Quinoa

Today I finally got around to translating quinoa into Spanish: it's "quinoa". It's something I've only heard of from reading Triathlon magazines but, today, I thought I'd actually try it out. What a discovery! I've been trying to cut down on refined carbohydrates like bread, pasta and rice and it is actually quite hard to do. They are so convenient. Brown rice takes forever to cook and I don't have even half of forever to spare. Quinoa looks a bit like couscous, takes a bit longer to cook (10-15 minutes), is absolutely delicious and is stuffed chockablock with proteins (according to the label, 100g of quinoa contains no less than 12.5g of protein!). So I think I have found the solution to what to complement my sirloin and tuna steaks with.

Bars

(DISCLAIMER: I buy these bars with my own good money and I have no incentive other than to support these companies so I can keep on buying them.)

If you've been following this blog you'll have read about what supplements I am taking on a daily basis as well as what I take immediately prior to a competition and during. I've also talked about calorie counting and the kind of foods I try to eat / avoid. But I haven't said a great deal about what I eat and drink during my training sessions.

I try to do all of the early morning workouts (bar the long ride on a Sunday) on an empty stomach. Even though I wake up slightly hungry, just like anyone else, the fact is that the glycogen stores in the muscles have had some time to replenish during the night. I completely avoid all so-called "sports drinks" and energy gels except in competition. Other than water, the only refueling I allow for is any training session that lasts over 2 hours and in that case, I reach for

Mule bars

There are three things that set the Mule bars aside from the competition in my opinion. Firstly, they are made with "natural" ingredients (of course anything can be called "natural" - I mean, unprocessed and therefore high in nutritional value). Secondly, they are calorifically quite dense, packing about 350kcal per bar. And thirdly, they are absolutely delicious. It takes some self control not to eat them outside the strict training window (when it is better to eat slower release, low glycemic index foods) but, when I am starting to get hungry on the bike, I notice an almost alcoholic warmth as the ingredients start to simmer in my stomach. So far my favourite flavours are Apple Strüdel and Licourice Allsports. I will be using these in the Ironman to complement the sickly gels that I will be flushing down.

PhD Diet Whey Bars

My God, these are delicious. So far I have tried the chocolate cookie and the chocolate orange flavours - what's great about them is the slightly chewy texture. The best thing is that they give the highest ratio of protein per calorie that I have seen in a bar (25g grams for 181kcal). The protein powders are much more effective in this respect but I just can't get into the practice of mixing them with milk (even though I have a mini fridge at work) and cleaning the beaker afterwards. This second point is particularly important because whey protein starts smelling (literally) of rotten eggs by the next day. I'm not sure that these bars are the most natural, holistic or even healthy way to boost your protein but when they taste this good I just don't want to know.

Testosterone

Am I the only one losing my temper more often as a result of all this training? Is it just me losing my patience or are the training (or the supplements??) increasing my testosterone levels? My knuckles had just managed to heal before I punched an air pump in a petrol station yesterday for deflating rather than inflating my tires (and for charging me 1€ for the service). (It was a "digital" pump - for God's sake, why does everything have to be digital these days?). Now I have to wear the badge of grazed knuckles for several weeks at work and I am unable to make up a story (and, if I were to do so, people would probably assume that I had been in a fight) so I just sheepishly tell the truth to anyone that asks.

I have to allow for some margin, especially on the long bike rides. I actually like cycling but the flat tires, the loose bolts, the grease, the stretching gear cables just MAKE ME MAD! I've got a number of long rides still ahead of me - not to mention the races themselves - so let's see if I can "mentalize" myself beforehand so that any little mishap doesn't send me into a freaking frenzy. It is difficult not to get upset. You go to extreme lengths to be able to shoehorn in a 6 hour ride at the weekend, trying to disrupt things as little as possible, you know that it is probably THE most important training session of the week and you also know that, if you don't do it right now, you won't get another chance. So when something threatens the sacred training session, all the energy you put into making space for it in the first place, not to mention some of the energy you have psyched yourself up to expend in the session itself, comes tumbling out in the form of unadulterated rage and frustration. Once I was on my way, it was fine and I even enjoyed a large part of the ride, in spite of being on my own the whole time.

I found myself thinking wayward thoughts while I was on the road bike. I started to fantasize about my other two-wheeled love, the mountain bike. When my training volume was lower I favoured the road bike for its silent speed and elegance but now that it is not about speed but about how many beats my heart makes, I find myself lusting after the robustness of the mountain bike. I must have a fairly short memory after what happened a few weeks ago. Anyway, these are dangerous thoughts to have - it occurred to me that I would be quite capable of kicking in one of the wheels if I really lost it and that would be very expensive (and embarrassing) indeed.

