Bad cliché forthcoming … you’ve been warned.
Time flies when you’re having fun, right? April is over and this was definitely a fun month. The month started off pretty easily as I had my first “recovery” week. I’m sure this wasn’t a recovery week by most people’s standards but it was fewer hours than the 2 previous weeks so I was happy with it. The following weekend was Rumpus Double which I’ve already written about. These “race” weeks are great with maybe 5 hours of easy workouts leading up to the weekend.
After Rumpus we went straight into 2 more build weeks and this was hard. Baldwin talked me into my first 100 mile ride (oh which there will be plenty more in the next few months) which went well. We knocked out a decent bit of climbing and I felt ok. My nutrition wasn’t the best again and I resorted to eating a Natures Valley granola bar with 6 miles to go just make it to through. Top that off with a 30 minute run, quick nap, and then suiting up for dinner and going to Ozio for a friend’s birthday. That was definitely a good day. That Sunday was nasty out and all I wanted to do was stay in bed but was told that I needed to go to the FeXY Open Water Swim Clinic, so I did. The water was warmer than the ambient temperature; there should be rules against this, but no matter, it was a very beneficial and I picked up some helpful information.
The following week was hard. It was a classic example of trying to do everything. It was another build week but I had Bryan and Rita’s wedding in Annapolis that weekend. The week didn’t even come close to going as planned. By the time Wednesday’s track work came around I was getting concerned about the weekend and I was really feeling drained from the previous 2 weeks. I made it through Wednesday but had 2 hours on the bike Thursday of which I did 1:20:00 minutes. I felt like death and fell over on my bed immediately passed out for 40 minutes or so. Friday was even worse. I took off from work so I could get a long ride in and thankfully Chris G rode with me. I was supposed to do 5 hours and we made it through 50 miles and 3 hours. I could barely keep up with him and my legs felt terrible. I didn’t run after and was on the verge of my first “come apart” (KWeds term for an adult temper tantrum). Luckily, I didn’t have much time to focus on it because I had to get ready for the rehearsal. There was supposed to be another long ride on Saturday, but after talking it through I decided that I was going to skip it and take the day off completely. I had a lot to do to get ready for the wedding and I didn’t want to be rushed. I needed this. BADLY. I don’t like skipping workouts or cutting them short but I had no problems with it this time. The day turned out great and the wedding was a lot of fun. With a decent run on Sunday I might have done half of my hours for this week. I was buried and needed to recover a bit. All is well.
Overall it was another great month and they are just ticking away. April had far more ups and downs than previous ones but it’s all good. Next month is pure craziness with White Lake Half Iron, American Triple T, and then Spain for Victoria and Jeff’s wedding.
"I remember a year ago I was standing in the crowd waiting for my chance to break through ...
Now it seems I've found ... what it takes to make this dream come true, we'll be here till the end."
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Rumpus International Race Report
Training: I wasn’t training for this race specifically as everything I’m doing is preparing me for IMLP. Rumpus is most peoples first race of the season and after an entire off-season and 3 months of pre-season training everyone is ready to drop the reins and cut loose. I know felt this way. With all of the work I’ve put in I knew I was in much better shape than I’ve ever been and was ready to see what kind of race I could put together. Baldwin always says “its all about the bike.” I’m really starting to believe this as prior to this race I hadn’t done any brick workouts but have done plenty of multiple hour workouts so my legs should have been able to handle a harder effort for less time. This turned out to be correct. Other workouts that really benefitted me were my FTP based interval spins and improving my ability to work longer at harder efforts. Lots of swimming also.
Pre-Race: I’ve noted before how I usually make really stupid decision on the nights before races, which lead to me being tired and surely impacting my performance. There is too much riding on this year to continue that trend not to mention nobody on the team would actually let me do it. This meant securing a place in the team house and heading down to the venue the night before. Everyone had a little fun but went to bed at a decent hour. I actually woke up Saturday morning before my alarm, which was a nice feeling. Got my normal morning coffee and bagel and got the rest of the stuff ready to go. Everyone headed out and made the 5-minute drive to the race site with 1.5 hours to go before race start. There are always last minute things that you remember to do and that was taken care of but the best part of the morning never feeling rushed or stressed out. Of course, being able to chill out under the team tent with everyone else who is racing always helps. Finally we all decided to head down to the race start.
