Weeks 25 & 26 of Ironman training – Lessons Learned

Weeks 25 and 26 of training brought me to my very first triathlon event.  I participated in an Olympic distance tri in my current city of Verona.  For those not familiar with, the Olympic distance is a .93 mile swim, a 25.5 mile bike and a 6.2 mile run.  I completed all disciplines without incident in a just under 3 hours and took away a few nuggets from the experience.  1) The swim doesn't bother me at all, I'm calm, fast, and relaxed in the water and the crowd.  Now I'm told this can change at any moment but I don't imagine a scenario where I really panic as I can always roll to my back and float in the buoyant wet-suit until I settle down.  2) I'm slow on the bike, I seem to make up for it on the up hills but on the straight-a-ways I'm getting passed by Ms. Daisy.  I let this get into my head a few too many times during the race.  3) I need to focus more during the transition.  I left the transition from the bike to the run still wearing my biking shorts.  Now this is fine for a short 6 mile run, but this could be problematic during the 26.2 mile run as the bike shorts have considerably more padding in them which makes running uncomfortable.  4)  I'm letting my competitive nature get the best of me and I start racing the event.  This is bad, very bad as the full Ironman (the first time around) is not about racing against others or for a particular time, it's about finishing the race in the allotted 17 hours.  It doesn't matter if you come in 2,500 out of 2,500 so long as it's by 16:59:59.  If I don't come to terms with this I could have a disastrous day on September 7th risking going out way too hard and bonking at some point during the event.  I have one more practice event to get my pace under control at the half Ironman in Racine on July 20th.  This will truly be a dress rehearsal for the big day in September.  I want to have the correct pace to easily make the finish line feeling like I could continue going if necessary.

I guess you should do as I say and not as I do in your own training, even if you're not targeting any events to demonstrate your fitness.  There are lessons to be learned from each workout you do, in the form of what clothes to wear, how far to go, whether or not to pack toilet paper, what you should eat before/during/after, etc.  Store these little nuggets away and don't let anyone tell you differently about what you've learned personally about your body.  You will, over time and given enough opportunities, become an expert in what it takes to get you to your goals.  Keep after it!

Weeks 22, 23 & 24 of Ironman training – Affirmation

Three more weeks of training behind me and now only 11 weeks until we lace them up for the real thing!  The last three weeks saw a well needed increase in outdoor activities, including several open water swims (swimming anywhere but the pool).  It is vital getting comfortable in open water as to not totally loose your sh*t on race day when the cannon fires and 2,500 people start swinging arms and legs.  With this in mind I participated in an 'aquathon' race this past week to get just that experience.  The race had a little over 150 people and it consisted of a 1,000 meter swim followed by a 5K foot race.  I started the swim right in the mix because I wanted to get bounced around a bit and to my surprise it wasn't nearly as bad as described by others.  I was grabbed a couple of times and thankfully with my football background was able to throw a few shoulders and haymakers myself.  Eventually I got back to the beach and ran a fast race and was able to get across the finish line feeling affirmed that my training has been making a difference.

I think it's incredibly important when setting a goal, to occasionally seek out some reassurance that you're doing the right things and a difference is being made.  Whether your goal is to lose weight, run a certain mileage, feel better, have more energy, or fit into some piece of clothing, you need to 'check-in' along the way to determine if you're on the right track.  I'm not talking about winning a competition or stepping on the scale each week and seeing another 10 pounds dropped, I'm talking about much smaller victories to keep you motivated.  So maybe you didn't drop any weight this week, but instead you fit into a piece of clothing or you have more energy, that's a win and that's affirmation that your hard work is paying off.  You may not have been able to run the full 2 miles, but if you ran a few blocks further today than you did last week then again it's a win because your training is paying off and making a difference.

I think it's much easier to set a goal and achieve it if you have check-points along the way that reassure you that the hard work and dedication is making a difference.  Your goals are personal to you and should never be compared with anyone else's, and the same about the grandeur of your check-points.  Don't get down on yourself because someone lost 5 pounds and you didn't loose any, be honest with yourself and find the silver lining in what you accomplished and did to make yourself better that day.  Keep your head up and get back to work on achieving your goals!

Weeks 19, 20, & 21 of Ironman training – Enough already!

