First Month of Ironman Training

My first month of Ironman training is down the hatch. Here are my stats:

January 2011 Totals:
Bike:	16h 29m  - 286.03 Mi
Run:	8h 15m 25s  - 57.05 Mi
Swim:	15h 43m  - 36150 Yd
Strength:	6h 05m
Cross-Country Skiing:	1h 00m

 ...and comparing to last year

January 2010 Totals:
Bike:	7h 37m - 127.74 M
Run:	9h 30m 35s - 69.20 Mi
Swim:	11h 40m - 22150.00 Yd

I still have plantar fasciitis which is affecting my running. I have been doing lots of stretching, icing and exercises, but I still have soreness and tenderness when running more than 3 or 4 miles.  I am getting more and more concerned.  I was hoping to do a couple of races like the Frost Bite (last month), Partners in Pain and Snake River HM, but the way things are looking I will probably have to pass on those.

As far as training is concerned, I am certainly training differently than I was for Troika (half iron distance) last year.  For Ironman, I am actually following a training plan.  I decided to skip masters swim in January and February, I am not sure if/when I will go back to masters.  I am swimming solo at the gym and I have been happy with my workouts there and the flexibility that comes with that. 

Additionally I have learned a lot about Ironman training and about myself.  A few observations that come to mind not in any particular order:
1. Training is on your mind ALL the time.
2. January is a significant date for us folks training to do Ironman CDA .  It seems the clock starts ticking at this point.  If you don't start training, you are falling behind!
3. I shower more at gyms than I do at home!
4. It has been COLD here in Spokane, hence most of my training is done indoors on the bike trainer or the treadmill.
5. Last weekend I rode 2:45 on the bike trainer, the longest I have ever done.  This weekend my plan calls for 3 hours...ouch!
6. While on the bike trainer, watching something on TV makes ALL the difference.
7. Triathlon can be expensive: bike, cat eye for bike, wet suit, wheels (hopefully), new shoes etc.
8.  Family support and flexibility is crucial.  A BIG thanks to my wife for taking on more responsibility when needed!
9. One of my goals while training is to think about the race more.  While riding, I need to envision the race.  The same for running and swimming.

My swim is my limiter and I really want to improve on it.   Yesterday my plan called for a 2500 yard swim, no warm up or cool down.  I was a bit nervous about this swim.  I even considered doing a different swim, but I figured it would be a good time to see where I am at.  I swam a nice comfortable pace and tried to glide as much as I could.  When gliding I have to hold my breath longer and keep my chest/head further in the water. In the end I was real happy to have completed this swim in 38m 26sec which is at a pace of 1m 32s /100 yards.  February is off to a great start!  Happy Training!

The Western Digital WD TV Live Plus Rocks

This multimedia player is just the coolest!  I bought this at the end of 2010 and have utilized it lots.  You connect it to your TV (and computer network) and you can play videos/movies (.avi, .mpeg, .iso, etc) or music (.mp3) that reside on a network attached station (NAS) or from a shared computer hard drive.  This is great way to watch shows while you are on the bike trainer.   Lately while I am riding I have enjoyed watching Spinervals, Ironman World Championships and Tour Des France races....inspiring stuff!

"Play media from your home network and the Internet on your big screen TV. Plus, enjoy access to your Netflix unlimited membership and other premium content. Don't confine your movies, music, and photos to your small computer screen. Experience them as big as life on your TV in Full-HD 1080p with WD TV Live Plus HD media player".  For more info see it on Amazon.

2010 Bike/Run/Swim Totals

Bike

1838.12 Mi - 105h 28m 10s

Pace: 17.62 Mi/hr

Run

739.75 Mi - 102h 14m 12s

Pace: 08m 12s Mi

Swim

235655.00 Yd (133.894 mi.) - 117h 22m 33s

Pace: 02m 59s /100 Yd 

Tri-Fusion End of Season

Tri-fusion EOS Party 11/19/2010

I had a great triathlon season.  This year I did my first triathlon and I finished the season doing Troika, my first half ironman distance tri.  It was a fun and challenging time.  I learned a lot about myself, my capabilities and gained a great respect for long distance triathletes.  Triathlon is a sport that requires a lot of discipline and heart.

