The Best Laid Plans…

How does that saying go about the best laid plans…?

It would seem that I shouldn’t post training plans on my blog. It ALWAYS ends up that I NEVER follow them, or something comes up that throws them for a loop. For instance, on Friday I had posted my training plan for the weekend. This included 4 laps around Fullerton Loop and possible swimming, trail running, and time on the wobble board. Here’s how the weekend really went… (I didn’t have my camera with me.. so we can only live in crappy computer drawings)…

Headed out to Fullerton and started mountain biking at about 9:15AM.. late start, but not too bad. Weather was gorgeous. We kept it pretty quick to start, and were keeping really good time. The goal was to do each loop in about an hour. Fast forward to about mile 7… where we encounter a downhill section that is separated from the hikers by a fence…

Mile 6.08 (this is at the start of downhill section BEFORE the relevant section)... Should have heeded the sign...

Halfway down this section (which is not too steep and should be fairly easy to ride)…

Red Arrow is the location of "not too steep" section...

Youc an probably already see what's about to happen...

I tumbled about 10 feet and to the other side of the trail (about 4 feet to the right). I was a bit tangled up in my bike, as my left thigh was stuck between my turned around handlebars and the bike frame. I know I had hit my head on the trail as I tumbled because I felt it, but luckily for the helmet, no scrapes or injuries on the noggin. I laid there for a while, but was able to untangle myself before Minh reached me on the trail (he was further back that I thought.. which was good because he didn’t run into me, but bad because he didn’t get to see the crash). Rodney (a co-worker) stayed up the trail a bit to warn people that I was down and to steer clear. I took about 15 minutes to collect myself before continuing on. Still had 5 miles to ride back to the car.. suffice it to say, we did not continue on.

Injuries sustained:

It’s not as bad as it would seem on the stick figure… no blood..

I was lucky to not have broken anything or to shed any blood (which would have been a different story on the road), but I was in loads of pain the rest of the weekend… which meant.. no swimming (banged up shoulders), no running (bruised and scraped up quads and shins/calves), and a lot of lying around. And today, I’m still very sore and the bruises on my quads have turned the expected black-blue that makes me look like a domestic-violence victim, my neck and left shoulder are a bit sore, and the muscles in my back are achey.. but I’m totally hitting the gym tonight to see if I can still swim (if only very very slowly) and maybe some easy lifting.

Lessons Learned:

Number 1: Ride within my abilities. I wouldn’t say that Fullerton Loop is beyond my abilities. It’s a beginner ride that Minh and I have done plenty of times. The real lesson is to not become complacent because it’s a beginner course. I picked a bad line, which resulted in a bad crash. I should have been looking further ahead and seen that I needed to change from the left side of the trail (where the ruts are) to the right side (where it was nice and open and smooth).. but I didn’t. I thought that I could handle it.. and I ended up being wrong.

Number 2: Keep my plans to myself (and Minh.. and whoever else will be riding with us).

This isn’t going to keep me off the bike, but it will definitely make my riding a little slow for a while. Crashes always tend to do that.. :-/

Oh.. and that saying..

The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’ leave us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!

- Robert Burns, To a Mouse

2011 Training Reset… already?

Only 6 days into 2011 and I already need to stop and reflect on my (lack of) training and reset my schedule (meaning, actually make one). The year has started very poorly in terms of training. I had a week off between Christmas and New Years. The plan was to swim each weekday and go for a ride or run after or before my swim session. I swam 3 out of 6 weekdays I had off, rode my bike only 2 days, and ran (on the treadmill) probably 5 or 6 days. I blame it all on the rain and perhaps a little bit on my desire to do other things while off work. Now that the New Year is officially here.. what have I done to help my training?

