Pig man Assulted

I suppose that I've procrastinated long enough.

This last Sunday, I finally did it. Sprint Triathlon # 1 completed. Not quite the times that I was hoping for back in February, but after a while off of the training, I think I did pretty good. Here are my times:

Swim .5K	T1	Bike 25k	T2	Run 5k	Overall
11:37	6:34	56:57	3:11	40:34	1:58:52

I have to admit, I learned a lot whlie running this race. Lets go in order of the race, shall we?

Swim:

• Don't skimp on the wetsuit by just getting a surfing top. It ballooned out with water about 1/4 of the way through the swim. It felt like I had weights on my arms. Not cool. I almost stopped midstroke to take the damned thing off.
• Do a warm up swim beforehand. I would have known about the Wetsuit, Water Temp, etc
• The swim is more mosh pit than pool. 60 people vying for that same spot around the bouy. Be ready for it.

T1:

• The nice toe socks that I bought to prevent blisters would have been impossible to put on after the swim. Luckily I had the same thought and switched them out before the race.
• Stage my equip a bit better for the race.

Bike:

• Actually things went pretty good on the bike. Gloves might have helped some of the road numbness in my fingers.

T2:

• Again, staging would have helped.

Run:

• He He...Practice more Brick workouts. My run was terrible. I probably ran 1 out of those 3.1 miles. It was that bad.
• At the end...keep going to cool down a bit. I almost went down past the finish line from stopping too quickly. Be careful next time.

Overall there was lots of room for improvement, but I finished, and I wasn't last. Those were my two major goals on race day. Oh sure I wanted a better time (around 1.5 hours), but it wasn't to be this time. Might do the Hickory Grove Triathlon in August. We'll see.

Happy Homes, Hardy Herons, & Wicked Weather

I suppose I should write another post before I compete.

Ever since the funeral, things haven't really been going according to plan with my training. In fact they've hardly been going at all. Looking back on the blog, I'm seeing that the last time I really mentioned the house was over a month ago. Well, we bought one. Yep, the amazing low credit score wonder managed to eek out a loan and by his family a place to live. Imagine that. It's a pretty nice house, if a little outdated, and I've been finding little daily projects to make my life a little more interesting.

On the down side, moving fell entirely on my shoulders. As did cleaning the old place, and fixing the electrical, plumbing, and ventilation of the new house enough for us to move in.

Unfortunately, that left precious little time for training. Honestly, I really don't know how those people training for Ironman do it. My training schedule, at the worst, was just a hair more than 9 hours a week, and that was pushing it for me. A quick check on Beginnertriathlete.com shows a first time ironman competitor would quickly move up to 15-18 hours a week. Thats pretty rough from where I stand.
Another bummer is that the forecast is calling for T-storms on Race day Sunday. On the plus side, it could actually help me out. I'm good at maintaining a speed, however slow, no matter what whereas I would assume a normal triathlete will likely suffer a bit in the wind and rain. So like a steamroller with a stuck throttle, I'll creep my way to the finish, the victorious tortoise. Yeah right, but it sounds good anyway.

Wednesday was our weekly ride and one of the few things that I've kept up with for the most part. One of the regulars came up with a great idea for eithe next week or sometime soon. The La Crosse area has put up a bunch of local artists' concrete herons decorated in the artists personal style, all over the city and a bit beyond. 30 some in all, these all get auctioned off for charity later this year. Well, its become a kind of a local challenge to go out and find each one and take its picture. Joe's idea was to do an "alleycats" kind of ride in one of the coming weeks to see how many of these pictures we can get in a certain amount of time. We'd split into teams with disposable cameras (to discourage cheating) and meet back up at the local Walmart later on to get the pictures developed. Since some of the herons are at a good distance, we'd assign a points system, and obviously the team with the most points wins. Yea! Sound like fun to me.

Cycling, Cemetaries, and Cynicism

Some people just can't take a hint that they're not wanted. Clinton refuses to bow out

In case any ones missed it, today is Wednesday, and that means my weekly group ride from Myrick Park. Another easy ride, just over 20 miles. I haven't been feeling the greatest, so I decided not to go real hard tonight, except of course for the way to the start of the ride. I thought I was late, and about to miss the whole ride. Unacceptable. I doubt that I dipped under 20 mph the whole way there. Just blew right by a couple of MTBers and left them in the dust. As it turns out, I ended up being a good 20-30 min early. I'm finding out that this ride doesn't exactly have a start time. Its more of a group logic as to when everyone gets going. Ever see a flock of birds avoid a building en mass? Same idea.

The ride went great. I did drop my bike once trying to do something completely unnecessary, but fortunately I wasn't on it at the time. Also, I'm not the most recent crasher, at the moment. We pulled into a Kwik Trip, and another clipped pedal junkie missjudged his stop and over he went. There was talk of a "yellow jersey of shame" for the one who screws up the most during the rides. I had better get better at my clips or I'll be wearing that thing out.

Well Ottumwa went ok. There were a few unexpected surprises, though. The pastor performing the ceremony wasn't exactly what I would call a great speaker, as you would expect someone in his position to be. Oh what else? Oh yeah, they DUG UP THE WRONG GRAVE Y'ALL!! At least this one was empty too. The deal was that Marylin Shearer (Aunt Jo) and Mary Ann Shearer (Aunt Jo's husband's sister-in-law) sound pretty similar. All in all, I was unimpressed with the whole thing, and I told Becca cremation sounds pretty good to me at this point. Preferably post-mortem lest she get any ideas.

