LD: 16

So, in building miles for the marathon in just a few weeks, I did a long-distance run this weekend. 16.12 officially, according to MapMyRide's GPS tracker. This was longer, by two miles, than my previous longest training run, which was 14 last September in prep for the Brewers 1/2 marathon.

16.12 miles was about two miles short of my goal for yesterday. Let me explain:

The plan was to start in Waukesha and run the Glacial Drumlin trail about 8-9 miles to the Ice Age Trail which meets up with the Lapham Peak (race day) trails after about 2.5 miles. My plan was then to do one loop of the race-day trail (6.5 miles), meet Sherry at the tower and collapse after roughly 18 miles. The solid parts of this plan, to me, was building the mileage while not getting beat up by the trail the whole way, yet get on the trail after most of the miles were logged to get some feel for how race day might go.

It was a great run to start. At about 8 miles I thought, "Almost halfway there." And not ironically. Looking forward to it. I felt great, especially considering how just two years ago the thought of biking, much less running, 16 miles would have seemed ridiculous.

Then at almost exactly mile 15, not quite halfway through my loop on the Lapham trail, my calves seized and screamed. I'd been walking uphills, doing gentle downhills and mainly jogging the flats by that point. No speed, just keeping moving. My calves wanted no more of it. I wasn't even on an incline at the time. It wasn't a mental wall, as I tried to reason through things, stretch, keep going, etc. My brain wasn't ready to give in, but my calves did -- it wasn't an injury, that I could tell. They were just done.

I wanted to text Sherry to meet me at the bottom parking lot a dozen times, but I resisted and still wanted to make my goal. I walked through the pain, slowly. I sat on a bench and let my legs dangle. I slowly continued along the trail. And as I thought about how bad my calves were hurting, I knew that the downhills on this part of the trail were going to be replaced by about three significant uphills getting back up to the tower parking lot. I finally did text that I was going to be short, please meet at lower lot. I did not want to push the last two miles and possibly injure my now-exhausted calves. Everything else seemed fine - quads, hamstrings, feet, etc.

(Oh, also, I forgot to bring water with me. I stopped and drank briefly at a few bubblers,
but not much. I think it's entirely possible that if I'd been better hydrated, I could have made the whole planned 18 miles. Food--well, water--for thought.)

Today, my hips are tight, but my calves are fine. It's going to be a good rest day. Sometime in the next 12 days, I need to do a 20 (properly hydrated), and that will be by longest training run before the race.

My new timing plan for the race is 7 hours. I'm looking at 3 hours for the first two loops, and 4 hours for the last two.

My first marathon

In the disappointing hours, and days, that followed my DNF in Racine, I needed something. A new goal. A reason to keep training. A way to make sure all the Ironman workouts weren't "wasted."

So, I moved by Priority A2 race goal for the year, a marathon, from sometime in November or December, to six weeks away. I signed up for the trail marathon at Lapham Peak State Park on Sept. 7.

I'd been out there hiking on some of the trails recently, and when I googled "marathon, Wisconsin," the Lapham race popped up and I signed up. It'll be four laps on the hardest trail, with a diversion on lap 1 that climbs the tower and back down.

Since I'd been thinking seriously about doing the Death Valley marathon in December as my first, choosing a trail run 26.2 doesn't feel that odd.

Last week, I did my first walk of the whole trail to get an idea of all the terrain for the run. There are many rolling hills, and a few very steep climbs on the course. (It's a good thing I didn't walk the whole trail before signing up though, or I might not have done so.)

So now my next six weeks will include longer and longer runs, and some biking and swimming. I'm trying to do at least 4-5 mile runs a couple times during the week, and have long-distance runs just about each weekend when I can leading up to the race.

LD run this past weekend was 11.25 miles, in a bit over two hours. Sometime next weekend I need to work in 14-15 miles.

*Insert Polite 'DNF' Headline Here*

In this scenario, I'm the mouse
and the cat is Lake Michigan.

... Because I want to title this post, "Mindf---ed." Which is exactly where I am, still, when it comes to open water swims. I thought I had a plan, but I was wrong. Though by now I should be thoroughly exhausted, I have more than enough energy to burn after a disappointing day -- rather race. A very disappointing race. My day wound up pretty nice, with many thanks and all appreciation to Sherry and her extraordinarily positive and uplifting outlook on life, me, racing and so much more. Thank you.

In case you're curious, here's a quick sum up of (my first) experience with a 70.3-mile tri-distance race. I think I trained enough to finish (of course I'll never know for sure). I did an open-water swim of about a 1/4 mile 10 days ago, and while I didn't like the open water, even in a non-race setting, I did finish and confirm my plan that I could breast until my breathing calmed down and then switch to free. 

