Average Ironman

The Gift of a "Forced" Day Off

Yesterday we got hit with a little more rain in our season of wetness and storms and it luckily forced me into a day off of training. Well, I guess it didn't force me to take the day off but damn, I needed it!   I finally got some serious hours on the saddle and had a great week of workouts.   Yesterday the plan was to get on the bike for about three hours and go up Honey Springs Road with my friends Paul and Julia.  Both of them are way better than me on the bike so this was going to be a difficult ride.

The reason for the post is taking a rest day when you need it.   I had no intention on taking this day off but the past six days leading up to yesterday was my first big real week of training.  Here is my recap from www.traininpeaks.com: 

Almost 12 hours of training and some serious swim and bike time.   I even got bike running while rehabbing my groin m  muscle. 

The Form number is interesting on the training peaks is interesting in that it tries to evaluate your combined fatigue and fitness with a goal of near zero when you go into a race.   You want to have a big negative when you are building up your fitness during the hard work phase.   I haven't been negative in quite some time since I haven't been hitting it that hard.

This week the pendulum swung back hard and it felt good until yesterday.  I woke up and it was raining and I silently said, "Thank you!"  What most people don't understand when beginning to train for a distance event, mentally you get fatigued first.  Your mind starts to tell you it doesn't want to work out.  With Ironman training there are times when you can't listen to those voices but as I get older I am taking that day off when I hear that voice and most importantly not letting it bother me or make me worry about my fitness.

So, taking yesterday off was definitely a gift and I enjoyed it.  I did some reading, a little work and some cleaning but mostly just watched some TV.  

Today, I am excited and eager to get back to the work.   This week will be another big one and I feel energized on a Monday.  That is not a bad thing!

Have a great week training and be safe!

January 2017 Training Recap

Wow, did January fly by?   Time is sure moving quickly and with my commitment to doing a few things differently in my training I am also taking a monthly look back at it and summarizing what went well and what didn't.  The hope is that this will allow me to auto correct as I go into the summer and build to Ironman Coeur D'Alene in August.

As an overview, January went pretty well in most regards.  I like that I got a little consistency in getting back into the gym to strength train.   I had a total of 4:15 lifting in the past month and more importantly I believe I am past that incredible amount of soreness that occurs when you first start back.   Man, do I hate that feeling and so glad I am past it.   Here is the pie chart of the percentage of time I spent on each discipline:

You can see 10% of my time was spent strength training.  I like that.   The next area to discuss is my running and this is one area I am not satisfied with and need to increase.  The issue to date has been a very tight groin muscle that is leading to knee pain.  My sports doctor diagnosed this last fall and I am working on it to relieve the pain.  The lack of time running is not too concerning yet but this needs to improve.   My  total mileage for the month was 30.7 miles which obviously is not enough for Ironman.  

Moving on to swimming - this is a good total for January.   Almost one third of my time was spent here and my total distance was almost 36,000 yards and 12.5 hours.   This amount of training is almost where I would want it for summer time leading to August so I am happy here.

The last area is cycling - 269 miles and 18 hours.  Not bad and the percentage is similar to what I will see in the summer but the volume will go up.  With all of our rain I didn't lose many training days here so that is good news as well.  Definitely need to crank up the volume but I am ok with this.

Looking forward, the key is to slowly build up the running and work on loosening up the groin muscle and reduce the pain in my knee.  I like the trend there so keep your fingers crossed for me.

Have a great February training and I would love to hear how you are doing.   Take care and be safe!

 

 

 

Ironman Triathlon and the Dreaded Foam Roller!

We are now half way through the month of January and my training has been going well.  Now, it definitely has not been ideal but all in all I can't complain.  There is one exception to this statement and that is my right knee, specifically my burser sac that is just below my knee.   I started experiencing pain in that knee and I thought there was cartilage or ligament issues that would require surgery.

After seeing my sports doctor it turned out it was tightening in the muscles leading into my knee.   This was good news of course but it was also somewhat of a surprise.   The therapy for treating it was stretching and strengthening those muscles.  Soon after this appointment I had my bike crash and was down for a month.  Now I am back in the gym and working on stretching for really the first time in my life.  I am doing groin muscle stretches and also others for my legs and this leads me to the infamous foam roller.

This little torture device is an interesting form of training and rehab.  They come in many different varieties and should only cost you maybe $15.   What the foam roller does and try to massage your muscles and get the scar tissue that may be causing inflammation and soreness in the muscle.

You can see in this picture the athlete is working on "rolling" his calf.   At times this simple movement can cause extreme pain because of that scar tissue.   The thought is that over time this scar tissue is reduced or eliminated whereby your muscle now can move more freely and without pain.

Runners World Magazine has a great page on how to use the foam roller, just click here to check it out.

Getting to that point is the trick.   I have only started working with the foam roller and I can tell you it hurts.  I am focusing on those muscles that lead into my right knee and so far have seen a slight improvement.  When walking or biking the pain is pretty much gone.   I need to keep working to try to eliminate the pain that is there when I run.

