Going Long

One thing that's been different in Ironman training is that I have not put in the number of miles I'm used to for marathon training. I think that's just a necessity, as there aren't enough hours in the day, nor could your body stand up to all that pounding PLUS two other sports.

Yesterday was my longest run so far. I had to run 18 miles, with a good portion of it at race pace, and then a couple miles faster than race pace! I mapped out a route, got my batman utility belt (okay, fuel belt), and took off.

The first mile was just around our neighborhood, which was a good thing, because I forgot my salt tabs. I was assigned to wear long sleeves (it was 65 and drizzly), so I knew I'd be sweating a lot and needed them. A quick stop back home, and then it was off again. I decided to just run one of my short bike routes, since there was a sidewalk most of the way and it wouldn't require any looping. Plus, it takes me by the high school where there's a water fountain for refills.

I got warmed up for a while, and then it was time to kick it into race pace gear. My legs were a little sluggish, but once I kept reminding myself to keep the turnover high, they settled into a good place. The last few miles of the out on this course are a long gradual uphill, so it took a little effort to keep it up, but once I turned around I was glad to get some downhill! I kept every mile in there between 9:15 and 9:45, which is my zone for race day on a "perfect" day.

But then I had to run below that pace, and my legs didn't want any of it. I managed to knock out the next two miles around 8:50, but I was putting in a lot of effort! Never saw my heart rate, but I'm sure it was sky high. When those miles finally ended, I walked a few steps to get the heart rate down and get in some water. And that was it for my legs. They cramped up and never let go for the rest of the run. So my cool down was more of a shuffle/walk combo.

When I finally got home, I wasn't feeling very well. My legs were tight, my stomach didn't feel good, and I was TIRED! And after sitting to stretch for a bit, I had to hop in my assigned ice bath!


Let me tell you, that was loads of fun. The picture is about 7 minutes into the 10 minute bath, so there was a lot more ice when it started! I'm promised that it will help with recovery though, and the science behind it seems reasonable. Today, I'm still sore...just telling myself I would have been more sore!

All in all, it wasn't easy, but it was a confidence builder that I got through it. Good to see you again, long run!

T-Minus 2 Months

Well, I've been a little short on time lately to post.  Wonder why?  :)  Today, I went out for a ride and my rear water bottle cage snapped off.  Um...Profile Designs?  This is two that have broken in the past 12 months!

Biggest Challenge This Month:

Time management.  The miles are piling up, and so are the hours.  Even though the weekdays are reasonable, by the time I'm home from work, train, shower, and get ready for anything else, it's usually 7 or 8 o'clock.  My knee has been feeling gradually better, which I think has been helped by raising my bike seat a bit.  Still not perfect, but not getting worse!

Biggest Success This Month:

My first century ride was a big step toward having confidence in my biking for the race.  What's 12 more miles after going 100?  The course will be much tougher than the 100 I did, but adrenaline has got to make up for that somewhat, right?

The other big success was my latest swim test.  In a 10x100m test, I averaged 1:35/100m.  That's a gain of 9 seconds per 100 over my last test in November!  I also threw in a 1:26 for the first 100, which is a new PR!

How I Feel About Training:

I'm pretty confident in where I stand at this point.  There's still work to do, but I think I can get there, and with the end in sight, motivation is a little easier to come by.

How I Feel About The Race:

Like it might be real, and I might actually have to run it.  (Who knew?)

What's Next?

One last full month of training.  Not sure what's in there, but I can only assume a LOT of stuff.  :)

2 Months Out Theme Song:

In honor of my wife Meredith's performance in the Boston Marathon and my upcoming Ironman, I think this one is appropriate.  She's supported me through all this training, and I really appreciate it.

Century Ride Pics

Loved this sign. I started a little bit outside Columbus proper, so I had actually only gone about 44 miles at the time.

This train was in a park just before my turnaround. I thought about climbing up on it for a picture, but didn't know the rules. On the way back, I saw kids all over it. Dang it.

Time to head home!

The sunglasses may have seen their last ride.

Fuzzy victory!

Century Ride!

When coach told me Saturday night that I needed to get in a 6 hour ride next week, I realized I didn't have many options. We'll be in Boston for the marathon, and I certainly won't have a bike there. I can't do 6 hours on a weekday unless I want to be on the trainer forever (no thanks), and so that left one option. That five hour ride on Sunday? Just grew an hour.

Sunday morning, I was up to an alarm, and checked the weather. 30 degrees. Guess I'm waiting for the sun to warm things up a bit before setting out. I busied myself with getting things ready. 3 gels, 4 luna bars (the manliest of energy bars), a baggie of salt tablets, an aerobottle of water, and three gatorade bottles. I'm lucky enough to have family living on the way out to the countryside now, so I stashed some extra gatorade on their porch. And when ten o'clock rolled around, it was finally above 40 degrees, and time to ride!

First problem of the day - I went to put on my sunglasses, and the bridge cracked! Guess the cheap-o ones don't last forever, especially when they're mainly used while jammed under a bike helmet! A quick dose of superglue appeared to take care of the issue. Okay, NOW it's time to ride.

The plan was to head northeast from home, out to Mount Vernon, and then pick up a reportedly nice bike trail for the rest of the distance. I've been averaging around 16 mph on my long rides, which made me think. 5 x 16 = 96. Why would I ride 96, when I could ride 100? So I planned to turn around at mile 50, wherever on the trail I was.



The first piece of the ride, out to my sister-in-law's house, was pretty uneventful save for the wind. It was, of course, out of the northeast. And every single road for the first 50 miles was either north...or east. Those first 20 miles are a slight uphill, and almost exclusively through open farmland, so my average was suffering as I plowed into the wind. Eventually, I got to their house, refilled my bottles, and got ready to climb.