Thursday night, I went to pick up my rented wetsuit. They didn't have it. The poor clerk was very sweet and truly sorry that it wasn't there, unsure if it might have been sold or double reserved and already out to a different renter. I think, all in all, I took it pretty well in stride. No anger, cursing or anything else. We went to another shop to try to get something last minute, and their only suit left didn't fit. Ah well. Forget it. I'll swim Lake Michigan in just my trisuit (which offers no buoyancy or warmth), since it's been in the 90s the past week or so. 

Most of the week, I'd been watching my intake to be lower fat, complex carbs and lean(ish) protein. Saturday we went to Racine to checkin and get the bike into transition. Things were mostly smooth and I was looking forward to the race (nervously, I think, Sherry will tell you). 

So, we got up at 4 and headed down to Racine. Setup my transition spot, found Sherry and we walked the mile up the beach to race start. Beautiful day. Not too big of swells (from shore). I wandered into the water and got acclimated to the temps -- I think about 65 degrees if I remember correctly. It would have been nice to have a wetsuit, but I'm not blaming, just observing. 

Pollock's "No. 1, 1949"

Then I was soon into my wave start, standing at the back, ready to get going and breaststroke until I got comfortable. Horn goes off, and in I go, walking until it got too deep. Then I started swimming, and it was OK. Then I started getting hit in the face by the swells. They compromised my breathing, and my mind went all Jackson Pollock. 

I saw one of the boats nearby and made my way over to hold the edge for a minute (legal). They asked if I was OK, and I said that the swells were tougher than I expected. (I was just barely a 1/10 mile in, and hadn't turned yet.) They asked if I was done, and said that the swells work more with you than against at the next buoy, which was the turn south. I thanked them, felt better and started swimming again. 

I made it a bit further, but the swells felt even bigger (I don't think they were). In my head, I was super-focused. On the next buoy, 1/10 mile away. I wasn't sure I could make it through the swells to get there. I tried to tread water for a bit and really think. What I came up with went something like this: "I don't think you can make it there. If you do, I'm not sure you can make the next one." While I was treading water, another boat circled nearby. There were already three racers in it that were done. I hung onto the side. I tried to get myself to go back out, but I couldn't make my f---ing hand let go of the boat. I climbed in. 

DNF.

I'm not going to recount the pain and disappointment in the decision to take myself out, the boatride back to shore, the walk up the beach passing by competitors whose waves hadn't started yet or anything else. That's between me and God. But I can tell you it sucked. 

I was lucky to have Sherry to help lift my spirits enough to make the walk back a mile down to transition and walk in, amongst all the people who did make the swim and were suiting up to bike, and I packed my transition bag and walked my bike up the hill and back to the car.

I encountered 3-4 different Ironman volunteers who were reassuring, wished me a better race and so forth next year. Even some spectators who saw me walking the bike out did too. It was heartening and what the sport is about. 

I'll be back. This isn't the end. I'm going to work on my psychology for the open water, which I suspect will be adding a lot more open water swimming to my training. As they say, "Winning beats finishing, finishing beats DNF, DNF beats DNS, and DNS beats Didn't even get off the couch." I'm only one step down from where I want to be and two up from where I was. 

Crap II

My brother just pointed out to me that it's been awhile (again) since I posted. Some updates ... A couple weeks ago, I did the Green Bay Olympic tri as a test run on several things. 

I learned that with very little prep, I can do the endurance thing and finish. My times won't be great, but I finish. 

I learned that wetsuits do indeed offer a huge advantage in buoyancy for the swim. Huge. 

I learned that hard as I try to stay calm at the start, my adrenaline ramps up and combines with the chaos of the swim start. It makes my breathing and form terrible, and I switched to breast again. Right now, my only solution to that is to try and do some open-water swims on my own before Racine, and to change my race-day plan. As of now, I'm going to plan to hit the water towards the back of the pack and start with breast. When I feel comfortable, I can switch to freestyle when my breathing settles down. I think that will be much better than having a freakout early on in the water, or doing breast the entire 1.2 miles and expect my legs to have enough left for a 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run. 

I learned that my new Trek Madone is a sweet, sweet ride. I tackled the 29 miles in a good time, wasn't too sore or worn out as a result of having the wrong bike. 

I learned that I need to push myself on the run more. I did OK, but I know I left some out on the course. 

I learned that I need to be doing workouts 5-6x every week, minimum, with two-a-days as often as possible. This week I'm planning to do swimming each morning, and a bike or run each afternoon or evening. 

-----

I will do a post later this week to update my training numbers. 

Well, crap.

Just saw my numbers for the tri, and they weren't as good as I thought. The clock I saw that said 11:37 must have been off.

My overall time was 1:55:46, which at under two hours still beats my goal for the race. So that's awesome. And both transition times were under four minutes, which means I improved on that from Pewaukee too.

My swim time for the 500 was 10:52, which absolutely rocks. During my timed training swims with my coach, my average 500 has typically been around 12 minutes. Then T1 time was 3:47.

