Monday, November 2, 2009

Been awhile, sorry

Wow it's been a couple months since I have posted to my blog. Busy training I guess. This Ironman build I would mostly characterized as "weather challenged". Lot's of rain in Atlanta with lot's of flooding this Fall. I did an epic 120 mile ride / 8 mile run in what ended up turning into a record rain fall day, 10 inches. About 4 hours of that ride it was raining so hard I couldn't see the road more than 10 feet in front of me. At one point I had to carry my bike through thigh deep water as the roadway had flooded. It was crazy and I only came across 1 other biker the entire day. I was biking of the Silver Comet Trail, which is a rails to trails bike path which goes from Atlanta to Alabama and connects with another one there which goes all the way to Anniston, AL. Just to dangerous to ride on the roads with cars in these conditions. I typically see probably 500 other bikers on a Sunday ride, so yeah, I had the place to myself. A mental toughness day for certain.

The other epic workout, my longest run of this build, was a 22 mile run and yes you guessed it, it was raining. The Alpharetta Greenway (a paved running path) I typically run on was flooded so I had to run a route on the streets. It was 50 degrees and raining and to say Atlanta is hilly is an understatement. Over 1800 vertical ft of climbing for this run. The run course for Ironman Florida is pancake flat so I certainly have not been training the hills for I just don't need to. The cold, rain, and hills really stuck it to me on this run and it took a lot out of me. I had to travel that week and sitting on a plane for 5 hours to CA the next day wasn't a treat. Another mental toughness day for sure. If it rains during the race I will call upon these two day's to use as an advantage.

All told this IM build was pretty good, however the weather and shorter day's did prevent me from getting all my training in, especially on Thursday's which is a longer bike ride. As the training goes on the rides become longer, but the day's become shorter so by the middle of Oct. I was having to cut those rides more than an hour short. 4 hr rides turning into barley 3 hrs rides is not a good thing.

I think I am going to have to take some risks on the bike for this Ironman and push miles 40-90 a little harder than typical to stay in the hunt for my ticket to HI. The trick is to leave enough in your legs for the marathon you are about to start running. The problem is you don't know the answer to that question until mile 20 on the marathon. The first 20 miles leaves you thinking....did I leave enough, did I leave enough. If you didn't all kinds of hell starts to break loose and things start going wrong (cramps, stomach problems, amongst a whole host of others).

We shall see!

Monday, August 17, 2009

Ironman Florida Training build

It's been awhile since my last post....sorry. I started my volume build for IMFL August 3. I had a great couple weeks of training with one more big one before my first recovery week. This will be a tough week for training, not only because it is a max week before the recovery week, but because I am in meetings across town M-Th and the extra 3 hrs of commuting comes out of rest time. It will be very important not to get injured this week with the reduced rest! Most would say just back off on the training, but sorry that just isn't in me. Undoubtably there will be train until 10pm, shower, do to bed nights this week. Terrific fun.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Ironman Couer d'Alene




It's been awhile since I posted, sorry. Race has come and gone. Overall a pretty good race, but not what I had wished for. The weather through some major curve balls and I through in one myself the day before the race.

Arrived in CDA on Thursday afternoon, checked into cabin, picked up bike from Tribike Transport. Met up with my friends Chris, Jerry, Toby, and a few new friends from Atlanta on Fri morning at 6 am for a swim at the race site. 6 AM is 9 AM Atlanta time so it wasn't that early to us. We were the first to arrive, and we were running a little late to boot. It was cold with a nasty wind. The temp was mid 50's with 15 mph wind. Rain was in the forecast for the day, but wasn't raining at the moment. My Dad come with us to walk along the Lake while we trained. Got wetsuit on and swam about 20 mins. We were then going to ride an hour and I was going to run 20 mins. Chris and I got out of our wetsuits and got our bikes ready and headed over to Toby's hotel to get everyone else. There was an issue with a car and Jerry and Angela had to take it back to their hotel. We waited awhile for them to get back. It was now very cold and I only had a long sleeve t-shirt on with my wet tri shorts and wet tri top on under. The wind was whistling and I was freezing. We finally got started and rode the first out and back section of the course which was about 13 miles or so. I saw my Dad on the way out and slowed to tell him I'd meet him at the car at 9:30. I decided I'd run from the cabin later that day instead of making him wait. Well, it started to rain a little on the bike and an hour later it rained for the rest of the day. I didn't get my run in and should have just skipped it.

Saturday morning came and it was clear and crisp out. Mom and Dan went to town to walk along the lake. I decided to get that easy run in. I was planning on just a 3 mile run. About 2.5 miles in disaster struck. I was running on the oncoming traffic side of this windy lakeside narrow road carved into the side of the mountain when a large pickup truck approached. I moved as far over to the shoulder as I could to leave room for the truck. The edge of the blacktop was jagged and broken up a bit. As the truck was passing I stepped down and a piece of the blacktop broke off and I rolled my ankle. Next thing I know I am rolling on the ground as the truck wheel passed just inches from my face. At first I thought I may have broken my ankle as pain shot up my leg. I decided to get home as fast as possible to get ice on it. I was able to slowly hobble home, luckily only 1/2 mile away. I was in complete shock and disbelief that this had just happened. I iced and gobbled ibuprofen the rest of the day. The pain that night was intense and it woke me up about every 30 mins. A poor night of sleep before an Ironman for certain. The worst part of it was the distraction it created. The day's leading up to an Ironman are incredibly mental. You have to focus on being positive in your mind...you have done enough training, you are strong enough, you can endure the pain, YOU WILL DO THIS. Having a kink in your armor wrecks havoc in this mental preparation and I was the least prepared mentally for this ironman. Probably the most prepared physically, but at mile 20 on the run, it isn't physical - it's 100% mental. To say I was disappointed is a major understatement.

I'll copy and paste the details from the race from my race report in my training blog.....here you go...

Pre-race routine:Typical pre-race breakfast, nothing different. We were staying up at Lake Hayden (by the upper part of the bike course) so it was about a 15 min drive to the race site. Found a parking spot and walked about 5-6 blocks to the park. Planned on getting there at 5:30 and I was right on time. I had a very detailed list of todo's (I'm a list person) on my Blackberry and got right to it. Pumping tires was the frst on the list as if you don't find someone with a pump you have to get in line for one of the support pumps and that can take 15-20 minutes. Guy next to me who I met at the Cheah Challenge Century in May (he's from Atlanta) had a pump and let me use it. Then off to get T bags set up. Then drop off bike special needs bag which they had all the way on the other side of the park and required walking alone the waterfront sidewalk. This sidewalk was VERY crowded and it took about 10 mins each way moving through like a herd of cattle. Now time for the morning potty break. There were at least 300 (not exaggerating here) people in line so I went looking for another bathroom. I knew there were bathrooms on the other side of the park and headed that way. Of course there was a line but I got in it and waited. Pro start went....still in line, they they announced to start moving to the swim start. It was now 6:40 and I was still in line without wetsuit on. Finished bathroom and ran to get my wetsuit on. Found my parents and got my wetsuit on and headed back through the crowds. At 6:57 I stopped being polite and waiting for all of the non-racers moving through the crowd and just pushed my way through to the timing gate, which you had to walk over to register your chip into the race. Made my way over to the far left, inside the buoy line, got my goggles and hat on and 10 seconds later the cannon went off. Um, yeah, zero warm up. Not even any arm stretches.

