'Ey Coach!!

Erin took this pic of me on her phone. She woke up in the morning to find me chugging away on my "hamster wheel" as she calls it and thought it was amusing. I like to call it the "pain cave". Much more impressive and tough sounding...

Well my friends, I have finally gotten a coach! That is to say, I am trying out coaching for a month or two and seeing where it gets me. I have a feeling, though, given what we've already done and how hard I am working in the first week that this will be very good for me! Besides generally trying to do better, put down better times, stay out of injury, etc, the point of this coaching is to be sure that I don't end up "tied up" and in the hospital after my next half in June... So we'll see how it goes!

So far he has already totally overhauled the way that I run. Well that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but the one change that he has made to my form is to increase (significantly) my cadence and just that one change has made running into an entirely different animal. First of all, I have to think about my run almost constantly while I am adjusting to the change. But secondly, my legs don't feel as pounded as they normally do after and during a run. I feel like my footsteps are lighter. I really hope this helps with injury prevention, which it logically seems like it might.

Next week I will be going for a ride with him. I am actually kind of nervous about this. My biking has been pretty slow so far this season, and on top of that I just have relatively poor handling skills. I am ready for him to make me start over from the ground up. Time to learn how to ride a bike all over again!

In terms of hospital prevention, I think we're going to be working on my nutrition and particularly my race day nutrition plan. Anyone have any experience with Infinit Nutrition, btw? Apparently you can customize your own drink formula? This is the direction I believe we'll be going.

Awesome brick workout today, although I had to do it quite early in the AM so it was too chilly outside for my ride. I got outside for the run though, and it has turned out to be a lovely day. I worked myself pretty well, and am already a bit sore from the strength training my coach has added. Yay! I haven't been sore in quite a while, honestly, so it's sort of refreshing!

Alright, time to EAT

The Swing of Things

Although I am catching back on to how to balance my life with my training, as I need to remember how to do at the beginning of each season, I have clearly not figured out how to keep up with my blogging on top of that. This will come back to me, I'm sure. It's likely to be a multi-step process. One thing at a time here people! I am also writing a doctoral dissertation...

Anyway! I think that most of us can agree that with every new season one has to purchase several new items. The upswing of training correlates nicely with the upswing of money spent on triathlon gear upkeep. Gotta get that bike tuned up, gotta replace the gloves and socks with holes, gotta get new running shoes cause last year's have 400-500 miles on them etc. My season started off with a nice monetary dent because I didn't own adequate cold weather riding gear. I went into my fav bike shop (Shout out to FreshBikes!) and purchased some booties and gloves with the help of my wonderful friend Dave:

Cannondale booties and Specialized three season gloves. They've gone on a few rides now and I absolutely love them. It's been a really warm winter so far, so I haven't needed anything heavier. I even did my first brick of the season outdoors. In early February. Unheard of...


I also just replaced my running shoes yesterday. I had literally beaten my last pair to shreds. At the shop I was greatly surprised when I wasn't comfortable in the newest version of my Nikes. I started from scratch and ended up with an unfortunately pink pair of Brooks. I hate the look, but I love the feel (so far). They go on their first real test run today (on the treadmill so as not to get them dirty in case they need to be returned) so we shall see if they feel as magical as they did in the store. I certainly hope they feel like magic because they're hideous. 

I bet you're wondering about that picture at the top of my post! :) That's my new cross-training! Well, maybe not really, although I would like to find a team near me. Last weekend I went with my wife to a hockey tournament in Albany (where her team won the tourney!!) and there was an exhibition game with the local sled hockey team for whom the tournament was a fundraiser. They let players and spectators from the tournament borrow equipment and put us on the ice to play! (Sled hockey is a form of hockey designed for people with lower body disabilities, but can be played by anyone) The real sled hockey players of course whipped our butts, (7-1) but we had a blast!! I seriously would play again if I could find a way! Great core and upper body workout, too!

Alright, I am sitting here in my bathingsuit, so I better head off to the Y to swim and run with my new kicks. Train on, folks!