The past five days my coach has delivered some wonderful presents. That is to say, high intensity workouts. I’m now starting the final week of a five week training block leading up to the Geneva Continental Cup (aka Musselman Triathlon) in New York and the NYC Triathlon eight days later. My training block started off with a lot of volume and then shifted over to high intensity. This week I do another shift to race prep and recovery, so that I’m ready to race my heart out. After a couple of less than 100% races I’m stoked to be healthy and prepared to leave everything on the course.

I was convinced that Tiburon had no good roads for bike interval workouts, until yesterday when I looked out the window of Loren’s car and saw this smooth blacktop winding around the side of a hill just south of Strawberry. It turns out there’s an awesome loop, mostly flat, but with a few short risers that really get the HR up. The best part, however, is the complete lack of cars on this road. I was able to do my entire workout without any unwanted vehicular disturbances.

I got this image by clicking on “View Activity in GoogleEarth” in Garmin Training Center. It’s sorta cool. No, it’s really really cool. I can click on one of those black boxes and it will give me all the data from that position (speed, lap distance, heart rate, cadence, and so on). I was using my Garmin Edge 705 so I was hoping the box data would include elevation and %grade, but no such luck. Also, if I hadn’t gone back and forth over the same 2.5 mile loop there would be fewer boxes and it would be easier to figure out what’s going on.

Before my intervals this morning I was having a really tough morning. I took some Nutrition53 Nuero1, and it totally got me going. Unlike Caffeine pills or coffee, Nuero1 doesn’t make you jittery, and there’s no crash. I’m totally sold on this stuff, though I have learned not to ever try the orange cream flavor again. I’ve never liked those two flavors together, it’s like mixing milk and orange juice and the blend of those two flavors should be the eighth deadly sin. Luckily, they make a bunch of other flavors, like Mocha, which are awesome. (And if you’re weird and like creamsickles, you can still have orange cream).

Ok, I don’t want to do a list of 53 not so funny things that make yesterday my favorite holiday, but the number refers to one reason this years July 4th was awesome. It’s a product line called Nutrition53, created by Bill Romanowski, that I’ve been sampling the last few weeks.

Thursday night I talked to my coach. The conversation was short because I was half asleep having expended all my energy watching the US Olympic Trials for swimming.

Dr. Mike: "How do you feel?”

Me: “Tired”

“Dr. Mike: “Good, I want you to do a track workout tomorrow”

Me: “Ugh.”

And so on…

Being in an unfamiliar bed can make my sleep a little restless, so I opened up a pack of the Nutrition 53 Sleep1. According to the label, “Sleep1 contains full doses of ingredients that supplement your lifestyle and support healthy sleep habits such as Melatonin, 5 HTP, Zinc and Magnesium (ZMA), Valerian root, L-Glutamine, and more.” Which is pretty similar to other sleep aides like the Hammer REM Caps. The big difference is that Sleep1 comes in a powder (with flavors like Root Beer Float and Vanilla Raspberry it tastes great), so it forces you to drink some fluids before you go to bed. This wasn’t the first time I’ve tried the product, and so far every time I do use it I sleep like a baby. No crazy dreams, no falling in and out of sleep – it’s like I just sink into my mattress. This has been a similar experience for me with the Hammer REM Caps, and even just over the counter pure melatonin but with one major difference: I wake up without any grogginess ready to take on the world.

I did wake up alert, but that didn’t really mean I was in the mood for a track workout. It was gray outside and my legs were still tired from other hard workouts. I read on Courtenay’s blog that she used Nuero1 as a pre-race drink and had great results. So far I had been using it as a study aid – taking it before I study to keep me awake and to make sure I pay attention to what I’m reading. It works well for that. I chugged down a packet of Nuero1 and set off on my bike toward the track. At the first stop light I still felt crummy, and following some Z-Team cyclist seemed like a great deal of effort. 10 minutes later, however, when I arrived at the track I was totally jazzed. I did a short warm up and proceeded to have a fun and fast workout. The previous few days my HR had been through the roof while running, but for this workout it was nice and moderate through the warmup and didn’t spike until I was running fast enough to deserve it.