Swim-

So no warm up and off I go. the wind was coming from the South, which is typical I understand, which means we were heading straight into the waves on the way out and with them on the way back. Going out was tough. About every 3-4 breaths a wave would come over my head just as I was inhaling and I would get a mouth full of water. I ended up swallowing a bunch of water on the first loop. I got much better at sensing the waves on the second and would just skip the breath when I could tell the wave was over my head, but the damage was done at that point. More on this later. The trip back to the beach on each lap was actually nice as I was riding the waves and I really stretched out my stroke and took advantage of the glide. This enabled me to bring my HR back down.

T1-

Ironman doesn't allow shoes clipped into bike in transition. wetsuit strippers took forever to get my suit off. I think I was laying on my back for about 15 seconds. I told them just to pull it off of my ankle. She kept trying to use her fingers to work it off. That's a tough volunteer job so I was nice. They had a shortage of volunteers at some of the stations and this was evident in the T1 tent. It was self serve all the way. I had to put everything in my bag and even find a volunteer to hand it off to when I had it loaded with my wetsuit, cap and goggles. Resulted in a slow T1. I was hoping for a sub 3:00 T1.

Bike-

In Ironman it's all about the bike, not just because it is the longest, but also because it is where you set up your run. I knew coming in that my nutritional plan needed modification. The low temperatures meant I wouldn't be drinking enough and therefore I wouldn't be getting those liquid calories. I made adjustments and packed more gels and bars. I started off fine and then about mile 20 my stomach started cramping. When I got on the bike my stomach was very bloated from the lake water I had taken in. I am guessing that upset things. I tried to get the calories in but things were getting ugly. I decided to switch over to water from GE and that helped, but made the caloric deficient even worst. I supplemented the lack of GE with salt tabs (1 per hr instead of the usual 3/hr I take while racing). All told I was about 3/4 of a bar and 4 gels short on calories at the end of the bike (about 600 calories).

T2-

forgot to take off bike race belt and replace with run race belt and had to turn around (still in the tent) to switch them out. Probably 5-6 seconds.

Run-

Not happy with this run. The lack of calories on the bike caught up to me about mile 8. I couldn't turn my legs over and I couldn't even get my HR into zone 1. I finally stopped at mile 11 aid station and pitched a little tent and had two hand fulls of pretzels, some chicken broth, 2 cookies, and some water. I was going to see if I could keep it down. Started running again and did the same thing at mile 12 aid station. Started running again and I could tell that stuff, to my surprise, was starting to help. Ate a bunch more at mile 15 aid station, then again at 20, but this time just jogged through them. My ankle was hurting, but I told myself the night before I wasn't going to allow it to be an "out", so I just mentally shut off the nerves in my left foot. If I focus everything I have, I can do this. It is very weird but my whole left foot was numb (like if it were frozen), not just my ankle, so I guess it worked.

Mental toughness wasn't there for me today on this run. First races can be like that as you just are wasting mental energy trying to figure out what the course will throw at you and the conditions were doing the same. My ankle took my head out of the race on Saturday. I need to spend the day before the race without any surprises, and man was that a big one. Calories, or lack of, was the issue. I'm not sure why I couldn't get my gels in. I may need to do some experimenting with run fueling?

My finishing time was 10:30:24, 178/2200, 32/362 in my age group. My friend Jerry, who missed Kona by 4 minutes at this race last year finished 18 mins faster and took the last Kona slot in our AG. Overall the AG was 18 mins faster in much tougher conditions. Every year the races get faster and faster. There is a lot of controversy brewing on whether AG athlete's who accept Kona slots should have to take a drug test (performance enhancing drugs) when they accept the slot. Many races are at the point where the last Kona slot winner's finishing time (typically, 12th place for my AG) would have won the AG just 4 or 5 years ago. Times have come down 25 or 30 mins. It is quite common for the 40-45 AG winner to finish the race top 10 overall (amongst the Pro's). That is just crazy, and in my opinion begs investigation!

So now it's on to Florida in November. I am feeling very good about this race. My recovery has been great and I am ahead of schedule and ready to hit it hard August 1!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The Hay is in the Barn

The hay is in the barn is a saying which means the training is all done and there is nothing more to do but execute on race day. I started training for this Ironman on December 1, 2008 and here are the training totals:

Bike 219h 51m 4231.48 miles
Run 151h 58m 1275.76 miles
swim 43h 43m 160,371 yards (91.12 miles)

16 rides over 90 miles, 10 of those over 100 miles, 5 of those over 115 miles.
34 runs over 15 miles
3 swims over 2.5 miles

Just need a little luck with the weather and the Ironman God's to be kind and I'm in good shape!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Where to Start?

Developing my starting strategy for the swim. Thinking far left inside buoy-line? What do ya think? :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLQUZwrH-kw&feature=related

Friday, June 12, 2009

In Need of Some Inspiration?

A couple clips to get the racing blood flowing! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo-nbnw8zSI

If this next one doesn't get you going....check your pulse you may not be alive :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTn1v5TGK_w

Monday, June 8, 2009

Trainings All Done

I just finished my last scheduled workout before my taper begins for IMCDA. For those who don't remember what a taper is, it's when you back off your training intensity and volume to give your body a chance to fully rest. I do this before my "A" races. You can only effectively do a couple tapers a year.

All told the training leading up to this Ironman was:


Bike: 4136.68 Mi.
Run: 1225.46
Swim: 149107 yds.
Strength: 43.25 Hrs.

Now you know why they say triathlon is a lifestyle, there is no time for anything else :)

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Some Last Minute Bike Tweaks



Completed some last minute bike tweaks today. The first was to replace my XLAB rear bottle holder with a new carbon Beaker Concepts hydro Tail. The theory (supported by wind test results) is that if you lower your bottles the wind flows off of your back cleaner. Results in wind tunnel = .5 mph faster over 112 miles, which is huge. Not sure I am completely drinking the koolaid on this one, but even .25 mph faster is over 4 minutes (.5 mph is almost 9 minutes). Either way that is serious time. Here is a picture of it. Notice how low the bottles are. My XLAB, the bottle were about 6 inches higher.


