Day 8 "10 Days and 10 Nights"

My 8th day of camp was a good one. I felt the best I have since day 1. I think taking yesterday was good for me both mentally and physically. I began camp with a 9 mile run followed by speed drills and strides. I then went to the pool for 4,000 yards of swimming with some hard intervals mixed in. At 5:00 I began the weekly group ride which takes place every Wednesday night in the QC. This is always a tough ride with lots of surging, breakaways, sprints, and high speeds. We went 50 miles and had some stretches of 10+ miles where we averaged over 26 mph. After the ride I went to our high school and lifted 2 sets of 12 on all my lifts. I finished camp this evening with a 3 mile run followed by lunges, core work, claw drill, and stretching.
1. 9 mile run
2. Speed Drills and Strides
3. 4,000 yards swimming
4. 50 mile bike ride
5. Weight Lifting- 2x 12
6. 3 mile run
7. Lunges, core, and claw drill
My total training time today was 6 hours and 5 minutes.

8 day camp totals: Run- 87.5 miles, Bike- 401 miles, Swim- 18,400 yards.
Only 2 days of camp left...DREAM BIG!

Day 7 "10 Days and 10 Nights"

Day 7 was a bit of a recovery day. Mentally, more than physically I was pretty fried today. I just could not get myself to train as much as I wanted. I ended up doing a 6 mile run in the morning and had a great 30 mile bike workout in the evening in which I pushed the 22 hills that I rode. My average watts up all the hills was between 400 and 500 depending on the grade of the hill and how long it was.

1. 6 mile run 2. 30 mile ride pushing hills Total training time was 2 hours and 10 minutes.

7 day camp totals: Run: 75.5 miles, Bike- 350 miles, Swim- 14,400 yards

Awesome video about the "underdog"...DREAM BIG!

Day 6 "10 Days and 10 Nights"

I'm getting used to waking up sore during this camp. I don't believe that will cease until the camp is over. After I got some breakfast in and walked around a bit I felt much better. I began camp by going for a 51 mile bike ride through the hills past McCausland to a small town of Low Moor where I refueled with a Gatorade. It was pretty windy today and I had 20 miles of the ride into the wind after turning around. Following the ride I took an hour and a half nap and then went to the pool for 4,000 yards of swimming with a main set of 8x 200's on the 3:00. I did the first 4 pull and the last 4 swim. I was hitting between 2:45 and 2:47 on all of them. Not too fast but I was alone and tired. Following a great dinner I finished camp with the night session of a 7.5 mile run in which I did hill intervals by running the 8 hills in the route really hard. I then did my speed drills and strides and went to the weight room to lift 2 sets of 15 on all my lifts at my lightest weight of the week. I then did 2 sets of 25 lunges and core work. I'll get a good stretch in before bed.
1. 51 mile bike ride
2. 4,000 yards swimming
3. 7.5 mile run
4. Speed drills and strides
5. Weight Lifting- 2x 15
6. Lunges
7. Core work
Total training time for day 6 was 5 hours and 40 minutes.

6 day camp totals: Run- 69.5 miles, Bike- 321 miles, Swim- 15,400 yards
I'm seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the "10 Days and 10 Nights" camp...DREAM BIG!

Crossroads Triathlon Race Report and Results

On Saturday I drove to DeWitt, IA for the Crossroads Sprint Triathlon. The race fell in the middle of a 10 day intensive training camp I set up for myself so I planned to use the race as my hard speed workout for the week. I won the race last year but wasn't sure how it would go due to the high volume the 3 days leading up to it. In the 3 days before the race I biked 183 miles, ran 32.5 miles, and swam 10,400 yards. The day before the race I woke up with extreme soreness and I put in another pretty good day of training. The night before I finished camp for the day with a 9 mile run including speed drills and strides. I thought the drills and strides loosened me up quite a bit. On race morning I drove to DeWitt and dropped off my running shoes and race number at the second transition. This race is point to point. I then drove to the lake for a warm up consisting of a couple miles and speed drills and strides before putting on the wetsuit for a short swim warm-up. I was feeling pretty decent considering all the work I had put in leading up to the race. I knew the race would be tough with the wind out of the southwest because we finish the bike course with a 4 mile stretch straight west due to the point to point. What it meant was that 10 of the 15 miles would be into the wind.

Swim: I began the swim in the 3rd wave. The women went off at 8:00 a.m. and the 30-39 year old males went at 8:03. My wave began 3 minutes later. On the start I began by swimming hard to get out of the mess of the chaotic wave start. By the time we hit the first bouey I was in 2nd or 3rd from my wave. I pushed hard since the swim was only 500 yards and soon was leading my wave and passing swimmers from the wave ahead of me. I felt great in the water and knew I was having a good swim. I exited the water with the 4th fastest swim time of the 214 racers. I believe it was my best swim of the year. My swim time was 7:13.

Bike: Out on the bike I began passing riders who started in the waves ahead of me. I enjoy having people out ahead of me from other waves to catch. It makes for a much more enjoyable ride when there are people out there and I don't have to set the pace. The wind was pretty rough...I'm guessing about 15 mph. I was so glad to not be riding my Zipp disc. With a disc on the rear wheel I would have been getting blown all over the road. Thanks to the sponsorship from Healthy Habits and Zipp I was able to ride a Zipp 808 front wheel and a Zipp 1080 rear and I felt in complete control of the bike. This wheelset is very light so they are super fast on hills as well as handling the crosswinds without any trouble. At the first turnaround 5.5 miles into the race I spotted the leader, Chris Scott about 2:20 ahead of me. Chris is a great local triathlete that finished 2nd in this race last year. There were still a few other guys from the 30-39 year old wave in front of me as well as a few of the women's leaders. At the turnaround we began the last 10.5 miles that would be into the wind. This is where I feel very strong riding. I have gained a lot of power on the bike from spending a great deal of time in the weight room and doing lots of hill intervals this year. By mile 14 I was able to pass Chris Scott to move into the lead ahead of all the guys who started in the wave ahead of me. For the ride I averaged 24.9 mph which was pretty solid considering most of the ride was into the wind. My bike split was the fastest of the race by 2 minutes and 13 seconds. It was my 3rd race this year posting the fastest bike split.

