Coach Looking for Long, Lost Bike

John Griffin, head coach of the Lodi Swim Club, is trying to locate his long, lost DeRosa bike. I believe he gave it to someone who gave it to someone else and it could possibly still be in the bay area. He asked me how we could find it and the only thing I could think of was the Internet. In fact, my daughter-in-law located her two lost dogs last week with the help of dedicated, animal-loving folks on Facebook intent on locating lost pets and them to their families. It was nothing short of a miracle.

So, for John's dilemma, I am starting here and asking everyone that reads this post to share it on Facebook, or Twitter, or whatever social media they use...if there is a lead, have them contact me here or contact John on Facebook.

Close up of the bike - John describes it as a lavender color

John and the bike

#derosa #lostbike #dreamingseason

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Garmin Connect - Wallace Loop

Garmin Connect - Del Puerto Canyon

Garmin Connect - Ione to Plymouth

Park & Ride - Ione, CA

Here is a challenging but fun ride from the Ione "Park and Ride" to Volcano and back. If you are a new rider, you might want to start in Sutter Creek and ride to Volcano.

Garmin Connect - Ione to Plymouth

Rest stop in Volcano

Beautiful ride, very little traffic

Back to downtown Ione

If you stop in Sutter Creek, you have to go to Pizza Plus!!!

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My New Coach

One day after completing Barb's Race 2014 I knew I wanted to do the full Vineman in 2015.  I immediately began re-reading The Triathlete's Training Bible (for the third or fourth time) and planning out my season. In fact, my plan for Vineman started the Monday after Barb's Race.

Time off? Ain't nobody got time for that!

I also re-did my "natural abilties" profile (page 69) and once again found endurance to be my strong point. I also found my force and speed to be lacking (no surprise there). This was good info and I was going to use it to build my annual training plan (ATP).

I'd rather have endurance than speed for Vineman

As with my past attempts, I became overwhelmed by all the info in The Triathlete's Training Bible. How was I going to come up with a plan that addressed my lack of speed and force? How was I going to improve my endurance so I didn't suffer too greatly over the 140.6 mile race? I penciled in a plan based on 3 weeks on, 1 week off starting from Vineman 2015 and working my way back. I then added my "big days" and a few races and that was about as far as I got.

I started researching training plans online and signed up for TrainingPeaks to track my ATP. A few people I know that have completed a full iron-distance race told me that I needed a coach...a coach that has raced the distance. I looked at some of their recommendations and wasn't too sure if I would be able to work with a coach. I looked at pre-made online training plans and found the "samples" to be just as confusing as the TTB. What was I going to do?

The Answer

Then, Coach +James (aka F'n James) posted this on our tri club's Facebook page...

So, like any good stalker...I mean triathlete...I Googled +Bob Korock. Who was this guy and did he really do Kona five times? As his competitive history was revealed (Thank you www.athlinks.com), I also discovered athletes that had trained under him...so I Googled them too :-)

Lodi New-Sentinel - July 20, 1988

My next question was "Why would Bob Korock want to train the likes of me?" I am clearly way, way, WAY below the athletes I found online.

First Meeting

After signing up for Vineman, I contacted Bob and set up a meeting with him and HS (If I was going to hire a coach, HS needed to be just as comfortable with the coach as I was). We met at Starbucks and spent a good hour discussing contracting, kids, and of course triathlons & training.

My initial thought was he seemed easy going and not like some overly-intense (scary) triathlete. On top of that, he is around my age so he understands what it feels like to be a 40+ athlete. Throw in a contracting business and other hobbies and interests and it would seem that he clearly understands how to balance life with training.

HS and I discussed the meeting and we both thought it would be a good idea for me to work with Bob. I contact Coach K a few days later and let him know that I wanted to proceed and would start my training in January 2015 (after taking a few weeks off after CIM).

The Start of Training

Prior to the start of my actual training, Coach K sent me a couple of templates and asked what I thought. I made a few comments, but the base plan didn't seem too bad. In fact, on paper it almost looked too easy. In the beginning of January, Coach K activated my calendar and my initial training plan was revealed to me. What the...?

When I saw the plan I was taken aback by the simplicity. Is this all there is? I was expecting some sort of plan like those I had found on the internet...something that could only be translated by the mad-scientist that came up with it. Something complicated. Something highly detailed. Something super hard.

I questioned the training plan and asked about workout specifics. Coach K's response was "Endurance training should not be really complicated." Hmmm...Ok, I'm good with uncomplicated. In fact, HS calls me "Rain Girl" because of my routines (eating, training, TV, etc). I love consistency and stability. My previous (homemade) training plans were so consistent that even F'n James had my training schedule memorized.  Whatever! It works!

Three minutes to Wapner ;-)


#dreamingseason +TrainingPeaks

Figuring out TrainingPeaks

I have so much to learn about #TrainingPeaks! I was looking at my 2015 calendar and checking out how all of my Garmin data matched up with my planned workouts and I started wondering what the different colors signified. I figured green meant I completed a planned work out, but some of my completed workouts were showing up yellow or red.

