Getting closer...

WOW! 8 days away from CANADA!

How the hell did that happen. Just the other day I was filling in this years race and training schedule having a Hawaiian theme dinner watching the 2009 Ironman from Kona on tv, talking about had we had 9 months to get ready.

I remember my first 50 mile ride at the end of December and having to stop because I was just dead on the bike. Cruising at 8 mph and stopping before I fell over : ) Oh, good times, good times!!!

This year was a bit unexpected as most of you know I’ve never had a goal of doing an Ironman - EVER! A year ago, having just finished up Lake Stevens 70.3 and having that race fall apart on the run. I doubted if I’d ever do anything over an Oly again. However, meeting the people I have and having family support I figured, “What the hell” I was young”ish” and in shape. I could raise my level and do this thing. That lasted until end of February. I looked and found TNMultisport and a few friends were already on board so it was a no brainer.

The months have actually flown by somehow? The last few weeks have had their highs and low’s. At track the other day it was good to hear the nightmare weeks others had been going through. Of course not happy others were having a rough go at it, just that feeling of ‘you’re not the only one’. This last week I’ve rebounded again and have remembered to enjoy what it is I ‘get’ to do.

I’m reading ‘Born to run’ right now and it’s been doing wonders on my outlook of running. I’ve always enjoyed running, the freedom of where your legs can take you. A few weeks ago I was running w/ Karen on a 16 miler and it was amazing how it seemed like 30-45 minutes at most, but it was just about 2 hours. I had a mile swim later in the day and kept thinking, I should do a ..(something).. after the swim. Then laughed as I had to remember - you just ran 16 miles! I year ago I would of never gotten out of bed.

Last weekend was the Lake Steven’s 70.3

It was so much fun to be out on course cheering for everyone this year, having trained with a number of the teammates in the race, it was pretty special to be out supporting them. I love cheering for people at races in general!

The work that they put out, some having great days, some good days, others in their pain cave focusing to finish. I’ve had really bad days and could never had guested what or where the rights words were that lifted me out and back on track.

You see someone go by and they smile and give a wave, a thumbs up. Having a good day and feeling great! Someone else, you know they can hear you, but they don’t or can’t look. Just a flick of the fingers and maybe a dart of the eyes in your direction. You can see, as I’ve been there before plenty, - I can’t look, if I look I’ll stop, I’ll fall, I’ll give in. I can’t lose focus -

That day, a few times I stepped back and looked at the cheering crowds and really soaked in and felt the excitement in the air and really felt alive for IMC. I couldn’t help but wondered what the 29th would bring. Just 8 days away now....

Tired...

The last 2 weeks have been pretty stacked with workouts. It’s probably fair to say that the closer one gets to and object (target, goal) the harder it may be to see or focus on the reasons why. Three weeks out and tired eyes, legs and neck just continue to scream for a rest. 8.5 months of training and somedays I forget why. I know what I signed up for, but I have to believe that no one truly knows what it is they’ve signed up for.

I told a friend of mine if I’d of heard last weekend’s schedule a year ago I never would of gotten out of bed:

Saturday - 85 mile hilly bike, 4 mile trans run
Sunday - 16 mile run, 40 minute-1 mile swim

It’s hard to say where those miles and hours get placed in the mind. You’re tired, you continue to drive and push. I guess that ‘s the point. At some point in the Ironman your body is going to ask the mind to go on autopilot, lead you home from the hole you’ve fallen into. Training in the last few weeks has gone from physical (being able) to mental, putting it all together for one day. Surviving the day.

I had a bad day out yesterday, injured my knee, my minds not quit where I need it. Tired of trying to figure it out. Tired of tweeking nutrition, heart rate, cadence. Just tire, all the damn time. I know the 29th will come and it’ll be exciting and amazing. I just need to rest...

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

Just got back from training camp up in Canada for the Ironman. What an amazing time! Aside from being on the course and everything else about traveling off for a weekend, it was the team that really made it worth it. Surrounding yourself with people of like mind and that are there to help you is a great feeling. The team is stacked with great athletes, but you never feel intimidated or overlooked. Great coaching and teammates that know on any day you’ll need a hand no matter how good you are.