Run: Exiting the 2nd transition I put on the Garmin GPS watch. I used this in Racine and liked having it on because I could constantly monitor my pace. I was hoping to try to run 5:30 pace as long as I could hold it. In Chicago for my peak race later this month I'm hoping to average 5:35 for the 10k. I'll be much more rested for that race. I began the run very fast and at the mile mark I was at 5:29 pace. At the turnaround I was at 5:30 pace and I pushed hard on the way back. When I finished the Garmin had me at 5:28 pace but it is either a bit off or the course was a touch long as the official results had me at 5:34 pace with a run time of 17:15. My run split was the fastest of the race by 48 seconds. I finished the race in 1:02:07 which turned out to be the winning time by 4 minutes and 7 seconds. I was very satisfied to race that well on tired legs. It was the fastest time on the course in the last 4 years and considering the direction of the wind I was very happy with the race. I was 2 minutes faster than last year when the wind wasn't bad at all and I was much more rested for that race. Complete results from the race with splits can be found at http://www.theracershub.com/files/290-648.txt

It was great having so many members of my family at the race. I really appreciated their support especially considering it wasn't very nice out with some rain early on. It was also great to see a big group of Team Tri-Fit members doing well in the race. So many of them have made tremendous improvements over the past year and it inspires me. Congratulations to club member Jessica Imm on winning the women's title with a great race. I hope Team Tri-Fit will continue to grow over the next year. We are currently up to 50 members which far exceeds my expectations for the first year. We had a great club cook out on Friday night before the race and it was nice seeing everyone there. Thanks to Dr. Kaminski of Kaminski Pain and Peformance Care for having me ready on race day even with all the volume I had put in.

I had a great week of training...mostly from the 5 days of camp. I ended the week with 300 miles biking, my highest total ever not counting RAGBRAI many moons ago. I also ran 67.5 miles which was my most since competing at Augustana College nearly 8 years ago. I swam 13,700 yards and lifted weights twice. I did lunges twice and core work 4 times. I plan to continue my camp for 5 more days before taking a day off next Saturday...I'll need it. As I'm finishing camp these days my thoughts are on the approaching race in Chicago on August 30th. This is my big peak race for the year. I'll be tapered and rested up for this one hoping for my best race ever. My main goal is to break 2 hours for the Olympic Distance course. I know it can happen. I'll put in the work now so I can rest up later and reap the benefits of that work in Chicago. Thanks for reading...Congrats to all the Crossroads finishers. DREAM BIG!

Day 5 "10 Days and 10 Nights"

For day 5 of camp I was pretty sore in the morning due to the high camp volume and the intensity of a race yesterday. I began camp by running 5.5 miles easy in the morning with my wife and daughter. I pushed the stroller so that was fun. That loosened me up a bit and in the afternoon I rode my bike 45 miles out to my mom's for dinner. In the evening I did my weekly long run of 14.5 miles plus speed drills and strides. I finished camp by doing core work and the claw drill before calling it a day.
1. 5.5 mile run
2. 45 mile bike ride
3. 14.5 mile run
4. Speed drills and strides
5. Core work and claw drill
Total training time for day 5 was 4 hours and 55 minutes.

5 Day Camp Totals: Bike- 270 miles, Run- 62 miles, Swim- 11,400 yards

Day 4 "10 Days and 10 Nights"

Today's camp session started with a Sprint Triathlon in De Witt, IA. It was a good race for me. I'll post a full race report tomorrow. As for the triathlon I got 6 miles of running in including a warm-up and cool down. For swimming I warmed up 500 yards and then raced 500 yards. The bike leg was 15 miles. After the race I drove to our high school weight room and lifted weights and did lunges for 45 minutes. I was then able to get a 90 minute nap in before biking 23 miles. Tonight I finished camp by running 3.5 miles on the treadmill...yes it sucked very much. The treadmill was my only option with Payton sleeping and Jen gone scrapbooking with my sister-in-laws. I planned on 5 miles but felt really exhausted and a bit naucious so I stopped at 3.5.
1. 6 mile run including 5k in 17:15 at end of triathlon
2. 15 miles biking 36:06, cool down 4 miles
3. 1,000 yds. swimming with 500 in race
4. Weight Lifting- 2 sets of 10 and lunges
5. Bike- 23 miles
6. Run- 3.5 miles
Total Training Time- 4 hours, 5 minutes

4 Day Camp Totals : Bike- 225 miles, Run- 41.5 miles, Swim- 11,400 yds
Tomorrow is the only day I planned during camp when I won't do all 3 sports. Just a bike and run. Thanks for reading! DREAM BIG!

Day 3 "10 Days and 10 Nights"

When I woke up for day 3 of camp I was really sore. I wasn't walking without the soreness yelling at me. I began by swimming 3,300 yards. I then took an hour nap and woke up for a 30 mile bike ride. I finished camp with a 9 mile run followed by speed drills and strides. I am competing in the Crossroads Triathlon tomorrow and it should be interesting because I've never raced on legs this tired.
1. 3,300 yards swimming mostly easy technique work with some fast accelerations mixed in.
2. 30 mile bike ride
3. 9 mile run
4. Speed drills and strides.
Total training time for today was 3 hours and 50 minutes.
3 Day Camp Totals- 183 miles biking, 32 miles running, 10,400 yards swimming
DREAM BIG!