Journey to Kona Day 115: Bike Preparation

Yesterday was a key day in my bike preparation for IM Boulder.  After my 4600 yard swim, I went home and got on my bike for a one hour workout with the intent of stimulating my neuromuscular system to be ready for race day.  I’ve done the endurance training, and now it’s just a matter of staying fresh (with the exception of a somewhat longer ride this weekend).  My coach had given me the outline of a workout that looked like this:  four six minute efforts of modulating intensity from zone 3 to zone 4 and back to zone 3.  Those are hard efforts, although not maximum efforts.  Ideally, the fourth interval should be consistent with the first three if I do this properly.  This gets my energy systems stimulated.  It also is an interesting test of where I’m at right now from both a fitness and power perspective.  Since my race day bike is  in Colorado, I rode my old tri-bike, which has a power meter on it.  The end of this workout has me doing four one minute efforts of “muscle endurance,” climbing up the hill to my house in a high gear at low cadence, and finishing with a short maximum effort.  I haven’t been training with power as of late so it was an interesting opportunity to see where I’m at.  

The loop I used for this workout started pretty quickly with a long climb, so I just assumed that I was warmed up by my swim and pretty quickly got into my first interval.  It turns out that the hilly bike loop that I’ve developed in my neighborhood has four climbs of about six minute duration each!  Perfect.

I really didn’t pay close attention to my power, just to my effort, trying to start strongly for two minutes, increasing my intensity for the next two minutes and “holding on” for the last two minutes.  It’s always an interesting mental test to see how one does on a workout like this.  Suffice it to say, I passed.  In fact, all four of my efforts ended up averaging about 220 watts, which is very solid for me.  On race day, I don’t plan on exerting this amount of power except for brief periods of time up the short “kickers” at the end of a few of the segments back to I-36.

The most important take home message from today’s bike workout is that I felt good at the end, and felt good throughout the rest of the day.  That’s what really matters right now, and my coach has reminded me that is the single most important factor in any of my workouts during my taper period.

Journey to Kona Day 116: Patience

Got on my flight back to Colorado the morning, we taxied to the runway, and then, stopped.  Turns out there’s a sensor that’s not working.  So, we sat on the tarmac for nearly an hour while waiting for a spot to open up at the gate, where we deplaned.  The only thing that really matters to me today is picking up my bike at the bike shop.  Which is a little funny, because, I do have a charity event to go to tonight, which should matter the most (it’s close), but I need to pick up my bike so I can get out and ride the course again tomorrow.  Hey, ironman training is my number one priority!  I was going to write today’s blog while flying, but instead I’ll write it while sitting in the terminal.  And, I now have today’s topic.  Patience.  It’s really an important topic for me anyway.  We can’t change what we can’t change.  It’s easy to get impatient, or to get upset by such a delay.  What’s the point?  So, I get to practice patience.  Could be an opportunity to do a patience meditation, or to just practice the art of being patient.

As always, ironman is about patience and being in the moment.  It’s a long day, and if you don’t start your day feeling patient, you’ll waste energy.  Surviving an ironman, and having as much in the tank at the end of the day is about not wasting energy.  This starts in the days before the race (and spending a little time as possible on ones feet the day before), but is paramount on race day.  

Not wasting excess energy through worry or anxiety, or other factors, is critical on race morning.  In fact, one of the key elements on race morning is to stay warm.  You certainly don’t want to get too cold so that you shiver.  I’ve seen the excess energy usage from a cold swim or cold weather, you don’t need to start your day using up necessary energy.  The concept of “burning matches” is well understood when it comes to pushing too hard during the swim and bike.  You can burn matches before the race even starts.  

Having patience is about avoiding “burning matches” in life.  There’s a limited amount of energy that we all have, and worrying not only does us no good, but impacts so many other things in our lives.  The lessons continue.

Journey to Kona Day 114: Swim Preparation

As I wind down and taper for IM Boulder, I’m trying to take a more effective approach to my swim preparation.  I had hoped to put in some more volume over the prior week of travel, but was limited my access to a pool.  I also had begun to notice a few twinges in my shoulders, which I’ve tried to pay attention to, especially with a recent increase in swim volume that is completely new to me.  Tapering for each discipline has its own unique applications.  Normally, the taper for a 2.4 mile swim should literally be less than a week.  Hence, my plan to continue to put in swim volume up until the final week, and then get a feel for how I’d like to taper my swim.  

One of the key elements to a good swim is maintaining the “feel” of the water.  When I got in the pool today, with the idea of doing a long swim, I didn’t do a traditional warm up.  Instead, I just started doing 50 yard repeats, but tried to focus on the key elements of my stroke during the first few. In reality, that should approximate what I do at Ironman, where there really isn’t an opportunity to warm up.  My goal today was to complete a volume of swim distance greater than what I’ll be swimming on race day.  For a variety of reasons, I’ve broken my workout into repeats of different increments, starting with 50 yards, then increasing to 100 yards and then 500 yards.  Ultimately, I even did a 1000 yard interval as well.  As I got about 2/3’s of the way through my workout, I realized that my form as getting a bit “sloppy.”

First, I’ll comment on what “sloppy” means.  I’ll start with what feels “right” first.  When my stroke is on, I’m in balance.  I literally feel a “fish-like” rotation of my body.  My body feels stream-lined as my outstretched arms literally make me feel like an arrow shooting through the water.  I don’t lift my head up, but turn it toward my armpit.  What does it feel like when I’m getting “sloppy?”  I suddenly feel like I’m slowing down with my stroke, and I don’t feel “long,” nor do I feel smooth and balanced.  I realized today that I was getting this way and took the opportunity to focus my last 500 yard interval on getting my form right.  

I have a few triggers for keeping my form correct, these were recently given to me by my new swim coach.  The first one that jumps to mind is “slapping” down at the water.  While it really isn’t my goal to create friction, it’s really about having my hand entry correct and consistent.  The other important movement is keeping both hands in the “front quadrant” together.  This is key to feeling “long.”  

I spent 90 minutes in the water today, and 80 minutes were spent swimming.  Completing 4600 yards during this swim felt fine and comfortable.  I could have swam a little longer, but wanted to be careful about not pushing my shoulders too much.  I anticipate getting another swim like this in at altitude over the weekend.  From there, I’ll have to play my swim “taper” by ear over the week prior to IM Boulder.

Journey to Kona Day 113: Habits

I often say that I’m a “creature of habit.” There are advantage and disadvantages to this.  As we return home from being away a week from our house that is presently under construction, I’m reminded of how “off” I’ve been not having a kitchen in our house.  It’s also been hard not having our boxes emptied and things put away in their rightful places.  This is ironic, insofar as I’ve never been the neatest or most organized person.  However, I do appreciate organization.  My brain actually works that way, although I don’t always carry out some type of regular organized structure.

Traveling has been good in some ways, which is also ironic, but just goes to show how being in a home under construction can feel distracting.  Staying in different hotel rooms isn’t the best way of feeling organized, but this is helped by how I’ve got my bag organized.  Once we got to the hotel we were staying at for a few days, it became easier to “set up” the room.  

I often joke that I can eat the same thing as every meal, this is truly part of my being a “creature of habit.”  I like continuity and consistency.  From an Ironman perspective, transitions are a great example of my appreciation of habit.  I look at the transition process as one that has a large amount of consistency.  I visualize the process so that it is essentially second nature.  

I find that when I’m not in a “habitual” mode, that I’m uncomfortable.  It also tends to stymie my overall productivity.  Being “in the moment” goes a long way towards alleviating this, both in life and during a race!

