Six weeks into 2012 training, Ready for More!

We have been having some beautiful weather in Northern California this winter! Great for training and relaxing in the sun with mans best friend!

So I'm finishing up week 6 of my base training as I build up fitness for my 2012 pro triathlon season. As soon as I returned from traveling the streets of Europe, it was go time for training. My head was back in the game. The main focus for this base phase is to make big improvements in my swim technique and strength while adding in run and bike fitness that doesn't tax my swim workouts. As far as I can see, it's working! This past week was a breakthrough for my swim as I have finely tuned my stroke to be more efficient with more glide underwater. My pool times are dropping!

Base Training                                                

During these past 6 weeks, I have maintained a training structure of 3 weeks of building my training then 1 week recovery training. The recovery week keeps the intensity level the same for the swim, but adds more rest in between intervals. Of course this is all by my own feel. I monitor this "feeling" by how I feel when waking up each morning, HR during my run and bike workouts, and HR when I wake up. The latter one is key!

I've been lucky enough to have some solid training partners. I have been mixing it up with a solid swim group that meets at the UC Berkeley campus pool, we call ourselves "Noche Fuego". We do roughly 3-5k yards a night. I then do most of bike workouts in the spin room during the week to save time while getting outside on the weekends. Lastly, I have been lucky enough to get out on some beautiful trails in the Berkeley hills where I weekly meet up with the top runners in the area, the Bay area track club. My buddy and sub-4 minute miler Michael Coe and I have maintained some consistent long runs together for quite some time. It's all about rhythm running, long undisturbed rhythm running. 


I have been using my Garmin 310XT Heart rate monitor to monitor my wattage (from my PowerTap wheel and spin bikes at gym with power) and HR (Hear Rate) during workouts. During the first 3-6 weeks, I would keep a lower HR. Roughly my ranges for each discipline were as follows:

Biking: 130-145 bpm (beats per minute). 

Running: 130-145 bpm. Few efforts such as hills will bump my HR above 145.

Swimming: Let my HR rise higher for swimming when necessary, but only for sprints. Otherwise, quality swims.

Lifting: Not worries about HR. Focusing on hamstring strength for biking and running to balance out quad strength, developing muscles used in swim stroke, and my overall core. Each week I tend to increase the weight and length of the workout by 10% while keeping the same high repetitions.

Nutrition                                                    

I couldn't be where I am now without the help of good nutrition. Basically I eat and eat and EAT! Of course I balance my diet with quality proteins, veggies, carbohydrates. I have now begun a Sunday tradition to cook 3-4 packages of whole wheat pasta, sauté a whole bunch of organic veggies from our local organic market, and then add in some quality protein in the form of chicken breasts, quinoa, and couscous. This will last me the ENTIRE week at work and a few dinners! Tasty, healthy, and easy!

The next big new thing to my nutrition has been MUSCLE MILK. While most people think that this brand makes drinks to get JACKED in the gym, they are only slightly right. Muscle Milk has some great powder mix and bottled drinks that enhance Endurance muscles. It's a quality recovery drink resource. I currently use the Muscle Milk bottles for after every swim workout or gym workout. It's an easy way to get in a 200 quick calories instead of waiting up to 30-40 minutes before getting home to eat anything substantial. My favorite flavors are Vanilla and Cookies and Cream! Yum. 

I have also been using the Muscle Milk protein powder in my morning breakfast smoothies. I swear I make one everyday! Check out the photo of my standard mixing ingredients lately. I like the Chocolate or Banana Creme flavors. Great start to the day.

Coming Weeks of Training                          

In the coming weeks, I will be pushing one more build week before taking a recovery week. I will then jumpstart the next phase of my training that focuses on base with some tempo as I join my teammates for a March 7-11 weekend PacWest Athletics training camp in Scottsdale, Arizona. I will get a chance to train hard and have fun! We are slated to get some technique clinics for run mechanics and bike mechanics as well as have fun rooting on our local SF Giants baseball team at a Spring Training game at Scottsdale Stadium.

Thanks for following. Next time I'll share some great photos and details on the PacWest triathlon training camp. Also, please do comment on these posts with questions or thoughts on other topics you'd like me to share.