I want to get fast, but I want to NOOOWWW

Greetings friends and endurance athletes! I've been thinking recently about my current goals for this upcoming race season. Since I'm taking a break from Ironmans this year, I want to get fast! The problem I am running into is staying motivated. I think we all suffer with motivation issues throughout our training lives. This is no different. My lack of motivation is more in the realm of not getting fast RIGHT NOW. Wouldn't it be great if there was just one workout that after you did it you automatically decrease your split times by 30 seconds per mile....

Alas, there is no such workout (that I know of, and if you know of one please pass on this golden nugget of information). In the meantime I need to stick to my guns, do my workouts with diligence and, most importantly, consistency. There is another struggle I deal with. Its so easy to fall out of that consistency, especially when there is so much you could be doing with friends. With my responsibilities as a coach and "club leader," I have specific workouts I need to attend in the evening. In order to fit my own personal training in, I am required to get creative and most unfortunately to get up early in the morning (really early in some cases...).

What can we all learn from lessons such as these? I think the most important is that to train at a certain level, you must make sacrifices. For those that have family, friends and work commitments, the sacrifices that must be made are usually your early morning and lunch hours. We should not get discouraged though. If you can find someone to workout with you in the early morning you not only are combining training with friends, but you are also creating accountability for yourself and your friends. When you tell someone you will show up at 6am (or 5am for some of us...) you better show up. I certainly don't want to be that friend that bails on the group without telling them. So, if you are a morning maniac (sure, I'll coin that term), or if you are just trying to make yourself into a morning maniac, find someone to "suffer" along with you. It'll make it more enjoyable, and you will probably keep your training consistent.

So, get up tomorrow and attack the day!

2010 Rewind

I've been wanting to do this for awhile....go through major accomplishments from 2010. And, just to make it a little more interesting, I'm going to do it in reverse order (i.e. Rewind)!!!

Nov. 6 - Got my first tattoo...Ironman Tattoo!

Sept. 25 - Completed first Ironman distance race! (13hrs 13min)

Sept. 11 - 2nd Lake Linden 5k/10k (Co-Organizer and Co-Race Director)

Aug. 13 - Defended my proposal for my dissertation topic

Aug. 7 - 7th place finish in 2010 Copperman (1st out of the water!)

July 31 - 6th place finish at Paul Bunyan Tri

July 28 - completed first ever 20 mile run

June 28 - Finished teaching my first 3 credit course (Lifetime Fitness)

June 19 - Completed first ever 1/2 Ironman distance race (5hrs 23min)

May 29 - completed first 100 mile bike ride

May 10 - Started teaching my first 3 credit course (Lifetime Fitness)

April 23-May 6 - First time on west coast (California), first to present first poster at a conference in Anaheim, CA, second to visit family in Monterrey, CA

March 25 - Finally finished my Comprehensive Exam and Oral Exams for my PhD

March 13 - Completed my first ski marathon! 2010 Bear Chase, 42k in awful conditions

Feb 8 - Started taking my Comprehensive Exams for my PhD

Jan 1 - Started training for Ironman!

Lets do it again in 2011!!!! :-S

Ironman Tat!!!

Pictures are more than words for this one. But, briefly, I memorialized my Ironman finish by "branding" myself with the Ironman logo. Think what you will about it, but to me it means a lot. You'll see the picture is the M-dot surrounded by a swimmer, biker and runner, encased in black flame. Pretty cool, right!

Ironman recap.....the long delayed version

It has been a long time since my last post...as you probably all know. The new year has brought me back to try and fill you in on some of the holes in the rest of 2010. This includes my long awaited recap of my ironman, the Redman Iron-distance Triathlon!

**Now, you'll have to excuse some lack of detail. This was 3-4 months ago, and I apologize for not getting this out sooner.**

The beginning of this epic race begins the day before the actual race. Rick, myself and our friend Steph (our chauffeur, and cheering squad) arrived in Oklahoma City Thursday evening. On Friday we had a few pre-race things to attend, this included registration, bike check and the pre-race meeting. Nothing interesting to tell here, other than it was an interesting experience and made the whole event seem real. The weather was pretty warm, I'd say it wasn't "hot" but very warm, maybe mid 80's. The sun was a scorcher though, and there was rain in the forecast, so I think we all were really wondering what race day would be like. After all the pre-race stuff, we retreated back to the hotel for dinner and a good nights rest. Unfortunately for me it was not a relaxing evening, and the night before my first Ironman race may have been the biggest test of my will, morale, emotional stability, and everything else similar to that.