My bike time was OK at 54:23, which was a 15-mph pace. I know that could've been much better if I'd simply made time to get the bike in for a tuneup last week. And/or got out for a few more rides in the past couple weeks.

My run clocked in at 44:26 for a 14:20 average mile. That sucks. I'm way better than that. Over a three-mile run, I should be averaging closer to 10:30 or 11-min. miles. I know part of that is because I haven't done a brick since last summer ... so I guess I know which part of the 1/2 Iron training plan I really need to concentrate on.

Bricks, bricks, bricks.

I think I need to find a tri I can run in June as a trainer -- maybe something Olympic distance as a step up from these sprints.

J-Hawk Early Bird sprint tri recap

OK, so just got home from the J-Hawk Early Bird tri in Whitewater, and it’s incredible how much difference a year makes. It’s all about perspective, which, as C.S. Lewis wrote, “What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.” 

Well, I think I know what kind of person I am (let’s not go into that). But, standing on the other side of having done not only my first tri in Pewaukee last summer but also some running races, this morning was a completely different tri than last year. 

I wasn’t anxious about the swim (mainly because it was a pool swim instead of open water). 

I didn’t obsess over nutrition and hydration (I had some GUs ready to go, and electrolyte drink in my water bottle.) After all, it would be less than two hours (hopefully), and that’s less than some of the LD training runs I did for the Brewers 1/2 marathon last fall. 

All in all, it was a great morning. 

For the swim, they started three of us in one lane about seven seconds apart. The first swimmer said she was going to breaststroke the whole way (500 yards, or 10 laps), and the middle person said he would do some free and switch to backstroke when he needed a breather. I knew I would likely do free the whole way and have to pass at some point … and I did. The middle guy and I passed the woman on the first lap, and then I passed him on the second lap. Then I was open for several laps, caught up to the first lady and passed her again, and was free for a couple laps. Then I caught and passed the other guy again, and the first lady one more time just as I started the 10th lap. I powered through that and went out to the bike. 

The bike course was relatively flat, and I made a conscious effort to enjoy it instead of be mad that I didn’t have my new road bike yet (thanks to a screw up at the bike shop … where I won’t be buying now). My poor Trek hybrid was neglected all winter, and wasn’t happy to be out today, so we muddled through together, found a smooth rhythm a few times and like that (it seems) I was back in transition for the run. 

The run I was looking forward to, because it was mainly on a nature preserve. It was hilly, and a few areas were pretty mucky, but it was a nice run (about three miles, I think). I didn’t plan to, but ended up doing a run-walk-run because my quads felt decimated early on from the bike. (That I remember from the last tri and brick trainings last year.) I finished strong and felt good. (Still feel good…)

I’ll add some numbers in my next post when I get my chip times. But my wave started the swim about 10 a.m., and I was through the finish and eating a chocolate chip cookie on my way to the car at 11:37. 

Oh yeah, and today’s race kicks off the 12-week training plan for the Racine 1/2 Ironman in July. Off we go!

Now time for a shower, get dressed and go to have a steak dinner with my parents and older brother. (I think I’ll take a nap over there, because if I nap here I may not make it…)

P.S. And one more note on perspective, from comedian Steven Wright: “Anywhere is walking distance if you have enough time.”

New beginnings

So after a lot of personal upheaval, I'm settling into 2013 and just recently got signed up for two races, one in a few weeks and one that will be my priority training target for the first half of the year.

In a couple weeks, I will be running a 17k (10.5xxx miles?) on March 17 - St. Patrick's Day. This is my motivation to get started running again after many weeks off. I feel like I could go out and run 10 or 11 miles right now and do OK, but it will be better to build up to it with this race.

As to my priority race, on July 21, I will be running the Racine 1/2 Ironman. Starting that 12-week training program is right around the corner from St. Patty's, so after March 17 I'll need to start training so I can do ... the training. Finishing this race will be a huge step toward tackling a full Ironman tri by the time I'm 45.

Not to get too personal, but an added hurdle with training going forward will be scheduling around when I will have my kids. Rather than scheduling big bricks or long runs and rides on weekends, I will need to work them into every other weekends and early mornings or evenings when I'm free. I'm sure I'll get it figured.

Also this year, still planning to do the Brewers 1/2 marathon (2nd annual) in September, and maybe even a full marathon by November.

Coming soon, I'll be buying a road bike and a wetsuit.

October update

It's been just about a month since I updated, and it feels like it's been that long since I exercised too. Truth be told, I was pretty worn out in the week after the 1/2 marathon, and then I got sick and felt extremely fatigues for a little over two weeks while I tried to shake loose and get healthy. All told, this has been a pathetic month for workouts. The October numbers (below) reflect that.