For those of you who read my Ironman Florida race report and several other race reports for that matter, you may remember my issues with salt tabs and my lack of a good system to store them. Well I've solved that. I added something called a "salt stick". I have one on now and another later today. Each holds 6 salt tabs. You just simply turn the end of the unit and out pops a salt tab for you to grab. I used it during my Half Ironman last weekend and it worked perfectly!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

May's in the book's

The month of May was a huge training month. Swimming and running was nothing special, but it was my biggest month on the bike by over 350 miles. I raced 2 weekends in the month, which normally cuts into my training time as I typically train more hours on the weekend than a race takes up. These races were 'no taper" races so pretty much normal training resumes the next day. My Friday long run day's suffered though as I just can't race after a 24 - 30 running day the day before. This is why the running miles were not that great for the month. Here were the totals:

May's totals:
Bike: 60h 04m 56s - 1200.18 Mi
Run: 23h 11m 05s - 196.86 Mi
Swim: 9h 27m 03s - 35982 Yd
Strength: 3h 15m

I'm hoping the big bike month will pay dividends at Couer d'Alene! First week of June is a big training week, then I taper for the next 2 weeks (taper week 1 = 50% normal volume, week 2 = 25%). This sharp drop off in volume should have me climbing the walls for sure. Over eating will be a major concern. The amount of food I eat when the training is big like this is ridiculous. I have to try to pair the eating down with the volume, which is VERY hard to do.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Rock N' Rollman Half Ironman

First Half Ironman of the season. It wasn't quite as hot as it has been in recent years for the this race. It was about 85 degrees, where in the past it had gotten up in the low 90's. Ended up 12th overall, 2nd age group. I beat my personal best for this race (5th time racing this one), by 18 mins and last years time by 20 mins. Last year I won my AG (go figure 20 mins slower). I was fighting to catch a guy the last 2 miles. I didn't know if he was in my age group or not because he was about 100 yds ahead of me. I saw him keep looking over his shoulder so I knew that he knew I was coming, which isn't good. You want to sneak up on them and catch them off guard. I could tell he was fighting to keep the gap. I closed it to about 50 yds, but was running out of real estate as it was mile 12.5 (13.1 miles in this run). There was a hill coming up at about 12.75 and I was watching him for signs of weakness. If he struggles up the hill, I would put the hammer down the last 1/4 mile and get him. Well he powered up the hill. He was a smart runner! That sent a signal to me that if I pushed, he would just push and we'd be in the same place, only with a ton more pain and potential for injury. I was already running on the verge of hamstring strain as I could feel my right one tightening. The announcer said his name when he crossed the line, "John Stein". Could that be John from Eau Claire, whom I swam with for aver 10 years on the YMCA swim team? Well he was in my AG and it was John. I went over to him and re-introduced myself as we hadn't spoken in over 25 years. We chatted for over 30 minutes and plan on getting together during the Augusta 70.3 (Half Ironman) in September. What a small world. Was disappointed about taking 2nd, but was happy to behind John.

Overall I am happy with my race. This was a no taper race, which mean you train hard right up and through the race. My "A" race is obviously Ironman Couer d'Alene, so I couldn't taper twice so close. Fresher legs would have lead to a different result for sure.

Friday, May 22, 2009

First Tri of the Season in the books

So my early season running has had some success this year. I started my Triathlon season with an International Distance race (basically the distance raced in the Olympics), .93 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. I beat my time from last year at this race by about 6 minutes, which I am pleased with, but some pretty fast folks showed up this year. I was 10th overall (8th last year), and won my Age Group (Masters Champion last year). Funny how that works, 6 mins faster and placed lower. I was happy with my swim and actually a little surprised. I was 1st in AG and 6th fastest. I haven't done a lot of speed work in my swim so I was happy with this time. My bike was disappointing. I was faster than last year by missed my goal. The bike was hillier than I remember and I just didn't have any juice in the legs. I ran a 38:03 10k, which was the second fastest run, which I was very happy with. I ran a bunch of people down on the run. Overall a good race and pretty much where I had hoped to be at this point in the season. Bike was disappointing and will be the focus over the next 3 weeks leading into Ironman Couer d'Alene.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Peachtree International Distance Triathlon

First Tri of the season for me tomorrow. I raced this race last year and won the Masters Division (also would have been 1st place 30-34, 35-39, 40-44). I think I was 8th overall. This year may be a different story as I don't have any speed with all the of the Ironman training and the fact I haven't been able to do any speed work on the run due to my calf. This weeks training has been a bust. The past 2 weeks volume has finally caught up to me. Last week was 24 hours and the previous week was 25 hours. Wednesday's workout I cut short and didn't even do the run. Thursday's workout I cut about 30 mins short due to lack of daylight. I'm trying to get some rest on the legs as workouts where I am just pushing to "just get it done" are not quality workouts and lead to injury. You don't get faster that way. It's better to rest a little and get quality training in. The race on Saturday will be a good quality speed workout (2:10 speed workout). I am still hoping to beat last years time, always looking to improve. I plan on focusing on the bike. Last year I averaged 21.7 mph on the bike and am looking for 22.5 mph this year. I may fry my legs for the run, but I want to see where my bike legs are at. Yeah, I plan on being one of those guys who potentially leaves nothing left on the bike and suffers through the run. I normally avoid this like the plague because I see so many ppl go out too hard on the bike, but I want to test it out. I may find I can still run after a really tough bike. Don't know if you don't try right. We'll see how it goes. Oh, I am super nervous about how the calf is going to hold up on the run. I hope I don't have to stop and massage it. That would SUCK!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Another Soggy Day on the Bike



Got caught in the rain on the bike again this past Sunday. 4.5 hours in the rain just wears you down. If it weren't 41 day's until IMCDA I can guarntee I wouldn't have been out there, unless it was a mistake. See how lovely my bike looked.Grit and muck in the gears grinding away for 75 miles. What a lovely sound.


On a separate and awesome note, I opened the mail on Monday and noticed an envelope from The ING Marathon. In it was this certificate that I actually was 1st place in the 40-49 Age Group. I thought I was 3rd Masters, but who knows how they place Masters, sometime they only take the 1st place Masters, which has me puzzled because then were would the person I thought got 2nd place Masters have gone? He wasn't over 50 and the Masters Division is 40 and older? Oh well, I'll take 1st AG.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

what it Takes



Many of us, especially athlete's, ask ourselves "what does it take to be the best"...pictures say it all. Team Astana (the team Lance is now on) training for the Tour of Italy, called the Giro. A 3 week race in Italy starting today. GO ASTANA!




Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Why Ironman???

The other day someone at work asked me why I put myself through all this "Ironman stuff". It's certainly not the first time the question has been asked. It reminded me of these comments from Scott Tinley. Scott was one of the original pioneers of triathlon back in the early 90's and was a World Champion. Here are his thoughts.

"You ever wonder what regular people think when they hear that close to 20,000 people are trying to get an entry into Kona? They're thinking all those people must have a screw loose, that's what. Yet, I'd bet 1,000 sit-ups that more than a few of them dream about crossing the finish line, all tan and trim, the crowd screaming, their toothpaste commercial smiles caught and beamed out over the airwaves. And I bet that when they wake up in the morning, more than a few roll over and try to hide from the gnawing desire that they, too, could have that same screw loose. Maybe they are realizing that too many of us die too young or too late. Maybe they know that we pull ourselves up by making money, making the grade; all the while taking less and less time to face the fact that there are some things in life we need to do. Just because.
I think the Ironman is one of those things. For all those people, I can't pretend to know why. Hell, I barely have an idea why I did close to 50 of them myself. But I know people are changed by an Ironman. Ironman finishers leave a mark on the world.
Try to define that. Go ahead. The words will never come. It is enough to hear the stories, to watch the returning smiles. Witness the metamorphosis.
Yeah, there is a price--relationships, jobs, sunburns, missing toenails; there always is for the good stuff. But the call of the distant drum is too loud to ignore, too powerful to pawn off as some midlife crisis of the middle manager or desperate plea of a soccer mom. All they want is their one day. One day full of enough feeling and emotion to last an eternity.
But like war, marriage, tight jeans and stick shift cars, the Ironman isn't for everybody. As much as it can give, it can take. If it were easy, it wouldn't mean the same. Even dreams are fair game in the forecast of one's decisions.
I know there are ways to validate one's life. There has to be. The Pulitzer Prize winning author Katherine Anne Porter once said that salvation can only be found through religion and art. I believe that great feats of physical endurance include both those traits.
And in a world that tries its hardest to separate us from what matters, the Ironman helps us to reconnect with the pulse of our lives. As long as it does that, we will be happy to have made the decision to even attempt the dream."