This year I also joined Tri-fusion triathlon club.  It is a group of highly motivated athletes who live life to the fullest.  I am constantly inspired by other members.  At the End of Season Party a video that highlights the season was played.   It was broken up into three segments so it can be uploaded to UTube.  A big thanks to Dave Erickson for creating it!







Thanks to Karla for this humorous comic!

Ironman Coeur d'Alene Bike Elevation

The IM race is on my mind a lot. Such a big commitment.  At this time I am not getting all the hours of training in that I would like.  Maybe it is that time of season.  I am too tired to get up early in the morning and after work and family time I am pretty tired too.  I am probably averaging about 5 hours a week of training.  I know in January this will have to increase significantly.  This image will give me incentive to get on the bike, some major climbing!

 If that image doesn't, this one will.  A BIG thanks to my wife for supporting me on this big endeavor and for allowing me to get a new bike for Christmas!!  Here is a great review of the Felt B16.

2011 Felt B16

Hope everyone is enjoying the season!...oh!...and you better be good or else!...hehehe

Monster Dash: It's All About the Kids

One of the benefits of doing Triathlon for me beside keeping in shape, enjoyment, health and socializing is to be a positive influence on our kids.  Teaching by example.  Sometimes this happens intentionally and sometime unintentionally.  Since I wasn't doing a marathon on Halloween day we planned to do a 5K race that weekend.  Last year we did the Pumpkin Pacer in Deer Lake, but since Reanna, my daughter, had dance lessons on Saturday morning we decided to do the Monster Dash on Halloween day.  Reanna really wanted to do one of these races.

On Sunday morning I woke up at around 7:15am and was very tired.  I actually wanted to go back to bed, but since I told Reanna that we could run the Monster Dash I really needed her permission.  I said in my head as I walked to her room, "If she doesn't want to do it, I am going back to bed!"  I opened her door and quietly walked up to her bed and to my surprise she was already awake! (oh oh).  I then asked, "Reanna, do you still want to do the Monster Dash?"  She replies, "Yes!" as she jumps out of bed.  Generally in the morning it takes her about 5 minutes to get out of bed.

At the Monster Dash they have the 5K race (3.1 miles)  and the kids race which is 1 mile (for Reanna's age).  I asked her if she wanted to do the 1 mile, but she wanted to do that 3.1 mile run.  The costumes there were creative and amazing.  I ran with Reanna and she was having a hard time at first, but then at mile one when she got some water and candy she perked up a bit.  She ran better the rest of the way knowing at mile two we would hit the candy/water station again.  The race runs through Manito Park in the South Hill of Spokane and is very beautiful.  We walked a little bit and jogged.  I was glad to be running with Reanna, if it wasn't for her we wouldn't have been there.  She is such a positive influence on ME! :-)

The trees in Manito were so beautiful, after the race I took some pictures.

A big thanks to Spokane Swifts who put on this race with a portion of the proceeds going to Active4Youth! Active4Youth is the group funded the cross country training and meets for Reanna's school and the city. 
A win win!  Thanks to Moxie Images for some of the free photos!

Start of the Monster Dash. 10/31/10

Me with my little rock star

Us with Chris, Joy and clan!  These two seem to be at ALL the races!

This woman passed me in the race so I tripped her!  ;-)

Loved the pac-man group. The life guard on the left won best female costume.

Creative!  Three blind mice!

The beauty of the trees in Manito was AMAZING.  I look forward to the next time I have the opportunity to run in this area again.

Dance...I mean...Run in the Rain!

I just love this cartoon.  In actuality I think the recommended minimum amount of working out per day is 30 minutes, but an hour is even better.  I generally try to work out an hour a day.  The time I have to work out seems to be getting more and more compressed as our family life gets busier and the girls get older.