On the bright side, I did start back at swimming last week and running, and started using the bike on the indoor trainer this week. Especially nice for the bike is that I forced myself to go and went about 25 minutes on it. Last winter, I didn't like being off the roads to the point I didn't ride on the trainer at all ... and I regretted it in the spring. I got on the bike yesterday to do a quick 20 minutes during my lunch hour. Then I wanted to quit at 10, but kept going. Wanted it done at 15 too, but kept pedaling. I got into a groove and next checked my watch at about 21:xx minutes, and just convinced myself to go to 25. So I did. I need to make that the catalyst for pedaling at least 20-30 minutes 3-4x a week this winter.

I actually did a 'sort-of' triathlon yesterday, with swimming in the morning and the bike at lunch. Then some new winter base layer running gear came in the mail, and I did an evening run to test it out. Felt pretty good. Did a 3-miler today at lunch too. So I'm getting back on track and make November awesome heading into colder, darker months (with plenty of holiday treats...)

Going to sign up for a T-day race in Ohio when we're down there, and looking for a spring marathon to train for and keep me on track. Otherwise in race news, definitely looking at Racine 1/2 Ironman for July and Brewers 1/2 marathon for fall with other smaller races to fill in. Sadly, I don't think I can do the Pewaukee Sprint tri again this year (the one that started it all), because it is exactly one week before the Racine 1/2 Ironman.

October's terrible numbers are: 

17.46 miles covered (run, bike and swim).
5.37 hours of exercise.
8 days with at least 30 minutes of exercise.
10 total workouts.
5,601 calories burned through exercise.

And here's September numbers (that I never posted): 
56.11 miles covered (run, bike and swim).
14.25 hours of exercise.
13 days with at least 30 minutes of exercise.
15 total workouts.
11,082 calories burned through exercise.

13.1 in under 2:30

So I did the Brewers Mini-Marathon on Saturday and it was a great experience. We raised $515 for the MACC Fund (goal was $500), and the 13.1 miles went great. My official goal after training runs was to get it in under 2:45. My secret goal after seeing many posts at Runner's World about beating 2:30 as a newbie goal (and knowing the slowest pace group at the event would be a 2:30), was to break 2:30. Which I did, with a chip time of 2:29.24.

The day started out with thunder and lightning and rain and hail when I left home at 5:10 a.m. to head to Miller Park for the race. When I got there, they crowded everyone into the stadium atrium area waiting for the lightning to pass. The race start was actually delayed from 7 a.m. to 7:25 a.m.

When it started, I was ready and lined up a little ways past the 2:30 pace group. It took about 6 minutes to cross the start line, but then I was able to start into an easy jog to get warmed up and going. I had two GUs and two HoneyStinger packets to carry me through, as the race stations were only going to provide water or Gatorade.

Through the first two miles, I kept my eye on the 2:30 pace group and realized I felt OK going faster than they were. At about the 5k mark at the H-D museum, I unfortunately needed to use the port-o-lets because I've become so good at pre-run hydration I tend to go over a bit. When I got out, the 2:30 group was nowhere to be found, so I just settled back into a pace that felt good.

The next section of the run was nice for me as it went along the south side of Marquette's campus (Go Warriors!), and shortly thereafter I was caught up to and ahead of the 2:30 sign again. This was into about miles 4-5-6, and I felt very good (temps were still cold and drizzly, in the 46 degree range, but very comfortable for running).

This section was when I started to realize my secret weapon was hills. After the Fleet Feet Sports hill and speedwork sessions I've been able to do this summer, I found I feel comfortable accelerating when I'm on an incline. SO in the race, when people would slow on the inclines, I would actually be passing people which provided a huge psychological boost.

The next main sections along the 27th street and 35th street viaducts were pretty hard. They were not only in the midpoint of the race, but very windy. Coming north on the 35th street viaduct into the wind was especially tough, and started a general slowdown for my times. Fortunately, there were a couple sets of signs near 35th and Wisconsin to cheer me: "Seemed like a good idea four months ago" and "If it were easy, we'd be out running too," and the paring of "Worst. Parade. Ever." and "Where's my candy?" Smiling helps you run faster. It's a fact. It's just science.

A mile or so after that, I was fighting the crosswinds in the Miller Valley before slapping five with the Brewers Racing Sausages (except Bratwurst. Jerk.), and then making my way down State Street to mile 10. This stated the Hawley Road incline, which was a terrible idea to have at mile 10. So, I powered my way up, but it really sapped me for my last few miles.

On the warning track inside Miller Park.
About a 1/4 mile to go. 

I coasted into the stadium parking lot on fumes, until my daughter ran up to me with my Marquette knit cap and said "Here Daddy." It was great and I gave her my cold wet running cap in trade. A few minutes later I was inside Miller Park running on the warning track, and then out the other side for the last 1/10 mile or so. As I could see the finish line, the 2:30 pace runner came up alongside me and I knew I had to pour on just a bit more to make my super-secret goal. I gave it most of what I had left and beat 2:30.

