State of Mind Headed Into Macon 70.3

I find myself thinking more about the implications of this race than normal. Do I visualize my times for each leg of a tri before racing? Yes. Do I get excited thinking about the numbers on the clock when I cross the finish line? You bet. Do I think about how I'm going to keep my heart rate low and take it nice and slow throughout an entire race? Never. That is until now.

Headed into the Macon Rock N' Rollman half ironman race Saturday, this will be my only focus. Take it slow, keep my pace, and cross the finish line feeling like I have more left in the tank. (hopefully a lot more). This is a totally new approach to a race for me. I'm usually wondering how hard I can push on the bike and how fast I can churn my legs on the run, but that isn't the goal of this race. This race is simply a measure of where I am in my training and endurance as it relates to Ironman Chattanooga (now only 120 days away). I think it will be easy to hold back on the bike as this course is hilly and I know I have 13.1 miles to run after completing the bike leg. The struggle for me will be holding back on the run as I will have legs that are feeling good coming off a relaxed effort on the bike. I usually take off way too fast on the run and I know that while it may not kill me in this race, it would certainly cause major issues in Chattanooga.

So there it is, out in the open. Now I just have to keep that goal in the forefront of my mind on race day. Hold back on the run, and cross the finish line with plenty left in the tank as opposed to leaving everything on the course. I hope my race report is consistent with my goals, but even if it isn't I'll look hard and make sure that I take something away from this race that will help me in the future.

Training Week in Review: Week 12

This week was again, fairly uneventful. It seems like the past couple of weeks have been flowing in a good rhythm and made it easy to push through towards taper week. The distances slowly decreasing and the promise of a 3-day weekend made this week a breeze as well. The only difference in the structure this week was I had a swim on the calendar 3 days in a row (Tues-Thurs) and runs 3 days in a row as well (Fri-Sun). The swim repetition didn't phase me at all, but I started to feel the final run for this week on Sunday morning.

The only workout that I want to expound on was the ride/run brick on Saturday. My training partner and I decided to change up the scenery a bit and headed over to the Silver Comet Trail. This isn't a hilly trail by any means, but it is a good place to get a feel for what's known as "false flats". These stretches are where the terrain looks completely flat, but actually consists of slight gradual inclines. The heart rate effort level for the ride was supposed to be low zone 2 so it was going to be an easy session. I hadn't done much speed work since my Sprint Tri in late April so when we headed out and got warmed up t felt effortless. We picked up the pace for about 2/3 of the ride (40 mins.) and it still felt like there was very little exertion both in the legs and in breathing so that instilled a bit of confidence headed into the run portion of the brick.

We swapped shoes and then took off in the opposite direction on the trail for more variety. (Side note: changing where you train is a good thing to practice as not only can biking and running in the same places get extremely boring, but it's good to change up elevation profiles as well) I could feel our pace was faster than my normal brick runs, but my heart rate stayed put firmly in zone 2 so I pressed on. This was a 30 minute run so we headed out 15 minutes and then turned back towards the parking lot. On the run back, my training partner slowly pushed up the pace so by the time we hit the parking lot it was almost at a sprint pace. The only reason I mention that is that he increased it so slowly that I didn't really notice the speed distance until the final .1 miles when I began to feel my heart rate slowly creeping up. The weather was great, and it was nice to have the training done for the day at 9:30am especially since my typical Saturday training doesn't end until closer to noon (or later).

Now it's time to enjoy taper week, focus mentally, and rest for the challenge ahead at the Rock N' Rollman Half Ironman in Macon on Saturday. Weekly totals: Swim - 5000m • Bike - 51.5mi • Run - 14.75mi.

Training Week In Review: Week 11

My first real benchmark test on the road to Ironman, the Rock N' Rollman Half-Iron in Macon, is only 2 weeks away. This week was a pretty steady week of training sessions with 3 swim/ride bricks and a couple of runs. The process is seeming pretty familiar by now which is why I'm glad this training plan switches things up every 4th week (next week) to change/test the way your body responds to what you've been doing the previous 3 weeks.

Not much to report on with any of the swims and runs this week, other than I switched the long run from Sunday to Monday morning due to the weather. It rained all day Sunday and I didn't feel the need to repeat that from the previous weekend's long run session. Thee single training session I will go into detail on is the long bike on Saturday morning.

I'm getting used to riding "alone" on alternating Saturdays as my training partner has to work every other weekend and the other friends I've been training with either had races or rode the day prior. I usually find a small group that heads out from the parking lot at the same time as I do so I have some other riders at least in sight for the first part of my rides. I especially like to ride with others when the weather has a chance of turning bad as was the forecast for this ride - 56 degrees, 40% chance of rain) This case was no different as I kept pace with a couple of ladies from Dynamo Multisport that were going about the same distance as I was. I asked if I could tag along and didn't really ask what pace they were holding. They gladly said sure, but informed me that they had intervals on schedule so when they took off at full speed not to think that they were trying to leave me. I replied, "I'll just have to try and keep up then". It was harder than I thought as I'm not ashamed to admit that these girls were fast! I kept with them pretty well through the interval sets and then we turned different ways around the 17mi mark. (I was doing 2 loops as opposed to their long loop as I was unsure of what the weather was going to do). I kept pushing the pace at the speed I had been riding and was surprised to find that it was easier than I thought to keep pushing (within reason - still gotta keep the heart rate in Zone 2 on these long rides).