Journey to Kona Day 112: Feeling a Little Lost

Maybe it's the taper.  Maybe it's the altitude. Maybe it's continuing to struggle with determining my priorities.  Maybe it's the fact that I haven't fully recovered from the experiences surrounding my last job.  Today I find myself feeling a little lost.  It's not easy to put my finger on what it is, though that usually just means that I'm avoiding the obvious. Of course, today became a rest day for me, which is always tough when you've gotten used to working out every day.  I know that I can use the rest, and replaced it with catching up on e-mails and projects.  But there's something missing.  I spoke to a friend today about some exciting work that he's doing.  It brought back some memories that I've been trying to avoid.  But you can't avoid memories, they're always there with you.  And so, I feel a little lost.

One of the benefits of ironman training is that it is very purposeful.  I now have less than two weeks before Ironman Boulder, and less than twenty weeks before Kona.  I've clearly made Kona my 2019 priority, and so I really shouldn't lose sight of that.  I'm a goal oriented person, and Kona is my goal.  In the meantime, Ironman Boulder is a short-term goal, one with some specific potential outcomes attached.  It's probably time to start thinking about those outcomes.  I'm not tied to them, and they don't define me, but they're still goals.  I have other goals, other commitments, other projects, which might be getting impacted by my taper.  Or, I could be talking to myself once again about what my priorities really are.  I always have trouble saying no to anything, even to myself.

Something tells me that the timing of Ironman Boulder couldn't come at a better time.  I know that I'll want to "leave it all out there," and no matter the result, the effort will be self-transformational.  Riding and running the course reminded me of what I'm looking forward to, and gives me something to visualize over the course of the next 12 days.  Dealing with the emotional impact of tapering is always fun (not really), but I need to remind myself that's part of what's going on.  Maybe I'm not too lost.

Journey to Kona Day 111: Taper Time!

Today is two week from Ironman Boulder, which means it's time to taper.  In fact, my taper started a week ago with five straight days of traveling and little training.  This weekend got a nice bump, riding one loop of the bike course yesterday, for a solid 3 hour, 55 mile workout, followed by a lot of walking.  Today was run course time.  I uber'd to the start and ran the first 9 1/2 miles of the course.

I really like the new run course!  It starts out with a prolonged gradual climb, which will be a reminder on race day not to start out too hard.  In fact, coming out of the reservoir, there is a "bump" that used to be part of every bike course.  Now it's part of the IM run, and it isn't to be ignored.  The key to ironman is to avoid burning matches, so, despite the fact that I ran up the short steep hill today, I WILL walk up it on race day.  I'll also take note of the number of every athlete who runs past me on that short hill.  I WILL pass them later in the run.

I'm already getting comfortable with the altitude.  Considering that I've already spent about 4-5 days this week at higher altitude, the acclimatization has begun.  My run was meant to be comfortable, so a 10 minute per mile pace was not surprising.  Most importantly, my breathing felt fine.  As I got to the last few miles, however, in order to maintain my pace, I did have to increase my breathing effort.  I tried to push a little harder and felt the impact of the altitude.  With that said, 10 miles of running completed, knowing that I have nearly another 10 days of altitude before race day.  That's a confidence booster!

My legs feel fine, and my fatigue level is actually relatively low.  I say relatively, however, as a reminder that eliminating cumulative fatigue is my number one priority over the next two weeks.  I'll talk to my coach on Tuesday and dial in my upcoming workouts, but I realize that fatigue can sneak up on you. The altitude adjustment adds an additional stress that must be reckoned with.  I'd been thinking about working out again tomorrow, but have decided to make it a rest day.  I may even do the same on Tuesday, knowing that I'll be home at sea level on Wednesday and Thursday, with the opportunity to even put in a little bit of intensity in order to sharpen me up for race day.  Looking back at most of my previous ironman's, and this has been one of my most solid run-ups to race day.  Only once have I ran 90-100 minutes within two weeks of an ironman.  So, with two weeks to go, the hay is in the barn!

Journey to Kona Day 110: Friends

I spent the day with my good friend Rudy.  It's always good to see old friends, especially one who is essentially a brother. From the moment I met Rudy nearly a decade ago, it was obvious that we have a lot in common.  Most important, he wanted to see my new bike!  Not really, but it is part of it.  He definitely shares my passion for triathlon.  Several years ago, when I was going through a really rough time at work, I was able to share what I was going through with him. It really helped.

Rudy has been a huge supporter of me in my ironman's, and will be out cheering me on at Boulder in two weeks.  It means so much to know that someone is there and rooting for you.  The adrenaline boost is usually worth some finite period of time.  A few years ago, Rudy joined me for my 20th 20 mile run, and literally severely dehydrated himself in the process.  He's had some struggles with his hip, but has recently been getting back into running shape.  I'm always excited to see this happen, because Rudy is so much faster than me.  One of these days, I'm going to be able to return the favor of supporting him at an ironman event.  I look forward to that day.

In our lives, we make friends, we meet people.  There are some people that you can see after weeks or months where you leave off as if no time has passed.  Rudy is one of those people for me.

Journey to Kona Day 109: Getting Serious

I've always been too serious.  Since I was a young boy and wrote a letter to President Johnson to stop the war in Vietnam, to my desire to make nursing home better places for older adults, I take everything seriously.  Being too serious doesn't actually change anything, and it's not altogether healthy.  So, it's time that I take things less seriously.  Unless, of course, it's my upcoming ironman race!  Just kidding, sort of.  If I'm going to take anything seriously, it's going to be my training and racing.  On the other hand, just like life, taking ironman too seriously will only lead to trouble.  The idea is to enjoy the experience and to be in the moment.  The same goes with life.

I was on a conference call today about improving the nursing home survey process.  It's something that I feel strongly about.  I've always felt bad for the people on the front lines who have to put up with a demoralizing and often dehumanizing process.  I understand the goals, but the means don't always justify the ends, especially when the means don't actually achieve the goals!  Yet, do I need to take this too seriously?  The answer is no.  I need to engage with it, as it's something important to me.  However, I don't need to let it raise my cortisol and adrenaline levels.

Being serious, having serious goals, and taking things too seriously are different.  59 years of being serious and taking things too seriously adds up.  It's time to be a little less serious.  It's time to have some fun and enjoy the day.  It's time to be in the moment.

Journey to Kona Day 108: Enjoying the Road

Today was a great day.  My wife and I drove from St. George to Grand Junction.  There's nothing like the natural beauty of this drive, and there's nothing like sharing with the person who matters the most in the world to you.  We've always loved this drive, and today was no exception.  My wife was taking photos much of the way, and they're awesome!  The meditative aspect of this drive also lend itself to talking about any number of topics, but doing it in a relaxed way.  The clouds were amazing, and we ultimately hit a very serious rainstorm about an hour from Grand Junction.  Fortunately, it only lasted about 20 minutes.

During the final portion of the drive, I began looking forward to getting on the treadmill.  This was also a good sign. Three days of traveling, with no working out, put me in the position of not knowing where I was at in terms of training mentality.  I was thinking about training the day before, but by the time we got to the hotel, I was exhausted.  Getting on the treadmill felt fantastic.  While I only ran for four miles, I could have ran longer.  That's always a good thing, especially at this point in my race preparation.  Took some extra carbs tonight, as I'm not at altitude.

The drive was also a reminder of the importance of just relaxing and "enjoying the ride." Also, good preparation for some upcoming long bike rides.  The road calls.

Journey to Kona Day 107: Travel

Travel is fatiguing.  I'm reminded of the after three day of travel time. On Monday I flew to Denver, where I spent the entire day in a meeting. Tuesday, after continuing my meeting in the morning, I flew home in the afternoon.  Late Tuesday night, we drove to Victorville.  Today, we drove to St. George.  While I'd love to say that I've found time to work out during the past few days, there hasn't been any time to train.  Also, as I write this tonight, I'm tired.  The last four weeks of training have been full, culminating in a very solid weekend before my travels.  I'm pretty sure that if I had been able to rest the last three days, training would be easy right now.  However, that's not what I've been doing.  I will admit to being tired tonight.  As I've been writing over the past few month, sometimes rest is the most important workout.