Jan 1: Slept in from the late night. Woke up and ran errands. Maybe did an hour on the treadmill.
Jan 2: Rain.. no workout.
Jan 3: Ran for 2 hours on the treadmill (rained on and off all morning). Did a good 45 minutes at the pool (kickboard intervals, and 25yd sprint intervals).
Jan 4: Hit up the HB Farmers’ Market.. no workout
Jan 5: 1 hour on treadmill… really really bad aggravated shin splints on left leg.

Answer to the question: NOT MUCH. It’s sad actually. I really want to hop on my mountain bike, but the trails are mostly closed around here due to mudslides and poor conditions (thanks a lot RAIN!). I would love to do some trail running.. or running outside.. but I don’t like running when it’s dark out (especially when I’m by myself), and with these shin splints.. it would almost seem like I need to lay off the running for a week or so. Luckily for me.. Groupon came to the rescue!!!

Yesterday’s Groupon was for 1-month membership to Los Caballeros for only $25. There are two reasons why this is more awesome than a 24 Hour Fitness membership, which has the bonus of being cheaper and more locations:

1. Los Caballeros is right by my house.. within walking distance, less than a mile – don’t need to drive
2. Los Cabelleros has a large pool that gets crowded, but has TONS of open lanes – don’t need to share with TWO other people (which is super annoying – splitting lanes is ok)

I’m actually excited to be getting a gym membership again, even if just for a month. Even though I can do weights at home, I usually don’t dedicate as much time to it as I would if I were at the gym. Also, I prefer using the machines than the freeweights I have at home. I’m hoping this will give me a good solid month to build up muscle to prevent injury and get me a bit stronger. It’s also nice that I can swim and then do weights without a big time delay in between.

First race is February 12 with Race #1 of the OC Chili Winter Trail Run Series, but the first MAJOR race is Kenda Cup West #1 – Sagebrush Safari at the end of February. I really want to be prepared for this, which means I need to get back on the bike (Rain, please stay away).. and build up some muscles so I can push harder. Hopefully I’m ready. A month is a long time.. but can also fly by very quickly.

On the Trails: Post Turkey Day Biking

Since Minh and I weren’t going anywhere near the malls or shopping centers on Black Friday, we headed out to the Santa Ana Mountains for a nice long-ish mountain bike ride. Since we were going for a longer, more difficult ride, Minh said we could take our geared bikes. This meant no work for me since I have two mountain bikes, but loads of work for Minh since he had to convert his singlespeed back to a geared bike by adding a cassette to the back (and all the other stuff that is needed, i.e. shifter.. and then the tuning and adjusting). What was supposed to be a 15 minute job ended up taking about an hour, and Minh ended up giving up. For some reason, he couldn’t get the chainstay adjusted properly, and he was getting very frustrated. Instead, he took his cross bike.. it seemed like an OK idea at the time.. but ended up being a very very very bad idea…

Our planned route was Black Star Canyon – Motorway. This was a good training ride and eye-opener for what to expect for Traverse in May. I’d never ridden this before, so it was definitely a humbling experience.

The first part of the ride was pretty straightforward… head up Black Star Canyon to Beek’s Place. I’ve done this before… easy peezy. The rest of the ride was not so straightforward. After we pass the big white ball, each foot of riding is a foot further that I’ve gone into the Santa Anas, each foot of extra elevation gained is a foot higher I’ve been in Orange County. It was fun and exciting being on my bike and seeing new places, but it was also a little terrifying since I had no idea what to expect and no idea where I was going. It was also a lot of stopping and waiting because Minh’s bike (and legs) stopped working for him and started working against him. The brakes weren’t working so great, so he had to walk most of the downhills. And the easiest gear ratio on his cross bike was still harder than the one on his singlespeed, so he had to walk a lot of the uphills (after his legs died from powering up Black Star Canyon).

No brakes means having to walk the descents...

... or carry the bike down the descents..

... or figure out that it's too heavy to carry that far and just walk..

