Wow! I don't remember being this sore and having so much pain ever after any race except the marathon last year. The Bix 7 kicked my butt. I had plans to ride Sunday, but my lower legs hurt so bad that I opted to rest and not risk an injury.
Monday I woke up and my first steps were nothing but pain. I hurt bad. I headed to the pool to get in a workout and prayed my legs would loosen up. They were tired in the pool. It was tender to push off the wall, but as the workout went on I was able to get them feeling better. They were tired, but not quite as painful.
1 x 200 @ 2:59
4 x 100 with 30 second rest @ 1:26, 1:25, 1:26, 1:26
4 x 50 with 30 second rest @ :38, ::38, :40, :39
4 x 25 with 15 second rest @ :17, :17, :18, :18
Cool Down
200 Pull @ 3:29
100 Kick @ 1:49
Total Time : 49:45
Total Yards 3000
After my swim I had about 10 minutes to spare for the sauna. I have been loving me some sauna. For some reason it just gives me time to gather my thoughts while I sweat out some toxins. I did not have much time as I had to get to school to prepare for Moving To Middle class that I am teaching.
I got home from teaching, tore up some lunch and took a power nap. I was wiped out from getting up at 4:30 and getting back into teaching mode. I jumped on my bike around 2 for a 40 mile ride. I had to jump on the trainer as Amanda was out getting school supplies for the kids and I had Ava sleeping.
For this workout I decided to work on riding with a higher cadence. I need to learn to ride with a higher cadence which I hate with a passion. I like to grind and pedal in the high 60's - low 70's. Every 5th mile I picked up the pace for a 1 mile interval.
My legs did not feel bad, but I could tell they were tired. The weird thing is that as the workout went on my legs felt stronger. This has been the case the last few times I have rode. About halfway through I had to move my bike to another room as Aiden and his buddies were having a Spiderman/Wipeout battle going on. I had to turn off my Breaking Bad show(major bummer) and watch the Olympics. The event was kayaking - oh boy! That really held my interest, NOT!!
This morning I was up at 4:15 to get my run in. I had 10 miles planned for today. I ran to the Y to meet up with the group. I knew I needed a few miles to myself. My legs hurt and were heavy. I ran nice and slow to not force anything and to allow my body to warm up. This was rough I am not going to lie. I ran 2 miles to the Y. I met up with Phil, Emily, and Katharine and we headed out. Phil ran to the track and Katharine ran with us until Hy-Vee. I was struggling the first three miles of this part of the run, but felt better towards the end. Emily and I ran back to the Y where I snagged some water and GU. I then ran a cool down two mile run home. My body had enough. I need to get to Dr. Walden to get worked out. I have some tightness in my feet and my hips hurt again. It felt good to get 10 miles in today. I need to get some longer type runs built into my training to help my body better prepare for the 13 mile run in the long course triathlon.
One thing I am mad about with this run is how much weight I lost. I dropped 5.8 lbs. That is way too much. It was humid this morning and I knew I should have brought more to drink and consume but I was too stubborn to bring a hydration belt. I think I need to wear just for training to practice consuming at timed intervals or mile markers. 6 lbs is stupid for me to lose. I have my pre workout nutrition almost all figured out and my cycling nutrition is really coming along nicely. My running nutrition and hydration is not good as you can see. I know better. I have studied and studied material to know that this is not good. I will work on this for my next run. I need to practice consuming nutrition and hydration during the run. I never do it, but the only way to learn is to practice. I have learned my lesson after this weigh in.
I am back on track to eating much better. I am hoping to have things back on track by today and see the effects of good eating today. I know the way I ate this weekend is paying me back right now, but I think I am back on track.
The one thing I am slowly working on is removing junk food. By junk food I mean the foods that take the body the same amount of energy or more to break down to use(if anything is useful). These types of food do not provide the body any benefit which is why your body is always hungry and you just keep consuming and consuming(a bag of chips for example). Each week I am working on trying to improve one thing. This week it is a reduction in cheese consumption. I eat a ton of cheese. This is not good. A bit of cheese is fine, but not the amount I eat.
To replace those junk foods I am trying to replace them with fruits and vegetables. I have been eating a ton of both. Veggies could be better, but my fruit eating is top notch. I still have one major snack breakdown each day. I am constantly hungry when I am training. It is absurd how much I eat. Journaling really puts it in perspective for me.
Well, with tired legs I am out. Time for a quick rest after teaching all morning and then painting of another room in the house. It is also time to finalize my race schedule. I mapped out all the races and have a good plan in my head. I just need to make it real by signing up and making it happen.
Not sure where to start. Perhaps I will start by talking about how super sore my legs are right now. My calves down to my ankles are killing me today. I don't know if my racing flats do it to me or if it was just the course and the way I pushed the body. All I know is that my legs hurt something fierce. Recovery might take longer than expected.
Friday night we headed down the the Jr. Bix for the kids. Aiden and Addy both ran the .5 mile. I love watching my kids run and compete. I don't know what it is, but watching them give their all in something just makes me so proud of a parent. Addy ran with the 6 year olds(yes, she is 5, but she needed more of a challenge than the 70 yard course of the 5 year olds). She did great. What cracks me up about Addy is her outlook on things. We asked her how she did and she told us, "Good, I was first, but some of the kids just budged me in line!" That cracks me up and it such a typical Addy perspective.
Aiden ran with the 7 year olds. He is not much of a runner, but one thing he does is go all out. He just went hard from the start. This is one of the few times where we get to watch him push himself. He does not have a competitive bone in his body so this is always great to see him challenge himself.
Afterwards I could not resist and tore up some hotdogs, popsicles, and Hostess snacks with the kids. I told myself not to do it, but how does one pass up such greatness? I had been eating clean all week so this food put my body in shock later that night.
This year was great as Amanda decided to do the Bix. She has not raced any type of race ever. She has been working hard on her running, trying to stay motivated and increasing her time she can run. Since we were both running the kids headed to Fulton to stay with their grandparents(thank goodness for such amazing grandparents to help us out in a pinch). Being that we did not have kids Amanda said we had to go out to eat. She chose Sportsfans. I will be honest and was thinking this is not going to be good. How do you there and not eat complete junk. I had my race goals and did not want to ruin my race by food, especially food I have kept out of my system for a week. I have no self control so I had a Pretzel sandwich with turkey(not terrible), but popcorn and a few mason jars. We then watched the Olympics and I was sleeping early as I was wiped out from my big swim earlier that day.
3:00 am I wake up having to pee. I tried to hold it, but could not. As soon as I got up my body went into feel like crap mode. My blew up with congestion, I started doing my morning sneeze routine, I started getting hot and sweaty, and just was a mess. About 30 minutes of making noise and tossing and turning I decided to get up to not wake Amanda anymore.
4:00 am - Thank goodness the Olympics had started. I watched some vicious Badminton. I ate two waffles being that my nutrition plan did not start until 5 am. I was starving. I had a cup of coffee and some agave nectar with my waffles. This started my stomach down a whirlwind path of pain. All that crap I ate the night before hit me. It put a shock on my body. I felt sick to my stomach big time. No more details are needed except I was worried about even being able to race 7 miles without messing myself on the course. I also foamed rolled my legs. My right calf was tight and felt terrible.
5:00 am - Three hours before race I started my nutrition plan. I have been working on this pretty seriously lately. I went all liquid from this point on. No solid food for me. I made my carb/protein drink with some Hammer Nutrition. I began sipping on this over the next 2.5 hours along with some water. I just alternated back and forth. Typically, I would just eat waffles and coffee and then water until the race with a GU right before. I went a new approach along with my change of eating habits.
6:00 am - I am out the door and to the the course. I always need to leave early due to my nerves. My stomach was still a mess. Thank goodness many restrooms had not been used and abused yet so early in the morning. I got all set up and then just walked around for a bit trying to get my gut to settle. It was a beautiful morning.
7:00 am - I took my Endurolytes and headed out for a mile warm-up along the river with about 6 pick up where I took off at a mid sprint to get the legs and heart ready to go.
Pre-Race - What a cool experience to be in the Elite area. So many amazing athletes. I was not feeling nervous, but questioned whether I belonged or not. I stretched a bit and after talking with Jeff and Jen Paul I switched my race strategy. Jen told me to just hammer the first few miles as well as Jeff telling me that my mile 2 would be much faster than what I had in my goal plan. I was glad I talked with them because my plan would not have allowed me to hit my time. They are such great people and have helped me so much this year in attaining my goals by the knowledge they share. I told myself to get after it the first three miles and gauge how I felt.