Whereas most of my training runs have been around 11 min/mile to 12 min/mile, my splits for the Brewers mini were: 10:50, 10:39, 10:26, 12:10 (potty break), 10:23, 10:12, 10:42, 11:43, 10:55, 11:45, 11:37, 11:21, and 12:32. My goal for next year's Brewers Mini is to have splits be 10 and under. I'm shooting for 2:10. With a year to train, why not?

LD: 14

I think I did things better yesterday. I added a mile to my previous Long Distance run, and shaved 10 minutes off the time. Changes included:

1. Ran on a trail (no cars to worry about). 
2. Trail had limited inclines from previous LD. 
3. Good night's sleep.
4. Half bagel with peanut butter 25 minutes pre-run.
5. GU packs taken at 4-mile intervals. 
6. Carried my water instead of using the odd-fitting water belt (dislike that this one helped, since the belt was a birthday gift from family). 
7. Mentally prepared myself to have a good run. Even smiled to myself (and others) several times on the run. 

The total 14 miles came in at 2:52, for a 12:xx/mile average, or just under 5 mph. Throwing out that last slow mile (13:22), my Brewers half-marathon time would be reaaallllyyyy close to 2:30. Factoring in not carrying water on the course, two weeks of training still to go and the intangibles of being cheered on by the crowd and pushed by other runners, I think breaking 2:30 is very possible. 

On another note, since we're now into September, here are the August numbers [change from July in brackets]: 

198.83 miles covered (run, bike and swim). [-70 miles]

26.62 hours of exercise. [-2 hours]

23 days with at least 30 minutes of exercise. [no change]

33 total workouts. [+1 workout]

22,691 calories burned through exercise. [-900 calories]

LD: 13

Yesterday was my new longest run to date: 13.1 miles. I'm not happy with my pace at nearly 14-min/mile, but I already know a bunch of ways I screwed up in prep for the run. Not to be too detailed, but I got a crappy 4 hours of sleep or so the night before, didn't eat anything before I went out at 6:30 a.m. and in general felt sorry for myself for half the run and didn't want to be there. Hard to keep a level head when it's undernourished to begin with ...

On the bright side, I did finish it. I also did six days of exercise last week, including two-a-days on three of those days, with one of them being a ride and then a ride/run brick.

Lessons learned: Get enough sleep. Pay attention to pre-run nutrition. Figure out new ways to go zen on the run rather than get sucked into my head on a negative day.

This week's focus is a 4 with a magic mile (likely Friday instead of Saturday), and the next LD run is 14 miles on Sep. 8. I will be sure to get plenty of sleep, lay out my clothes and nutrition for the run and tackle that one with zest.

LD: 11

Holy cow, it's been three weeks since I posted. Not much news though in my defense. Still plugging away on the cross-training for the Brewers 1/2 marathon on Sept. 22, and looking ahead to what races I definitely want to do next year. I think I'd like to do one Priority A long (1/2 Ironman tri) and 2-3 other smaller tris, plus the Brewers 1/2 again and possibly a full marathon.

As of Saturday, my new longest run is 11 miles. It took about 2:20, so I'll have to up the pace in the next month to do that 13.1 in 2:30 or less. Looking back at my workouts over the last three weeks, I've had very few two-a-days.

To catch up, here are July's stats:

178.12 miles covered (run, bike and swim).
22.5 hours of exercise.
21 days with at least 30 minutes of exercise.
26 total workouts.
18,122 calories burned through exercise.

And now that I look at it, I don't see June's numbers. They are:

269.66 miles covered (run, bike and swim).

28.5 hours of exercise.

23 days with at least 30 minutes of exercise.

32 total workouts. 

23,449 calories burned through exercise.

LD: 8

Today's long-distance run according to the 1/2-marathon training schedule was eight miles. This was my new longest run by 2.5 miles. It felt great mostly good.

Miles 1-4 were kind of a slog. Not sure if that was because it was so early, my bike ride was last night instead of in the morning, I was running with my new water belt the kids gave me for my birthday, I was listening to a podcast instead of music, I was subconsciously pacing myself for the new distance ... or all of the above. Mile 5 was a bit faster, and then Miles 6-7 were great. I could feel the endorphins infusing my system and felt like I might be home in a second (I'd also switched over to music). Mile 8 was ridiculously tough, but I think if I had been doing a nine-mile run today, Mile 9 would have been toughest, or Mile 10 and so on.

All told, I finished in about 1:48, or 13:30 miles. Much slower than where my general 5k pace has improved to, but I know that the LD days are not about time as much as distance. Today was about getting my body used to being out there for eight miles. It was a good run. And I was done by 8 a.m.

Rest of week
The rest of last week, I did a two-mile run on Wednesday at lunch, and then a 15-mile bike ride in the evening. Usual swimming on Thursday morning and then an 11-mile bike ride at lunch and Friday's 10.5-mile evening ride.