Monday, May 4, 2009

Expanding the Capacity to Suffer

Tough training weekend on the bike. 188 miles and about 15,00 vertical feet. All in all, I handled the volume well. The climbing certainly expanded that area of my training but I think I got the biggest expansion from riding through Saturday's conditions. The ride was almost entirely in the rain. The ride started at 8:00 and literally it started raining at 7:57. Moderate rain for the first 10 miles (enough to feel the rain puddle inside your shoes from it running down your legs into them). We started the first climb at about mile 12 or so. Nothing to bad and actually I was looking forward to the climb to warm up. We lined up in the middle of the pack at the start....A big mistake. My HR wasn't even close to zone 1 until this climb (wasted time in my mind). We passed about 100 or more riders on this first climb. As we started to get to the top the rain really started coming down. I'm talking the really big drops which actually hurt when they hit. Water was gushing down the road surface like a river. Riders started to turn around in droves at this point as the decent down the other side was a steep one and there was a lot of nervous energy in the air. I started to push harder to keep my HR up to produce more heat to fight off the shivering. My skin looked like a lizard it had so many goose bumps on it. Once at the top the rain was still pouring down. We started coming down and it got really cold (55 degrees). Without pedaling my body temperature started to plummet and I started shaking uncontrollably. I was pulling as hard as I could on my brakes just to get enough grip on the wet rims to keep the speeds under 30 mph. My shaking was leading to "speed wobbles" on my bike where the bike shakes side to side. I couldn't help it. I thought for sure I was going to crash an any time. The decent took about 15 mins or so I guess. I didn't time it but it seemed to last forever. About 2/3 through the decent my upper body started to cramp up. My arms and chest just got tighter and tighter. Now I really thought I was going to go down.

Finally the road flattened out and there were EMT and police cars all over the place helping riders. Chris and I decided we couldn't stop because we would never get going again and decided to push hard for the next 10 miles to get produce some heat. We pushed pretty hard, zone 2 and some zone 3 for the next 20 or so minutes, passing tons of riders. It was a catch 22 situation, the faster you rode the more body heat you produced, but the more the rain and air cooled you down. I tried to stay in my aerobars and much as I could to shield my upper body from the rain and to try to use the heat my body was producing. It stated to work. Everything was warming up except the tips of my index fingers. I still couldn't feel them and wouldn't be able to for about another hour or so. We stopped at the 30 mile rest stop to get some food and refill bottles. A cup of coffee really would have hit the spot :)

The last climb of the day, Lookout Mtn. was the toughest of the weekend. The final 1/3 mile is a 20% grade, with the entire climb of 1200 ft coming over just about 2 miles or so.

As I said the climbing was good, but the mental toughness I got from suffering through the weather conditions will be worth it's weight in gold come race time. You see racing for me is all about "he who can suffer the most wins". It isn't natural to handle the suffering. You have to train yourself to do it. Once a co-worker asked me if my legs were burning when I went on my 5-6 hour bike rides. Seemed like a strange question to me, but I answered politely, yes they are on fire the entire time (in my mind I was thinking, what would be the point if they weren't...just wasting time). Long rides are all about training the body how to handle the suffering, although there a different levels of suffering and the long bike days are the least intense, but none the less still a lot of suffering. Oh, by the way you still have to run a marathon when you are done suffering on the bike, so you better manage that too :)

Friday, May 1, 2009

April's in the Book's

April all in all was a month plagued with my left calf injury. Run mileage was off over 100 miles. Mileage has just recently come back up in the >50 mpw range. I have been training with the pain, which gets mentally exhausting. I wish so badly this would heal up, but rest is the only thing which will do that, and frankly I don't have the time. 7 week's until race weekend. Big bike weekend starting today with >200 miles and ~16,000 verticle feet.


April's totals:
Bike: 37h 18m 26s - 736.76 Mi
Run: 17h 38m 10s - 148 Mi
Swim: 10h 03m 52s - 37883 Yd
Strength: 7h 10m

Hoping May will be >1,000 miles on the bike and >230 miles running. It will all depend on the calf. Also, I start racing in May which will take my mileage down some.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Putting it all Together

The biggest challenge, and frankly what makes triathlon a great sport in my mind, is putting all three sports together. What I mean by this is crafting your training to make sure one sport isn't lagging behind the others. I hear so many times at the end of races...."dude I had a personal record (that's called a PR) on the bike by 5 minutes." What they aren't talking about is that they had to start walking at mile 3 on the run because they had nothing left in their legs. All three sports have to progress at the same, or at least at race time you have to try to get your fitness as close as you can. This often means training your hardest on the sport you are the weakest in. Sounds easy, but for most this means they have to spend the most amount of time doing the sport they like the least. For me, I guess I'm lucky in that I like all 3 of the sports, but like running the best. For me they all are so different it is refreshing. Like yesterday I trained for 6.5 hours, doing a long bike, a short run, and a short swim later. It didn't feel like 6.5 hours of "training" because each sport is so different.

So speaking of training more on your weakest sport, which for me is biking. April and the first 1/2 of May are all about the bike, meaning biking is the focus. I hope to get 800 mils in on the bike in April and about that in May (I start racing in May so that impacts total miles by lowering them....which I know sounds funny). My calf injury has greatly reduced my run mileage in April to less than 1/2 of what it typically is, which is ok as I am in bike focus mode.

Speaking of the calf, I still haven't pinpointed exactly what is going on. I believe it is a strained muscle, but at times it has the characteristics of tendinitis. It is slowly healing and with any luck will be healed for my first Tri race mid May.

Yesterday's bike workout was in the mountains in North GA. and yes there are mountains in GA. 86 miles and 11,300 vertical ft of climbing. We did 6 gaps (mountains), think lot's of switchback and 7 miles of steady climbing and 2500 vertical ft. 40-42 mins to go 7 miles means you are just grinding. I am happy with my climbing ability and now believe it will be an advantage at IMCDA. I have been telling myself that for a couple months, because I have the perfect physical characteristics for a climber (very high strength to weight ratio). My lean build will wreck havoc on the big guys who are suited for pushing the big gears on the flats. I can get up the mountains faster with less effort. Hopefully this will all lead to less stress on my legs going into the marathon.