Running up Brady in the Elite group was awesome. I was able to run straight and now bob and weave all over trying to get around people walking. I was moving up the hill at a much faster clip than I wanted, but it did not feel overly difficult. I told myself to just hang on and stay relaxed. With so many people cheering the runners on it makes it easy to stay relaxed. I just checked them all out to keep my mind off of things. I would check my watch here and there to see where I was time wise.
I was getting nervous after the second mile. My watch was telling me that I was running a faster pace than what the ladies at the mile markers were reading. I kept thinking my watch does not matter because it is not official, but I was not sure I had another gear.
Looking at my Bix strategy I was way ahead of schedule.
For mile 1 I wanted to be under 7:49, but more around 7:35. I killed that by running at 7:02. Not too bad with Brady St. hill.
Mile 2 I wanted to be around 7:00 - 7:05. I was at 6:44. I could have ran faster, but wanted to save my legs a bit for the uphill battle after the turnaround.
Mile 3 and 4 I wanted to be under 7:20. I killed that by staying under 7 for mile 3 and must missing it for mile 4. I slowed down a bit to take a Hammer Gel and water and I had a small section where I zoned out and was not hitting my time. It was around the end of mile 3 I was still feeling good where I decided to change my goal plans. I realized that if I could keep my pace I could hit 49 minutes which is way above my 50 minute goal. I broke the race into mile sections to gauge myself. For mile 4 I tried to hold on and missed the 7 minute mark by a few seconds, but was not too worried because I knew we were starting to climb a bit.
Mile 5 and 6 are my weak spots on this course. Last year I ran 7:37 and 7:52. I wanted to stay strong. I was starting to watch my average running time lose ground. It was here that I told myself to push. Don't be weak. You are not tired. You have to go and go now! I thought about my dad and the message he sent me about kicking the race a new one(a little more detailed than that, but you get the point and to lose all thoughts of self doubt. I flipped a switch. I had a glimmer of a thought to either collapse and fall back or push. I pushed. It was time. I did not just run 4 miles at this pace to not hit a great time.
I hit 7:05 and 7:12. Mile 6 was tough. I was running and I felt like I was flying in terms of my energy output, but just could not get my time down any more. I did not beat myself up as I knew that I could make up some ground on the last mile. I knew that I would just have to hammer that long stretch after the hill descent. I always die on the stretch to the finish. This year I knew I had to dig deep. The last mile I took Brady St. by storm. I cruised down the hill and looked at my watch seeing my average pace dropped to 6:59. I knew I had to hang on the last .4 of a mile. I just found a this high school girl who was floating and everyone was cheering for her. She was waving and smiling and I kept thinking how she was making it look so easy. I just hammered it home trying to follow her and was able to just squeeze in under 49 minutes!
I completely blew myself out of the water. I was beyond surprised. I never imagined even when I was running fantastic that I would hit sub 7 minute mile pace. This was quite unexpected. To say I was happy is putting it mildly. This PR is huge! 58 minutes two years ago. 52:36 last year and now this year 48:54. Another 3.5 minute reduction in my time. That is a huge improvement. My goal of running 7:08 - 7:12 average pace for a 50 minute time zone race time was destroyed Saturday morning. I could not be more happy. This is something that I honestly did not know I had in me.
It is great to have this moment. It really puts things in perspective in terms of what I am doing is working. Yes, I still have much to improve and can always get better, but this is a sign that my training is working. I am getting my nutrition dialed in slowly, but surely. I felt great the whole race running. I am starting to understand more about the body and how it works while training.
Things I Learned
1. If you treat your body right, it is amazing how powerful the body is and what it is capable of accomplishing.
2. Surround yourself by amazing people and take time to learn from them at all times
3. Believe in yourself. Mindset is 90% of success once the time has been put in. I had not self doubt and I felt mentally strong without those thoughts creeping around my brain.
4. Don't be afraid to challenge yourself. If you don't make it, then it is not a failure. Rather, use it as a tool to learn what went wrong and how you can improve. Sometimes these moments are more important than the successes we have.
Amanda did great for her first race. I am so proud of her for tackling this course for her first race. She does not give herself enough credit and is going through all the phases that someone who gets into running goes through. She is in the, "I am not a runner" phase that I sat in for a while and we all go through when we start off. She is battling some heel and back pain, but was able to finish the race and enjoyed herself as well. I look forward to seeing where she goes from here.
More importantly I just hope I can continue to push my body and mind for my family. I hope that I leading by example and that slowly, but surely my determination starts to absorb into my kids. I don't know where they are headed into their sports/activities/hobbies, but whatever they choose I hope they work hard at it.
It was great seeing so many people yesterday. Another great Bix. The weather was perfect. Congrats to all of you who finished.
Today I am back to eating healthy again. No more Sportsfan or junk food(yes, we ate there again for lunch after the race!). I will be back on track. I will sit down at some point today put together a plan for the next few months. Time to make some decisions
Thanks for reading!
Here is a slideshow of some pictures from the weekend.
This was the most I have ever spent in a pool. This was a lot of swimming. I started around 6 am to allow myself to sleep in bit. This was my only workout for the day to give my body time to rest for the Bix.
Here is what I did and I was quite proud of this workout.
Main Set
2500 yard swim. I finally became smart and switched my watch to run mode and recorded each 100 yard swim. This allowed me to not worry about keeping count. I felt good the whole swim until about the last 600 yards. Then I started to get tired, but I held on to finish at a consistent pace. With one last 100 to go a guy was waiting to share my lane and when I hit the wall he tapped my shoulder and I about pooped my pants. It scared me to death as I was just focused with finishing strong. Needless to say I had a huge adrenaline surge the last 2 minutes of swimming.
Time: 48:20 with average 100 of 1:51
Main Set #2
I was tired and was not sure if I would be able to finish this workout as I did not want to overdo it and be wiped out for the Bix tomorrow. So, I had scheduled 1200 yards with paddles. I decided to give my legs a break and used paddles with the pull buoy. This was a great upper body workout. Whew!
1200 yards with paddles and pull buoy @ 21:28
Cool Down 200 kick with board @ 4:10
Total Yards: 4500
Total Time: 1:25:33
I saw a lot of people come and go in the pool. Now it is on to painting, staining, cleaning, and finally watching the kids run the Bix tonight. Happy Friday to all.
I am not going to lie about my motivation still being a little under the weather. I posted this morning how I just could not get out of bed. I did not ride last night. Yes, my schedule just was not workable to dedicating the block of time needed, but another part was just not wanting to.
Today I made a vow to myself to quit riding the unmotivational train ride to nowhere. Honestly, I have to thank Josh H when he left such a needed comment on my DailyMile page about hitting my goal Saturday. He said
you're going to do it. Every time I doubt what I can do I think about
those in my life that have gotten me to this point and I write them on
my hand. When it's tough during a race I look at my palm and I get a
burst of energy. I also tell myself "you can do more than you think you
can." You got this Aaron
He is right. I need to be thankful that I can do what I do. Amanda and I talk about this all the time, at least 3-4 times a week. There are so many people we know who are going through things, have this or that that keeps them or a loved one from getting out and exercising. I also started to think about my kids and being able to tell them that I gave it my all.
So, Ava went down for a nap a little past noon and I quickly jumped on my bike to ride before I lost my mojo to better myself.
I was really hoping to start to see some improvements in my fitness after some major changes to my diet and some new changes to my nutrition while training.
I originally was going to ride 45 straight miles, then thought about doing a Spinerval interval workout, but then I went back and visited my insights and new changes to training after my Racine experience. One of them was to include brick workouts as I never do them. I decided to do just that.
I rode 40 miles on the bike at an easy pace of 20 mph for 40 miles. I started to watch Breaking Bad. I am hooked after two episodes. From there I jumped off and was ready to tackle the treadmill when I realized Amanda was home early from class.
I quickly put on running shorts and headed outdoors instead. It was perfect to train outside to work on heat and also to avoid the treadmill. My plan was three miles for this first brick with at least one pick-up to mentally prep for Bix.
I headed out with my new HR monitor, shorts, and sunglasses. The sun was shining and I took off. It felt great to be running. I remembered how I felt this good at Racine, but died before long. I kept myself at an easy pace. I tried not to rev it too much despite really wanting to just get out there and hammer it.
