WQAD and FOX news ran a story on Live Uncommon. Thanks to FOX anchor Kim Johnson for doing this. Spread the world. Live Uncommon. Check out www.liveuncommon.org to learn more.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Time to reflect...
On Saturday I was out for a 106 mile bike ride and as I made a turn in the last 20 miles I crossed paths with local triathlete Tom Fitzpatrick. Tom and I rode together for about 15 miles and as we talked he shared a story with me that made me reflect on how far I've come in the past 3 years. Tom recalled a story from 2008. Going into the summer of 2008 I had always trained and raced in the summer but really let myself get out of shape during the school year. I was teaching full-time and coaching 3 sports which was basically the entire year. Jen gave birth to Payton on June 1 of 2008 and I was in pretty sad shape. I was weighing nearly 200 lbs. and I thought I was in such bad shape I should probably not race that summer. I got a phone call from a guy named Stephan Marsh who had recently graduated from the University of Iowa. Stephan had been doing triathlons for 1 year and wanted to get together for some training in 2008 while he was home for the summer. I told him I was in terrible shape and didn't think I would race that summer. He said, "You don't have to race, but at least come train with me so you can get back in shape." I reluctantly took him up on the offer. I vividly remember the first time we got together to ride. I asked him how far he wanted to go and he said, "50 miles." 50 miles!! That was about 20 miles longer than my previous long rides in the years past. I went with him on this early June ride and made it all 50 miles. I had a sense of accomplishment...doing something I didn't think I could do. After training with Stephan for a week I decided to sign up for the QC Triathlon. The next week I recall going to the track with Stephan for 8x 400 meters in 85 seconds. I was hurting so bad I had to abandon the workout mid-way through and just cheer him on. 
I went into the QC Triathlon weighing 196 lbs (as you can tell from the picture...and yes, I know I should not have worn the short jammer). My wetsuit was only supposed to fit someone up to 188 so it was a BIG stretch to fit in it. Tom recalled that during the race he got on the bike and could see me up the road. He reeled me in and passed me and went on to beat me by about 30 seconds in the race. I finished 17th. Results from that race can be found by clicking here. Over the next 4 weeks I trained like crazy with Stephan. I gained lots of confidence. I changed my eating habits. My good friend Chris Coon had placed 4th in the QC Triathlon and told me if I wanted to lose weight I needed to start running more. I took his advice and the weight started coming off. I was losing 3-4 lbs. each week. I went to an Olympic Distance race in Burlington, Iowa about 4 weeks after the QC Triathlon. I had lost about 15 lbs. I was feeling much better. I placed 4th in 2:07:44. Although this was a big improvement for me it was still 11 minutes behind rookie pro triathlete Daniel Bretscher from Indiana. Tom Fitzpatrick was also at the race. He was ahead of me after the swim but I passed him early on in the bike portion and went on to beat him by about 20 minutes. He recalled how he couldn't believe in a month's time he had gone from beating me to finishing 20 minutes behind me. Results from that race can be found by clicking here. After this race I recall some guy I didn't know coming up to me at the end. He said, "Wow, that was an incredible performance!" I said, "No, you must be mistaking, I didn't win. Those guys over there all beat me." He said, "I know, but look at you...I don't want this to sound bad but you are a big guy. You are carrying a lot of extra weight. Those guys are all 5% body fat. What are you?" I hadn't thought about it because here I was in a race where I had just lost 15 lbs. and yet I was still overweight...and it was noticable." I was probably still near 20% body fat. He asked me if I had ever tried losing weight...not realizing I had just cut 15 lbs. over the past month. That conversation stuck with me. I talked briefly with Daniel Bretscher about being a pro triathlete. He is still a pro triathlete and one I really look up to. All of a sudden the wheels in my mind were turning. I knew how much improvment I had made in just one month. I started to wonder how much improvment I could make if I trained every day through the year like I had over the past month. How fast could I be if I ate healthy and didn't get fat through the year. The more I thought about this over the next couple weeks the more obsessed I became with the idea of giving it a shot. I had a vision of how fit I would be...how different I would look. I knew it would mean that I would have to resign all three of the coaching positions I had. I began to look up results of pro races and I thought..."This is something I can do if I devote myself to the sport." I had this BIG DREAM of becoming a professional triathlete..and it seemed so far away. In early August I went to meet Jen at lunch at the Arsenal. I was as giddy as a teenager who had just talked to a pretty girl. As we were eating lunch I shared with her what I had been thinking about the past couple weeks. I asked her what she thought and she was 100% supportive. I was in. Following the fall cross country season (my last in coaching) I began the journey on November 3 with a goal of becoming a professional triathlete. The next October I won the Longhorn 70.3 amateur race earning the right to turn professional. I knew there were many people who questioned whether or not I was really good enough to belong in the professional division. It was then that my goal turned to proving that I belong in the pro division. To date that goal has not been achieved. Next Sunday, I'll be competing in the Ironman Racine 70.3 event and I intend to prove I belong. I am currently as confident as I've ever been going into a race. My fitness is beyond anywhere I've ever been. I am where I envisioned myself being fitness wise 3 years ago when this crazy idea was going through my mind. Now it's time to execute. I just finished another great week. 60 miles running, 287 biking, 16,500 yards swimming. I did my tempo run with Super Mom during a 4 mile race in Eldridge on Saturday called the Moonlight Chase. She set the course record by about 25 seconds running 23:14. My tempo pace is about 5:45/mile right now which happens to be my goal 1/2 IM run pace. We were a bit fast through mile 1 (5:34) and then ran about 5:50's the rest of the way. It felt so relaxed and easy. I kept thinking if I can get off the bike with decent run legs I can sustain this pace for the rest of the race next weekend. My goal for the race is to swim 28:00, bike 2:12, and run 1:18. Adding in transition times that would put me in the 4 hr. 2 minute range. If everything goes perfect I may be able to be a little faster than that but expecting a perfect race is tough. The race can be tracked at Ironman Live at http://www.ironman.com/. On Sunday you will see a link for Racine and if you click on the Live Results they typically update the splits as the race is happening. Some of the races have multiple timing mats during the bike and run portions so you can track the progress through the race. If you click on my name in the results it should give the splits. I'm doing a 5 day taper for this race which begins on Tuesday. It will be the most rested I've been in 8 weeks and I expect a good result.
I went into the QC Triathlon weighing 196 lbs (as you can tell from the picture...and yes, I know I should not have worn the short jammer). My wetsuit was only supposed to fit someone up to 188 so it was a BIG stretch to fit in it. Tom recalled that during the race he got on the bike and could see me up the road. He reeled me in and passed me and went on to beat me by about 30 seconds in the race. I finished 17th. Results from that race can be found by clicking here. Over the next 4 weeks I trained like crazy with Stephan. I gained lots of confidence. I changed my eating habits. My good friend Chris Coon had placed 4th in the QC Triathlon and told me if I wanted to lose weight I needed to start running more. I took his advice and the weight started coming off. I was losing 3-4 lbs. each week. I went to an Olympic Distance race in Burlington, Iowa about 4 weeks after the QC Triathlon. I had lost about 15 lbs. I was feeling much better. I placed 4th in 2:07:44. Although this was a big improvement for me it was still 11 minutes behind rookie pro triathlete Daniel Bretscher from Indiana. Tom Fitzpatrick was also at the race. He was ahead of me after the swim but I passed him early on in the bike portion and went on to beat him by about 20 minutes. He recalled how he couldn't believe in a month's time he had gone from beating me to finishing 20 minutes behind me. Results from that race can be found by clicking here. After this race I recall some guy I didn't know coming up to me at the end. He said, "Wow, that was an incredible performance!" I said, "No, you must be mistaking, I didn't win. Those guys over there all beat me." He said, "I know, but look at you...I don't want this to sound bad but you are a big guy. You are carrying a lot of extra weight. Those guys are all 5% body fat. What are you?" I hadn't thought about it because here I was in a race where I had just lost 15 lbs. and yet I was still overweight...and it was noticable." I was probably still near 20% body fat. He asked me if I had ever tried losing weight...not realizing I had just cut 15 lbs. over the past month. That conversation stuck with me. I talked briefly with Daniel Bretscher about being a pro triathlete. He is still a pro triathlete and one I really look up to. All of a sudden the wheels in my mind were turning. I knew how much improvment I had made in just one month. I started to wonder how much improvment I could make if I trained every day through the year like I had over the past month. How fast could I be if I ate healthy and didn't get fat through the year. The more I thought about this over the next couple weeks the more obsessed I became with the idea of giving it a shot. I had a vision of how fit I would be...how different I would look. I knew it would mean that I would have to resign all three of the coaching positions I had. I began to look up results of pro races and I thought..."This is something I can do if I devote myself to the sport." I had this BIG DREAM of becoming a professional triathlete..and it seemed so far away. In early August I went to meet Jen at lunch at the Arsenal. I was as giddy as a teenager who had just talked to a pretty girl. As we were eating lunch I shared with her what I had been thinking about the past couple weeks. I asked her what she thought and she was 100% supportive. I was in. Following the fall cross country season (my last in coaching) I began the journey on November 3 with a goal of becoming a professional