Eventually, he told me to just go on ahead. So I did. What I didn’t hear him say was to wait for him at the white gate. My plan was to go ahead until I saw the turnoff to head down the mountain and wait for him there. I completely misse the turn and kept going, went past it about 3 miles before a truck came by and told me that Minh was waiting for me eating a sandwich. Lucky for us the truck was on the trail, or else I could have gone on forever (well.. not forever, but a long time). My phone had also died while one the trail, so Minh had NO WAY of contacting me.

here's the trail sign that I COMPLETELY missed...

Here’s what I ended up doing actually riding…

The little "tail" on the right is the "extra bonus" that I biked...

Actually, I ended up having to walk a lot. My quads stopped wanting to climb and my morale was deteriorating fast since there seemed no end to the trail. I went through some emotional ups and downs since I had no idea where I was, no idea where Minh was, no idea where I was supposed to stop, and no one around crossing my path at all. That and I was a little afraid of mountain lions after I saw some tracks. We were EXTREMELY lucky that a truck was out doing trail maintenance work… if not for the truck, I would probably have gone on for 10 miles, stuck in the mountains with no communication and only half a ham and cheese croissant sandwich and some gels. Minh was actually worst off, since he also had no idea where I was and couldn’t ride much (he had also cramped up pretty bad). He waited for me for a while at the white gate, but eventually started walking towards my direction looking for me, stopping every five minutes to yell out my name just in case I had fallen off the trail or gotten hurt. It really freaked him out…

Lesson Learned: Don’t go on ahead… and if I do… make sure I stop at regular intervals to regroup.

Season’s End

First… Silverman Half Triathlon race report forthcoming.. just need to sift through pictures and actually put together a write-up.

FINALLY… the 2010 season is officially over.. I’m celebrating with a breakfast of four cupcakes my sister picked up from Cupcake Camp IE over the weekend.

CUPCAKES!! - clockwise from top left: lemon, banana, something with lemon frosting, coconut pineapple

I’m a little sad races are over for the year (true.. I’ve got two more races before we ring in the new year, but I’m not REALLY counting those… especially since they’re technically in the 2011 Xterra SoCal Trail Run Series), but I’m also relieved to get a little break to rebuid a good base for next year. It’s been a tough year for me.. racing, motivation, training, etc.. but it was definitely a good year: 2 marathons, 6 trail runs (+ 2 more this year), 13 bike races (all but one on the mountain bike), 7 triathlons (2 70.3 distance, 2 olympic, 1 off-road, 2 sprint), and 1 mud run. I’m not sure if I’ve improved much, considering my relaxed approach to training and lack of focus, but I did learn a lot of lessons on how to attack the 2011 season.

Lessons Learned

1. Quality not Quantitiy – Focused and quality (speed work, intervals, hills) short workouts will benefit me more than half-assed long workouts.
2. Nutrition is KEY – I really need to figure out race-day nutrition for better performance. I noticed that it isn’t physical fatigue or inability that slows me down during the races, it’s debilitating stomach aches from not paying attention to what I’m eating at the aid stations.
3. Minh is usually RIGHT – As much as I hate to admit it, this is true when it comes to working out, nutrition, race strategy and focus, and generally what’s good for me. This is not true when it comes to directions, random trivial knowledge, or scheduling… among other things not related to training and competing.

The year was fun and I’m definitely looking forward to next year. Hoping I improve more with more focused training and better plans.

Thoughts on the Lazy River

I have got to be one of the laziest (if not THE laziest) triathletes out there. I don’t know what it is, but I always seem to find excuses to get out of working out.. here are some examples: “my tummy hurts”, “I have a headache”, “I’m hungry”, “there isn’t enough time”, … etc etc. Sometimes I just don’t feel like it and don’t even bother making up an excuse. Let’s look at the last week (October 4-10) of working out..

