Taped to the cover of my weekly goals checklist book I have a quotation from 3x Ironman world champion Craig Alexander that goes like this..."But as far as the race goes, I'll just try to do what I always do, which is control what I can control-my training- and I think a lot of the fun is just getting in great shape."
I have always felt the same way. I sometimes think I love the process of getting ready for a race more than the race itself. I love the feeling of working towards a single goal every day over a period of time much like a boxer prepares to enter the ring for a big fight. For Ironman Chattanooga I set my sights on a 9 week build period which was my longest ever for a single race. I had just finished Challenge Atlantic City and despite not training for the Ironman distance race I missed a professional award by 2 spots. I vowed that my next Ironman would be one that I was prepared for. I started this big 9 week build just 2 weeks after Challenge Atlantic City. My body felt a bit worn down and lacking recovery when I began. I reminded myself of something our varsity girls basketball coach Jennifer Goetz often says to her athletes..."Trust the Process."
My planned out process was to emphasize a number of things which included...
1. Long bike rides of 100+ miles
2. Long runs of 20+ miles
3. Lower my body weight and body fat %
4. Emphasize improved biking by alternating weeks of 300+ miles with still solid bike weeks of 220+ bike miles
5. Keep time swimming low until the last 4 weeks. This is the one I sacrifice to be home more with 2 young kids, a wife, and a full-time job. I planned to swim 2 days/week until the last 4 weeks.
As I began the training process I was initially extremely fatigued. "Trust the process." My first 2 bike weeks were 340 and 240. My long rides were 116, and 120. I knew I needed to build my long run a bit before getting to 20 so my first 2 long runs were 15 and 18 miles. After I started to 10 week build weighing 166 lbs. After 2 weeks I was only 165..."Trust the process." In weeks 3 and 4 I biked 350 and 217 miles. My long run was 20 on week 3 and I had a race in week 4 and didn't run long. I weighed in at 163...4 weeks in and I had only lost 3 lbs..."Trust the process." Week 5 I biked 325 miles and week 6 was 200. My long rides were 130 and 104. My long runs were 20 and 20.5. That took me to August 23rd. I weighed in the morning of the 24th at 162...6 weeks of high training and I had only lost 4 lbs..."Trust the process" I reminded myself. Week 7 I biked 325 miles and week 8 was 215. My long rides were 140 miles and 115 miles. My long run week 7 was 22 miles at 6:40 pace...starting to feel more fit..."Trust the process." Week 8's long ride was the last 50 miles at my Ironman bike wattage goal of 235-240 watts right into a 10 mile run that was supposed to be 6:30 pace comfortable. I ran 6:17 pace comfortable..."Trust the process." I weighed 164 as I started week 8. This is when I really buckled down with eating clean. I didn't run long during week 8 because of the test workout. Week 9 I biked 300 miles with a long ride of 121. My long run that week was 20 miles. This put me 2 weeks out from the race. I also weighed 156 at the end of the week which was a positive sign. Today I stepped on the scale and was 152...my lowest weight in 2 years. Nearly all of this weight came off in the past 3 weeks. I had a body fat % test today and I am carrying 16 lbs. of fat which was 11% body fat. At my first test this year in April I was carrying 26 lbs. of body fat. In the past few weeks I'd begun to see the signs that the body fat was finally coming off...I only have 1 pair of shorts that fit without a belt and that is a pair I normally can't fit in. While swimming I've almost lost my ring from it sliding off my finger. I take it off or switch it to a fatter finger to keep it on. I was running and my watch was flopping around and had to tighten it to the last hole in the strap which I've never had to do. I have swam my highest 3 yardage weeks in the last 3 and have swam 12 of the last 14 days. My swimming is the best it's been all year. "Trust the process."
