Last summer I wrote a post about Lance Armstrong and defended him and hating on Travis Tygart. Click HERE if you want to read what was written then. Since then, the truth has come out. I didn't watch the Opera interview of Lance coming clean, but now know that everything that he does is cold and calculated. I think that his only motivation in coming clean was to try to get some repentance so he can race again sometime in the near future. So far, every event that he has attempted to enter has refused to let him compete. This includes events such as a marathon and a swimming event. I find it to probably be the best punishment for him (Although loosing virtually all of his sponsors and possibly having to repay some of his legal winnings and competition bonus' has to sting as well). Someone who is soo dedicated to competing is now not allowed to compete even at the lowest levels, from what it seems. The biggest issue that I have with Lance was how he personally went after and publicly crushed the people that were actually telling the truth.
The fact is, Lance Armstrong was a dominant cyclist in an incredibly dirty time in cycling. In those days, it seems like everyone was doping. I'm not saying that doping is ok, but you need to understand the context in which he was competing. This is proven in the fact that when the UCI stripped him of his victories for the Tour de France, there is no declared winner for those years. Meaning that the people who were the runner's up are not considered the new victors. Why? It's because everyone was doping and every single one of those who were right behind Lance were also suspected of doping in those years as well.
I think that the cycling community is getting better about doping, and making it extremely difficult to cheat and not get caught. They now employ a testing procedure called DNA Passport (at least I think that's what it's called). Essentially what it is, is they no longer look for specific drugs or "masking agents" which hide the illegal drug use. Instead, they look for changes in the blood and urine samples that would show irregularities because a person is doping. It's way more sensitive of a test, and the proof that it's working is in the most recent races. The times are climbing back up to where they have been in years past (not counting the dirty times where the times were incredibly low).
So why am I bringing all of this up now? Well, I was bored and surfing eBay the other day and saw someone selling some race wheels and they claimed that Lance had ridden and raced on the wheels. This got the conversation started with my wife Shawna and I again about what Lance had done. I had saved a blog post from a pro athlete to Lance that was penned right after his confession. I had planned on writing this back then, but then I got my bowel obstruction and it was forgotten until the other day. So here's the blog post, enjoy the read.
It should also be noted that I need to give Travis Tygart some props for sticking to his guns and fighting the fight against a huge mountain. Travis knew the truth, and although no one wanted to believe it, he was willing to stand up and take a stand. For that, he is to be truly commended.
Swim 2200yds
200yd warm up
Drill 4x75 1 arm swim (25R/25L/25 free) 20 sec rest between intervals (RBI)
8x100 at race pace, 20 sec RBI
2x200 moderate pace, 20 sec RBI
4x75 pull set with paddles, 20 sec RBI
2x50 kick swim set, 20 sec RBI
100 Cool down
S&C:
Run 1 mile (6:20.56)
Row 1600m (1 mi) 6:44.40
Run 1 mile (7:33.54)
20:38.50 total
Tues:
17.5mi bike ride. Only the 2nd time taking the new bike outside, and had just enough time in the schedule to squeeze a ride in.
Wens:
Swim 1800 yds
I was going to do a harder swim wod, but wasn't feeling it this am, so I cut it back.
400 yd warm up (100 free, 200 paddles, 100 free)
Drill 8x50 20sec RBI; 2 rounds of:
25catch up/25 free
25 fingertip drag/25 free
25 fists/25 free
50 free
5x100 moderate intensity swim with a focus on form, 20 sec RBI
4x75 pull set with paddles, 20 sec RBI
2x50 kick swim set with kick board, 20 sec RBI
100 cool down
S&C:
Shoulder press, 5 reps each at: 95-115-125-135-F145-140;
Push press, 3 reps each at: 105-120-135-145-160;
Push jerk, 1 rep each at: 135-155-170-185-200
Thrs
Bike in the am: Spinervals "Time Trialpolosa"
S&C
Bench Press 8x2 @ 140 (65% of 215) on 45 sec
then
3 rounds
25x Kettle Bell Swings @ 55#
25x Burpees
8:36.40
I had a class all day friday, and half of sat. Sat was also busy with 3 birthday parties. Sunday was Mother's day and I wasn't going to train on that day!
After I had my bowel obstruction back in January I was sort of struggling to put all the weight back on. I had lost almost 8 pounds during that episode, and while I was able to fairly quickly put 5 pounds back on, the last 2 1/2+ pounds never really came through. I just though that maybe after the season was over, I'd get the weight back when I cut down on all the endurance training and just do more lifting. But something happened after Robie. The weight magically reappeared. Why it decided to come back I have no clue, but I guess I'm glad it's back. I only weigh myself at the station, and when I saw the scale back at 155 I was totally shocked. I even reweighed myself the next day just to make sure that it wasn't from dinner, but it was still there. I weighed in tonight and it was still at the 155, in fact it was actually at 156, almost my heaviest. So my weight is back, which is good, and I now have 7 1/2 weeks until the Quest for the Capital Triathlon.