After about .8 of mile I hit a nice flat stretch of road and decided to do a .5 mile pickup at my Bix pace Saturday. I ran this split at a 6:59 mile pace. It felt good. It felt even better to know my body could hit sub 7 and not die. I know I don't think I could hit that pace for 7 miles, but it felt nice and relaxed. By this point I decided to just go for a loop which would put me past 3 miles. I eased up and tried to run at my half marathon pace for 70.3. I could not get myself to go that slow, but I did ease up to around 8 min pace. I then decided to hit one more pick up on a flat road at ran another .5 at a 7:15 pace. This is where I will probably end up. It was much harder this time around.
Right after this it started to rain. I finished up with 4 miles right at my house. It was great running in the rain. I took it as a sign for me to wash away all my self doubt. I have been pretty hard on myself and I need to get back to positive thinking and this brick workout helped me get back on track.
Now, the key is to get back to a good recovery. I will swim a big swim workout tomorrow morning and that will be it until Bix Saturday morning. I hope to see many of you there. It will be a great time.
Looking at the weather for Saturday morning I don't think we could ask for better conditions to run the tough Bix 7 course.
This week I have been trying to get back into the swing of half Ironman training. My body is tired. I could. not get out of bed this morning to get my bike ride in. I would have had to ride indoors anyways with the weather, but my plan was to do a brick workout to work on running with tired legs. I figured this would be good for both my triathlon training and the Bix. I just could not get out of bed this morning. I opted for sleep and took the day to sleep in until 6:45. I only have a handful of days left before it is back to the routine 4:30 am wake up call.
Looking back at my posts from last year for the Bix and also at my Garmin data from the Bix last year I have my work cut out for me this year. My goal is to PR. Last year I crushed my previous time running the Bix of 58 minutes with a 52:36 time. I really surprised myself, but I was immersed in some serious marathon training running and putting in lots of miles for my first marathon.
This year I would like to beat my 52:36 time. This means I need to run faster than a 7:27 mile pace. This was my pace after including some added distance due to the course(I ran 7.07 miles according to Garmin). I don't know if I can pull this off or not. I am in great shape, but I don't know that I am in great running shape. With triathlon training I have not been putting in the running miles as much. I really had to scale back my running due to some nagging injuries and therefore have been running even less the last few months.
In order for this PR to happen here is what I feel I must do.
1. Hit Brady St at a decent clip. Not all out or I will bonk hard, but with the chance this year to be closer to the front of the massive 15,000+ pack I think I can get up the hill faster than last year. My mile 1 last year was around 7:49. My goal is to be under 7:49 hopefully around 7:35. Nothing drastic, just smart racing(I think).
2. Mile 2 I cruised on last year hitting 6:53 pace. I honestly don't know if I can run that fast. I know that was not smart running at that pace last year, but this is one of the few parts of this course where you can just get out and go. I would like to aim for a 7:00 - 7:05 pace.
3. Miles 3 and 4 I was in a nice groove despite the tough little hills that always get me mentally. I ran 7:25 and 7:27 last year. Ideally, I would like to hit sub 7:20 during these two miles. and hit up a GU at the turnaround to head home.
4. Miles 5 and 6 are the backbreakers. This is the long uphill battle. The hardest part of the course for me. This is where either my lack of training with running will catch up to me or hopefully God will give me a gift to keep on pressing. Also, this is the key mental toughness test. A key training element for my 70.3 races. When the brain begins to tell you that you cannot do it, you have to have the toughness to shut the brain off and just run. It won't be hot so I should not have to worry about the heat issues like I had in Racine. Last year I ran 7:37 and 7:52 respectively. This year I want to try to be under 7:30.
5. Mile 7 I cruised with 7:02 descent down Brady. I will try to keep the same pace and perhaps run in stronger than last year.
I don't know how all this calculates, but my goal in my mind is to run between 7:12 - 7:08 mile pace. This is going to be flat out tough, but I am ready to challenge myself. A month or so ago I was hoping for 49 minute run pace. I honestly don't think this is a reality. My training for running at this pace for 7 miles is not there.
There you have it. My plan. A lot of things have to go right in order for this to happen starting off with my body feeling fresh. So far this week my body has been tired. I have not trained crazy volume, but the week off last week has caught up to me. It is amazing how quickly the body fades and how hard it is to get it back.
I did not get my bike ride in yesterday so I have reshuffled my schedule to get my third ride in on Sunday instead of a rest day. Today I would like to get a brick workout in. I hope to get a good workout in today if and when Ava sleeps. Trainer and treadmill look like my options today.
There you have it. My thoughts for this Thursday morning. I am still on course with eating more natural and healthy food. I do believe that is part of the reason my body is tired as I am sure my body is adjusting to not having the typical foods that it craves. It is going through some withdrawals I am sure.
Sunday I will assess how I feel mentally and physically to decide if I am up for another 70.3 distance race. The long course Pigman Triathlon less than a month away and I might tackle that one to give this race distance another run for the money. Time to figure out my nutrition plan and see what I can do.
Woke up today tired. I was up at 5:30 and tried a new electrolyte drink prior to my swim. I did not eat anything so I think that is part of the reason I was tired on the swim today. My new electrolyte drink comes from the Thrive books I have been reading. I have consumed one already and am immersed in the second book. I have many ideas to share, but I know that I need to read the books again and take notes and document my thoughts. Right now, my head is just swirling with great information and some things I can do to improve my nutrition, eating habits, and hopefully results in my training.
So back to the drink. I mixed 1.5 cups of coconut water with a cup of Yerba Mate tea. I put the teabag in a cup in the fridge overnight. I drank half of this concoction before and mixed the second half in a water bottle with water for during the workout. The taste is simple and all of the ingredients are natural and raw. Nothing artificial, no sugar loading, etc. My goal is to slowly reduce my sugar and artificial food items in my diet and replace more with healthy, natural foods. It is not easy, but I am finding it easier to do than I previous thought. The major key is to simply not buy junk. Such a simple task, but yet so difficult. I bought $250 of groceries the other day and the first thing Amanda asked was, "Where is the food?" It changes the make-up of the food pantry and not seeing bags of snacks really makes it feel like we have no food in the house. One step at a time. I look forward to seeing some changes as I continue to journal my daily food intake, stresses, sweat rate, and overall feeling.
Today I was tired. I think part of this is due to getting back into the swing of training after taking one week off and just being a mess with sleep, food, and vacation. The other part is my body starting to deal with the fact that I am not loading it with sugar and non-essential food that provides nothing beneficial to the body. Now, don't get me wrong I am far from eating perfect, but the changes are enough that my body is feeling the effects of not being loaded with sugar and caffeine.
My pool workout today called for 3200 yards. I realized as I pulled up to the Y that I forgot my watch so I don't have time splits today.
Warm-Up
200 free
200 pull
200 kick
Main Set
1200 yard - I swam this at what I felt was a pretty hard pace. I was breathing heavy and quite tired by the end. I don't know if I was swimming fast or just swimming at a pace my body felt was difficult. My legs and body were tired today so I have no gauge of time without my watch. It felt good to push my body a bit when tired.
100 kick
5 x 100 with 30 second rest - These were tough. the last 25 yards I could really feel my body hit a wall today. I don't normally feel this tired, but my body was hitting a wall today.
100 Kick
100 Pull
200 Free
200 Pull
100 Free
100 Kick
Afterwards I hit up the sauna for 15 minutes. I love sitting in there just gathering my thoughts. I put this time in the sauna towards the Bix this weekend. I went back and read my old posts from last year from the Bix. It seemed I was hitting some running walls like I am now this same time last year while I was training for the marathon. I am going to reassess my Bix goals and come up with a plan for the race this weekend.
Try to stay cool everyone as the temp hits over 100 degrees today.
I did not get in my bike workout yesterday as I was too tired so I will take care of that today, but probably on the trainer as Amanda is back in class again today and I am home with the kids.
I was up at 4:30 to get ready for what was my typical running time of 5 am. I have not ran at 5 am in a few weeks with the taper and the race and recovery.
It felt good to be up and ready to go.
My quads and leg were pretty sore and tight from the swim and bike ride yesterday.
Before the run I drank coconut water and a cup of coffee to wake the body up and to prep it with electrolytes. I am just trying out some new things to see what I like and more importantly what my body likes.
