Last of the Easy Road

     It's the last week of the Year, and I assume if the rest of the world reflects my office then everyone is getting ready to kick off a New Year fitness goal. I think fitness goals are awesome and everyone should have one, but the problem is when I set a goal without any plan. That's why a few weeks ago I posted my race schedule. If more people know about it then its harder to just blow off.
     As for the title of this weeks blog. The last 2 weeks I haven't posted much because not much (training world) has changed I'm still Biking/running and weight lifting and its been going ok. Next month however I am adding swimming so it should be crazy hard but only time will tell. Also I have stayed on the low end of intensity for my workouts since the holidays are happening and I didn't want to put to much extra stress on my body so I could fully enjoy all Christmas has to offer. So by this weekend Christmas will be behind me and I feel like I have a solid run off the bike base so its time to start rebuilding my faster pace and reconfigure my speed work drills. I have felt like the first few weeks of running after biking has been hard and I am always dealing with a monkey on my back because no matter how my biking goes my legs are tired so I don't get the same speed out of them that I'm accustom to. So every run leaves me bothered and agitated. No more excuses come this weekend. I am setting my pace and running til my legs give out or they decide to join me on this insane ironman journey. No more easy road for me its put up or shut up time I have been making the excuse for the last few weeks that the reason my times are so slow is because I'm tired off the bike, but the real reason is I let my ego get in the way. Most of the time I don't set long term goals because I let myself down so when I hit my goal for the half marathon I was too pleased with myself and let off the gas as far as my training goes and since I train alone I have only myself to blame. But after reviewing my training log and taking a few minutes to yell at myself, I'm back I'm hungry and ready or not here I come.

Here are a few of my goals....

-I want to set a new PR for the half marathon this year

-In Training I want to run a faster pace off the bike then I ran when I was training for the half marathon

-I don't want to TRY to be ready for a full marathon by October I want to just BE Ready and run it.

-I want to do something physically this year that I thought wasn't possible (last year it was run a half marathon under 2 hours)

Yes I spin in the dark in a hoodie

Most of my Christmas Gifts were Tri related... Next Week I will post Pics and expalin everything

Race Schedule 2013

All the blogs I have been reading keep telling me I need to set up and post my 2013 race schedule. This is a hopeful schedule if I can keep major injury free and my training stays on schedule.

March 23rd 

Prairie Spirit Trail 100 & 50 Mile Ultra Races An Epic Ultra Event

I have been talking with @IronTexasMommy (she is in training for this race) about maybe possibly trying to do the 50 mile challenge but I'm still trying to talk myself into it.

April 13th

I'll be doing the Half Marathon

May 19th-ish Date not announced yet

My 1st Tri and I'm hoping to be ready for the Olympic Distance

June 9th

The Oread IRONMAN 70.3 Kansas 

 

Then back to the lab for Full marathon training for a few months ...

October 19th 

I'm pushing for the Full Marathon but if I'm not ready I'll do the Half.

November 19ish

I'm not sure if I'm doing the Half or Full

I also may do some 5K's if any catch my eye. It's my 1st season and I'm hoping by mixing up distances and types of races won't end up in me biting off more then I can chew.

Wish me luck !!!

Week 15- Get in Line

     So it was my 1st week of Running off the bike, which for non triathlete readers means I ride a bike, then as soon as I'm off I start running with only a minute or two break. Day 1 went perfect. I rode 30 minutes at about 17 miles an hour then ran a 5k then a mile on the stair master. Day 2 I wasn't sore or tired I hit the weights for the 1st time in 4 months and paid for that vacation. Day 3 I rode for an hour and then tried to fight my way through a 6 mile run, but in the last 20 minutes of my ride things got ugly and the Bike started teaching me a few life lessons. The way my ride goes is 8 minutes of sitting and pedaling then 2 minutes of standing and pedaling then repeat til my workout is finished (after I build my base I will do sufferfest videos)  so after 4 sets of sitting and standing my left leg started cramping, but its OK I run with them so I figured I would ride through them which is good training unless like me you haven't figured out your bike nutrition yet and are just sipping some Gatorade or water thinking your worry about calories during the run.
Very Bad idea every time I stood up my leg screamed at me to stop peddling at which point the seat on the bike started feeling like sitting on a rock so now sitting or standing was painful but instead of listening to my body I kept going for 20 minutes of pain.