The pro field in Chattanooga is going to be VERY large. 47 guys were on the start list and IM Lake Tahoe was cancelled last week with a wild fire in the area and now some of those guys will be coming. Top 10 is probably setting too high of a goal. Realistically I'd like to be in the top 1/2 of the pro field...let's say top 20. I'd love to break 9 hours which will be tough with a bike course of 116 miles rather than the normal 112. That will add 11 minutes. If we get a nice current on the down river swim it's still possible...or if I have a magical run. I'd like to average between 235 and 240 watts on the bike. This would give me a nice bike split of around 5 hrs. flat and leave me with good run legs. For the run I'd like to run a new PR by at least 5 minutes with a 3 hr. 3 minute split in the marathon. This would certainly move me up in the field. More than anything I want to celebrate the fitness I've gained and the shape I've gotten myself into these past now almost 11 weeks. I've controlled what I can control...my training. I've enjoyed the process so much. Now it's just about doing what I've trained my body to do which is race fast and race smart. What I worry about most is what I cannot control...things like flat tires, water temps...etc. If you'd like to follow along you can track the race at www.ironman.com Then click on races and there will be an athlete tracking page. You can filter pros to see what place I'm in after the swim/bike/run. They should also have a live video stream of the finish. We start at 7:40 TN time which is 6:40 Midwest time. I'd expect to be done around 3:40 Midwest time give or take 15 minutes each way. Thanks for reading..."Trust the process"...DREAM BIG!!
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Monday, September 15, 2014
Dreaming BIG! 13 days to IM Chattanooga
As I write this entry I am just 13 days from my peak race of the 2014 season, Ironman Chattanooga. I am so excited for this race. It is the only race this year I will be doing a full taper for. After finishing Challenge Atlantic City just 6 minutes outside a professional payout I was motivated and confident in what I was capable of. I made the decision to stop racing through July, August, and September so I could devote every day of training for 1 goal race. I put together a plan of 10 weeks building my volume and not having to worry about being tired or resting up for races. My plan was to increase my bike volume substantially, run less days each week but get in more long runs, and be patient with my swimming until 4 weeks out from the race. As my kids have gotten older and involved in more activities I have managed to keep training at a high level by making concessions and one of those has been to swim much less until I get close to a race. Then I ramp up my swimming A LOT over the last 4 weeks and get in good swim shape quickly.
9 days ago I did a test workout I had planned since the beginning of the 10 week block. I wanted to ride 100 miles with the last 50 at my Ironman goal wattage of 235-240 and then get off the bike and be able to run 10 miles at 6:30 pace rather comfortably. I thought if the goal went well I would use this pace as my Ironman race pace in Chattanooga. I did the first 50 miles at 7% under my goal wattage and stayed right around 220 watts the entire time. At mile 50 I ramped it up into my Ironman zone and completed the last 50 right inside my goal holding each 7 mile split at 235-240. I got off the bike and started running. What felt easy was under 6:20 pace. I stayed right there the entire 10 miles and averaged 6:17/mile. I did 5 loops of 2 miles from the house and had the support of Payton and Owen who set up a table in the driveway and stocked it with about 25 cups of water. Each loop as I came by they handed me water, coke, GU Chomps, GU gels, and salt pills. They were tremendous aid station volunteers. I was thrilled to not only finish the workout hitting my goals for it but also in how I felt the following day. I couldn't even tell I had done a workout let alone one that lasted nearly 6 hours at a race pace I'd be very happy with on Sept. 28. I did this in the midst of heavy training volume.