The last thing I did was weigh myself before running. I have been reading about sweat rates and how that can affect performance and nutrition. I weighed in at 211.6 lbs
I headed to the Y and Emily was the other only one up and ready. Phil was there but he headed to the track to get his Usain Bolt on.
My goal today was just to run 6 solid miles. No speed times. No worry about pace. Just stay on my feet for six miles moving forward.
I felt alright at first. My legs were tired and took some time to shake loose. Emily was still adjusting from her work trip to China so it was perfect that we were both on the same page.
As you can see from the times we were able to gradually pick up the pace. I actually feel much better running faster than running slower. I find running slower that my hips start to hurt. I like the quicker pace(I know 8:15 is not a fast pace, but it is all I got).
This was a good run. Thanks to Emily for showing up to give me someone to talk to and run with. It was humid - 70% and about 82 degrees out. This was a big run for me mentally. I really believe I can begin to build off this run and slowly get back to where I want to be.
I came home and weighed in post run at 207.4. That is a 4 lb loss. I must take into account that I had my shorts on for the pre weigh in so that probably added a lb so a 3lb loss is still pretty big considering I only ran for about 52 minutes. I need to go back and read about how to adapt my hydration and nutrition with this type of sweat rate. I will continue to chart my sweat rate to begin to put the pieces together.
This week of training is off to a great start. Run on Sunday, swim and bike yesterday, and a good run this morning.
Yesterday I jumped on my bike for a 45 mile ride. I tried to ride at an aerobic pace to work on my body using fat as fuel. I think I was above the aerobic pace, but to be honest this ride felt nice and easy.
I rode on my trainer as Ava was sleeping and I was home with the kids. I watched the movie the Fighter. What a great movie. I was getting all sorts of motivated riding.
I started to record my data in a notebook charting my water consumption, when and what I eat, sweat rate for workouts, and stressed in my life that day. I am hoping to find some key connections when I have good days and bad days.
I tore up the water yesterday drinking over 120 ounces. The crazy thing is that I still felt thirsty all day. I hope to get my hydration back on track. I did buy a big jug to fill with water each day like I used to have. I also limited my coffee to about 3-4 cups and also did not really have any dairy except some cheese on my tacos. Just trying to find out what could help me get back on track and possibly feel even better than I have.
Half Ironman training is back. I will see how I feel at the endof this week and make a decision about my next race. I have a lot of decisions to make.
Woke up this morning around 5:40. I did not set an alarm but I was hoping I would wake up early to get my swim workout in before Amanda headed to the AEA. I wrote up my training plan for the week to keep on pace for another 70.3 distance race. I have one in mind for August 19th, but I have not confirmed or signed up yet. I want to see how I am mentally and physically this week before making any decisions.
I was tired from the run yesterday. My legs were a little sore, but it felt good to be back in the pool. I had a 3200 yard swim workout today and it felt good to just turn the brain off and swim.
I had stomach issues this morning and was hoping that I would not have to make an emergency exit from the pool. I am happy to report no kids were left in the pool this morning.
The pool was packed again this morning. It is not going to be long before I am back at it at 5 am swimming. Hard to believe school starts soon. I will have to get my workouts completed in record time when that time comes.
1200 yard swim with paddles @ 21:36 - I felt like I was swimming much faster than this. Not sure if I lost count or just slowed down in the middle. This was a good workout for my shoulders.
100 Kick Recovery @ 2:02
6 x 100's with 30 second rest intervals - I added two sets to this part of my workout. I usually stop at 4, but today I felt like pushing my mind and body a bit.
1:26, 1:26, 1:27. 1:25, 1:23, 1:25(the last two I had 40 second rest)
1 minute rest
6 x 50 with 30 second rest intervals @ :40, :40, :41, :41, :40, :40
1 minute rest
6 x 25 with 15 second rest intervals @ :19, :19, :20, :19, :20, :19
150 Kick set @ 3:02(legs starting to cramp)
200 free cool down @ 3:27
200 pull cool down @ 3:33
I ate a Honey Stinger Waffle before the swim as I did not have much time to eat before swimming. My stomach has been on edge since the run yesterday so I did not want to eat much. I did drink a bottle of water during the workout to work on hydration.
Total Swim Time: 53:58
Total Yards: 3200
I am trying to eat more clean and simple. I also am trying to work on keeping the body properly nourished so that when I do train I won't have to worry about not being prepared. I have started to journal about many things to see what glitches I have in my system. I hope to discover some answers over the next few weeks.
I keep reading Thrive and it is really changing my thoughts on eating and hydration. I plan on trying out a few ideas this week to see how I respond. Also thinking about Advocare and getting my nutrition needs back in alignment.
Hopefully I can get in a bike ride tonight. I am going to ride at an aerobic pace to begin to teach my body to burn the fat stores more efficiently. I think one of my problems with my training is not enough slow/aerobic paces in my runs and bikes and therefore my body burns glycogen and has not had time to learn how to burn fat stores properly. I think this could be something that can help me out in training and also in my races. I don't do too many training sessions at aerobic pace levels. Perhaps this is something I need to key in on. I need to buy a new HR monitor as mine has disappeared. When this arrives this will help me key in on my proper levels. I need to study up on using HR as a training guide.
GETTING IT DONE! is still in pursuit. We all have ups and downs. I feel like I am down for some reason, but I know that this is all part of the plan. I am learning more about my body and nutrition than ever before. It will all pay off at some point. I look forward to that day.
I have returned after a six day break from training and all things related to triathlon and goals.
It felt good to take it easy. The first three days all I did was replay the race in my mind and constantly try to figure out how to make changes. I talked with anyone who would respond to find answers. Thanks to Carson Christen and Brian Conkey to name a few who have offered me some nutritional advice. I have begun reading on Google Scholar and have become very fascinated with the book Thrive by Ironman Pro Brendan Brazier.
Today I made a decision to get out a run in the middle of the day. I realized I need to practice running in the heat. Today was around 95 degrees when I started. It was sunny and hot much like Racine. I also took my Endurolytes about an hour before the run and brought along a GU to take about halfway through. I had a new test to see how I would respond and was excited to test it out. I have to figure things out soon with some races on the horizon and with Bix 7 this Saturday.
I took off at a good pace
It felt good to be back to running and training. The first mile I started slow, but gradually picked the pace up to end with a 8 minute pace. I was feeling great. I decided to pick up the pace to around the pace I need to be at for Bix 7. I had a goal of running in 49 minute range so I thought today I want to run around 7:15 for as long as I can knowing that come Saturday the back stretch of the race I will have to run sub 7:00. Mile 2 I was on track with 7:16, mile 3 was good as well with some hills mixed in I was at 7:23. Moving into mile 4 my stomach really started to give me some GI distress and I was starting to get hot much like Racine. I was good with 7:53 as I had three rolling hills that taxed my legs pretty good. I misjudged the water fountain thinking it was at mile 3.5 when it fact it was at 4.6. I started to hit a slight wall around mile 4. I had to stop to hit up the bathroom. I also decided to get some water and take my GU. At that point I was at mile 4.6 at 35:18. Not too bad, but I knew that I was done. I had some slight dizziness and knew to tame the running back to avoid what I went through a week ago. I became very frustrated to say the least.
Mile 4.6 - Mile 6 was tough. I had to really drop the pace back. It did not help that I had to start this portion of the run going up a rather large hill. I held on as best I could through mile 5, but my body started to get very hot, then I started to get some slight chills and just became more and more frustrated.
I made it to mile 6 where I forced myself to stop and walk. I was mad. How can I not run 7 miles? My self doubt kicked in big time - You can't run, you are weak, how am I going to do Bix when I can't even run around Bettendorf? My mental wall is quite large since Racine. I don't know what is going on with my body and why I no longer can spit out miles like I used to.
I made myself walk for 10 minutes and during that time I reflected on things that have changed since I last felt good running. I think my last time I felt great running when I could run low 7:00 minute miles like nothing was back when school was in session. I was able to recall three things that have changed since then.
1. I no longer carry around a gallon jug of water that I used to drink 1-2 times a day. I am thinking that perhaps I am not drinking enough. I think I am, but I need to go back to the jug to measure my water intake. Too much garbage liquid like coffee, diet pop, juice, and milk. Back to the basics of what works.
2. Eating routine. At school you have certain times you can eat. This works well for. Now I eat whenever with no rhyme or reason. Time to implement a schedule again.
3. Creatine - I always put creatine in my recovery shakes. I no longer do and perhaps this was something that helped. Time to bring it back as well.
