Mentors

     I get asked a lot "Why do you train so much" or "So Hard" I often get a weird look because I don't look out of shape even when by my standards sometimes I am. I don't run for health sure its a great side effect and No, I don't do hours of training so I can eat junk. To be honest I have eaten both ways pure junk and super healthy (Paleo/Primal) and it is the exact opposite when I am pushing my body to its absolute limit asking it to do in a week what some people don't do in a year I way prefer putting in the good stuff and by good stuff I mean Veggies,Fruit and Meat (Just say no to processed food) but enough about diet. This post is about my mentors.
      My mentors are 2 of the craziest people you'll ever meet. The 1st changed my life 5 years ago his current goals are being the fastest man alive. And when I say fastest I don't just mean running I mean everything changing clothes, eating a snack, walking up 5 stairs. It makes no difference to him he wants to prove his dominance at every aspect. He tries to live every moment to it's complete fullest and to take no time being lazy. He ends most nights pushing his body and mind to its limits and then passes out. He has no Job but says he will be a Police Officer and a Scientist.
      The second entered the scene 3 years ago. He is a bully and wants things his way. He believes in movement of all kinds. Instead of walking down stairs he prefers to jump. When he hears music he starts dancing no matter where he is. He has zero fear and 100% trust in his friends. He will eat any veggies that are turned into a soup. He is also a copy cat if you have a favorite song, movie,food it is also his favorite just ask him.

Yes, currently both of my mentors are my 2 sons and if you think its crazy that an old guy has a 3 and 5 year old mentors you clearly haven't hung out with them, Here is a few things they have taught me.

Do what makes you happy (Who cares who is watching)
Ask for what you want (The worst thing that could happen is someone says no)
Listen to your body (If your tired sleep, If it wants to run then Run)
Be humble and ask questions (I asked my 5 year old why he asks so many questions and his answer "Because I don't know everything yet")
If you need a helping hand ask for one (Sometimes a helping hand fixes everything)

My goal for 2015 is to be more like them.

Happy New Year !!

End of the Year is Killing me !!

     For the last week (Christmas Eve) All 4 members of my family have been sick with something. It started with my Oldest son of 5 having a temperature of 101. Then after a day he seemed to get better but it was too late.  Everyone in our house started to drop like flies. My youngest son feel ill then the next thing I knew is everyone in my house was laying around in PJ's and had skipped both Breakfast and lunch and still no one was hungry. I skipped a full week of training (feel free to yell at me in the comment section) because I couldn't drag myself off the couch. I could possible be the worst sick person in the world. I do nothing but lay on the couch and watch TV

 and whine about how sick I am. Usually after a full day of rest I get better but when you throw in Christmas eve, Christmas and family being in town getting a full day of rest and sleep never really happened so I just never could get back to 100%.  I have also found it is super hard to drag out the cold run gear to do a run when you feel like dying but enough said. Today is Monday which means a new week of workouts to do.
      I'm about a month away from adding swim training so I really need to dial my biking in. It seems not getting on your bike for 4 months is a horrible idea but too late now. I have lost about a full minute a mile pace that I need to make up.
     I'm also only a week away from being back on the Paleo/Primal Lifestyle. Which means next weeks blog could be a report of how horrible I feel while going through carb cravings. I am trying to soften the blow by weaning them down this week.

Sorry for the the short post but I'm still not 100%

It Had to Come to an end

     My Off season that is which means Yes today is Day 1 of the grind back to becoming an Ironman. and Yes most of my off season was spent eating gluten and drinking processed carbs but its over now and lets just say my body feels horrible for it but in the next 10 months training is my middle name. A few Off season Highlights

I did a 8-10 Mile run in

-Las Vegas
-Seattle
-Chicago
-Orlando

Vegas

Seattle

Chicago

                                                                           Orlando


and a couple of weeks ago I ran a Marathon split between 2 cities which meant a 13.1 mile run at 7 a.m. in Kansas City then I drove to Des Moines (3 Hours) registered spent the night and then ran another 13.1 at 8 a.m.

Why You ask would I run 2 races in 2 days at the end of my off season.... 2 reasons. Reason number 1 I have a insane addiction to pushing my limits (see past blogs) reason number 2 you get 3 medals

Here is my training schedule for the next 2 months then I add in swimming...

Mondays

-5am-6am Hour Bike ride on Trainer

Monday Nights

-60 Min Bike

-6 Miles above Pace run

-30 Flights of Stairs

-Abs

Tuesdays

-5am-6am Hour Bike ride on Trainer

Tuesday Nights

-Full body weight routine

-45 Row Machine

-2 mile walk full incline

Wednesdays

-5am-6am Hour Bike ride on Trainer

Wednesday Nights

-60 min Bike

-8 mile run 95% Pace

Thursdays

-5am-6am Hour Bike ride on Trainer

Thursday Nights

-Full Body Weight Routine

-45 Row Machine

-2 Mile walk full incline

Fridays

-5am-6am Hour Bike ride on Trainer

Friday Nights

-2 Hour Bike

Saturday

-Long Run 10 Miles or More

Sunday

Rest Day



Until Next time if you need me I'll be at the gym.... I did leave out The Zombie run but we will talk about that later...