I seem to be back on track with double-workout days, and it showed on the scale today. I lost three pounds this week. I could be well into the 230s by Labor Day. I would love to be in the 220s by the 1/2 Marathon.

Coming up
I've got a rest day tomorrow, and then will try to hit double all next week. The next LD is 9.5 next Saturday.

Midweek

Since Sunday, this week has been a good exercise week. Following Sunday's long run (5), did biking on Monday and Tuesday, swimming Tuesday and I'm set to do a run (5k) today at lunch and then I need to do a bike ride tonight.

Bicycling was 10 miles on Monday, and the first time I'd ridden since the tri. Pace wasn't too bad though, as I averaged 16.2 mph. Yesterday's ride was longer and a bit more of a slog, as the heat index was near 100 when I headed out for the 16 miles. I averaged 15.2 mph and got home drenched in sweat, but not breathing too hard. That ice bath was crucial...

Tuesday swimming was good. I was solo as far as students, and did a 100 swim, 100 Individual Medley, 100 swim warmup, followed by 16 x 25s at speed, diving in from the race platform, with walking lunges out of the pool and back to the platform each lap. Then a 100 kick to cool down. I'm able to IMs now, because we've used part of the alone class times to work on butterfly (a stroke I never learned). My upper body is there, but my legs try to do a modified breast kick rather than a dolphin kick. With fins I'm fine, without it's a struggle.

The rest of the week, I've got swimming and a bike ride tomorrow, either bike or run Friday morning, and this week's long-distance (LD) run of 8 miles. I'm planning to wake up by 5:30-6 a.m. and get that one done before people wake up here.

Week recap

It's been a hard week to get up and exercise. Not sure if that's post-tri slump or depression or whatever, but all I did last week was my two regular swimming lessons and a hill workout (3.8 miles) with Fleet Feet Sports in Milwaukee.

Actually, aside from the race, the Fleet Feet run was the first time I've run with a group. I met Running for Connor team partner Erica there, and it was the first time we ran together too. It was pretty awesome to run with a group. I love running out here on the country roads by myself, but the change up and companionship really got me jazzed. I also think it pushed me to up my pace from what I generally do on my own.

Next big race is the Brewers Mini Marathon on Sept. 22, and the Galloway plan to train for it was to start in earnest yesterday with a 5-mile run. (It got bumped to today.) The crux of the plan is to do pretty much what I did for the triathlon, except the long weekend workouts will be progressively longer runs instead of bike-run bricks. The weekly workouts will still be a mix of cross-training with swimming (2x week), biking (12-20 miles, 2-3x) and running (2-4 miles, 2-3x).

I'll try to keep up with the training blog as well as I can; this Saturday is supposed to be an 8-mile run, which would be my new longest run.

Thinking about signing up for the Oceanside 1/2 Ironman in March 2013 to make sure winter training stays on pace.

Race recap

What a day yesterday was. I’m still processing everything I did and learned, and am already looking forward to the next tri. I’m going to do my best with this post to try and encapsulate everything I can about the day.

I woke up at 4 a.m. after some fitful sleep and put on my tri-suit and made a bagel with peanut butter. Beth woke up too, long enough to take a pre-first triathlon photo. I look more bemused than anything. Truth be told, I was starting to worry about the swim.

After a bagel and some Gatorade Prime the kids got me for the race, I headed out to the wagon for the 20-minute drive to Pewaukee. My transition bag and pre-checked bike were already in the car. As I drove, I noticed that the sun was already starting to rise; at least there were visible pinks and purples in a small area of the northeastern horizon. Very lovely. There was some kind of sports or other talk radio on in the background, but it was just white noise for a guy who was obsessing about the swim.

When I got to Pewaukee, I pulled onto a street near downtown where I saw other cars with bikes and such parking, and just pulled off there to park. (Forgot to ask at the race walk-throughs where they recommended participants park, but it was a good spot anyways close to the start. A little closer to the finish would’ve been cool too.)

Transition area.

I grabbed my bag and walked my bike the couple blocks to transition. I found my rack (wave 21) and my spot (no. 1048), and placed my bike and started to unpack my bag and setup my transition items on a bright blue towel just how I wanted them. It was warmer than I thought it would be, so I took off my shirt, socks and shoes, but left my new sweats on with my tri-suit and wandered off to get marked with my numbers.

(There was something relaxing about wandering around the lot in my bare feet. Weird.)

After I got marked, it was about 5:20. Still an hour before they closed transition and moved all the athletes to the beach for wave starts. I walked back over by my bike. Since it was over by the rear of the transition area/parking lot, I found a spot to sit quietly and think about the day and people watch.

Timing chip on the correct ankle. 