I checked my HR at the end of 10 minutes and I was still way past 100 BPM. I need to find my HR monitor strap so I can chart my HR in the mornings, before and after workouts. When 10 minutes was up I made myself run 1 more mile. I had to do this to help slowly break down this mental barrier I have in which I no longer believe in myself when it comes to running.
I ran it slow to play it safe, but I made myself keep running. It was a big moment for myself.
In reading Thrive.....
I have started to see some trends in what I am eating and what the author considers poor food that causes stress. I won't go into detail here in this post as my thoughts are enough for a post by themselves, but I need to alter my eating AGAIN. I need to find out what is causing me to fall short of my goals.
Today was not the results I was hoping for. However, I did practice running in the heat(which I have always struggled with big time). I did discover three things that have changed since I was running effortlessly. I have some new things to try out.
Starting today I am going to create a paper journal where I am going to record my food intake(looking for food that leads to ill results), water intake, stress factors, HR, mood, and how I felt during my training. Something is off. I need to find out what it is as it is affecting my training which affects my achievement of goals.
Back to the drawing board to dial in some changes. Be on the lookout for me documenting my journey to finding the missing link and also my thoughts and ideas learned from Thrive.
I wrote this on Tuesday before leaving for Wisconsin Dells. I never finished my thoughts so I have broken this up into two parts. Part 2 will post in a day or two.
It has been a few days since 70.3 Ironman Racine. I have spent the better half of the last 48 hours post race replaying the race in my mind and thinking about what I could have changed. So, since the race I decided that I better start to get my thoughts down so I don't forget them. I know I have already forgetten many important thoughts and questions so let me get right down to it.
1. I am amazed by how good I feel after this race and especially after the way my body shut down. I am sore only in my lower legs, feet and my shoulders. I feel rested and back to strength despite these sore spots.
2. I know I was physically capable of tearing up this race as my recovery tells me so. As I have already stated I .....
3. Need to really study and discover how to fuel properly for a race of this size. I thought I had a good plan and it failed miserably when the race separates the strong from the weak. I fell to the weak side as my body crumpled on itself.
4. I need to record more in my daily journals. I need to include my mood, HR at wake up, weight loss during workouts to study my sweat rate, and be more precise in what I observe about my training.
5. I have to train in the sun and heat. I need to acclimate my body to these types of factors.
6. I have to learn to use more electrolytes, salt tabs, etc. while training. I don't utilize these enough. I need to....
7. Develop training sessions that force to nourish my body properly. Brick workouts are a must.
8. I believe that I can swim a bit faster without expending a lot more energy.
9. I need to get back to swim class to improve my swim stroke and technique. I have gotten away from two amazing coaches who have helped me tremendously get to this point of fitness.
10. Add water bottle cages to the back of my bike to hold more water bottles. I am a huge sweater so I need more fluid available.
11. I am stubborn.
I am off for the waterparks of Wisconsin Dells. I will conclude my other thoughts when I have a chance.
I really don't know where to start. Now that I am finally back to feeling normal after a long haul of being in need of medical attention and feeling really weird, I have had to time to think. Actually, I have reflected more than I probably need to, but my mind won't let this race drop. This was my first 70.3 Ironman and only my third triathlon ever. I realized that I have a lot of learning to do, but this experience was a great one despite the obstacles that smacked my whole body from head to toe.
Saturday morning I was up early and packing the van. We had to take the kids to Fulton where they would be spending the weekend with their grandparents. Trying to load up my tri gear, their bikes, their bags, etc. lead us to one jam packed van. I believe this was the final time I travel with bikes without a bike rack. I will be buying a bike rack soon as we are in need of one.
We made our way to Racine around 1 pm. Check was smooth and easy. It was crazy seeing all the people. It is always amazing to see all walks of life doing these races. It is even more amazing to be around so many fit people. Not only the racers, but the family members. It really is a healthy bunch of people. We breezed through the checkout and I bought an Ironman shirt that had the names of all the athletes. I could not pass it up for my first 70.3. Afterwards we headed out to rack my bike.
A race of this size has you rack your bike the day before. The transition was huge. It was massive compared to the other two races. You had very little room for your gear. I set my bike up and was one of the few without plastic bags covering my seat and handlebars. I need to remember that for next time. We then headed down to the beach to check things out. Racine is beautiful. It is super clean and North Beach is awesome. Amanda and I talked about bringing the kids back up to this area for a weekend.
We finally took off and headed to Kenosha where our hotel was located. We ate along the lake at a restaurant called The Beachhouse. Amanda and I could have hung out there all night had I not had a race to attend to. I ate a burger and fries and we headed back to the hotel.
I had plans to run Saturday to shake out the legs, but my right knee was giving me some pretty bad pain. I had trouble even walking so I just laid in bed and called it a night. It was lights out at 8:30 as I knew I would be up at 3:30 starting my day.
3:30 I was up and had to go on a scavenger hunt to find a toaster for my waffles. After a maze walk trying to find the front door lady and going all over the place I found one. Nothing like eating in the bathroom as Amanda was still asleep.
4:30 we headed to Racine. At 5 am I set up all my gear, checked out where the swim in and bike spots were and then we walked down to the start of the race. We had a mile walk to the start as it was a point to point swim. It was a beautiful walk with the sun rising. Walking the course made me realize how long of a swim 1.2 miles really is.
Around 6:30 I headed out for a swim. The water was 69 degrees and a little chilly at first, but really it is perfect temperature. The water was clear and just amazing. I got over my initial mild panic attack feeling I always get when I first start open water swimming. I got out of the water and felt ready. It was a great feeling not being nervous before the start. I was nervous the days before, but at this point I knew I had done everything right in my training to complete this race. I felt good. I felt ready.
The race started at 7 am, but I was the 21st wave so every three minutes a wave took off. I left at 8:05 so there was about an hour or so of downtime. It was amazing watching the pros take off. They just take off like crazy at the start. It was a sight to see. Seeing Craig Alexander was amazing. He was literally two feet from us. It was so cool watching the pros set up and get ready.
SWIM: (Goal - under 40 minutes, Actual Time - 33:07 - BOO-YA!!!)My wave finally came to be. My age group was large so we were broken up into two groups. I took off on the swim and told myself to get after it. I found a nice pace and settled in with the swimmers. I actually drafted a few times and it was great to swim so effortlessly. I did not know what my time was, but I knew I was swimming a good split as I was passing many people in the two-three waves in front of me. I started off with many pink caps in front of me(my wave was pink) and as the swim continued I found myself leading the pack with about 5 others. I came out of the water feeling fantastic and made my way to my bike. Running on the sand was a little challenging, but I made it out alright. I was able to get out of transition and being my bike.
BIKE:(Goal - under 2:40, Actual Time 2:31 - BOO-YA!!!) The mount of the bike was a little hectic as I was with a bunch of people at once. The start of the bike was straight up a hill. Thank goodness I had my gears shifted high to allow easy pedaling. I got on my bike and just took off. I felt really good on the bike. I had some back spasms and cramps starting around mile 7, but I was able to maintain my riding position and not have the pain get any worse. This is pretty typical with me in terms of the back pain. I had the same issues with my first two tris. I was just cruising passing people left and right. I was passed only about 8 times on the course and they were all my age group. I never felt like I was riding harder than I was supposed to. My ride felt like I was pushing it, but not over the top. I was worried about turns as I am not very savvy with turning. It was not too much of an issue. I did almost take out a cone and one turn I took too fast and about missed the entire road, but I was able to make a miraculous save last minute and keep myself from crashing. I noticed quite a few people with flats and started to worry about getting a flat. At the one hour mark I was a little over 22 miles and still feeling fresh so my goal was to maintain that pace. My watch went out on me twice. One time it was because it was full of data so I had to delete my history while riding. Later I lost a signal as I had the watch tucked in my nutrition bag.
In terms of nutrition I drank my water bottle of water along with water from the three aid stations. This was a new element that I was worried about. Never before had I practiced taking stuff from people while riding my bike. It was a thrilling endeavor and I was just glad I did not take anybody out. The second aid station I almost took out a kid and old man handing out water as I lost a little control. Asides from the water I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a Honey Stinger waffle, and also a 22 ounces of GU ROCTANE powder mix. I thought I had it all figured out. I was getting my 200-300 calories per hour and plenty of water. I made my way back to transition feeling great. Amanda was there cheering me on. I told I was good except for my back which I knew would go away on the run. I quickly transitioned and headed out on the course.