Sorrowful tidings

I have a rather sad announcement. My G. Aunt Jo passed away on Saturday morning. (Lord above, please accept your servant into your loving arms, and grant her peace everlasting, amen) She has been weak for sometime, and I'm certain that this is more of a blessing to her than a sorrow to the family left behind. Even so, she was a pillar in our family, and will be missed.

A little sore

I guess I didn't realize that I hadn't posted for nearly a week. What a collosal slacker I am sometimes. I'll make up for it today.

First off, Saturday started the Coulee region Bike to Work Week which I am trying to fully participate in, despite a little head cold at the moment. If you don't want to go to the link above, the idea is that you basically give up the car for anything around town for the week. For instance, Becca, Lorelei, and I went grocery shopping on the bikes yesterday. I just threw the groceries in the back of the trailer (Which worked better than I thought it would) and off we went. Lorelei, who last year didn't really like the trailer, couldn't have cared less. With the extra 20-30# it felt like I was riding in a little mud, or that the trailer had a flat on the way home, but other than that it was an enjoyable ride. (Note: Although, I'm theoretically helping lower gas prices, getting a workout, and overall doing my part, the only comment I get from work is about my blindingly white legs. Ouch.)

On Saturday I ran the longest run I've "intentionally" ran since the Bix 7 road race when I was in High school. I admit, I ran a little farther than planned, though. I meant to only run, at maximum, a 10k, but the 1/2 mile markers on the trail stopped for some reason at 1.5 miles and I meant to turn around at 2.5. I kept looking for the next sign thinking that I had just overlooked the 2 mile marker, but none showed up. After a while, I figured I had run far enough and turned around. I was actually pretty close, running a total of 6.4 miles, instead of 6.2. To any super-humans, Ironmen/women, or ultramarathoners reading this, 1/5 mile doesn't seem like much, but I think it was that extra little bit that made my legs sore today. Just like its that last drink that gives you the hangover, and not the dozen or so before it. Very "Butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo, and Chicago gets rain instead of sunshine" type of logic, I know.

I ordered my "wetsuit" the other day, and very soon hope to get some open water swims in. Along with the "wetsuit" (just a neoprene shirt top), I bought a new helmet, and (much to Becca's amusement) toe socks. That should close out all that I need for June 1st (& 8th???). Oh sure, there are all kinds of things I want still, like a Garmin forerunner 301 (GPS that measures heart rate as well), a bike computer with cadence, or a new bike for that matter, but nothing that I need to finish, or even finish well.

To close this off, I have a couple sites that you have to check out. One is already listed to the right Zen and the art of triathlon: "Don't bike to work" but you have to ready these comments as well, to really understand the extremeness (Is that a word?) of this sport. The second is just funny as I see it. This year, the Bix 7 has a little contest for one of us ordinary mortals. All registrants are entered and if you are picked by the lottery, you get a 2-3 mi headstart. If you beat the elite runners back to the finish line, you win $3400 or so. I don't know about you, but my best per mile time is pretty embarrassing. The winning runner runs this race in the neighborhood of 30 min. I don't think I'd have much of a chance, even with the headstart. ;-)

You didn't really need another reason to tri, but...

There is always the scenery.

(Desiree Ficker, running in the Irongirl Tri in Texas)

(with thanks to www.desireeficker.com)

Now that I have your...ahem....complete attention, I think I did pretty damn good on my run today. Not very fast, mind you, (You don't even want to know how fast my stubby little legs would have to move in order to keep up with the picture above) but still good for me.

After I finished 1-3.25 mi lap, I was feeling pretty good and even better on time, so whats one more lap? Unfortunately, there were some ominous clouds beginning to follow me, so I had to change it up a bit. My total for today was about 5.5 mi (maybe 5.9, google maps isn't accurate enough to tell the difference in where I turned around) and 1:20 for the time. The strange thing is that after an hour of running, I was able to go faster! Miles 4 and 5 went by much quicker than 1-3. OTOH, no stoplights on the "2nd lap." Now I admit I had to walk a bit on some hills, but no more than 30 sec at a time. Like I said, pretty damn good for me.

I've decided to kick my training up one more notch to get ready for this tri. I've opted for a daily run, biking 3 x week and swimming twice a week. I may have to modify the bike portion though, since I liked the outdoor rides so much and those aren't really exercise. I've already warned Becca, asked permission as well, since it will obviously take a couple days of 2 x day workouts to do this. With any real luck I'll get somewhere near my goal of 1:30 for the tri. Fingers crossed.

They call me Captain Klutz!

