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Leg burning trainer workout and fueling the triathlete


Trimarni lifestyle change tip: 
If you have between 10-30 min when you come home from work before an evening workout or meeting/event, start your dinner prep and finish as much as possible so you don't come home starving and convince yourself that you can't wait the time to cook a real food, balanced meal. 

Here's a creation that I prepared in 25 minutes before our evening swim practice on 1/15 (I planned for leftovers):
Tempeh, mushrooms, frozen veggie mix (corn, peas, carrots), onions, garlic, balsamic, olive oil, kale, turmeric, pinch of salt, chili pepper, slivered almonds. Also, 1 pot of quinoa (1/2 cup dry to 1 cup boiling water). 

The final creation!

Swim workout Main set (at the very end of our 75 minute practice):
3xs (with fins):
3x100s fast swim on 1:30
3x50s fast kick on 1 minute
Continue 2 more rounds.
Total yards: 3800


After my morning fuel (8 ounce skim milk + 1 spoonful chia seeds + 1/2 cup cheerios - a new creation I have been using for the past few weeks which seems to be working really well for energy and recovery. I tweak for longer workouts over 90 minutes. + water and cup of coffee.) and dynamic stretching/foam rolling, it was time to break a sweat....and wow o wow, did I ever!

Thanks Karel for the leg burning workout!

Our Bike Trainer: 
CycleOps PowerBeam Pro - I will let DC Rainmaker give the details about this awesome trainer with specific wattage resistance control.  

WU (warm-up): 30 min, including 10 min of one leg drills to wake up my glute medius
Main set:
5 x 30 sec ON/OFF @ Z4 watts  (cadence 90+ rpm)
2 min EZ spin
5 x 1 min ON/OFF @ Z4 watts (cadence 90+ rpm)
2 min EZ spin
5 x 90 sec ON/OFF @ Z4 watts  (cadence 90+ rpm)
5 min EZ spin 
5 x 2 min ON/OFF @ Z3 mid to upper watts (cadence 90+ rpm)
Rest of the ride is just EZ spin.

This was one challenging set - the intervals are short but you really have to stay focused for each interval during that time. Because I can adjust my watts on the trainer, I use the resistance control to put in the watts I want to hold as a minimum and then I am forced to hold those watts for each part of the set. No cheating on the trainer when you train with power.
This is also a great set to use RPE if you do not have a power meter. HR training will not be a valuable tool in this set because the HR will not rise to specific zones in that short of time with the recommended effort. Focus on a high cadence but strong pedal stroke and you will gain a lot from this workout. 
If you can't get through the entire set due to fatigue, that is OK. The goal is not to nail every workout but to give your best effort and get excited for the next go around.
I recommend 20-25g carbohydrate sport drink during this workout w/ electrolytes + additional water as needed.

After this workout I did a short brick run (3.77 miles):
10 min warm-up run
Main set: 
5 x 2 min @ 7:30 min/mile w/ 1 min walk in between
Cool down

Post workout I had 1/2 cup greek yogurt + cherries, apples and banana slices on top + 1 slice bakery bread (nuts, raisins inside) + Smucker natural PB (A good smear) + water and coffee.