The biking is coming together! Need to do a little more work on the swim, which I am starting on today....4000 yd swim on the books for later today.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Epic Bike Weekend

A couple days ago a friend of mine who is also racing Ironman Coeur d'Alene called and suggested we do an epic bike weekend the first weekend in May. A century bike ride is a 100 mile ride. There is also something called a metric century, which is 100 km (about 62 miles). He suggested we do the 3 State - 3 Mountain Century (100 miles) in Chattanooga, TN (about 90 mins for Atlanta) on Saturday, and then the Cheaha Challenge in Piedmont, AL on Sunday. Both are major climbing century rides. Here are the profiles:

All told, 200 miles of riding and about 15,000 vertical ft (3 miles) of climbing. Oh, and yeah we plan on running after each ride. That outta do it.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Love the New Bike Setup

Rode my first ride on the new and improved bike a couple days ago. I moved my Sunday long ride to Saturday on account of crappy weather forecasted for Sunday (which never really happened). From the start I couldn't believe how much more power I could produce. I have spent a bunch of time thinking weather my legs were just fresher due to no running (my calf has sidelined my running this past week), or whether it is the new bike set up. At any rate I was faster. At the one hour mark I was about where I was a couple weeks ago, 21.1 miles, but no tail wind this time, and I was solo. At the 40 mile mark I was about 15 mins faster than I have ever been, and at the 45.5 mark I was over 13 mins faster than my previous record. I know this spot well as it used to be the end of the trail until they finished the connecting 5 mile section. You can now go from Atlanta all the way to Birmingham, AL on the trail system. I haven't been all the way to Birmingham, but I have rode 12 miles into AL from Atlanta on a 140 mile ride last fall. So it took me 2:10 to get to the 45.5 mile mark, where I turned around. I continued at this pace until about mile 69, when I started to crack. I didn't bring enough food and my heart rate was much higher than usual, which means I am burning more fuel. I stopped at mile 20 for a bottle fill....fountains still not turned on, rats. So, out of food, extremely low on Gatorade and now I have to ration drinking for the next 20 miles. Well it all caught up to my with 6 miles to go. Complete BONK! A bonk is when you have emptied your glycogen store and you muscles have no fuel. Your only source of fuel is fat and it is harder for your body to break that down, which results in you slowing down. There is nothing you can do at that point. Physically, it is a limitation there is no work around for. The training is to teach your body how to avoid this. I've been over this before. Well I am not really sure how I made it back to the car those last 6 miles as it was all I could do to not pass out. I too about 30 minutes once at the car to try to eat something, but I just couldn't get anything down and even water was a chore. I felt this same way after each of my 3 Ironman's. The drive home was a blur as I was in a haze. I made sure not to set the cruise control as passing out with the cruise on wouldn't be good. Not that passing out while driving with the cruise off is all that great.

When I cycle it has been VERY difficult for me to get my Heart rate out of zone 1 and to hold it in zone 2 required such mental focus it was just mentally too exhaustive to do for more than 10 minutes at a time. This has puzzled the hell out of me for months and months. Why can I not push on the bike and get my heart rate up? Well with the new set up I realized within the first 15 mins of my ride Saturday I was able to get my heart rate into zone 4 and hold it there relatively effortlessly. I was able to push hard and keep pushing without it taking complete mental focus. I am amazed at what some small tweaks to my body position can do for my power output! Simply amazing. Oh, finished my ride at 20.25 mph average, even after my complete collapse on the last part of the ride. Up until mile 69, I was averaging over 21 mph, which is smokin' fast for me on that course with 4200 ft of climbing.

Friday, April 3, 2009

My Baby's Back

Got my bike back from "he who know's all things bike" today. Here's some bike porn for you, all be it a little blurry (probably because it is so shiny). :) New cassette, new chain rings, new chain, new aerobars, which I'm hoping will solve the speed wobble issue. New front and back wheel bearings when they arrive in the next couple weeks. Should be set for another 10,000 miles.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

March is in the Books

Overall March wasn't as big a month as it should have been. My calf injury, bike mechanical issues, and my marathon all reduced training in the last week of the month. Numbers were as follows:


March's totals:
Bike: 24h 15m 22s - 474.37 Mi
Run: 27h 36m 53s - 235.09 Mi
Swim: 6h 02m - 22218 Yd
Strength: 9h 05m

Run volume was pretty good, but the injury and race took about 15 miles off. A 250 mile month would have been amazing, but I"ll take 235. The bike miles were pretty pathetic, and should have been at least 150 miles more. April will be bike month for sure. I hope the weather holds out. If I have any chance to nail Ironman CDA, April has to be a big bike month, both quantity and quality. Swim volume is still way low, but planned that way. April will be about 12,000-17,000 more yds.

I've decided I'm not racing the Gulf Coast Half Ironman this Spring as my bike repairs cost a chunk of cash and the travel, registration fees, hotel for this race are pretty expensive (probably about $600). I may substitute a local Sprint distance race instead. I haven't raced a Sprint since 2005, so it should be interesting. They are usually like 600 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run. I'd race it ALL OUT the who thing...as fast as you can go. Even though it's a short race, your HR is pegged for about an hour and it hurts for sure.

Monday, March 30, 2009

2009 ING Georgia Marathon


Race went nearly perfectly as planned. As mentioned below my super stretch goal was sub 3 hours. Well I went 3:00:16 officially. My watch had :09 faster, but still not under 3 hours. My pacing was nearly perfect as I was never more than 70 seconds off of the mile splits. I have a complete race report up on my training blog - race report section, which goes into further detail. In summary it was a tough course with lot's of hills late in the run. It is said, and I agree, that mile 20 marks the half way point physically and mentally in a marathon and to throw hill after hill in those miles is brutal. I was fully expecting the hills so I was prepared. The really long one at mile 19 that was 1.3 miles. That took me about 40 seconds longer in that mile than my pacing chart called for and wiped out my time advantage I had built up.

I placed 3rd in the Masters Division which was a nice surprise and 29th overall. I'm pleased with the placing for this race as it was a large regional race. All 50 states represented and I think 23 countries. 15,000 runners, including the 1/2 marathoners. A personal recond by over 24 minutes!!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Georgia ING Marathon in 4 Day's

So I haven't run just a marathon (that wasn't the run part in an Ironman) in 5 years, nearly to the day (3/27/2004). That was my first endurance event and I won my age group, which I guess is what started all this madness. If I had taken last in my AG, who know, maybe I wouldn't have caught the "bug", but I have always been competitive so I am guessing the bug would have come sooner or later :) I ran 3:24:26 back in 2004.

I have set a super stretch goal for myself of 2:59:59 for ING Georgia marathon on 3/29/2009. :24:27 is a lifetime difference in time, let alone being 5 years older. ING is a tough course. A buddy on mine, who ran Boston, New York, and Georgia last year said Georgia is by far the most difficult. Hill's baby, Hill's, I believe were his words. We'll see how it goes. My calf still isn't healed as it was bothering me on my Monday long run. I'm staying off it as much as possible this week. I'll probably only run 5-6 miles on Thursday, then the marathon on Sunday. Overall it will be a pitiful run volume week, but it is probably best to rest it anyway and I'd rather rest it before a marathon then to just rest it during normal training.