Swim: (28:40 / 38 of 70) To be completely honest, I was a little nervous before the swim. I know my swim volume is ridiculously higher than it’s ever been so I wasn’t worried about the distance but more so about wearing my full sleeve wetsuit. I’ve done 2 races in it and each has been miserable. My arms got tired very early on and I always felt like I was struggling. Besides getting in the water a little late I felt comfortable the minute I got in the water. There was a minute or two when the suit filled with 62 degree water where I held my breath but that quickly went away and I was ready to go. I made it to the line and made sure to position myself in the middle of the wave. I’ve always avoided the mass of people and never wanted to get hit or fight with people. Since I’ll have no choice at the mass swim start in Placid I knew I needed to start getting used to it now so it’s not a shock to me in a few months. The gun goes off and I head out. I immediately felt like I was moving at a pretty good clip without using too much energy. Instead of fighting with trying to breathe every 3rd stroke and feeling uncomfortable I went straight to every other breath and was able to settle in almost immediately. It’s the swim so there was nothing eventful till I got to the end. I looked down at my Garmin and it read 28:15!! I had absolutely destroyed my previous best time in a 1500 m swim. I was pumped up as I ran into T1.
T1: (1:30 / 4 of 70) Heading into T1 I had something new I needed to try. This was my first race with a swim and wearing my Garmin. After asking around I was told that the easiest way to get the wetsuit off was to disconnect the face from the band, hold it in my mouth, pull the sleeves down and then reconnect the face; all while running into transition. This worked rather well and I headed to my bike. I took a second and grabbed some water, ditched the wetsuit, grabbed what I needed and I was out.
Bike: (1:06:21 / 31 of 70) The bike started off well and I was interested to see what I could do on the course since I have put in so much time in the saddle. The race strategy was to go at near 100% FTP or zone 4 heart rate; basically max effort for the whole ride. I wasn’t sure if I could maintain that level of output but really wasn’t bad at all. I took free speed when I got it on downhill’s and gave some back on the handful of rollers that were out there. The best part about the bike was that I felt fast. Towards the end of the first lap I took a gel which was definitely necessary and decided to take one about half way through the second lap so I didn’t get that same “crap, I need a gel” feeling. It was also great having other FeXY’s out of the course and spectating and cheering as we came through for each lap. Overall I was pleased with the bike.
T2: (1:02 / 17 of 70) The usual; ditch the bike and helmet, grad race number and shoes and get the hell out of there. Which would have been great had I left it at that. However, I decided to eat a few shot blocks. Note to self – never again.
Run: (43:09 / 14 of 70) Trying to chew and swallow the shot blocks at the beginning of the run didn’t go well. I had a difficult time trying to chew and it was like I never fully swallowed the blocks. I tried to control my breathing and get my HR down a little at the beginning but was difficult to do so. After a few minutes I was finally able to settle into the pace I wanted. It was pretty hot out at this point and I wanted to drink some water but the shot blocks still weren’t sitting right and made me not want to drink anything. At the half way point I wanted to push the pace a little bit but my stomach just wouldn’t let me so I had to stay where I was and ride that to the end of the race. I’m not upset about the run at all considering it’s my fastest 10K in a race, but I think I could have gone a little faster had I not eaten the blocks.
What Was Good: Everything about the race was good. Getting a good nights sleep, not having to drive far the morning of, having an entire team of people to hang out with, and putting up my fastest times across the board.
What Was Bad: There really wasn’t anything bad. I know now that in a short race like that I’m not going to eat anything before the run.
