So, after yet another very disappointing ride on Wed. I am left feeling very nervous for the Steelhead 70.3. I know that I can perform better that I have for the last two weeks. I just can't ragain the mental focus. I am really hoping it is just nerves and come race day I will be ready to launch when the gun goes off.
I did however, have a great swim last night. Not hard, not long, not real fast, just a great swim. After my hard sets were done I did some breathing excercises. I would swim one length on the pool on one breath. It was pretty cool, I just focused on swimming really slow and smooth. When you are not breathing you can really hear your stroke. I tried to move through the water as silently as possible. After a couple of reps. they started getting easier and more fluid. It was great, this is the first time in a long while that I have felt completely relaxed and in control during my training.
All hope is not lost. I just need to be relaxed and stay in control.
So, let's review what I know.
I know I have put in the time. I know that I am physically ready. I know that when I get there I will be there to race. I know I will have rough spots, mentally and physically, during the race. I know there will be pain and suffering. I know I will finish strong. I know it will feel incredible to cross the line.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Monday, July 24, 2006
Taper.
So, my two week taper has officially started. Which is great because I am beat. I did a 55 mile ride on Saturday that kicked my ass. More mentatlly than physically though. I started out into the wind and workded hard for the first hour and twenty minutes, looking forward to the trun around. Well, I should know better than that by now. I don't get tailwinds on the way home, ever! By the time I hit my turnaround point the wind had of course shiffted to a cross wind and the mid-day temps were high. I stopped to refuel at a gas station in Darwin, MN. This town may help to prove Darwin's evolutional theory. I'm pretty sure I saw the missing link coming out of the liquor store.
I was all ready to remount and take off when I realized that my rear tire was completely flat. This is pretty much where I lost all motivation and what ever mental energy I had left for the day. I took great care changing this particular flat because I was twenty six miles from home, my wife was out of town and I had no one else to call. Oh, did I mention that I only had one CO2 cartridge and one tube. I had to get it right the first time. I took my tire all the way off and examined every little cut in the tire. I found four different pieces of glass and a staple. By the time I finished fixing my flat I was ready for a nap. I really did not want to ride anymore. This was one of those days that if my wife was home I would have called for a ride.
Finally, I was off for home. This was the worst piece of riding I can remember this year. I could not get comfortable on my saddle, my legs had no snap, my neck hurt, and it was hot. Oh, wait, I can't complain about anything until I get run over by my own team car.
Ride Complete: 55.2 miles 19.8avg/mph
I was all ready to remount and take off when I realized that my rear tire was completely flat. This is pretty much where I lost all motivation and what ever mental energy I had left for the day. I took great care changing this particular flat because I was twenty six miles from home, my wife was out of town and I had no one else to call. Oh, did I mention that I only had one CO2 cartridge and one tube. I had to get it right the first time. I took my tire all the way off and examined every little cut in the tire. I found four different pieces of glass and a staple. By the time I finished fixing my flat I was ready for a nap. I really did not want to ride anymore. This was one of those days that if my wife was home I would have called for a ride.
Finally, I was off for home. This was the worst piece of riding I can remember this year. I could not get comfortable on my saddle, my legs had no snap, my neck hurt, and it was hot. Oh, wait, I can't complain about anything until I get run over by my own team car.
Ride Complete: 55.2 miles 19.8avg/mph
Friday, July 21, 2006
Quit Whining!
Ok, this makes me look pretty silly when I feel the need to mention injuries such as blisters on my feet. I'll try not to whine about anything untill I get run over by my team car.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Guts!
Steve Prefontaine once said something to the effect of, "I don't race to see who is the fastest, I race to see who has more guts!". Well, my 70.3 is now only a few short weeks away and I am coming to the realization that it is going to hurt. Not just a little, I'm talking about major suffering. I have some experience with discomfort for long periods of time. Long unsuccessful summit attempts in the Cascades, death march hikes with extremely heavy packs, long slogs through chest deep snow in the mountains. I know a little bit about discomfort. But the closer I get to race day the more I hear that little voice in the back of my head telling me this is really going to hurt.