I came back from the track feeling great. Then I stuffed down two waffles and a breakfast sausage (not my first choice, but when hungry and in a hurry one cannot be picky) then took off to a Bikram Yoga class at Red Dragon Yoga in Mill Valley. It was a 90 minute class during which time I lost about 10 pounds of sweat, but finished feeling even more energized. At this point I’m not sure if it was the Nuero1 still pushing me through the day (though the vitamin fluorescent urine assures me it was still in me), but it took only a 40 minute nap to be ready for the next adventure.

An easy spin around Tiburon was in order, but I didn’t really want to go alone, so I called up Christine and asked if she’s like to join me. I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to play a little game called “how long does it take to make Christine explode?” (Let me say here that sometimes I’m not a nice person). I was watching my own heart rate and going just hard enough that I was within my prescribed zone for an “easy spin”, but just hard enough that Christine was out of hers. We got to downtown Tiburon and I aimed my bike up Belvedere. It’s about two miles around, but straight up. At this point I let my heart rate go a little higher and started chatting to Christine about anything that came to mind. She stopped talking about a minute in and soon she was panting up the hill. I was actually impressed how long she held on – it wasn’t until the top of the climb that I saw her get out of the saddle and her pedals almost completely stop turning. Her face was red, her jersey wet with sweat, and her legs were no longer moving.

A tinge of remorse stung me in the back. “C’mon Christine, it’s an easy spin, don’t kill yourself,” my encouragement didn’t help anything. “My HR is 175!” I looked down at my Edge 705, “huh, mine is 127.” Still not helping – I decided to shut up. I killed Christine in 15 minutes, which is about how long it took Todd Herriott to crack me last spring. It hurts.

After the ride I got in the pool and a had a great set. two 800’s and four 200 IM’s. Nothing spectacular or even difficult, but I felt great in the water, and I even got some comments from people at the club about how smooth my stroke looked.

I’m pretty sure I would not have had as much energy to get through my day if I hadn’t taken the Nutrition 53 products. It insured that I got all my vitamins and minerals even when I was eating things like breakfast sausage and bbq chicken. I slept great (thanks to Sleep1), and started my day off with an awesome track workout (thanks to Nuero1). I did all my training and still had enough energy to watch the Olympic trials and the fireworks without passing out. It wasn’t a typical July 4th, but it was nearly perfect.

Today I posted for the first time to the Garmin Blog. It was all about my new Garmin Edge 705, and the longest story ever about a 15 minute bike ride.

I just wish I had some pictures of me standing on the side of the road, wearing a Speed Racer jersey. It was my birth-week, so I took the liberty of wearing all the obnoxious jerseys in my collection – this particular one was given to me by my "friends" in Hawaii at my going away party. I think they wanted to make sure I would never again make friends and would end up moving back to Hawaii. If it weren’t for semi-tolerant dorks like Loren, it probably would have worked.

I’m in Tiburon, California from yesterday until the 9th, but rather than taking over the refrigerator (and to a lesser extent the guest suite) at the Pokorny house, I’m staying at the Placak residence. Bob Placak puts on the Tiburon Mile open water swim every year. His house is beautiful, and it’s a pleasure to stay here while he’s off in Omaha watching the US Olympic Trials for swimming. The only catch – I have to drive four kids to all kinds of summer activities. This means about three hours of driving a day from now until Monday. Driving a mini-van I feel like Vin Diesel in the pacifier – only much safer – and I’m thinking of shaving my head so I can better play the part.