For this race I need to average 6:52 / mile, which is only :08 / mile faster than my long training run pace. Simple right.....well the "real" hills start at mile 18 and don't let up until the end. I've read last years race reports from folks who ran it and the main theme is BRUTAL. I'm scared for sure. Fatigue really starts to set in about mile 18 and then to start climbing....should be a real suffer fest!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

March 3rd Week Summary

Well last week was eventful. Monday's run was hampered by what I've now diagnosed as a fatigued left calf. This is a condition of an over trained muscle and can be pretty common in Ironman training. A muscle gets very fatigued from a workout and the following workouts start to add up as recovery just isn't happening. This last week was a recovery week. Training gets progressively longer / harder each week, every 4th week the volume backs off so your body can recover. Ironically, the Monday run of a recovery week I feel has a high chance of injury. Your body doesn't know it is recovery week until the run ends (shorter than usual). Well this is exactly what happened, at mile 7, I fell the calf. I think it is pretty much recovered at this point, but will keep an eye on it. I missed some training this week, as well. I took Wednesday's bike and run off to recover the Calf, also, Thursday's ride was cut about 60 minutes short due to rain. Sunday's long brick (a bike and run workout), was a total bust. I had planned 112 mile bike and a 6 mile run. 8.5 miles into the bike I noticed something wrong with my bike. I decided it best to turn around rather than get 55 miles out and have a real problem and not be able to ride back. I bumped my run up to 10 miles. All told 6 hours on the bike lost, about 2 hours on the run lost.

Weekly totals:
Bike 102 miles
Run 60 miles
Swim 4800 yds

March to date
Bike 429 miles
Run 189 miles
Swim 15,544 yds
Strength 6:20

Thursday, March 19, 2009

What's a Good Weight?

As a triathlete, ounces matter! Think of it this way, drop a 10 pound weight into a backpack and put it on and leave it on all day long. By the end of the day you will be tired. Same concept for racing. Dragging even 1 extra pound up and down the mountains on the bike and up and down hills on the run for 140.6 miles will take it's toll. So the name of the game is to get lean....but it ain't that simple unfortunatly.

During the Winter I put 8-10 pounds to train from and to keep me warm. You can't believer how cold you get on a 6 hour bike ride at 40 degrees. Seriously, it can take me 4 or 5 hours to warm up after that. It's not fun at all and takes every oune of will power to get out there. In the Spring, right now, I take the weight back off. Now where it gets complicated. Muscle weight more than fat, quite a bit more. All Winter long I have been strength training and have put a bit of muscle on, so what should my racing weight be? I won't share my weight with you because it tends to produce some strange looks as I tend to be pretty lean already. The trick is to shed the fat not the muscle. The process of shedding the fat can, if not careful shed the muscle first. The human body is amazing at self preservation. It doesn't want to let go of that fat if it doesn't have to. It is kind of the last resort of survival. So the key is to do it slowly and to eat the right things which keep the muscle. The right things are LOT'S of lean protein and very little fat, and cetainly no saturated fat. I try to target >100 g of lean protein and <20g of fat (<4g of saturated fat). My baseline caloric level at this time of year is about 1875, which means if I eat 1875 calories a day I will maintain my weight....in theory. It doesn't really work that way though because a lot has to do with when you eat what. I've went over the different types of fuel your body uses and which it prefers (glycogen and fat). What most people don't realize is how your body's efficiency can turn a good thing into a bad thing. For instance, the best fat free - high carb food will be converted to fat if not used. It changes from person to person but if carbs are not burned ro used to top off your glycogen reserves your very efficient body will "save them for later", it's way of saving them is to convert them to fat. So you have to be carfull of not only what you eat, but when you eat it. The when you eat it is my biggest issue. When I am done training it is sometimes almost 9:00 at night and I am damn hungry and want to eat a horse. Certain you have to refuel after the workout to get your gycogen reserves back in place for the next workout, especially if it is in the morning, but it is so hard to stop at what most people would call a snack.

So back to the original issue of what is the right weight. I have raced as low as about 2% bodyfat before and was fast, but didn't feel like I had a lot of energy. I am targeting 2.5% for my Ironman races, which means I have about 6 pounds to loose in 93 day's. Works out to about 1/2 pound a week, which is definitely doable. To do this I have to log everything I eat and anayze the carbs - protein - fat percentages. It's really a pain in the arse and I hate doing it, but at least my training log has a very handy tool for recording and tracking it. So long story short

I'm Back on the Wagon Again!!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

What's the Difference Between Good and Bad Pain?

Once I told a friend the best training session is the one where you come oh so close to injury but don't. After a few moments of blanks stares of "are you nuts" I explained what I was talking about. A lot of workouts, the exception being a recovery type workout, are designed to push your body. It's this pushing which makes you stronger. Some workouts push you via higher intensity, such as an interval workout. Interval workouts are speed workouts where you are going fast for short periods, think a track workout where you are doing 800m repeats with just a minute or two rest between. Other workouts you push yourself by going long where the length of the workout is what is providing the "work". The intensity is pretty low, but the miles add up and you get tired. Understanding these two workout extremes helps breakdown the different types of pain experienced. Intervals usually generate cardiovascular pain...out of breath, heart beating out of your chest type pain. The long workouts generate a whole different type of pain, ranging from my muscles are sore, to my energy levels are gone. Where it gets tricky is being able to identify what should be hurting and what shouldn't been hurting. Years of experience helps you with this.

Last night I had a long slow distance run of 2:07, which should have been just over 18 miles at my training pace for this level of workout (7:00 / mile). About 7 miles in my left calf started to tighten up and become painful. This was the type of pain which shouldn't be hurting. I walked for about a minute, then stopped and stretched for about 3 minutes to no avail. Now a 7 mile gimpy walk is going to take me about 2 hours and I wasn't dressed for a walk. I VERY RARELY ever walk during training, like maybe once every couple months, and only for an injury diagnosis like this. I call it the walk of shame. I guess it's just something about me....don't walk in a race, why would you allow yourself to do it in training.

Faced with the possibility of a 2 hour walk I decided to try to run it out, hoping not to worsen the injury. So I started out running at about 9:00 / mile and got it up to about 8:15 / mile, then a guy passes me. Ummm, I haven't been passed on a training run in like 5 years, and he didn't look like anything special (like a collegiate athlete), so I decided to HTFU (harden the F up) and get moving. My second run on Friday, 10 miles in the morning follow by 20 miles at night, didn't go so well as I was hurting all over and my mental toughness was gone and I actually ended the second run at 16 miles. I couldn't let 2 runs within a week end like this, so I decided to push through the pain and passed the guy and was running 7:00 miles again. After another 4 - 5 miles my calf pain was manageable so I finished the entire 2:07 run.

I certainly identified the calf pain as "unusual" and now I am left with some atypical fatigue there. I have another workout schedule for tonight, bike and run, and I am trying to decide if I should just take the day off to be safe. It's beautiful outside and I want to run. Oh the guilt of missing a workout is unbelievable, seriously I feel very guilty even though I know I should rest.