Lessons from the bike

1. Take nutrition serious, it may feel like a easy ride but you still need correct amount of fuel
2. The standard seat and thin running shorts equal Pain

Then straight for the treadmill. I decided on a 2 minute roller break to try and loosen the stiff muscle that had been trouble on the bike and then I started my run, but the bike wasn't done with it's daily lessons.
My tank was empty I reached  for a life saving gel (oh that's right it was 11 at night and the store was closed so I hadn't bought any) so no gels, then I reached for Gatorade (oops drank all that on the bike trying to push the last 20 minutes) so no Gatorade, it looked like water was going to have to do. I now know 100% that I run on sugar and caffeine, without it I look like one of the zombies from the walking dead

so around mile 2.5 I was trying any mental trick I could to keep running at a 9:40 pace. At mile 3.75 The cramp was back and I was wishing I would just stop and let the treadmill throw me to the floor and curl up into the fetal position so at least I could cry and take a break but instead what did I do I tried to keep running/ jogging/limping or what ever it is called when you hit the wall. At mile 5 I did what I can only say is unforgivable I shut the treadmill off and went home with a final time of 47:37 which is ranked in my top 5 slowest training runs. Day 4 another day of weights and starting to get back into the swing of it except my legs are still heavy from the day before. Day 5 long Bike Ride (2 Hours) I decided to dial it back and do the entire workout in a easy/medium gear in the dark on a spin bike and after 90 minutes I was feeling good so I pushed hard for the last 30 minutes. As i got off the bike and on to the treadmill I felt like I was beat like I stole something. I jogged a 10 minute mile and was lucky my legs even did that. 

     To finish my training week I must 1st go into how my week went outside of training. We (Kelly, Tyce and I) set up our Christmas tree



We are doing our 2nd year of the Elf on a shelf and his official name is Noodle after the famous Ramen Noodles... and if anyone is wondering he has never been touched by Tyce because of fear that he would lose his magic ability to fly. My son's birthday was this week and we had his party on Saturday so I spent the morning cleaning the afternoon partying,  then after the party went to see The Story (awesome show) On my way home I decided to push back my long run to Sunday. Everything went fine except I skipped dinner and decided apiece of cake would be ok (it wasn't enough) until about 10pm I was putting on my running shoes I had just bought Gels and my dog (Merl-Dog) walked up to me covered in blood. I found a ripped spot on his ear and so for the next 2 hours Kelly and I took turns cleaning up all the  blood in our house and trying to get the bleeding to stop. After 2 hours he was asleep and the bleeding had stopped so I went to the gym. As I was into mile 3 I realized I was real tired and it was going to be a long 8-10 miles. It was I hit a wall around mile 4 and had to slow to a 10 minute pace for the rest of my workout. I left the gym feeling beat and worthless it was a hard week and so if anything else out there is looking to beat on me Get in Line because it seems the bike/run combo has my number. 

 Shout out to my Wife and the amazing Birthday cakes she made this year !!!

This blog was done after my week 16 Monday night workout (30 minute bike/5k run which by the way I owned so hopefully this week will be better..

Week-14 Sweat is My Trophy

     That was on the back of a under armor shirt for mile 3-4 during my half and I thought it was a fitting title.
This week is a huge week in my training. I took it easy last week with the holidays and only ran twice and was surprised how well my legs felt. This week however I am adding biking and weight training into the mix. I have decided to become familiar with biking and running off the bike before I add swimming into my routine. Now my weekly workouts will look like this

Day 1-(Speed Day) 30 minutes on the bike above race pace, followed by a 5k above Race Pace, 2 Miles on the Stair Master

Day 2-Weight training workout I created with the help of several tri books and my own training knowledge and as always a dash of google's help