I admit it. I am not the belle of the ball. I've never been good at walking tightropes or balance beams, and although I always try to toe the line, I usually trip over my own feet getting there. Knowing this you can probably imagine how this next story ends.
A while back, while in one of the local bike shops, I ask the owner if he had any regular group rides coming up. As a matter of fact, he does have a very casual, weekly ride that basically tours La Crosse every Wednesday night after work. It apparently started out as a fixed gear bike ride (for ease of explination call it a one speed road bike), but had progressed into a way for friends to meet up and go for a nice bike ride.
And what a nice bike ride it was. But before we started out, it happened. I had just introduced myself to Ken, a nice local man with a beautiful new fixed gear bike. I hadn't riden anything even remotely similar since I was in my single digits, so I was curious. Without me even asking, he offered to let me take a spin, warning me that there was no freewheel (If you stop pedalling, the back tire stops) on the bike. After a bit of a rough start, I was up and moving, coming to a turn in the road. I ready myself for the turn, thinking I was going to coast through as usual, and stop pedalling. Oops. I immediately lose control and crash onto the asphalt, taking about 1/4" of handlebar and leather seat along with it. ( I sprained my wrist as well, but I didn't find that out until 7 hours later when it actually hurt.)
Ken was completely nonchalant about it. Said that now that the bike had a scratch on it, he wasn't as freaked about laying it down. He did reserve the right to give me hell for the rest of the night though. After another 1/2 hour and 12 or so people we got underway.
We started out at Myrick park and, taking back streets as much as possible to avoid traffic, we wound down along the bluffs right down to the southern edge of town. We were taking trails I hadn't even heard of before, along creeks, through housing developments, trailer parks, you name it. Whoever was leading this pack really knew their back streets. As dusk neared everyone stopped to get their head and tail lights ready, we noticed one of our group riding up with a rather large something in his hand. It was an old 70's-ish kitchen cart that someone had chucked. He just couldn't leave something so valuable go, and decided to give it a good home.
We started off again, enjoying the sunset on the water. Before too long it was just plain dark. I was fine with it, or so I thought, since I had been commuting by bike in the dark. As we headed down yet another backwoods, yet paved, trail I slipped off the edge of the path, down the embankment, hit 4" deep sand and CRASHED AGAIN! Talk about a 1st impression.
After a little while, I broke off from the group, mainly since I had no idea what time it really was. They were going out for beers and I didn't think Becca would really understand. She was upset as it was that I was gone so long. The whole trip for me ended up being around 15-16 miles, but that was probably the easiest ride I've ever done. I'll definately do it again, but maybe I'll use training wheels next time.

Multitasking

I am a multitasking fiend lately. At the moment, I'm writing this blog, recording in my training diary, occasionally talking to family on the phone, all while wishing that I was home in bed. Between my training schedule, trying to buy a house, taking time to play with the family, (oh...and I really need to sleep sometime soon) time hasn't exactly been on my side. The last couple days workouts went well, and yesterday I tried commuting by bike to work. It was still a little chilly, but I made it both ways without major incident. I did pop a tire on the way home, but didn't find out till tonight.

The big outdoor ride that I was so looking forward to tonight, was all but cancelled due to high winds. No one really showed up. I suppose its a good thing for me anyway. It forced me to take a day off when I really needed one. My body is pretty beat up from hard training and lack of sleep, and me falling over (twice) because I couldn't get my clips out in time. My coworker suggested taking them off, but I absolutely rejected that plan. I love those things, especially on the hills. On the way home last this morning, I rocked up a hill that normally would have kicked my butt. I had to hammer on the last little bit, but as it turns out the spin classes really helped me more than I thought. Not only did they improve my endurance, but they really improved my pedal stroke on both seated and standing climbs. I'll have to try that 15mi bike course again this weekend to see just how much I've improved. Personally, I think I'll do much better on my hill than before.

Tomorrow, the plan is to try my run in the newly calculated HR range. I'm not sure how its going to go, and I"m a little worried about it, but if I'm right about this, I've been training with too low a HR and need to kick it up a bit. On the plus side, I should very well set a new best for that course. Pretty soon I'm going to have to start training with some "brick" workouts. Maybe next week. I have too much on my plate this week. I really don't know how people training 3 hours a day for ironman do it.

Slacker News

Wow! Have I ever been a slacker the last few days, with regards to recording my training. This isn't to say that I haven't been doing anything, quite the contrary. I've been up to so much that I just haven't had the time to sit and write all the little details and antics of my daily routine.

I do have some news though. With the new baby on the way, Becca and I have decided to get our first house. Obviously, since this is our first, its not going to be anywhere in the mansion range, and with the insane property taxes in the city, we've had to narrow our search even further. I'll let you in on a little something though. For the same price as some of the old homes we were living near in Tacoma, we'd be living pretty damn high and mighty here.

Anyway, back to triathlon. I'm pleased to report that I broke my PR for one of my running routes today by about 3 min over 4.4 mi. This may not seem like much to any non-mortal people out there (ie:Ironmen/women) but to me its a sign of improvement. Yesterday, I started with a 45min spin class, and after some serious self searching about doing the following class, I decided to stick to my 'plan' for the day and finished with about a 1.25km swim. I should note something else. I don't know if its the training or the shorts, but since I got the new swim gear, I've been swimming a little faster than before. Although this could just be me wanting to get out of those embarrassing things as soon as possible too. :)

Last Wednesday, I went back to the spinning class designed fo cyclists and triathletes. After another amazing class, led by Dan again, I started asking around to see if anyone else was training for a tri. Not too suprisingly, of the 7 or so people in the class, most were training for a tri... That would be IM Wisconsin. (I'm going to borrow something I heard from the "Zen and the art of Triathlon" podcast and call it IM MOO for short) I got a little ego boost when someone asked me if I was trying for IM MOO. Maybe in a few years, but for now I'll stick with the sprints. Heck, maybe one of these years I'll be able to sprint a sprint.