RUN: (Goal - under 1:50, actual time 2:36 - BOO-HOO!!!)This is where my body took a turn for the worse. I started off on the run feeling fantastic. Things were going perfectly. I knew my swim was good. I knew from my watch my bike time was right where I wanted(actually ahead of schedule). I started the run and just felt strong and good. Mile 1 I ran 8:10, mile 2 at 8:06. I knew I needed to slow a bit as I wanted to be around 8:15 pace the first 7-8 miles. My plan was to then turn on the burners and get to around 8:00 or faster depending on my body.
Well, that did not happen. My body shut down majorly. Mile 3 I was at 8:42. I started to feel tired, but believed it was just a mental obstacle for me to deal with. The course was hot. It was very humid and the sun was intense. I stopped for water and ice and tried to keep going, but at this point I started to get dizzy. I walked a few tenths of a mile to regain my composure and tried to get started again. Things were not looking good. I made a goal to run .5 mile, walk a bit, run a .5 and see if I could get more nutrition at the aid stations to get my body back on track. Well, this did not work. I started to get very hot. My head(more like my brain) felt like it was just cooking. My dizziness became worse and I started to get nauseous. Finally, I had to start walking more and more. Around mile 4.5 I almost broke down in tears(call me soft) as I knew my goals were not going to be reached. I had not done something right and it was so frustrating to get this far feeling so great and in an instant have everything just shut down. I did not shed tears, but instead knew I had to go with pride and finish. I did not want to get a DNF. I had to be smart. I tried to run and I was barely able to. I wanted to get to the turnaround running for Amanda. I did not want her to see me walking. I passed the turnaround at a snail pace and had to go back out for one more loop and do the course again. That was mentally tough. It almost broke me. I have never had to dig so deep to finish something. It was beyond a mental wall. I was battling with a physical wall and had to use my mental toughness to keep moving forward. It was not that I was not mentally tough enough. I simply did not prep properly for my body to do what I wanted.
I had to walk two miles. It was super hard to walk. I have never had to walk in any race ever. I could not believe it. At one point during the walk my legs were trembling so bad I had to stop. I bent down to stretch my legs in a squat position and just sat there for a minute or two. I started to feel better and when I stood up I experienced something I never want to experience again. I stood up and lost all vision. I could see nothing but blackness. I was wavering back and forth bumping into people and for about 30 seconds or so(not real sure of the time) I was not sure where I was and what I was doing. It was a terrible feeling. I slowly got some vision back and knew I just had to do whatever I could to not pass out. At each aid station from that point on I ate GU, oranges, pop, water, and ice. With about 3 miles left I tried to run again. I was able to maintain a 10:00 mile pace for a bit and thought I would be able to hit under 2:30 for the half. I was not able to continue so I broke up the run with walking. With the last mile to go I had .6 of a mile left. I swore I would finish this last half running, but the body said no. I walked until the last .3 of a mile and slowly ran it in. I finished with a super slow jog, but I finished. I walked out of the chute and sat down by a tree. Amanda and Jeff found me and when they did a guy ushered me to the medical tent. I think I was in need of an IV, but I never got one. I was in there for about 10 minutes and decided I was good enough to go. However, I left and just wanted to sleep. I could not do anything but think about sleep. I laid down the dirt and just wanted to sleep. Amanda was there to get me back up and forced me back to the tent. Once again I just sat there. I was not an advocate for myself like I should have, but I just wanted AC and to lay down so I once again left, grabbed my gear and headed for the van. I felt like I was going to throw up, but never did.
OVERALL: I am mixed. I am proud of myself for finishing. When I look at the times I did a good race and still placed in the top 1/3 of the people. Had I met my race goal in running I would have been in the top 100 and I know I am capable of being in that group. My training can improve in certain parts. I really, truly feel that I was in the proper shape to reach my goals. Where I lacked in my training was not my fitness, but my race strategy and nutrition. This is what I need to figure out. The problem is that I don't know where to begin. Thinking back I should have taken my Hammer Endurolyte tablets to replenish my electrolytes. I should have hit up GU sooner. I could have done this and I could have done that. The key is figuring what I really need to do. I have started the journey to seek knowledge and advice and put some new strategies to practice. What this means is some more intense brick sessions of longer bike rides followed by runs of 4-8 miles. I need to ride and run 4 miles and next time go 5 miles. I also need to practice running in the sun and heat. I train at 4:30 - 5:00 am when my schedule allows. With a few weeks left in the summer I need to get in the sun.
I am taking this week off. Well, I am going to try and take a week off, but I don't think I can go that long. I already have the itch to get back to training. I am looking at three races where I will pick one to do. I have my sights on Rev3 Wisconsin Dells, 70.3 Ironman at Benton Harbor, or Pigman long course. Two of them are August 19th and one is August 12th. This would give me a few weeks to try out some changes to training and nutrition and find out if it works.
Thanks to everyone who supported me and all the messages. I appreciate all the support. I wish I could have lived up to my expectations, but I have to remember that this is my first race and things cannot go always go perfect. Everyone has their off days. I don't know that it was an off day as opposed to just improper strategy and the fact that it was brutally hot. There were only a few who had crossed the line at the 5 hour mark. I am not alone in the struggles, but I am not lying when I say this was the hardest thing I have ever had to endure in my life. This beyond just mental barriers. I survived and am ready to get after it again. I am more driven than ever before.
Great job to Jessica Imm on her first place amateur finish. Jay Gates tore it up finishing in a fantastic time for his first 70.3. Jeff Paul also endured some mental battles and once again his mental toughness showed his character as he gutted it out to finish the race.
Here are a bunch of pictures from the race. Instead of inserting in this already post I just made a slideshow. The weird one of my leg is a cramp I had on the drive home. I was trying to show the muscle indenting. The rest of pretty self explanatory.
So, I GOT IT DONE! It was not easy, but anything worthwhile is never easy. Rest and recovery this week and then it is on. This week will be all about learning how to adapt and change my training and nutrition.
Lastly, thanks and much love to Amanda for supporting me and helping me out all weekend. I was so glad to have her there at the race. When I was broken down it helped me to keep pushing myself knowing she was there waiting. She was a trooper in the heat and sun waiting and watching all day. She has some amazing stories about the pros and the wives and families she talked with. What a cool perspective that you miss out on when you are racing. Without her and her support these last six months my training would not be able to happen. She is just as busy with my training with the three kids and listening to all my stories and complaints. She helped me stay strong during this race. Not sure how I would have managed without her this weekend.
Just wanted to give a final post before my race tomorrow. I am not sure I will be posting anything else on the blog until the race is complete.
I am up early and ready to go. Decided to let the family sleep until 7 and then it will be rush time to get them to their grandparents and then up to Racine. It feels like there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done, but I know there is.
I was restless sleeping again last night, but don't feel as tired as the previous mornings.
After spending 2 hours waiting for my van's flat tire to be fixed yesterday I really pray that is not an omen of things to come Sunday. I can't worry about these type of elements as they are out of my control, but it is hard to eliminate them from my thoughts.
I believe I have everything I need to race.
I read an amazing article yesterday that helped me to think about key things in the race. The article discusses how it is time to forget fitness. All the fitness in the world means nothing if you cannot race properly. It talked about racing "in the box". I have heard this before, but basically focus on the now. Leave goals and expectations behind and just focus on the now. By focusing on the now you have to be able to make decisions that will set yourself up for being able to handle the key parts of a race. These parts can be hills, winds, etc. The most important is the last 1/3 of the run. You have to be able to know how to manage your output in a way that you can finish strong. You don't want to hold back the entire time, but if you push too hard on a hill or hills or try to really go above your limitations, your run is going to hit a wall and valuable time will be lost.
I was thinking this morning it would be interesting to find a way to record my thoughts through this race. I know there will be ups and downs. I have to talk my way out of the downs and keep myself riding the ups as long as possible. I am not sure what my mantra will be that will help me, but right now I am thinking it is "Take It In The Face!" which was a key phrase from a stand up comedian we watched the other night on Netflix. This always makes me laugh. I am sure some stupid song will get stuck in my head, but if it works, then I will take it.
Time to wrap up my final check of materials and then time to round the family up. I will hopefully be posting pictures and video throughout the day that will go through my Instagram(coffeechug), Flickr(coffeechug), Facebook, and Twitter(coffeechugbooks) so you can follow on any of these.