Pre-Race: I’ve noted before how I usually make really stupid decision on the nights before races, which lead to me being tired and surely impacting my performance. There is too much riding on this year to continue that trend not to mention nobody on the team would actually let me do it. This meant securing a place in the team house and heading down to the venue the night before. Everyone had a little fun but went to bed at a decent hour. I actually woke up Saturday morning before my alarm, which was a nice feeling. Got my normal morning coffee and bagel and got the rest of the stuff ready to go. Everyone headed out and made the 5-minute drive to the race site with 1.5 hours to go before race start. There are always last minute things that you remember to do and that was taken care of but the best part of the morning never feeling rushed or stressed out. Of course, being able to chill out under the team tent with everyone else who is racing always helps. Finally we all decided to head down to the race start.
Swim: (28:40 / 38 of 70) To be completely honest, I was a little nervous before the swim. I know my swim volume is ridiculously higher than it’s ever been so I wasn’t worried about the distance but more so about wearing my full sleeve wetsuit. I’ve done 2 races in it and each has been miserable. My arms got tired very early on and I always felt like I was struggling. Besides getting in the water a little late I felt comfortable the minute I got in the water. There was a minute or two when the suit filled with 62 degree water where I held my breath but that quickly went away and I was ready to go. I made it to the line and made sure to position myself in the middle of the wave. I’ve always avoided the mass of people and never wanted to get hit or fight with people. Since I’ll have no choice at the mass swim start in Placid I knew I needed to start getting used to it now so it’s not a shock to me in a few months. The gun goes off and I head out. I immediately felt like I was moving at a pretty good clip without using too much energy. Instead of fighting with trying to breathe every 3rd stroke and feeling uncomfortable I went straight to every other breath and was able to settle in almost immediately. It’s the swim so there was nothing eventful till I got to the end. I looked down at my Garmin and it read 28:15!! I had absolutely destroyed my previous best time in a 1500 m swim. I was pumped up as I ran into T1.
T1: (1:30 / 4 of 70) Heading into T1 I had something new I needed to try. This was my first race with a swim and wearing my Garmin. After asking around I was told that the easiest way to get the wetsuit off was to disconnect the face from the band, hold it in my mouth, pull the sleeves down and then reconnect the face; all while running into transition. This worked rather well and I headed to my bike. I took a second and grabbed some water, ditched the wetsuit, grabbed what I needed and I was out.
Bike: (1:06:21 / 31 of 70) The bike started off well and I was interested to see what I could do on the course since I have put in so much time in the saddle. The race strategy was to go at near 100% FTP or zone 4 heart rate; basically max effort for the whole ride. I wasn’t sure if I could maintain that level of output but really wasn’t bad at all. I took free speed when I got it on downhill’s and gave some back on the handful of rollers that were out there. The best part about the bike was that I felt fast. Towards the end of the first lap I took a gel which was definitely necessary and decided to take one about half way through the second lap so I didn’t get that same “crap, I need a gel” feeling. It was also great having other FeXY’s out of the course and spectating and cheering as we came through for each lap. Overall I was pleased with the bike.
T2: (1:02 / 17 of 70) The usual; ditch the bike and helmet, grad race number and shoes and get the hell out of there. Which would have been great had I left it at that. However, I decided to eat a few shot blocks. Note to self – never again.
Run: (43:09 / 14 of 70) Trying to chew and swallow the shot blocks at the beginning of the run didn’t go well. I had a difficult time trying to chew and it was like I never fully swallowed the blocks. I tried to control my breathing and get my HR down a little at the beginning but was difficult to do so. After a few minutes I was finally able to settle into the pace I wanted. It was pretty hot out at this point and I wanted to drink some water but the shot blocks still weren’t sitting right and made me not want to drink anything. At the half way point I wanted to push the pace a little bit but my stomach just wouldn’t let me so I had to stay where I was and ride that to the end of the race. I’m not upset about the run at all considering it’s my fastest 10K in a race, but I think I could have gone a little faster had I not eaten the blocks.