As I get closer to June 1st, I'm starting to come up with a race plan, even though what I do wouldn't exactly be called racing. For the swim, well thats easy. I just plan to swim out and around a bouy, and back again. Simple enough. The bike will be a little different, since I need to conserve the bulk of my energy for the run. I'll try to keep my HR low for as much time as I can. The only times I'll have trouble with that are on that hill. I'll probably have to go into a higher anaerobic HR for that one. The run is going to be the trickiest part. I'll walk for a couple min, letting my HR fall back down to a starting rate if possible, then start at a relatively slow jog. I'll do my best to run the first 1.5mi at an aerobic rate, the next mile or so at slightly anaerobic rate, and the last .6 or so at a high anaerobic rate (good thing too, there's a decent sized hill to the finish). Any comments or suggestions

It looks like Monday will be fairly routine, except for the house shopping, but Tuesday promises to be much more fun. Dan, the instructor for the class I like so much, and some of the others from River trail cycles are going on a nice 'easy' outdoor ride after work on Tuesday. I asked what I would need to do to join, and he said just show up. Now I have to admit, these people are a few levels above me, so their easy ride may just be an hour or so anaerobic workout for me, but I'll give it a shot. Wish me luck.

Insanity must be contagious

Lately I've been listening to podcasts from all over the map. Bike podcasts from the UK, Running podcasts recorded while the guy was actually running (Good way to keep in the zone I guess), and of course Triathlon podcasts. Well, I downloaded one from Zen and the art of Triathlon yesterday and found out it was about his 1st Ultra-Marathon event. 50 mile run in just under 13 hours for him.
Hilarious! The strangest thing about it was that he had never even run a regular marathon outside of Ironman competitions. During his retelling of how much pain he was in from mistakes made on his nutrition and choice of shoes, I realized that I would love to do that someday. Is that strange? Nothing would make me happier then to be able to wake up in the morning and say, "I'm going to take a 50 mile nature run today." I think I'll have to wait a little while for that to happen though.
Speaking of which, the weather has been hampering my training plans a bit. Like today, I was planning a bike day with maybe a run in the afternoon. In a perfect world, sure, it could happen, but not today for me my friends. The dismally cold and wet morning cancelled my bike plans, and the pouring rain did in my run in the afternoon. I ended up going to the Y and swimming. On the plus side, I did set a personal best for 500m in the pool, with my new crime fighter swimsuit.
Okay, I was debating on saying this, but I have to let you know just in case you run into the same problem. Apparently, the jammer style of speedos doesn't take in a bunch of water. It saturates and then its about done. The problem, as I found out, is that once its saturated it is relatively impermeable. How did I find this out? Well...I had some gas and didn't think too much about letting it out into the world. It didn't go out into the world. It stayed in the speedos turning me into a human level. I had a bubble riding back and forth across my buttocks with each stroke. Oh! If you're cringing now, just think of how hard it was for me to keep swimming with the Gluteal racetrack following me everywhere I went. I actually had to stop, one to let the racers out, and two because I was laughing too hard to breathe right.
I did find a couple more good ideas at the pool today. The swimmers in the lane next to me had whiteboards to mark their progress through their workout. Its so simple that I had to smack my forehead not to think of it. I can barely count my laps, let alone figure out what set I'm on. Speaking of laps, they also had one of those lap counter rings. Those are nifty and I think I may have to look into one when I start swimming harder.
I should go. Prayers to my brother for his back pain. Hopefully the rain will clear up soon and let me get back to training where I need to.

A while back I started a blog, long since deleted, for just my own rants and ramblings. After going back on my last couple posts, I've started to think that I've been using this as the same thing and thats not what I meant it to be. So I'm going to make an effort at a much more positive attitude and see if I can make it infectious.

First things first. I'm happy to finally say that I've started to make it through the spinning classes. So even though the instructor tried her best to make it a totally anaerobic class on Friday, I managed to keep up. I was sweatily overjoyed that try as Miss Smiling-skinny-britches did to knock me out of the race, I stuck in there.

I've also found that, although I'm not able to run any longer than before, my recovery and overall times for the run are coming down. I should explain some. Last year during training I would go all out for 4-5 miles not much caring about my heart rate or at least not keeping it in the aerobic zone. Lately I've been doing some research and listening to podcasts basically saying that training more in the aerobic zone gives you a better engine for running in the anaerobic zone. With that in mind I've been a HR zone control freak; walking whenever my HR goes above 148. When I started it took about 45 seconds for my HR to get back down to the start of my aerobic zone, and now it takes about 15 - 30. I'm hoping that will very soon translate back to me running longer in zone. Its frustrating taking 70 min for 4.5 mi when I know I can go faster. Of course this is what all the experts say to watch out for, and not to let my ego get in the way of good base training.

Well, I'm going to try to keep this one short. I have a couple comfort items on the way from Bike Nashbar, and hopefully that will help me with hand/wrist numbness on long rides. Looking forward to that.

Pardon me Brutus, would you mind removing the knife from my back?

Ever since we learned of the pregnancy, we've pretty much assumed that Becca wouldn't be running the tri with me. Since we've already registered and paid for her, the race coordinator said he would allow us to transfer the entry to another person. After a exhaustive search, I finally found someone. However, just last night he tells me that his doctor doesn't recommend it for a while, and in the interests of not dying, he dropped out. This makes twice, both with valid reasons, but frustrating none the less. I'm going to try to find someone once more, and if not, I'll just have to suck it up and go it alone.

