get within feet before they dash off into the woods. There are old homesteads, farmlands, and country cottages. It’s simply….beautiful. (Disclaimer: there are also rusted-out cars, couches on porches, and planters made… Read the rest
The last six days I’ve set a new personal record for bike mileage….166 miles. I feel pretty good because that is close to the 170 miles that fellow blogger Randy did on his “rest week“!! Randy is my reminder that I’m capable of more. I know for a serious cyclist that mileage is nothing but for me it’s still a nice milestone.
The two beach rides with John set me up for a record week (thanks, John!). Unfortunately, the other mileage contributor is that my car was in the shop and the bike was my primary means of transport for a day. That gave me about 20 extra miles. Below is my typical commute into town. That’s what I get for living in a valley.
My ride into Blacksburg from the house
Today’s ride was a 46-miler with a companion who does both road and mountain biking. Take heed when a mountain biker says there is a “short section of gravel”. I imagined maybe 100 yards. It was more like four miles of white-knuckle twisty, hilly, turny going. It didn’t help that the night before we’d had a downpour. I nearly wiped out in one section of particularly rough going. I worried about my beautiful new Teddy Roo and my tubeless tires, but we got through it and I added that to my experience bank. I thought I was through the worst of it, but a few miles from home, a buzzard nearly flew into me! My husband surmised… Read the rest
This morning I had a double-brick (ride-run-ride-run) and the first real workout on the new Q Roo. That bike just flies and I am flying high from seeing what we did out there today. Now that it’s officially mine (i.e. the check cleared), it needs a name! My old bike was “Ace” (it was a Jamis Ventura…”Ace Ventura”…get it?).
I decided to name the bike “Teddy” in honor of my dad, Ted Vargo, as today is his birthday and I attribute my need for speed to him! He was involved in car racing in the early days, long before everyone and his brother became a NASCAR fan. We have pictures of him as a flagman in the 50′s for the Penn Western Racing Association and he’s been to Daytona back when they raced on the sandy beach and the A1A Highway. He dragged me to the local racetrack a few summers ago and I loved it! Appropriately, he drives a Corvette. My dad has always been a staunch supporter of my hobbies, which growing up meant he spent a lot of long days at horse shows, holding horses, shining boots, and driving the horse trailer. He continues to be supportive but is probably happy that the torch (and related expenses) has been passed to my husband.
Me and my dad in the Corvette last summer
Post double-brick on… Read the rest
