Cross-training 2: Balance

I always thought I had pretty good sense of balance.  So it has been a rude shock to start yoga and find myself teetering and toppling over during balance poses, while the other yoga participants perch effortlessly on one foot like ballerinas.

So, just as I noted in my previous post on strength, I was intrigued to stumble across an article on the importance of balance, and moreover to find it contained another test to assess how I might rank against everyone else in this regard:

The test entails standing straight with arms folded across chest, raising one leg, bending the knee about 45 degrees and closing your eyes.  You measure how long you can hold this position on each foot -- a 20-49 years old should be able to stay balanced for 24 to 28 seconds. 

Alas my results were consistent with a 70-79 year old.  Apparently one's balance steadily deteriorates from one's 20s.  Perhaps running and cycling accelerates this decline?   Fortunately it is apparently easy to restore balance if you work on it a bit, so I have been trying to stand on foot each day as I brush my teeth.   Will try to follow-up on my progress in a later post.

(Follow-up note on strength - I am still stuck on about 40 push-ups)

Cross-training: Strength

I have consistently heard that strength training is valuable for triathlon/running performance (and for any one's overall health). But maintaining a regular weight training regime is a tiresome hassle for me, and apparently weight training sporadically is of no value.

So as part of my effort to do 10-minutes of "yoga" every day, I have recently started doing push-ups, and was intrigued to read this NY Times article on the value of the simple push-up. The article characterizes the push-up as the "ultimate barometer of fitness".

What really intrigued me though was the benchmark provided: the "experts" recommend that 40-year old men should be able to do 27 push-ups. Naturally I had to see if I could hit this target, and I immediately managed to struggle to 32 pushups. Since then I added one a day before hitting a wall at 41. My goal now is to work up to 50 - or even better yet, double the benchmark and manage 54.

Swim Squad

For over a year now I have procrastinated about joining swim squad - a group training session with a coach - Greg Watson.  I find swim squad grueling and painful and counter to the happy, easy triathlon training style I have pursued recently which entails relaxed, steady swims and leisurely lunch at the spa.  

Last week Greg asked me if I wanted to be taken off the swim squad mail list and I told him I would try to join the swim workout at least once this spring.  At Tamako Ekiden, yesterday my teammate Motozo mentioned he was going to swim squad in the evening and so reluctantly I decided to participate.

And it was brutal.  

3,000 meters of frenzied gasping and thrashing. Not only was this the farthest I have swam since Ironman in May 2006, it was the fastest.  In swim squad you follow the previous swimmer by 5 or 10 seconds.  I desperately tried to keep up with Mary and stay ahead of the guy behind me who kept bumping into the bottom of my feet.  We did 100-meter intervals in 2 minutes, with 10 second rest, which was bad enough.  However it was the 25 meter drills keeping our head above water and 25 meters of keeping our arms extended in front of us and just propelling ourselves by kicking that really killed me.

I felt really satisfied when the workout was over.  Greg said my stroke looked better and I was quicker than a year ago and my times were faster.

Tamako Ekiden

Seeking camaraderie in a festive spring ekiden (relay race), I traveled to lovely Lake Tama today with 20 Namban teammates for the 19th annual Tamako Ekiden. 

Coming from rain-drenched Seattle, I have never had a problem running in the rain.  The challenge today was not running in the rain, it is all the changing clothes in an open field in the cold rain and waiting around to run in the rain.  

I ran pretty well - 21:20 for the 6k course which contains two cruel U-turns followed immediately by severe uphill climbs.  I ran second on Namban's four man B team and managed to pass a dozen or so (mostly college/high school runners) while about 3-4 runners passed me.  

As far as camaraderie and team spirit, I did make an earnest effort to cheer on my mates a little bit, but I found myself spending so much of my time and energy just trying to untie my shoe laces with my frozen fingers that I missed most of teammates Paddy, Steve and Bob's heroics.

Still it was a worthwhile morning all in all, and we received an enormous souvenir "18th Tamako Ekiden" toenail clipper which I have been needing.  

Caffeine Taper 2

The weather is growing warmer and I have started to contemplate actually training for Ironman China in 5 weeks. But I have been too preoccupied with my caffeine taper to think too much about bicycling. Without enough caffeine, my mind is simply too addled and woozy to think very much about anything.

I have somehow managed to reduce my average caffeine intake from 540 mg (two 12-ounce "tall" cups of coffee per day) down to only about 150 mg per day (for example today a small 4-ounce cup of decaf/caffeinated mix in the morning and half of a cappuccino in the afternoon).

Cutting down of coffee was surprisingly easy at first - cutting my consumption in half was no problem. I even managed to fool myself with the blend of decaf and caffeinated coffee I would make. But I am no longer fooled by the dreadful tasting decaf stuff. Moreover in the week ahead I need to be reasonably sharp to deal with some looming issues at work, not to mention an upcoming Ekiden.

Ohyama Tozan Climb

I completed the grueling Ohama Tozan run/climb today - 9 kilometers from the center of a suburban Tokyo town to the top of mountain, wherein each kilometer is steeper than the last, and the last 2 kilometers are up stairs.  Believe it or not, this is one of my favorite races in Tokyo.

I have done little hill training recently, though I considered running up the emergency fire stairs at the 52-story Roppongi Hills office building and joining the token hill workout of my teammates.  Instead my plan was to push the relatively flatter first 6k and then hang on for the last 3k up the stairs (when our wave is slowed down anyway by the slower runners from the first wave). 

I think my strategy worked well for me - I went out in 3:30 for the first kilometer and then consistently passed other runners until hitting the 6k mark in 24 minutes at which point I was 8th place among the 500 participants in my division.   

My impression is that there is an "otaku" culture of hill runners who bring the exact opposite strategy to the Ohyama Tozan event - that is they live for the hill portion.  I clambered up the crowded, uneven, rocky stairs as fast as I could and felt like it would be all but impossible to cover the last three kilometers much faster than the 25 minutes it took me.  But in fact 9 runners went by me and the guy next to me at the 6k mark finished a full THREE MINUTES ahead of me.   

I am pleased with my 49:03 finish time and would follow the same strategy next time I do Ohyama unless I have moved up into the mountains by then.   The early stages of my coffee taper probably also took a small toll on my concentration towards the end.  

Caffeine Taper: Detox/Fast

With Ironman China only seven weeks away I have to focus on one thing and one thing alone - my caffeine taper. Swimming, cycling and run training are relatively trivial.

The coffee dependency has spiraled out of control in recent weeks. I knew I had hit bottom when I returned from Seattle and woke up in night with headache and had to brew some coffee in order to fall asleep.

Starting today I will begin the long, dark road back. My goal is to cut back from the 500ml of caffeine per day (five 8-ounce cups of coffee or 2.5 tall Starbucks coffees) I am drinking to zero by the end of March and sustain until the week before China IM.

Since I am cutting out coffee, I might as well cut out beer and food (most) in March as well, and totally detox and see how I feel. That part should be easier.