I tried a new spinning class today designed specifically for triathletes and cyclists. The instructor is the main bike mechanic for one of the local bike shops, and certainly knew his stuff. So, while we pretended to climb with the leaders of the 2006 Tour of Italy (Playing on the screen), he gave out info on climbing and pedalling form. I was pretty well impressed and decided that I may just have to make the late evening class a regular. Plus, it may have been the extra 1/2 day of rest, maybe it was me dialing back on the tension a bit, or maybe I was just distracted trying to get my cadence and form down, but this class, though longer than all the others, seemed much easier. Most likely, I was just being a wus.

I have a slight confession. I've been thinking vengeful thoughts against those I've asked to compete and have turned me down for one reason or another. Some had excuses coming very close to "My fat cells don't want to," but I let them all slide. In a desperate attempt to helo them regain some respect, I issued a challenge to ride the Mind in Motion bike tour a month later. A far cry from what I hope to achieve, but hopefully not too much for them.

Lord, Thank you for teaching me Humility, yet again

Waves crash on the rock,
The hard cliff stands immobile,
Water will win soon.

Okay, so not the traditional Haiku, but it is a good theme for the day. The spinning class went rather well, with me really only having to rest and recover once; although, I did read the schedule wrong and was almost late for the pilates. The Pilates class however, beat me.

Well, now beat really isn't the right word for this. Squashed, routed, defeated, and thoroughly embarassed come to mind for suitable replacements. Not only was I unable to keep up with even a single exercise, humiliating as that is, I gassed one of the poor girls on the southern end of me pretty much right in the face. Note to self: Take Gas-x well before class. I was so ashamed. I sat there for a minute, trying hard not to... well not to... Okay, I was trying my damnest not to bust out laughing. I mean, come on! This poor college girl just wants to work out and in comes the Amazing Flatulator filling her thoughts of what I had to eat for dinner. I had to walk out. No question about it.

In my defense, the class was filled to capacity, and the head to butt position was the only one left where I could see the instructor. All this aside, I've been whupped by this class twice now, and that is unacceptable. I've resolved to conquer this class if I have to go to every one they offer until I do. There is a purposeful air about me. The winds of change approach. They have not heard the last of me. (Low brow humor, yes, but it works for me.) And if all else fails, they can pucker up... Okay, I'll stop now, really. he he he

Weekend work

I finally felt well enough to really start up training again, so on Friday after an ill advised Italian meal, I decided to take a run.
My last run had taken me on about a 2.5 mi loop around some of the side streets, but in the interest of hiding my lack of running ability, I tried to find a more private route. Good thing too. This time I took a "jog" down the still wet bike trail and then the paved LaCrosse trail for a ways. I didn't know just how far I went till I got home and measured it out on Google Earth. Well it all went pretty well. I jogged until the HR monitor yelled at me, then walked until it yelled at me again. Worked pretty good until that Italian caught back up with me and I had to find a ditch in a hurry. After that I was just fine, and as it turns out, I made around 4.5 miles in about 80 min. Not too fast, I know, but at least I'm moving again.

Saturday was a bike day for me, and I decided to try most of the route for the "Got energy Tri." Its more hilly than the Pigman so I figure that by the time I can do this route with relative ease, I'll be good to go for Palo. This was my second attempt at this route, the first during my abbreviated training last year failed at the first major hill, at the start of Cty rd O. This time I made it up, but not without stopping a couple times and shooting my planned HR all to hell. I partly blame the windy day. 11 mph sustained with 21 mph gusts. It made the upwind legs more that a little tough, and unfortunately for me it seems that the uphill portion was also an upwind leg. Not too fun, but I guess not too bad for a first time. I only had to stop and let my heart catch up with me 5 times over the 1.5 hours it took me. Again not too fast, but it gives me a starting point. You know, someday I hope to be able to run this route in the same time I'm now riding it. Pretty long shot, but maybe someday.

Yesterday, I tried for a swim, needing a rest after two days of hard work. Becca needed to sleep in so after church I took Lorelei out for a while and swam for a while. I relearned the value of hydration when I had to stop after 10 laps or so, with a debilitating headache. It actually took several hours, lots of water, and even a couple Tylenol to get it under control. Lesson learned, yet again.

I plan on varying my training a bit, spending more time running and biking than swimming than I had. I'll keep in my HR zone during the run in order to make that a more restful activity than it is now. Biking I just want to be able to do that route much better than I am now, but also within a lower heart rate. We'll see how it all goes this week.