Travel is definitely fatiguing.  The fact that I traveled to altitude for two days was an additional factor.   I'm not surprised that I'm tired tonight.  A I've often noted, there are different types of stressful stimuli.  There are different types of fatiguing stimuli.  Ignoring the impact of these factors will impact the immune system, which is the last thing that I want at this point in my training.  Fortunately, I can focus on getting a good night's sleep tonight.  Again, rest is my workout tonight!

My wife reminds me that I actually planned all this!  OK, maybe not the best planning, but so long a I adjust to it, I'll be fine.  There is still time for training in the upcoming days, and a few days of rest won't hurt my muscles.  Unfortunately, I'm not really offloading fatigue during this type of physical rest.  That's where sleep is important, and watching myself over the next few days as we travel to Denver.  I'm entering the home stretch.  I want to be ready for my final kick!

Journey to Kona Day 106: Altitude

There are lots of theories about how to deal with altitude when it comes to racing.  I’ve always been fascinated by this from both a personal and scientific perspective.  Over the years, I’ve personally seen the impact of altitude on my athletic performance.  Perhaps the most striking example was running a half marathon at sea level at 7:05 pace when my fastest training at altitude was at 7:30 pace.  There is no question in my mind that I benefitted from training at altitude when it came to performing at sea level.  Ironically, I’m not sure that I ever really got to experience the benefit of this in an ironman.  I definitely did see results in half marathons and 5K’s.  What I’ll never now is whether I’d have achieved the same results training at sea level.  

The other thing that has been obvious to me is that living at altitude for 18 years has given me some physiologic memory to fall back on.  I remember that when I first moved to Denver, it took me almost six months to fully acclimatize.  I feel like it now only takes a couple of weeks for my body to recall what altitude feels like.  With that said, I still feel the difference during my first day or two at altitude.  Yesterday was a good example.  Having done 9 hours of training over the weekend, it is likely that I was already slightly dehydrated, and definitely fatigued.  Going to altitude kicked my butt for about a day, but after a good night’s sleep, I awoke feeling pretty good,  I’ll consider this my first day of being at altitude in preparation for Ironman Boulder.  Tomorrow night we’ll be in St George, which is “only” about 2500 feet, but will give me some altitude stimulus.  By Friday, I’ll be at altitude again, where I will stay until Tuesday.  So, four more days added to my “altitude tab.”  

The body responds to altitude by adjusting.  There is certainly the attempt at making more red blood cells, as well as the body’s attempt to dehydrate itself in order to increase the concentration of red blood cells.  I will sometimes take some additional iron during this time period.  There is some school of thought about taking in more alkaline fluids.  I generally find that after 4 or 5 days that I’m feeling pretty comfortable.  Hydration, and some additional electrolytes are important.  Another thing that I’ve learned is that the body burns more carbohydrates at altitude, and my more “keto” approach to eating has some downside  So, at altitude, I’ll actually make sure that I take in some additional carbohydrates.

I’ll be back home for a few days before heading back to Boulder next Friday, giving me nine more additional days prior to race day.  Adding my altitude time up, I’ll have two weeks at altitude in the bag prior to race day.  In my experience, that will give me a significant amount of acclimatization for the race.  

My coach does note that altitude doesn’t really have much impact on ironman.  The impact is greater on high intensity training or racing.  With that said, over the course of an ironman, the interplay of greater carbohydrate requirements at altitude certainly has some effect.  In my experience, it ultimately adds up at the end of a race, although it’s hard to imagine that the cumulative impact of an ironman itself isn’t mostly responsible.  So, altitude will have an impact, but it will hopefully be mitigated by my having a couple weeks to prepare my body for racing at higher altitude.  

Journey to Kona Day 105: Offloading Fatigue

With three weeks to go before Ironman Boulder, my primary focus is offloading fatigue.  On a positive note, four weeks very solid training, culminating in one last hard weekend, has not left me feeling too fatigued.  I purposely threw in a hard downhill mile yesterday in order to stress my quads one last time prior to race day.  Since the tissue and cellular breakdown will take two weeks to regenerate and recover, it’s the perfect time.  Fortunately, I’m only feeling a little bit of quadriceps soreness as I fly to Denver this morning.  That should peak tonight, and I’m sure my legs will feel fine in a few days.  I’ll play whether I run by ear in the next few days, based both on how I feel and whether I have opportunities to run.  My arms are a little tired from yesterdays solid 1500 yard swim, and I’m already aiming to swim after I get home tomorrow afternoon.  I can see some 5000 yard 90-100 minute swims on the horizon.  

The short trip to Denver brought about another realization, altitude does matter.  I was in a meeting all day, and didn’t really eat much. My body already started rebelling.  Some carbohydrates and fluids helped, but I have to admit feeling a bit wiped out from the altitude.  Of course, this was after a hard 9 hour training weekend that culminated in what was essentially a solid olympic distance triathlon effort.  So, I guess my efforts to offload fatigue will start tomorrow when I get back to sea level!  Of course, the day after, we’ll be heading back to Denver, but it will be a gradual increase in altitude over the course of a several days.  

The key to a successful ironman depends on getting rid of accumulated fatigue.  The challenge during the taper is to keep moving, active, and stimulated, all the while avoiding adding fatigue.  And, rest and recovery literarily should allow the fatigue to dissipate.  Time to go to sleep, again, one of the key elements and “workouts” during my taper.

Journey to Kona Day 104: Ready to Race!

I'm three weeks to IM Boulder and 20 weeks to Kona.  Yesterday, I rode 5 hours and 45 minutes with nearly 5,000 feet of climbing (88 miles).  I was supposed to do an Olympic Tri today, but decided last night to do my own for a few reasons.  First, I needed the sleep, and getting up at 4:30 am didn't make sense to me. Second, the water quality of the race was going to either be dangerous or they'd cancel the swim. Third, it was raining.  I trust myself, but not everyone else.  So, I did my own Olympic Tri!

Slept in, woke up feeling refreshed from yesterday's bike ride.  Went to the pool and did a 500 yard warm up.  Then, swam comfortably hard for 1500 yards.  I wore my trisuit and my swim skin and I felt great!  My form felt locked in and I felt like I was consistent throughout.  Looking at my splits, I essentially kept the same pace the entire time.  When I got out of the pool, I felt good.  I couldn't be happier with where my swim is right now.  Oh, and, my pace was 1:40/100yds, which meant that I did the 1500 yards in 25 minutes.  Going a little slower at ironman would still give me a solid swim time, but I actually felt pretty good at this effort and pace.  And, I've three more weeks to work on my swim fitness!

I drove home and got on my bike.  It was still misty with a little drizzle, so I was on the cautious side, especially on downhill sections.  I rode the 11.3 mile loop that I ride regularly (850 feet of climbing). I rode the first loop with a solid effort, leaving something for the second loop, but never going to easy.  I stopped briefly for some fluids and a gel and then did the loop a second time, going as hard as I could.  I've done this loop more than a dozen times in the past month.  The first loop today was actually my second fastest time 44 minutes and change.  I just put my head down and rode the second loop hard.  I was surprised to find that I crushed it!  Three minutes faster than the first loop and two minutes faster than I've ridden this loop.  Considering that I rode nearly 6 hours yesterday and did this  within 25 minutes of my swim, I was quite happy.

I quickly transitioned to the run.  The 10K run is an out and back that is quite hilly with nearly 500 feet of climbing.  It starts with a pretty solid one mile climb (after a short steep downhill).  I ran the first 5K comfortably, settling into my breathing every 4th step mode.  When I got to the turnaround, I picked up the pace, initially increasing my breathing every 3rd step.  I did this up the long climb back, and when I got to the crest, I went all out downhill for one mile, doing the mile in 7:31.  This achieved a couple of things.  First, it got me one hard downhill mile to trash my legs a little further three weeks out from Boulder.  Second, it showed me my fitness level and made this Olympic distance training session just that much more valuable.  I finished my run off going all out up my 0.2 mile steep climb back to my house.