What Was Good: Everything about the race was good. Getting a good nights sleep, not having to drive far the morning of, having an entire team of people to hang out with, and putting up my fastest times across the board.
What Was Bad: There really wasn’t anything bad. I know now that in a short race like that I’m not going to eat anything before the run.
Monday, April 9, 2012
3 Months .... Almost Halfway Home
So March has come and gone ... seemingly as fast as I've typed this first sentence. As expected, it was a hell of a month too. It started off with regular weeks (about the same number of hours as Jan and Feb) and I got to run the 2 races which i've already written about. Then the real fun began and I was introduced to my first "building phase." Pretty self-explanatory stuff, we added more volume and more hours; added in longer rides, a couple extra runs and swims and next thing you know, I'm entering very unfamiliar territory. The two build weeks went really well. I was tired (as to be expected) but I made it through all my workouts and hit some new milestones. Besides the marathon and half mary that I raced, the rest of my weekend long runs were all 13.5 miles or longer. For some reason I found it cool that I ran a half mary every weekend in March.
The coolest part was the Saturday team rides that started up. I still don't know how I'm going to get an aerial photo of this, but riding 2x2 in a row with 20 or so riders all in FeXY gear is an awesome sight. On back to back weekends I hit my "longest" rides of 75 and then 96 miles. The latter came with a nice little climb up Mt. Weather and a total of 4,000 ft of climbing. This ride really wore me down and I need to take in more nutrition on these rides. Overall these rides were great and a huge learning experience. Since they are supposed to be done at an easy level of effort there is lots of time to carry on conversation and I've picked up so much useful info along the way.
This month wasn't all fun and games though. These two build weeks really did a number on me. I've never put my body through that kind of effort and really felt terrible for the next few days. This wasn't just feeling bad as in sore muscles, but mentally. I don't know how to explain other than I was in a funk. Luckily enough it only lasted a few days before I snapped out of it and finally had my first recovery week.
Overall great month ......
Finally, no its not actually the half way point to IMLP but it is half way to the FeXY Lake Placid Training Camp which will be my highest volume and most intense week(end) of training. After that I'll have a few more solid weeks but overall will start coming down for final approach to race day.
Next month I finally get to start racing and put all of this training to use.
"I AM AN ATHLETE because I value and respect my body. It will whisper to me when I've done too much. And if I choose to listen to that whisper, my body won't have to scream in pain later on."
The coolest part was the Saturday team rides that started up. I still don't know how I'm going to get an aerial photo of this, but riding 2x2 in a row with 20 or so riders all in FeXY gear is an awesome sight. On back to back weekends I hit my "longest" rides of 75 and then 96 miles. The latter came with a nice little climb up Mt. Weather and a total of 4,000 ft of climbing. This ride really wore me down and I need to take in more nutrition on these rides. Overall these rides were great and a huge learning experience. Since they are supposed to be done at an easy level of effort there is lots of time to carry on conversation and I've picked up so much useful info along the way.
This month wasn't all fun and games though. These two build weeks really did a number on me. I've never put my body through that kind of effort and really felt terrible for the next few days. This wasn't just feeling bad as in sore muscles, but mentally. I don't know how to explain other than I was in a funk. Luckily enough it only lasted a few days before I snapped out of it and finally had my first recovery week.
Overall great month ......
Finally, no its not actually the half way point to IMLP but it is half way to the FeXY Lake Placid Training Camp which will be my highest volume and most intense week(end) of training. After that I'll have a few more solid weeks but overall will start coming down for final approach to race day.
Next month I finally get to start racing and put all of this training to use.
"I AM AN ATHLETE because I value and respect my body. It will whisper to me when I've done too much. And if I choose to listen to that whisper, my body won't have to scream in pain later on."
Monday, March 19, 2012
Catching up on the Pre-season Races
I was supposed to do a recap of the B&A Trail Marathon from a few weeks ago and ... shocker ... I never got around to it. Now that I've also done the Rock & Roll Half, I guess I can go ahead and recap both.