Mixed Feelings this Easter

I really wasn't sure if I should write this on a public blog, but after realizing that I'm probably the only one reading this (even Becca hasn't read this in a while) I don't think I see any harm. Becca and I went down to my hometown of Cedar Rapids this weekend. Its been about 12 years since I've really been to the city; ever since I left for the Navy. Sure, I've been through a couple times, seen some family, pointed out my old house, but nothing like spending the night here. Well, we decided to go down on Saturday and scope out the bike and run route, and since we were in the 'big' city maybe a little shopping.
I was floored! Cedar Rapids has really gone to pot in my absence. The larger of the two malls had about 90% of its stores closed. Not just for the day, but completely closed. It was actually a little creepy. This was where I used to hang out after college classes. It wasn't just the mall though. The whole town seemed to have aged prematurely. I was sorely dissappointed, and a little embarrassed to show the wife what had become of my once great hometown.
Now the good news. Looking at the route all I have to say is "easy." I knew it wasn't going to be on the same level as Baraboo, but it really looks easy. Mostly flat on the bike with only one real hill to mention. Now, I'll admit that, for me, the hill does look a little intimidating after 14-15 miles, but I don't think its anything that I'll have to really worry about. The run has a couple rollers on it, but its okay up until a gradual hill climb to the finish line. Honestly, the routes look like a cinch, and I'm glad I picked this one as my first.
I suppose I should stop procrastinating and get to where I left the hook. Family is just that. People who share a common thread, standing together against whatever comes. We don't all have to like each other, but generally we tolerate each other for whatever the common good may be. This Easter was like a lunch at the improv...
"Okay...you're a family. You'll be the Gradmother, you the Father, you two the Aunts, the rest of you just fill in when you feel pulled...and ACTION!"
It really all felt like a big act. It took a lot to reign myself in, and not do something that would have ruined everyones' time. I knew there was some stress in the family lately, but I guess I didn't see how much there really was until Easter. Its a shame. It makes me not want to bring my little black sheep portion of the family back again. Oh, I'd never hold my Dad or Grandmother back from seeing Lorelei, or vice versa, but I have really been wondering if she needs to know her extended family (2nd cousins, 1st cousins once removed, great aunts, etc...). Personally, at the moment, I wouldn't have a problem with it. I guess this is why I have a wife. I need her balance me out on these matters, restrain my firey spirit, and smooth over my rough surface. Without Becca and others there I probably would have said or done something I'd have later regretted. Maybe this is why I stay on the periphery of my families. There's enough unstable forces there, no real need for my own brand of chaos.
So mixed feelings. I'm happy to find out that my 1st tri will not only be one I can complete, but I might even do halfway decent at it. I'm a little dissappointed at how Easter turned out this year. (Personally I think Good Friday is the more important to remember. Ask me if you want to know why.) The only thing I wasn't able to do was go see where I lived from 0-2y/o. Maybe next time down.
PS: If anyone else does happen to keep up with my ramblings, leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Inspiration and Footprints

Ever since making the big click (The last click to sign up for my first triathlon), I've been scouring the net for information on triathlons. Training programs, pictures, routes, elevations, average times, and most recently, podcasts; I'm a sponge, soaking up as much info as I can on everything I can about the sport. The most recent podcast I listened to is called "Get your geek on." Keep in mind that I've been combing through dozens of these, but one segment in one episode stands out.
In an early episode, during a segment called "Tri life lessons" one of the hosts makes a deep and beautiful observation. She was asking herself why she couldn't be normal; shop like normal women her age; gossip in the lunchroom. Then it seems to hit. This ride...

"Wasn't meant for normal people, so I can't be normal and expect to find where it would lead." (Get Your Geek On Ep # 2 @ 44:20 min, Iron Wil)

How cool is that. I have people looking strange at me for just doing a sprint tri, let alone the mind boggling 140.6 mi of an ironman, which I very much plan on completing in the next few years. Even the sprint distance is something that most people will never achieve. Not because they don't have the strength or stamina, but they just don't have the inner push to complete the course.

"It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself." ~ Muhammad Ali

This new pregnancy has given me the opportunity to look behind me and see what I've accomplished. At first it was with a tinge of regret, that I wouldn't be able to do many of those things again. This put my experiences in a different light.

• I've been the hero when I saved the life of a friend during a diving accident. Now its when I hold a little girl who had a bad dream.
• I've been a villain at a time when I wronged people who put their full trust in me, and now again when I tell Lorelei not to hit.
• I've felt small and insignificant seeing a terrible black storm coming towards our ship on the Caribbean sea, and I've felt the same knowing I wasn't good enough to support a family without changing jobs.
• On that same ship, same sea, observing God's artwork looking across a beautiful blue glassy expanse to the sunset. Now I see the same beauty in my family's smiles.
• I've walked away from motorcycle accidents that I shouldn't have (Becca looking on says she didn't think I was getting up) and seen first hand God's protection. Now I pray that protection over my daughter while she sleeps.

I realize now that the sum of my experiences is nothing to regret, impossible to redo, humbling to the spirit, and nothing in comparison to whats in store.
There's one more quote from that podcast that really touched me, and I recommend finding and listening to it if you get the chance. I'll close with this:

"I'm afraid, some days, because I wonder if I'm lost. I get nervous, because there's no footprints to follow. But lately I've discovered, if I look over my shoulder, I'll find some, and suddenly I understand much better the path I'm on." -Iron Wil

Sick as a dog...

So much for all those spin classes this week. So far I've missed 3 days of training and it looks as if I'll miss tomorrow to go to the Dr. I'm a little concerned of course since I'm missing so much training, but I'm more worried that if I don't take care of this, I'll be down for much longer and might have to drop out of the whole thing. That would definitally upset me. I've worked too hard to let this go so easily.
On a different note, I may have found someone to run the triathlon with me. A guy from work said that he would be interested and would give it a try. I have to admit that I don't have the biggest of confidence in him, especially since he bailed on me at the gym tonight. (We had scheduled a intro to spinning class) Oh well, if nothing else, maybe one of Becca's more fit friends would like to join me....If I'm able to do it at all.

After Dr appt:
Well it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. I thought I had some version of the pneumonia that is travelling around the area, but its "just" bronchitis. Doc said that I could get back into light training when I felt better, and probably normal next week. Think I'll go in tomorrow morning and take it real easy...see how it goes. All is not lost yet.

