This was an unexpectedly odd week.  I finally got out of the Midwest late on Tuesday after two flight cancellations and so many near-missed-my-flight moments in the hours leading up to my departure (thank you Chicago construction & ill-timed plowing).  Work was a bit of bear so the days were long.  On Friday when I was finally about to fall asleep the building fire alarms went off and I awoke in horror that our building shared the same fate as the Avalon.  I grabbed my suitcase, computer bag, and snapped a photo of my bike on the way out, just in case the insurance company required it.  That adrenaline rush kept me up until 4:30 a.m., thank you very much.  Thankfully I had a really delicious din with a friend and that kinda made up for the dramas.

Anyhow, with respect to last week's goals I realized deviating from routine really makes an impact.  I only swam once and ran once (both were good, though), and my nutrition while away was decent, but not nearly as spot-on as when I am cooking at home.  So my goals for this week will remain the same: a) complete Jeff's exercises, b) be consistent in the pool and on the bike, and c) quickly get back into routine.

So far I'm off to a good start following an awesomely productive weekend - feeling properly set up for the week ahead.

As expected, this was a totally wonky week.  The travel and weather and lack of travel due to the weather made a nice mess of things and forced a bit of creativity and flexibility into the schedule.  First I was stranded in the Northeast for the blizzard that left a mere 4in of the 30in predicted; now I am stranded in the Midwest for the 6-and-counting inches of the 8in predicted between today and tomorrow.

Who needs a plan anyway?

My IronWill was fairly strong this week and I was able to get in most of the workouts I had planned (albeit on different days than expected), and my Inner Fat Kid (IFK - he'll come up a lot) only won twice.  Not bad!

The exciting news for the week is that I had my first meeting with Jeff - my newly appointed IronCoach.  I chose Jeff after interviewing five other coaches from around the country.  Jeff is AWESOME and I am so excited to work with him.  He's the perfect balance of neurotic/passionate/knowledgeable that I was looking for.  And he has a degree in chemistry which only bolsters my respect for him.

Jeff's philosophy is to start by identifying the holistic gaps in form, attitude, and the body's energy balance (fuel/metabolism) and to make strategic adjustments during the foundation-building phase so that the bulk training phase won't collapse.  Not too different from many coach's methods, but his level of detail and clear explanations link everything together in a "eureka" kind of way for me.  His feedback is brutally honest and of course I take it personally (that's the point, right?).  This only serves to motivate me to fix what's broken now so I have the greatest chance for success down the road.

We went through a series of tests and assessments and came out with three key areas of focus:

• Improve metabolic rate
• Improve hip alignment & hip flexibility
• Improve upper body recruitment & flexibility

What does this mean in context?

• Metabolic rate is a metric for how efficiently the body uses fuel.  For athletes this translates to improving the fat-burning to carbohydrate-burning rate = better endurance and lower body fat = lower re-fueling rate required during exercise and higher power-to-weight-ratio potential (speed!).  I expect my challenge will be to lose weight without sacrificing muscle (power).
• Proper hip alignment is a biggie for all three disciplines for improving efficiency.  It's extremely important on the run and bike because misalignment can lead to injury due to stress on the joints from force of impact and repetitive motion.  I was surprised when Jeff pointed out that my hips/glutes/core are strong but inflexible, but it made SO much sense when he explained its effects on hip alignment and on my swim stroke: my hips don't fully rotate which limits my stroke extension and ultimately shortens my distance per stroke (lessening the lever's range of motion = less power).  It's also why my knees angle slightly in toward my bicycle frame and why my running stride is truncated on my left side.  All of these = less power = slower speed.  WOW.  Who knew I'd use this much physics outside of school.

• Finally, Jeff also pointed out that I use my shoulders, namely my trap, to overcompensate quite a bit in upper body movements rather than recruiting more arm, chest, and core muscles.  This explains why my shoulders are always in knots.  It's explained by what I didn't realize was a more serious injury back in high school when "something popped" in my rotator cuff while maxing out on the bench press.  Our athletic trainer coaxed it back to health with a two-week treatment of heating pads and maybe some stretching.  Ruh roh.  Again, this links back to power which...you get the point.
  

Jeff gave me specific homework to particularly focus on this critical issue in the hips.  Tried 'em yesterday and am already feeling it in my glutes - yeah!

It's officially been one month since the blog was started, so let's quickly recap progress:

• New routines: started strong but has tapered off.  Keep focusing and reduce bed/wake time variation to <2 hrs.
• Swim: increased from 0 sessions/wk to 2 - 3 sessions/wk.  Already feeling stronger and my fatigue threshold (when I notice a marked difference in pace & oomph) has improved from about 1500 yds to 2100 yds.  Keep committing to the pool and doing drills 1x/wk, focusing on hip rotation, stroke extension, and holding left side catch.
  
• Bike: increased from 1 session/wk to 2 - 3 sessions/wk.  Not yet consistent & need to start introducing drills and intervals, focusing on knee alignment and left calf/quad participation.
• Run: maintaining 2 - 3 sessions/wk, but not consistently.  Continue including dynamic warm-up and strengthening exercises, focusing on hip/knee/foot alignment and controlling bounce.
• Nutrition: started so well but fell off!  Continue making conscious decisions, respecting "the pause", and committing to weekly meal plan.

Plenty to focus on next month!  This week's specific goals will be to a) consistently complete my hip exercises and to b) continue after consistency in the swim and bike.