Last weekend, we had our first boot camp of the season, at Lake Del Valle on Saturday, and down in San Jose on Sunday. It was a long, hard weekend of training. Here is a sampling of what made it memorable.
Lake Del Valle
I’ve ridden in this area near Livermore, but haven’t spent significant time here. It was green and hilly and lovely. Give me mountains, trees, a lake – I’m a happy girl.
Trail Running
Our first activity of the weekend was a trail run along the edge of Lake Del Valle. After leaving the main picnic areas, the trail became a single-track, much of it eroding into the lake making footing … exciting. There’s something about running on dirt that puts an automatic spring in my step. Trail running is challenging, you need to be focused on each foot-strike, and your balancing muscles are constantly engaged. Plus, we had some nice rollers and good sized hills along the way. Despite the challenge, and subsequent slowness (6 miles in 60 minutes), it was a fantastic way to start the weekend.
Sunday Ride
On Sunday, we were in San Jose, and after an hour of swim drills, the team set out on a 25-mile ride. I have never before experienced such an extended distance of flat road in the Bay Area. I love hills, so Bay Area riding is good for me. I like to feel that sense of accomplishment from getting myself to a nice high point, I like to look at the views, and most of all, I like (love) the descent. But that morning of flat riding was pretty awesome. There was one hill on the route (that they made us do twice for good measure), out in some countryside on the outskirts of town, and on the far side of it was some rolling and curvy terrain. About 5 boys and little old me got a nice paceline going, though it started out as some slightly aggressive jostling for position (what can I say, I like to be first). Eventually though, we got into a groove and had a perfect extended section of cruising at about 22-26 mph, pushing hard to keep the pace up and reveling in the speed. It was lovely. Then we hit every long stoplight on our way back into town, ugh. The final result: 25 miles in 1:30.
Intensity
The team is entering the build phase of our training. We used the first 4 months to create a base level of fitness. Now we start increasing the load. Boot camp is like a shock to the system – our first test of endurance to gauge our base and get our muscles primed for more to come. The days were not all go-go-go. We had a brief lunch break each day, and there were times when transitions between activities were more extended. Despite this, these were long, hard days with varying levels of training. Trail run – high intensity. Spin – high intensity. Core – moderate intensity. Bike – moderate intensity. Swim – low to moderate intensity. Throwing everything at my body in a single day, and then waking up and doing it all again the next, this was challenging. I felt fatigued on Sunday morning, but not sore. Today, Monday, I feel fatigued and so happy to have a recovery day, but again, not sore. Knowing how hard I pushed myself over the weekend, I feel pretty good about my fitness base, and feel like I have a strong foundation to build upon.
Teammates
I really like my team. After 4 months with this crew, I’m getting to know people a little better, getting more comfortable, and enjoying my interactions. I like that our team has its own character and personality, which is unique and different from the South Bay team we trained with this weekend. I like the dirty jokes and body humor (though if I had a skin tone that blushes, I would blush all the time). This was a long weekend, and we’ll have many more of these in the months to come, but I feel assured that they will be good ones based on this example.
Headaches
On a heavier note - I'm struggling with headaches. I have a tendency to get headaches from hard exertion. This flared up over the weekend, forcing me to sit out about 45 minutes of training on Saturday. Another threatened on Sunday morning during the swim, but I warded it off with ibuprofen. A coach on the team, who is also a nurse, recommended caffeine pills on long, hard days to help ease the constriction of blood vessels, since ibuprofen can have some negative effects during intense physical activity, so I may give it a try during our next big event, Wildflower Training Weekend. I also need to focus more on nutrition. The stop and go nature of boot camp made it hard for me to judge my nutrition, even though I wrote out a plan the night before. I likely didn't eat enough, contributing to the headache. Luckily, the time to practice these things is NOW, while there's still plenty of time before the Ironman.
I’ve ridden in this area near Livermore, but haven’t spent significant time here. It was green and hilly and lovely. Give me mountains, trees, a lake – I’m a happy girl.