triathlete. The next October I won the Longhorn 70.3 amateur race earning the right to turn professional. I knew there were many people who questioned whether or not I was really good enough to belong in the professional division. It was then that my goal turned to proving that I belong in the pro division. To date that goal has not been achieved. Next Sunday, I'll be competing in the Ironman Racine 70.3 event and I intend to prove I belong. I am currently as confident as I've ever been going into a race. My fitness is beyond anywhere I've ever been. I am where I envisioned myself being fitness wise 3 years ago when this crazy idea was going through my mind. Now it's time to execute. I just finished another great week. 60 miles running, 287 biking, 16,500 yards swimming. I did my tempo run with Super Mom during a 4 mile race in Eldridge on Saturday called the Moonlight Chase. She set the course record by about 25 seconds running 23:14. My tempo pace is about 5:45/mile right now which happens to be my goal 1/2 IM run pace. We were a bit fast through mile 1 (5:34) and then ran about 5:50's the rest of the way. It felt so relaxed and easy. I kept thinking if I can get off the bike with decent run legs I can sustain this pace for the rest of the race next weekend. My goal for the race is to swim 28:00, bike 2:12, and run 1:18. Adding in transition times that would put me in the 4 hr. 2 minute range. If everything goes perfect I may be able to be a little faster than that but expecting a perfect race is tough. The race can be tracked at Ironman Live at http://www.ironman.com/. On Sunday you will see a link for Racine and if you click on the Live Results they typically update the splits as the race is happening. Some of the races have multiple timing mats during the bike and run portions so you can track the progress through the race. If you click on my name in the results it should give the splits. I'm doing a 5 day taper for this race which begins on Tuesday. It will be the most rested I've been in 8 weeks and I expect a good result.On Wednesday this past week I opened the paper to see an article that highlighted the staggering number of obese persons in the U.S. That number has increased in dramatic proportions over the past 10 years. I began to wonder if I would have been included in that statistic had I not made that decision to go "all in" back in 2008. It is why Jen and I are adamently supporting the cause called "Live Uncommon". We hope to inspire people in our community and beyond to live active and healthy lifestyles while maintaining balance in a busy life. Visit http://www.liveuncommon.org/ to see what it's all about. You can make a difference. Thanks for reading. DREAM BIG!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Week 35 Summary...Self Confidence
It's pretty hard for me to believe I'm typing 35 in the title this week. My how quickly the weeks go by. It's even tougher for me to believe how short a 9 week high school season sounds to me now when I used to think it was a long time. It always amazes me how quickly some of those kids can get in shape. If I had 9 weeks to go from 0 to 60 I think I would be in BIG trouble. Week 35 was a great one. I biked 200 miles, swam 13,000 yards, and ran 59 miles. I am still lifting weights 3 times a week along with doing jump rope, lunges, push-ups, speed drills, and strides. My training buddy Adam Bohach and I like to bounce ideas off each other. We're both self coached and competing at a very high level...he is coming off a 2 hr. 26 minute marathon. We are both doing Racine 70.3 next weekend and we will both finish our year off with an Ironman in the fall...his in Hawaii and mine in Madison. We also both love to train like crazy. The best things we can remind each other are the importance of rest days to allow our bodies to adapt to the training we are doing. I knew it was very important to not go crazy in the weeks following my training camp. I wanted to allow my body to adapt to that crazy week of purposeful overtraining. I have cut my training time the last couple weeks to between 24 and 27 hours. Everything is really starting to click right now exactly how I wanted it to as I enter the last 10 weeks of my training/racing year. Really the first 35 weeks was all about getting my body ready to perform well over these last 10. I couldn't be more confident as my big races of Racine 70.3, Steelhead 70.3 and Ironman Madison loom on the horizon.
The importance of self-confidence is a topic I've addressed often with teams and athletes I've coached. In my opinion it may be the most important factor of racing well. Confidence is faked all the time and fake self-confidence rarely ever works. Kids I've coached often tell me they are ready to run well in big meets but you can tell they are just trying to stay positive and convince themselves they are ready. For self-confidence to be effective there must be a deep inner belief...no doubts about it kind of belief that a great race is going to happen. It cannot be gained from a single "fire them up" kind of speech. Real self-confidence takes time to establish. It can be gained from great races leading up to bigger ones. It can be gained from great workouts. A combination of both is often effective. It can be gained from believing in the plan and then sticking to it. As I approach my biggest races of the year my confidence is at an all-time high. My workouts over the last 2 weeks have gone better than I could have written them up. I am swimming better than I ever have thanks to help from Stacey Zapolski. My last two races have been great swims. I have also benefitted from doing open water swims once or twice a week with Adam. We work on leading and drafting each other as we navigate through courses we lay out on the lake. It's been very helpful. I believe I can keep the gap to the leaders under 4:30 compared to 9 minutes I was behind exiting the water in San Juan. I think I can be 3:00 to the main field instead of 7 minutes in San Juan. The Xterra Vendetta also helps me a lot compared to the non-wetsuit swim in San Juan. I am biking at a level I never have. My body has adapted to the volume of training camp and now with a lower volume I'm getting good quality intervals and my favorite ride which is our local Wednesday night group ride that always turns into a hammerfest. I am running workouts better than ever. Today was 10x 800 meters with 90 seconds rest under the warm sun at Augustana and I got faster on nearly every one starting at 2:37 and cutting down to 2:30. Last Friday was a progressive 6 mile tempo run in 34:22 that I began at 6:00 for the first mile and cut down to 5:18. I'm averaging 62 miles/week over the past month and my body has adapted to that volume very well. I was at a good friend's wedding in Cincinnati over the weekend and I ran 19.5 miles in hot, humid conditions on Sunday and it felt awesome. What I gained confidence from was not the run but how fast my legs recovered. On Monday I wasn't a bit sore from it. I rarely ever train with a heart rate monitor but last week I put it on twice just to check in. The first time was for a workout on the track where I also brought my bike trainer. I did 12x 3 minutes on the bike at 270 watts before jumping off to run 400 meters. I ran them in 76 seconds and the highest my heart rate got was 152. It mostly stayed in the mid-140's. During a very difficult bike interval workout Saturday morning before I took off for the wedding my heart rate maxed out at 142. I don't know a lot about heart rate but I know that's much lower than I was for hard workouts 5 months ago. I also know that on my minute easy periods it would drop from 140 to 115 which also showed me how fast I recover during workouts. I have had complete trust in my training plan. I know I'm ready to race faster than I ever have in the past. Now it's a matter of getting to the starting line without anything crazy happening which is why I got worried when I rolled my ankle pretty hard on my cool down today. It's going to take something like that or a flat tire to keep me from my best race ever next weekend in Racine. My inner-confidence is real. As deep down as it goes I know I'm more fit than I've ever been before.
It has been awesome seeing the number of "Live Uncommon" shirts increase each week at Bix at 6. If you haven't been to the website check out http://www.liveuncommon.net/. It is an awesome initiative created to encourage active and healthy lifestyles. It's been so much fun to see people get excited about working out. Jen said she saw a quite a few new people in Live Uncommon shirts while she was at the Firecracker Run in East Moline on Monday. She won the 5k in 17:45 missing the course record by only 1 second. Super Mom is back! Last week I mentioned the importance of investing in one's health. Over the winter I ran into a guy I went to high school with. I barely recognized him. From a young age he struggled with an extreme case of obesity. He was the kind of kid who was wheezing when he sat down in class just from the walk through the hallways from his previous class. His obesity only got worse as he got older. He probably weighed near 300 pounds entering high school and I bet weighed about 400 last year. When I saw him I could tell he has lost a bunch of weight. I asked him about it and he said he has lost 100 pounds. He said he realized his life was going to be cut short and he wouldn't live to watch his daugther grow up unless he did something about it. He invested in a personal trainer and got a membership to Snap Fitness in our hometown of Le Claire. He said it was the best investment he had ever made and he was going to continue losing weight. That is what Live Uncommon is all about. Make a committment to be active. Not only are you doing it for yourself but for those who love you. If you have children you are setting an example for them that physical fitness is important. They see it and they grow up knowing that it should be part of the daily lifestyle. The reason I love triathlon is because of the healthy lifestyle that is required to see improvments regardless of ability level. It is all about a personal journey to fitness. Check out Live Uncommon and be an ambassador in your community or workplace by encouraging those around you to live healthy by Living Uncommon.
Speaking of Live Uncommon, while I was on my 19.5 mile run in Cincinnati I ran across the Ohio River into Kentucky and I went a few blocks too far into the wrong part of town. I had on a Live Uncommon jersey and I didn't think I was going to escape with it on my back. While running through what I will call a ghetto I began hearing people shouting to me about my awesome Live Uncommon jersey. Long story short is that the jersey looked so awesome they wanted to keep it and I had to drop in a sub-6 mile in the middle of my run to escape with it on my back. You can get your own Live Uncommon shirt at http://www.liveuncommon.net/
Thanks for reading. Keep working hard. And as always...DREAM BIG!!