I must be nuts

I have to give a little backstory here. The spinning classes at the Y are so popular that, not only is there a 30 person sign up list a week in advance, but a 6 person waiting list usually forms for the more popluar classes.
I've been pretty happy with the classes, so every time I'd go in I'd sign up for another. Well, I ended up signing up for 5 classes this week without noticing! Holy cow! Becca thought I was crazy for doing one, 3 days in a row last week, but 5? Lance Armstrong, I'm not. I did notice that I can't do one of those already due to a work conflict, thankfully; but these others I may just have to manage.
The last spinning class I did was on Saturday morning. Oh, it made me feel terrible. Not because the workout was hard (it was), but the lady who taught was incredible! When we came into class she mentioned that she wouldn't be doing quite the same workout as we did, since this was her first time back from her heart surgery, TWO WEEKS AGO!!! Are you kidding me? Where do they find these inhuman people? Did this make the class any easier? Oh, absolutely not! She was a slave driver, not really playing by the rules that let newbies like me get off easy. I just couldn't do it. I made it through the class, but had to do the equivalent of sitting a hill or two out. To add insult to injury, when I went up to thank the instructor, she asked if this was the first class I had taken. Ouch.
Later on that day I decided to go take a look at how an Aerobar set up would feel. I've been thinking of switching my handlebars to that set up for a while, but wanted to get a feel for them first. River Trail Cycles has always been good to us. Although a little on the high side for prices on some things, they are tops for availablity and information. Plus it is one of Lorelei's favorite places in the area. The lady set me up in a $1500 carbon fiber bike on a trainer, with all the bells and whistles as far as handle bars go. I got on the thing and pedaled in a normal position for a bit then changed to an "Aero" position. Not only was that one of the strangest positions I've ever been in (almost a fetal position, but pedalling), but it must use some muscles that I lost long ago. I don't think I lasted 30 seconds in that position and when I did get off the bike I had a crick in my back. Maybe next year when I get to some of the longer distances.

Frustrated

Why is it that I can swim or bike in the right heart rate zone, but when it comes to the run, no such luck. I've been improving, yes, but this morning was quite a let down.
I've been modifying the swim portion of my plan to make it a decent workout for me. The original plan had me swimming something in the order of 200 yds. Thats 4 laps and barely even worth getting wet, so I changed it. Today ended up with a total of 850 yds, 100 warm up, 500 at a decent pace (Race pace, maybe?), 250 interval speed work.
That all went just fine. Afterward I tried a easy run, 25 min, but my normal walking HR (<110) was still elevated by over 20 beats! My run was seriously out of whack. Ended up well above where it runs to anaerobic. Not good.
I figured while I was there I might as well top it off with some good stretching and abs work, with the pilates class. Well I was right about the abs work, but way off on the stretching. The big down side was that I was the only guy in the class, and I don't think my pride could have handled walking out while the rest of the class seemed to be doing just fine. No matter that I just finished an hour or so of cardio, or that this class seemed to be mostly made up of college girls. I suppose if I wasn't lying in a pool of my own sweat and shame, it might have been a decent view. Couldn't tell you. Shame too great.

Becca concedes defeat!!

Becca was awestruck by the near superhuman speed of her husband training for the upcoming triathlon. Like a mongoose on crack, I transitioned from swim to bike to run, leaving all mouths agape. My poor wife was so overcome that she performed the internationally known 'concession ritual'....



Don't know that one? It involves urinating on a stick and seeing how many lines show up. Just so happpens to be 2 this time. Yep, the proverbial bun has been installed in the oven once again.

I don't know what happened... I took all the colored pills. My nipples hurt for a while, and I craved chocolate like nothing else, but I thought we were safe. ;-)

Oh well. However unexpected, its still a happy event.

Training with the "Plan"

Valentine's Day with 3 laps to go 'til I finish the tri...
2 laps...
1 lap...
Finished!!!

My first triathlon finally done. 2.4 mi swim, 112 mi bike, and 26.2 mi run all complete. Of course, it took me 14 days to do it, but it was all fair and in the rules. This was the YMCA indoor ironman triathlon the only rules based on time were that you had to complete the course within the month of Feburary. "Normal" triathletes complete this course in one day, some in under 10 hours!! I have a whole new respect for these people, and hope one day to be able to stand with them, drian bramaged as we all may be.

That all said, those last few laps above were not made while I was running. Oh no. I was one hurting unit at that point. Given my body's reactions the next few days, I'm certain that I overdid it, and fairly certain that I was close to doing some damage to myself.

Now that we've decided to do this tri in June, both of us are taking a much slower training pace as to not injure oursleves. Becca will have to tell you about her plan, which I think is based on slowly increasing workout time and speed until the tapering point. Mine is a slightly different approach, and one that I had to modify a bit; based heavily on heart rate. I am to stay within a 10-15 bpm aerobic heart rate zone during all my workouts, but especially during the run portion(my weakest point). The idea is pretty straight forward. If you exit one phase of the tri with too high a HR zone, the next phase will be comprimised. For instance if you get out of the swim with 175 bpm, it will drop on the bike to about 155 or so, still above the anerobic threshold (at least for me). Not only will this wear you out more on the bike, but come time for running, you could well be out of gas.

So I've been keeping to that as much as I can, with two exceptions. The swim that these guys put out is ridicously easy for me. The first few weeks limit me to 200-300 yds, about 4-6 laps. Folks, that boils down to about 5 min in the water for me. Not much of a workout, so I had to shake it up a bit. For instance, this week my "long" swim will be 1000 yds or 20 laps. (5 warm up/cool down, 5 speed work laps, and 10 laps (the length of the tri swim) at a relatively easy pace.) It should take me about 25 min, if I rest like I'm supposed to. (That's the trick, isn't it? Resting before you wear out).

