Stage 7: A New Hope?

First great job to to IM UK folks, like Charlie. Those of you at IM KY or IM Canada, like Mike, kick some butt!

Let me state this now: I do have a passion for my job and my career that I knowingly chose. But I am still adjusting to this new busier, stressful lifestyle of mine. It really has left me with a little less brain power at night, so my blog posts are lacking my creativity. Sorry about that folks. But I do want to continue to be held somewhat accountable for my training and will continue to throw up some ramblings here. This disclaimer is being written because a few days ago while I was watching Star Wars: Episode IV, (yes you read that correctly, I was on the trainer) I had some ideas for a Star-Wars-opening-credits-esque post. But it's Friday morning and I haven't come up with enough material.

So anyway, what did I do last week in terms of my training? Well maybe I am back on track and maybe there is still some hope for me.

Monday: No workouts
Tuesday: No workouts
Wednesday: Run 5 miles - 3 miles of hill intervals
Thursday: Bike 42 miles mostly flat with a good wind. Our group still averaged around 20mph for the entire ride.
Friday: 1.5 mile open water swim
Saturday: 13 mile run. Pace for the first 6 miles were too fast. Ran most of the rest about 30 seconds slower at a more comfortable pace.
Sunday: 30 minute easy trainer ride.

Well I've really followed my marathon plan to a T. HA HA. I'm not even sure I've done any of the recommended workouts on any given day. So here's what I am planning on doing from here on out.

I've basically got about 8 weeks or so. First let's pretty much scrap the speed work. Let's focus on volume and more importantly pace. The weekly run volume will come up, and I'll build up to maybe two or three 20 milers or three hour runs soon. I am going to try to get runs in four times a week. I also want to drill the 7:00 minute pace into my legs, my brain, my lungs. I want that the be almost second nature. My run schedule has changed so that I can have some company on my runs. Thus no more TUE/THU runs. Let's try to run MON/WED/SAT and another day.

So I am still hopeful I can have a successful marathon in October, but it's going to take a lot of focus these next few weeks.

And now, the kicker: I can barely manage training for a marathon and I am strenuously considering IM WI 2008. I have been thinking the last week or so that maybe it is possible to do IM without obscene amounts of volume. Am I out of my mind? It's probably not as far-fetched as I think. I've already got a base, right? Anyone want to join me? Or rather, does anyone want to go to Madison to sign me up? Pretty Please?

Weekly Totals:

• Swim: 1.5 miles
• Bike: 50 miles
• Run: 18 miles

Preview of Stage 8: Back on track?

Stage 6: Crazy

Great seeing all the CTC peeps at the GCT this past weekend.

As for me, what a crazy week....

Monday: No workouts
Tuesday: No workouts
Wednesday: 4 miles easy
Thursday: no workouts
Friday: no workouts
Saturday: no workouts
Sunday: 7 mile trail run

Weekly Totals

• Swim: 0 meters
• Bike: 0 miles
• Run: 11 miles

Uh oh...Is the plane to Boston getting grounded??? Running less than 20 miles a week and still running a marathon. That's crazy....

Preview of Stage 7: A new hope?

Stage 5: Take It Easy

First off, one more thing about the Sweet Corn Challenge. Cliff, I also would love to see a profile of this year's ride as well as previous years' rides. Unfortunately I don't have one. But according to Papa Louie, there was just under 5,000 feet of climbing for his ride. So a fair estimate would be to double that for the 100 mile ride and we get about 10,000 feet of elevation gain. For reference, the famous 120 mile Triple Bypass has 10,310 feet of climbing. Hmmm, who would have thought a ride in NE Ohio could have as much climbing as a ride in Colorado.

In Week 5, I once again fell short on my workouts. I feel really bad about missing my run on Sunday, but hopefully it will help me in October. So last week I sent in my registration for this and then my left shin starts complaining. Now I'm worried about full blown shin splints. I am feeling my way through this, trying to balance not going too hard or too long. I think I have the conditioning, but I need to somehow get that running volume up. My current thought is to try to squeeze in as many short 20-30 minute runs as I can throughout the week. My legs need to get used to 26.2 miles of pounding.

Monday: No workouts
Tuesday: No workouts
Wednesday: 3 x 1200 (4:22/4:33/4:43) w/ RI = 400 jog, 1 X 1600 up tempo (7:24) , 6 miles total
Thursday: 40 miles, avg 23+ mph, 30 minute run off the bike
Friday: 3 mile run easy
Saturday 4 mile run easy
Sunday: No workouts

Weekly Totals

• Swim: 0 meters
• Bike: 40 miles
• Run: 16 miles

I do have several things I would like to write about, but quite frankly I don't have the mental energy tonight.