The importance of self-confidence is a topic I've addressed often with teams and athletes I've coached. In my opinion it may be the most important factor of racing well. Confidence is faked all the time and fake self-confidence rarely ever works. Kids I've coached often tell me they are ready to run well in big meets but you can tell they are just trying to stay positive and convince themselves they are ready. For self-confidence to be effective there must be a deep inner belief...no doubts about it kind of belief that a great race is going to happen. It cannot be gained from a single "fire them up" kind of speech. Real self-confidence takes time to establish. It can be gained from great races leading up to bigger ones. It can be gained from great workouts. A combination of both is often effective. It can be gained from believing in the plan and then sticking to it. As I approach my biggest races of the year my confidence is at an all-time high. My workouts over the last 2 weeks have gone better than I could have written them up. I am swimming better than I ever have thanks to help from Stacey Zapolski. My last two races have been great swims. I have also benefitted from doing open water swims once or twice a week with Adam. We work on leading and drafting each other as we navigate through courses we lay out on the lake. It's been very helpful. I believe I can keep the gap to the leaders under 4:30 compared to 9 minutes I was behind exiting the water in San Juan. I think I can be 3:00 to the main field instead of 7 minutes in San Juan. The Xterra Vendetta also helps me a lot compared to the non-wetsuit swim in San Juan. I am biking at a level I never have. My body has adapted to the volume of training camp and now with a lower volume I'm getting good quality intervals and my favorite ride which is our local Wednesday night group ride that always turns into a hammerfest. I am running workouts better than ever. Today was 10x 800 meters with 90 seconds rest under the warm sun at Augustana and I got faster on nearly every one starting at 2:37 and cutting down to 2:30. Last Friday was a progressive 6 mile tempo run in 34:22 that I began at 6:00 for the first mile and cut down to 5:18. I'm averaging 62 miles/week over the past month and my body has adapted to that volume very well. I was at a good friend's wedding in Cincinnati over the weekend and I ran 19.5 miles in hot, humid conditions on Sunday and it felt awesome. What I gained confidence from was not the run but how fast my legs recovered. On Monday I wasn't a bit sore from it. I rarely ever train with a heart rate monitor but last week I put it on twice just to check in. The first time was for a workout on the track where I also brought my bike trainer. I did 12x 3 minutes on the bike at 270 watts before jumping off to run 400 meters. I ran them in 76 seconds and the highest my heart rate got was 152. It mostly stayed in the mid-140's. During a very difficult bike interval workout Saturday morning before I took off for the wedding my heart rate maxed out at 142. I don't know a lot about heart rate but I know that's much lower than I was for hard workouts 5 months ago. I also know that on my minute easy periods it would drop from 140 to 115 which also showed me how fast I recover during workouts. I have had complete trust in my training plan. I know I'm ready to race faster than I ever have in the past. Now it's a matter of getting to the starting line without anything crazy happening which is why I got worried when I rolled my ankle pretty hard on my cool down today. It's going to take something like that or a flat tire to keep me from my best race ever next weekend in Racine. My inner-confidence is real. As deep down as it goes I know I'm more fit than I've ever been before.
It has been awesome seeing the number of "Live Uncommon" shirts increase each week at Bix at 6. If you haven't been to the website check out http://www.liveuncommon.net/. It is an awesome initiative created to encourage active and healthy lifestyles. It's been so much fun to see people get excited about working out. Jen said she saw a quite a few new people in Live Uncommon shirts while she was at the Firecracker Run in East Moline on Monday. She won the 5k in 17:45 missing the course record by only 1 second. Super Mom is back! Last week I mentioned the importance of investing in one's health. Over the winter I ran into a guy I went to high school with. I barely recognized him. From a young age he struggled with an extreme case of obesity. He was the kind of kid who was wheezing when he sat down in class just from the walk through the hallways from his previous class. His obesity only got worse as he got older. He probably weighed near 300 pounds entering high school and I bet weighed about 400 last year. When I saw him I could tell he has lost a bunch of weight. I asked him about it and he said he has lost 100 pounds. He said he realized his life was going to be cut short and he wouldn't live to watch his daugther grow up unless he did something about it. He invested in a personal trainer and got a membership to Snap Fitness in our hometown of Le Claire. He said it was the best investment he had ever made and he was going to continue losing weight. That is what Live Uncommon is all about. Make a committment to be active. Not only are you doing it for yourself but for those who love you. If you have children you are setting an example for them that physical fitness is important. They see it and they grow up knowing that it should be part of the daily lifestyle. The reason I love triathlon is because of the healthy lifestyle that is required to see improvments regardless of ability level. It is all about a personal journey to fitness. Check out Live Uncommon and be an ambassador in your community or workplace by encouraging those around you to live healthy by Living Uncommon.Speaking of Live Uncommon, while I was on my 19.5 mile run in Cincinnati I ran across the Ohio River into Kentucky and I went a few blocks too far into the wrong part of town. I had on a Live Uncommon jersey and I didn't think I was going to escape with it on my back. While running through what I will call a ghetto I began hearing people shouting to me about my awesome Live Uncommon jersey. Long story short is that the jersey looked so awesome they wanted to keep it and I had to drop in a sub-6 mile in the middle of my run to escape with it on my back. You can get your own Live Uncommon shirt at http://www.liveuncommon.net/Thanks for reading. Keep working hard. And as always...DREAM BIG!!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Live Uncommon! Davenport Duathlon Race Report and Results
My wife Jen and I are thrilled to be part of an initiative in the Quad Cities called "Live Uncommon". The idea for Live Uncommon was brought to us by Jim and Michelle Russell who through the support of Russell Construction wanted to promote active lifestyles in the Quad Cities. We couldn't be more excited about the goals of Live Uncommon. The goal of Live Uncommon is to encourage people to live active lifestyles while maintaining balance with family, work, and community service. So often I hear people say they would like to exercise more but they don't have time. Whether it be due to work or business that comes from leading a family many people neglect making physical activity a priority. Live Uncommon believes you can still live a healthy and active lifestyle while balancing all the other very important aspects that life brings. Jen and I have two kids of our own and we believe it is very important to model for them the importance of living healthy and active lifestyles. One thing we did about a year before our oldest child Payton was born was purchase a treadmill. We debated about what kind to get, how much to spend...etc. We decided to go with a cheeper model from Dick's Sporting Goods that cost us about $800.00. 4 years later that treadmill is still being used very regularly. 
It gives us many more options for exercising with the business of a family and work. We can run in the morning before the kids wake up without leaving the house. We can run in the evening after they go to bed. We can run while they are taking naps. I asked Jen last week what we would do if our treadmill broke and very quickly she responded, "We will buy another one." We both believe that we have gotten more than our money's worth from this one. I know it does cost money. I know it is also an investment into our health. It's tough to put a pricetag on one's health. How much is it worth to be healthy? Does the cost ever get repayed? Do the doctor bills go down? Can you put a price on living longer? So often people invest into stocks, retirement funds, money market accounts, life insurance...how about investing in your own health? I believe it is very important. One of the other investments I made that has proved invaluable was a trainer for my bike. I don't mean a personal trainer like a coach, I'm talking about a stand that my bike goes on so I can ride indoors. I bought my first Cycleops trainer in 2000 and it lasted me 10 years. It was about $175.00. I put thousands of miles on that trainer and it was well worth the investment. It gave me chances to ride at home without having to drive to a gym. I cut down on driving time and costs. Once our kids were born this trainer was even more valuable. This winter I rode over 3,000 miles on my trainer and most of it was while my kids were sleeping. I would not have been able to leave the house to train but I made it work. I am currently coaching an athlete who is a husband and father of 3. He has found a way to add triathlon to his balance in life. He does nearly every single bike workout on the trainer at his house and he runs on a treadmill. He has done extremely well in competitions while maintaining this balance. We would love for you to check out the website for Live Uncommon at http://www.liveuncommon.net/ and join the movement. We are excited about it and hope to inspire more people in the community to be active and lead balanced lives. None of this would be possible without the support of Russell Construction and Jim and Michelle Russell who had a vision for helping get the community to be more active. We are very thankful for their support and creation of "Live Uncommon".On Sunday Jen and I drove to Credit Island Park in Davenport for the inaugural Davenport Duathlon. The duathlon was advertised as a 2 mile run, 14.5 mile bike, and a 5k run. The distances were a bit off but we had a blast supporting this event. We had spent Saturday with the family at Adventureland and when my alarm went off at 6:00 (a little later than for a typical race) I was really tired and began to wish I had not signed up for this. I had a little coffee and a small breakfast before packing the bike into the car and heading for the park to get a short warm-up in.
RUN 1- The first run was a loop around the park on the road. I knew it was going to be longer than 2 miles because I've run this loop many times and know it is nearly 2.5 miles around the park. We began at a very fast pace. I was in 5th place for the first 1/2 mile and was beginning to wonder if I was going really slow or if the guys ahead of me were just moving really fast. I glanced at my Garmin GPS watch and saw I was on an average pace of 5:02/mile. Okay, that question was answered. I tried to stay in a good an comfortable rhythm. My big goal for doing this race was to see some improvement in my running. I have been great in workouts but not so great in races. I wanted to get a better run showing to build some confidence heading into Ironman Racine 70.3 in a few weeks. I went through the mile in 5:08 and by that time I had moved into 3rd place. My goal pace for the run was between 5:15 and 5:20/mile and just after the mile I moved into 2nd place behind Phil Young who competes for an elite running team from Iowa called Runablaze. I knew I would not be able to match his running pace. I stayed comfortable and finished the 2.6 mile run at 5:18 pace so I was right on my goal and it felt relatively easy to hit.
BIKE: Out on the bike I passed Phil about a mile in. We took a left out of the park and rode on River Drive for about 1.5 miles before turning onto Concord Drive. Concord was a pretty bumpy road but dead flat. I kept my eyes glued to the road looking to avoid potholes. I was riding pretty well on this section between 26 and 27 miles per hour. Just after the 5 mile mark I looked up and saw the lead vehicle making a sharp right hand turn. The road was really torn up with lots of gravel on it so I quickly came ot almost a complete stop so I could make the turn without wiping out. We then went across two sets of railroad tracks that I took pretty conservatively and went up the only hill on the course. It was pretty steep but not very long. I got out of the saddle and my back tire began slipping on the wet road so I just sat down and shifted to an easy gear so I could get up the hill without my tire slipping. Not long after the top we turned around and I knew the course was not going to be 14.5 miles. We were just barely past mile 6 at the turn. I did a time check and found I had about 1 minute 30 sec. lead on 2nd place so I had no need to take any chances back down the hill, across the tracks, and back through the dangerous turn. I was very conservative through all of that back down to Concord Drive where I could start going fast again. I got off the bike with a time of just over 30 minutes. The results said it was 26 mph but that was figured on a distance of 13 miles and it was probably closer to 12.5 so about 25 mph average.
