11 weeks to go (eek!)

This week was a recovery week.  I knew that going in, but didn't look at it too close.  It ended up having only two runs and bike rides (instead of three each) which meant a bonus day off.  It was a very nice surprise.  It was kind of weird in that my legs seemed to get more tired and sore on the extra day off and the following day than they had been in the last month.  Maybe that's the way recovery weeks are supposed to work if your legs haven't fully recovered for a while.  If so, it was my first real recovery week.

11 weeks to go and training is going pretty well.  My back is still a little sore, but I started doing planks (they are hard!) to help with my core.  My shoulder is hanging in there, it gets sore after about 500 yards of swimming, but I'll be able to complete the 1.2 miles.  I still have some things to buy and better get to it soon.  I still ride my road bike with spd pedals and mountain bike shoes.  I plan to switch to proper road or triathlon shoes before the race (I better get shopping!).  I plan to buy an aero helmet and low rolling resistance tires.  I did a blog on bike speed a while back and need to follow through on my plan.  I also need to figure out what kind of shorts to wear.  I have three pair now and while they are all ok, they aren't what I'm looking for to race in.

I have the cheapest Pearl Izumi tri short. They have a very small pad and are good for Sprint triathlons (in my opinion). Maybe a more expensive pair or their tri shorts would be better.

I read good things about De Soto 400 mile shorts and picked up a pair of them.  They are really nice shorts but the pad is a little big for the run (I think).  They are in their bike short section.  I like the way the leg grips work on them.  I need to try them during a brick before I totally rule them out.  Some people use them for half and full distances.  I may try the De Soto Forza shorts.  We'll see.

I also picked up a pair of Sugoi Evolution tri shorts.  The pad seems to be just the right size (between the Peral Izumi and the 400 mile shorts) but I don't really like the elastic leg grippers.
I really need to start dialing in my nutrition too.  I'm thinking about trying Infinit for the bike and living off the course for the run.  I need to give Infinit a call and come up with my formula, soon.  I did do a sweat test on the bike trainer this weekend.  It was a moderate ride and my rate was 24 oz. per hour.  I may not get many outdoor rides in before the race.  I'm a wimp when it comes to riding in the cold.  I need to suck it up and get out there.

A lot to figure out in the next 2 months......

Week 9 (or 15 according to my new plan)

Week 9 was a good week.  It was one of my higher volume weeks and felt good.  I really think keeping my protein intake up helps with my mood and my tiredness.  I did skip dinner one night and woke up in a bad mood.  More anecdotal evidence of the link between low protein and a bad mood for me.

So the week was good for several reasons. 

The swim:  I got two decent swim workouts in.  That is the first time in a long time I got two decent swim workouts in.  I decided to do a long continuous swim for one of them just to see how the shoulder would do.  I swam 2500 yards straight and while the shoulder ached, it reached a certain point and didn't keep getting worse.  I really focused on trying to take it easy on the shoulder to see if I had a chance at swimming 2112 yards in New Orleans.  The answer is yes!

The bike:  Nothing too exciting but I did get 3 solid work outs in again.  Cut my long ride 30 minutes short Sunday to get the house ready for visitors for the football game.

The run:  I managed to get up early one day, had a nice run in the snow on another and a long run Saturday.

Thursday we got about 11 inches of snow.  I had a doctor appointment in the morning then planned to run on the treadmill then go in to work in the afternoon.  Well, with the snow, I planned on a treadmill run then working from home in the afternoon.  Before heading to the Y, I was reading some forum posts and ran across one about running in the snow and decided to give it a try.  It was beautiful but brutal.

Where are my feet?


 Like I said, the run was brutal.  It was like doing intervals with leg weights on.  I would run until my heart rate hit mid zone 3 then walk until I hit zone 1.  I almost quit after 2 minutes, but the thought of changing again, going to the Y and changing again, running, changing again, motivated me to keep going.

