Road to ST George - Week 2

A summary of the week from a training perspective:

• Swim - Two decent sessions this week, both over 3000 yards so progress on last week.  Heading into week three I will make one out of my two proposed masters session (fingers crossed) to add an additional session.  I do feel solid in the water, 1:15-20/100 feels comfortably hard.
• Bike - No outdoor ride, Tuesday was my planned day but it rained all day and I was land locked without the car to get to the PC.  I rode 25 miles on the CT on Monday, 40 miles on Wednesday and about 20 miles on Thursday.  The first two sessions were at/around IM power and the Thursday ride had some work at LT.  No weekend ride.
• Run - Well the calves have calmed down a lot, I know what caused it and have made the necessary changes.  I was concerned at one stage that I had torn something in the right calf but plenty of trauma oil and some self massage as well as sensible stretching (and a light run week) have worked wonders.  Four runs two t-runs (of three and four miles), one E pace run of eight miles and a E pace -20s six mile run to finish off the week.
• Core/TRX - A great week for core and I am excited to continue to build my functional strength with the TRX.  Feel strong.  Three sessions this week, two on the TRX one on the living room rug!  Stretching post workout has been very thorough this week and this trend will continue.  Also added some theraband work focusing on abduction and lateral stability.

Total volume this week was around 10.5, a decent week and feeling good to build things next week.  A big improvement this week was diet.  I know you are all waiting to here how the wine consumption was this week and the good news is it was much improved, meaning instead of seven bottles it went down to four, a move in the right direction for sure!  I have eaten very consistently and weighed in this morning (11/15) at 152.8lbs down from just over 155lbs two weeks ago, here is an overview:

• Breakfast - Every morning the same - Oatmeal, Banana, Teaspoon of Almond Butter, Tablespoon of Udo's 3-6-9 blend, two cups of coffee with half n half (eliminated vanilla creamer, yeah!), at least a liter of water.
• Mid Morning Snack (Only Tuesday/Thursday after my swim workouts) - Dave's Killer Bread with two eggs, and half an avacado.  Liter of water.
• Lunch - Every day the same (I am nothing if not consistent) - Dave's Killer Bread Sandwich with Hormel Turkey (three slices), Spinach, Avocado (half/quarter) and Sun Dried Tomatoes.  Piece of fruit or two.  Liter of water.
• Afternoon snack - Water with nuun, no calories
• Dinner - Monday: Wild Salmon, Yam Mash and Salad, Tuesday: Couscous with lots of veggies and chicken/apple sausage, Wednesday: Wholewheat Pasta, lots of veggies and prosciutto, Thursday: Pagliacci Pizza, Friday: Wild Salmon, Salad, Yam Mash, Saturday: NZ Grass fed Lamb Steak, Yam Mash, and Broccolini, Sunday: Salad and Morning Star Veggie Burger
• Other - A couple of protein shakes after key workouts (Arbonne Figure 8, Almond Milk, Water, Ice, Almond Butter, Udo's, L-Glutamine).  Some chocolate (dark).  A couple of TJ's vegan choc chip cookies.  Various nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashews), fruits (bananas, pears, oranges, raspberries) and the occasional Dilettante chocolate ;)

Training nutrition is minimal right now, I use nuun in my water for sessions of about an hour in duration and don't consume calories unless the workout is over an hour with some intensity.  When I do it is GU Chomps and/or GU Roctane.  I think many athletes consume too many calories during workouts that they simply don't need.  When training load is light and/or our workouts are just one a day our bodies glycogen stores should be well stocked, provided there is not a second workout within close proximity then good post workout nutrition and a healthy diet should take care of replenishing these stores ready for the next days workout.

So my goal for this week is 12 hours split s3/b5/r4 excluding core/trx which will total approx 2 hours.  Nutritionally I will continue the trend of reducing wine intake and eliminate one or two of the treats that I got a little greedy with this last week.  I also want to focus on using my time more effectively to ensure a better chance of more quality rest between work and training.

Just to conclude this post, I am in my 'preparation phase' right now with the goal of establishing a routine that will stick.  I am also simply trying to reintroduce the swimming/cycling and core training that I have not been doing this year safely so as not to unduly stress my body.  As I get older I have to be more patient and a little smarter with what I do.  There is no real focus on data right now although I am logging my training in RaceDay to give me a general idea as to progression and fatigue cost of workouts that I am completing.  I am not collecting power data as such right now although am using power on the compu-trainer and will be using my Quarq Power Meter when it arrives!

Until next week, thanks for reading.