Now, I know that I could show up on race day and cruise through the race, not push, and finish feeling strong. I've put in the hours to do that. But, I have missed out on many others parts of my life due to my training. I don't regret any of it, yet. But if I go there and race and don't push my body over the edge I may be a little upset with myself. Ok, I'll be pissed.
I have been saying all along that I wont' push hard on the bike because I don't want to suffer through the run, and I want to finish strong and not in death march fashion. That's not right! I know, deep down inside, that when the guns goes off it's go time. The more I think about it the more I find that I want it to hurt and I want to suffer. I didn't miss out on a summer of disc golf, rock climbing, hanging out having cocktails with my wife, and couch surfing to just show up and go through the motions.
My out look has changed from just wanting to finish to wanting to see if I have the guts to do it my way! My goal is still to fisnish, but I now realize that I may be in a death march, I may be crawling!!! I will only be truely happy with my finish if I do it my way.
Now, I know that I could show up on race day and cruise through the race, not push, and finish feeling strong. I've put in the hours to do that. But, I have missed out on many others parts of my life due to my training. I don't regret any of it, yet. But if I go there and race and don't push my body over the edge I may be a little upset with myself. Ok, I'll be pissed.
I have been saying all along that I wont' push hard on the bike because I don't want to suffer through the run, and I want to finish strong and not in death march fashion. That's not right! I know, deep down inside, that when the guns goes off it's go time. The more I think about it the more I find that I want it to hurt and I want to suffer. I didn't miss out on a summer of disc golf, rock climbing, hanging out having cocktails with my wife, and couch surfing to just show up and go through the motions.
My out look has changed from just wanting to finish to wanting to see if I have the guts to do it my way! My goal is still to fisnish, but I now realize that I may be in a death march, I may be crawling!!! I will only be truely happy with my finish if I do it my way.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Heat Wave
Well, so much for my two solid weeks of intensity and volume. With the heat of last week and this weekend many of my sessions had to be shortened. It has been very frustrating. I have felt really good and I have wanted to push harder and farther, but common sense has called me off a bit. Yesterday was supposed to be a long ride. Didn't really happen that way! It really felt just like a jungle. The heat and humidity made the air thick, and the sweat rolling into my eyes really sucked. I'm no sure that it is possible to keep up on hydration in condtions like that. So, long story longer, I cut the ride really short.
One other thing that I found is that I need to continue to do pool workouts. The open water swimming has helped with my sighting and comfort swimming in my wetsuit, but I have suffered a drop off in speed. Last Thursday I did my first pool workout in about three weeks. WOW was I slow. I wasn't tired or having a hard time doing the work, I just didn't have the speed in the water. Not that I really had any speed to start with, but I can't afford to lose any more. So I am going to focus on pool workouts only for the next two weeks, then during my tapper when I am swimming less intense workouts I will hit the lakes again. Hopefully I can regain a little bit of the speed and efficiency that I had earlier in the season.
On a positive note, I think that my feet have just about healed. After the race blisters and the burn blisters I think they should be good to go now. I finally went out a bought new training shoes that were far overdue. I had over 400 miles on my old ones. Today will be my first run in the new trainers, so I am hoping that they will work out. You can never really tell just by trying them on. If there are going to be problems they usually don't show up for quit a few miles, and then it's too late.
All in all, injuries, heat, and short workouts aside, I think that my training is going pretty well. One can always say I wish I did this or I wish I did that. Of course I have many of those statements, but overall, I think I am ready for the Steelhead 70.3.
ZURICH, ZURICH, ZURICH!!!
One other thing that I found is that I need to continue to do pool workouts. The open water swimming has helped with my sighting and comfort swimming in my wetsuit, but I have suffered a drop off in speed. Last Thursday I did my first pool workout in about three weeks. WOW was I slow. I wasn't tired or having a hard time doing the work, I just didn't have the speed in the water. Not that I really had any speed to start with, but I can't afford to lose any more. So I am going to focus on pool workouts only for the next two weeks, then during my tapper when I am swimming less intense workouts I will hit the lakes again. Hopefully I can regain a little bit of the speed and efficiency that I had earlier in the season.