According to my coach, maintaining a solid run base through the winter is key to having a solid marathon at an IM (see # 3). We got started too late for me to actually do 2-3 fulls but I signed up for 2 and was definitely going to do 1 of them with the potential for the second.
The original plan was to go out and complete this race at less than "E Pace" so I could turn around and complete another full 2 weeks later at RnR. According to Scott (and the testing that we've done), my "E Pace" for this race was 3:45:00 (8:34s). I thought he was nuts; turns out he's not so crazy. More on that Later. My goal for this race was simply to beat 3:54:45 which was my first marathon time. Most importantly, I wanted to put together a solid race and negative split the second half.
It was a very weird morning as the temperature was at the in gray zone between being too cold for just a shirt but too warm for sleeves. Either way it was going to be uncomfortable at some point. I settled on a short sleeve shirt with arm warmers and thin gloves. I choose ... poorly. The gloves proved to be too thin and my hands got so cold that my fingers curled into a fist and I could barely open my hands at aid stations to grab water cups. My shirt was no match for the head wind that I ran into for 13 miles either. Oh yeah, the elastic in the arm warmers chafed the crap out of my arm and I didn't get to wear my new Newton's. Enough whining.
Besides being cold, the race itself went really well. I set out on the first half and probably looked like a spaz as I looked down at my garmin every 15 seconds or so checking on my pace and heart rate. All was going well until mile 11 when I started to feel a little loopy. Not good considering I wasn't even half way home yet. I hadn't eaten enough the night before and a little light on nutrition so far that morning. In half of a knee jerk reaction I took in a gel, half a pack of shot blocks, and 2 cups of gatorade at the next aid station. This is a lot of calories at once and had the potential to backfire on me. Luckily its just I needed. I saw Scott as I passed through the half way point. He ran with me for a minute, made sure I was ok and gave new marching orders: Keep it steady till 18 or 20 and then pick up the pace.
Miles 13 to 21 were much of the same. The course was still boring and my head remained on a swivel between looking ahead and looking at my watch. I had picked up the pace by a few seconds per mile and at this point was hovering right around E Pace. With 5 to go I decided it was time to go so i picked up the pace. Turns out I had some juice left and put up a very solid 5 miles (around 7:30s) to finish up.
I wasn't sure exactly where I was with respect to the actual finish because around mile 4 my Garmin stopped lining up with the mile markers. To make things worse I completely missed the 26 mile mark and thought I had a little bit longer until I turned the last corner and saw the finish.
Final time: 3:45:47 and 9th in my Age Group and a PR! I don't care if it was a small race. That was my first top 10 and I'll gladly take it.
Extremely happy with the time and the fact that I set a plan and I stuck to it.
To cap off the day, I did what any self respecting marathoner would do and met with Val and Bret for bottomless mimosas.
Next up was the Rock and Roll Half which by far the more light-hearted and fun day of the two.
This was supposed to be the second full marathon which Scott and I ultimately decided not to do. This worked out great as my running buddy was also running the half so we got to run together.
The day didn't exactly start off as planned since I didn't make it to the race expo in time to pick up my bib and had to get to the race extra early on Saturday to make sure I could run. The Rock and Roll people actually have their ish together and getting my bib went very smoothly. Except for standing in line only to realize that Emily had my ID. With bib acquired it was time bag check and find our corral. Bag check was easy and I was greeted with a smile. Em knew the volunteers at my window so we stood there and chatted for a minute then decided we really needed to go.
Off to the starting corral where we run into some other people and even picked up another runner. Once again, this run was supposed to be nice and easy; keep the legs moving and not work too hard. The course started off down hill so the pace for the first few miles was really fast. "Money in the bank" for later so when we hit the small hills on the course we could slow down a little and not worry about overall time. The half mary course is very nice and winds through some cool neighborhoods in NW and NE. We just cruised on through and the three of us ran strong all the way. One minor issue again at mile 11 where I started to feel a little loopy. I need to figure out what this is and keep it from happening again - bigger breakfast, more calories earlier in the race ... I don't know, but i'll figure it out.