This past week my was last week of big training. It actually ended up being my biggest of the year. I biked 300 miles, ran 46, and swam 20,000 yards. I also attended class at Barre563 twice and got all my goals of plyometrics, lunges, jump rope, and core done. I rode 101 miles Saturday morning and added another hour in the evening on the trainer and then woke up Sunday morning and ran 20 miles very comfortably at 6:53/mile pace. Saturday's ride was my 9th ride of 100+ miles over the past 10 weeks and Sunday's run was my 5th run of 20+ miles over the past 7 weeks. The quick ramp up in swimming has me swimming my loop at Lake G faster than I have all year. Despite the cool air temps the lake temp is still awesome in the mid-60's. I am in the middle of a stretch where I will swim 9 of 10 days. As I look back to my best triathlon swims ever they have come after periods where I swim much more frequently than I typically do. Even though I begin my taper this week I will continue to swim often. Starting Thursday I will drop my bike mileage over the final 10 days to 100 miles. I have been averaging 400 miles every 10 days through the last 10 weeks. I learned a lot about how my body responds to tapering last year when I created a spreadsheet of all the races I have tapered for the past 5 years. I tracked what I did each of the final 10 days leading into the race. I totaled my last 10 day volume as well as my last 5 day volume and feel I have a pretty good idea what my body responds well to. I found some good patterns in what lead to races with good swim, bike, and run performances. I have used this data to create my taper for Ironman Chattanooga and it has me feeling very confident. Over the past 10 weeks I was blessed to make it through this build exactly like I hoped. I wanted to alternate big bike weeks with really big bike weeks. I did that to a "T" through the 10 weeks alternating 200-240 mile weeks with 300-340 mile weeks. I got in the long rides and runs I hoped to. I hit my test workout just like I hoped. My swimming is improving like I hoped. The plan has been successful and now I have to do what I've prepared my body to do on race day. One of my goals has been to go under 9 hours in an Ironman distance. Not many from Iowa have ever seen the lower side of 9 hours. I've been close twice at 9:04 and 9:05. Chattanooga will be especially tough because Ironman added 4 miles to the bike course!!!! Yes, that's right...the brand that created this race couldn't figure out a route for 112 miles on the bike so they have announced it will be 116 which will add nearly 11 minutes to my time. That will be tough to find and would likely take a strong river current or an incredible run PR which I think I'm capable of. My goal for the race is to finish in the top 10 and a dream goal would be to finish in the top 6 to earn some money for the iHope Foundaiton and my first professional race prize purse. I was inspired to watch the results of Ironman Wisconsin last weekend. There were some local finishers who completed their first Ironman race, others who raced to new PR's, and 3 Iowans who finished in the top 8 of the professional race including Daniel Bretscher who won the race in a new record time and Adam Bohach who finished 8th. I have gotten to know Daniel over the past few years and he is an incredible ambassador for the sport. He's always been willing to share his knowledge with me and has been a great inspiration to me. Adam is a buddy I had the privilege of training with while he was living and teaching in Clinton, Iowa a few years back. I really miss having him around. He's had a fantastic season this year.
Now onto the best news of the week! I got a call last week from Sara Boyle Keeling. Sara is a local triathlete who works at Quad City Bank and Trust. She told me they took up a collection for the iHope Foundation and presented me with a very generous check. This was so exciting to me because one of my goals this season was to get 15 iHope business sponsors. I had been stuck on 13 until 2 weeks ago when I received a commitment from Smart Toyota general manager Nick Tarpein. Nick said Smart Toyota was going to contribute and incredible $1,500.00 to the foundation. They became the 14th business sponsor. Thanks to Sara and the generosity of Quad City Bank and Trust I can now check off my most important goal of the season as they became the 15th business to support the iHope Foundation. It gets even better...today I went to Smart Toyota to pick up the contribution and I was completely surprised when I walked into Nick's office and he informed me that they were going to increase the commitment to $2,500.00 and they also secured a matching contribution from the Toyota corporate office!!! This means $5,000.00 to the foundation which will provide 10 low-income students in our community who display outstanding character and work traits with iPads!!! I feel so blessed. Never in my wildest dreams did I think the iHope Foundation would impact the number of students is has and will for many years. Each student that receives and iPad in junior high will also be awarded a $1,000.00 iHope scholarship upon graduation from high school. If you would like to help contribute to the foundation you can click on the donation links at the top of my page to give to either the scholarship portion or the iPad portion of the foundation. All contributions are tax deductible. The support this foundation has received continues to inspire me daily to DREAM BIG and believe that nothing is impossible!
