One Month In ...

Ok ... its the end of January and I'm done with my first month of training. I had originally planned on posting about the work I did this month: total number of hours, total distances, etc. Then I saw this video: Sh*t Triathletes Say (which is absolutely hilarious). So instead of recreating the video I'll go ahead and talk about how much of a learning experience the last month has been (and yes fun too). By the way, is this carbon?

The biggest difference between this month and any other training I've ever done is the focus on drill work. If I'm in the pool, half of the distance is on drills and most of that work is the drills that I suck at the most. Sooner or later it will click. Until then, i'm reminded just how much Micheal Phelps and I don't have in common. If I'm on the bike, I'm working on pedal efficiency and being fluid through the entire revolution. All of this is pretty foreign to me but there is huge value in it. Whoever said work smarter not harder was definitely onto something. Yes yes, the hard is coming but for now I get to pretend to be smart. Have you gone gluten free?

The next thing I've learned is how important not having to do this alone really is. Two hour trainer sessions on Saturday morning would suck pretty bad by yourself, but when there are 11 other people showing up to do the same thing (as well as teammates in other garages doing the same exact workout), it stops being a workout and becomes a social gathering. When we're done we go inside and eat breakfast and drink coffee. Group runs? Same thing. My favorite so far was my first headlamp run at the =PR= store at the Reston Town Center. I text my coach and ask if we are still running to which he replied "yes." I felt it was better to not ask my prepared follow up question of "but its 45 degrees and raining, are you sure?" Figured it would be best to keep my mouth shut, show up, and run. Turned out to be a really awesome run. The accountability is amazing, bottom line. I hear Crowie trains with this stuff.

Finally ... BALANCE. This is hard. I need to work on this the most, especially as the hours start to build. Figuring out what time of day to do each workout, am I eating enough on certain days, am I sleeping enough (the answer to this question is always no), can I move this here and do that tomorrow? This will be the never ending battle. To ensure that there is at least some non-IM time I let some friends talk me into playing Skeeball on Thursday nights and just this Tuesday had an awesome night out at a Country Bar. However, line dancing after a threshold spin session was kinda brutal. But the rules of engagement for these nights out are simple: no talking or thinking about IMLP and have a few beers. I totally bonked during the run.

"There are two types of pain in this world: the temporary pain of discipline or the permanent pain of regret."

One month down ... 5.5 to go

Going “All In”

At some point, there comes a moment when what you originally decided was acceptable is, well, no longer acceptable. When I signed up for IMLP my first thought was, “I’m going to complete an Ironman.” That quickly didn’t seem like enough so I through out a number that seemed like a stretch, 12 hours. I was happy with this because my fastest 70.3 to date is 6:16:00 so in order to hit 12 hours I’d have to improve enough to not only be faster than that my current best HIM time, but do it for twice as long. I was ok with this. Anyone who finishes an IM period, much less in 12 hours, has every reason to be ecstatic about what they just accomplished.

And then it happened ...

One night I’m having a few beers and catching up with a dear friend who I hadn’t seen in a long time. We are catching up on all kinds of stuff, her racing, my racing, life in general, and a lot of laughing and poking fun at each other for the routes we had chosen the last few years. So we get on the topic of me doing IMLP and she looks at me and asks what my goal time is. I say 12 hours and without missing a beat she says, “ok, now what do you really want to finish in?” I was confused so she clarified. “Twelve hours is what you tell people, but deep down what do you secretly want to hit?” Until this moment I’d never really thought about it. But the wheels started to turn and all of a sudden 12 hours was no longer acceptable. If I’m going to do this, I’m going all in. I’m going to do everything in my power to put myself in the best position to be as fast as I can.

Enter Team FeXY. I had seen the name at races but never really thought much of it. This team was also brought up during the aforementioned dinner as well as the thought that it would be a good fit for me. So I call up a fraternity brother who races for them and get to talking. They have a good group of racers who focus on IM and a group of really great coaches. So a phone call led to an email which led to a happy hour with my soon to be coach which led to a team happy hour and me getting the thumbs up to join the team.

This all came together so fast and just how I think everything should be, EASY. I couldn’t be happier with the decision and I’m excited for the race season and to race for Team FeXY. The best part is the team has 20 other members competing in Lake Placid. I won't be going at this alone. Weekly trainer sessions and track workouts will all be other teammates working towards the same goal.

So after a relatively short off season (November and December), some baseline fitness testing, and some goal setting (full set of goals to be revealed after the season) it is now time to get to work. Weekly training schedules are already being provided and the race schedule is set.

Jan 6 – Feb 3: FeXY Coaching Swim Clinic
Mar 6: B&A Trail Marathon
Mar 17: Rock and Roll Marathon DC
Apr 14/15: Rumpuss Double
May 10: White Lake 70.3
May 18-20: American Triple T (Ohio)
Jun ~14-~17: Lake Placid Training Camp
Jul 7: General Smallwood Olympic
July 22: IMLP

So there it is, my next 7 months.

"I never said it was going to be easy, I said it was going to be worth it."