Day 3-(Pace Work) Hour and a half on the bike Race pace, 6-8 mile run at race pace

Day 4-Weight training

Day 5-Long Bike Ride (3 Hours) then run a mile

Day 6-10 minute warm up on the bike, Long Run 10-13 Miles

Day 7-Rest

I'm also going to fit in as much yoga as possible (at least 3 times a week)

     As always all my runs will be tracked by Nike+ and one of my goals is to run at the same speed or faster even though I'm adding biking into the mix. And if your wondering the answer is Yes from now on I am always on the bike before I run, even on my long run day I'm warming up on the bike. The above schedule should be my life for the next 6-8 weeks. At some point when I either start to plateau or am bored out of my mind I will add swimming. Until then the bike is my new best friend.

Some pics from my 1st half

Race Break Down

So yesterday I ran my 1st ever half marathon and as promised I am posting the breakdown

As the race was nearing I tapered my running (very rough for me)
at 6 days out I limited my extra sugar and caffeine so (No more Dew from the Mountains and only Starbucks once) I also tried not to eat so many calories since I wasn't running as much. I often would tell myself "Fat or Fast" which I heard from a endurance runner that said a quick way to drop your time is run the race lighter then you train so I train around 157 lbs and race day I was 153 lbs. 

Pre Race (Day Before)
It was my 2nd son's 1st birthday so it was a busy day not as much relaxing as I hoped for.
-Breakfast was Starbucks
-Lunch was 3 pieces of Supreme Pizza hut Pizza and 3 bites of Birthday Cake
-Dinner was 12 hours pre race start, 10oz Burger with pico, quac, jalapenos a side of grilled asparagus spears and a extra dry extra dirty martini. during the day I also drank 5 bottles of water with lemon.

Race Day
I woke up at 5:45 (so I got about 5.5 hours of sleep)
I had a shot of espresso to jump start my day.
Took a shower (Only way I can wake up)
Put on the exact running outfit I have been training in
 Black Nike Dri fit tee
 Black Nike Dri fit Running shorts
 Black Nike free running shoes (with left foot Nike+ chip, right foot race tracking chip)
 Nike thin running socks
 Nike Watch
 Nike Sunglasses
 2XU Calf Compression
 IPhone 5 with headphones and belt clip
 5 Gels (GU)
I wore a hoodie pre race to stay warm and drank half a fruit punch Gatorade on the drive and 15 minutes before the race start I took a espresso love GU shot and washed it down with a Pre workout Gatorade.

The Race
The water/gatorade stations were every other mile, I took a gel every other station so about every 4 Miles and an extra gel around mile 10ish.

I started the race quick (no surprise) I ran a 8.57 1st mile, then my brother in law zoomed past me on the outside so I picked up the pace to 8.35 2nd Mile that ended in a  27 minute 5k. Then I did my best to hold my pace. At mile 5 I started to question myself because I hadn't took my walk break yet, and my legs felt great. At mile 7 I was telling myself I better walk or at some point my legs are going to run out of gas.
At mile 8 or 9 I saw my only supporter (My Wife who had done the 5k earlier) and I was still running (She said I looked like I was slowing down) then something weird happened, for the 1st time in my life I got a 2nd wind while I was running my legs felt fresh and I picked up the pace (the chart below shows it as my 2nd fastest mile)

I felt great I kept questioning my legs like are your sure you want to go faster, and they did.
at mile 10.5 I started to wonder if I really could run the entire race without walking (I had slowed down during the drink stations to take gels and Gatorade). When I went to push off to get back to my pace my left leg cramped up. I panicked for a split second then stepped off the trail bent over to rub it and it was a solid knot so I decided to run with my leg locked in almost a straight position (Pictured below)

I looped around and passed my wife around mile 11 and my leg was still locked up but she said I looked faster. Almost at mile 12 my leg released and it was fine I had done it ran through my 1st pain without walking I then saw mile marker 13 and tried to push for a kick of speed but my leg was still to tight so I just tried to hang on.