I decided not to do the Boise 70.3 Ironman this season. It was long time in coming to that decision, but ultimately I think that I'm making the right choice. I just don't have the time to dedicate to an event of that size in terms of my training. I know that I could complete the event, but I don't want to just finish the event, I want to do well. I know that I wouldn't be anywhere near the podium or near qualifying for the Championship in Vegas, but I still want to do well. There is still 2 more years left on this current contract with Boise, so I still have another 2 years to complete the race.
The Quest for the Capital triathlon is an Olympic distance event, with some serious climbs if I'm reading the map correctly. I have to go over the course details with some friends, but it's going to be a challenging ride, so it should be fun. The run seems to be fairly flat and the swim is a 2 loop swim in a local pond that I've swam at before. With the race so close, I've kicked up the training, and I've decided that I'll post my work outs here as well so you can see what I've been doing. But for now, I'll just talk about how the training is going.
Swim: I'm in the 1st 3rd of the Carmichael Time Crunched Triathlete 70.3 swimming program. I chose the 70.3 because I photocopied those workouts and not the Olympic workouts back when I thought that I might still do the Boise 70.3. My thought now is that if it's going to prep me for a 1.2mi swim, a 1500m (0.9mi) swim wont seem so bad. So far I really like the programming. There is a warm up, some drills, a main workout set, and then usually a skill set and then a cool down. It has given me my confidence back in the water, which is awesome. None of the workouts so far are under a time pressure for how fast you complete an interval. There are some intervals that are base intervals so you're working on form/technique more than speed, but still putting out a comfortable, steady pace. Then there are the race pace intervals that are obviously harder, but still very doable. I gotta say though, that the one drill that I really don't like is the kick board drill. I was never much of a fan of the kick board to begin with, but when you do the intervals as described, they are horrible. The outside of my hips are always on fire by the end of each interval. I don't really have much of a kick with my swim anyways, so I know that this will help, but I am not a fan of the kick board. With the swimming, while doing my warm up, and the base sets, I've been trying to improve my breathing. Working on the bilateral breathing or just slowly letting the air out and going for any extra stroke or 2 before going for a breath. I know that I have to be faster the less I break my form with having to breathe.
Bike: With my focus being on Olympic distance events this season, I don't see a reason to really go on super long distance rides. Anything over 35-40 miles isn't really going to do much for me, race wise. Instead, I've been working on getting quality 40km rides in on the trainer, and a few outside rides. When I'm on the trainer, I'm trying to not compare myself to how I was last year. Last year I was on the magnetic trainer and the resistance is not nearly what it is with the fluid trainer. But I have been able to push out some serious speed on the new bike on the trainer for sprints, so that's encouraging. I'm really looking forward to the Emmett Triathlon where I can really compare apples to apples on how much faster I've gotten and how much faster my new bike is. Don't worry, there will be an entire post just for the bike review.
Run: I haven't gotten much running done since Robie, but I'm hoping that will change this week with really getting after the work outs for the season.
Crossfit: I'm really going to try hard to get 2-3 Crossfit Strength and Conditioning workouts in every week. I think that keeping my strength up there will really pay off in the long run.
The Family: What can I say about the family? Monkey has just lost another tooth, his 3rd. Bubbee is on his 3rd pair of glasses in 4 months. Poor guy, both times were total accidents and not his fault at all. We ended up having to get a cheap pair in the mean time since his first frames were on back order. Both the boys are completely in love with Lego's and Star Wars.
Peanut is getting sassy in her 2 1/2 year old way. It's not the terrible 2's where she cries over everything, but she definitely is a handful and very independent. She's completely potty trained and did that mostly on her own. One day she woke up and said that she didn't want to wear diapers anymore. Shawna and I spend less than a week having to remind her to go pee before she figured it out. Sure, she still has her accidents, but they are few and far between considering her age. Now, she just gets up and heads to the bathroom. I still follow her in there and help get her on the toilet because I'm afraid she's going to step into the toilet in the attempt of getting her little butt on the seat, but otherwise it's all her. She's even now starting to tell me to get out and close the door while she's going.
Cupcake is now trying some solid food since she hit the 6 month mark. She is also army crawling all over the house and is wicked fast. If she sees something that she wants, she's off across the room to get it. She's a very happy baby, and if she could just start sleeping through the night, life would be that much more awesome!