So It's Over

So it's over...
     I spent the last month (yes a full 30 days) off away from the gym, no weekly long runs,  no 3 hour bike rides, just me and the couch. I finished my test season with completing the Kansas City Marathon. I decided after that to listen to my body and a lot of pro athletes and just step away for a break. It's crazy to think of what a year of testing your body will do. I started with the hopes of pushing my limits and prepping my body for what I assumed was going to be a rough year of just signing up for different race distances and seeing what my body would do under the severe pressure and I tried to make peace with the idea of starting a bunch of races and most likely not finishing them, simply for the fact that I had never did anything longer then a 4 mile race I figured it would give me a gauge to what I needed to do for my Rookie season as a Triathlete. Then some craziness happen during each race I made the decision that the pain alone was not reason to not finish so every time I thought I was going to quit I put my head down and decided it wasn't a real option. Then a wild thing happened  I became a 70.3 Ironman and as I finished the race and the announcer said welcome to the club I realized I would never be the same. I did something I honestly believed wasn't possible and I thought how did this happen ? It sounds crazy but when I woke up on that morning of a real deal 70.3 Ironman and drove to the race I was worried I had never swam in open water I had never swam that distance (and it was the roughest thing ever) then I was going to quit I couldn't bike I just sit there done and a volunteer ran over and said get on your bike if your going to catch anyone you need to get on your bike so I did and I rode as hard as I could for 56 miles (before that day my longest training ride was 32 miles) and as I came into view of the bike to run transition area I thought just get your shoes on a walk a little bit before quitting so at least you know what is like to try and run after you swim and bike. Yes if you follow my blog I make a horrible decision over and over and train for a race while I run a race, it's a decision I hope never to make again but no promises. As I got my shoes on and exited the transition area and hit the track a weird thing happened I saw other athletes and decided to jog (really a combo of crawl, walk, and hobble) towards other athletes because I knew as I passed each one my competitive nature just might drag me closer to the finish line and it did in fact somehow it dragged me 70.3 miles all the way to the finish line. Which tricked my brain for a very rough ride.

The Kansas City Marathon

about 2 weeks before my very 1st Marathon I injured my left knee (hyper extended it) sprained my ankle (very severe sprain) and threw my hips out of alignment (all on the left side) so as I always do I took a day off only because the pain wouldn't allow me to run and I decided to slow down I only ran 2 more runs a 9 miler and a 11 miler before the pain became to much and I would have to hobble home. I got some advice from my wife "don't run stay off your leg maybe try for a half marathon, you can always try again next year".. I decided the night before the race that I would show up and stretch and try the half marathon, its a good distance for me and I was comfortable with walking some if I had to. As the race started I was at the back of the pack around the 13 minute pace group I knew that a 14 minute pace was needed to qualify to finish the marathon in the allowed time. As the race started I was blessed by the cold it was around 37 degrees and I did no warm up so my leg just worked with me and was too cold to hurt after about 10 minutes I was with my normal 9 minute pace group and decided I was going to push it and try to make it under the cutoff  so at least I would make it onto the marathon course (I wasn't going to be able to finish it but at least I would make it to the course) Then all craziness happen I did the half marathon course in 2 hours and was no where near them even thinking about cutting anyone yet. I was ok as long as I didn't stop moving. Due to the pain I shifted all my weight to my right side which was too much stress so I started cramping bad but as a training Ironman cramps is something you run through so I did and I was lucky enough that in my desperation was yelling to race fans "does anyone have a banana or an orange" and some saint on Ward Parkway ran into his house jogged up to me and handed me a banana and it saved me. I just kept moving. Around mile 22ish I also got careless they had us crossing 4 lanes of traffic and between the lanes was one of those small 2 foot dividers with a little hump in the middle to divide traffic. I didn't adjust my stride and came of the island with my hurt left side and as I landed it didn't support my weight and I fell and fell hard. My iPod had died so I was carrying my phone and when I fell I crushed it. I got up and kinda walked for about 20 feet up a hill spoke real bad to myself then said a short prayer asking God to just let me finish. As I got to the top of the hill it was a steep downhill so I tried to jog and my legs starting moving again and I kept jogging for the rest of the 3ish miles left. After finishing I walked to my car and put my head down and thanked god then I cried a little once again I did something that the morning of I thought was impossible. when I got home My wife said "so you ran the whole thing" I said "barely" and she said "I knew that was going to happen" which is funny because I didn't...