Preview of Stage 6: Life is a box of chocolate...

Stage 4: Sweet Corn Challenge

One hundred five miles...

Hill after hill...

The sun and the heat...

The humidity...

The rain and the chill after a passing shower...

The flat tire...

Why was I struggling so much?

Maybe it was the endless hills.
Maybe it was from the tubing and camping the day before.
Maybe it was the fatigue from work.
Maybe it was the lack of conditioning.
Maybe it was my poor preparation and attention to nutrition.
Maybe it was my stubbornness to attack every hill.

Yet my faithful companions (IronSis Cas and no-longer-a-century-virgin Marie) and I...

We kept riding.

Maybe it was the constant barrage of f-bombs from my mouth.
Maybe Ironman really has honed my mental toughness.
Maybe I am in better shape than I believe.
Maybe I drew strength from my fellow riders.
Maybe it was the allure of sweet corn and a hearty meal at the end of the ride.

But in the end...

We made it.

I rolled into the parking lot exhausted.
My legs were spent.
My spirit battered, yet somehow unbroken.
That was one of the hardest rides for me...

Ever.

And looking back now, all the maybes are irrelevant.
It doesn't matter how or when or what.
All that matters is:

"I did it."


~

Weekly workout:

• Monday: 1600 meter swim
• Tuesday: Off
• Wednesday: 7.5 miles, hill repeats. ~3:30 up and down intervals
• Thursday: 7.5 mile trail run
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: 2 mile run
• Sunday: 105 mile bike

Weekly Totals:

• Swim: 1600 meters
• Bike: 105 miles
• Run: 17 miles

Preview of Stage 5: Week 4 was a recovery week of sorts. But going forward, the looming question remains: "Where are the runs?"

Stage 3: CIT OLY

First off, congrats to all the Lake Placid Ironmen and Ironwomen. Great job - Cliff the inspiration, JenC for an awesome debut, Matt - happy trails - the tri community will definitely miss your experience, your knowledge and sense of humor, Rob R for another sub 12 IM, Dave for a 10:40 IM debut, Paula, and all the CTC tri club foks.

I barely want to write about my race because it pales in comparison to the stories those folks will tell. But I'll give it a shot.

Believe it or not, this past weekend was just my third ever Olympic distance triathlon. I can not really explain it, but I just do not race a lot. Maybe long course racing may suit me better than I thought. Yeah this contradicts what I said a few months back, but the way training works for longer distance races - many smaller races leading up to one big race for the season - maybe I can't totally write off being a long course guy. Or maybe my brain is just too ADD.

Let's start with the numbers from and then I'll break it down for you.

Swim: 32:00
T1: 1:34
Bike: 1:09:10
T2: 1:22
Run: 44:55
Total: 2:29:01

You know I was talking with a friend of mine after the race and I said: "You can't compare apples to oranges" because she was comparing two totally different races with slightly different distances. So now I'm about to sort of do what I just told someone not to do. Ugh. (Sorry Jen)Anyway, Last June was my second OLY tri ever. But it's all I've got to compare with and these two races are actually petty similar in more ways than you think. The first number is this year and the second number is last year.

The swim: 32:00/29:44. I've regressed. Not a shock there considering last year my average weekly swims were more yards than I have done this entire year. But I haven't slipped too much considering we had a pretty long uphill climb from the beach to transition.

The bike: 1:09.10/1:17.48. The good news is that I shaved almost 8 minutes off my bike time. The bad news:"The issue on this race day was that the aero position was not comfortable enough to be sustained for 40 km. This led to wide variances in speed and intensity throughout the day." That is what I wrote last year and, you know, this year, different bike, same comment. I'm not surprised because both my bikes are set up for road and not TT riding. Hmmmm, am I getting another bike?

Run: 44:55 (7:33/7:21/13:56/7:23/8:39)/43:53. This year's time is a little off of what I hoped for and I'm a little bummed about being a minute slower than last year. It is what it is: it means I need to run more.

T1: 1:34/1:10
T2: 1:22/0:58

Okay, I need to hustle it up in transitions. That's almost a minute.

Even though my total time was faster this time, I am a little bummed because I believe I am faster than what my time reflected. And I'll say it again: I need to run more.

I would like to pull a little more from last year's report. All right this is what I wrote last year:

"Sunday was a chance to race with and cheer for other Tri Club members. It was a good day for the club as all the other Club members took home some hardware. Finishing towards the back of the age group was certainly humbling..."