9 days ago I did a test workout I had planned since the beginning of the 10 week block. I wanted to ride 100 miles with the last 50 at my Ironman goal wattage of 235-240 and then get off the bike and be able to run 10 miles at 6:30 pace rather comfortably. I thought if the goal went well I would use this pace as my Ironman race pace in Chattanooga. I did the first 50 miles at 7% under my goal wattage and stayed right around 220 watts the entire time. At mile 50 I ramped it up into my Ironman zone and completed the last 50 right inside my goal holding each 7 mile split at 235-240. I got off the bike and started running. What felt easy was under 6:20 pace. I stayed right there the entire 10 miles and averaged 6:17/mile. I did 5 loops of 2 miles from the house and had the support of Payton and Owen who set up a table in the driveway and stocked it with about 25 cups of water. Each loop as I came by they handed me water, coke, GU Chomps, GU gels, and salt pills. They were tremendous aid station volunteers. I was thrilled to not only finish the workout hitting my goals for it but also in how I felt the following day. I couldn't even tell I had done a workout let alone one that lasted nearly 6 hours at a race pace I'd be very happy with on Sept. 28. I did this in the midst of heavy training volume.
This past week my was last week of big training. It actually ended up being my biggest of the year. I biked 300 miles, ran 46, and swam 20,000 yards. I also attended class at Barre563 twice and got all my goals of plyometrics, lunges, jump rope, and core done. I rode 101 miles Saturday morning and added another hour in the evening on the trainer and then woke up Sunday morning and ran 20 miles very comfortably at 6:53/mile pace. Saturday's ride was my 9th ride of 100+ miles over the past 10 weeks and Sunday's run was my 5th run of 20+ miles over the past 7 weeks. The quick ramp up in swimming has me swimming my loop at Lake G faster than I have all year. Despite the cool air temps the lake temp is still awesome in the mid-60's. I am in the middle of a stretch where I will swim 9 of 10 days. As I look back to my best triathlon swims ever they have come after periods where I swim much more frequently than I typically do. Even though I begin my taper this week I will continue to swim often. Starting Thursday I will drop my bike mileage over the final 10 days to 100 miles. I have been averaging 400 miles every 10 days through the last 10 weeks. I learned a lot about how my body responds to tapering last year when I created a spreadsheet of all the races I have tapered for the past 5 years. I tracked what I did each of the final 10 days leading into the race. I totaled my last 10 day volume as well as my last 5 day volume and feel I have a pretty good idea what my body responds well to. I found some good patterns in what lead to races with good swim, bike, and run performances. I have used this data to create my taper for Ironman Chattanooga and it has me feeling very confident. Over the past 10 weeks I was blessed to make it through this build exactly like I hoped. I wanted to alternate big bike weeks with really big bike weeks. I did that to a "T" through the 10 weeks alternating 200-240 mile weeks with 300-340 mile weeks. I got in the long rides and runs I hoped to. I hit my test workout just like I hoped. My swimming is improving like I hoped. The plan has been successful and now I have to do what I've prepared my body to do on race day. One of my goals has been to go under 9 hours in an Ironman distance. Not many from Iowa have ever seen the lower side of 9 hours. I've been close twice at 9:04 and 9:05. Chattanooga will be especially tough because Ironman added 4 miles to the bike course!!!! Yes, that's right...the brand that created this race couldn't figure out a route for 112 miles on the bike so they have announced it will be 116 which will add nearly 11 minutes to my time. That will be tough to find and would likely take a strong river current or an incredible run PR which I think I'm capable of. My goal for the race is to finish in the top 10 and a dream goal would be to finish in the top 6 to earn some money for the iHope Foundaiton and my first professional race prize purse. I was inspired to watch the results of Ironman Wisconsin last weekend. There were some local finishers who completed their first Ironman race, others who raced to new PR's, and 3 Iowans who finished in the top 8 of the professional race including Daniel Bretscher who won the race in a new record time and Adam Bohach who finished 8th. I have gotten to know Daniel over the past few years and he is an incredible ambassador for the sport. He's always been willing to share his knowledge with me and has been a great inspiration to me. Adam is a buddy I had the privilege of training with while he was living and teaching in Clinton, Iowa a few years back. I really miss having him around. He's had a fantastic season this year.