Then I noticed my bike was askew and my water bottle was on the ground. I went over to fix it and the guy next to me apologized and said it fell while he was racking his bike. It was too much trouble to pick my water bottle back up I guess. Then I noticed my swim cap and goggles were lying a couple spots over too. (How hard did he knock my bike?) So I put the bottle back in, straightened my bike and transition items, and took my swim cap, goggles and timing chip back over to my spot and relaxed.

When the place started to get busy, I decided to put on my timing chip which goes around the ankle with an “unbreakable” strap. Within a minute, a volunteer began walking through transition yelling, “Timing chips go on the left ankle!” Three guesses which ankle I’d done… In my head, it made sense. Numbers written on the left bicep and calf, timing chip on the right ankle for balance. Right?

So, I did my best to undo the “unbreakable” strap without breaking it so I could switch ankles. That went as well as you’d think. So, I got up to go over by the mark-up area and see if they had extra straps. Of course they did. Everything about this race was very professional and well thought-out; and all the volunteers were smiling and a joy to see. When I saw a woman standing with a box of extra straps, she already knew I was headed over. I guess all the broken-strap people must have the same hang-dog facial expression. I smiled a “thanks” and switched straps (and ankles), and walked back by my bike one last time.

Finally, it was close to 6:05 or so and I headed over to the beach. I found the area for nos. 1000 and above, and stood in the sand, stared out at the swim course and picked up where I’d left off with worrying about the swim. I tried a few times to distract myself by eavesdropping on the hundreds of conversations going on around me, or blocking them out and staring at the moon or the tree line in the distance. None worked for long. I said a few prayers too, to St. Brendan (I couldn’t think of the patron saint of swimming, but figured navigation and sailing and my name-saint would be good enough).

Eventually I struck up a conversation with a calm-looking athletic type near me and asked ho many tris he’s done. This would be his second, he’d done this same tri in 2011, and was a runner at heart. He gave me some great advice for the run, and said not too worry much about the swim (how could he tell?)

Then the elites were in the water (and it seems like right back out), and the waves started going in about every two minutes. I could feel my heart rate going up, but it didn’t feel much different than the nerves prior to a football game or track meet. Finally my wave was in the start corral. I stood at the back, crossed myself, and hit the water slow.

I found a quiet place to swim and sight behind most of my wave, and was able to do some good front crawl. I weaved a bit left and right, but not too much. I swallowed some water when I was sighting on the first turn buoy, and that got me switching to breaststroke for a bit. Then back to crawl. I flipped back and forth a few more times as it felt right, pending breathing and nerves. It seemed like it was taking forever. I couldn’t believe I was still going to try and bike and run after, as fast as my heart seemed to be going.

Then I was far enough to stand up. As others (from wave 22) started to run past me, I walked smoothly exiting the water, up the beach and to transition. The cheers and encouragement as I went were awesome! The swim was done. My time later showed that despite placing myself at the back of my wave, and exiting at a walk rather than jog, was still under 15 minutes.

I grabbed a water, got to my spot, dried my feet and put on my socks and running shoes, helmet and sunglasses. I put some GU in my tri-suit pocket and went to hit the road. Transition time was a little over 4 minutes, and I was on the street pedaling hard. And still breathing hard from the swim, too.

The 16 miles for the bike course were fairly uneventful. I pushed myself at a pace that felt comfortable, which was all I could do since I decided to do the race technology-free. I wanted to be as in-tune with my body and the whole experience as possible. That meant no tunes on the run course either. I wanted to hear every cheer, and push my body on my own.

Every so often on the bike, I would fall back a bit if I felt I was working too hard (always trying to be up cadence rather than mashing those pedals) … shortly thereafter I’d berate myself, “You’ve worked too hard to be happy ‘just finishing.’ Step it up son, it won’t kill you!” The course had a couple good hills, but overall was a nice ride. I finished in 58 minutes on a 15.8 mph pace, which is dead-on what my training rides have averaged.

(That 58 minutes needed to be train-adjusted, as I was stopped by a freight train just 30 yards from the end of the bike ride. There was a volunteer who took down the race numbers of everyone who was obstructed, and I’m sure they adjusted our chip times accordingly.)

Tom's sign

Jack's sign

Colleen's sign

Beth's sign

One of the smart things I did during the day, started in transition 2. I jogged with my bike to my spot. This helped with some of “jelly legs” syndrome going from biking to running. It helped acclimate my quads and hamstrings, and by the time I was out of the port-o-john and on my way to the run start, I was running and feeling ok.

Coming out for the run, I heard Beth call my name and looked up in time to see Jack (waving a spatula at me, in a “Run Fatboy Run” reference for motivation), and Colleen holding a sign with Sonic the Hedgehog on it that said “My Dad is faster than Sonic!” Big smiles. I felt great. I wandered through the run course, trying to equate distances with my typical 5k here, running up to the horse farm and back.

I tried to give high fives to all the kids I saw, and every resident who came out to cheer and every helpful volunteer were great. I tried to say “thank you” to every volunteer and cheering spectator I could. At one spot on the run course, a family had setup a mister by the street and put out their own waters and Gatorades and cheered runners on from their balcony above.

