My Luck Ran Out

So my pre race week didn't go as planned...

I live a pretty blessed life as far as the big picture is concerned. I 90% of the time stay in good health (even when I lived on junk) which also helps my training because I stay big injury free and miss very few workouts
I am able to most days motivate myself mentally enough to push myself on what I consider to be a pretty large workout load and I live in a nice house and have family and friends who put up with the craziness of Ironman training, I would like to say people consider me lucky because it seems I more often then not end up in the right place at the right time but last week my luck ran out...

     Sunday my wife left for Alabama for the week. I did get in a 25 mile bike ride and a very short walk jog in. Then my 1 and a half year old got sick (stomach flu) and I spent a couple of days taking care of him and only managed a couple of short runs. Then as he got better my 3 and a half caught it which led to another day of taking care of sick kids... The issue with my 3 and a half year old is he is a mini me and if he gets sick then usually he is one of the only people that can get me sick and he did so 2 days away from race day I couldn't keep anything down I was missing sleep due to taking care of the boys and some pre 1st race ever nerves.  I spent Friday getting sick and playing a very strange game of trying to put in more fluid then my body would kick out (I lost). I did something late Friday that I would never suggest but I was at a crossroads

A. keep playing this losing game and maybe end up dehydrated
B. Put nothing in and hope I'm better the next day
C. Pull the in case of emergency lever and force my body to follow my rules

Of course I picked option 3. (Once again what I did was an extreme and I don't in any way suggest this) After working all day I went to My pre Primal favorite restaurant Los Corrals and ordered My usual with extra liquid cheese dip and ate everything I could find and then drank 4 glasses of water then waited to see what happens... I went and picked up my sons from school and took them home we had a normal night (at which time I was taking in as much liquid as I could find) and then picked up my wife from the airport around 9:40 pm. I still felt horrible but I was holding on to some hydration and I was at least not losing anything I might need come race time. Wow you might be saying to yourself how did you know that one of the worst meals you could ever eat 2 days before a race would fix you. Well before I became Paleo/Primal I would eat anything I thought I wanted and then try to work out and twice in my training I ate this meal and twice I almost didn't make it through a run because my body didn't/couldn't digest this weird mixture of carbs, processed wheat etc so I used that knowledge to benefit me for once. Crazy I know but that;s just the way my brain works. Saturday I woke up and felt like I ate junk the night before so I started with liquids again and most of it was staying with me. I slept in and then got a haircut and drank some homemade juice (Broccoli, tomato, peppers, apples) and everything was looking up. I went to the race packet pick up and got all my goodies and then attended a wedding for my wife's cousin and the wedding was fine but when we got to the reception. As soon as we got in the room I started sweating (my body was on high alert still fighting what ever was left of the stomach flu) I looked around and everyone was acting like it was warm so I knew I was in trouble. I started drinking as much water as the waiter would bring me and the party went on as normal. My pre race meal was a Grilled fish fillet, a small slice of Prime Rib and a salad. by the time we left I had lost any spare fluid I had built up for the race. I went home and packed my car for the Tri and went to sleep about 11pm at 3:30am I got up double checked all my gear and left for the race. I got to the race set up my transition area and was getting ready to take pics for my post race blog when a bunch of the guys said rain is coming cover your stuff. I jogged back to my car got a couple of trash bags and   covered all my gear (I hate running in wet shoes) It started raining and then I walked around in the rain for an hour. I then put on my wetsuit and started my pre race fuel process. I went down to the beach to get a feel for the lake water and warm up. As soon as I hit the beach they called everyone out of the water and asked everyone to wait so they could make a decision on if the race was going to happen. It was cancelled and I was crushed. I packed up my bike and sit in my car and watched everyone pack up their stuff and I drove home in silence.
     I took a nap and after talking to my wife and moping around for a couple of hours I decided to do the Tri on my own so I went to the gym and jumped in the pool. then drove to the downtown airport and rode my bike 25 miles then hopped off and ran a 10k... At mile 12 I flipped my bike and sled through the shoulder and into the grass of course there were 2 real cyclist following me and passed without even talking to me. I then got up took my bike back to the car thought about quitting but instead fixed my bike and started the ride again. By the time I was running I was out of energy I didn't stop and get more fuel so I did the whole Tri on 48 oz of liquid and 1 gel and so i had to stumble through the last 2 miles but at least I finished. It was a rough week and it beat me but no time to worry about it now I have 19 days til Ironman Kansas so it's time to up my workouts and hope I can handle it....

Now or Never

     So my 1st Tri (Olympic Distance) is Sunday (Yeah this Sunday only a few days from now) and as the title suggest it's now or never. My body is as ready as it will be for this race so it should be an easy week I'm doing an easy swim, run and bike workout this week then nothing Thur, Fri or Saturday to let my body be fully prepared for race day. I'm still trying to figure out the magic number for days before a race to be fully ready and right now it feels like maybe 3 is the right number. I crushed my workouts last week ending the week with about 80 miles on the bike 30 miles running 3.5 miles in the pool so hopefully my body can do what I ask come race day.