I tried to get more done this week than I had time for, so today I am pretty busy still fitting stuff in. Mainly what I still have to do is pack for the next eight weeks that I will spend “on the road”. Tomorrow I go back to Marin where I will house sit and chauffeur for my friend Bob’s kids. From there I go straight to Geneva, New York for the Musselman Triathlon, then to the New York City Triathlon a week later. After those races I fly directly to Colorado Springs for a training camp at the Olympic Training Center I did cross off a lot of my to-do list, however, and even a bit more. Here’s a list of things accomplished this week:

1. Birthday Party
2. Acupuncture at Institute of New Medicine (inewmed)
3. Massage (With Jenny Eagers)
4. Pilates at Pilates Northwest (With Jes Notman – she’s awesome)
5. Dr.’s visits
6. Visits to Herriott Sports Performance

I also went up to Lake Stevens and rode the 28 mile bike loop with some Colombian triathletes (left) that are here preparing for the 70.3 this weekend.  The transition area is about a 45 minute drive from my parents house, but because I met Chris Tremonte and the Columbians over in Redmond the adventure took most of the day. I ended up being late for my massage (noted above) and only got 75 of the 90 minutes I was hoping for – still an excellent massage though.

I love birthdays. I really try to remember them with my friends, and do something to make them special. I feel like everyone deserves a day in the year where they can be the center of attention. Today was my day, and even though it was fairly uneventful, I had quite a happy birthday.

I swam this morning, and had a great set of 5×300’s, then my swim coach (who also coaches high school cross country) gave me some aqua jogging (water running) pointers. He likes to teach sprint running form in the water because it really works the full range of motion and forces you to engage your gluteus. It was fun.

Back at home my mom was already starting to work on my birthday cake, and (just as I predicted) she had found two extra recipes that could not possibly be passed up. I was pretty excited for my favorite dinner that my dad had promised to fix: Fresh Alaskan Salmon, Fresh Salad, Green Beans, and Orzo Pasta – it’s magnificent.

While she slaved away in the kitchen I went out for a 60 minute spin on the bike, which took two hours because my phone kept ringing from people wishing me happy birthday. It’s hard work being so popular, but that’s why I didn’t plan a serious workout today.

My dad, who went to bed early on Thursday while feeling less than stellar, didn’t remember our conversation about my dinner request, and waited until about 6:30pm before asking me what I was cooking for my own birthday dinner.  Oops. It was less magnificent: BBQed Chicken and a big ‘ol’ Salad. Still delicious.

The cakes were awesome, and really capped off the greatness of the day. One was thick and fudgy, one was breadier with cherries baked in and one was vanilla cake with coconut icing and strawberries. Amazing. My mom kicks a**.

My dad asked me today if I wanted anything for my birthday. It’s funny because in the past there’s always been something, even something small that I could use. One year it was a backpack and a tent for camping (REI basement sale – woohoo!). This year I can’t think of anything. I’m just happy to be home with my family, and to have such a wonderful birthday. I told my dad I wanted a hug and his support in my triathlon career, and that’s exactly what I got. I feel loved.

Thank you to all the people that called, emailed, sent text messages, messaged me on facebook, and even came by my house. You Rock.

My mommy told me last night that I was born at 12:13am, so I could stay up really late. I fell asleep and mommy and my sister ‘u’an carried me to bed because I didn’t wake up.

Today I get to have a birthday party and Tyler is coming over and ‘u’an and me can ride bikes on the flat road by Norm’s house. My mommy never let me use training wheels, but I don’t need them. She used to run behind me and hold on to my t-shirt so I wouldn’t fall over, but now I’m big and I can ride by myself, but I have to wear a helmet.

I’m a big boy now [I say holding up a full five fingers], so I can read the newspaper with my daddy, and then we can go swing in the yard and I get to wear a coat and tie all day long.

Strawberries and cake and ice cream are really good. We also ate cherries that we picked form across the street. After cake I got to open my presents, and I got the coolest toy. It’s Optimus Prime from the Transformers and he turns from a Mac Truck with a trailer into a robot. I really like the Transformers movie, but I don’t like that Optimus Prime dies. When I grow up I want to be a robot.