Not sure what I'll do????? I mean what do you do after work in the middle of the week until 9:00 at night? Go to a movie, I guess I could do tomorrow morning's swim workout early :)

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

March Week Two Update

Last weeks weather was typical I guess for Georgia this time of year. Started off Sunny and upper 70's on Monday and ended rainy and 40's on Sunday. The rain wrecked havoc in my training for the week. I was able to get my run in on Friday as the rain didn't start until early Sat. morning. My planned bike in the north GA mountains on Sat was cancelled and moved indoors for a 2 hour spin class. It's a good substitute, but not the same and for those who think spinning is the same, you are mistaken. Gearing up while on a bike to increase intensity (to go faster) is not the same load on your legs as increasing the resistance on a stationary bike to "simulate" it. It certainly is better than nothing and beats the heck out of catching pneumonia from riding in 38 degree pouring rain. Sunday I missed a 6 hour ride and substituted a 60 min. spin class and a 9.25 mile - 1 hour run on a treadmill at the gym. I don't care much for treadmill running, I think I described that before in a post...lots of looks like "why is that guy sweating so much and 'sprinting.'" 9.25 mph is my zone 1 pace and I'm not sprinting, but it is true I produce a lot of sweat and general soak my running shoes in an hour run, which is another reason I don't like it...they start stinking then...aewwwww. March to date numbers:


March's totals:
Bike: 16h 45m 09s - 326.65 Mi
Run: 16h 21m 04s - 138.23 Mi
Swim: 2h 57m - 10740 Yd
Strength: 4h

Monday, March 9, 2009

March Week 1 Totals

Ok so Feb is done and overall training was just "OK". Run is coming along good. Had a 1/2 marathon on Feb 14 and won the Masters Title. All races do it different but if they have a Masters Division, which is 40 years old and above, they figure out the over all 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers, then the Masters 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (this race they only had places for the Masters 1st place, which was me), then they name the individual Age Group Winners. So basically, they pull out the Overall and Masters winners first. I think I was 7th overall. All in all it was an ok race for me 1:24:07. It drizzled and then rained and there were more hills than I was trained for. Swim is still in dormant stage, swimming twice a week. March I'll start to bring the volume up. Bad weather in the later part of the month forced me inside and I missed a lot of mileage the last two Sunday's. Overall numbers were:


February's totals:
Bike: 30h 04m - 551.66 Mi
Run: 26h 00m 10s - 222.89 Mi
Swim: 3h 37m - 13531 Yd
Strength: 8h 00m

Week 1 in March off to a pretty good start, weather this past weekend was awesome with both day's in the mid 70's. Found a training partner for the bike who is a bit better than me. We are both from WI and actually went to the same University. Small world. I'll be MEGA painful to train long rides with him, but it is exactly what I need to improve on the bike. I have been throwing volume at it for 2 years and have seen some success, but to get to the next level, I need to PUSH, PUSH, PUSH. Yesterday was the first ride and we averaged a little over 20 mph with some good hills and LOT's of wind. That is probably 2 mph faster than I would have rode in those conditions, so it was tough. March to date numbers:


March's totals:
Bike: 9h 20m - 184.23 Mi
Run: 8h 12m 48s - 68.96 Mi
Swim: 56m - 3414 Yd
Strength: 1h 40m

Friday, February 27, 2009

Running in the Rain

Ok, so it ain't like Singing in the Rain. I typically run 2 runs on Friday's as my training plan calls for ridiculous mileage on Friday's, so I break it up. Basically, for a runner, anything beyond 20 miles gets risky for injuries. It appears to be this way for all distance runners. Probably has something to do with how us humans are built. I have been trying to get my legs used to running 21 or 22, but sometimes I experience swelling in the ankles, which is a sign of too much pounding. So I usually break up my Friday runs by running 4-8 miles in the morning, and 20 or so in the evening, depending on the total minutes I need to run for the day, I keep the evening run at 20ish and vary the morning run.

There is some raining cold weather moving into Atlanta for the weekend so I figured I would flip flop my long and short runs so I could get the long one in outside. The long run is a mixture of several different training disciplines which don't lend themselves well for running on a treadmill. I guess it isn't that the discipline doesn't lend itself well to the treadmill, it's more I don't like doing the discipline on the treadmill. I'll tell you why in a moment. For example, Friday's long run typically has a tempo section, an interval section, and what is called strength (not normal strength like lifting weights) section. Tempo means pretty fast. On a scale of 1 - 10, 10 being as fast as you can go....being chased by a grizzly bear fast. Tempo would be a 7 or maybe 8. Intervals are sometime called "track work". I wear a GPS devise which keeps track of my distance, which reads out on my watch so I don't specifically need to go to a track as I can tell my distance traveled on my watch. As an example my interval section today was 47 minutes of 1/3 mile all out (as in 10 on the scale) followed by 1/3 mile easy recovery (2-3 on the scale). You don't actually ever stop running just slow down. I find it easier this way as my legs tend to tighten up when I stop after a hard interval. The Strength section is a little faster than normal, but not as fast as the tempo, about a 5-6 on the scale.

Today's workout was 40 min Tempo, 47 min of intervals, 55 min of strength (will do another 50 mins of strength this evening at the gym). This week I actually pulled an additional 40 mins and tacked in onto the end of my long bike. The true plan called for 3:57 running today, which would have been something like 34 miles, which obviously is just too much.

So back to the treadmill thing. As described above most of the long run part of Friday's run is pretty fast stuff. When I try to do this on a treadmill I get looked at like I am some sort of freak. First of all some treadmills won't go fast enough for my interval work. I need one which will go up to 12 mph (some top out at 11 or even 10). The fast - slow - fast thing about intervals I guess is something most don't understand with interval work. I usually will get someone trying to tell me I'm going to hurt myself if I keep changing my speed back and forth. The tempo section is pretty aggressive and I usually get very hot, so sweat is dripping off of my pretty good, which gets lots of strange looks. Basically, I don't like having to deal with all of this, so I prefer doing this part of the run outside....let alone running on a treadmill for 2 1/2 hours is not something that interests me.

Boy that was a long explanation as to why I was running "outside" and "in the morning"...so I am about 10.5 miles or so from home and it started raining. Drizzle at first which actually was really nice and peaceful. There really wasn't anyone else out and it seemed I had the world to myself. After awhile it started raining a little harder and the wind kicked up. Ok, not so peaceful now and I am actually starting to get really cold. Water is starting to run...not drip off the visor of my running hat and my legs are starting to get really tight from the cold rain on them. After about 5 miles of this I am finally back home where I sat in the hot shower for about 20 mins to get the chill out. Brrrrr!!!!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Some Might Get This, Some Might Not

Ok, I was laughing to tears when I read this.....too funny not to share.