I was sitting in the bed, eating my pasta (which wasn't that good, btw), and I was stretching my ankle, rotating it around like I usually do, just trying to stay loose. As I was doing this my right ankle for want of a better term, froze....I had intense pain under my achilles tendon, and I couldn't dorsiflex my foot past 90 degrees. I could not walk without intense pain. I was devastated. I was less than 9 hours from race start, and I couldn't walk! To this day, I don't know what happened, the only explanation I have is that some scar tissue in the ankle freakishly got caught around my achilles and heel bone. I do have a lot of scar tissue built up over my years as a basketball player. Luckily I had wonderful friends who were super supportive and tried to help me as much as they could. I tried to relax the ankle with hot water and manual manipulation (courtesy of chiropractic advice from my brother Dave). I tried to sleep, and like Steph said, perhaps it was psychological and rest was the best cure. I could barely sleep, no matter how I tried. I think I got a good 3 hours win with 2 or 3 hours of just lying there worrying about the morning. I honestly believed that my Ironman dream would have to wait till next year. You can imagine how hard this was for me. All the preparation, dedication, training and most importantly the support from family and friends all seemed to be for nothing. In other words, I was "in the depths of despair."

Race Day

4:00am - I woke up, with my ankle keenly in my mind. I tried stretching it in bed, the pain was still there, but not as intense. It was time to get ready, so the only thing I could do was test it. I got out of bed, and I was able to walk! A big relief washed over me. All I thought was, OK I can do this...even if I have to walk the whole marathon, I CAN DO THIS.

5:00am - Rick and I arrive at Transition, ready to start, but race start is still about two hours away. It had rained the night before, which cooled the air down, and also made everything wet. I was still concerned about how the ankle was going to hold up. It hurt to walk, but I was able to walk, and that's all that mattered. The ankle really changed my whole view of this race. Leading up to the race I was very focused on being competitive, hitting my pacing and meeting my time goal. I was ambitious, and the ankle brought everything into perspective. I realized how special it was to have just gotten the point of being able to race an Ironman. My goals changed from competitive to just wanting to finish. And, though the ankle was awful and a real test of nerves, I believe it made my experience 10 times better than it could have been. I do believe that the biggest winners are those that just get out there and go for their goals. Whether you're competitive or not, its just getting there, pushing yourself, and putting yourself out on the course that really matters.

7:00am - Race start in 15 minutes. Warming up in the water was fun. It was completely dark when we started our warm up, and by the time we entered the water again for race start the sun was just rising. It was really cool.

7:15am - Race start. An interesting one...the water was warm, but still wetsuit legal. The water was very shallow, waist high really. There were racers who actually walked for 10 or more minutes in the beginning.

8:30am (roughly) - I exit the water, headed to T1. My ankle did not bother me during the swim, as I figured it wouldn't. I was also correct in thinking that the swim would loosen it up a little more. I walked out of the swim, walked in to T1, got my bike gear and took a bathroom break. I was not rushing, and I probably was going too slow even, but it didn't matter to me.

8:30am to 3pm-ish (I'm guessing) - 6 hours 45 minutes on the bike including breaks. Not bad, the course was harder than I thought. I figured it was going to be very flat, but there were quite a few of long shallow hills. Those I feel are worse than the shorter steeper hills. I was shooting for a 17mph pace, and I think I hit that right on. The 4 lap course gave me a lot to think about. Rick was ahead of me the whole time, and I always judged his pace by where we passed each other. Deep down I wanted to catch up, but he was significantly further along than me, and I knew that it wasn't worth pushing the pace. Stick to your guns when you're out on an Ironman course. I stuck to my guns, kept my pace in check, even slowed down on lap 3, and finished the ride tired, and a bit sore, but still feeling pretty good. My biggest question mark was the run...and I was only thinking, will I be able to run, or am I in for a very long walk.