Now onto the best news of the week! I got a call last week from Sara Boyle Keeling. Sara is a local triathlete who works at Quad City Bank and Trust. She told me they took up a collection for the iHope Foundation and presented me with a very generous check. This was so exciting to me because one of my goals this season was to get 15 iHope business sponsors. I had been stuck on 13 until 2 weeks ago when I received a commitment from Smart Toyota general manager Nick Tarpein. Nick said Smart Toyota was going to contribute and incredible $1,500.00 to the foundation. They became the 14th business sponsor. Thanks to Sara and the generosity of Quad City Bank and Trust I can now check off my most important goal of the season as they became the 15th business to support the iHope Foundation. It gets even better...today I went to Smart Toyota to pick up the contribution and I was completely surprised when I walked into Nick's office and he informed me that they were going to increase the commitment to $2,500.00 and they also secured a matching contribution from the Toyota corporate office!!! This means $5,000.00 to the foundation which will provide 10 low-income students in our community who display outstanding character and work traits with iPads!!! I feel so blessed. Never in my wildest dreams did I think the iHope Foundation would impact the number of students is has and will for many years. Each student that receives and iPad in junior high will also be awarded a $1,000.00 iHope scholarship upon graduation from high school. If you would like to help contribute to the foundation you can click on the donation links at the top of my page to give to either the scholarship portion or the iPad portion of the foundation. All contributions are tax deductible. The support this foundation has received continues to inspire me daily to DREAM BIG and believe that nothing is impossible!Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Under 4 Weeks...
Ironman Chattanooga looms less than 4 weeks away and I'm very excited about how the plan has gone to date. This past week was another big week. I've been alternating big bike weeks with even bigger ones. This past week was 325 bike miles. I've averaged 280 miles a week on the bike over the past 8 weeks. It's definitely my highest average ever over an 8 week period. I will be down a bit this week at around 220 and then back up over 300 for one more week before cutting back and beginning my taper 10 days from the race. I ran 42 miles last week but only swam once at 3,000 yards. This week begins a higher swim build which will last until the race. One of the changes I've made to cut back training time as my kids have grown up is to cut my swim yardage until close to a big race. With 3-4 weeks swimming at high volume and even more importantly more days per week I make pretty quick gains in swim fitness. Honestly I'm surprised where it is at right now given my limited time in the water.
I have continued to get big loads of long training in on the weekends. This past week was slated to be my highest single day totals on the bike and run. Saturday morning I rode 130 miles and kept most of it easy with an exception of 1 hour at Ironman effort between the 4:30 and 5:30 mark. I felt very strong through the entire ride. Big thanks to Daniel Westbay for joining me for the first 50 to keep time going by quickly. I ran 2 miles off the bike at 6:30/mile pace and then did 30 more minutes easy on the trainer in the evening. Sunday I got up early and started my long run at 5:45. I ran 22 miles at 6:40 pace. It felt very good despite humidity over 90%. At mile 5 my average pace was 7:06 and it slowly kept dropping until the finish. In the last couple miles I glanced down to see current pace hovering around 6:00/mile. It leaves me feeling confident I can run a good marathon if I stay in my wattage zone on the bike (235-240) which I intend to do regardless of the dynamics of the race. I know through my training that a power output in that zone will leave me with a fast bike split and with good legs to run well.
This Saturday I have a big test workout I have had penciled in for the last 6 weeks. I planned to do it 3 weeks out from the race. I'm pretty excited about it. I will ride 100 miles with the first 50 easy at 210 watt average. I will keep the power output consistent up and down hills. At mile 50 I will ramp up into my Ironman zone of 235-240 and hold that for the next 50 miles. I will get off the bike and run 10 miles right away hoping to be 6:30 pace without feeling uncomfortable. If it feels easy I have promised myself I will not drop more than 5 sec./mile under that pace until the last 2 miles where I'll allow my self to drop as low as 6:00 pace but no lower. If 6:30 pace feels good off the bike I will plan to go out at that pace in Chattanooga.
Monday was the final Run With Carl, a memorial run that has gone on for the past 20 years for Carl Schillig, a friend and teammate of mine whose life was taken way too soon by a drunk driver that ran a red light and killed him in 1994 when we were high school freshmen. It was great doing the run with Chris Chamberlin, a local guy I've been coaching for the past 20 weeks. He ran 32:20 averaging 6:22/mile after averaging 6:47/mile last year. His big goal this year was to run a 1/2 in under 7:00 pace this year and I have no doubts he will do that. Owen ran the 1/2 mile and had so much fun he walked back up the hill and ran the mile finishing just behind Payton. Jen and I were very proud of them for tackling the hilly mile without walking.