It’s odd being surrounded by people of like mind. So often I get tired of explaining why I “need” to get a long swim, bike or run in when on vacation or just over a weekend away from home. being in a place where you could see, not just our team, but hundreds of other people doing the same.

With the team it’s a different feel than I’ve ever been use to before. It seems like no one has an attitude, is condescending or over competitive to the point of being overbearing. Every workout seems to push and raise the level of your our game.

It’s odd waking up knowing that at some point in the day you’re going to be pushed to your limit. Reason enough to hit the snooze button a few extra times. I knew I was going to be in trouble before the bike start if I didn’t approach long rides from a different angle. Up until now the last 10-12 miles of all bike rides have been just trying to hold on. I go out steady, feel good at about 80-85% effort, but at the end....Bam...holding on to make it back to the car.

Mark suggested that “just because you can fly up the hills, maybe you shouldn’t”. I thought about that all week, or the few days before training camp. So my new moto on the bike is, “Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.” So I took the bike out as usual, but as we hit the first hill I slowed, lowered my rate, kept the heart rate down and did a steady climb up a little steep hill about 5 blocks long. It was still early, real early, mile 10 of 112.

Forty miles in we hit a little kicker and the same thing, get to the top and feel OK, steady. At about 45ish we start Richter Pass, I’m looking at the road as we approach and I can’t wait! I’ve been living in fear of this damn piece of road for almost 6 months, bring it on!!! Hard right turn and......

“Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.” I ease up and slow down and pedal nice and easy. On the bottom part of Richter I got pasted 4x and had to just mentally tell myself over and over. “Let them go, not your pace today”. I was feeling amazing when I got to the top, breathing wasn’t labored, heart rate was 135 and down to 93 about a minute after I stopped climbing. I looked around and just noticed how almost everyone else was pretty whipped, both from the heat and the climb. I felt great!

I had a few things I was trying new this day. 1. was the not going up with as much effort as I usually climb with. 2. Was not to pedal on the downhills, unless you needed to so you didn’t have to do much work on the next hill. As I did this I’d see the heart rate ease back to 130 and figured that was saving matches for later.

The out and back hits you around 63 miles or so. You have to keep in mind that the out is hard because it’s hard. Not because your tired. It’s Hard, because it’s Hard! False flats and steep little climbs, solidly kicks your ass. The way back at the turn around, not so bad. Which makes you realize - It’s Hard, because it’s Hard!

Yellow Lake - because I like to look at climb profiles and expect every climb to look like a saw tooth I didn’t realize we were on to climb until about a mile from the top. I may be a little thick when it comes to this. On the EWT, day one I think, I keep waiting for the road to really turn up for the 12 mile climb to Loup Loup and was amazed at the rest stop to hear we were already 6 miles into it. Sweet! So I kept thinking we were always about to start climbing, the rollers were just, well rollers to the approach.

Energy wise I was doing very well, heat wise I was not really doing very well. The last stretch up to Yellow Lake was an oven, I was riding with Kirsten and out of fluids. It seemed the heat was just eating away at any energy. It was very survival mood. I could only really focus on her back tire and felt if I lost that I was cooked. Luckily before things got too critical we hit the top and our great team support car was there with ice cold water and Gatorade...Phew

I iced down and stood off the bike for about 3 minutes and felt back in the game. The rest was about 2 miles of rollers and about 8 miles of descending back down to flat ground. I think everyones face was lit up with this excitement of “ I just did the bike course in 97 degree weather and survived” Holy Shit! 4200 plus feet of elevation gain as well.

The next morning was a long run in the 14-15 mile range, mind you I was doing one of the shorter runs...???? It was hot hot hot, again with amazing support from the team and coaches. Such a strong team, it’s so inspiring to train, work and support along side them. And by the way, the new approach to riding hills and saving energy totally paid off...

Eastern Washington Tour - Catching up...

Day one of the Eastern Washington Tour (EWT)-

The way things appear from a distance is sometimes always best. This season from a distance seemed to spell it’s self out pretty well. Early foot races that lead to early bike rides that lead to a mix of both before the big event. Until of course the mood changes for a few weeks or the weather stays bad and you don’t want to keep at it. Unfortunately that has come in the form of an injury.