On a positive note, I think that my feet have just about healed. After the race blisters and the burn blisters I think they should be good to go now. I finally went out a bought new training shoes that were far overdue. I had over 400 miles on my old ones. Today will be my first run in the new trainers, so I am hoping that they will work out. You can never really tell just by trying them on. If there are going to be problems they usually don't show up for quit a few miles, and then it's too late.
All in all, injuries, heat, and short workouts aside, I think that my training is going pretty well. One can always say I wish I did this or I wish I did that. Of course I have many of those statements, but overall, I think I am ready for the Steelhead 70.3.
ZURICH, ZURICH, ZURICH!!!
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Insult to Injury
So, I start out by ripping up my feet at Timberman. OK, live and learn right? Apparently I didn't learn. Yesterday I went to the beach to do my swim workout. I had to park a loooong ways away, and after changing I realized that I had forgotten my sandles. So, what does the genius do? I can barefoot this no problem. Yep, good idea boss! Walked to the beach no problem. As I started swimming my feet really started to hurt as I was kicking. I thought that is was just due to all the healing blisters and cuts on the sides of my feet. It was driving me nuts, and I just couldn't take it anymore, so I cut the swim short. Meanwhile, my wife had shown up to watch, so I had her give me a ride back to my car. The pain was getting worse. I felt like I had shards of glass stuck in my heels. Finally, I got home and washed my feet to inspect the damage. Two large blisters, one on the bottom of each heel. What the $%&*!!! The path did not feel hot, it was cloudy and the temp was pretty mild.
Lesson.
Feet are not very sensitive to feeling the presence of heat. But, they are very sensitive to the effects caused by the presence of heat. Live and learn, right?
So, I can only hope that these will heal quickly and not have an impact on my training. These next two weeks are the finishing touches on the volume and intensity training before I begin a taper for the Steelhead. I guess the only thing to be learned from this is to take care of your feet. Whether you have a foot fetish or not, you can't do much training if you can't walk on your feet.
ZURICH, ZURICH, ZURICH!!!
Lesson.
Feet are not very sensitive to feeling the presence of heat. But, they are very sensitive to the effects caused by the presence of heat. Live and learn, right?
So, I can only hope that these will heal quickly and not have an impact on my training. These next two weeks are the finishing touches on the volume and intensity training before I begin a taper for the Steelhead. I guess the only thing to be learned from this is to take care of your feet. Whether you have a foot fetish or not, you can't do much training if you can't walk on your feet.
ZURICH, ZURICH, ZURICH!!!
Monday, July 10, 2006
Race report: I Didn't Sink!
Timberman is now in the books. This was my first Oly/International course, and I think that it was the most enjoyable race I have had yet.
Pre-race: This was kind of a mess. It had been raining in the morning so the course and transition were really wet. By the time we got our race packs and body markings done I was running out of time for a good warm up. I managed to cram in a short run on the golf course and a quick spin on the bike. Now the bathroom problem. I had about ten minutes before my wave was going to start and I had to go, now. Problem was the extreme lines for all the porta pots out side. So, off I went into the woods in a dead sprint. Now, can I get into my wetsuit before the start?
Swim: Made it into my suit managing to put yet another small hole in the leg in the wiggle process. Now the fear started to set in. As I looked out at the last buoy and turn around point, trying not to think about the waves that I would have to fight on the way out, I wondered if I was going to be able to finish the swim. Good news, I started swimming and it felt easy. It was by no means fast, but I felt good the entire way. I did however, drink a lot of water due to the choppy conditions. By far the most enjoyable open water swim I have ever had. No panic feeling or shortness of breath. I came out of the water with a smile and didn't feel like I was going to pass out. After looking at my time, the swim course is short for sure.
Swim: 1500 meters 23:21 1:20/100
T1: 1:36 I had a major fight with my wet suit today. Got stuck on both ankles. It felt like a Chinese finger trap for my feet.