The Schedule:

Monday – REST
Tuesday – SWIM + RUN INTERVALS
Wednesday – BIKE INTERVALS OR TRAINER
Thursday – SWIM + RUN TEMPO
Friday – TRAVEL
Saturday – LONG RUN
Sunday – WEDDING

What Actually Happened:

Monday – Chiropractor and REST
Tuesday – RUN INTERVALS (10x .2-mile sprint + .1 mile rest + warm-up/cool-down) + SWIM (40ish minutes)
Wednesday – Was set up to do weights, but ended up not. Made pizza and watched TV.

Pepperoni, jalapenos, and mushroom pizza on whole wheat crust. Made at my house and transported to Minh's house (because my TV was not cooperating).

Thursday – Chiropractor and I don’t even know what else
Friday – set the alarm to wake up and run, but ended up sleeping in. Travel day (to DC)
Saturday – Might have had time to run in the morning, but slept in. Did A LOT of walking around DC.
Sunday – Woke up for a rather pathetic 5.75-mile run along part of the Capital Crescent trail (as it crosses through Bethesda). Wedding prep and festivities.

The Capital Crescent Trail is approximately 10 miles of "rails-to-trails" that goes from Silver Spring, MD, to Georgetown (Washington, DC).

My run on Sunday was pathetic more from low-energy than from physical pain. My intervals on Tuesday were spiked with pain in my shins and overall muscle fatigue because I’ve been super laxed about my “training”.

My slow pace forced me to turn around here.. not even close to where I had originally planned to turn back

I’ve got a race (Big Rock Triathlon) this weekend, and I have no idea how I’ll fare, but all signs so far are pointing to “not good”. We’ll see. Hoping to shake this feeling before (much before) the BIG RACE in a month (SilverMan Half Distance Triathlon at Lake Las Vegas). I can’t go into that race feeling like this (unprepared, unmotivated, and weak).

Shepherd’s Pie

Recipe: Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
10 oz frozen mixed vegetables
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ketchup
salt and pepper
3 cups mashed potatoes (I used instant)
butter (for the dish)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg F.
2. Saute onions and garlic until translucent.
3. Add meat and brown. Discard any liquid from cooked meat (do not just pour down the drain).
4. Season with salt and pepper and ketchup.
5. Add vegetables and heat through.
6.  Place in buttered baking dish.
7. Cover with mashed potatoes.
8. Bake in oven until top is brown (broil if necessary).

I served this with a side salad. Turned out pretty good for my first time. Next time, I don’t think we’ll be using the instant mashed potatoes though. They just didn’t turn out exactly right.

A weekend of failed training…

Sunday morning.. I should be out running 14-15 miles (easy).. but I’m not. In keeping with the spirit of my failed training weekend, I’ve opted to stay in bed and blog. Actually, that sentence makes it seem like I’m being completely unproductive this morning, in terms of my training goals, but that’s not entirely true. More on this later.. First a recap of the weekend.

I was ecstatic to get out of work on Friday. Not so much because I don’t like work (that would mean years of schooling has lead to many decades of dissatisfaction and unhappiness), but that work consists of my sitting at a computer in my 8′x8′ cubicle all day, where the only sunshine I see comes from the 30 minutes I spend outside for lunch. It’s draining. Works makes me tired. Humans aren’t built to sit at a desk all day staring at a computer screen. Humans are built to be out hunting and foraging and building fires and such. Anyway… on Friday, I was supposed to get in an 8 mile run at race pace (which for me is supposed to be 9:00 min/mile, but is completely unsustainable over long distances because I don’t put in enough effort to run). At the first stride, I knew my run was doomed. I don’t know what I did over the week to deserve this, but my legs were killing me. Not shin splints (thank God!), but my calf muscles were incredibly tight and felt like they were going to cramp up right from the first step. I ended up cutting the run in half (4 miles) at an excruciatingly slow pace (inconsistent, but averaging to  11:43 min/mile).