For the first part of my run, there was one set of tracks, then none.

Fresh Powder



My tracks looking back up the trail.

I was bored during the recovery period, thus the cool pics.  And a bonus video :-).

After running, I decided I didn't feel like working, even from home, so I relaxed and got my trainer ride in early enough to have a cookout.  Grilled chicken breasts, grilled asparagus, and grilled mushrooms.  Yum!  First I had to clear off the grill!

 s/b/r hours this week were 1.75/5/3.1

Oh, and to cap the week off, Go Steelers!

Change in Plans (Week 8)

First, a back update.  This back pain episode was 1-2 weeks shorter than all my previous ones.  I didn't miss any rides in my plan and I only missed one week of running.  Usually it's 2-3 weeks so this is a huge improvement.

I've been following a custom plan I created on beginner triathlete and have decided the run volume is too high for me.  The plan had me running almost two hours for my long run this week.  I'm 12 weeks out from my half ironman and this seems high.  In fact, I didn't run for 2 hours ever for my last half marathon.  I checked out a couple other plans and they seem to agree with my assessment.  So I decided to jump into week 15 of Gale Bernhardt's 27 week half ironman plan. The long run for this week was 1:30.

On a non-tri related note, I was tagged by my friend Kate.  So here is what you are supposed to do it you are tagged.

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded this to you.  Thanks Kate, I guess.  I'm kind of a introverted blogger so I don't know if I'll be able to tag 15 blogs.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.  If you know me well, you probably know all this.

• I'm a big Pittsburgh Steeler fan (hopefully they beat Baltimore today).
• I married my high school sweet heart.
• After 22 years I'm still in love with my high school sweet heart.
• I love live music (though I don't make an effort to go listen to it in St. Louis)
• I mix live Christian music at my church once or twice a month.  It's a blast.
• I love to cook on the grill and do so every weekend when I'm in town, no matter what the weather is.
• I'm a twitter nerd

3.  Pay it forward to 15 great blogs - consider yourselves tagged!

• Bryan at Bullshit Advice
• Sonja at Go Sonja
• Michelle at Go Fast Michelle
• Wes at CampMcGee
• Jeff at Dangle the Carrot
• Megan at In Training
• James at Ironman 101
• Jeff at Jeff Vanis' Blog
• Luke at Luke's Tri Training
• Kovas at Midwest Multisport Life
• Jon at Milk The Cow Triathlon
• Jennifer at My First Half Ironman
• Matty O at Staying Strong and Positive
• Dave at The Journey
• Patrick at The Road
• Johan at TRI-STEMMET

4. Contact those bloggers and let them know about their award. If you follow me, consider yourself notified.  If not, I'm not contacting you.  It's not my style.

Back Pain (Week 7)

I end up with severe lower back pain occasionally.  When it happens, I hobble around for a few days barely able to stand up straight and I'm very uncomfortable.  I'm pretty sure it is a core strength issue.  After it happens, I resume my back exercises for a while then I slowly stop doing them.  This time I thought I could make the outcome different. 

Last weekend during my long ride and run, I started to get a twinge in my glutes and sides of my thighs.  I figured my back was about to go ,so I started doing my back exercises on Monday and added some planks to my routine.  I did some more exercises Tuesday, so far so good.  Wednesday morning, not so good.  I was running at 5:30 am, about 2 miles from home and my lower back got really tight and hurt.  So tight that I had to start walking.  Hmmm, 5:30 am, no phone, it's 25 degrees out, this is going to be a long, cold walk home.  I decided to lay on the sidewalk (in front of the St. Louis Bread Co,) and stretch my back.  There is hardly any traffic at that time so no one probably noticed, but it was kind of funny.  Anyway, I stretched it out enough and managed to run home.  I kept doing my exercises thinking I could still beat this episode.  Wednesday night I skipped my swim and Thursday morning I skipped my run but my back wasn't that bad.  Thursday night I biked and it still wasn't feeling too bad.  Friday, still not too bad.  I was pretty sure I beat this back episode.  Then Saturday it started getting worse, much worse.  I managed a 2+ hour trainer ride but got off the bike every 45 minutes to stretch my back.  Sunday was supposed to be a long run, but I could hardly walk :-(.  I ended up laying on the floor watching football.