I had a great season of racing in 2010, I wanted to finish the season off with a marathon.   I figured it would give me the motivation to continue training and stay consistent with my workouts.  It would also give me some extra confidence for Ironman (IM) CDA in 2011.   I chose to do Tri-Cities Marathon on October 31st....Halloween Day!  I started churning out the miles.  I did multiple runs in a week but these were my long runs:
8/14 - 16 miles
8/21 - 17 miles - My confidence was soaring.  I was thinking I could possibly qualify for Boston since my new qualifying time is 3:20.  In 2008 I finished the Portland Marathon in 3:30:58.  I need to knock 10 minutes off...I can do this!  

Portland Marathon - 26.2 Mile Run - 3:30:58  (10/5/2008)

9/4 - 20 miles - I continue banging out the miles.  I wasn't getting in the speed work I did in 2008 due to time limitations so I was thinking I could at least PR.  Boston is out.  I can do this!
9/25 - 18 miles
10/9 - 20 miles - Days after this long run the bottom of my foot started to hurt in the heal area.  I realized it was plantar fasciitis.  Not happy about this.  I continue wearing a boot at night, rolling it (on a tennis ball), stretching and icing. I bought some shoe inserts, I will do this.  I have time to recover before Oct 31!

As the days continued to pass I decided I would not shoot for the PR but just run the marathon and finish it. No running for now, I was biking and swimming.  One evening after rolling my foot on a tennis ball, I pulled a ice pack out of the freezer and put my foot on it.  I numbed it good.  Little did I know that it was so numb I couldn't feel the freezer burn,ouch!  My foot hurt from that and I could barely walk on it for two days.  That was painful.  My "A" race for this year was Troika, the Tri-Cities Marathon was a "B" or "C" race.  It would have been a big run, but it wasn't meant to be.  If it was my "A" race I may have tried to do it despite the circumstances.  I don't want to impact my IM training.  I need to try and stay healthy.  My number one goal is to get to the IM CDA starting line uninjured.  Tri-Cities Mary...I have bigger fish to fry!  I will conquer you or another marathon when the time is right.  We WILL meet again!  Count on it!! ;-)

With that said, things continued to go down hill.  The plantar fasciitis seems to be about gone but I still have a little knot in my foot.  According to Dr. Google this could be plantar fibromatosis!  :-(  I continue rolling, icing and stretching.  One evening while at the pool my flip-flops which I got at REI were stolen.  I couldn't believe it!  They were right next to my swim bag while I was swimming at masters.  A few days later my swim shorts, goggles and swim cap were taken.  WTH??!!!  I have backup equipment so I continued to go swimming. Finally on Oct 27, while swimming at masters I get a muscle cramp in my calf.  I had to stop swimming for a minute.  The calf was balling up....ouch!

...that brings me to today.  I am GRATEFUL that these injuries are happening to me now and not in the middle of my race season!  I started some dialog with a fellow named JoshKaptur on BT.  He advocates running 3-6 miles a day, 5-7 days a week for building a running base for IM.  This sounds like a good idea.  My foot is feeling better.  Last night I rode 17 miles on the bike.  Before going to bed I set my alarm clock for 6:30am so I can get up and run 3 miles.  I can do that in 30 minutes or less!  The alarm woke me this morning...it was very dark and I could hear the rain coming down. I pictured myself running in the rain, cold, possibly shivering and my feet landing in big puddles of water.  The thought of my feet sloshing around in my watered sneakers faded as I got out of bed.  I would have ran on the tread mill, but the wife already "called it". ;-)  I kept saying to myself....3 miles!  Everything lives in cycles, muscles tear down and rebuild, crops have a cycle, the seasons and even humans do.  I think my body is going through one of these cycles.  I am being torn down just in time to slowly rebuild.  I put on my GPS and my headlamp and I headed out the door. My foot felt good, my calf felt good and I was running.  It felt so good to run, the tears rolled down my cheeks as I ran through the neighborhood (OK, maybe it was just rain!).  ;-)  I ran...and ran...and I RAN in the RAIN.

 

I hope everyone has a fun, safe and Happy Halloween!