I am headed out now for a 10k easy zone 2 run but I will keep updating you how this goes.   If I am going to achieve my goals for this season I have to get this darn knee fixed.

 

 

 

2017 Ironman Training Update - Oops, forgot to add one important detail

 In my post yesterday I omitted one important aspect of the changes I am planning on making with my training.   I did note that losing weight, more running off the bike and a focus of more intensity in my training were keys to approaching this years test at Coeur D'Alene.  I want to go faster than I ever have which to me means doing that race differently.

Common sense tells me that I need to train differently to make that happen.  There is nothing wrong with what I have done in the past and I am proud of my finishes but I want to go faster.   So yesterday when I went to Mission Valley Y to lift and swim I realized I left out weight training on what I am going to do differently this year.  

I have been back in the weight room the past few weeks now that I am recovered from my bike accident and I have to tell you it is scary how weak I have become.   I can do an Ironman Triathlon but I can't squat 100 pounds yet!  Uggg.....  I really believe that making my body stronger overall will translate to handling that second half of the marathon.   Also, it will help me lean out as weight training is known to accelerate weight loss.

The plan now is to be in the weight room twice per week before swim practice.   Working hard on upper body on Monday and Legs on Wednesday.   It is a long battle that I face but it should be a very interesting journey.  Stay tuned for updates and share with me your favorite exercises in the gym. 

 

2017 Ironman Training - Taking a different approach

As 2017 begins, I am setting my goals for the upcoming year and the big goal for me is going faster than I have ever gone before in any Ironman Triathlon.  That would be 12:48 minutes.  I did this years ago at Ironman Florida.  IM Florida is considered a "fast" course which means a flat bike and run course.   The swim is average since it is in the Gulf of Mexico but overall it is a place to try to get a very good time.  

In looking at this upcoming year I decided to race Ironman at Coeur D'Alene.  I have done this race twice before with the last race in 2013.   Now I am not getting any younger so I am taking a close look at all that I do to prepare.   In 2013 my splits were as follows, swim 1:05, bike 6:36 and run 5:49 and including transition times my overall time was 13:45.   As you can see I need to take almost an hour off my time.

When looking at my splits the one area that jumps out is my run time.   I remember walking almost the complete second half of the marathon.  This will be a focus and I will detail out my approach in a few minutes.  I will need to definitely improve this.  My bike time was pretty good on a very tough and hilly course but I think getting 16 minutes here is possible.  Again, I have an idea here.  I don't think I can change my swim time much so nothing new there.

So, let's get into what I believe I need to do differently to make this happen and this is the part of what excites me most.   I have completed 14 Ironmans to date so experience with the preparation and race day distance is nothing new.   But, this will be a big leap for me so I HAVE to do some things differently.

Here are the key focuses for me that will be different:

1.  Lose weight.  I have typically raced around 180 pounds but that is due to not paying attention to the details of my diet.  I believe I can get down to under 170 pounds which would get me close to my ideal race weight.   In reading Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald and using his calculations as well as some body analysis in the lab this seems perfect.   Getting there will be tough because it will take an everyday focus on what I eat.  The benefit of this is that it should enable me to take 15 minutes off my bike time with similar preparation as I have done in the past.   It will also have me running without that extra luggage for 26 miles.  I have about 1.5 pounds to lose per month.   This will be tough.

2. Running off the bike in training more.   My friend Mark Blore recommended this, even if it is only a mile or two.  Mark told me that he ran off the bike after every ride on one training block leading up to an Ironman.   The benefit of this is getting your body used to running with the fatigue in your legs from riding.

3. A focus on intensity more during training.  In the past, I have almost completely focused on that zone 1 or zone 2 training.  This is ok but in looking back I need more climbing on the bike and more interval training in running to make it feel more difficult.  I want to try to make it harder in training than it will be on race day.

All of the above will enable me to run that second half of the marathon.  I will need to cut 50 minutes off the run which is basically eliminating most of the walking in the last 10-15 miles.

This will be tough, no question about it.  But, the fun is really trying to do something very, very different.   Let me know your thoughts or if you have any ideas.  It would be great to hear from you.

 

Reason #22 to Love Ironman Triathlon - Loving and Hating Sports Drinks

This is one of the strangest areas of endurance sports for me, hydration and electrolyte replacement and quite honestly is not something I am sure I have figured out, even after completing 13 Ironmans.

We hear the marketing message being sold by Gatorade, our bodies need all the ingredients that are in their drink - potassium, sodium, calories that are in the carbohydrate form.   I do partially believe that our bodies need these in our long workouts which I consider more than 90 minutes. 

I am just not sure our bodies "NEED" them, absolutely must have them.  I use a brand called Carbo Pro for calories and Skratch Labs for the electrolyte part of the equation and my stomach behaves well with these.  I have had nightmarish races where I relied on Gatorade or other brands that were on the course.  This is the HATE part of the post.  Bad stomach equals bad race!!!!