I'm really not sure what else I need to do to prepare for Boulder.  I'm going to keep working on my swim volume, as I can taper my swim the last week before the race.  My run is fine.  No need for more long runs, though I can "play by ear" what I do this week depending on how my legs feel.  I'll just keep cycling, and I'm planning to get some more volume in once I'm in Colorado.  No need to push it too much, though I'll defer to my coach.  I've felt remarkably well the rest of the day today.  My legs might finally be feeling a little of the downhill hard mile tonight.  Most important, I'm ready!

Journey to Kona Day 103: Time in the Saddle

Today was an opportunity to get more time on the bike.  I was probably sitting on my bike for more than 6 hours today, with a little over 5 hours and 45 minutes of actual ride time.  That would make my fourth ride of that length in the past few weeks.  I could probably use a 7 hour ride, but that will have to wait until my Kona training.  It also might not actually be worthwhile to ride for 7 hours, but instead do back to back 6 hour rides instead. I'm already starting to think about my Kona bike preparedness.  Maybe even a one week "mega" bike schedule is in order.

Riding by oneself for 6 hours isn't the most fun experience, so coordinating my long ride with a group ride is ideal.  Today lended itself to that, and I got 2 hours of riding in before the group ride started.  Today's ride was going to finish with a 7 mile climb up Mulholland Highway, which would occur after I had nearly 4 1/2 hours in the saddle.  The group ride was supposed to be pretty "chill" today, but that rarely seems to work out.  I found myself on more than one occasion by myself, against a strong headwind, in my aero position.  That was great!  I could certainly use the time in my aero position.

Most of the group went ahead of me on the climb. Of course, I'm riding a tri bike, and most of them are riding road bikes.  Still, I pretty much suck as a climber.  All in all, I was pretty happy with my climb.  Apparently, according to Strava, it's the fourth time I've done this climb in the past four years, and today was my fastest.  Considering that the other climbs were probably done on my road bike, this was pretty good.

I was originally going to run off the bike, but chose to go get food instead:).  Tomorrow will be a solid day anyway. Originally, I'd signed up for an olympic distance tri, but it sounds like the water will not be safe (I'm not going to risk getting sick 3 weeks before Boulder), it may rain (don't want to risk crashing either), and I really don't want to get up at 4:30 am (read yesterday's post about rest).  So, my plan right now is to approximate the Olympic tri with an equivalent swim, bike and run workout.  Let's see how it turns out!

Journey to Kona Day 102: Making Time for Workouts

Today was a busy day.  I had to navigate L.A. traffic for what totaled over 4 hours, had a lunch meeting, visited my parents, and helped put my grandson to bed.  I managed to get in a 45 minute bike ride when I woke up (I've got my "go to" 45 minute loop dialed in, so that it's almost a habit it to jump on my bike and do it).  I then stopped at the club on my way into L.A. and did 45 minutes in the pool.  Just like that, 1 1/2 hours of training.  If one is trying to build volume for ironman training, this is the key.  You've got to get the workouts in.  Sometimes it's easier said than done, but I'm finding that since I've made my training my number one priority, it's a little easier.

I can see how professional athletes can train, with no other priorities, or get laser focused on their training at the exclusion of all other things.  On the other hand, there are plenty of people, professionals included, who multi-task any other variety of activities and priorities.  When it comes down to it, you just have to do it.  My travel at the beginning of this week (which seems like forever ago already), definitely made it more difficult to build volume for the week, and the weekend is going to have to make up for that.  Still, when I have a significant amount of volume for a few days, having a few lighter days right after is also fine.  I still need to have time to recover.

I'm hitting the home stretch for Boulder, and will soon need to choose between workouts and rest.   Both are ideal, but ultimately, rest is the most important.  If I miss the rest, I'll risk getting sick, and not getting rid of the fatigue that's inherent in ironman training.  After Boulder, the Kona training starts, and hopefully, I can utilize some of the things I've learned in the past few months to allow me to be fully prepared.  This is one of them.  Making time. Getting in that extra 30 minute swim, or a 45 minute bike ride, or sometimes, just a 20 minute run.  It all adds up.

Journey to Kona Day 101: My Swimming Journey

In the past week I've done a couple of 80 minute swim sessions, the first was literally swimming for 80 minutes straight and covering 4400 yards at about a 1:50/100yds pace.  Today, I decided to mix it up and do intervals of 25 yards, 50 yards and 100 yards (did throw in one 200 yard interval as well). My actual time swimming was 1:06, and my average pace when swimming was 1:40/100yds.  The best part is that I felt really good throughout and when I got out of the pool.  I realized that I hadn't done anything like this in a very long time.  So, I went back and looked at my training logs and discovered that I haven't done workouts like this since 2012!  Of note, my Ironman swim times during my first few years of doing ironman was right around 1:10-1:12.  In the past few years, focusing primarily on my VASA swim trainer, and actually doing little to no swim training in the past couple of years, my swim pace dropped into the 1:20 range and hit an all-time low of 1:30 last year at Santa Rosa (getting over a cold as well).

I'm dedicated to getting my swim back and feel like the last few weeks has put me in a very interesting spot.  My eighty minute continuous swim last week was a great confidence builder and suggested that I might already be closer to my earlier ironman swim times than my latest ones.  With that said, the only way one can get in the habit of swimming fast is to swim fast! So, today's workout was more traditional, and will probably become my go-to workout.  It's good that my 100 yard pace is settling in right around 1:40, which tracks pretty closely with similar workouts that I did between 2010 and 2012.  The cool thing is that I'm nearly 10 years older and I haven't been keeping any sort of swim volume up and I'm already close to where I was then.  My goal of swimming faster at Kona seems very reasonable at this time.

My goal for my swim at Boulder in 3 weeks is to come close to my best IM Boulder swim, which was my first race there, and I swam ~1:13.  I'd be thrilled to be close to that in three weeks, and am pretty confident that I can be, especially if I keep these workouts up.  In fact, the number of workouts that I did back then that are close to what I've done in the past week was marginal.  A few more of these and I'll have done more in a month than I've ever done during my entire career as a triathlete!  While I normally take the attitude that the time I spend swimming could be better spent on the other disciplines, now that my focus is 100% Ironman training, that's not an excuse.  I need to get adequate training time in for all three disciplines!  Plus, coming out of the water feeling fresh, as I've done a few times during my ironman journey, is the ultimate goal!  The swim should not detract from the rest of the day, either in amount of time or fatigue.

I'll probably be able to get in another swim tomorrow, and then I'll keep this up until race week!  After IM Boulder, I'll get back with my new swim coach and see how much further I can improve my swim time for Kona.  I've got my eye on the 1:10 mark, because that gives me about 20 minutes to fend off the fastest female age group swimmers at Kona.  Not sure how much faster than that I can go without burning matches, but we'll see.  I continue to find that my greatest strength in swimming has always been good form, rather than strength.  On the other hand, I can feel the value of getting stronger with today's workout.  My journey continues!

Journey to Kona Day 100: Making Good Decisions

Yesterday I woke up at 7am, EDT, was in meetings throughout the day that I really enjoyed, then flew home. Ultimately, I went to bed at 11 pm PDT.  A 19 hour day.  I had a lot of fun, enjoyed my day, but even fun has physiologic stress.  When I woke up this morning at 9am, it was pretty obvious that my body wanted rest.  After taking my grandson to breakfast, I actually took a nap!  Yep!  Rest is the order of the day.  I've been planning to ramp up my training volume this week, but as I've written, it's time to make smart decisions.  The fact that I just felt like sleeping today was definitely a message that my body was sending me.  I listened to it.