3:30pm - T2 was another long drawn out process. I walked my bike to my transition spot, and saw Rick walking up to me. He had waited for me to finish, knowing I was only 10 or so minutes behind him. I took my time, and Rick was in no rush. The most interesting part of T2 was putting on sunblock. Putting on sunscreen you definitely find out where your wetsuit rubbed your neck raw. That might have been the most pain I experienced all day :)

3:45pm - The run begins. More importantly, I COULD run. It was a long day, and the ankle worked itself out. There was an almost imperceptible lack of range of motion, but it did not bother me while I ran.

3:45pm to 8:45pm - Rick and I ran together for most of the first lap, there were 4 laps total (about 6 miles per lap). I was definitely tired after that bike, but when I began the run I felt surprisingly good. I wasn't going to be running a 3 hr marathon or anything, but I felt smooth and strong. Good training and preparation I guess. Around mile 5 Rick and I parted ways. He ended up walking the rest of the way, and I kept chugging along. The thought of The Little Engine That Could entered my mind more than once throughout the rest of the marathon. One of my goals entering the race was to run the entire marathon, stopping only at the aid stations. I basically did just that. I kept waiting for The Wall to hit. Part of my uncertainty with this whole race was the unknown. I really wanted to meet obstacles I had never dealt with before, The Wall was one of those. I still don't feel like I ever hit the wall, and if I did, it was a very thin and low wall. There was only one time during my run that I felt like I was going to have to resign to walking the rest. I started walking, but after about 15-20 seconds I just leaned forward and began running. I guess I am just too stubborn to even give in to fatigue. I was set on running that marathon, and I just did it. When I hit the beginning of lap 4 I could just taste the finish. I knew every inch of that last 6 miles, and I also knew that every step was the furthest I had ever run before. At 5k left, I was pumped. So pumped to be one last stretch from finishing. Darkness was setting in, and I decided I had the energy to push it. I picked up the pace. It probably was only 9-9.5 min/mile pace, but it was the fastest I had run all day. I held that pace to the finish, lapping Rick on the way ;)

8:45pm (or at least 13 hours 13 minutes from the Start) - I AM AN IRONMAN! I finished with a huge smile and a fist pump. I will admit that I was hoping to have some emotional moment, maybe cry while I cross the line, but it never came. I was just so happy to do it. It wasn't even one of those "I never thought I could do it" moments. It was just a "I DID IT!" moments, and I was just happy to be finished. I admit that as soon as I finished I was thinking about Rick, knowing he had 6 more miles to go, and I was rooting for him.

2 hours after I finish - Rick IS AN IRONMAN!!! We did it! And I know we'll do it again, just not in 2011 :)

I'll close with maybe my most memorable moment of the race. I think I was finishing my 2nd or 3rd lap of the run, and Steph came running up to me with a phone. On the phone was all of our awesome friends back home, having a party and cheering us one from 1000 miles away. Steph put them on speaker and I was able to talk to them, and they were able to cheer me on. It meant so much, and just thinking about it makes my heart leap. To all my family and friends, THANK YOU for your amazing support, I couldn't have done it without you.

My Copperman

1st out of the water! 7th overall!

Not bad for not training for speed. This year's Copperman was a blast. Spent the night before camping with friends, luckily we didn't get rained on like the weekend before when I was in Minnesota with my brother Dave. Race day was awesome as well. Great weather, great environment, great friends and family watching the race. The Copperman is becoming more of a social event for me than in the past. I seem to know so many people there, I walk through transition and always find someone I know and wants to chat. Its great!