I’ve had this same before for the last few years, last year was the first I didn’t and was hoping to be done with it. But it finally caught up. I was at track a few weeks ago and it came on slowly then after about 20 minutes grabbed pretty good and hasn’t really let go since. The good news is I can still bike and swim. However, running is totally out the window. Which is a bummer because the running was really coming around.

Anyways, I’m never one to play the “what if” game, just never made any sense. So I’m at the EWT and I feel a bit under trained, but I have to look at it as training for Canada and not racing 4 days in the mountains.

This is not a race!

We've been told that a number of times already, tired of hearing it, kind of getting on my nerves now. So tomorrow will be fun, regardless of what happens. It’s all part of the road to Canada and will make for great memories with some really great friends.

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I'm just now getting around to posting about the trip that was about 2 weeks ago. It was a great time with friends and pushing ourselves farther than we thought was possible. Days 3 and a four were such a mystery going into this simply because we'd never done that kind of mileage before pass two days. It was more laughs than anything and such a great group of new people to meet and ride with.

I posted plenty, if not all the photo's on Facebook, so I won't repost here.

On to a general update:

After the EWT I pulled up a bit lame w/ my left knee. Some pretty good pain that I hadn't felt before. Now I've had some pretty good pulls and injuries during training and races and this was by far the most painful. Well, maybe second to the few IT band pulls I've had, but you get the idea. Good thing is I went to a UW Sports Doc and he said it was deep tissue inflammation. Some profin and ice and it would be fine in about a week. I was bummed not to be able to roll on the fitness from the tour, but that was great news. I was in the mind set and really bracing for being told I'd have to have surgery and that Ironman was out the window.

So slow going the last two weeks, but I'll get it back in gear soon enough. If anything this minor set back reminded how much I really enjoy all the training. Well I'll start w/ regular posts again now that I'm back at it...

Bricks and more...

The time for the brick workouts have started, I know a few have been in it for a while, but I just finally got to the point of doing them. Two a days have been going on for over two months or more and this last week I started adding bricks to the longer workouts. Mostly bikes (spinning) before running or core workouts after running.

More later have to go eat...

And then things turn...

Crazy how weeks fly by when you really don't want them to. Canada is getting closer and closer and suddenly I'm realizing how serious (how much I could hurt myself) it has become. Working and working and really keeping my head down is kind of how I've been training up until about a month ago. The last few weeks I've gotten out on rides and runs w/ good friends and really started enjoying the longer pulls that training at this point has become.

It's been about reconnecting as well. Reconnecting w/ the form and the mindset, among other things that came at the end of last season. Remembering that my limits are only the limits that I put on myself. With getting back into track and really rolling on the miles I'm interested in seeing how far and injury free this season will go.

I added an odd picture from the pain cave above that looked kind of cool...

A few weeks out

Learning a few lessons from the body and in life I suppose over the last few months. Training is in full gear as of this last week after a 3-4 week disruption through March. It's funny how this is the first year I've really put limits on hours per week getting back up to speed and I feel it has really paid off. Most noticeably, no injuries!

I've learned you have to wait for things or situations to come to you and hope that they do, but be able to move on if they don't. Whether it's endurance, a job, a new bike or something else that's out there for you. On the bike or in a run the last few weeks I've had to stop thinking about where I need to be and just focus on where I'm at and not to rush the process. Training is harder than it needs to be sometimes simply because the long hours give you much too much time to think...

Track and longer bike rides have filled the schedule lately. Core workouts have filled the swim days while I'm in between pools right now. Track is coming along really good, I started off a notch slower and think it's really paid off doing so. Last year and the year before I think I would of already had a few pulls in some not so fun places. I've kept top speed at and around 6:45-7:00 as compared to last years 6:05-6:20 which really was fun, but produced on going injuries throughout the season.

The group I've been running w/ at track has been really fun to work w/ as well. I'm very humbled to be running w/ them, which is a great thing. Well it's windy and a touch nasty out, but I have to go hit some hill repeats over in the Blue Ridge area to start cycle hill training in earnest: Strenuous Hill Interval Training - S.H.I.T is on the menu for the legs and lungs this morning. I love it when people comment that I'm light so I don't have to really work on hill work. It must be that and not the miles and hours of vertical work I put in on the bike every year. My thought to that is gravity is one ones friend, deal with it...