Racing an ironman is all about making good decisions.  There are so many things that happen on race day.  I can look back at many experiences during my 13 previous ironman's where I made decisions that would have an impact on my day.  The same goes for training.  If there's one thing I learned from my recent injury, a day or two off won't hurt, and most likely will be of value.

Sleep is certainly the single most important training exercise that I can focus on over the next 3 1/2 weeks.  In fact, during my trip back east, I managed to get a reasonable amount of sleep.  Nevertheless, as my wife reminds me, traveling is fatiguing in and of itself.  The last thing that I want to happen in the coming weeks is to get sick, and sleep is the most important protection against that.

I talk to my coach tomorrow.  Tomorrow is also my anniversary, so it's unlikely that I'll do too much training tomorrow.  It's looking like my push for training volume will be happening this weekend.

Journey to Kona Day 99: Having Fun

I’ve spent the last three days traveling to Jackson, Mississippi and Louisville, Kentucky on “business.”  I know that I’m retired, but I’ll never absolve myself of my passion to help older adults.  In my retirement, I’ve been mentoring several young geriatricians, and this has given me great joy.  My trips over the past few days have been related to my mentoring.  I love to tell people, that while I’m sure that I teach these young doctors a thing or two, it is I that probably learns the most from them!  

I’ve never been shy about sharing my thoughts and opinions, and it’s really nice to be in a position and place in life where others are asking me to share.  It is an honor and a privilege to be able to do so.  What good is knowledge if it stays locked up in your brain?  So, here I find myself, having fun.  At the end of the day, it has to be about having fun.  I can’t take myself too seriously, or make my goals and aspirations too serious.  That’s a tall task for me, but in the spirit of setting a high bar, it’s time for me to set this bar high!

Fun means different things to different people.  I have fun running for three hours the day after I’ve ridden a bike 100 miles.  I have fun digging deep to run at the end of an ironman, despite feeling like I might pass out.  My wife and kids don’t get that, but they don’t have to, it’s who I am.  At the same time, I have fun thinking and trying to figure out how to make complex systems work more effectively.  It’s why I’ve always enjoyed the field of geriatrics.  Frail older adults are the most complex and challenging patient’s that physicians have ever encountered.  Figuring out how to help them have the greatest quality of life and function is the kind of challenge that I love to have.  

I’ve definitely had fun the last few days.  My meeting in Mississippi was with people who I respect and who are trying to make a difference.  That’s always the most fun, when I have the opportunity to brainstorm with good people who are also excited by challenging problems.  My meeting today in Kentucky exceeded my expectations.  I was there because of someone whom I truly believe in, someone I think can make a difference in the care of older adults.  If I can provide some small measure of help and support, it truly brings me joy.  The pleasant surprise, although it really shouldn’t have been a surprise, was that he is working with some incredible people in an environment that supports the concepts and values that matter to me.  I have know idea what may come from this trip, and in the ironman spirit of living life in the moment, I don’t really care.  I enjoyed what I did today!

I’m flying home, ready to immerse myself in my ironman training with less than four weeks to go before Ironman Boulder.  The projects that I opened myself up to give me something to think about during long bikes and runs.  Embracing those moments and appreciating the fun that I can have with whatever I’m doing will continue to be my number one priority.

Journey to Kona Day 98: The Infamous Taper

Tapering for an ironman is part science, part art, and part voodoo.  Clearly, it doesn’t do a lot of good to run 20 miles the day before an ironman.  At the same time, too much rest, while definitely of value, can lead one to come into an ironman “flat.”  With four weeks to go before Ironman Boulder, it’s time to start seriously thinking about my tapering plans.  A few weeks ago, I’d considered turning my typical traditional taper on its head.  Three weeks of enforced rest had me worried about quickly jumping into a more traditional three week taper.  The past three weeks of training, culminating in a 20 hour training week this past week, has given me confidence in where I’m at, and at the same time, information about how my body is responding to the training.  

This morning I got on a treadmill.  I had limited amount of time, and since I’m traveling, had no expectations.  In fact, I set my alarm as if I wouldn’t have time to get on the treadmill.  Rest and recovery are definitely number one right now.  With that said, as I started the treadmill pace at 6 mph, my legs felt sluggish.  There was no soreness whatsover, despite being only 48 hours removed from a 3 hour and 5 minute hilly run.  Check!  One of my favorite revelations about ironman training is how the body hits points where it truly positively absorbs the training.  I consider this past week one of those remarkable weeks.  Despite being one of my largest volume weeks in a long time, the week left me with no soreness.  Some of that is a testament to my patience in not doing anything too strenuous or intense.  At the same time, I never really went easy.  My 99 mile bike ride was easily at our above ironman intensity.  Same for my swim and run.  I pretty much did what my body allowed me to do.  So, when my legs felt sluggish, instead of shutting it down, I said to myself, increase the pace gradually and see what happens.  I’ve obviously done this before!  While I only was on the treadmill for 24 minutes, I ended up comfortably running at 7 mph pace and doing a few short thirty second bursts at 8 mph.  I could have run longer.

Balancing rest with continued training is on my radar.  I definitely put a hard stop at two weeks prior to the race for anything too intense or strenuous when it comes to running.  I usually peg my cells recovery needs to be at two weeks.  To be on the safe side, I might push this to 3 weeks for my favorite pre-race workout, a hard one mile downhill mile, which is now right around the corner from where I live.  One mile up, and one mile down.  I can even repeat this if I’m up to it!  Boulder has a deceptive elevation profile, and my present hill running, enforced by the area I now live in, will serve me well.  Hills also are actually a little easier on the body, so long as you don’t push too hard on the downhills.  So, I’ll be looking to do a hard downhill running workout in the coming couple of weeks.

The bike has no pounding, like running does, but one could still overdo intensity getting close to race day.  With that said, it looks like I’ll be in Denver two weeks prior to race day, and the opportunity to get a solid ride in on the course can not be denied.  Similarly, I’m even considering decent long ride on the course the weekend before the race, something that I’ve never done before.  I’ll work this out with my coach in the coming weeks.  There’s still time for more cycling volume, and my legs and body are clearly “in the mood” to accept the training stress.  Of course, I MUST pay attention to fatigue, as that is the insidious fly in the ointment that can undercut the best efforts to prepare for an ironman.  Sometimes, the better part of valor is resting and recovering.  

The swim is the most interesting.  Even top swimmers rarely taper for more than a week, and since I’ve been building on a fairly poor swimming base, my inclination is to continue to push the volume for as long as I can.  Travel may hinder some of this, but when the opportunity is there, expect some more 4500-5000 yard days (or more?).  I’ll arrive in Boulder (for the third time in a couple of weeks) eight days before race day, and I’m already figuring on getting in some solid swim volume over the few days right after I arrive.  I’m excited to see how strong I can be on the swim, and then how good I can feel coming out of the water.

With all of this said, I’ll depend on my coach to keep my honest.  It’s easier to overdo it than it is to do too little.  Still, something is feeling very good about continuing to maximize my volume going into Ironman Boulder.