This year I'm with a different club, but I still had a blast. That is just one of the many reasons I tri. Feeling the vibe with other friends before the race, giving and getting high fives on the bike and run, comparing post race notes with each other, these are a few of my favorite things. I am even luckier to get to see friends from both my former and current tri clubs. I spoke with a few friends yesterday about racing and they echoed a similar refrain. This feeling of commraderie is really hard to describe to those who have never experienced it. Just look at WIBA '07. One amazing women's solo ride to IM becomes a weekend party for 70 in just one year.

So as I straighten my neck tie and return to work, I think about the next time I am out there racing and training with some new friends, or tri brothers and sisters I've known for years, and in a moment of zen ask myself: "What more would I want?"


Weekly totals:

• Swim: 2400 meters
• Bike: 70 miles
• Run: 17 miles

Preview of Stage 4: I gotta have more runs. And maybe there will be some changes...

Stage 2: Feeling...

WIBA was such a nice retreat. I got away from my everyday life for a while. It was not easy coming back. I really don't know what to write about so I'll just recap last week's workouts.

Monday: I was a still little tired from WIBA, but I got in a nice, easy 1.2 mile open water swim. I followed that up with a pretty good 4 mile run.


Tuesday: I was still a little tired from WIBA. I really didn't have much in my legs and contemplated bagging the speed work for an easy run. But... I sucked it up and did them.


11:06.03 warmup
3:17.61/Rest Interval = 4:06.26
3:22.46/RI = 4:10.16
3:00.31/RI = 4:53.74
3:00.72/RI = 4:43.44
8:26:84 Cool down.
TOTAL: 50.07.57


Those first two, I ran more than a mile without realizing it. (The "track" is about 1.0534 miles, I think)


Wednesday: I was still a little tired from WIBA. I rode a few miles. My intention was to ride a ten mile loop that had a few rollers. I was good, except for one descent at the end - a curvy hill, not closed to traffic, and it ends right into a busy straight. A few miles of warmup and cool down plus two loops.
TOTAL: 25 miles.


Thursday: I was still a little tired from WIBA. Honestly I don't remember what I did.


Friday: I was still a little tired from WIBA. So I rested.


Saturday: Trail run. I ran about an hour and 45 with a friend at a Zone 2 effort. I finished my run with her and tacked on a few one mile pushes. I can't totally trust the mile markers at the parks, but I think I saw a leading 5 on my watch after those pushes.
TOTAL: 15 miles


Sunday: I hammered over 32 miles with my former coach. We are probably both in better shape than we will admit. There were a few short stretches where we were pulling each other at 25-27 mph. Not bad for a few out of shape fellas. I wanted to tack on an hour run, but I went in to work instead. Bummer.
TOTAL: 32 miles

Overall Totals for Week 2:

• Swim: 2000 meters
• Bike: 57 miles
• Run: 23 miles
  

Preview of Stage 3: This will be a no intensity week as I plan to race in an Olympic Tri on Sunday.

Anyone watching Le Tour? Anyone? Bueller?

Stage 1: WIBA

I am back from WIBA. MOOO - YAH!!!

Our hostess, Iron Wil, definitely knows how to throw a shindig. I didn't get to meet everyone, or chat with old friends as much as I had hoped to, but it was Fun with a capital F.

Well I'm not really going to to a play-by-play of the whole weekend for you because every other blogger who was there will be writing about WIBA. I spent a good chunk of time with Steve-I'm-wearing-nothing-at-all. So go there for some hilarity.

I'll give you a few snipets from my brain:

• Okay maybe Bubba and I were separated at birth. We were being mistaken for each other all weekend. I had several people remark about my leg so my calling card is on the right.
  
• History repeats itself. Driving to Madison, Ferrah played in the rain again. Not unlike the last time I was in Madison. Once on the course, for whatever reason, my brake pads were rubbing against the rim. Not unlike the last time I rode the course.
• People can be really cool.
• I was at the back of the pack and was fortunate enough to get motorcycle support, by another rider's husband. How cool was that.
• I went dashing off to catch Wil who missed a turn. Two drivers heard me screaming, pulled up next to Wil at the bottom of the hill and got her attention.
• I was glad to finally meet Triteacher and Serra. All the best to you two and I'll hope to see you the next time I am in Dairyland.
• Okay C-Town peeps, Bolder does exist. But for whatever reason, he is good at eluding the camera lens.
• Thanks to the locals who made a lot of this happen. Stu, RobbyB, Thomps, and Heather Haviland for stopping by and riding with us.
• And everyone else at WIBA: Pharmie, The brothers Andy and Chris, Snickers girl Tricia, John, Erin, Gavin, Leslie, Jaret, Sherry, Howard, Marty, Coach Mike, Jennifer, I know there's more.., but best of luck at IM WI and beyond.
• All right this isn't an awards ceremony, so no thank you mom, dad, the Good Lord Above...
  