GETTING IT DONE! will meet the ultimate test in about 24 hours. It is time to see how the 3000 miles of training this year in 2012 has paid off.
I have been sleeping pretty poorly all week. Partly due to the taper and partly due to my nerves. Last night I slept the worse yet. It is weird how this week I have done very little training and yet I am the most tired and sore I have been in months.
Thursday I met up with Chad again to knock out 4 miles.
This was a nice easy, relaxed run. My left shin was bothering me during the run, but Dr. Walden worked his magic later in the afternoon and alleviated any issues my body was having. I was supposed to ride 10 miles yesterday, but I did not get it in. Instead we headed out to Olive Garden and I tore up some food. It was my last major meal besides my Saturday night meal. Ava was not having any part of the restaurant experience so I snarfed by food down and took her out to the van.
This morning I headed to the Y for a short swim. I was dragging after waking up every 20 minutes last night. I had 1200 yards to get in. It felt good to just swim and mentally think about the race. I have ran this race at least 30 times in my mind this week.
After the swim I sat in the sauna for about 15 minutes. It felt good to sweat a bit and just mentally relax.
I got home and jumped on my bike. I wanted to get a ride outside to practice corner and turns. This race has a million turns on the bike course. I am not too savvy when it comes to turns on the bike. I know I need to trust my skills otherwise I am going to lose some valuable time slowing up and getting out of the aero position every turn.
My legs felt horrible on the bike. I could not get them going. If they feel this way Sunday I will be in for a long ride in the saddle.
I just kept at it and finally towards the end I was starting to feel my legs come alive. A little bit of wind as it looked like a storm was brewing. It felt good to get out.
I will admit it is weird to think that I started on this journey way back during the first week of December 2011 and 230+ days later here I am ready to reach my goal.
Time for breakfast and a million things to do, but I will be working a post about how I made it to this point soon.
Each Tuesday morning I weigh myself to keep track of my fitness. I started doing this over a year ago and have been pretty consistent with weighing in each week. I did this back when I started my marathon training and was always so befuddled with my weight going up and down weekly.
I know that my eating habits are in need of change. I don't eat terribly. Actually I do eat pretty healthy about 95% of the time. My problem lies in the quantity of food that I consume. Yes, My consumption has had to increase with my training for my half Ironman, but I also know that I eat more than maybe I need to. However, it keeps me happy and I don't feel like I have really hurt myself by ruining my training. Yes, I could be more fit and more slimmed down, but at what cost to my mental happiness? I am not sure it is worth.
I do beat myself up about my eating and many of you probably get sick and tired reading about it in my blog posts. This morning I decided to do a little back digging to see how things have progressed.
Here it is. I remember this picture because I hated the way I looked in this image. I could not believe that with all my marathon training at that time that I still looked not fit in my mind. I am not saying I was fat, but I still remember vividly not being satisfied with my body and thinking that if I was more fit I could run faster. I ran a PR of 52:36 last year, but it gave me something to strive for.
Fast forward a year in which much as changed. The mindset of doing triathlons kicked in, I ran all winter for the first time ever. I bought a bike, blah, blah, blah.
I continued weighing in each Tuesday. My weight still went up and down in the exact range as always. My lowest being 203(Amanda said I looked like death) and my highest being 216(I seem to hit this weight about every 4-5 weeks). It is a pretty typical pattern. I hit 215-216, panic, drop down to my usual 211-213 lbs, have one week in the 205-209 range, and then spike up to 215-216 again, repeat cycle. Over a year of data shows this.
My goal for Racine was to race at 200 lbs. That is not going to happen and I am okay with this. However, I did not want to be at my current weight either.
Here is the crazy thing. I weigh the same weight as I did for the Bix a year ago. The picture below is from last Saturday. I know the lighting and shading helps a bit, but I look much more fit. My body has changed, but my weight has not.
I am told all the time that I am shrinking away, I need to eat more, how many calories are you eating, how did you lose so much weight, are you training too much, etc.
People look at me like I am lying when I tell them I weigh the same as I did a year ago. My body has changed and modified to my training. I have lost the belly fat that I had in the picture above and I think that I must have gained some muscle from the swimming and biking. That has to be the change. I don't lift weights(although I really need to big time).
So, this big long post is just a reminder to myself and maybe to some of you out there that the scale cannot be your everything in terms of measuring your progress. Yes, we all want to lose weight and look great. However, I feel like I am in the best shape of my life and looking the best I have been in a while and I have not lost a single pound in over a year. It is a reminder that I am fine. I beat myself up sometimes when I see the numbers, but looking at the pictures is more than enough proof that what I am doing is working. I have charted my progress through pictures from back in January of 2011 up until last month. It is crazy how the body changes. You don't realize the changes yourself unless you take the pictures and measurements. That is key. I feel like I look the same from a year ago, but the pictures tell a different story.
Alright, my rant is done. I have a million thoughts in my head these last few days as I am trying to avoid the nerves that are slowly settling in for the race this weekend. Be prepared for more posts that come from the nervous chatter in my head.
I now remember why I hate the taper. My mind and body are both so confused.
I am finding this particular taper to be the hardest. Probably because it is the longest of all my tapers being a week.
Yesterday woke up after another terrible night of sleep to get my run in. Chad met me at my house and we headed out for a four mile run.
I felt pretty good on this run. If I can feel this relaxed running in the race I should be in good shape. My legs were tired and a little sore from the long ride Sunday and not doing anything on Monday.
The rest of the day I continued to feel as unmotivated and blah as one could possibly get. I felt this way all day Monday. I love being able to just sit around and hang out with the kids and play, but outside of this I just wanted to lay in bed.
This morning I woke up to swim. I felt horrible in the pool. I felt like I had weights in my pants or something. I could not get going. Maybe all my eating is catching up to me as I cannot control the mass amount of food I am consuming.
100 Free @ 1:49
100 Pull @ 1:52
100 Kick @ 1:54
2 x 25 @ :19 and :19. This is slow. I could not get going at all.
2 x 50 @ :40 and :40. Still slow
50 Pull @ :49
2 x 100 @ 1:30 and 1:29. Slow, but starting to feel a little smoother in the water
100 Kick @ 1:50
200 Free @ 3:24 - Felt much better. Nice and relaxed
200 Free @ 3:16 - Much better. Still nice and relaxed
200 Pull @ 3:14 - Really worked on following through
100 Kick on Back with Fins @ 2:05
100 Free @ 1:42
Total Time: 26:58
Total Yards: 1600
Afterwards I sat in the sauna to visualize my race. I have been doing a ton of mental visualizations for the race. It is hard to do somewhat as I know very little about the course and what to expect of myself with this race.
Here are my thoughts
1. Don't panic at the start of the race. There is probably going to be a ton of people and I just need to stay relaxed and get my own swim dialed in.
2. For the first time try to get in the mix of the swimmers and draft. I need to quit being a baby and get in there with the rest. I will find my comfort zone first and then try to merge into the pack. Not sure how it will work out, but what better time to try than on a 1.2 mile swim!
3. Don't take my goggles off until I have my wetsuit off down to my waist during transition. I took my goggles off first at the QC Tri and my hand and goggles became stuck in my wetsuit sleeve.
4. Have pop in my transition to drink during transition. I always cramp out of the water and perhaps a little sugar rush will help me until I get situated on my bike.
5. Figure out what 4 bike lengths looks like mentally. My other two races were 3 bike length between riders.
6. Find a comfortable pace for the first part of the bike and slowly try to crank it up a notch on the way back.
7. Thanks to Carson for this - ride and run easy at first
8. On the run, get a good pace going and by mile 8 start to slowly bring down the hammer so that I am running with all I have by mile 11. Not sure what I will have by this point, but don't want to leave too much in the tank when I finish.
9. Finish and feel good about myself.
10. Smile and have fun.
I am off to go try and get rid of this headache/head cold/allergy combo I have going on right now. My head is killing me.
I also picked my bike up yesterday so I will head out for a short ride later today as well.
Still hard to believe that in 4 days this journey will reach the ultimate test.
I know I have not book reviewed in quite some time, but I am back in the game of reading. I am currently reading Clash of the Kings (Book #2 in Game of Thrones).
I always like to have a plan on what I am going to read next.
I need some guidance.
Here is a link to my To Read List of Books on Good Reads. Take a look at let me know what I should read next.