My Goal was 2 hours

Goal Completed

and my 1st run with no walking dips



I made my dream a goal and my goal a reality.... And it felt unbelievable.

 Thanks to everyone who was part of this victory...... Now for phase 2, I'm taking off 2 days then some light run workouts then next week I'm adding in swimming and biking.

Week 13 - Tapering

     So my 1st half marathon is 9 days away (Sunday the 18th) everything I read says I should start tapering down my running 2 weeks away so like a good newbie I started tapering down. I ran a 8 mile workout at about 85%. An then did my normal 5 mile race pace and felt amazing but then wanted to start pushing it and have been fighting the urge to not taper. I've realized in my training that I'm a horrible student when it comes to following a training plan.

     I come from a martial arts background and had an amazing Sensai/Mentor who understood me. His way of training was unique to his elite athletes. I was always trained by outcome so he would give me a goal or problem without any set workout plan.

(Example)
Be able to last in a Elite Black Belt Olympic Qualifier. Which is 8-10 Opponents with each match lasting between 1-3 rounds each at 2 minutes per round, spread over 2 days.

his set work-out was
- Circuit work out with 3 machines
- 1 minute on each machine with 75% weight max as many reps as possible in a minute
- No break between machine with a 10 minute break between sets (5 sets)

This workout would be done every other day with a 3 day rest period before the tournament

That workout in my blackbelt handbook and I never used it as a work out. (great workout, Lots of  friends had lots of success with it)

So I would spend time during my weekend to figure out what I believed it would take my body to be ready for the same task. Here is how my thought process worked and still does

I need to be able to go the max of 3 rounds times 2 minutes per round against 10 opponents
So my work out looked like this

- 2 Minutes and 30 seconds of Wooden dummy Punching
- 25 Push-Ups 50 Crunches
- 2 minutes and 30 seconds of weighted dummy blocking
- 25 Push-Ups 50 Crunches
- 2 minutes and 30 seconds of Wooden dummy kicking

Then a 5-10 Minute Break and repeat 4 more times

I did this once a day five days a week for 3 weeks and took 2 days off before a tournament

My thinking was if i pushed as hard as I could 100% during each workout and lasted an extra 30 seconds longer then even needed for each round that during competition I would have enough juice to last all the rounds of competition.

even by the end of the 3rd week I never finished a workout at 100% I was juiced, I would leave nothing in the tank and always pushed myself to crazy limits.

     That season I went undefeated never went past a 2nd round with anyone and never had more then 8 opponents in any tournament. So I did the same exact thing 3-4 weeks out for each tournament. I pushed myself like this for 3 years and was always sore and ended up injured and choose to compete injured (never a good idea)

     I stayed away from all sports for a few years and just 13 weeks ago picked up this Ironman goal and am consistently fighting the urge to push the limits and leave nothing in the tank so every time I'm running I try to set a new PR instead of just working out. One of the hardest things ever is to do a workout at 70%-80% speed when I just want to do everything at 100%. I try and remind myself about injury and that some workouts need to be slower and I should taper before a race but all I want to do is run at 100% every time. This is an ongoing battle and part of my Ironman process. Wish me luck I most likely wont post again until after my race...


My next post will have a race summary, and a review of all the stuff I used and how it did or didn't work during my half...

Week 12 - LIMITS

     For those of you that know me, know I live by one motto "There is Only One Way to Find Out" which often gets me in over my head like running my first 3 5k's  with no training just jumping of the couch and trying it. Those races were slow and my body punished me for trying it but, in a small way I realized I love to use running as a way to push myself to my limits.
     I had a normal training week I did all my runs but my recovery time has shrunk to almost nothing, I wake up the day after a run and feel like I can run again. Which is good since at the end of the month I'm adding in swimming and biking into the mix and will have less recovery time scheduled.
     My long run (13.1) was done Sunday night and I'm stuck in the 220-230's and am frustrated that come race day in 2 weeks I won't break 2 hours... But There is Only One Way to Find Out.

I try to Motivate myself with as many things as I can and I very much like awards

The View from my office the night of my long run