Lesson learned, again..... don't neglect your core.  Hopefully I can get back at it mid-week.

Planned s/b/r hours
1.5/5.25/4.75

Actual s/b/r hours
0/5.25/1.75

Week 6

Got 8 of 9 workouts in which will probably be my max per week because my shoulder hurts when I swim.  I was really tired Tuesday and Wednesday and I have another cold.  Tiredness and frequent colds are both symptoms of not getting enough protein.  Depending on who you believe, I need somewhere between 90 and 180 grams of protein per day.  That's between three quarters and a pound and a half of beef or chicken per day.  Of course there is also protein in eggs, nuts, yogurt, milk and plenty of other things, but getting 100+ grams of protein isn't easy.  I made some hard boiled eggs to add that for an afternoon snack every day.  I'm also not getting enough sleep.  I plan to correct that starting this week.

I managed to gain 3 pounds over the holidays.  Not bad.  I can only imagine how many I would have gained had I not exercised almost 10 hours last week.  Time to lay off the cheese spread!

I did have a couple mental victories this week.  Saturday I managed an 8.6 mile run outside even though it was cold and windy.  I had no excuse.  I have the cold weather gear I need, I just needed the motivation.  I procrastinated as long as I could, but did manage to get it done.  I was still a little cold.  Running with a cold bottle of water wasn't a good idea.

Sunday I managed a 2.5 hour trainer ride.  That is my longest to date.  All my rides the last month and a half have been on the trainer.  I might need a mini DVD player during New Orleans to mimic my training :-).

I plan to start upping my biking a bit.  I don;t really want to add another workout, so I think I'll just take some time on to my short rides.  Since the race time is roughly 3:2 biking to running, I think the training  hours should be too.

s/b/r hours
Planned 1.33/4.33/4.15
Actual 0.66/5.0/4.1

On to week 7!

2010 year in review

My first year of doing triathlons was amazing.  I logged 76,377 (34 hours) yards swimming, 1733 miles biking (111 hours) and 773 miles running (128 hours).  I'm pretty happy with that.

Here is a recap of my races in 2010.  This is for me, so it may be long.  If you don't want to see pics of a pasty white, middle aged guy, run away.....

Race #1:  St. Louis 1/2 Mary 4/11 - 1:58:21

I talked my friend Craig in to running his first half.  I think he had fun.  It was my second half and I beat my last time by 10 minutes!

Overall rank - 2344/6830

Male rank - 1514/3894
Age group rank - 197/490




Race #2: Effingham IL Sprint 5/16 - 1:21:54 (first tri ever!).

low 50's and raining but I couldn't stop smiling

swim - 10:53 for 1/4 mile (2:29 pace).  I freaked out a little, hyper ventilated then stopped, looked around, reminded myself I was actually doing my first tri, smiled then kept going.




T1 chatting with Cheryl

 














T1 - 2:00

Coming in to T2

bike - 41:10 for 13 miles (18.95 mph) - not bad for my first bike race ever plus my fingers and toes were numb.


T2 - 1:00

My feet were frozen and they hurt!

 run - 26:53 - 3.1 miles (8:38 pace) - I'm pretty happy with that.










I wasn't last, but it sure looks like it!



Overall rank 46/78 - Missed my goal of top half

Age group rank 7/10 - ditto

What a rush!