The second is a temporary thing I think, until it gets nicer out. The exercise bikes in the gym are pretty nice. Electronic, HR monitor, comfy cushy seats, cup holders, even fans in the console to cool you off. Heck, you can damn near nap in the recumbant versions. They're comfortable, air conditioned, with everything thought of with one exception. This is about the farthest thing to riding a bike as you can get. Oh, sure, you're spinning the pedals around and if you do it right, you even get a decent workout. But, really! Where is the sore butt? Where are the crazy drivers trying to run you off the road? Where is the combination of satisfaction and malcontent that only arises from a long saddle-weary ride? Well, although I can't really do much about the 2nd one at the moment, I have found a suitable alternative for the slushy, wet, or frozen weeks ahead. Spinning class.

Spinning class? But Jeremy? Isn't that the same thing? After my first class, I can honestly answer a resounding no. These precisily engineered pain machines, although self adjusted, are orchestrated by a very pleased looking bone fide speed demon in the front commanding us to sit, stand, raise or lower the tension level, all while trying maddly to keep pedalling at a certain pace, called cadence. I got through the intro/safety class without problem, (yes, you actually have to take a safety class to get on these things, I should have known) but I was unable to keep up during my first 'real' class. About 10 min before the end of the class, I'm already tired and sweating like I was in Panama again, when the smiling instructor clues us into our final challenge for the day. "Okay, the last hill we'll be doing today is FO."

A collective groan rises from the room. Maybe its the exercise getting to my brain, or maybe I'm just a little tired that morning, but it takes a couple seconds for that sentence to find the appropriate picture in my mind. Then it hits me. County Rd FO! Ironic that just the day before I drove out this rout just to see how long and how painful I could possibly make a ride. FO is not so much a road, as a hill. A big hill. A hill that I doubt seriously that I could design in a more sadistic manner and still have it drivable by normal cars. (I did find an even more difficult hill in the area, but I'm trying to block it from my memory. I think the smiling instructor can read minds.) County Rd FO, is just about 2 miles long, with a progressively increasing incline. Near the top, I'm not even all that crazy about driving on the thing. Its just too steep! Hit one patch of black ice and it could be all over. This is the route he chose, and subsequently the part of the class I was unable to complete.

I left class that day, tired, dripping sweat, toes numb, and addicted. There was something about the group mentality that made it a little more enjoyable. Perhaps it is that misery loves company, or all the scantily clad college aged women in the class, though I doubt it. Like I told some coworkers, I didn't have enough in me to have a glance around. It took everything I had to make my feet go in a circle, and there was not a drip of water, nor drop of blood for any extra thoughts. Well, that and I was too busy trying desperately not to look like a walrus on a unicycle. I have to go back. I have to prove that I am not that blubber bound body bounding on a bicycle, and if I go long enough my HR will be able to handle a faster running pace. (My first and foremost reason for the class)

This is running a bit long, but since I brought it up, I'll close with this thought. Using last years results as a guide, my current paces of 2:20/100 yds swim (A easy and very sustainable pace for me), ~19mph bike (At the upper end of my HR zone for bike), and a 5mph run (Don't laugh...its the best I can concievably manage after a long bike at the moment) I would place in the upper 300 to lower 400 range, out of the 587 that finished last year. I suppose I should ultimately hope and pray against a dreaded DNF (Did Not Finish), but my pride wont let me come in dead last either. My current goals are <10>20mph bike, not easy but achievable, and the doozy, I want to run <9 min miles. That one will be pretty difficult by June 1, but maybe byt the end of the season I can knock that one out. For the Pigman, I would be overjoyed if I came in under 30 min on the run (about 6.2mph). I'm pretty sure that Becca will beat my run time by then, since she used to be very fast, and I've always been a little slower on the run. Since we do have a little competition between us though, I'm hoping that I can get far enough ahead on the swim and bike to make up the difference.

Any thoughts?

Jeremy and Becca's attempt at Triathlon..take two

Here we are again.
Seems like just last year I had this great plan to tackle the Devil's Challenge Triathlon in Sept, but sickness and that small thing called 'reality' stopped me. We went over to check out the course, and although the swim was pretty flat and calm, the bike and run were anything but. The first couple miles of the 16(?) mile bike portion was a killer uphill climb, more suited to Seattle than WI, and wouldn't you know it, the run started out on similiar if not the same hills...ouch!
This time it's a little different. For one thing I've recruited a partner in my ultimate partner, and wife, Becca. And the second, I've chosen a tri in a location I'm much more familiar with, the Pigman Sprint Distance Triathlon in Palo, IA (June 1). We signed up, wagered on, and completed the local YMCA's indoor ironman triathlon last month. We both completed the 2.4mi swim, 114mi bike, 26.2 mi run in 14 days giving us both new respect to the people who manage the same distance in <10 hours! During the course of the tri, we both completed the equivilant of some sprint distance triathlons and far exceeded what our goal will be. On the down side, our times are anything but record breaking. Although it will be a significant accomplishment for me to complete the Pigman, I have no intention of being the last across the finish line. Judging by last years times, I have some work ahead of me.
Any support, moral, spiritual, or physically getting behind me and pushing will be greatly appreciated.