We finish the race and all is well. Final time: 1:48:16 for the 13.3 miles that my Garmin said I ran. This was technically a PR also and again, very happy with the race with respect to strategy and pacing. However, it gets tough sometimes to hold back when you are getting passed and you know you can go faster. Just gotta keep reminding myself that there is a bigger prize waiting for me.
Post race: you know it ... brunch and alcohol. This time it was mango margaritas at Banana Cafe. Absolutely great afternoon :).
Two preseason runs complete and happy with both. The next time I line up to race will be the Rumpus Olympic Tri on April 14th. Really excited to finally kick off the season.
"Put up with the discomfort and the pain, keep going and never give up, and understand that if you’re moving up, then you’re always getting closer."
According to my coach, maintaining a solid run base through the winter is key to having a solid marathon at an IM (see # 3). We got started too late for me to actually do 2-3 fulls but I signed up for 2 and was definitely going to do 1 of them with the potential for the second.
The original plan was to go out and complete this race at less than "E Pace" so I could turn around and complete another full 2 weeks later at RnR. According to Scott (and the testing that we've done), my "E Pace" for this race was 3:45:00 (8:34s). I thought he was nuts; turns out he's not so crazy. More on that Later. My goal for this race was simply to beat 3:54:45 which was my first marathon time. Most importantly, I wanted to put together a solid race and negative split the second half.
It was a very weird morning as the temperature was at the in gray zone between being too cold for just a shirt but too warm for sleeves. Either way it was going to be uncomfortable at some point. I settled on a short sleeve shirt with arm warmers and thin gloves. I choose ... poorly. The gloves proved to be too thin and my hands got so cold that my fingers curled into a fist and I could barely open my hands at aid stations to grab water cups. My shirt was no match for the head wind that I ran into for 13 miles either. Oh yeah, the elastic in the arm warmers chafed the crap out of my arm and I didn't get to wear my new Newton's. Enough whining.
Besides being cold, the race itself went really well. I set out on the first half and probably looked like a spaz as I looked down at my garmin every 15 seconds or so checking on my pace and heart rate. All was going well until mile 11 when I started to feel a little loopy. Not good considering I wasn't even half way home yet. I hadn't eaten enough the night before and a little light on nutrition so far that morning. In half of a knee jerk reaction I took in a gel, half a pack of shot blocks, and 2 cups of gatorade at the next aid station. This is a lot of calories at once and had the potential to backfire on me. Luckily its just I needed. I saw Scott as I passed through the half way point. He ran with me for a minute, made sure I was ok and gave new marching orders: Keep it steady till 18 or 20 and then pick up the pace.
Miles 13 to 21 were much of the same. The course was still boring and my head remained on a swivel between looking ahead and looking at my watch. I had picked up the pace by a few seconds per mile and at this point was hovering right around E Pace. With 5 to go I decided it was time to go so i picked up the pace. Turns out I had some juice left and put up a very solid 5 miles (around 7:30s) to finish up.
I wasn't sure exactly where I was with respect to the actual finish because around mile 4 my Garmin stopped lining up with the mile markers. To make things worse I completely missed the 26 mile mark and thought I had a little bit longer until I turned the last corner and saw the finish.
Final time: 3:45:47 and 9th in my Age Group and a PR! I don't care if it was a small race. That was my first top 10 and I'll gladly take it.
Extremely happy with the time and the fact that I set a plan and I stuck to it.
To cap off the day, I did what any self respecting marathoner would do and met with Val and Bret for bottomless mimosas.
Next up was the Rock and Roll Half which by far the more light-hearted and fun day of the two.
This was supposed to be the second full marathon which Scott and I ultimately decided not to do. This worked out great as my running buddy was also running the half so we got to run together.