Race #3: Carlyle IL Sprint 5/23 - 1:24:25

I was sick from my last race.  I often get colds the week after a race but this was worse.  I had cold sweats the night before.  I figured if I was achy in the morning I would DNS, but I felt ok, just a little worn out.  This race weather was the opposite of last week.  The temp was upper 80's and high humidity.  After the race last week I was thinking of doing an Oly soon.  Not during/after this race.  The run was across a dam was like a sauna.

Ryan and I getting ready to race.  Yep, he is that much taller than me.  I'm 5' 7"  and he is 6" 8" and I was standing on the uphill side :-).   Ryan and I met through a beginner triathlete mentor group.  Cheryl calls him "the guy I met on the Internet" :-).  We did two races together in 2010 and are both signed up for New Orleans 70.3 in April

swim starts can be chaotic

 swim - 12:35 for 547 yards (2:18 pace)

T1 - 2:26

bike - 29:26 for 12.4 miles (18.87 mph)

T2 - 0:56

run - 29:05 for 3.1 miles (9:23 min/mile pace)

Nice big hill to run up after the swim.  I put my goggles and cap in my wet suit sleeve and they fell out as I was running up the hill (I lost them) 
 The run was brutal with the heat. It was out and back across a dam and the rocks on both sides radiated heat on you. The run was flat except for a big hill at the turn around that you could see until you got there. It was a big demotivator!

Overall rank: 21/72 - not bad
Age group rank: 5/12 - met my goal





Race #4: Innsbrooke MO Octomax 6/26 - 1:44:24

I get in to a pre-race funk before just about every race.  I love training but I think the stress of remembering everything, full contact swimming, riding fast in traffic on the road, knowing the run will hurt, etc. all add up to stress for me.  This race was probably the worst for that.   I didn't know one person at this race and had to get up at 4 am or so to drive there.  It was also very hot and humid.  I was dripping sweat just setting up my transition area and I seriously questioned why I race.  I know the answer.  If I didn't sign up to race, I wouldn't train regularly.

This was my first lake swim without a wet suit.  It was a little intimidating and the water was uncomfortably warm.  I did a pre-race swim to help ease my mind.  Overall the swim was fine.  I did get elbowed and took in some water, which was scary.  I stopped and treaded water for a bit to collect myself.

swim - 12:17 for 500 yards (2:28/100 pace)
T1 - 3:20 (we had to run up a long hill)

This bike course had lots of short steep hills.  I hit 41 mph on one of them!  It was really fun.

bike - 58:38 for 18 miles (18.42 mph)
T2 - 1:17

The run was brutally hot.  I remember questioning why anyone would do this as I ran. The woman behind me was working hard to chick me right at the finish.  When I was approaching the finish line all I heard was someone breathing real hard trying to pass me.

run - 28:52 for 3 miles (9:37 pace)

Overall rank - 72/224
Age group rank - 13/25

The sense of accomplishment and feeling alive are incredible after racing.  While racing, I think this is stupid and why would anyone pay money to hurt themselves like this.  A couple days after the race, I signed up for two more......



Race # 5 - New Town tri, St. Charles MO 7/11 - 2:00:30

 I got a really nice surprise for this race. I joked with my teenage daughter the night before the race that she should come watch.  She said yes!  She normally sleeps until noon (or later) and she got up at 5 to go to the race.  We bought coffee and she got a doughnut before the race.  When we got there, she was walking around with the doughnut looking at all the skinny people and she said "I can't eat a doughnut here.  Look at all the fit people!".  She is very thin and could have easily gotten away with it but she threw the doughnut away :-).

She was chatting away and kept asking me what was wrong.  I was too quiet.  I had to explain I was nervous with pre-race jitters. 

It was another hot day.  Such is life in the St. Louis area.

 This was my first time trial start and longest OWS to date.  I did a terrible, absolutely terrible job sighting.

Check out the guy with messed up legs waiting to swim.  I have no idea how he did, but it is very inspirational seeing athletes that don't let disabilities stop them from doing things they love.

swim 22:13  for 1093 yards (2:02/100 pace).  I think there was a current helping us on the long stretch.  I didn't swim 2:02 worthy.