 

The season is officially in full swing, and that means I will be home in Seattle a very small number of days between now and November. I got back today, and will be trying to do as much as I can while I’m in town.

Here’s my short list of things I have to do in Seattle:

1. Get my teeth cleaned (six months goes by so fast)
2. Go see Peter and William and Brian and the gang at the Institute of New Medicine.
3. Go into Herriott Sports Performance and do some vacuuming (note to my mom: it’s only good for my back when I do it there, vacuuming at home would be over-training) I will probably do some VO2 and Lactate testing this week as well, which will let me know if the past five weeks of training have been working.
4. Eat Thai food
5. Pilates at Pilates Northwest with Jes Notman (instructor extraodinar)
6. Make sure everyone knows that Friday is my birthday. It’s been a pretty good year, so I have lots to celebrate.
7. Have a birthday party! This is obviously the most important. Friday is my birthday (June 27th) which means beach volleyball (which is actually on the grass and not in sand) at my parent’s house.

I’m having to remember how to post to my blog without MS Live Writer. it’s not hard, but when I’m using other people’s computers I can’t add pictures I’ve taken.

Among the events where I took pictures that will not be posting until I’m back in Seattle tomorrow is the Mt. Diablo Hill Climb Time Trail.  I was 10th overall, and 2nd in the “elite” 4’s. I raced quite poorly. I went out way too hard and blew up by mile 4 of six. I was about two minutes slower than my goal time, but I did learn that training with a power meter can be very helpful. Apparently my perceived exertion on the bike is much lower when I haven’t just swam 1500 meters.

Greg Remaly left yesterday, and I’m staying with my friend Tracy in San Francisco. It is WAY colder here than in Tiburon. WAY COLDER!!!

Tomorrow I head to Seattle for a week. Everyone needs to mark Friday on their calendars. It’s probably the most important day of the year because June 27th is my birthday.  I’m hoping some readers that don’t normally speak up through comments will send some birthday love! I just with there was a race, so I could wear a custom swim suit like Courtenay Brown.  I asked my mommy for a dark chocolate cake with raspberries. I’m hoping this year is like most in that by asking for a very specific cake she ends up finding recipes for two other cakes that she can’t pass up, and in the end I have three birthday cakes. Plenty to share!

I’ve been in Tiburon for nearly a month, and during this time I’ve met a few people that frequently read my weblog. Socially, this is quite challenging because 80% of the good stories I have from the past year, which I would normally use as ice breakers when I meet somebody, have already been told. So Greg shows up (I have to pause for a moment to say the new version of Windows Live Writer is awesome. It just automatically tagged the word “greg” so that it linked to Greg Remaly’s website.) this week and, though we’ve never actually hung out, we both feel as if we know each other on some level. And that’s true, but since I would like to believe that there is more to me than what I am able to fit into the published footnotes of my life, I’m going point out some things about Greg that don’t come across on his blog.

1. He has a great laugh. We’ll just be sitting around the living room and he will bust out with a hearty belly laugh about something completely out of the present. It makes me laugh to hear him laugh, and I’m not even sure what he’s laughing about.
2. He is much better at Hearts than me.
3. He is an astrology buff and can tell you exactly what sign you are based on your birthday. Sure, that’s no harder than learning the months in another language, but he also knows something about each zodiac sign.

It’s possible that I’m downplaying my own writing abilities by claiming that my whole self is not portrayed in my stream of conscious blogging. Maybe triathlon has become too large a part of my life for me to distinguish ben from bencollins.org, but I don’t think that’s true. That other 20% that I don’t have time to write about, or tactfully choose not to record on the infinite expanses of the internet, is enough to keep me feeling like a distinct human being.

This is how you get to Burritoville in Larkspur. From Paradise Cay where Loren lives.

I love Burritos.

Seriously. I can eat a burrito every day and and I will never grow tired of it.

I may grow in other ways from it.