Today is pretty simple in terms of workout planning.
Do nothing.
sounds so easy, but when you train and train hard for 180 days to actually do nothing on purpose is tough. It is 6 am as Ava decided to wake up at 5:30 on the day I could have actually slept in.
I feel antsy as I am not in the pool, running, or biking.
I need to just enjoy it and I will as the day goes on, but I am usually an hour into a workout by now.
My body recovered well from the long ride ysterday. I ate all day. I could not keep myself full.
The only things sore are my knees and my feet. I will schedule to see Dr. Walden to fine tune the body before the race and I should be good to go.
With no training today I will probably work on some house projects and hopefully find time for a nap when Ava goes down.
Yesterday was my last big training day of last week. It marked my largest bike ride to date as well as ending a great week of training. I woke up early to get some breakfast and coffee before heading out. I packed peanut butter and jelly, two honey stinger waffles, GU Roctane drink, and water. I headed out early before 6 to beat the heat and the traffic.
My legs felt dead. They just did not have anything to them. I could not get into a good flow at all the first 30 miles. My legs just did not have the energy to ride above 20 mph. I don't know if it was the large volume of training, the slight wind, or just one of those days. It was not a terrible ride, but I was hoping to ride a little faster.
My watch did not record each lap due to me forgetting to switch back to this option. As the ride went on I kept feeling better and wish I could have seen my last 10 miles because I think I was above 22 mph the entire time.This ride was weird in that I really enjoyed this ride. I felt so at ease and calm during this 3.5 hour ride. I never felt frustration or had any negative thoughts about not being able to finish the ride. It was a rather peaceful journey.
You can see from the map above I was all over the place. I had no set route I just took off and decided to ride some different roads when I felt like it.
I could not have asked for a better final ride to my training. Yes, I wish my legs felt better so my average pace could have been higher. However, it made me realize that I need to really kick it up a notch come race day. Riding around 20 mph will not give m the time I want. I hit mile 56 at 2:48 which is not acceptable for me come race day. I know I can ride faster than this pace today. I have no worries.
After the ride I took the bike to Healthy Habits to make sure all is good. It is weird because I won't have it back until Thursday. I need to get two rides in before race day, but not having my bike for most of the week makes me nervous. I know that my bike will be race ready when I pick it up. They are going to work on my chain and derailleurs as my chain pops off on almost every single ride.
The rest of Sunday my body actually felt pretty good. My knees were shot, but the rest felt good. I was surprised at I was barely effected by the ride.
Did not have a chance to post my training yesterday. Here is a quick recap of yesterday and the hot run this morning.
I had intentions of swimming at 5 am and then riding afterwards, but after another terrible night of sleep I did not get out of bed until 5:30. I started my swim at 6:15 am. I had my biggest swim workout to date.
2500 yard swim @ 47:39 - I will be honest in that I am not happy with this time. I took my split at 2200 yards and it was 41:45. This is too slow. I really thought I was swimming much faster. I did lose count on my laps three times so perhaps I swam more than a 100 laps. Regardless, I know I can swim faster. For race day I need to be sure to gradually pick up the pace once I get into a calm rhythm.
1200 yard paddle @ 18:17 - This really taxed my arms and shoulders. This was a good workout.
Total Swim Time - 1:14
Total Yards - 4000 yards
Later in the day I headed down to my basement for a trainer ride. I had a 3 x 11 mile interval workout. I decided going out in the 100+ heat would not lead to a good workout so I kept to the indoors. I watched the first part of the latest Transformers(not sure of what was all going on as I have not seen the first two).
I was cruising on the first interval with an average pace of 25. I then picked up the pace for the second interval to test my mental stamina and was cruising at 28. The last interval I tried to maintain and was happy to see the 27.5 pace.
I tested eating solid food again. This time I went with my main staple food choice: peanut butter and jelly. This worked well. I think if I choose to eat this during the race I will eat it early on the bike to give it time to digest. I also drank GU ROCTANE which really worked well again for me. I will plan to use both next Sunday along with water. I will save the GU gel and pop for the run.
After the bike I jumped outside for a brick run. I ran two miles in the blazing heat. The first mile I felt great. I was surprised at how great I felt. By the second mile I felt like crap. I was superhot and my stomach started to hurt. I was able to maintain, but I sure hope it is not this hot next weekend.
This morning I was up at 4:00 eating my waffles and coffee getting ready for the 4:30 am run. It was weird to think that this is my last long run before my race. I only had 8 miles to get in as my run taper started this week. Even though we were up early it was stupid humid and hot. I could not believe it. I sweated something nasty.
I love getting up early to run with this amazing group of people. John B., Curt, Rick, Emily, John O, Jen were all ready to rock this morning. At 6 we were met by Phil and Anne. Running with these people is just motivation in and of itself. The stories of their training, what they are learning, the obstacles they overcome, and just being able to take it all in is worth getting up at 4:30. Leaving the group after my 8 miles made me more ready for my race than ever before. It was a great morning despite the humid air.
I have one major workout left for the week and then the official taper begins. Hard to believe that 180+ days have gone by and here I am staring my race in the face.
Headed out early this morning. I have been debating what to do this morning with my training. Part of me wanted to go ahead and get my run and swim done, but I knew that a late night last night with fireworks and the heat was probably not the best situation for a run outside and my biggest swim workout to date.
I opted to just run the 6 miles. I wanted to run there to get my 8 miles in, but I overslept a bit. I will get these two miles as part of a brick when I ride my bike either later today or tomorrow morning.
I needed a good run today. I wanted my legs to feel good running. At first they did not feel good at all. Pretty typical lately. However as I continued to run I decided that I would keep picking up the pace as my legs felt worse to teach them that they can run through the bad feeling and to remind them that they can run faster and harder and feel better.
The weird thing is that the faster I ran the better my legs felt. I know I could not keep up with the rate I was accelerating, but the last mile I felt great. My breathing was picking up, buy my legs felt the best yet.
I was glad to see I was running sub 7 for the last mile. My stomach was upset during this run so I had to deal with that as well.
Looking at the 100 degree temps today I am opting for the trainer again. I don't know if I will ride today or tomorrow, but need to get in another ride by tomorrow.
My last big week of training is about halfway through. Crazy to think that I only have one run, two bikes, and one swim of big training left before my taper. I have a pretty extreme taper next week so that should prove interesting.
I know I should get out on my bike in this heat to practice, but I just don't want to risk wearing my body out. Thanks to Jeff for reminding me that I am going to be fine by sticking to the trainer.
I checked out the weather for Racine next weekend and it looks like it will be 87 degrees on Saturday. They don't have Sunday up yet, but I can only assume it will be a toasty day of racing.
I have also been checking out the times from the race last year in my age group. There are some stud athletes in this division. I know I should not worry about this sort of thing for my first 70.3 race, but if I race to my potential I think I can finish in the top 30 in my age group. I don't care about overall as there are too many people, but there were 190 in my age group for males last year.
Looking at the results from last year, here are my thoughts
1. These people can flat out swim! Wow! I need to put in a good swim just to maintain. My swim times that I have been recording are nothing compared to the top of my age group.
2. The bike splits are crazy. The top 30 males in my age group are riding around 2:30 - 2:33. A few were 2:40, but their swim times were super fast. I have yet to ride faster than 2:40 on 56 miles. I hope I get a little pep in my step next Sunday.
3. Despite feeling like crap on my run lately I still feel like I can hold on and get people on the run. Ideally, I would like to run 8:00 minute mile pace for the 13.1 run. This gives me time to run easy around 8:15-8:20 and slowly pick up pace as I run. This is considering I race well on the bike and swim to allow for me to run at my desired pace. This puts me at a 1:44 time for the run. This would help me snag a few people. I don't want to run slower than 1:50.
Now these are just goals of mine. I am not going to be upset if I don't hit these as planned. There is so much for me to learn during this race. This is going to be a whole new experience for me. So much can happen during 5-6 hours of a race. You just have to run your own race. I do believe it is important to have goals to strive for or else why race?
Here is quick breakdown of my goals
1. Swim - Less than 40 minutes
2. Bike - Less than 2:40
3. Run - Less than 1:50
Overall Time - I would like to be under 5 hours 15 minutes for my first 70.3 race. This time would actually drop me down to the 40th spot based on results from last year, but I think I can chip away at this time if I have the race I am capable of.
Back to bed for a quick shut eye session before my kids wake up.