So I went to the TrainingPeaks help center and found the answer...

• Green: Completed time +- 20% of planned 
• Yellow: Completed time between 50%-79% or 121-150% of planned 
• Red: Not completed or Completed time less than 50% of planned time or greater than 150% of planned 

Unfortunately, my swim workouts all show up yellow because TrainingPeaks doesn't count my time on the wall. So, even if spend a full hour in the water, TrainingPeaks only counts my time I am actually MOVING! Boo :-(  

New challenge +James Cotta, I need to swim 48 minutes in order to get a green box!

My red box on Saturday was because I only ran 10 minutes out of a planned 30 minute workout (life got in the way...had a baby shower to attend and I figured some was better than none).

Join me on TrainingPeaks by clicking HERE. Free version available!

Heart Rate 

Another thing I am working on setting up is my correct heart rate zones. 

TrainingPeaks has some formulas to automatically figure them out, but I decided to manually change Zone 2 so it was my training zone per Coach K. Unfortunately, I didn't change the other zones, so Zone 3 overlaps part of Zone 2 and my total time in each zone is more than my total time running. Not a big deal... 

Ultimately, I know that I spent an hour and five minutes out of two hours in my correct HR zone. I guess this means that 21 minutes were spent in Zone 3, which is not significantly higher than Zone 2, but I would have preferred to have more time in Z2.

My peak of 175 was after I ate a GU at mile 6. For some reason, as I scraped by teeth across the gel packet to get the last bit of GU out, I started thinking of all of the hands that probably touched the packet in the store...all of the dirty, gross, germ covered hands... YUCK! Anyway, just the thought of this sent my HR up. Another time, I let my mind wander to #vineman and the thought of the actual race shot my HR up again.

Need to remember to think happy thoughts ;-)

#dreamingseason

Bulletproof Two Week Protocol Wrap-up

So, this weekend marks the end of a couple of things...1) The end of the Bulletproof diet two week protocol (plus one week) and 2) the end of my first two weeks of Vineman training.

Bulletproof Two Week Protocol + 1 Week

The author of the Bulletproof diet claims that you can lose up to a pound a day, that didn't happen for me. To be honest, I have about 8-10 pounds to lose, so I didn't expect to see a big loss on the scale. I expect a battle to get the last several pounds off that will probably take several months.

Since I felt things were inconclusive at the end of the Two Week Protocol, I decided to give it another week...just to see if the scale continued to move down. I started the diet on Saturday Dec. 27 at 147 pounds. I ended the diet on Friday, January 9 at 143 pounds. Not bad...but I kept going with the diet to see what would happen...

On Monday, January 12, I was up to 146-1/2. It's not unusual for me to be up a bit after the weekend (long workouts and snacking) so I wasn't worried. It would normalize in a couple of days.

On Tuesday, I was up to 147-1/2...I was starting to get concerned because I had been eating very cleanly. On Wednesday, I was up to 148-1/2...NOT GOOD.

Bulletproof Positives

Regardless of the weight issues, I did notice some non-weight related positives:

• I slept through the night...a good deep sleep
• I woke up clear headed with no brain fog
• I felt energized throughout the day and was able to focus and be extremely productive

Back to the Diet

Unfortunately, these positives dissipated as I started my second week of Vineman training. After my trainer ride on Tuesday evening, I climbed off the bike and thought "I don't want to do this again" and that is unusual for me. I typically LOVE my workouts and look forward to the next one. I started waking up in the middle of the night and tossing and turning for 1-2 hours. My brain fog returned and I felt lethargic.

Something Needs to Change

I revisited some of the things I was doing and not doing that the diet required.

1. Eat 3 times a day - Check
2. Drink Bulletproof Coffee for breakfast everyday - Check
3. Cut out fruit and bad starches - Sort of...had a cheat day, but I did cut out Coke Zero and candy
4. Day 6 & 13 no protein - Nope, only did day 6, forgot about day 13
5. Eat lunch and dinner within a 6-hour window - Nope, lunch is at 12pm and my workouts make it hard to make the 6-hour window...especially on swim nights.

One of the biggest changes for me was only eating 3 meals a day. Normally I would have a mid morning snack and an afternoon snack. Since HS and I get up at 4am and eat within a half an hour, it is a long stretch to make it to lunch at noon. On top of that, as the days of training increased, I noticed that I felt like I was starving in the afternoons.

At that point, I made a decision to scrap the 3 meals a day and add mid day snack back to my routine. I also added a little more carbs back to my diet. On Wednesday, between my run and my swim, I chomped on some pretzel chips as we drove to the pool.

Thursday, my weight was down a pound, and Friday it was down one more. I'm not ready to write off the Bulletproof diet as ineffective, but I need to keep in mind that I am training for an endurance event and that some exceptions/changes will need to be made in order to have enough fuel in the tank for my workouts.

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