This has been a great week for the iHope Foundation. HUGE thanks to Tim and Marlene King, Jim and Michelle Russell, and all those at our PVXC alumni reunion who contributed to the foundation. To date the iHope Foundation has raised over $27,000.00 to purchase iPads and provide scholarships for low-income students that display outstanding character and work traits. When I began the foundation I was hoping we would be able to provide 1 iPad each year. Due to the incredible support we are hoping to do 3 iPads each year with each recipient also getting a $1,000.00 scholarship upon high school graduation. If you'd like to help contribute to either the iPad portion or the scholarship portion of the iHope Foundation you can click either of the links at the top of my page. Thanks so much! 25 days to Ironman Chattanooga. I'm dreaming of my best race ever. DREAM BIG!
I have continued to get big loads of long training in on the weekends. This past week was slated to be my highest single day totals on the bike and run. Saturday morning I rode 130 miles and kept most of it easy with an exception of 1 hour at Ironman effort between the 4:30 and 5:30 mark. I felt very strong through the entire ride. Big thanks to Daniel Westbay for joining me for the first 50 to keep time going by quickly. I ran 2 miles off the bike at 6:30/mile pace and then did 30 more minutes easy on the trainer in the evening. Sunday I got up early and started my long run at 5:45. I ran 22 miles at 6:40 pace. It felt very good despite humidity over 90%. At mile 5 my average pace was 7:06 and it slowly kept dropping until the finish. In the last couple miles I glanced down to see current pace hovering around 6:00/mile. It leaves me feeling confident I can run a good marathon if I stay in my wattage zone on the bike (235-240) which I intend to do regardless of the dynamics of the race. I know through my training that a power output in that zone will leave me with a fast bike split and with good legs to run well.
This Saturday I have a big test workout I have had penciled in for the last 6 weeks. I planned to do it 3 weeks out from the race. I'm pretty excited about it. I will ride 100 miles with the first 50 easy at 210 watt average. I will keep the power output consistent up and down hills. At mile 50 I will ramp up into my Ironman zone of 235-240 and hold that for the next 50 miles. I will get off the bike and run 10 miles right away hoping to be 6:30 pace without feeling uncomfortable. If it feels easy I have promised myself I will not drop more than 5 sec./mile under that pace until the last 2 miles where I'll allow my self to drop as low as 6:00 pace but no lower. If 6:30 pace feels good off the bike I will plan to go out at that pace in Chattanooga.
Monday was the final Run With Carl, a memorial run that has gone on for the past 20 years for Carl Schillig, a friend and teammate of mine whose life was taken way too soon by a drunk driver that ran a red light and killed him in 1994 when we were high school freshmen. It was great doing the run with Chris Chamberlin, a local guy I've been coaching for the past 20 weeks. He ran 32:20 averaging 6:22/mile after averaging 6:47/mile last year. His big goal this year was to run a 1/2 in under 7:00 pace this year and I have no doubts he will do that. Owen ran the 1/2 mile and had so much fun he walked back up the hill and ran the mile finishing just behind Payton. Jen and I were very proud of them for tackling the hilly mile without walking.
This has been a great week for the iHope Foundation. HUGE thanks to Tim and Marlene King, Jim and Michelle Russell, and all those at our PVXC alumni reunion who contributed to the foundation. To date the iHope Foundation has raised over $27,000.00 to purchase iPads and provide scholarships for low-income students that display outstanding character and work traits. When I began the foundation I was hoping we would be able to provide 1 iPad each year. Due to the incredible support we are hoping to do 3 iPads each year with each recipient also getting a $1,000.00 scholarship upon high school graduation. If you'd like to help contribute to either the iPad portion or the scholarship portion of the iHope Foundation you can click either of the links at the top of my page. Thanks so much! 25 days to Ironman Chattanooga. I'm dreaming of my best race ever. DREAM BIG!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)