Bike: I just wanted to build into the bike and maintain the same pace and heart rate that I am planning for the Steelhead 70.3 in August. It worked out great. The first and easier of the two laps was done before I knew it. The second lap had some great hills and a brutal false flat. I was spinning up at about 11mph. Feel the burn!!! The entire ride felt comfortable. I like this whole thing with using a race as a long training day, and not racing the clock or other people. It hurts a lot less.
Bike: 24 miles 1:06:27 21.7 mph
T2: :54secs. This really should have been much faster but I forgot a gel and went back for it. Oops!
Run: I have now learned that just because I can run without socks in training does not mean that I can race without socks when I am going to be dumping water over my head. The run was a nice comfortable pace, I didn't push at all. I just maintained my half iron heart rate and cruised through it. Bad news is that having wet feet and no socks absolutely ruined my feet. Oh well, live an learn. I was going to take some pictures and post them, but I think people got enough bad feet on Tri-Geek Dreams. I will spare you my ruined feet.
Run: 6mile 43:14 7:13/mile
Total: 2:15:30
This was by far my most enjoyable Tri yet. It felt really good to be fresh the entire race. Other than my fear of the swim, which is now gone, the idea of 70.3 pacing vs. full on racing really helped keep my race day stress level down. I think that I will try to use more races like this in the future for training and experience. It is really fun to go and race until you drop some times, but it is also really nice to enjoy the entire race without the extra pain and suffering. This race has also given me a lot more confidence in my preparation for the 70.3. I will be ready.
ZURICH, ZURICH, ZURICH
Pre-race: This was kind of a mess. It had been raining in the morning so the course and transition were really wet. By the time we got our race packs and body markings done I was running out of time for a good warm up. I managed to cram in a short run on the golf course and a quick spin on the bike. Now the bathroom problem. I had about ten minutes before my wave was going to start and I had to go, now. Problem was the extreme lines for all the porta pots out side. So, off I went into the woods in a dead sprint. Now, can I get into my wetsuit before the start?
Swim: Made it into my suit managing to put yet another small hole in the leg in the wiggle process. Now the fear started to set in. As I looked out at the last buoy and turn around point, trying not to think about the waves that I would have to fight on the way out, I wondered if I was going to be able to finish the swim. Good news, I started swimming and it felt easy. It was by no means fast, but I felt good the entire way. I did however, drink a lot of water due to the choppy conditions. By far the most enjoyable open water swim I have ever had. No panic feeling or shortness of breath. I came out of the water with a smile and didn't feel like I was going to pass out. After looking at my time, the swim course is short for sure.
Swim: 1500 meters 23:21 1:20/100
T1: 1:36 I had a major fight with my wet suit today. Got stuck on both ankles. It felt like a Chinese finger trap for my feet.
Bike: I just wanted to build into the bike and maintain the same pace and heart rate that I am planning for the Steelhead 70.3 in August. It worked out great. The first and easier of the two laps was done before I knew it. The second lap had some great hills and a brutal false flat. I was spinning up at about 11mph. Feel the burn!!! The entire ride felt comfortable. I like this whole thing with using a race as a long training day, and not racing the clock or other people. It hurts a lot less.
Bike: 24 miles 1:06:27 21.7 mph
T2: :54secs. This really should have been much faster but I forgot a gel and went back for it. Oops!
Run: I have now learned that just because I can run without socks in training does not mean that I can race without socks when I am going to be dumping water over my head. The run was a nice comfortable pace, I didn't push at all. I just maintained my half iron heart rate and cruised through it. Bad news is that having wet feet and no socks absolutely ruined my feet. Oh well, live an learn. I was going to take some pictures and post them, but I think people got enough bad feet on Tri-Geek Dreams. I will spare you my ruined feet.
Run: 6mile 43:14 7:13/mile
Total: 2:15:30
This was by far my most enjoyable Tri yet. It felt really good to be fresh the entire race. Other than my fear of the swim, which is now gone, the idea of 70.3 pacing vs. full on racing really helped keep my race day stress level down. I think that I will try to use more races like this in the future for training and experience. It is really fun to go and race until you drop some times, but it is also really nice to enjoy the entire race without the extra pain and suffering. This race has also given me a lot more confidence in my preparation for the 70.3. I will be ready.