 T1 - 2:00

I was glad to be out of the water and a little disoriented.

 bike 59:28 for 20 miles (20.18 mph)

That is hammering it for me!  I'm happy with 20 mph for my first season.

T2 - 0:59
I seem to have my transitions down, about 2 minutes for T1 and 1 minute for T2.  I'm happy with those times.

This run was brutally hot.  I fought the urge to walk many times.

35:50 for 4 miles (8:58 pace) - not bad considering the heat and I'm just not a fast runner.

I always have the urge to raise my arms when I cross the finish line.  What's up with that?

Overall rank - 252/547
Age group rank - 26/48




Race # 6 - Evergreen Lake Sprint (40k bike leg) Bloomington, IL 7/17 - 2:02:54

 It looks like I never uploaded the pics my friend Annie took and I lost the disc.

<-- arms up again :-)




swim - 13:49 for 550 yards (2:32/100)
T1 - 1:38
bike - 1:19:07 for 26.1 miles (19.78 mph)
T2 - 1:24
run - 26:55 for 3.1 miles (8:39 pace)

Overall - 52/176
Age group - 4/10

I qualified for Age Group Nationals with a top five age group finish!  Truth be told, the faster athletes in my age group raced the Olympic :-).


Race # 7 - St. Charles MO 1/2 Mary 10/3 - 1:55:11 (8:38 pace)

This was my best 1/2 marathon time yet.  I have to admit I was a little disappointed in the time.  It seems like I should be able to run faster given the effort I put out.  Maybe if I didn't have so much stuff in my pockets I could have run faster :-).

 

<-- Yes I was hurting!

 

 

<--  Hands in the air :-)










Overall rank - 797/5983
Age group rank - 141/352





I also volunteered at Ironman 70.3 - Branson in Septemeber.  It was a really cool experience.  I planned to do one Olympic distance race in 2010, but a shoulder overuse injury due to swimming sidelined me from swimming for a while.  Overall I consider 2010 a very solid year and I'm in the best shape of my life.  Hopefully I can keep it up  in 2011.

Week 4 (Recovery week)

I'll start by saying, I like recovery weeks :-).  Many training plans incorporate recovery weeks, often every third or fourth week.  The idea is to build volume or intensity for three weeks then let your body recover on the fourth.  Recovery doesn't mean take the week off or even go super easy, it just means scale it back a bit.  My plan called for eight sbr (swim-bike-run) hours the first week,  nine the second week, ten the third week, and six the recovery week. I didn't quite make those numbers.

I started looking for a mentor group to join on BT this week.  I've been in two groups previously and they were very beneficial for learning about triathlons.  After reading all the bios, I decided what the heck.  I'll give being a mentor a go.  I'm no expert, but I do a lot of studying about triathlon training and I think I'm a good motivator for people.  Besides, there are usually more mentees than mentors, so I'll be helping out.  I'm looking forward to it.  If you are a total newb and want to do a tri, join a group.  Mine should be open this week unless they have enough mentors.  Feel free to join a group with a more experienced mentor.

This week was also Christmas.  Christmas is probably my second favorite holiday after Thanksgiving.  We stayed home this year, only the second time in the last 16 years.  We played board games Christmas Eve and had a blast. If you've never played Apples to Apples, check it out. It's a hoot.  It's also nice waking up in your own bed, getting a trainer ride in, then eating breakfast casserole, cheese logs, cheese spread, cheese, cheese and more cheese.  I cooked a turkey and Cheryl made cheesy potatoes, corn casserole, and peanut butter pie. 

yum!

I should probably avoid the scale for a couple days until I work these extra calories off :-).  Anyway, we had a bunch of family over, had a great time visiting, and played board games.


Planned s/b/r hours .9/2.9/2.5
Actual s/b/r hours .5/3.25/2.5