I now have an Idea of what I can do and what races I like... I like Ironman distance and half marathons or longer. Nothing shorter it seems I'm not fast enough yet but I will be so Today starts day one of my 1st year of Rookie training...

Keeping My Head Down

I know it's been awhile since my last post...

     I spent several months pushing hard to become a triathlete and after my 2 trial Tri's, I was sunk to a pretty low mental state. I had a lot of frustrations with how my races went (manly with how fast I was) I have spent most of my life in the Top of whatever sport I have thrown myself into. And didn't do well with just having a goal of just Finishing. So I took a break from all the biking and swimming and have just been running. I have never run a marathon so a marathon is on my schedule (ready or not) for the last 2 months I have spent it trying to get on a schedule so that come race day I'll be ready. The last few weeks have been rough. I had a 15 mile and 2 16 mile runs for my long runs and it feels like my legs are never going to back to 100%. It's weird but when you have to swim bike run you learn where to take breaks with your legs but when all your doing is running then there is no easy way but to put in the miles. Also due to the amount of mileage and current heat in Kansas City I have been pushed back to a treadmill which after about 30 minutes of a 90 minute run gets real boring (That reminds me I need a new run mix) so here is a idea of my next few weeks of workouts

I'm on week 11

 and like the title says I've just been busy Keeping My Head Down and grinding out miles.    

Fear

     While I was on my bike for my last long ride Saturday and since I have been training without music for the last week (trying to do every couple of workouts without music since Ironman frowns upon Music for safety) During a 2 hour no music ride my mind wonders....Lets start off that I push myself to extremes as shown in past blogs. I'm not sure 100% why but I do know it has to do with FEAR. I have a huge fear of failing in most things I try that's why I workout so hard and do things that people think are crazy.  During my bike ride I started worrying about my up coming tri, OK I was really only worrying about the swim portion I know as long as I make it to my bike I will drag myself to the finish but 1st I have to make it past the swim. Yes I've been doing swim workouts the last month but I really have only been swimming a few months which only equals about 15-20 swim workouts and some of those were spent on getting some kind of form. So I'm as new as you can get. So while I was on the bike I came up with a plan and tonight (Tuesday) that plan goes into effect. I'm going to go home and around 7 pm I'm going to run a hard 10 k then go swim a mile, then tomorrow I'm going to ride a hard 15 miles then swim a mile. I figure if I can swim a mile after my body has been pushed and is tired then after a few days rest I should mentally be ready for a swim with a fresh body. Yes I know my body can make the distance, it's just some stupid fear hanging around because I remember how hard the Ironman Kansas swim was.

Sorry...This isn't an actual blog post This was just a thought that I wanted to share since who ever has been reading this blog is in some part a part of my journey and so I want to give some insight as to how my mind is working.


As I do before any race I'm asking anyone reading this.... If you pray, Please pray for me and lets see what I can do... Feel free to leave any questions and/or comments I could use them.... Thanks

Another Week Another Test

     I am in the roughest part of my Tri workout season due to Having my last Tri (Lawrence Tri) of the season on July 21st and after Ironman Kansas I'm not blind to my weaknesses (Swimming) so I have chosen to spend a lot of time in the pool. As an example I have 13 days til Race day and I have 7 swim workouts scheduled and currently my swim clothes are kept in my car in case I get a chance to take a long lunch and can squeeze in a quick swim. And all that is on top of my normal Bike/Run workouts. I'm putting in about 100-150 miles of training a week and am looking forward to taking apart my season and figuring out where I can get better for next season. My goal is a sub 5 hour Ironman (70.3) next season.
     I am also looking forward to Marathon training. Mostly because I have become a runner and so its the discipline (Swim/Bike/RUN) that I enjoy the most. I have never run anything longer then a half marathon and am liking the idea of going back to the basics and just pushing my legs to their limit. I am also reaching out to a few friends, ex coaches, strangers that I see running, and trying to tap into their secrets because I would like to run a sub 3:30 1st marathon and eventually a sub 3:00 at some point but I need help since right now I'm somewhere around 4 hours.

A few cool things that have been going on...

SLS3 (My sponsor, so yes I'm showing a little favoritism) Sent out a news letter to all their blog subscribers and this is what the email looked like.

They used a picture of my oldest son and I from Ironman Kansas which I think is cool

Also on their website the athlete section is under construction so they have a link to a YouTube video picture slide show of some of their athletes and the last picture on the video is me (superman style). http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MiZPrX5tM4U

I have found out that I do not like knowing my weakness, I like being blissfully ignorant to what I can't master but now that I know what they are I will do everything possible in the off season to correct them. And in of itself is my Journey and ANOTHER TEST.

To all the swimmers out there You people are Beasts and I mean that in the most jealous of ways. But know this by next season swimming won't be my Kryptonite.