RUN 2: Out on run 2 I knew I had a big enough lead that I could just cruise in to still win but I thought about what my goals were for the race. I wanted to run fast and didn't really care about the overall placing. I pushed from the beginning and I was averaging about 5:35 to the turaround. On the way back my legs began to feel even better and I dropped my pace to about 5:25/mile. I knew this run was going to be a bit longer than 5k and I wanted to see what my time would be as I went through the 5k mark. My last couple races have been terrible times in the 5k off the bike compared to what I should be running. Last week I was 18:36 for the 5k at the QC Triathlon. As I pushed harder my legs felt even better. It was cool to see Jen running on her way out as I passed her when I headed back. She teamed up with Rick Solis who did the bike portion extremely well. Jen was running in 3rd place. As I went through the 5k mark I glanced down at my GPS and saw it turn over to 17:00. That time is much more in line with where I think I should be running right now based on my fitness. I finished with an overall time of 1:02:15. The 2nd run ended up being 3.25 miles so it was closer to the advertised distance than the other portions of the event. It was fun watching people finish after I got done. Michelle Russell had only ridden her bike a handful of times over the past few years and she finished as the 3rd overall female. My swim Coach Stacey Zapolski and her daughter Haley both did the event and finished looking great. My friend Aaron Maurer did his first duathlon ever on a really old mountain bike and he was awesome. I was super impressed by Aaron's running. He began exercising a lot a year ago with a goal of doing a 1/2 marathon. He trained diligently and completed that even last Septemeber. Now he has moved on to preparing for a marathon. He ran his last 5k faster than he could have run a 5k without biking or running before it a year ago. It is fun to see people improve so much when they commit themselves to being healthy and living an active lifestyle. Congratulations to all the finishers. Complete results with split times can be found by clicking here. Remember the distances they have are slightly off. It was 2.6 mile run, 12.5 mile bike, and 3.25 mile run.
The week was a good one. 28 hours training with 62 miles running, 200 miles biking, and 18,600 yards of swimming. As I hoped I have cut the volume down a bit but had a lot of good quality workouts focusing on intervals with the bike and run hoping I can prepare myself to go fast in Racine in 3 weeks. Thanks for reading! DREAM BIG!!
RUN 1- The first run was a loop around the park on the road. I knew it was going to be longer than 2 miles because I've run this loop many times and know it is nearly 2.5 miles around the park. We began at a very fast pace. I was in 5th place for the first 1/2 mile and was beginning to wonder if I was going really slow or if the guys ahead of me were just moving really fast. I glanced at my Garmin GPS watch and saw I was on an average pace of 5:02/mile. Okay, that question was answered. I tried to stay in a good an comfortable rhythm. My big goal for doing this race was to see some improvement in my running. I have been great in workouts but not so great in races. I wanted to get a better run showing to build some confidence heading into Ironman Racine 70.3 in a few weeks. I went through the mile in 5:08 and by that time I had moved into 3rd place. My goal pace for the run was between 5:15 and 5:20/mile and just after the mile I moved into 2nd place behind Phil Young who competes for an elite running team from Iowa called Runablaze. I knew I would not be able to match his running pace. I stayed comfortable and finished the 2.6 mile run at 5:18 pace so I was right on my goal and it felt relatively easy to hit.
BIKE: Out on the bike I passed Phil about a mile in. We took a left out of the park and rode on River Drive for about 1.5 miles before turning onto Concord Drive. Concord was a pretty bumpy road but dead flat. I kept my eyes glued to the road looking to avoid potholes. I was riding pretty well on this section between 26 and 27 miles per hour. Just after the 5 mile mark I looked up and saw the lead vehicle making a sharp right hand turn. The road was really torn up with lots of gravel on it so I quickly came ot almost a complete stop so I could make the turn without wiping out. We then went across two sets of railroad tracks that I took pretty conservatively and went up the only hill on the course. It was pretty steep but not very long. I got out of the saddle and my back tire began slipping on the wet road so I just sat down and shifted to an easy gear so I could get up the hill without my tire slipping. Not long after the top we turned around and I knew the course was not going to be 14.5 miles. We were just barely past mile 6 at the turn. I did a time check and found I had about 1 minute 30 sec. lead on 2nd place so I had no need to take any chances back down the hill, across the tracks, and back through the dangerous turn. I was very conservative through all of that back down to Concord Drive where I could start going fast again. I got off the bike with a time of just over 30 minutes. The results said it was 26 mph but that was figured on a distance of 13 miles and it was probably closer to 12.5 so about 25 mph average.
RUN 2: Out on run 2 I knew I had a big enough lead that I could just cruise in to still win but I thought about what my goals were for the race. I wanted to run fast and didn't really care about the overall placing. I pushed from the beginning and I was averaging about 5:35 to the turaround. On the way back my legs began to feel even better and I dropped my pace to about 5:25/mile. I knew this run was going to be a bit longer than 5k and I wanted to see what my time would be as I went through the 5k mark. My last couple races have been terrible times in the 5k off the bike compared to what I should be running. Last week I was 18:36 for the 5k at the QC Triathlon. As I pushed harder my legs felt even better. It was cool to see Jen running on her way out as I passed her when I headed back. She teamed up with Rick Solis who did the bike portion extremely well. Jen was running in 3rd place. As I went through the 5k mark I glanced down at my GPS and saw it turn over to 17:00. That time is much more in line with where I think I should be running right now based on my fitness. I finished with an overall time of 1:02:15. The 2nd run ended up being 3.25 miles so it was closer to the advertised distance than the other portions of the event. It was fun watching people finish after I got done. Michelle Russell had only ridden her bike a handful of times over the past few years and she finished as the 3rd overall female. My swim Coach Stacey Zapolski and her daughter Haley both did the event and finished looking great. My friend Aaron Maurer did his first duathlon ever on a really old mountain bike and he was awesome. I was super impressed by Aaron's running. He began exercising a lot a year ago with a goal of doing a 1/2 marathon. He trained diligently and completed that even last Septemeber. Now he has moved on to preparing for a marathon. He ran his last 5k faster than he could have run a 5k without biking or running before it a year ago. It is fun to see people improve so much when they commit themselves to being healthy and living an active lifestyle. Congratulations to all the finishers. Complete results with split times can be found by clicking here. Remember the distances they have are slightly off. It was 2.6 mile run, 12.5 mile bike, and 3.25 mile run.
The week was a good one. 28 hours training with 62 miles running, 200 miles biking, and 18,600 yards of swimming. As I hoped I have cut the volume down a bit but had a lot of good quality workouts focusing on intervals with the bike and run hoping I can prepare myself to go fast in Racine in 3 weeks. Thanks for reading! DREAM BIG!!Sunday, June 19, 2011
Quad Cities Triathlon Race Report and Results
On Saturday I was excited to compete in my hometown triathlon, the Quad Cities Triathlon. This race was one of the first triathlons I ever did back when it was in its' first year in 2000. It is a race I badly wanted to win since it is in my hometown and many family members, friends, and locals would be on hand to watch. Last year I was recovering from surgery and opted to volunteer at the event. Two years ago I had placed 3rd in a time of 1:04:47. I was thinking even after the Training Camp week I went through last week I could still go about a mid-1:03 if I dropped about 20 seconds in each of the 3 areas. It helped to get a massage from Laurel Darren early in the week to speed my recovery from Training Camp. Wednesday was 5 hours of workouts and they left me pretty tired on Thursday so I opted to take Thursday and Friday both easy so I could try to get recovered for a good effort on Saturday.
I was awake at 3:15 even though my alarm was set for 3:45. I kept waking up about every hour in anticipation for this race. I went for the Belgium waffle as my race fuel and I was out the door by 4:45 a.m. headed to West Lake Park where the race takes place. At 5:10 I arrived outside the park and was greeted with at least 100 cars in line to get in. This race is extremely well organized and it is awesome that race director Eric Sarno donates much of the proceeds from the race to Stroke Awareness programs. After getting parked I sprinted to the bathroom and then got my race packet and chip. I was ready to start my warm up at 5:30. After getting a late start at Pigman I was going to make sure I got a proper warm up in for this race. I ran 2 miles with drills and strides on the end to get really loosened up. Then I rode the bike a few miles making sure the gears were all shifting well. The bike was running well so I racked it and put the wetsuit on for a swim warm up. The race begins with a time trial start (2 swimmers entering the water together about every 5 seconds) and I wanted to go in early. My plan was to start the swim in one of the first groups and then as I got passed I could try to get on the faster swimmers feet for a bit and catch a draft.
SWIM: I began the swim with a 16 year old kid who was a really fast swimmer. We were the second pair to hit the water. After a few dolphin dives we reached deep enough water to start swimming and I was swimming hard. I have gained a lot of confidence in my swimming lately under the guidance of Stacey Zapolski. The swim workouts she writes for me have been tough and I've been swimming more days a week and more yards than I was before school got out. 2 weeks ago, Pigman was my best swim of the year and I expected this one to be even better. 1/2 way out to the first turn bouy I was still on the feet of the 16 year old kid I went in the water with. I felt great. Just after we reached the first turn I lost his feet and I began to lose ground pretty quickly on him. 2 guys I coached in high school were starting behind me and they were both all-state swimmers...John Beck and Will Horvat. I expected them to be going by me any second and I would try to get on their feet. I kept swimming for the 2nd bouy and I never saw them. The swim is triangular shaped so there are only 2 turns in it. I was headed for home. I was tired but was still pushing hard knowing the swim would be over soon and also knowing I was having a good swim for myself. Just after the 2nd turn Jen Foley came flying by me. I didn't know how much behind me she started but I know she is a super fast swimmer. I jumped in behind her and stayed on for about 100 yards which also surprised the crap out of me. I exited the water in a time of 8:33 which was over 20 seconds faster than 2 years ago when I raced this event. It was also the 17th fastest swim out of about 650 athletes. I felt great about it. I was only 16 seconds from the 8th fastest swim time. This swim leaves me excited for my next pro race on July 17th. I certainly won't be out with the leaders but the gap from me to the leaders will be much lower than it was for my 1st two pro races.