I had no idea that I slacked off this much; I looked at the calendar today and realized I let a week slip by without a blog entry.  I’ll blame it on the holiday weekend and throwing my schedule for a loop.  Weeks 19, 20, & 21 are in the books and I’m still upright and making progress.  For many in my network of fellow competitors my week 20 marked the halfway point for their same 30 week training programs (remember I started my training 5 weeks early), so it’s a cause to celebrate…even though the most difficult training lies ahead.  Week 19 concluded with a great bike ride with a bunch of people I met from a Facebook group I joined, week 20 was my first trip of making two loops around the Ironman bike course, and week 21 was capped off by a 2 mile swim with the assistance of my Dad paddling next to me in his kayak (not exactly great Father-Son bonding time but thanks Dad!).

The point of this blog was twofold, 1) for me to document my journey so I could look back on it should I ever consider doing something so dumb again and 2) for me to express myself about training without having to annoy everyone with constantly talking about training.  I’m finding though that writing it down here is not enough to satisfy the urge to constantly talk about my training…and now I’m annoying!  The fact is that Ironman is dominating my life right now and it’s the only thing on my mind so naturally it’s the first thing out of my mouth when someone asks what I’ve been up to.  Every morning when my alarm clock goes off at 4:20 the first thought in my head is about the Ironman race.  I want to share my experiences with those that I see so that they can maybe be inspired, but at the very least learn from any of my mistakes. 

I appreciate when others tell me about their accomplishments or post them online.  It’s a badge of honor that you should be able to wear with pride and not have to worry about it getting compared to others.  I remember my first running race and each one of my training days I ran another distance that I had never run before, 3 miles, 5, 10, 15, etc. and that was exciting to me to reach a little further with each effort.  So I say bring on the bragging people!  If you walked a mile or ran 100 and you’re proud of the effort and time it took to accomplish this then tell those around you.  If you hear someone talking about their accomplishment, don’t compare it to anything just congratulate them and go about your day.   So please forgive me for the rest of the summer when I’m talking about training for the Ironman, I truly don’t want to sound smug or arrogant, it’s just my focus right now until September…then I’ll be talking about my new son or daughter!

Weeks 17 & 18 of Ironman training – Getting Lucky

Week 17 was a recovery week and week 18 was getting back into the swing of training.  My recovery weeks basically mean that I’m doing slightly less than I did the week before and not increasing the time and/or effort it takes to complete my workouts (remember all my workouts are time based and not distance based).  Then the week right after a recovery week is a slight increase to what I did the week before my recovery week.  It can get confusing, that why I've got it all written down and planned out beforehand.   I’m making progress and feeling stronger and faster mostly every day.  There have been a few more days lately that I’m not feeling ‘it’ and I need a little kick in the butt to get my engine started.  All in all, my spirits are up and I’m still excited about the training and the races ahead of me.  So far I've been extremely fortunate to have the support of Jess for this adventure and she takes great care of me so that I can concentrate on training and not get distracted. 

I've also been very lucky thus far in my training to not suffer any physical or mental setbacks…come on now people get your heads out of the gutter; what did you think this entry was going to be about?  Every now and again you hear someone say ‘I don’t believe in luck’, or ‘I make my own luck’.  I can’t help but think how much luck is going to play into whether or not I cross that finish line on September 7^th.  I can take precautions to help alleviate something bad happening to me, but in the end I can’t wrap myself in bubble-wrap until race day. 

I can buy the right equipment and rest when something gets sore, but I can’t totally prevent an injury from occurring; I have to get lucky.  I can have my bike checked over by a professional and take good care of it up to the race, but I can’t prevent blowing a tire on race day; I have to get lucky.  I can practice some open water swims and do all of my swim workouts, but I can’t prevent someone from kicking me in the face and ending my day early; I have to get lucky.  You’re starting to get the point about how many different variables are at play during this 17 hour race day: weather, equipment, strategy, nutrition, other racers, allergies, etc.  I've been lucky thus far and I need to continue getting lucky all the way through race day.  One could easily get consumed by how much luck you need on your side to complete anything in life, but as my brother Jeff told me a long time ago, ‘worrying is a useless emotion’.  All you can do is prepare for the things you can control, and roll with the things you can’t.

Weeks 15 & 16 of Ironman training – Appreciation

Weeks 15 and 16 have proven to be the most difficult yet.  Week 15 brought about a 3 hour bike workout on the Ironman bike course around my home town of Verona (funny that this was difficult considering I’m going to be on the bike over 6 hours on race day).  Week 16 was the 3^rd time I’ve ridden the course and each time, and I’m sure every ride between now and September 7^th, reiterates that I need to get stronger on the bike.  I’ve got a little over 4 months until race day and come hell or high water I’m going to get stronger on the bike, that’s my new obsession.

