Two weeks in to the new season

It was cold. It was windy. It was wet. Never thought I would be so happy to see weather that is so often associated with my motherland of England. You know you've been in the frozen tundra too long when you are excited to run outside in 30 degree (F) temperatures with the rain pouring down. That is how I ended the first two weeks of the training season. It was just a short run, with threats of death from erratic Tenessee drivers and early morning drizzle. Fortunately, I survived and was thrilled to be able to run outside for the very first time.

The first two weeks have progressed well, only missing one or two workouts and generally completing them as advertised. The first weeks are always enjoyable. Rarely too taxing and quite forgiving, soon to be replaced by more dominating schedules. For now, I'll take it! 

It was good to be back in my old training pool. The place when I began this long distance journey with my first half ironman training plan. The pool where I share early morning workouts with the "grey brigade" wondering why anyone would want to swim that much. The pool has been upgraded after threat of closure. It such a good place to train. Quiet and forgiving. I look forward to many hours in that water. 

Strength is still an important element. My Rowing class is still testing me every week, but now I have additional work to do, which is a welcome change to the monotony of the "road gym."

Soon will be my first recovery week and I won't have the chance to complain. Bring it on. I wonder if I will still be this enthusiastic next month??

Good luck to us all!

The mighty "grey brigade" pool

A little Star Wars with my bike ride. 

And so it begins...again

Today is like the first day of spring. The sun comes up and you know that your favourite part of the year is about to begin (realistically, it's bloody cold outside and the ground is covered in deep snow). The drive is being reawakened. The dreaming has begun. The suffering of the last race all to easily forgotten and replaced by grandiose finishing celebrations. "I will do it better this time" "I know my mistakes. Won't make them again".  These form of thoughts conveniently enter the psych and drive you on.

Ironically, the first day of my purchased training plan is "watch videos". Not a bad start really. Who can argue with sitting around and doing bugger all on the first day of the Ironman season. The body is certainly not as fresh as it was the first day of the first season of this, but I'm sure with a little grease and oil the joints can be freshened up and cranked back to life. The major muscle that needs awakening is the brain. Content in the winter mindset of "plod on" it needs to be enlivened and reset to structure and training.

The next 24 weeks are dedicated to training for my 3rd Ironman in Boulder, CO. The real goal of this training is to make sure it appears seamless to my family. Mildly unobtrusive and certainly not obsessive (as was the first year of all this). That's where the blog comes in. A mental vent to the unknown world so that I may not flood the family with it. Instead, I will flood Mitch and my training partners with it. Ha!

The pool appears to be calling my name the strongest. Much time was spent pedalling and running in the recent months and a re-focus is needed on the water. The masters swim team has helped enormously already, after only a few freezing plunges in to the winter indoor pool (it never feels that warm!). Improving that aspect is a goal of mine. Be more efficient, to allow a better shot a improving on the bike split.

All that nice drivel aside, in reality, just finishing the mammoth challenge of completing an Ironman in Boulder is plenty. It is highly unlikely that records will be set and that the finish line will be crossed in any earth shattering time. However, the subconscious will always be behind you, tapping on your shoulder, saying "you know, there's always a chance".

The training plan has been purchased. The bike will be tuned up soon. The structure that is needed to complete this particular race is in place. Let the games begin. Remember, we're not crazy, we're nuts.

Good luck to us all!

Tri-U-Mah: The Race

This was an entirely new event and format for myself. My race partner and I arrived nice and early, vying for an early heat, but were left wanting due to the popularity of the event and stuck with a 12:45 slot.

They day had not begun well. Awaking in Washington, DC to a flight that was two hours late and the prospect of no racing at all. The proverbial bullet was bitten and after an expensive cab ride to Washington National Airport, I was back on time, headed home to the cold tundra and the first race of the season.


The format was as follows. Each discipline was allotted 30 minutes to go as far as possible. The setting was the University of Minnesota's glorious swimming pool. Performance went well, although the floral swim suit of the young lady swimming next to me was an all too common sight as she lapped no less than 3 times!


The lack of sleep was soon to show it's face and I quickly felt the pang of sleep deprivation and hunger! However, as is the need sometimes, such pangs were suppressed for the greater good of competitiveness! "Oh yes", I said to myself, "this is a good early test event with no reason to push it". That plan was right out the window the first time the floral swimming machine passed me on lap one.


After the swim, you have 10 minutes to gather yourself for the bike. Frankly, this is where this race format is won. Ignore all requests for your legs to stop and ride until they fall off. The normal triathlon mentality ceases here. There is not a worry of saving yourself for the run, as the winner is one who accumulates the most miles. Thus, a "smash festival" on the bike will do that more so than on the run. An enormous effort on the bike and a steady consistent effort on the treadmill will win this race. However, this did not occur to me until the 5 minute warning on the bike, which, by most arguments, was a tad late in the day.