BIKE: I was quick through transition and got on my bike in about 3rd place. Super swimmer Charlie Cunnick was way up the road...someone yelled to me I was 1:20 behind him exiting transition. Charlie is a great triathlete who is originally from Davenport and if I'm correct he holds the Iowa high school 500 yard freestyle state record. If not he isn't far off. I opted to put my bike shoes on in transition and run my bike up the parking lot hill that greets riders out of transition. Last year I watched people fall over trying to get on their bikes while going up this hill when I was volunteering at the race and I decided I would run in my bike shoes all the way up to the road and then get on the bike. I also decided to lay my aero helmet on the ground this race so I wouldn't risk losing my straw like the disaster I went through at Pigman. Once out on the road I shifted into harder gears and began trying to focus on pulling the leaders back. I was able to pass the 16 year old who outswam me. He ended up with the 3rd fastest swim in the entire race. When we got on the main road the course is on I could barely see Charlie Cunnick. He was riding really well and it wasn't until the turnaround that I caught him. I gave Charlie some encouragement as I passed by and I kept the pedal down. As was the case with Pigman sprint 2 weeks ago I really felt much better riding the 2nd half of the course. Probably due to all the Ironman training it seems like my legs take a little longer to get going. On the way back I felt really good. I knew I was over 25 mph ave. speed and I had the 2 biggest slowing points (the start and the turaround) behind me. I rode hard back into the park and had a great running dismount after pulling my feet out of my shoes about 600 meters before the bike finish. My bike time was 35:38 which was the fastest bike split of the day by about 50 seconds. I rode the Zipp 1080 front wheel combined with the Zipp Sub-9 disc rear wheel. I was feeling really good at this point since I'd shaved another 30 seconds off my time from 2 years ago. I put on my running shoes and grabbed my race belt and was out on the run course quickly not knowing how much time I put on the guys behind me but sure they would be in hot pursuit.
RUN: Once out on the run I knew it was going to be a struggle. I was getting some pretty bad abdominal cramping that was making breathing really uncomfortable. I've had this happen in a 1/2 Ironman a handful of times but never in a sprint. I knew from my experiences in a 1/2 that it typically goes away within a couple miles but in a sprint that's nearly the entire race. I had a decent lead of about a minute and a half but the way I was feeling that could disappear pretty quickly. We started out the run in the grass and I was trying to get into a rhthym but the cramping was not allowing me to go very fast. I eventually got to the main road where I would be running up and down some rolling hills to the turnaround. The turnaround had been advertised as having a John Deere tractor that we would run around before heading back to the main gate and finishing near where the race began. I saw the tractor and the orange arrows on the ground directing me to run around it. There was a timing mat at the turn and I went around the tractor and over the timing mat. This is when things got weird. Race director, Eric Sarno was there and he began yelling for me to go around the tractor again. I was quite confused as to why I needed to round it a second time but I began the circus-like performance by turning back and rounding the tractor a 2nd time. This time Eric was yelling to me that I needed to run further down the hill before going around the tractor for a 3rd time. I knew something wasn't right here. I was completely thrown off as to what was going on but I followed Eric's directions and went down the hill where they had another turnaround marked with a cone. I ran around it and went back up the hill and past the tractor for the 3rd time. I knew something was wrong. I could see the other runners coming down the hill and they weren't having to run loops around the tractor. The 2nd place runner, John Noland pointed at me and said, "I'm coming for you brother." I already knew this and I was still hurting from the cramps but I told myself to dig deep for the last 1.5 miles. Once I got near the entrance of the park the cramping had slightly subsided and I was able to get into a better rhythm. I glanced over my shoulder as I entered the park and I still had a decent lead so I knew I would be the 1st one to finish but I also didn't know how much behind me Noland had started the swim. I tried to push hard to the finish and I came in with a time of 1:04:41. My run time was garbage as I ran 18:36...the 5th fastest run time of the day...I was still really frustrated by the turaround fiasco because I knew that cost me 15-20 seconds in time. John Noland finished not long after me and still about 5 minutes later they were announcing that I was the winner so I figured I had still held on despite a lousy run and circus-act loops I had performed. The news and paper interviewed me about how it felt to win in my home town. I saw the volunteer coordinator Greg Hanson at the finish line and he told me he had been at the turaround and he apologized to me and said they had messed up where the turnaround was supposed to be. He said they were trying to move it quickly before I came through and they weren't able to get it moved in time. I told him I had been worried that it may make a difference in the race outcome and Greg told me if it did they would probably be able to take care of it since the race director is the one who had me run the extra amount. Greg told me it was probably near 20 seconds extra that I did. Just about then is when the timing guy Jeff Castro came over to me and said I lost the race by 2 seconds on the chip time...just as I expected with the way things have gone for me early in this 2011 season. It was out of my control now. I would have to wait to see if they made any adjustments in my time as Greg expressed he thought they would. When I told Jeff Castro what happened he said they had records of how much time it cost me because every time I went around the tractor I crossed a timing mat so they would have some data to back it up with if they wanted to make the time adjustment.
I was awake at 3:15 even though my alarm was set for 3:45. I kept waking up about every hour in anticipation for this race. I went for the Belgium waffle as my race fuel and I was out the door by 4:45 a.m. headed to West Lake Park where the race takes place. At 5:10 I arrived outside the park and was greeted with at least 100 cars in line to get in. This race is extremely well organized and it is awesome that race director Eric Sarno donates much of the proceeds from the race to Stroke Awareness programs. After getting parked I sprinted to the bathroom and then got my race packet and chip. I was ready to start my warm up at 5:30. After getting a late start at Pigman I was going to make sure I got a proper warm up in for this race. I ran 2 miles with drills and strides on the end to get really loosened up. Then I rode the bike a few miles making sure the gears were all shifting well. The bike was running well so I racked it and put the wetsuit on for a swim warm up. The race begins with a time trial start (2 swimmers entering the water together about every 5 seconds) and I wanted to go in early. My plan was to start the swim in one of the first groups and then as I got passed I could try to get on the faster swimmers feet for a bit and catch a draft.
SWIM: I began the swim with a 16 year old kid who was a really fast swimmer. We were the second pair to hit the water. After a few dolphin dives we reached deep enough water to start swimming and I was swimming hard. I have gained a lot of confidence in my swimming lately under the guidance of Stacey Zapolski. The swim workouts she writes for me have been tough and I've been swimming more days a week and more yards than I was before school got out. 2 weeks ago, Pigman was my best swim of the year and I expected this one to be even better. 1/2 way out to the first turn bouy I was still on the feet of the 16 year old kid I went in the water with. I felt great. Just after we reached the first turn I lost his feet and I began to lose ground pretty quickly on him. 2 guys I coached in high school were starting behind me and they were both all-state swimmers...John Beck and Will Horvat. I expected them to be going by me any second and I would try to get on their feet. I kept swimming for the 2nd bouy and I never saw them. The swim is triangular shaped so there are only 2 turns in it. I was headed for home. I was tired but was still pushing hard knowing the swim would be over soon and also knowing I was having a good swim for myself. Just after the 2nd turn Jen Foley came flying by me. I didn't know how much behind me she started but I know she is a super fast swimmer. I jumped in behind her and stayed on for about 100 yards which also surprised the crap out of me. I exited the water in a time of 8:33 which was over 20 seconds faster than 2 years ago when I raced this event. It was also the 17th fastest swim out of about 650 athletes. I felt great about it. I was only 16 seconds from the 8th fastest swim time. This swim leaves me excited for my next pro race on July 17th. I certainly won't be out with the leaders but the gap from me to the leaders will be much lower than it was for my 1st two pro races.
BIKE: I was quick through transition and got on my bike in about 3rd place. Super swimmer Charlie Cunnick was way up the road...someone yelled to me I was 1:20 behind him exiting transition. Charlie is a great triathlete who is originally from Davenport and if I'm correct he holds the Iowa high school 500 yard freestyle state record. If not he isn't far off. I opted to put my bike shoes on in transition and run my bike up the parking lot hill that greets riders out of transition. Last year I watched people fall over trying to get on their bikes while going up this hill when I was volunteering at the race and I decided I would run in my bike shoes all the way up to the road and then get on the bike. I also decided to lay my aero helmet on the ground this race so I wouldn't risk losing my straw like the disaster I went through at Pigman. Once out on the road I shifted into harder gears and began trying to focus on pulling the leaders back. I was able to pass the 16 year old who outswam me. He ended up with the 3rd fastest swim in the entire race. When we got on the main road the course is on I could barely see Charlie Cunnick. He was riding really well and it wasn't until the turnaround that I caught him. I gave Charlie some encouragement as I passed by and I kept the pedal down. As was the case with Pigman sprint 2 weeks ago I really felt much better riding the 2nd half of the course. Probably due to all the Ironman training it seems like my legs take a little longer to get going. On the way back I felt really good. I knew I was over 25 mph ave. speed and I had the 2 biggest slowing points (the start and the turaround) behind me. I rode hard back into the park and had a great running dismount after pulling my feet out of my shoes about 600 meters before the bike finish. My bike time was 35:38 which was the fastest bike split of the day by about 50 seconds. I rode the Zipp 1080 front wheel combined with the Zipp Sub-9 disc rear wheel. I was feeling really good at this point since I'd shaved another 30 seconds off my time from 2 years ago. I put on my running shoes and grabbed my race belt and was out on the run course quickly not knowing how much time I put on the guys behind me but sure they would be in hot pursuit. 