Trail Running
Our first activity of the weekend was a trail run along the edge of Lake Del Valle. After leaving the main picnic areas, the trail became a single-track, much of it eroding into the lake making footing … exciting. There’s something about running on dirt that puts an automatic spring in my step. Trail running is challenging, you need to be focused on each foot-strike, and your balancing muscles are constantly engaged. Plus, we had some nice rollers and good sized hills along the way. Despite the challenge, and subsequent slowness (6 miles in 60 minutes), it was a fantastic way to start the weekend.
Sunday Ride
On Sunday, we were in San Jose, and after an hour of swim drills, the team set out on a 25-mile ride. I have never before experienced such an extended distance of flat road in the Bay Area. I love hills, so Bay Area riding is good for me. I like to feel that sense of accomplishment from getting myself to a nice high point, I like to look at the views, and most of all, I like (love) the descent. But that morning of flat riding was pretty awesome. There was one hill on the route (that they made us do twice for good measure), out in some countryside on the outskirts of town, and on the far side of it was some rolling and curvy terrain. About 5 boys and little old me got a nice paceline going, though it started out as some slightly aggressive jostling for position (what can I say, I like to be first). Eventually though, we got into a groove and had a perfect extended section of cruising at about 22-26 mph, pushing hard to keep the pace up and reveling in the speed. It was lovely. Then we hit every long stoplight on our way back into town, ugh. The final result: 25 miles in 1:30.
Intensity
The team is entering the build phase of our training. We used the first 4 months to create a base level of fitness. Now we start increasing the load. Boot camp is like a shock to the system – our first test of endurance to gauge our base and get our muscles primed for more to come. The days were not all go-go-go. We had a brief lunch break each day, and there were times when transitions between activities were more extended. Despite this, these were long, hard days with varying levels of training. Trail run – high intensity. Spin – high intensity. Core – moderate intensity. Bike – moderate intensity. Swim – low to moderate intensity. Throwing everything at my body in a single day, and then waking up and doing it all again the next, this was challenging. I felt fatigued on Sunday morning, but not sore. Today, Monday, I feel fatigued and so happy to have a recovery day, but again, not sore. Knowing how hard I pushed myself over the weekend, I feel pretty good about my fitness base, and feel like I have a strong foundation to build upon.
Teammates
I really like my team. After 4 months with this crew, I’m getting to know people a little better, getting more comfortable, and enjoying my interactions. I like that our team has its own character and personality, which is unique and different from the South Bay team we trained with this weekend. I like the dirty jokes and body humor (though if I had a skin tone that blushes, I would blush all the time). This was a long weekend, and we’ll have many more of these in the months to come, but I feel assured that they will be good ones based on this example.
Headaches
On a heavier note - I'm struggling with headaches. I have a tendency to get headaches from hard exertion. This flared up over the weekend, forcing me to sit out about 45 minutes of training on Saturday. Another threatened on Sunday morning during the swim, but I warded it off with ibuprofen. A coach on the team, who is also a nurse, recommended caffeine pills on long, hard days to help ease the constriction of blood vessels, since ibuprofen can have some negative effects during intense physical activity, so I may give it a try during our next big event, Wildflower Training Weekend. I also need to focus more on nutrition. The stop and go nature of boot camp made it hard for me to judge my nutrition, even though I wrote out a plan the night before. I likely didn't eat enough, contributing to the headache. Luckily, the time to practice these things is NOW, while there's still plenty of time before the Ironman.
Week 16 Mileage
Tuesday, February 26 Spin – 30 minutes Wednesday, February 27 Run – 55 minutes, 5 miles (hill repeats) Core – 30 minutes Thursday, February 28 Swim – 1 hour, 2730 yards Friday, March 1 Rest Day Saturday, March 2 – Boot Camp Day 1 Run – 1 hour, 6 miles Spin – 1 hour Core – 30 minutes Swim – 45 minutes, about 1900 yards? Bike – 45 minutes, 11 miles (hill repeats) Core – 15 minutes Sunday, March 3 – Boot Camp Day 2 Swim – 1 hour, 2300 yards Bike – 1 hour 30 minutes, 25 miles Run/Core – 30 minutes Spin – 35 minutes Run/Core – 1 hour, 3 miles | Totals: Swim – 2 hours 45 minutes, 6900 yards Bike – 4 hours 20 minutes, 35 road miles Run – 2 hours 30 minutes, 14 miles Core – 2 hours 15 minutes Total – 11 hours 50 minutes |