Thus, a serious effort on the run was needed. All "steady as you go" mentalities were a thing of the not so distant past. Sticking to any reasonable mentality was not helped by the information I had accrued on the bike. The fact that England had lost to France in the rugby and without doubt my phone was being bombarded by texts from Napoleon. With that to drive me on, the treadmill speed was steadily increased to a speed that made me weak at the knees (exaggerated by the lack of food and sleep) and slightly hallucinogenic.


The positives were clear. I had learnt a great deal from this race. That my body was capable of more than this time last year. That I recovered well from the hard effort (with help from Hammer) and that I really don't enjoy the high intensity of a short race! Long and slow, that's the way to go!


With less than two weeks to official training start date, this was a nice test and a well organized one at that. I will definitely do it again. Why, even though the high intensity was a misery? Largely, in a twisted way, the pain and suffering was great fun (just not for the immediate 20 minutes after the finish!).


Now off to buy an expensive training plan from TrainingPeaks.


Good luck to us all!

Indoor TriUMah

The training season fast approaches, beginning Feb 16th. Before that, arrives the indoor triathlon at the local university. It will be the first time I have ever participated in such an event. It appears to be quite popular with frozen locals who are faced with a few more months of indoor training.

The race, run by Lifetime, no doubt has all the usual flavor. Lots of peacocking from the big boys looking to impress each other with their fast times - in actual fact it's distance in this format. Plenty of first timers and hopefully lots of good humor between the racers. The event has a unique feel in the fact that each athlete is assigned 30 minutes in each discipline and must achieve the furthest possible distance during each segment. An early test of how the winter has gone. For me, a good laugh with some fellow triathletes and a nice high intensity training session. Not much to expect, but who doesn't just love a free t-shirt!?

Feeling tired going in to this. Have been focusing closely on lots of strength training and keeping all my sessions to 1 hour or less, before it all gets out of hand in a few weeks. Haven't been in the pool recently, so diving in will be fascinating at the start of this race.

It might be a little chaotic. Arrive home at 1020am for a 1245am race start. Here's hoping my flights are on time! I will make a feeble attempt to review how the race goes. In any event, I will report back when IM training begins in earnest.

Good luck to us all!

Under the weather

It's been quite the start to 2014. Mother Nature has aided and hindered my training for the first two weeks.

The temperatures have plummeted to all time lows and work, as a result, has a been quite dynamic. This has led to a distinctive lengthening of the work day, shortening of the training opportunities and even less time for recovery from the sessions. Stress levels of this unwelcome start to the new year has also played havoc with my body's ability to rebound.

Seemingly unrelated, mother nature has led, as perhaps with many amateur athletes, to a certain amount of over-training, or as is more appropriate, under recovering. It's been preached on here many times, the importance of emphasizing recovery. However, it is often very enlightening to experience how hard it is to practice what you preach. Yet again I have found myself run down and excessively. It's easy to think that only running an hour, or strength training for an hour or spinning for an hour is not the fatiguing. What has been fatiguing is the intensity practiced during those sessions, experimenting with different style of workouts that can be incorporated in to the upcoming training season. However, by doing so, a continued high intensity 60 minute session following a long work day, will lead to under-recovery. Becoming caught up in the fun of experimenting with these new found hour workouts is easily blinding to such a result.

Yet, as the story of David and Goliath has taught many generations of school children, the weakness of a situation can easily become a strength. Having taken three days in a row off - one dedicated to sleep. One to ensure I recovered and an additional day for good measure – the body has bounced back as it invariably does, allowing me to enter the final phase prior to beginning training well rested and somewhat fatigue free. Additionally, it has also reaffirmed my commitment to Dr Maffetone's method of training for endurance. You must train within yourself if you are to arrive wel rested and race ready. That requires a disciplined approach to controlling your impulses and not always reacting to your peers when training. As I seem to read more and more these days, in numerous articles in activity related glossy print, recovery is key, whether you are a pro or amateur. It's senseless gaining that extra yard and then arrive at the race injured or fatigued. It's been occurring for decades. It is frequently sympathized with that so and so didn't make it because they are injured, but perhaps a more appropriate statement would be “why is so and so injured and not able to start?” Injuries frequently occur as a result of the athlete ignoring their bodies and pushing beyond their daily limits. “Daily” because to often each day's limits will very greatly. We are naturally driven to train for ultimate performance, however a time for that attitude is race day, to push the limits. Training is to ensure that you arrive at that on that day ready to perform to that extreme. It isn't to try to discover that ability everyday, although when training with Napoleon, or any of the other reprobates that are nice enough to keep me company during the season, it can be hard to resist the pull of the competitive drive.

This blog serves the purpose to enable experience based learning. There is a popular phrase in my profession that can be well used here. We hope that our bag full of luck doesn't run out before our bag full of experience is filled. As we age, that bag of luck becomes lighter and lighter and we must dive in to the bag of experience to ensure we call on the bag of luck less and less.