Saturday, Minh and I were supposed to get in a 50-mile road ride. I had a funeral to go to at 12pm, so we attempted to get up early and do it in the morning. I figures 3 hours would be plenty of time to get 50 miles in (that would mean an average speed of 16.6 mph). Well.. it became very clear about 30 minutes into the ride that that wasn’t going to be achievable. I thought I was going strong, but then my legs just became extremely fatigued. I could barely spin anymore. So Minh had the great idea that we should just spin in a lower gear and work on cadence. We did that for about 20 minutes or so.. then kicked it back into gear. By the end of the ride.. I was so drained. All I had to eat was half a banana and half a Powerbar, 1 GU, and some Mototab water. I was starving and had little energy to finish the ride, but I pushed myself to get it done because I felt a little bad that Minh was just “cruising” with me when I was putting in all this effort to go a little faster. We got back to the house and Minh had drank only about 2 sips of water the whole time, and kindly told me that he “wasn’t even trying that hard.”  Here I was, sweaty, tired and starving, and Minh hadn’t even broken a sweat. ::grrr:: Worst part was that I forgot to start my Garmin back up when we turned around to head home, so a lot of the “strong” cycling that I did after the turn around was not recorded. In the end, we got about 30 miles in about 2 hours. I went home to get ready for the funeral…. and because of that, had nothing to eat until about 3pm. Trust me.. I was starving. Here’s a quick picture Minh snapped of me at the turn around (all decked out in my new team jersey!!):

And not only was I starving, but little did I realize that I was also incredibly dehydrated. All that riding with no nutrition, then heading to the funeral with no food or water, then standing outside at the cemetery with no water, then only drinking about a cup later.. it was bad news. We had some small snacks out at the cemetery once the service was done, but it wasn’t enough. Minh was kind enough (after all my bickering and yelling at him this morning about how I hate riding with him sometimes) to pick me up a double cheeseburger from McDonald’s. I still didn’t realize that I was dehydrated, so I didn’t take in much water. Only 20 minutes later when I went to the toilet did I realize how bad it was… my urine was ORANGE! Like seriously orange. It was bad news. I downed some water right away. By bedtime, my urine was an OK color again, most likely because I drank a lot of water during dinner, but this morning was another story.

I got home a little later from dinner last night than I was hoping, and didn’t get into bed until 11PM (omg.. I feel like an old person rather than a 20-something young’un). Rather than lose the precious sleep that I catch up on during the weekend, I opted to ignore my alarm clock which went of at 6:40AM to tell me to go running. I eventually woke myself up around 7:20AM because my bladder was telling me, “Tran, you better get up now or else you’ll have some serious bed cleaning to do later.” I got up and answered it’s call.. only to find that, once again, my urine was orange. Granted, not as bad as yesterday’s debacle, but tinged more orange than yellow. This is when I decided it would probably be smarter to skip the run this morning, and maybe get it in later today (after book club perhaps). So here I am, sitting in bed blogging, ate a banana, and downing as much water as possible so that nothing orange comes out of my body today.

I’m also trying to align/update my 2010 Race Schedule and Training plan with the Triathlete’s Training Bible by Joe Friel. Hopefully a little more focus will lead to a little more motivation, which will lead to vast improvements in meeting my set goals, and then perhaps exceeding the goals. ::wishful thinking:: God and Minh both know that I’m seriously deficient in the motivation department.

Also, yesterday, Minh and I watched some youTube videos about Lance Armstrong swallowing thermometer pills and Dr. Allen Lim’s (former sports physiologist for Team Garmin Slipstream, not working with Team Radioshack) tips for race nutrition. The first set of videos are entertaining to watch, but not all that informational when it comes to training. The nutrition videos are actually extremely helpful, and I would highly recommend taking a look at them. Minh and I are going to try to employ some of the nutrition tips in our longer rides and see if that helps. I’m always starving by the end of a ride, and sometimes I just can’t take anymore GUs.

Recipes to try out for workout/race day nutrition:

• Boiled potatoes with parmesan cheese
• Hawaiian roll sandwiches (with cream cheese, ham, and jam)
• Rice cakes – with eggs and ham or other variants