I finished my first loop and had a small voice tell me to turn back to the parking lot and call it a day, but I knew better than that. I had miles to log and couldn't let any excuses change my mind. I headed back out on the 2nd loop which was going to be about 5 miles shorter than the first, but it would make up the difference in hills. I got the split where I could turn and make the 2nd loop 19mi or push on and hit 25mi. I glance behind me as it had been sprinkling on and off for the past few miles and saw the sky looking extremely dark and could feel the temperature beginning to drop a bit. I decided to call it a day and head back towards the car. This would prove to be a wise decision. I got within 6 miles of the parking lot and that's when the sky opened up. I had caught up with a few other cyclists that were caught in the downpour as I was and decided to keep a steady pace and not push it on the wet roads back to the car. By the time I reached my car I was completely soaked, the temperature had dropped down to 52 degrees and it showed no signs of letting up. I quickly loaded the bike on my car rack and hopped in to get dry. I smiled after a few minutes back on the road when I remembered that it was this weekend last year that I raced Rev3 Knoxville in identical weather. That day is never stopped raining and never got above 55 degrees. That thought made my few miles in the rain seem more enjoyable and valuable for future race days when the weather is less than ideal.

Now bring on the next week. I'm ready to put this training to the test at a longer distance race and get a feeling for my progress towards September. Weekly Totals: Swim - 5000m • Bike - 90mi • Run - 10.5mi

Training Week In Review: Week 10

I'm 3 weeks away from the Rock N' Rollman Half IM on May 31st and feeling good. The workouts have almost reached their peak, and the time and effort is starting to pay off. The workouts this week were more focused on one activity at a time rather than a bunch of mixed brick sessions. This allowed me to really focus on each leg and where I need to fine-tune things in each area as opposed to the brick sessions where I find my focus on the adjustment from one sport to the next.

Sport by Sport


Swim: I swam my first full IM distance in the pool this week in over a year (in one session). I felt good and wasn't really pushing the pace much. I was content to just sit back and keep going stroke after stroke and see where I landed at the end. The result: It was my fastest 3800m. Ever. I think that my original goal of completing the swim portion in an hour or less on race day is totally doable now.

Bike: My long bike workout got switched from its planned day due to weather complications. (which is ironic as you'll see in my "Run" section below) I rode out with a group of 3 on our usual route and the plan was to bike the same loop twice to reach our time goals for the day. I felt good throughout the entire first loop and our average was higher than usual, but my heart rate stayed the same if not a little lower than it has been over the past few weeks. What does that mean? It means this plan is working. As we approached the parking lot to pick up another rider and start the second loop I glanced at the time and saw that our loop went longer than I thought. (We changed the distance of the loop we were going to do once for the shorter distance twice which meant that overall distance was more, but so was the time needed to complete it) It was Mother's Day, and I knewI would arrive for lunch with family late, but I couldn't make it as late as it would have been had I gone out for the second loop. I've tried my best to make sure that training doesn't impact family time too much, so I opted to stick to only the first loop.

Run: Since the weather was questionable Saturday morning for the bike, I moved the long run to Saturday after and changed it up with a trail run on the Iron Hill Trail at Red Top Mountain. This was my first experience trail running in over 3 years, but I was excited for a change of scenery and I knew that I would be using/working muscles that the road doesn't utilize. It was lightly sprinkling as we headed out and by the time we approached our first mile it was pouring. Irony right? We swapped activities to avoid the rain and ended up sloshing through the remainder of the run in a downpour. I managed to cover 9.25 miles in 1hr 35min and I knew my legs would feel this run on the bike the following day. I also figured out that it's time to get new run training shoes as the slight knee pain that I've felt a few times over the past couple of weeks returned.

All in all a good week, but I know that I've still got 2 solid weeks of work to go before taper week. Weekly totals: Swim - 5300m • Bike - 50mi • Run - 12.75mi

Quiet Doubt Roars Again

I would be lying if I claimed that this process has been without doubts. Fear. Steady amounts of insecurity. This has been more evident during the bike sessions this year more than any other area. It's not that I don't enjoy riding. In fact I feel more free and energized during rides than I do during the run or swim (my strongest area). No, these feelings arise due to the unknown. I've never biked more than 61 miles in any single ride. Now that I type those words I see the cause of my doubt. I've swam that distance in open water before - not in a race format, but in training with friends - and I've run a marathon. But spending double the amount of time I have done already in the saddle appears daunting when I committed to this journey.

I should focus on the strides I've made during training. I've spent more time on the road already this year than in the past year all together. I've held my fastest average at a sprint distance tri ever at my first race this year. I've completed my longest ride of 61mi this year and wasn't dead at then end. Those are the moments I should keep at the front of my thoughts when looking at the mileage and time on the bike training increase each week, but I find that most times that isn't the case.

I focus on those time where my legs feel like rubber, my speed wasn't what I thought it was, or the wind impacted me during a ride more than I thought it should. I know that this isn't a fast process. It's a day-in, day-out commitment to improve and grow through the training process. It's doing a ride and looking for the good in it no matter how it felt. It's taking what happens on the road, finding the hidden lesson, and using it be a better, stronger cyclist.

As I approach this weekend, my longest ride of the season thus far, I will strive to focus on the positive, enjoy the journey, and always remember to learn something from each training session on the road to Ironman.