A day in the life...though, happily, not every day

I felt like I needed to report to all of you after yesterday’s epic day of training!

First of all, I’d like to preface this by saying that I hadn’t realized what a tough day had been scheduled. I only noticed this QUADRUPLE workout day the night before and thought to myself, “Ok, well, this will be interesting…!” It consisted of two swim workouts, bike-hill-repeats (BHRs), and a 7 mile run. The workouts didn’t need to be in any particular order, although I wanted to space out the swims.

There were two major differences about yesterday’s workout in comparison to other days. First, FOUR workouts. Had never done that before! And two, I swapped the order in which I completed my workouts. Instead of swimming and then running or biking, I chose to run before my morning swim and bike before my evening swim – a costly mistake I barely lived to tell about…

The day started at 7 with my typical breakfast, consisting of cereal that tastes like cardboard, and my cocktail – a concoction of vitamins and supplements prescribed by my nutritionist. My run began at 7:45 and immediately a feeling of nostalgia swept over me, as I reminisced about my morning workouts as a Bruin. For some reason, and I don’t know why, but since my triathlon training began a little over a year ago, I have always chosen to configure my training regimen with my run workouts in the afternoon. I guess since that is the most natural form of training for me, it feels like it’s the least daunting, and therefore should be done towards the end of my day.

The run was a relatively painless and routine 42 minute, 7 mile run. Afterwards, I felt refreshed and ready to take on the rest of this training day! I had a second breakfast (same as the first) and rushed off to my 10am swim at UCLA. I arrived on deck and glanced up at the workout written on the pool-side whiteboard. What are the chances that the day I’m given a quadruple workout schedule, is the day I happen to come across the heaviest swim workout I’ve seen yet!! FIFTY-FOUR-HUNDRED METERS (which mind you, I have to do twice)! My jaw wanted to drop to the floor but I caught it and quickly thought to myself, “I’ve got to suck it up because I’m a pro-triathlete now and this is how they train right…right?!”

I could not stay the full 90 minute session because I had an appointment in West Hollywood, though I was still able to swim 4,000 meters in an hour. As I said previously, I chose to swap the order in which I worked out which meant I had never swum directly after I had run. To say the least, my legs were surprisingly shot, even though the run wasn’t out of the ordinary. It’s clear I won’t be doing that again any time soon!

Two workouts down, two to go…

I got on the bike around 3:30 from my home in Rancho Park and headed to where the Pacific Coast Highway intersects with Temescual Canyon, which was my destination for BHRs. As I was riding towards Santa Monica to link onto to the PCH, I noticed a San Francisco-like fog bank rolling in pretty rapidly. With absolutely no layers on, I told myself, “Well, the only way to stay warm is if you ride harder and get a sweat going.” This would come back to haunt me in the subsequent swim workout…

I arrived at my intersection, and not only was I engulfed by wind and fog, but it was a thick, wet fog. So without any hesitation, I got right into my workout – 5 times up the Temescual hill (from stop light to stop light), keeping cadence at 60 and focusing on turnover and body position. It wasn’t supposed to be an incredibly challenging workout but one that focused on technique more than anything. The issue though was while patiently focusing on technique during this workout, it was working against my plan of keeping a sweat going to stay warm amidst this cold, wet fog! Finishing the workout felt great and I rode home on a high, ready to take on this swim, again!

I got back to my place with just enough time to scarf down some trail mix, throw on my suit and head to UCLA for the 6pm workout. I worked hard through the swim, fighting off cramps in every possible part of my legs. Eventually my flip turns morphed into side spins because every time I’d tuck my legs in, my hip flexors would cramp up! This swim also got cut short, to 4,000 meters, due to the fact that the workout went late and the UCLA women’s swim team needed the pool.

My day was done!! I was elated! It was my first quadruple workout day and I completed it without any major issues. I got home, made an enormous dinner and fell asleep only to wake up the next morning ready to tackle another big day of training! My next post will be Friday, on my secret weapon, the anti-gravity treadmill which has kept me injury free throughout my rigorous training regimen (knock on wood). Till then!