The day didn't exactly start off as planned since I didn't make it to the race expo in time to pick up my bib and had to get to the race extra early on Saturday to make sure I could run. The Rock and Roll people actually have their ish together and getting my bib went very smoothly. Except for standing in line only to realize that Emily had my ID. With bib acquired it was time bag check and find our corral. Bag check was easy and I was greeted with a smile. Em knew the volunteers at my window so we stood there and chatted for a minute then decided we really needed to go.
Off to the starting corral where we run into some other people and even picked up another runner. Once again, this run was supposed to be nice and easy; keep the legs moving and not work too hard. The course started off down hill so the pace for the first few miles was really fast. "Money in the bank" for later so when we hit the small hills on the course we could slow down a little and not worry about overall time. The half mary course is very nice and winds through some cool neighborhoods in NW and NE. We just cruised on through and the three of us ran strong all the way. One minor issue again at mile 11 where I started to feel a little loopy. I need to figure out what this is and keep it from happening again - bigger breakfast, more calories earlier in the race ... I don't know, but i'll figure it out.
We finish the race and all is well. Final time: 1:48:16 for the 13.3 miles that my Garmin said I ran. This was technically a PR also and again, very happy with the race with respect to strategy and pacing. However, it gets tough sometimes to hold back when you are getting passed and you know you can go faster. Just gotta keep reminding myself that there is a bigger prize waiting for me.
Post race: you know it ... brunch and alcohol. This time it was mango margaritas at Banana Cafe. Absolutely great afternoon :).
Two preseason runs complete and happy with both. The next time I line up to race will be the Rumpus Olympic Tri on April 14th. Really excited to finally kick off the season.
"Put up with the discomfort and the pain, keep going and never give up, and understand that if you’re moving up, then you’re always getting closer."
Friday, March 9, 2012
2 Months in … 5 to go
Another month has come and gone. It’s amazing how fast all of this is going by. Part of the long time between posts is 1) I’m still weirded out by this blogging thing, but know I’ll be happy that I did it in the end and 2) let’s face it, by the end of each day I’m officially smoked and I just want to go to bed. But here it is; my recap for February.
This month was much of the same as January. We continued to focus base building and easy running. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. That doesn’t mean this month was any less interesting. I got yelled at for not taking an off day for 3 weeks, had an overall bad week, and my attempt at scheduling mandatory time to “hangout and relax” suddenly became negotiable.
After coming back from my annual 5 day trip to Snowshoe I felt pretty lazy from not doing a scheduled workout so I hit the ground running when I got back. All workouts were completed (save a yoga session here and there) and if it was on the schedule I did it. By the time I got to that third week I was feeling it. Kind of laboring through intervals, needing an extra hour of sleep, etc. That fact came up in conversation over some beer and my running buddy and Voice of Reason proceeded to give me the stink eye and yelled at me and told me I needed to rest. She might of even raised her hand like she was gonna slap me (details fuzzy, we drank a lot that night). Conveniently she left for vacation and our Monday run was scrapped so I decided to stay home and put my feet up. I can’t believe how much better I felt that Tuesday after not doing anything roughly 36 hours. Lessoned learned = there is a still a long way to go, no need to burn out this early.
I also had my first bad week. I didn’t do either yoga workout, didn’t do the optional run on Monday, and I went out and had a little too much fun Friday night and missed my Saturday morning spin session. Capped that off by trying to add the Saturday workout to my Sunday swim and run and ended up mailing it in after an hour. Needless to say I wasn’t happy. But my coach and VoR both told me to chill out and get back on track the next week which is exactly what I did.
Ummm, yeah …. So much for mandatory “play time.” I signed up for skeeball on Thursday nights with the best of intentions and I made it out for the first 4 weeks. But after that I scheduled my workouts a little differently and just didn’t feel like I had the time to go have a few beers. This doesn’t mean I haven’t gone out and enjoyed the occasional beer, it’s just that I’ve learned that I steal that time when I can and it definitely cannot be scheduled. The biggest difficulty here is that my “free to have a drink” time doesn’t line up with anyone else’s. While I’m going to bed early on Friday and Saturday for morning workouts, everyone I know is just getting ready to go out. By the time Sunday comes around and I can hangout because Monday is an off day, no one is in the mood to do anything.