Next up was the road I went down during my last long 3:45 outdoor ride. It's not like any one part of this ride is especially tough. It's nothing compared to so many of the rides I read about. But every little rolling hill is followed by one a little higher, and a little higher. It's a lot of shifting, and not many downhills long enough to catch a breath. Mile 27 or so was about the first time I got to stand up and stretch out the legs while I coasted for a bit. The good news? One particular intersection has a big steep hill right after a stop sign. But this time? By luck, I happened to pick that exact road to make a right turn, and I could smile as I went around the hill. At this point, I was in unridden territory. There was one more steep climb (I saw a sign reading "Sky Ridge Farm" at the top), and I was rewarded with a view of the city of Mt. Vernon. I wound my way down the long hill into town.

I'm always a bit paranoid of getting my wheels caught in a crack or a hole. On the way into town, there were railroad tracks, and they were NOT anywhere close to perpendicular to my road. Thank goodness the traffic there was light, because I swung nice and wide to make sure I didn't slip in there and take a nasty fall. And thank goodness for iPhones, because I needed to check my map once I got into town and make sure I didn't go past my road. Nope, I was still on course, and found my way to the trail. (Actually very well marked) And after the ka-CHUNK ka-CHUNK of mediocre paving jobs in the city, the smooth blacktop felt like heaven. It also added some free speed! The Kokosing Gap trail ended up being a very pretty part of my ride, and I can only imagine that it's even better once the trees fill in. It follows the river through farmland, parks, and next to a few small towns. The only downside I found was a fair number of stop signs as it crossed country roads, but I only truly had to stop for traffic once. And finally, I reached mile 50 and time to turn around!

I was feeling pretty good, but the same couldn't be said of my sunglasses. When I took them off at the turnaround to call home, the superglue job came undone, and I thought the glasses were going with it. The whole way back, I was completely expecting them to fly apart, but thankfully it never happened.

Soon after the turnaround, the BEST THING ALL DAY happened. I was going by a playground, and a family was just getting ready to take their bikes onto the trail. A tween-ish aged boy was warned by his mom to watch out, as I was coming down the path. And as I passed, I heard him exclaim "MAN! How fast was he GOING?!". :) Kid, if you're available, I'd like to hire you to spectate all my rides from now on.

(And around 19 mph at the time, for the record)

I didn't realize until now from looking at the elevation chart just how much I climbed back out of there. It was a long hill, but my legs and mind were feeling good now that I was on the way home. And finally having a tailwind after over three hours of headwind didn't hurt either! Once I finished that climb, I rolled my way up and (mostly) down from the high point. Around 80 miles in, I started feeling like I wanted to be done, but it was mentally manageable. It helped to be back in familiar territory, where I know the roads by heart, and could just put my head down and ride. One more fuel stop for a final bottle of gatorade, and it was time to get home. And I pulled up to our driveway at...

99.8 miles.

Like I'm stopping there! One victory lap around our street made it 100.1, and then it was really time to stop at 6 hours, 21 minutes. I was tired, a little sun or windburnt on my face (every other part of my body was covered), but happy. I never did make up all the time lost at the beginning due to the headwind, but ended up at a 15.76 mph average. That would be just over 7 hours for Ironman distance, which sounds okay to me! And my legs felt like they still had some energy...a marathon wouldn't have been my first choice of things to do, but I think I could have gotten through it.

(I've also got a few pictures from the ride snapped on my iPhone, which I'll post as soon as I get them downloaded)

I've Missed You, Food

Hmm...I'm awake. It's Tuesday night around 2:30 AM. And I have a sharp pain in my stomach. Let's roll over and...oh...no, let's just lay still. Or as still as I can when my whole body is shivering and my teeth are chattering. Under 3 layers of blankets.

This...is not good.

Two weeks ago was my scheduled rest week. And rest I did, with a vengeance. Due to VIP Photo Booths' engagement with the Columbus Crew, we had a super busy schedule in the evenings, and my day job wasn't any lighter. I got in what I could, but a few workouts fell by the wayside. No problem, though. That's what rest weeks are for, and a couple missed recovery spins wouldn't kill me.

But then came Tuesday night. That afternoon, I had already nixed a ride because of the recurring knee pain I'd been having. I'd later get to the doctor and be diagnosed with Patellofemoral Syndrome, which I had in college. The verdict? Ice, physical therapy, and raise my bike seat (love having a triathlete as a doctor). But no break in training! That was good news indeed. I'll still have some pain to deal with, but them's the breaks.

Now, my stomach was in rebellion as well. Tuesday became Wednesday. Wednesday turned to Thursday, and then Friday. No solid food to speak of, and not a chance in the world of training. Did I say "one" rest week? Let's make that "two". Sigh. My mental state was really not good. I have a race coming up! It's really kind of long! And I felt completely beat down and unready.

Friday night, the tide finally began to turn, and on Saturday I had an appetite again. I did a 40 minute test ride, and survived, albeit with a light head when I got done. I'll chalk that one up to lack of nourishment and a headwind.

Sunday was the time to really see where I stood. It was back to the pool for a "real" workout again. 2500m of fun and drills. I could feel the lack of endurance brought on by two weeks off, but I still wanted to see where I stood, and what I had lost. I made it through the majority of the workout, and had one "hard" 150m left. Time to let it all go and see where the chips fall. I spun around after touching the wall and found the second hand on the pool clock...2:15. Holy cow, that's the same pace as my best 100m! And I found out that PRs in the pool taste surprisingly like a slice of red velvet cake roll a few hours later.

Guess we might still be on track for that pesky race in June after all.