RUN: Once out on the run I knew it was going to be a struggle. I was getting some pretty bad abdominal cramping that was making breathing really uncomfortable. I've had this happen in a 1/2 Ironman a handful of times but never in a sprint. I knew from my experiences in a 1/2 that it typically goes away within a couple miles but in a sprint that's nearly the entire race. I had a decent lead of about a minute and a half but the way I was feeling that could disappear pretty quickly. We started out the run in the grass and I was trying to get into a rhthym but the cramping was not allowing me to go very fast. I eventually got to the main road where I would be running up and down some rolling hills to the turnaround. The turnaround had been advertised as having a John Deere tractor that we would run around before heading back to the main gate and finishing near where the race began. I saw the tractor and the orange arrows on the ground directing me to run around it. There was a timing mat at the turn and I went around the tractor and over the timing mat. This is when things got weird. Race director, Eric Sarno was there and he began yelling for me to go around the tractor again. I was quite confused as to why I needed to round it a second time but I began the circus-like performance by turning back and rounding the tractor a 2nd time. This time Eric was yelling to me that I needed to run further down the hill before going around the tractor for a 3rd time. I knew something wasn't right here. I was completely thrown off as to what was going on but I followed Eric's directions and went down the hill where they had another turnaround marked with a cone. I ran around it and went back up the hill and past the tractor for the 3rd time. I knew something was wrong. I could see the other runners coming down the hill and they weren't having to run loops around the tractor. The 2nd place runner, John Noland pointed at me and said, "I'm coming for you brother." I already knew this and I was still hurting from the cramps but I told myself to dig deep for the last 1.5 miles. Once I got near the entrance of the park the cramping had slightly subsided and I was able to get into a better rhythm. I glanced over my shoulder as I entered the park and I still had a decent lead so I knew I would be the 1st one to finish but I also didn't know how much behind me Noland had started the swim. I tried to push hard to the finish and I came in with a time of 1:04:41. My run time was garbage as I ran 18:36...the 5th fastest run time of the day...I was still really frustrated by the turaround fiasco because I knew that cost me 15-20 seconds in time. John Noland finished not long after me and still about 5 minutes later they were announcing that I was the winner so I figured I had still held on despite a lousy run and circus-act loops I had performed. The news and paper interviewed me about how it felt to win in my home town. I saw the volunteer coordinator Greg Hanson at the finish line and he told me he had been at the turaround and he apologized to me and said they had messed up where the turnaround was supposed to be. He said they were trying to move it quickly before I came through and they weren't able to get it moved in time. I told him I had been worried that it may make a difference in the race outcome and Greg told me if it did they would probably be able to take care of it since the race director is the one who had me run the extra amount. Greg told me it was probably near 20 seconds extra that I did. Just about then is when the timing guy Jeff Castro came over to me and said I lost the race by 2 seconds on the chip time...just as I expected with the way things have gone for me early in this 2011 season. It was out of my control now. I would have to wait to see if they made any adjustments in my time as Greg expressed he thought they would. When I told Jeff Castro what happened he said they had records of how much time it cost me because every time I went around the tractor I crossed a timing mat so they would have some data to back it up with if they wanted to make the time adjustment. About an hour after the race director Eric Sarno called me over and apologized to me for what happened. He told me he felt embarrassed about it and said he cost me the race. He said it was clear to him I would have won had he not sent me around the tractor 2 additional times and in his mind I was the winner. He told me he would pay me the winner's check amount but then told me he had decided he was not going to make any changes to the result times so I would be listed as 2nd. I was pretty disappointed because this is a race I have really wanted to win. It's easy to say "next year" but who knows what will happen between now and then. I learned with my brother's car accident in October you never know what the next day will bring. I hope I'm still healthy and in great shape to try to win again but at this time I really don't know how long this triathlon journey will last for me. As my kids grow older and get more into activities I don't want to miss things because I need to train. If I don't extend the pro license at Steelhead or Madison this may be my last year of training like I am. It would have meant a lot to me to win this race. Only 1 local has ever won the Quad City triathlon on the guys side and that was back in the 2nd year of the event when it was much smaller. The turnaround circus I was sent on undoubtedly cost me more than 2 seconds but the bigger blame goes to me for having a piss-poor run. It was my slowest run in 3 years of doing this. Had I run what I was capable of Eric could have sent me around the tractor 10 times and I still would have been able to win. What's done is done and I began training today for my next pro race in 4 weeks at Ironman Racine 70.3. I have a lot of positives to take from this weekend's race. My swim was my best ever and my bike time was my best on this course by 35 seconds. I know my run will be there. I had a great interval workout on Wednesday and I'm in better run shape than when I came off the bike to run 1:17 for the 1/2 marathon in Texas 2 years ago. Now I just need to put all 3 together on the same day.
Congratulations to winners Jen Foley and John Noland on their great races. Jen is going to race Madison with me in September and she will be ready to roll fast.
Congratulations to all the 1st time triathletes. There were a lot of you out there and I hope you loved every bit of the experience. Even with the turnaround circus I dealt with I still believe this race is top-notch and I hope you enjoyed the experience enough to keep exercising for another race. Training that is done to prepare for a triathlon is what this sport is all about. It creates a healthy lifestyle that promotes physical fitness and that is great for the community. Complete results of the race with splits can be found by clicking here.
It was great seeing so many members of Team Tri-Fit and they took home the top triathlon club award for the 3rd straight year. It was awesome watching Dr. Bob Kaminski duke it out to the finish with fellow club member Earnesto Raya. Team member John Pfautz not only had a great race but also was awesome singing the national anthem before the race! I had a great time watching 8 former students or athletes I had in class or coached compete. John Beck, Will Horvat, Liam Weldon, David Zimmer, Anne Leners, Tony Meyer, Joe Mueller, and Grant Duncan. It makes me very proud to see student/athletes I worked with get involved in this great sport. The volunteers and the spectators for the race were outstanding. Lastly I'd like to thank Phil Pancrazio for taking some awesome pictures of me during the race. I think Super Mom was really jealous of how awesome his pictures were and she already wants a new camera.
The Quad City Times ran a story on the race and the turnaround mishap that can be found by clicking here.
I called my training buddy Adam Bohach after the race. He was in Duluth, Minnesota for a Marathon. We chatted about our races. Adam went through the 1/2 marathon with a time of 1 hr. 9 minutes!! It was a new for the 1/2 and he still had 13.1 miles to go. He said he began feeling really bad and had some stomach problems forcing him to use the bathroom. He said he had to dig deep in the final miles and was in "survival" mode. He ran 2 hrs. 26 minutes...a new PR! I was very happy for him and I'm proud to say I train with a MACHINE!!
Don't forget next weekend is the Davenport Duathlon on Sunday at Credit Island. Information on the race with a link to sign-up can be found by clicking here. I hope we can get a good local turnout to support this new race. Thanks for reading! DREAM BIG!!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Eastern Iowa Duathlon Series...Training Camp Conclusions
I was recently thrilled to hear about a new race coming to the Quad Cities as part of the Eastern Iowa Duathlon Series on Sunday, June 26th...think 8 days after QC Tri. I plan to sign up for this race and it would be great to see the race well supported by the Quad Cities multisport enthusiasts. I've been a little disappointed to see two of our local races die out over the last couple years (Swing into Spring Duathlon and Iowa Man Triathlon) so when I saw a new race was coming to town I contacted the race director Pasha Korsakov and he ensured me this race series is going to be on the Iowa calendar year in and year out. I know he is excited to see the races grow and I'm hopeful that lots of people locally will show support by signing up. The race in Davenport is a 2 mile run, 14.5 mile bike ride, and finishes with a 3 mile run. The race can be done individually or with a team. I know my wife will be there if anyone wants to ride she'll probably run for you (although I'm offering this service without asking her first...). Check out the website where you can register for the event by clicking here. Any time I get a chance to go to a race without driving more than 90 miles, staying in a hotel, or flying with my bike I'm all for it! If you are in the QC on June 26th I hope you'll consider the Davenport Duathlon so we can continue to help promote fitness and healthy living in the Quad Cities.
So I wrapped up my week long Training Camp on Sunday night and boy was I glad it was over. I detailed each day in the post below if you are interested in reading about "Camp Activities" I had for the week. The week totaled 44.5 hours training with 466 bike miles, 82 run miles, 20,100 yards swimming, three times of weight lifting, lunges, push-ups, claw drill, and jump rope, two times of plyometrics, and 10 sessions of core work. I finished the week with a ride called TOMRV (Tour of the Mississippi River Valley) which consisted of 115 miles riding for me on Saturday. The route was 106 but I got a late start since I ran the Race for the Cure with the family and I took the backroads to start the ride and also had some extra miles trying to find our hotel. Sunday's return trip was supposed to be 90 miles but I added a loop when we were riding near my hometown and it ended up being 101 miles. 
I was very thankful my training buddy Adam Bohach went most of the way up to Dubuque and back with me. Adam is going to roll in a marathon next weekend and didn't want to do the entire thing. If you've never done TOMRV you should consider. It's a tremendously well run event. I found out it is possible to weigh more after riding 216 miles in 2 days than you did before you started the ride. The route is very scenic and challenging. I only saw 2 people the entire weekend walking their bikes on hills and Saturday I was almost a 3rd. I couldn't believe my massage therapist Laurel Darren did both days on a big mountain bike with those big bumpy tires. I didn't see any other mountain bikes and thought that was pretty beastly! TOMRV has amazing stops along the way stocked with free food for the riders and then the dinner at Clark College ensures that you roll out of the dorm and down the hill because your tummy is so full. I hadn't seen a soft serve machine like that since my freshman year at Coe! The volunteers are amazing and the route is very challenging.