A few of this weeks highlights

- Received Wetsuit (Pro level S4) and tested it out at the pool in the gym and yes I got lots of weird looks for wearing a full wetsuit at the gym but I was told to test it so that's what I did. I'll give a full review after race test.

- Did not 1 but 2 full bike to run workouts (full distance) 25 miles biking then running 6 miles and fell like as long as I can make it through the swim I should be OK to finish.

If You Know Me That is How I talk To Myself

     My body has been pushed to it workout limits with my crazy 2 or more a day workouts for the last 2 weeks and I truly am in the best shape of my life so I'm interested to see how I do. I have never done a full 4-5 hour straight endurance race and hope I don't fall apart but I have worked out through hot, cold, pain, poor nutrition so I have tried to come up with several plans to help me through any situation I might endure during the Tri. I also have a goal time of 4 hours. Only because I think it is important to have a goal.

1 hour-Swim
2 hour-Bike
1 hour-10k

Wish me luck, And if you pray I'll take any prayers... Thanks in advance

Next week's blog will be a post race update and a schedule of my attempt at a crazy jump from Olympic Tri distance to Half Ironman Distance since I only have 20 days between races.

Olympic Distance- 32 miles total
Half ironman Distance- 70.3 miles total

Everyday Circus

     I'm not sure how every age grouper does their training but I once heard something from a Pro Triathlete (Chris “Macca” McCormack)  that when you are wrapping your head around training for a triathlon it's like deciding to join the circus and due to my new training schedule it feels that way. Let me just let you in on a day in the life of Chris the hopefully, possible, wishful soon to be an Iron Man.

-Wake up 5:45- Jump on the Bike for a quick 10-15 mile Ride-Whip up a Vegetable/Fruit Juice for Breakfast
-Shower and get ready for work
 -Wake up my 2 little boys and get them ready for Daycare
-Take my boys to daycare and go to work
-8:30 Work
-11:00 Show up at the gym for a quick Swim Workout (Every other day)
-12:00 Drink more Vegetable/Fruit juice on my way back to work
-12:15-4:45 Work
-5:15 show up at home and spend time with the family
-7:00 Eat Diner
-8:00 Put boys to bed and try and relax for an hour or so
-10:00 Back to the gym for a Bike Workout followed by a Run workout
-12:30 show up at home and try and go to bed





I try and take Sundays off and on Friday/Saturday I only do a long Bike Ride or Long Run

So as you can see when I put the Tri sticker on my car I didn't do it to be cool I did it because sometimes (A Lot) I need motivation anywhere I can get it.

Also when people ask me why I switched to the Primal lifestyle I explain I needed to do something to help my body go to the next level. And a funny but true fact: During the day after each workout I'm tired but I still have way more energy then when I was drinking 2 20oz Mountain Dews a day (and maybe a can or 2 of Red Bull) So trust me the Truth is in the Vegetable/Fruit...




And yes these are not doctored I can Juggle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Week in the Life of A Ironman in Training

     This week of working out was great, I spent most days doing at least 2 workouts a day on some days I did 3. I feel like I'm close to being as ready as I can be for the Kansas City Tri (Except the swim) I spent every other day in the pool and if I wasn't in the pool I rowed so I'm upping my distance for the next 6 pool workouts to the full distance (1 mile) so hopefully my swim base will be strong enough to keep me competitive. Also lets mention the awesome training weather we are still having in the Midwest. I ran in fog, mist, freezing rain but it did start with an awesome 80 degree day. And yes my bike is back hooked up to the trainer. Also lets clear the air. As always your goal for your 1st race should just be to Finish but I have a horrible competitive addiction so if I'm running a race I am trying to win (even if winning is an impossible feat) and often (almost always) this gets me into lots of trouble and puts my body through horrible race day pain but it's what I do.

I've been using my new Nike TomTom watch and it is great. It works off a GPS signal and also syncs with the bluetooth shoe sensor so even if the watch loses signal it just switches over to your shoe sensor and keeps accurate tracking of distance, pace, total run time, avg pace, laps. The display is huge so it's easy to read and the buttons are easy to reach during run and a single push changes the stats and something My 3 year old thinks is great is a slap light. Any time you slap the watch it lights up so if your running in the dark (Like I did last Tuesday night (10:30-11:20) also you can set the slap to also set your laps. I also like how Nike Plus keeps track of all your stats on their website.. Which by the way yesterday was Cinco De Mayo and they gave a special badge to anyone who did any working out on may 5th.

Also last week I hit day 100 of using the Nike Fuelband... I know I'm a nerd but I'll take extra motivation where ever I can get it.

I have a post I typed up last week and haven't added a picture but I will do it tonight so most likely I will post 2 today....Your welcome..........If anyone is out there ?