A question has been floating around my house lately as to which will prove to be more difficult, the Ironman race or childbirth?  I am kidding of course!  I have to keep reminding myself (and I’m doing a horrible job) to not complain to Jess about any of my aches or pains due to self-inflicted training.  Jess has been a champ throughout my training thus far.  She’s always there to listen to me talk about training, which frankly is a boring topic if you’re not training for an Ironman.  Jess does all the food shopping which can be a full time job feeding an Ironman-in-training and a pregnant woman.  She makes healthy meals for me to eat (my Dad and I both believe we could survive on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches).  Jess keeps me grounded when I get worked up about some aspect of training (see the obsession with biking above).  She cheers me on and keeps me going when I start to waver in my resolve to complete this race.  Quite simply, and I know this is a bold statement, she is the greatest wife in the world! 

There are those of you who have been showing support in other ways and I greatly appreciate all of you as well.  Whether it’s reading this blog, commenting on Facebook or asking me how training is going.  I appreciate all of you and recognize the strength of my support group is going to directly contribute to the strength necessary to complete the race on September 7^th!

Weeks 13 & 14 of Ironman training - Adjustments

The training is getting very real now as I've wrapped up weeks 13 and 14.  I have one more week in my base building phase and then I'm a third of the way through the program with the next 10 week phase focusing on building strength.  The next phase will incorporate some higher heart rate workouts even though for the majority of the race I will be operating in a lower heart rate zone.  The thinking is that there will be times throughout the race day that I'll run my heart rate up to a higher zone and I'll need to be able to pull it back down into a sustainable range.
The theme of this entry is adjustments to the workout plan; adjustments to the workout itself and adjustments to the schedule.  I've already made the adjustments to the workout plan before I started any of this training, I believe this is vital to success as you need to prioritize the workout schedule around your previous commitments to family or work.  I've discovered over the past two weeks a couple of other adjustments I'm going to need to make.
The next two phases of my training plan calls for swimming workouts three days per week (currently the plan has two per week).  I had a long workout day last week that called for swimming 2,500 yards straight without rest, and I accomplished it with ease; another 1,724 yards and I'm at the entire 2.4 Ironman swim distance.  Also just yesterday I had a 2 hour 45 minute bike workout in which I rode the Ironman bike course loop around Verona, Mt. Horeb, Cross Plains, and Middleton, and this I did not accomplish with ease!  So in the next phase I'm making the adjustment to eliminate the extra swim day and replace it with an extra bike workout.
The point is, I'm not afraid or concerned about making adjustments to my workouts.  What I am very careful to do is plan my adjustments ahead of time and make them in writing as to not question or forget them.  I find that if I wait until the day of my workout or actually during my workout to make the adjustments then I'm taking the easy way out and cutting corners off my workout.  Make the adjustments to your workout to fit your life, but do them ahead of time and prioritize your workouts among the other items that are important to you.  

Weeks 11 & 12 of Ironman training - vacation

Everyone needs a little time off from work and working out.  When I was growing up, about every other year, my parents would load all of us kids into the station wagon and drive to CO to one of the ski resorts.  So in the spirit of reliving my past, I loaded my parents up into their SUV and drove with them to Breckenridge, CO this past week for one last family ski vacation hooray!  Most of my family and their families made the trip and we had a great time together; I was even able to get in a few workouts.  Thanks to others that have trained for the Ironman race before me I was able to take their advice to just enjoy myself and family while on vacation and not get too concerned with not getting in all of my workouts (5 months to go so there's plenty of time to make it up).

The few workouts that I did get accomplished, both on the trip and right when I got home, made me feel a little more at ease with taking the vacation.  For the most part I didn't notice the thin air in CO during my runs or while skiing, where it really hit me was in the pool.  I could hardly swim 200 yards without feeling like I was going to drown.  Now that I'm back I'm refreshed and ready to attack the next 5 months of training!

I guess the message of this entry is that it's OK to take some time away from work and working out to spend with your family and show them your true appreciation for their support.  After all, what are you more likely to remember, the great day of skiing you had or that great 5 mile run you got in?  I'm not saying you need to abandon your workouts altogether while on vacation, but you could certainly dial them back to make sure you spend time appreciating those around you.  I do like to get a few workouts in while I'm away from home mostly to justify the food and drink over consumption that is bound to happen.