I was very thankful my training buddy Adam Bohach went most of the way up to Dubuque and back with me. Adam is going to roll in a marathon next weekend and didn't want to do the entire thing. If you've never done TOMRV you should consider. It's a tremendously well run event. I found out it is possible to weigh more after riding 216 miles in 2 days than you did before you started the ride. The route is very scenic and challenging. I only saw 2 people the entire weekend walking their bikes on hills and Saturday I was almost a 3rd. I couldn't believe my massage therapist Laurel Darren did both days on a big mountain bike with those big bumpy tires. I didn't see any other mountain bikes and thought that was pretty beastly! TOMRV has amazing stops along the way stocked with free food for the riders and then the dinner at Clark College ensures that you roll out of the dorm and down the hill because your tummy is so full. I hadn't seen a soft serve machine like that since my freshman year at Coe! The volunteers are amazing and the route is very challenging. Some of the toughest parts of camp? Thursday night when I completely bonked, the heat index of 100 degrees Monday-Wednesday, dealing with the thunderstorms when I wanted to run, and Saturday's entire bike ride to Dubuque...but especially the last 30 miles when I was running the gas tank on completely nothing...searching anywhere on my bike for just 1 more GU. My favorite part of camp, besides the food on TOMRV...the bike ride home from Dubuque on Sunday was awesome...Adam and I even made some comparisons of Floyd Landis (for you with cycling knowledge) except for the drug part. What made this ride awesome is that it was a much needed reminder about how every day is a new one. When things are bad forget about them and move on. Saturday I was riding in terrible pain and was in a land of suffering. Sunday I felt strong as ever. It is a reminder that in training and racing some days are good and some are bad. Don't dwell on the bad ones...you never know how soon the next good one may come. Sunday's "comeback" was a reminder that you're never finished. I woke up thinking it was going to be a long ride home but as we got started I began to think my protein shake, GU Roctane, and good night of sleep may have been enough to get my body ready to go again.
This week brings the QC Triathlon. The event has only been won locally one time on the guys side. I've had a lot of people ask me lately if I can win. I'd sure like to...but I can only control my race. I don't know who's coming. I hope to do my best and go in the low 1 hour 3 minute range. That would be a nice time drop from 2 years ago. Win or lose I'd be very proud of that improvement. If I was trying to peak for a great performance at QC I would not have done Training Camp last week. If anyone is interested in coming out to West Lake Park to watch the race begins early at 7:00 a.m. They are running a shuttle from the church right outside the park until 6:45 so if you get there by 6:45 you'll get a ride in and out. This race is extremely well organized and it would be great to see a good crowd out to support all the athletes who have worked hard for this day. For many at this event it is the 1st one ever...and I can ensure you it won't be the last! The last picture on here is from Saturday's Race for the Cure courtesy of the QC Times. Jen made me work to catch her in the last mile...she said she was going to run 6:30's and then ran sub-6 pace. After stopping to tie both shoes I thought I wouldn't get her but with a late surge we were able to finish together as a family. I lunged with the stroller so Payton could be "1st girl" in the race. The best part was Jen put her hands up to break the tape and there was nothing to break because the stroller beat her to it. Super Mom will just have to win the next one to break the tape. This may be my new favorite picture. Thanks for reading! DREAM BIG!!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Training Camp Updates
I'll put this post together so readers can get an up close look into what goes into a training camp for Jeff Paul. First off, I call this a training camp because the only real goal is to pile on the volume as high as possible without getting injured. The quality of workouts this week gets trumped by sheer volume. The idea is that I tear myself down physically and mentally this week before allowing my body to adapt to this load with a very easy week next week. I also have lots of fun testing myself to see what I'm capable of putting my body through. I'll update this post daily through the week by adding to the entry below with each day's camp activities. The camp is free so if you are in town and want to join me for part of it let me know. It would be great to have company.
Saturday:
Day 6 of Training Camp can be summed up in 2 words: Friggen Brutal!! I was hoping to tear myself to shreds this week before letting my body adapt to the volume and today got me there...problem being I still have 1 day of camp left and I'm 93 miles from home with only a bike for transportation which makes it tough to skip.
Run: I began camp with a morning road race. I was supposed to be warming up and cooling down long to get some extra mileage and then running with Jen at what she said would be "6:30 pace". It was her 1st race back off missing a couple months with a bad achilles tendon. I ran 8 miles total and pushed the kids in the double running stroller for the 5k while Jen went on to win. We finished together as a family. She was 18:40. I was 18:22 because I had to stop and tie my shoes at one point before catching her and I stopped the watch.
Bike Ride: This was the killer. Day 1 of TOMRV was 113 miles almost entirely north with a wind out of the north. It wasn't a strong wind but on tired legs from camp I was absolutely cooked! It was one hill after another and I was feeling terrible. Luckily for me Adam joined me for the ride when I went through a town near his house and he came the rest of the way with me. We had a great dinner with a lot of local QC guys who didn't have any trouble with the ride. I'm not going to lie...this was one of the toughest rides I've ever done. It took me about 6 hours and 15 minutes of riding time to get here. The circumstances with camp this week are undoubtedly what made it so tough. I have broken myself down...I need to bike 91 miles home tomorrow and then try to run 10 miles to finish camp. Off to bed...I will have no trouble sleeping.
Day 6 Total Training Time- 7 hours 15 minutes
Friday:
I got started with camp early on Friday. Payton woke up puking at 2:30 and after getting her fixed up and back to sleep I was wide awake so I drove into the high school to start camp at 3:45 a.m.
Weights- 1 hour 5 minutes with 2 sets of 10 on all my lifts at my heaviest weight of the week. Finished with lunges, plyometrics, jump rope, and core work
Run- 5 miles on treadmill in weight room as there was another super intense thunder storm outside.
Swim- 1 hour workout with 2,700 yards with my swim coach beginning at 7:00 a.m. It was nice to get some valuable feedback on my stroke. 14 days swimming in a row.
Nap- 2 hours
Swim- A 2nd swim to get to my weekly goal yardage of 20,000. I went 2,100 yards in a workout that only lasted 40 minutes. I followed this with core work
Nap with Payton- 1 hour
Bike- 55 miles. It was really nice out. Cool temps and little wind. I got wet the last 32 miles.
Run- 10 miles. Began with 3.5 miles out easy and then saw lightning close by so I turned around and headed back to school fast at sub-6 pace. Finished the last 3 miles inside school.
Tomorrow I am off on a bike ride from the QC to Dubuque known as TOMRV (Tour of the Mississippi River Valley). I'll be staying in a hotel in Dubuque and riding back on Sunday. It is about 110 miles tomorrow and 90 on Sunday if I don't add any to the ride. I'll report from the hotel tomorrow night.
Day 5 Total Training Time- 7 hours 20 minutes
Thursday:
I waited for the storms to clear this morning and then got on my bike at about 9:15 to ride for 3 hours. It was pefect out. I decided I was going to go 80 miles. There was no wind, cool temps, overcast skies...absolutely perfect...until I got a phone call at mile 17 that Payton had an earache and I needed to pick her up from daycare. This would throw a major wrench into day 4 of Training Camp but it serves as a good reminder to me what is most important in my life. Being able to balance triathlon training, a full-time job, being a father of 2, and a husband is perhaps what makes my journey as a professional triathlete most unique. I got 35 miles outside and another 10 miles (30 minutes) on the trainer while Payton and I watched Pocohontas
Swim: 1 hour 10 minutes with 3,500 yards
Run: Here is where I began to bonk...it was evening and I was pretty tired already and I had to go treadmill again due to T-storms outside. I was at 3 miles and feeling really weak, lightheaded, and super hungry. I stopped and stretched for a bit and tried to get the weak feeling to go away. I got back on and made it 2 more miles but felt like I was going to fall over. I stopped and did push-ups, claw drill, and core work and cut my losses for the day. Tomorrow was supposed to be my 1 day of lower volume but it looks like I got that today. On the positive side my muscles actually feel really recovered and fresh...I'm just lacking something that is making me feel really naucious.
Day 4 Total Training Time- 4 hours 10 minutes
Wednesday:
Began camp with a 4 mile morning run. It was supposed to be 10 but I felt like the Tin Man and everything hurt. I had to stop and walk 8 minutes in. I had terrible abdominal cramping and the heat was pretty bad. I managed to suffer through 30 minutes.
Weights- 1 hour 5 minutes. Did 2x 12 on all my upper and lower body lifts and then finished with lunges, jump rope, plyometric stair hops, and core work
Swim- 1 hour 25 minutes with a 4,100 yard workout.
Bike- 45 miles. This was supposed to be the weekly Wednesday night group ride but I realized I forgot my shoes right before I pulled in so I had to drive back home to grab them. I attempted to drive back to catch them where they start going hard (about 7 miles in). Right as I pulled to the spot I saw the peloton fly by and I assembled my bike as fast as I could and then tried to get my bento box on the bike but had problems so I left it. I lost 3-4 minutes on the group and set out on a ferocious time trial to see if I could catch them. I went through 13 miles at 25.3 mph and still couldn't see them so with my legs fried I settled into a normal training ride for the rest. I only had 1 bottle of water and the heat index was near 100 degrees. When I got to Riverdale High School I saw a door open and went in where they were having volleyball camp. I saw a big jug of gatorade and I filled my bottle without being spotted and slipped out the door and got out of there. Riverdale moved up on my "Favorite High School" list!
Run- 6.5 miles. With storms looming I opted for the treadmill tonight. I went through periods of good and bad but made it 6.5 miles.
The heat is supposed to break tonight and I can't wait!!!
Day 3 Total Training Time- 6 hours 10 minutes
Tuesday:
Began the day with a 50 mile bike ride and it was already super hot, humid, and windy!
Swim- 1 hour 15 minutes totalling 3,800 yards. Main Set was 8x 200's alternating swim and pull on 3:20 for 4 and 3:10 the last 4. This was my 11th day in a row swimming and I'm feeling great despite being tired. Averaged 2:41 on the swims and 2:47 on the pulls.
Run- Ran 3 miles with Jen at West Lake Park in the heat of the day before our "Live Uncommon" photo shoot. This run sucked. I was light headed and hungry.
Run- Ran 10.5 miles tonight mostly after the sun went down and I felt awesome. Amazing what 10 degrees difference does for the body.