Journey to Kona Day 97: Finding my Groove

Wow!  That’s about all I can say.  I took some swim lessons a couple of months ago, began working on drills to improve my stroke, and had two rib injuries that derailed my swim training and practice time.  Despite that, I somehow managed an incredibly solid week of swimming that culminated today in a short swim that focused primarily on what I’d learned in regards to my form and began the next phase of incorporating that into swimming faster for longer periods of time.  Originally, I’d thought that just doing drills for a couple of months would help, but with Ironman Boulder coming up in just four weeks, I realized that I needed to start putting in volume.  The form was going to have to find itself in my brain!  I suppose that my new swim instructor, albeit having only taken a few lessons, has connected positively with me.  I’ve been focusing on making sure that both arms symmetrically recover with each stroke, and that they “slap” down on the water, although I’m getting better at “slapping” quietly.  I can begin to feel my body becoming “fish-like” as my hips roll with each stroke, and I feel less like I’m slowing myself down.  Keeping my hands in front of me in the same quadrant is something else I’m trying to focus on, as it really helps with maintaining balance in the water.  All of this is coordinated with my new two-beat kick, which admittedly doesn’t feel like a like at all, but does feel like my feet and legs are keeping me horizontal and balanced, and not dragging on my stroke.  I made a new addition this week after reading an article by Gary Hall about head position while breathing, and realized that I’d probably been lifting my head too much.  During my long swims earlier in the week, I intermittently focused on this, trying to close my right eye and seeing if I could keep may left eye under water while breathing to my right side.  It’s been hit and miss, but getting the “feel” of keeping my head down and my breathing in a “trough” behind me is something that I’m definitely learning.  

With all of that preparation and thinking at hand, this week took on its own swim focus, starting with back to back near one hour swims of 3000 yards straight, with no concern as to my pace.  It then morphed into an eighty minute swim of 4400 yards straight, where I definitely felt pretty comfortable in the water and fairly consistent with all of the things I’ve been focusing on.  I allowed myself to look at my pace for 80 straight minutes, and was pleased that I kept my pace pretty consistent and managed to keep my form throughout.  moreover, I got out of the water feeling pretty fresh, and then followed it up with a 99 mile bike ride.  Yesterday being a one hour bike effort followed by 3 hours and 17 miles of hilly running, and I had about 40 minutes to spend at the pool before a long day of traveling.  I knew what I wanted and needed to do.  With 10,400 yards already in the books for the past week, volume wasn’t an issue.  I was also relatively fatigued from two big days, but woke up feeling surprisingly fresh.  It was time to start thinking about my pace and my effort.

Working on my swim pace without messing with my form was my goal today, so I began with 10 x 100 yards, focusing completely on keeping my form intact and doing all of the things I’ve mentioned above.  My first 100 took 1:41, but my next two slowed down a bit as I worked on locking in my form, but not going too easy.  Somehow, I found my groove on the fourth 100 and the rest of the 100’s were right at the 1:40-1:41 pace.  I started on the 2:00 mark, so had about 19-20 seconds of rest in between.  First of all, this is a good starting point for me going forward, and I could certainly build on this workout from a total volume perspective, working to hold the pace with the same rest, and over time, decreasing my rest interval.  

Somehow, I felt after these that it was time to just comfortably swim 500 yards, again focused solely on my form.  I did this in 8:38, averaging ~1:44 pace.  A little slower, but reasonable for where I am.  Clearly, I want to at least get my 500’s down to 8:20, or 1:40 pace, before I set my next pacing goal.  Endurance is suddenly not an issue for me, after remarkably ramping up my swim volume in a very short period of time.  I really think that the two-beat kick has been a life saver in this regard!

Anyone who knows me knows that I had to close my swim with a fast 100 yard swim.  I’ve just got to see where my speed really is.  I can’t help myself.  However, I promised myself that I wouldn’t lose my form for the sake of speed, and just focused on going fast.  Something interesting happened in the process.  A new focus came into my head, which was that of being “long” in the water, and feeling my body stretch out in a straight, stream-lined line.  In order to swim faster, I incorporated this with the other focal points for my final 100 yard effort.  The result? A 100 yard pace of 1:30.  I’m looking forward to getting back in the pool in a few days and seeing if I can stay in this groove and build on it.  The swim is about form, and not about strength.  Since my ironman swim time has slowed by about 10-20 minutes in the past few years, I consider this “free” time to get back.  Moreover, if I get it back the right way, I’ll be faster during the swim and fresher after the swim.  That will pay off in a more relaxed bike and ultimately in a faster run.  The impact of every match we burn during an ironman is geometric.  

I’m really looking forward to continuing to work on my swim, finding and keeping my groove, and having a good swim at Ironman Boulder, an even better swim at Santa Rosa 70.3 (at the end of July), and a great swim in Kona!

Journey to Kona Day 96: Loving Ironman Legs

There's nothing like the feeling of "ironman legs" while training for an ironman.  Today was one of those days.  The best part was that, despite nearly 100 miles on the bike yesterday and another 50 minute ride this morning (with muscle endurance efforts, high gear/low cadence), I went into my long run with absolutely no leg soreness, but my legs were pretty dead.  It didn't bother me, nor did it dissuade me from my run.  In fact, I looked forward to just getting out and running at whatever pace made sense.  Since my run course was very hilly, that meant slow!  I didn't look at my pace, nor did I care.  I just ran and enjoyed the beautiful day, knowing that this was another key test of my training preparation for Boulder, and beyond.  The cool thing was that I never felt any soreness, and, if I hadn't attempted a hard downhill mile around mile 10, probably wouldn't have even felt the cumulative fatigue of the last few weeks, and in particular, yesterday.

There really is nothing like the feeling that your legs are dead, but that you can run anyway.  Mentally, it's the most important part of ironman training.  Physically, I'm sure that there are also benefits.  I continue to be fascinated by what has transpired in the last few weeks.  I'm sure that I keep blogging about it, but it's hard not to.  I literally had to take three weeks off, and here I am, having completed one of my most solid two day ironman training efforts ever!  More importantly, the only thing that I'm feeling as I write this is fatigue.  But that goes without saying.

The human body is a remarkable organism.  It takes whatever you throw at it, adjusts, heals, and moves forward.  I've wondered if my accidental break allowed positive healing that is now paying off as I've ramped up my training level once again.  I'm also still intrigued by the impact of my 100 mile event in January.  It took a huge toll on my physiology, but I have a sense that it did something to my legs that further insulates them from the rigors of training.

I'm traveling over the next three days, so training will be limited, but that's probably good.  Additional recovery time at this point doesn't hurt, and will allow me to push further through next week.  With four weeks to go (as of tomorrow) to Ironman Boulder, I'm entering that time where a little caution doesn't hurt, although I'm still intending to push things a little further than I normally would, especially if my body continues to respond the way that it has!

Journey to Kona Day 95: "Big Day" Dialing it In!

Gordo Bryn would call today a "big day" workout.  It almost went as planned, but I had to cut my run short due to the fact that my family was hungry and I needed to take them to dinner.  Plus, I was pretty hungry myself after my day's workout.  Originally, I'd just planned to bike long and then run.  However, the morning weather report was calling for rain, so I did an audible and decided to swim again today. I'd already swam twice in the past three days, both times swimming for nearly an hour straight.  I'd talked to my coach yesterday about doing a longer swim in preparation for Ironman (same "over distance" concept as running and biking), and so that's what I did!  I got in the water and focused on my form, which really seems to be coming around.  The "two beat" kick has become natural, and really saves my legs for the bike and run.  I was working today on my breathing, trying to keep my head from lifting up too much.  And, I keep working on my stroke, especially making sure that I keep my hands together in the front quadrant.  All in all, today was a huge success.  My pace started around 1:45ish/100 yards and never slowed more than 1:55ish/100  yards, and I was able to bring it back closer to the 1:45 range at the end.  Consistency is key in swimming, and if I'm able to maintain my pace at the end, I know that I'm doing something right.  The best part of today, I swam 1 hour and twenty minutes straight, and swam 4400 yards.  That's longer, in both distance and time, then I hope to do at Boulder.  In fact, at this pace, and that's without a wetsuit, I'd expect my ironman swim to be back closer to the 1:12 swim times that I used to have.  That would be great, especially in my new 60-64 age group.  The best part is that I've got 4 weeks to go and the opportunity to continue to work on my swim!  I really can't wait for after Boulder, when I'll get back with my new swim coach and work on continuing to improve for Kona.  I really want to finish before the top women swim over me at the swim finish!  I came out of the water today feeling good, not at all tired.  I went home, had breakfast and got a haircut. The sun was peaking through and it looked like I would avoid the rain.