At home a few hours later, and I still look gassed. 

When I finally rounded a last corner, the cheers from the park where the finish line was got louder and deeper. I picked up the pace and egged myself on. I saw dad and gave him five, then heard Brian shout my name just before I crossed the finish line at 2:50 (since wave 1 started) and heard them call “…and Brendan Dooley of Helenville, Wisconsin ….” I pumped my arms, enjoyed the cheering and mom came up to give me a nice birthday hug and congratulations. Run time was just over 39 minutes.

That’s all for now. In about an hour, I’m going to get a nice relaxing professional sports massage.

Tomorrow morning, it’s back to swim training.

Thanks to all the race sponsors!

2:01.2

I did it. I can officially now call myself a triathlete. What a day today. More later ...

Holy crap

Just got done picking up my race packet and listening to the course talks and walk-throughs. After the swim talk, we were allowed to swim the course. I was astonishingly slow swimming in the open water. 


Swimming in a melee of people, the murky, warm water and plenty of weeds was way tougher than I would have guessed. I got kicked a few times, swallowed a bit of lake water and switched to (poor) breaststroke for most of the course. It probably took 20 long minutes to do the 450 yards. I just couldn't get my breathing even enough once I was shook up. 


I'm so glad I decided to go out tonight for the course talks and to do the swim trial. It would have been completely deflating, and possibly harmful, to get in the water with the full complement of other racers and combat the full race-day adrenaline ... only to discover how different the swimming can be from training. 


I never would have thought a year ago when this journey started that I'd be dreading the swim more than the run on Sunday. New plan of attack: Find a way to stay calm on the swim, use it as a warmup for the day and get out of the water safe and ready to crush the bike. 


I've said all along this one is about finishing, not time. (I only thought about times in my head, but never said anything.) Now, again, this one is about finishing it, savoring the full first tri experience and learning. 


There will be plenty of time later when I can start looking forward to the next race. 

1 week!

Tapering began in earnest today. (It should have started last week, but I cheated to get more work in following the minimal amount of work I did the week prior in N.Y.) The tri is in less than a week on Sunday; I feel extremely ready for it and am looking forward to getting past it now, getting it done and under my belt. I want to see what my training has done for me (aside from great weight loss!), and put these new skills and equipment to the test.

But first: Quit working out so hard for a week! This is going to be tough. Fortunately I have an understanding wife who has been extremely supportive throughout the process and continues to be so.

So the week of training looks like this: 30 minute light bike ride today, swimming tomorrow, 2-mile run on Wednesday, swimming Thursday, off on Friday and very light 15 minutes bike ride and 5-minute run brick on Saturday. Then it's off to packet pickup and pace nervously until I fall asleep.

Sunday, I'll get up about 5 a.m. for a quick breakfast and then head over to the course for check-in to setup my transition area. Wave swim starts at 6:30, and I may even be done by 9 a.m.

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New shoes

I received an early birthday card with some wish money in it, so I decided to go to Fleet Feet Sports and get my stride analyzed and buy the right shoes. After about an hour with a truly knowledgeable and attentive staff member, I came away with Saucony Hurricane 14 shoes, that I took out for a 6-miler the next morning. They were great. The whole experience was terrific and I look forward to supporting that store as often as I'm able.

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Emotional ride

I wasn't supposed to exercise yesterday, but last night I had some extra emotions to burn off. I took off on the bike for about 7.5 miles until I started to feel winded. I averaged 20-plus mph! Then I took a more relaxed ride back, but still got back with an average speed of 17.3 mph over the course of 58 minutes. And I felt better. I really believe that hard exercise is good for the body, brain and soul.

25 miles before 8 a.m.

I set my alarm and got up early enough to head out on the bike for a long ride before work today. I didn't know I was planning to, but I hit (almost) 25 miles in 90 minutes for a nice fast 16.2 mph average.

Whether on a run or bike ride, there is a beautiful simplicity in an out-and-back course. If you can get inside your head and keep saying, "just a bit further, then I'll turn back," every extra bit you go doubles. On a loop course, if you decide today's not a good day, you can cut it short and ride home on a shorter loop.

But today, I just kept pushing myself to go a little further until eventually the county road I was on dead-ended at another county road. That was the 12.25-mile mark, so it seemed like a good place to turn back.

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Lunchtime

It was cooled off by lunchtime today, so I went out and did a 5k (not into the wind). Decent time of about 35 minutes. More importantly, I went on a route I haven't run in awhile, and I noticed that I was running past places I used to stop for walk breaks. In fact, I ran the whole 5k except for about 30-40 yards when I stopped and crossed the road and headed back.

It was nice to have a day like today where it's so easy to notice the big differences in my body and endurance from just a few months ago. I'm really feeling some confidence for the tri.