So let's put out some numbers from my first week of marathon training.

Monday: This was my recovery day coming off a long ride on Sunday.
Tuesday: Missed workout. Athena once again demanded attention so I had a 12 hour work day, which had nothing to do with the fact that I wanted to leave things in order before a six and a half day hiatus from work.
Wednesday: Mini tri. I went for an easy open water swim of maybe 1100 meters. That was the longest swim of the year for me at that time. Following a really long T1, I went for a 12 mile bike at Zone 2 cruise tempo. I came back in for a quick T2 followed by an high zone 3 up tempo 6 mile run. The day ended with a 15 minute cool down run.
Thursday: 2.6 miles of a zone 2 run.
Friday: Swim stroke analysis. I was in the pool for an hour. Total distance was probably about 1000 meters. I hit Lake Monona a few hours later for a quick 30 minute swim. That distance was probably 1200 meters. Next up was a 30 minute run. I threw in a 5 minute push. I covered about 1500 meters during that push. I will estimate my run total distance as four miles.
Saturday: 10 minute open water swim. 72 plus miles on the bike.
Sunday: 13 mile run. My legs did not quite have it, but I went out with the lead dogs. We checked out some of the old IM WI run course. I really don't know my total distance as I ran extra because of the historical detour, but I stayed in the shade of the bike path on my way back from Inspiration Point, ran through State Street and then around the Capital and then down to the Terrace. Gosh those sights are something else as I reminisced about last September.

Totals for week 1:

• Swim: 3300 meters
  
• Bike: 85 miles
  
• Run: 27 miles.

Preview of Stage 2: I've got some 800 repeats on Tuesday, a mid distance tempo run on Thursday, and a long run of 15 miles, probably on Saturday. I'll try to throw in a swim and a few bikes rides.

Whew, I'm pooped. So who's in for WIBA '08?!!

Prologue: Roots

My dad told me this proverb: When you drink water, think about where it's from. No it's not a warning about drinking tap water, rather it was a reminder to think back to where you came from.

So what did I do before my first week of marathon training? I went back to (Akron) Ohio...

Saturday I went back to some old trails for about a seven mile run. I've run the Towpath ever since I started running in high school. The first half was way faster than I should have ran. The mile markers were off, but I'm guessing, or rather I'm hoping I was hitting sub 7 minute miles. On my way back I met up with my Iron Sis Cas for an easy run back. I was a little timid with this run; I had not run for 10 days because of my knee. I could tell it still needs a bit of strength work, but I'm not terribly worried about it.

Sunday I checked in with a 50 mile ride. My legs were a little tired from the up tempo part of my Saturday run. This ride started with two people. We picked up another rider on our way to meet another rider. Surprisingly we picked up two more riders at the parking lot then we set out to pick up yet another rider. After a few miles we picked up still another rider. We all wanted to get something different out of our ride, but for about half an hour we had a great little impromptu group ride. That was fun randomly meeting folks from my old riding group. I stayed out a little longer than everyone else. I wasn't going to miss out on climbing a few hills. Toward the end of my ride, I went by the familiar Hale Farm and up Oak Hill. There are some locals that will not climb that hill because it is so steep. It's probably about a 20% grade, but it is short. The tough part comes in the form of a false flat that continues on for maybe one and a half to two miles more. It hurt, but I had to do it for old times sake.

What else reminded me of my "roots." I stopped in to my sponsors from the last several seasons.

I stopped into Ritchie's Sporting Goods to reload on some tech shirts and shorts. I think every pair of running shoes I've ever purchased was from there.



I also stopped in to Eddy's bike shop for a look at some new Treks. This is where I bought my first road bike.

Okay now it's time for some announcements.

Congratulations to my Iron Sis TP who got married this past Saturday. And good luck in Colorado.

Congratulations to Josh on his new baby girl. I'll bet she's already running six minute miles.

Happy Birthday to TriSaraTops!!!


Preview of Stage 1:

The three key workouts of Week 1 of the FIRST plan are a couple of mile repeats, a six mile run with two miles up tempo, and a long 13 mile run. Well I will squeeze these in some where but the highlight will definitely be WIBA. That's a lot of volume for me, so let's hope I can make it through in good shape.