Misc.- Did core work twice, claw drill and 3 sets of 25 push-ups
The good news is the heat is supposed to break tomorrow night. I expect tomorrow will be my toughest day of camp as I'm really tired and it is going to be 100+ heat index again...I can't wait til the big storm rolls through tomorrow to cool things down.
Day 2 Total Training Time- 5 hours 35 minutes
Monday:
14.5 mile run started at 5:30 a.m. Great way to kick off the first Training Camp week of the summer. Followed it up with speed drills and strides.
Weight Room- 1 hour of 2 sets of 15 on all my upper and lower body lifts. There are 20 lifts that I do. I finished the session with lunges and jump rope. I have gotten stronger doing single leg jump rope this year.
Swim- 1 hour 15 minutes with 3,900 yards. Mostly drill and technique work today with a long swim of 1,500 yards. Some old guy at the Fitness Center stoke my fins while I was on my long swim and he left me his which were way too big and caused me to get blisters on my feet.
Bike- 55 miles with Adam Bohach. It's nice having Adam around. He's a great triathlete coming off his 8th place overall amateur finish at Ironman St. George. It was nearly 100 degree heat index for this ride.
Run- 3.5 miles before bed.
Core work- did this twice today.
Day 1 Total Training Time- 7 hours 20 minutes
Sunday: The last day of Training Camp finally has arrived. I got a good night of sleep after suffering through day 6.
Bike: Began the day riding home on TOMRV. What a difference a good night of sleep makes. I felt awesome riding today. There were some really long and tough hills going out of Dubuque but I felt really strong on them. Adam and I moved at a really good clip today. We skipped some of the aid stations to keep the ride moving. Adam stopped near his home town and I finished the ride on my own. I added some miles so I could get over 100 miles for the 2nd day in a row. I finished the ride at 101 miles today.
Run: Tonight I finished camp with a 12 mile run followed by speed drills and strides. My legs felt surprisingly pretty good. I kept thinking I hope they feel like this in Madison for Ironman in less than 3 months.
Day 7 Total Training Time- 6 hours 35 minutes
Saturday:
Day 6 of Training Camp can be summed up in 2 words: Friggen Brutal!! I was hoping to tear myself to shreds this week before letting my body adapt to the volume and today got me there...problem being I still have 1 day of camp left and I'm 93 miles from home with only a bike for transportation which makes it tough to skip.
Run: I began camp with a morning road race. I was supposed to be warming up and cooling down long to get some extra mileage and then running with Jen at what she said would be "6:30 pace". It was her 1st race back off missing a couple months with a bad achilles tendon. I ran 8 miles total and pushed the kids in the double running stroller for the 5k while Jen went on to win. We finished together as a family. She was 18:40. I was 18:22 because I had to stop and tie my shoes at one point before catching her and I stopped the watch.
Bike Ride: This was the killer. Day 1 of TOMRV was 113 miles almost entirely north with a wind out of the north. It wasn't a strong wind but on tired legs from camp I was absolutely cooked! It was one hill after another and I was feeling terrible. Luckily for me Adam joined me for the ride when I went through a town near his house and he came the rest of the way with me. We had a great dinner with a lot of local QC guys who didn't have any trouble with the ride. I'm not going to lie...this was one of the toughest rides I've ever done. It took me about 6 hours and 15 minutes of riding time to get here. The circumstances with camp this week are undoubtedly what made it so tough. I have broken myself down...I need to bike 91 miles home tomorrow and then try to run 10 miles to finish camp. Off to bed...I will have no trouble sleeping.
Day 6 Total Training Time- 7 hours 15 minutes
Friday:
I got started with camp early on Friday. Payton woke up puking at 2:30 and after getting her fixed up and back to sleep I was wide awake so I drove into the high school to start camp at 3:45 a.m.
Weights- 1 hour 5 minutes with 2 sets of 10 on all my lifts at my heaviest weight of the week. Finished with lunges, plyometrics, jump rope, and core work
Run- 5 miles on treadmill in weight room as there was another super intense thunder storm outside.
Swim- 1 hour workout with 2,700 yards with my swim coach beginning at 7:00 a.m. It was nice to get some valuable feedback on my stroke. 14 days swimming in a row.
Nap- 2 hours
Swim- A 2nd swim to get to my weekly goal yardage of 20,000. I went 2,100 yards in a workout that only lasted 40 minutes. I followed this with core work
Nap with Payton- 1 hour
Bike- 55 miles. It was really nice out. Cool temps and little wind. I got wet the last 32 miles.
Run- 10 miles. Began with 3.5 miles out easy and then saw lightning close by so I turned around and headed back to school fast at sub-6 pace. Finished the last 3 miles inside school.
Tomorrow I am off on a bike ride from the QC to Dubuque known as TOMRV (Tour of the Mississippi River Valley). I'll be staying in a hotel in Dubuque and riding back on Sunday. It is about 110 miles tomorrow and 90 on Sunday if I don't add any to the ride. I'll report from the hotel tomorrow night.
Day 5 Total Training Time- 7 hours 20 minutes
Thursday:
I waited for the storms to clear this morning and then got on my bike at about 9:15 to ride for 3 hours. It was pefect out. I decided I was going to go 80 miles. There was no wind, cool temps, overcast skies...absolutely perfect...until I got a phone call at mile 17 that Payton had an earache and I needed to pick her up from daycare. This would throw a major wrench into day 4 of Training Camp but it serves as a good reminder to me what is most important in my life. Being able to balance triathlon training, a full-time job, being a father of 2, and a husband is perhaps what makes my journey as a professional triathlete most unique. I got 35 miles outside and another 10 miles (30 minutes) on the trainer while Payton and I watched Pocohontas
Swim: 1 hour 10 minutes with 3,500 yards
Run: Here is where I began to bonk...it was evening and I was pretty tired already and I had to go treadmill again due to T-storms outside. I was at 3 miles and feeling really weak, lightheaded, and super hungry. I stopped and stretched for a bit and tried to get the weak feeling to go away. I got back on and made it 2 more miles but felt like I was going to fall over. I stopped and did push-ups, claw drill, and core work and cut my losses for the day. Tomorrow was supposed to be my 1 day of lower volume but it looks like I got that today. On the positive side my muscles actually feel really recovered and fresh...I'm just lacking something that is making me feel really naucious.
Day 4 Total Training Time- 4 hours 10 minutes
Wednesday:
Began camp with a 4 mile morning run. It was supposed to be 10 but I felt like the Tin Man and everything hurt. I had to stop and walk 8 minutes in. I had terrible abdominal cramping and the heat was pretty bad. I managed to suffer through 30 minutes.
Weights- 1 hour 5 minutes. Did 2x 12 on all my upper and lower body lifts and then finished with lunges, jump rope, plyometric stair hops, and core work
Swim- 1 hour 25 minutes with a 4,100 yard workout.
Bike- 45 miles. This was supposed to be the weekly Wednesday night group ride but I realized I forgot my shoes right before I pulled in so I had to drive back home to grab them. I attempted to drive back to catch them where they start going hard (about 7 miles in). Right as I pulled to the spot I saw the peloton fly by and I assembled my bike as fast as I could and then tried to get my bento box on the bike but had problems so I left it. I lost 3-4 minutes on the group and set out on a ferocious time trial to see if I could catch them. I went through 13 miles at 25.3 mph and still couldn't see them so with my legs fried I settled into a normal training ride for the rest. I only had 1 bottle of water and the heat index was near 100 degrees. When I got to Riverdale High School I saw a door open and went in where they were having volleyball camp. I saw a big jug of gatorade and I filled my bottle without being spotted and slipped out the door and got out of there. Riverdale moved up on my "Favorite High School" list!
Run- 6.5 miles. With storms looming I opted for the treadmill tonight. I went through periods of good and bad but made it 6.5 miles.
The heat is supposed to break tonight and I can't wait!!!
Day 3 Total Training Time- 6 hours 10 minutes
Tuesday:
Began the day with a 50 mile bike ride and it was already super hot, humid, and windy!
Swim- 1 hour 15 minutes totalling 3,800 yards. Main Set was 8x 200's alternating swim and pull on 3:20 for 4 and 3:10 the last 4. This was my 11th day in a row swimming and I'm feeling great despite being tired. Averaged 2:41 on the swims and 2:47 on the pulls.
Run- Ran 3 miles with Jen at West Lake Park in the heat of the day before our "Live Uncommon" photo shoot. This run sucked. I was light headed and hungry.
Run- Ran 10.5 miles tonight mostly after the sun went down and I felt awesome. Amazing what 10 degrees difference does for the body.
Misc.- Did core work twice, claw drill and 3 sets of 25 push-ups
The good news is the heat is supposed to break tomorrow night. I expect tomorrow will be my toughest day of camp as I'm really tired and it is going to be 100+ heat index again...I can't wait til the big storm rolls through tomorrow to cool things down.
Day 2 Total Training Time- 5 hours 35 minutes
Monday:
14.5 mile run started at 5:30 a.m. Great way to kick off the first Training Camp week of the summer. Followed it up with speed drills and strides.
Weight Room- 1 hour of 2 sets of 15 on all my upper and lower body lifts. There are 20 lifts that I do. I finished the session with lunges and jump rope. I have gotten stronger doing single leg jump rope this year.
Swim- 1 hour 15 minutes with 3,900 yards. Mostly drill and technique work today with a long swim of 1,500 yards. Some old guy at the Fitness Center stoke my fins while I was on my long swim and he left me his which were way too big and caused me to get blisters on my feet.
Bike- 55 miles with Adam Bohach. It's nice having Adam around. He's a great triathlete coming off his 8th place overall amateur finish at Ironman St. George. It was nearly 100 degree heat index for this ride.
Run- 3.5 miles before bed.
Core work- did this twice today.
Day 1 Total Training Time- 7 hours 20 minutes
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