Anyone else been suffering from road (bike) rage? I'll feel better if you tell me that there is. I'm hoping that I will be able to calm down a bit after all this.

Week 12 / 20

Just to confuse you, here week 12 is numbered 16

 I'm back, that little warning from my back putting the brakes on my training seems to be behind me now. This week went to plan, that is to say, more or less the original plan. I can't say that I am completely free of aches and pains but my troublesome shoulder is going the distance without giving me too much grief - whether it just needed a rest or whether the extra-curricular strengthening exercises I am doing are the reason only time will tell. Whatever the case, when I get to the taper before the Ironman I'll have time to fix myself up (and my bike, for that matter) good and proper.

It seems like I am not the only one falling to pieces with the training load: today the big chain ring worked its way loose - just as well I was only 500 meters from my house when it happened. I had a brilliant idea today which will seem all too obvious to anyone unlike myself, who is not used to doing anything by halves. I had a 6 hour ride to get in but my wife had just come back from Haiti the day before and so was knackered physically and emotionally - I couldn't really do my usual disappearing act leaving her with the kids and, yet, if I left it too late my beloved lunch would get screwed up. On the other hand, six hours on the turbo trainer would require more motivation than I can muster. So I did what would come naturally to most normal people - a compromise: I got up before the sun and did a couple of hours on the turbo trainer with a good DVD and then went out and did the rest on the road (and, amazingly, it didn't rain although it looked certain to do so). An added bonus of the turbo trainer is that I get a "discount" from my trainer of 20% on the riding time. This is because when you are riding on the roads you typically spend some of that time coasting or free-wheeling. I'm not sure I buy it really because I burn more calories per hour on the road than indoors, but it is true that that gets reflected in more time spent in higher heart rate zones. Anyway, as they say, best not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The rest of the week was fine. I did a pleasant 1h30m run on Saturday, this time hitting my target heart rate (145bpm) all the way. Recently I have been slacking a little bit on the long runs, using my new found aerobic fitness to run at a lower heart rate rather than to run faster. I had to do series of high intensity both in running and on the bike on consecutive days but I more than recovered by the next day. My only regret this week is that today it was the Madrid Half Marathon, one of my favourite races and one I have not missed for the last three years. But it just didn't fit in to my plan: had my wife been around on Saturday I might have swapped the run and the long bike ride so that I could run (at low intensity) along the course but, let's face it, I would have ended up over-revving the engine had I found myself running with everybody egging us on.

Looking at the graphs of objective and subjective training load (carga objetiva / subjetiva), it seems as though the training is having an effect because my perceived (subjective) load is relatively lower than it was a number of weeks ago. I've got two more weeks of increasing intensity / volume ahead, a mini-taper before the Half Ironman in Lisbon and then a last build and taper cycle before the Ironman itself. The end is in sight.

Working out while working

 
Well, not exactly working out but giving myself a kind of leg massage before a relatively tough workout at lunchtime. The best thing about the Compex is that you can be doing something else while using it. I find it helps me recover after workouts and helps when my muscles get overloaded from a build up of training. I rarely use it to develop strength although, given that the contractions go up to 999 (at the moment I have it on about 30!), it is certainly powerful enough. This will definitely be going in my hand luggage on the way back from Brazil (assuming they don't think it is some kind of detonator). I'll need it to recover from the Ironman and to keep the blood moving on the long flight home.

Desk fit

If you are an office worker serious about triathlon then you should consider getting your desk set up properly.

A triathlete never misses a training opportunity...

BRAZIL!!!!

I didn't just choose to do the Ironman in Brazil because it is one of the relatively "easy" ones or because I have some friends also competing - Brazil has for a long time had a special place in my heart. Back in my deejay years, I built up quite a collection of rare Brazilian records which I used to play out in clubs now and again (I wonder whether I'll manage to unearth some quality vinyl in Florianópolis...). I even did a remix of an old Brazilian tune ("Futebol de bar") which ended up on a compilation by my hero of the music world, Gilles Peterson.

The other day I was listening to my brand new iPhone (what a gadget!!) and a Brazilian mix came up that I did years ago for the CD that came free with a Spanish magazine called Enlace Funk. I thought I'd put a link up to the mix to get in the mood... Enjoy!! It's a shame you can't listen to music during the Ironman competition but I'm hoping there will be some kicking batucada bands to keep up our energy levels.