TRANSLATION OF A TRIATHLETE'S VOCABULARY:
"I am an outdoors type of person." Really means: I train in any type of weather. If its raining, snowing, 90 degrees w/100% humidity, or winds gusting at 30 mph. I don't want to hear any complaints because I will still train in it and you're just a big wuss for complaining about it.
"I enjoy riding my bike." Really means: with or w/o aero bars, alone or in a peleton, I don't care. If you can't do a spur of the moment 30 miler then you're not my type. I will let you draft, but if you can't hang and I drop you - I will see you later.
"I enjoy jogging." Really means: Lets run hills until we puke. I have just as many shoes as you only mine are better because they are functional and all look the same.
"I enjoy dining out." Really means: I enjoy eating out, in or anywhere else I can find food. Don't be shy because with the amount of food I eat, you can have that main entree instead of a salad and you will still look as though you eat like a rabbit in comparison. Don't get your limbs too close though as I may take a bite out of you. Most importantly don't expect any taste off my plate unless you can bring something to the party like more food. Oh, and don't ask me any questions during breakfast, Mid Morning Lunch, Lunch, Afternoon lunch, Dinner or Recovery Dinner as it does not lend to efficient food intake.
"I enjoy quiet walks on the beach." Really means: Walks on the beach warming up into an 8 mile run and then plunging myself in the ocean for a 2 miler. If you get in my way youre going to find out what mass start is and let me assure you that you don't want to find out.
"I find fulfillment in charitable work." Really means: If I am not racing, I am volunteering and I expect you to be there along side me as I stand out in 90 degree weather for 8 hours handing out sports drink to cyclists going 20 mph. Just stick the ol' arm out there and hope it doesn't get taken off.
"I enjoy sharing quiet moments together." Really means: It's taper time. Just back off because I am strategizing and in a pissy mood because I am worried about my "A" race and can't workout.
"I enjoy site seeing." Really means: Lets grab a bike and get our HR's up to 90%. There's plenty of time to look around on the descent as trees and bushes whiz by you at 40 mph.
"I like stimulating conversation. " Really means: while we are running, we can talk about food. Then we can talk about how we decided what to wear on this run based on the temperature at start time versus the temperature at the time we expect to finish, how horribly out of shape we are, how many miles we did last week, and how many we will do this week and next week. Then we can talk about food.
"I enjoy road trips and leisurely drives." Really means: You have your choice of Wisconsin, Idaho, Florida, California, Arizona, and New York, but don't expect to do much site seeing. If I get enough support from you we might be able to include Hawaii in there.
"I am an active person." Really means: Aside from my 40 hour job, and the 8 mandatory hours of sleep a night. 10 hours a week are devoted to me during the off-season and 20 during race season leaving us 4 hours. 2 of which are spent inhaling food and you not talking to me, so lets make the best of the 2 hours we will spend together on average each day. If you are a licensed massage therapist or doctor this would make the most optimal use of our time together. Nutritionist is also acceptable, but I probably already know just as much as you.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Oh my goodness it's been awhile since my last post, sorry. I'll improve, promise. Training has progressed pretty well thus far. I little touch of illness at the beginning of Jan. but no big deal. Run is coming along, but I am concerned my plan has be running too much too early. I am at about 55 miles per week already on 4 runs per week (that's over 13 miles average per run and one of the runs is only 6-8 miles so lot's of long runs). Bike hasn't come along as well as the weather has been so cold out and I went over a month without being able to get on my bike (still did spin classes 3-4 times a week, but it's not the same). Still in "maintenance mode" on the swim, which means swimming just enough to maintain strock and shoulder strength.

Numbers for Jan closed at:

January's totals:
Bike: 25h 45m - 469.79 Mi
Run: 23h 08m 10s - 196.02 Mi
Swim: 5h 07m - 15951 Yd
Strength: 7h 30m

2008 totals closed at:

Bike: 350h 43m 48s - 6518.86 Mi
Run: 238h 57m 21s - 1955.55 Mi
Swim: 62h 42m 14s - 227068 Yd
Strength: 108h 20m

Here is something I read on the site where I blog my daily training and laughed my rear end off because it is all sooo true. It's labeled the vocabulary of a Triathlete...

TRANSLATION OF A TRIATHLETE'S VOCABULARY:
"I am an outdoors type of person." Really means: I train in any type of weather. If its raining, snowing, 90 degrees w/100% humidity, or winds gusting at 30 mph. I don't want to hear any complaints because I will still train in it and you're just a big wuss for complaining about it.

"I enjoy riding my bike." Really means: with or w/o aero bars, alone or in a peleton, I don't care. If you can't do a spur of the moment 30 miler then you're not my type. I will let you draft, but if you can't hang and I drop you - I will see you later.

"I enjoy jogging." Really means: Lets run hills until we puke. I have just as many shoes as you only mine are better because they are functional and all look the same.

"I enjoy dining out." Really means: I enjoy eating out, in or anywhere else I can find food. Don't be shy because with the amount of food I eat, you can have that main entree instead of a salad and you will still look as though you eat like a rabbit in comparison. Don't get your limbs too close though as I may take a bite out of you. Most importantly don't expect any taste off my plate unless you can bring something to the party like more food. Oh, and don't ask me any questions during breakfast, Mid Morning Lunch, Lunch, Afternoon lunch, Dinner or Recovery Dinner as it does not lend to efficient food intake.

"I enjoy quiet walks on the beach." Really means: Walks on the beach warming up into an 8 mile run and then plunging myself in the ocean for a 2 miler. If you get in my way youre going to find out what mass start is and let me assure you that you don't want to find out.

"I find fulfillment in charitable work." Really means: If I am not racing, I am volunteering and I expect you to be there along side me as I stand out in 90 degree weather for 8 hours handing out sports drink to cyclists going 20 mph. Just stick the ol' arm out there and hope it doesn't get taken off.

"I enjoy sharing quiet moments together." Really means: It's taper time. Just back off because I am strategizing and in a pissy mood because I am worried about my "A" race and can't workout.

"I enjoy site seeing." Really means: Lets grab a bike and get our HR's up to 90%. There's plenty of time to look around on the descent as trees and bushes whiz by you at 40 mph.

"I like stimulating conversation. " Really means: while we are running, we can talk about food. Then we can talk about how we decided what to wear on this run based on the temperature at start time versus the temperature at the time we expect to finish, how horribly out of shape we are, how many miles we did last week, and how many we will do this week and next week. Then we can talk about food.

"I enjoy road trips and leisurely drives." Really means: You have your choice of Wisconsin, Idaho, Florida, California, Arizona, and New York, but don't expect to do much site seeing. If I get enough support from you we might be able to include Hawaii in there.

"I am an active person." Really means: Aside from my 40 hour job, and the 8 mandatory hours of sleep a night. 10 hours a week are devoted to me during the off-season and 20 during race season leaving us 4 hours. 2 of which are spent inhaling food and you not talking to me, so lets make the best of the 2 hours we will spend together on average each day. If you are a licensed massage therapist or doctor this would make the most optimal use of our time together. Nutritionist is also acceptable, but I probably already know just as much as you.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Christmas 2008






Posting a little late here but time to write was at a premium. I had a great Christmas with the kids in Wisconsin. The weather didn't really cooperate in getting there as it took about a day and half starting off with a cancelled flight into Milwaukee. But hey, if you are going to travel to the Midwest in the Winter, you have to expect this.






We celebrated Birthday's as well. Emily's 6th and Ryan's 11th. Ryan is now taller than Grandma and soon approaching me. If he is anything like me though he has about 2 more years of growing and he'll stop. I was the tallest kid in the 6th grade, then I just stopped growing. Grandma baked a birthday cake which the kids loved.