Lastly, I got to do my first race as a member of Team FeXY. We had 3 relay teams and a few individuals head up to Greenbelt, MD for the GW Birthday Marathon. Knowing I had a marathon coming up I elected to run 2 of the 3 relay legs and this ridiculously hilly and boring course. But the best part was hanging out with everyone waiting to run and then having everyone still waiting in the relay exchange until everyone passed before heading over to the finish to cheer everyone on there. And of course, wings and beer afterwards.
So what next? My ATP says that the real fun is about to begin. Time to start the build phases where volume and intensity increases. Less time for socializing, more time for sleeping. I do get to race soon and because I’m so late with this post I’ve already run the B&A Trail Marathon (race report forthcoming).
March will be fun …. More fun. Really looking forward to it.
This month was much of the same as January. We continued to focus base building and easy running. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. That doesn’t mean this month was any less interesting. I got yelled at for not taking an off day for 3 weeks, had an overall bad week, and my attempt at scheduling mandatory time to “hangout and relax” suddenly became negotiable.
After coming back from my annual 5 day trip to Snowshoe I felt pretty lazy from not doing a scheduled workout so I hit the ground running when I got back. All workouts were completed (save a yoga session here and there) and if it was on the schedule I did it. By the time I got to that third week I was feeling it. Kind of laboring through intervals, needing an extra hour of sleep, etc. That fact came up in conversation over some beer and my running buddy and Voice of Reason proceeded to give me the stink eye and yelled at me and told me I needed to rest. She might of even raised her hand like she was gonna slap me (details fuzzy, we drank a lot that night). Conveniently she left for vacation and our Monday run was scrapped so I decided to stay home and put my feet up. I can’t believe how much better I felt that Tuesday after not doing anything roughly 36 hours. Lessoned learned = there is a still a long way to go, no need to burn out this early.
I also had my first bad week. I didn’t do either yoga workout, didn’t do the optional run on Monday, and I went out and had a little too much fun Friday night and missed my Saturday morning spin session. Capped that off by trying to add the Saturday workout to my Sunday swim and run and ended up mailing it in after an hour. Needless to say I wasn’t happy. But my coach and VoR both told me to chill out and get back on track the next week which is exactly what I did.
Ummm, yeah …. So much for mandatory “play time.” I signed up for skeeball on Thursday nights with the best of intentions and I made it out for the first 4 weeks. But after that I scheduled my workouts a little differently and just didn’t feel like I had the time to go have a few beers. This doesn’t mean I haven’t gone out and enjoyed the occasional beer, it’s just that I’ve learned that I steal that time when I can and it definitely cannot be scheduled. The biggest difficulty here is that my “free to have a drink” time doesn’t line up with anyone else’s. While I’m going to bed early on Friday and Saturday for morning workouts, everyone I know is just getting ready to go out. By the time Sunday comes around and I can hangout because Monday is an off day, no one is in the mood to do anything.
Lastly, I got to do my first race as a member of Team FeXY. We had 3 relay teams and a few individuals head up to Greenbelt, MD for the GW Birthday Marathon. Knowing I had a marathon coming up I elected to run 2 of the 3 relay legs and this ridiculously hilly and boring course. But the best part was hanging out with everyone waiting to run and then having everyone still waiting in the relay exchange until everyone passed before heading over to the finish to cheer everyone on there. And of course, wings and beer afterwards.
So what next? My ATP says that the real fun is about to begin. Time to start the build phases where volume and intensity increases. Less time for socializing, more time for sleeping. I do get to race soon and because I’m so late with this post I’ve already run the B&A Trail Marathon (race report forthcoming).
March will be fun …. More fun. Really looking forward to it.
Monday, January 30, 2012
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
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
Friday, January 6, 2012
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."
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."
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