I do feel the calories being delivered to my body with Carbo Pro helps me in Ironman.  I am out there typically for 13+ hours so there is an obvious need for calories.

Where I am wondering if I have been incorrect in their use is in training.  Not on the long days where calorie ingestion is critical but in shorter workouts.   Historically I have even used them in very short workouts.   This is going to change over the winter.  I am going "Paleo" in my training nutrition in that I will rely on only water and food for short to medium workouts.  

The other benefit that I see that may happen is a slight weight loss and better fat adaptation.   Stay tuned on that, I will update you as I go.   I am currently weighing 181.6 as I woke up today and I am trying to really bring that down over the winter.  

Reason #23 to Love Ironman Triathlon - Massages!!!

Well, I think this is a reason to love Ironman Triathlon - massages are fun and relaxing right?  Not so fast!

Often in my lead up to a race I will get a few massages during the largest build up in training to the race. The intent is to help recover and loosen up my body to ensure that I can max out my training in the biggest block of training for the year.

 

Training this year has been great (and tough) so I got my first massage of the year on Monday.

Not exactly a relaxing time.  I went into the appointment thinking that my legs are beat up and will definitely hurt when she digs into the muscle. 

Well, the massage started on my legs and it wasn't bad.  OK, cool, this is good and I am going to feel better after this!  Then the attention turned to my shoulders and back.   OUCH!!!!   I actually jumped off the table when she dug into my shoulder blades.  WTF?

I walked out of the appointment with that feeling you get when you lift weights but haven't done it in some time, that's how sore I was right after the massage!  Fast forward to Tuesday and I felt better but I am still in shock as to the pain.   My best guess is that the soreness and tightness in the muscle was due to all the running I have been doing.  In the week leading up to the massage I had six hours of running on my legs and body.  

I will keep you updated as to the effectiveness of the massages.  I am planning on two or three more before the bid day.  Only one month until IM Chattanooga!  Let's do this!!!

 

Reason #24 to Love Ironman Triathlon - You get to Listen to a lot of Music

This is one of my favorite things about training - listening to music.   I love music and have since I was a kid.   The challenge is to get the music right for your workout.

I don't blast classic rock for all of my workouts, over time I have added some slower songs when I run to calm my mind and drift off mentally to another place.

This weekend's long run poses a challenge - what music do I load onto my Ipod Shuffle (not the old school walkman shown here) for a three hour run?

Do I go with album's like Journey Infinity or Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection or mix it up with whole lot of different more recent songs.

Regardless, this is a key element to bring to the workout and of course I take it way too seriously.   Let me know what you listen to or if you have any suggestions for me.  I would love to hear it. 

Happy Training this weekend!

Reason #25 to Love Ironman Triathlon - The Calorie Burn!!!

This is one of the best reasons to love Ironman, burning all of those calories because we really burn the calories.

I often hear athletes talk about doing triathlon just so they can eat and I really believe it.

Let me give you a couple of examples of the calories that I burn in workouts:

1. 2.5 hour easy bike ride I will burn over 1000 calories.

2. 1 hour swim workout, over 600 calories.

3.  13 mile run, over 2000 calories.

Now of course these numbers vary based on difficulty of the course I am on, the temperature, etc but the key point is that the workouts really get your internal furnace cranking!   But here is the key - the calories you burn during your workout are just a fraction of what you will burn the rest of the day.

Research has shown us that this is where you burn the most.   Because of the workouts, your metabolism increases throughout the day and compared to a sedentary person, at rest you will burn many more.   This leads to weight loss and a host of other important training effects.

So get after it and enjoy the burn, I know it will help every aspect of your life!

Reason #26 to Love Ironman Triathlon - People Think you are Crazy!

As I write my Top 50 Reasons to love Ironman Triathlon, this is one of my favorites.   Although I live in a place where triathlon and endurance sports is popular the overwhelming response when discussing Ironman triathlon is questioning my sanity.

Now, I get this at a lot of levels.   People want to know why I would spend 5 or 6 hours on my bike on a nice Saturday afternoon instead of doing about 100 other things.  Or why I would get up early on a Tuesday morning so I can get a 5k run in.  

But there is something special about that feeling that you are doing something that most others wouldn't even consider.   That you are bringing dedication and discipline into your life that many don't want or don't think they need.

I swam on the team at Ohio Northern University during my junior and senior year.   It was very difficult at times and required me saying no to a lot of fun stuff.  Of course, I would get the question, "Why are you doing this, you are not being paid to swim" and they were right about that.   I can still clearly picture in my mind walking to the pool from my dorm room at 5 in the morning in the dead of winter and relishing the fact that very few others would embark on this journey.  Subject themselves to this cold and then the pain of the workout and want to do it!

I thought that was cool.   I loved being someone who was taking a very different path and not an easy one at that.   I have that same feeling now with Ironman.  I guess that does make me crazy in my own way but I don't want to think of my life without triathlon.  

Want to join me in the craziness?