Probably the best part about this years race was that it was Agustin's A race. I've been coaching Agus for this race for a whole year, and was super excited for him on race day. We had a bit of a setback a few weeks before. He injured his leg, and we had to scale back our expectations and goals, but Agus is a true warrior. After hurting his leg there was no stopping him in training, well at least until the pain got too much, and there was no question that he was going to finish this race. He exceeded my expectations, and swim, bike, runned himself to a great finish. Agustin has been with Northwoods Endurance the longest out of all our awesome athlete's, and he's not just a great triathlete, but a great friend as well. Congratulations Agustin! Hope to see you back next year, we'll be training for it either way ;)

I was happy with my race. Like I said before, I have not been training for speed. Everything this year has been focused on the Ironman, so I certainly have been putting my time in, but I was nervous about not doing a lot of interval and speed work leading up to the Copperman. My Minnesota race gave me a lot of confidence that I could compete, but I was unsure of how my performance at the smaller MN race would translate over to a little larger and more competitive crowd at the Copperman. I think it turned out alright :)

The biggest surprise I had was coming 1st out of the water. I actually led the race for awhile, most of the swim and 4 miles on the bike. I knew that I wasn't holding onto the top spot on the bike for long. My bike has a long way to go if I'm going to lead from start to finish someday. Being 1st out of the water had some perks. People actually notice you for one. You're the first person they see, and it was awesome hearing my name with "1st out of the water" attached to it. Northwoods Endurance really represented at the swim this year. Rick came in a close 3rd out of the water. It was great to see him so close, and maybe even a little bit better knowing that I was ahead of him ;)

The bike went well, I thought. I couldn't quite go as fast as I had hoped, but I didn't go slow either. I managed to hang around the top 10 going into T2. I took comfort in knowing that this may have been one of the few times the Copperman has seen the leader coming out of the water stay towards the front of the race. Usually the true swimmers come out first and fade very quickly on the bike. This year we had true triathletes leading the race.

My race strategy was to go hard on the swim, about 85% on the bike, and see what I had on the run. I think I hit that strategy real well. My goal was to push the bike, and trust my endurance and experience to still go fast on the run. I think I put in my best run split ever. 6:44 min/mi was my average pace! Usually I get passed on the run, this year I actually passed more people than who passed me (3:1). I was able to move up in the standings and finish a very respectable 7th, which is 3 spots ahead of last year (10th). Good race overall. Even better when you have such a great support team like Northwoods Endurance. I'm hoping next year all our Northwoods athletes will be sporting some NE apparel so we can really show off.

Now what? well, my only race left for this season is the Ironman! 4 weeks to go!!!

Less Than 2 Months to Go

Here is another grossly overdue post....

What a month its been since I last chimed in. My last post was all about the massive 8 hour workout. Since that time I have been busy busy busy with trying to continue on with a good base phase, and fitting in races on the weekends. Its so hard to NOT enter races! I love racing, and I love participating in our local events. My main race in July was the 2010 Canal Run in Hancock, MI. I had an ambitious goal of running the 10 miles at 7:00 min/mi pace. I came close...ran a 7:18 min/mi pace, or something like that. My final time was 73 minutes and some change. I was a bit disappointed with my result. I was sure that I would be able to run that course in my goal time of 70 minutes. I quickly found out what it truly means to train specifically for a certain type of race.

Long course racing (i.e. Ironman) is all about the LSD, long slow distance. I guess I thought that I could do LSD and get speed as well. (do you like those drug references......endurance training is a drug so it fits). Well, I am fast, but not as fast as I want to be. Overall though it was a fun race. Northwoods Endurance sponsored a team. We all ran great races, and had a blast! NE is truly establishing ourselves in the community which is awesome!

Other highlights of July were a 25k trail run. This was a last second addition to the race schedule. I used it as a long training run for the week. But it actually turned out to be the funnest race that I have done. The course was challenging, large hills, windy trails, warm and humid weather. We got hit with a giant thunderstorm during the race, and I had a blast! The trail turned into one giant mud puddle, and the rain was coming down so hard that it was hard to see clearly at times. It was awesome! I'm hoping for the same next year :)

I scheduled a last second "Olympic" triathlon (I say "olympic" because it was a little short of the true distances) at the end of July. This was mostly for fun reasons, to get out camping with my favorite brother, and also to get him out of town because we were throwing him a surprise party that evening. I did use it as a prep race for my perennial race, The Copperman. I did well in this tune up. I really wanted to see if I could go as fast as I wanted while still doing heavy Ironman training. By now I had added some speed work to my workouts. I didn't want to add too much, but I didn't want to skimp out on doing well in my shorter triathlons. I did well in this one. I set a goal of finishing in the top 10, I came in 6th or 7th (results were confusing...), and felt pretty good about my chances in the Copperman (that post to come).