I got on my bike after 11 am and rode to Westlake Village.  I have a 5.2 mile loop that I do repeatedly, and I did about 10 of them, all (but one) in my aero position.  I love my new bike!  I really love my new aero position.  In fact, I did one loop sitting up, and it was less comfortable than being aero!  Also, slower!  This was a great opportunity to dial in my effort and my aero position and to see how it  was working.  My pace was pretty close to 20 mph, which was very encouraging, especially as I held my effort and pace for the 50 miles I rode around Westlake.  I finished up by riding the hills home and then doing my local very hilly loop twice.  No rest for the weary!  Again, I really focused on staying in my aero position.  I actually hit a little rain near the end, but it was more of a drizzle, and the ground wasn't really wet.  I played around with my position a bit today, to try to see if anything was more aero, but at the end of the day, just staying comfortable in my aero position was fine and seemed to work.  I wasn't wearing a triathlon suit and I didn't have my aero helmet on, so I probably can expect a little faster pace on race day (plus, I'll be rested).  Did I say that I love my new bike?

When all was said and done, I got home around 5:30 pm, 5:47 on the bike, 98.8 miles.  No reason to squeeze in the 1.2 to get to 100, it turned out that my family needed me.  I was planning to run 3-4 miles, but instead, just ran the 0.4 mile hilly loop in my neighborhood to make sure my legs were fine, which they were!  I'll save them for tomorrow's run.  All in all, over 7 hours of training today, my swim and bike are definitely dialed in.  Based on last weekend's long run, an how my legs felt coming off the bike today, I couldn't be happier with where I am.

The plan tomorrow is a 45 minute bike to get the legs feeling a little like they did at the end of today's bike, and then run as long as I can.  Four weeks and two days to go before Boulder.  I may hit 20 hours of training this week despite a couple of days with less training than I originally planned.

Journey to Kona Day 94: The Value of a Coach

I've had the same triathlon coach for 14 years.  In fact, we're about to have our 14th anniversary!  Lucho has been a great triathlon coach, but he's also been a life coach and a role model.  The key to being a good coach is listening.  I'm sure that my analytical obsessiveness could easily drive a coach crazy, but he knows that''s who I am and he puts up with it.  My "setting the bar high" must also be a challenge, as I've never actually reached a goal that I've set.  Life has often gotten in the way, plus, I do tend to set goals that are unreachable.  But that's who I am, and he lets me be me.

Yesterday's blog was really a message to Lucho for our weekly talk, and it really helped me to prepare to decide what's next.  I put together a plan about a week ago, but that plan is already being adjusted as my response to training evolves and life gets in the way.  I had planned to do a bit more training so far this week, but we decided that I could "catch up" with a long bike on Friday with a short run off the bike to test my legs and then a long run on Saturday.  That will put me four week out from Ironman Boulder and will be a great test for where I am.

I had posed the question of whether to run long first, or to bike long.  I probably knew the answer, as that's the one thing having a coach for 14 years does, I know myself and I know what Lucho is going to tell me, most of the time.  At the end of the day, his job is to make sure that I don't do anything stupid, which wouldn't be too hard for me.

I've also had life and work coaches over the past decade, and they too have been invaluable to me.  Again, the key to good coaching is listening, and I've been blessed to have some great coaches.  In some ways, they've helped me survive some very stressful situations.  Ironically, without them, I'm not sure that I'd have even been in those stressful situations!  But that 's overthinking things, as I tend to do.  I'm also blessed with a wife who's arguably my best coach and greatest asset.  Every mistake I've ever made has tended to be because I didn't listen to her!

Journey to Kona Day 93: Training Plans

Tomorrow I have my weekly call with my coach.  A few years ago, we switched from having him give me daily workouts to just talking once a week.  These calls range from general training discussions to talking about my life's priorities.  I have to say, with the way my life has been for the past several years, it's rarely a boring discussion.  Three weeks ago, I wasn't really sure where I would be right now, and I've blogged about some training ideas that I've had to work around my unexpected injuries.  The last 2 1/2 weeks have hopefully gotten me back on track.

Over the past 12 days, I've completed two 5 hour bike rides, both with a similar amount of total climbing as Ironman Boulder.  I've also done a bunch of 1-2 hour rides, mostly at ironman effort, or slightly harder.  My new tri-bike is comfortable, though I'm not as yet certain if I'm slightly slower on it than my previous bike (which brings an interesting question as to tradeoffs).  Yesterday, I rode my new bike and then my old one on the same course.  My new bike rides more smoothly, so less pounding on my body.  My new position is also more comfortable, so I'm figuring I'll come off the bike feeling pretty good.  Most importantly, I've done two 5 hour rides in the midst of regular training of 15 hours/week.

On Sunday I ran 2 hours and 40 minutes and felt fine.  I was a little sore the next day and when I ran today, my hamstrings were a little tired.  Today, though, was reaffirming.  I ran 4.3 miles to the pool, swam for an hour straight, and ran 5 miles back, getting in a 90 minute run just a few days after my long run.  My legs felt fine, and the swim didn't really seem to have much of an impact on my run, except for my feet feeling a little funny for the first mile of the second run.  Last week ended up having 35 miles of running and 15 miles of walking, solid volume for me at this point in time.  In many ways, I'm probably ready for Boulder from a run perspective, but I think I have at least one, if not two more long runs left in me before the race. The question is one of balance in regards to training.  How will another long run impact my bike plans, and visa versa.

Finally, I've had no clue as to where my swim is, but yesterday and today went long ways towards answering that question.  Back to back one hour swims (3,000 yards), using my new two beat kick and focusing primarily on form and comfortable pacing, has left me feeling pretty good with another 4 weeks of swim training at my disposal.  I've put changing my swim form mostly on hold, as I'd rather focus on getting volume in right now and not stressing too much on my form.  I can come back to that after Boulder and in my ramp up for Kona.  I'm thinking that I have room for some over distance with my swim training.  I could easily have kept swimming yesterday and today, and will need to decide how long is reasonable.  My form seems to be holding pretty well for the hour, and I can tell when I'm losing it, but seem to be able to adjust and get it back.  Since I'm not trying to break any records, adding swim volume shouldn't negatively impact my other training, and at the same time, should help me in my goal of coming out of the water feeling fresh!

I'm traveling this Sunday through Tuesday, so I'm thinking that this Friday and Saturday set up well for a long bike and a long run.  Which one should go first?  I was thinking that the weather might dictate, but the rain that was in the forecast for Friday and Saturday seems to have disappeared. Looking forward to the sage advice that my coach will give me to bring me into Ironman Boulder with my best chance to get on the podium for my age group!

Journey to Kona Day 92: Making a Difference

I've spent a good portion of my life trying to make a difference in the world.  Because I'm passionate about what I do, I sometimes put too much pressure on myself.  It's time to dial back the pressure and just focus on being in the moment.  In the coming days, I'm planning to list the opportunities in front of me and prioritize them.  I can't do everything, and I do have some overarching goals in relation to Ironman racing.  Ironically, I'm not sure that there's not a better way to promote healthy aging than to focus on my Ironman training!

I'm doing a podcast tomorrow for AMDA on the Go, one of my favorite podcasts.  I get to talk about something near and dear to me, the role of physicians as leaders in the long term care industry.  I'm looking forward to it.  I enjoy the podcast environment, and the opportunity to share my thoughts.  Someone may hear what I have to say and I might make a difference.