ZURICH, ZURICH, ZURICH
Friday, July 07, 2006
Timberman
So, this weekend is the Timeberman Triathlon in Grand Rapids, MN. The picture is from last year when I did the sprint there. I was really suffering at that point, very hot and very hilly. This year I am taking on the Olympic distance for the first time. If I make it out of the water I should be in good shape to finish. The swim does concern me a little. I am considerably far behind on my swim training in preparation for the Steelhead 70.3 in August. I feel pretty confident on the bike, and the run will come together before then, but I may have to learn the elementry back stroke to survive the swim. Good news is, wetsuits are allowed, so I can always use the controlled float method to get through the swim. It could be a really long mile if that takes place.Training actually worked out pretty good leading up to this race. Last week was really long hours with some high intensity worked in. This week was a planned recovery week, so it is kind of like having a mini taper before Timeberman. After this weekend, I have two more high volume, high intesity weeks before I begin a two week taper for the 70.3. Yes, I am getting nervous. Yes, I am questioning my fitness. Yes, the swim does concern me a little. I just plan on showing up and letting it ride on the course. If I crash and burn along the way I will chalk it up as a great learning experience.
One step closer to Zurich!!!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
The Deed is Done!
Monday July 2, 2006 I officially signed up for Ironman Zurich. Wow. I almost passed out when I hit the pay button on the computer. I suddenly felt really excited, really scared, and really sick to my stomach. It looked like about a half a dozen other club members have signed up already, with what sounds like many more to come.
Also on this long holiday weekend, I did manage to get in some training. Some went good, some went not so good. First the good. I had a great open water swim on Saturday. Water was beautiful, lake was calm, and I was swimming straight. There was another random guy swimming in the same area and he could not swim strainght for anything. He went about five feet left for every twenty feet he went forward. My wife and I had to be on constant look out while we were swimming. He would be way off to the side, and then suddenly we had to take evasive action to avoid a head on with this guy. Now, on to the bad. Hit a long ride on Sunday in the heat. Managed to roll through almost fifty miles. By the last five miles or so I was so ready to be off of my saddle. I could not stay in one position on it for more than a few revs before I would have to either change my position or stand up out of the saddle all together. Not real happy with this ride.
I am trying to keep a positive mind however. I sat back and looked at what I had done in the week leading up to this, and it is no wonder by body is beat. I don't have any really sore muscels, but my body just feels generally worn out. The rest of this week is recovery, followed by a race on Saturday, which is my first Oly. Then, the next two weeks will be really hard with lots of hours. Followed by a two week taper before the Steelhead 70.3.
But the best news of all: ZURICH, ZURICH, ZURICH!!!
It is officially on the books.
Also on this long holiday weekend, I did manage to get in some training. Some went good, some went not so good. First the good. I had a great open water swim on Saturday. Water was beautiful, lake was calm, and I was swimming straight. There was another random guy swimming in the same area and he could not swim strainght for anything. He went about five feet left for every twenty feet he went forward. My wife and I had to be on constant look out while we were swimming. He would be way off to the side, and then suddenly we had to take evasive action to avoid a head on with this guy. Now, on to the bad. Hit a long ride on Sunday in the heat. Managed to roll through almost fifty miles. By the last five miles or so I was so ready to be off of my saddle. I could not stay in one position on it for more than a few revs before I would have to either change my position or stand up out of the saddle all together. Not real happy with this ride.
I am trying to keep a positive mind however. I sat back and looked at what I had done in the week leading up to this, and it is no wonder by body is beat. I don't have any really sore muscels, but my body just feels generally worn out. The rest of this week is recovery, followed by a race on Saturday, which is my first Oly. Then, the next two weeks will be really hard with lots of hours. Followed by a two week taper before the Steelhead 70.3.
But the best news of all: ZURICH, ZURICH, ZURICH!!!
It is officially on the books.
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