It was nice to do fast stuff again, but I found myself missing the LSD. There is something to be said about just going out and training at a pace that doesn't hurt, that feels like you can go on forever, and you basically do. This is the year of LSD, next year is the year of Speed. I like my chances at both!

Just Another Day in the Office

Monday was a holiday for most people. For Rick and myself it was just another day at the office. An 8 hour workday to be exact. I even got a little sunburned from it too. :)

Confused??? What if I told you the "office" was a bike, some running shoes and the road. That's right we completed an 8 hour workout; 105 mile bike ride followed by a 70 minute run. And today I feel great!!! We finished a great 4th of July weekend with the biggest workout of the year, probably of our lives (to date) as well.

So what does it take to do an 8 hour workout? Well, a lot of patience, some grit and a lot of Clif bars. A lot of Clif bars....I'm so sick of Clif bars....The day started with a planned Century Ride (i.e. 100 mile bike ride). We took the classic route up to Copper Harbor and back, with a little refresher Copperman bike course mixed in the middle. In classic Ironman fashion the bike was done at a nice easy pace. A good Ironman bike should feel like you are not working hard. It was a little slow at times, but you keep telling yourself that the slowness is going to get you through the day. I felt really good. I didn't start to notice any fatigue in the legs until mile 85, I'm not sure about Rick. This was Rick's first 100 miler this year, and I think he did awesome! This was my second Century ride and I felt very strong. We took it slower than I did on my first one, but I also wasn't able to run for 70 minutes after that ride (though I did manage 30 minutes the first time).

Something I learned during this ride was that I need to figure out how to mix up what I eat. I only had time to grab a bunch of Clif bars, and usually I have something else to mix in like a banana or peanut butter and honey sandwich (one of my favorites!). Even though I had a good variety of bars, they still all end up tasting the same. I had some GU, but I am kind of sick of GU as well...particularly the Espresso flavor, probably because during my Half-Ironman race I took an Espresso GU at a bad time and made my stomach hurt (see previous post about that...). All in all a really good bike. It is such an invigorating feeling when you hit that 100.00 mile mark! I always want to fist pump or something at that point.

We transitioned into the run and I felt really good. I think I can officially say that my body is so used to running after biking that I never feel weird off the bike typical for triathlon. We just started running, and we were what I would be really happy to do during the marathon portion of the Full Ironman. Maybe a little slower than what we really ran. Feeling that good also made me realize that it is going to be way way better if I take my bike slower than I would think I can do. My original goal on the bike was to average 17-18 mph for the whole bike. I don't think that's impossible yet, but as of right now I think what I should do is more like 16 mph. I still have a couple of months, and I very well could get up to 17 mph. Doing 16 mph puts you right around a 7 hour bike, which would still be pretty good, and even better if that means I can do straight 10 min/miles for the whole marathon! So my new plan is to do the bike in 7 hours and if I happen to do it a little faster than 7 hours great, but as long as I feel great on the run.

We finished the run pretty strong. I was definitely glad to stop, but realized that I could have continued at least for a little bit more if I needed to. I think with regular aid stations I could get through at least a half-marathon at this point. We did that whole run on just a couple of gulps of water in the middle. I felt a definite need for some nutrition and Gatorade by the end. It was a great day!!! Maybe the best part is that I feel great the day after! I know that my legs are tired and that any kind of physical activity wouldn't last too long, but I know that I could at least get an easy recovery jog in and feel good about it.

It's amazing that I could even do an 8 hour workout. It hit me at the end of the run....that last year it would have been absolutely impossible to do something like this. Its a real testament to consistent and structured training. For all of you that thought it would be impossible to throw down an Ironman without having done a strong base of marathons, half-ironmans and everything in between, I am well on my way to prove you wrong. Keep this in mind....I have not even run a full marathon yet, and will not until Ironman Race Day (September 25, 2010)!