On the other hand, the world goes on no matter what we do, and finding a balance between activities that might make a difference, and those that are just positive for oneself as a human being seems to be my priority.  Maybe I can make more of a difference if I just chill and be myself.

Journey to Kona Day 91: Five Weeks to Boulder

It's hard to believe, but there's just five weeks to Ironman Boulder.  The last couple of weeks have begun to allow me to see where my training and fitness are, and I'm hoping that the next couple of days will give me a good idea of how to prepare for this race.  Yesterday, I did my first long run in a while, running continuously for nearly 2 hours and 40 minutes.  A solid 15 mile, very hilly run truly allowed me to see where my running legs are, and the fact that I woke up today with minimal soreness, was a positive sign.  It will be interesting to see how my body reacts to two long bike rides and a long run over the past week, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

My original plan in doing Boulder was to give it everything I had and try to get a podium spot in my age group.  My injuries seemed to put a damper on that thought, but I'm curious now as to what I'm capable of.  Two five hour bike rides in the last week left me feeling pretty good, and having run a few miles immediately after the last one, well, it's a confidence builder.  While I'd have liked to put in some higher bike volume, the fact that I've felt fine after five hours in the saddle is a positive piece of information, knowing that I'll most likely have an approximately 6 hour bike split.  In preparing for Kona, I'll definitely get in some 7 or even 8 hour rides, although there may be a law of diminishing returns.  The regular daily bike volume that I'm getting may be just as important.

Yesterday's run checks off another box.  While I'm still hoping and planning for a 20 mile (or three hour) run in the next couple weeks, this one certainly sets me up positively.  I could have run longer, but stopped due to a prior engagement.  Also, I am trying not to overdo it.  My legs didn't feel great, but they never felt bad either.

Next up is my swim.  I'll have to see what the coming days bring.

Journey to Kona Day 90: Returning to St. George

I just learned that they’re bringing back Ironman St. George next year.  Wow!  It took me about a nanosecond to decide that I need to sign up to do it.  When someone asks me what my favorite Ironman has been, I don’t hesitate.  It’s Ironman St. George.  In 2010, it was my maiden ironman, done just 6 months after breaking my hip socket and shoulder.  In 2011, I persevered through heat and what I still consider to be the toughest course in ironman history to complete my second ironman.  In 2012, the elements conspired with the most difficult course to bring about the hardest single day of ironman competition ever.  If ironman is about testing one’s limits, then St. George has always fit the bill.  Fortunately, that’s not all of what St. George has been about.  It’s a beautiful course, in a gorgeous part of the country.  Desert and red rocks, starting the day in a reservoir with this as the backdrop, biking and running through some of the most beautiful geography in our country.  

The bike course is one of the most beautiful and also one of the most challenging courses on the ironman circuit.  Yet, it’s not overwhelming, except when there were 50 mph winds.  The run course is clearly the hardest there is, with not a flat section to be found.  But, also beautiful!  A few years ago, I achieved the goal of completing the run during the half ironman without taking any walking breaks.  I was slow, but I never walked.  The first three attempts at ironman St. George humbled me, especially when it came to the run, although, my 2012 marathon, albeit on an easier (and flatter) course due to construction, is still my PR for an ironman marathon.  I sense a challenge ahead.  

I also have the fact that when I started in 2012, there were about 80 of us who had done the prior two races.  By the end of that day, only 28 had finished all three.  I don’t know how many of those 28 will be at Ironman St. George in 2020, but I obviously have a pull to be there.  It’s an honor to know that I survived the first three and have the opportunity to carry on that legacy.  It’s also a challenge.  

I haven’t been sure of what my goals would be after competing in Kona this year.  I was wondering if that would be it for ironman.  But the moment that I saw that St. George was back on the schedule, I knew.  And, I’ll be in the 60-64 age group.  This is not a race that does any favors for older athletes.  But all that knowledge does is get my competitive juices going.  I have the opportunity to prepare for a race that is etched in my memory at least one more time.  Interestingly, they won’t be holding the race in St. George every year.  It will be every three years, which means it won’t be back until 2023, when I’ll be 64.  Not the best opportunity to compete in my age group, but we’ll take that when it comes.  In the meantime, it looks like I’ll be doing at least one ironman in 2020.  Who knows, maybe I can compete in my age group for a Kona slot?  Or, as I’m going to try to do in Boulder in five weeks, at least for a spot on the podium.

Ironman St. George beckons, and I respond.  Some things never change.

Journey to Kona Day 89: Being in Control

If there is one thing certain in life, it’s that there is no certainty.  Change will always happen,  We fool ourselves if we think that we control our lives.  It’s arguably my favorite ironman metaphor.  If there’s one thing that doing ironman’s will tell you is that you can always expect the unexpected.  Something will go wrong in the course of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run.  How could it not?  Which means, we aren’t in control.  We’re never truly in control.  My family knows that my biggest weakness is being surprised by something that I don’t expect.  In the past few years, I’ve developed a really bad habit of letting the unexpected get to me.  I get upset, riled up, and forget about being in the moment and expecting the unexpected.  I almost did that again recently, but caught myself in time.  There are always solutions, there are always different opportunities.  

No one can control us as well.  If they try, we can’t let it happen.  I actually allowed myself to get upset the other day because of a control freak.  It’s not worth it.  They’re not worth it.  I’m still not sure how I’m going to move forward with the situation that I was put in.   I could walk away, which I’ve done at times in the past.  Or, I can ignore it and not allow it to get to me.  One thing is for sure, I don’t need to make a rash decision.  Rash decisions are not conducive to control.  It reminds me of 2012 and the St. George Ironman swim.  With the waves reaching 5 feet, and no other athletes or support in sight, I was briefly worried that I might die.  There was no time for a rash decision, just calmness and staying in the moment.  I put one arm in front of the other and made my way to the finish of the swim.  Which brings me to my next topic, St. George.  I may have once made a promise not to do the St. George Ironman again.  This was an easy decision, because they’d cancelled it.  But, it’s back!

Journey to Kona Day 88: Bullying

I’m not sure if I’ve written about bullying in these past 88 days.  I know that in the past couple of years I’ve come to recognize my susceptibility to bullying.  I tend to be someone who avoids confrontation, which is a clear weakness for a bully to exploit.  There is no question that bullying is also my hot button, and when I’m bullied, it really messes with me.  Following up from my last blog, I realized this week that I’ve been trying to stay on the good side of a bully.  It’s really not worth it.  In fact, it’s never worth it.  While sometimes the means justifies the ends, it is a really slippery slope to allow oneself to be bullied in the name of a larger prize.  For one thing, it enables to bully.  That, in and of itself, makes the bully feel like they can get away with bullying whenever and with whomever they want.  

In my last job, I let bully’s get away with their actions as well, for similar reasons.  In the end, I realize it took a significant toll on me.  It will take me some time to recover.  Sometimes the bullying is obvious, other times its hidden.  Either way, it’s still bullying.  When I look back at my career, I’ve generally responded pretty well to bullying,  but not always.  

When I was a teenager, a neighbor kid used to bully me.  One day, I fought back.  I actually got in a couple of fights during my teen years.  I’m sure that I surprised the kids who were bullying me, because I was both a nerd and an introvert.  I’ve always said that I don’t like fighting, but that I can fight if I need to.  One of the things I often talk about with my fellow geriatrics professionals is that we’re all pretty similar.  We don’t like confrontation, we don’t like fighting.  This makes us susceptible to bullying.  As I’m typically hard on myself, I have to realize that nobody is perfect, and that there are many times over my career that I’ve actually pushed back on bullying.

It seems that there’s a common thread in yesterday and today’s blogs.  That thread is being who I am, and not letting anyone else define me.  Similarly, it’s important to remember that others need to be who they are.  That’s not something that’s ever been too difficult for me, both in my work and family life.  Just so long as that doesn’t impinge on my right to be who I am.