Good luck to us all!

Twerk, Hash and Selfie

The New Year is upon us. Many people have spent this last year making new words and working towards 2014 in order to create even more ridiculous words. I may have spent 2013 taking many "selfies" in order to chronicle my training, but luckily I have not used the word in earnest.

Even thought twerking could be a good core workout, I feel that most of the time, be it by myself or with witnesses, I would simply create animosity if attempted. That only leaves hashtag, which ultimately means something completely different a few decades ago. However, now we find ourselves, me included, held in the vice grip of trends that need to be perpetuated with a hastag. No longer are we getting high from a hashtag, simply being social.

That said, none of this pertains to 2014 and the quest for the third Ironman. An iron distance race is tough, just by itself. Throw in altitude and summer sun and it will be exponentially more challenging. However, these kind of conditions bring out the community spirit within the triathlon world. Allow me to tell you a story.

Not a million weeks ago, I had a passenger board one of the flights I was working wearing a Ironman Lake Tahoe finisher jacket. When I see this type of finisher jacket I often take the time to converse and share stories. When I see one from Lake Tahoe an effort is particularly made. The unique thing about this gentleman was his extreme stutter. This provided a little awkwardness as I tried to chat about his extreme experience that was said to be had by many during that race and he struggled to describe what he went through. However, the eagerness I held to hear the story, made me hold passengers up so I could block the aisle and listen to the man. The experience, as simple as this story may appear, did not end there. My co-worker teased me as she said the gentleman had asked for a piece of paper and pen to write some words down. She ribbed me that he was writing an ironman love letter. What he in fact did was probably exactly that. Having heard about my quest for Ironman Boulder, my co-iron triathlete, who lived in Boulder took the time to note down the key ingredients of mistakes not to make in August. What a generous thing to take the time to complete for a complete stranger.

This is something that is particularly endearing about the triathlon community. There certainly are some numpties out there, but much of the time we find a lot of positives out there. Triathletes such as this man really keep my inspiration and motivation to continue putting my body through these experiences. If I can pass on this kind of inspiration to anyone else, as this man has done for me, then it makes it that much more worthwhile. 

Training begins, in earnest, February 16th. Hopefully this year, with a little motivation from a virtual coach. Another year of "firsts" await, preferably without any new words frivolously added to the Oxford Dictionary. 

Good luck to us all!

Challenge and Opportunity

Quite often, the wonders of the lives we lead present us with challenges. On initial reflection those challenges seem burdensome and inconvenient to our daily lives. However, more often than not, those challenges, seemingly a blockage in the road, end up developing in to the opportunity we didn't know was available. I don't believe it is for us to see this opportunity coming, like a train with it's headlamps blaring towards us. It is more like the plunge down a kamikaze slide blindfolded. You have a feeling of what awaits you, but you just can't see it yet.

Take for example my recent trip to Florida. Presented with a continuing and enduring challenge from a government agency that is so full of bureaucracy that I personally believe that hidden in their charter somewhere is a statement that "we shall be as bureaucratic as possible so as to infuriate anyone who deals with us", I was presented with this week's challenge of travelling to Florida to have a nice English gentlemen invigilate that I do indeed speak excellent English.To have two entire days consumed by 20 minutes of testing seems like a pretty unwelcome challenge to me. I began the challenge grumbling away, with snow falling around me. I grumbled all 3 hours of flight down to Florida. And then I stepped off the plane! It had gone from 1F to 70F in 3 hours and all of a sudden, as I shed the wool coat of 1F and embraced the shirt sleeves of 70F. All of a sudden this challenge was paying a more positive note. An opportunity was knocking. Enter stage left a Mustang Convertible.

I had never driven or ridden in the classic automobile. All of a sudden an opportunity to rent the powerful machine was on offer. I hesitated only momentarily, with my hand on the handle of a nondescript rental vehicle, I was pulled away and crossed the rental area and climbed into the Mustang. Top down, wind in the worryingly greying hair line and the sun beaming down, I was on the road. All of a sudden this annoying challenge was taking on a new set of spots.

A trip to Florida in December can only be embraced with an outdoor run. My hotel was positioned in such a location that to run to the Atlantic shoreline would be a 9 mile round trip. A new challenge, but one that was immediately converted to an opportunity. I love a good run in the sun. 9 miles later, via the town of Indiatlantic, all of a sudden, the burden of the trip was long gone and opportunities were being searched for, like a dog hunting for a rabbit. As is typical when I am in a strange town, I hunted for the local hippie hangout. Duly found, a coffee and veggie sandwich were in order for some recovery.

The next morning, the opportunities kept coming. A new meeting with an intriguing Englishman and a very nice drive down, really confirmed this trip as a great opportunity, albeit an unexpected and unwelcome costly one.

The run was simply fantastic, minus an unwelcome "porta-jon" stop. The perfect temperature. Slightly windy. However, more importantly, it was confirmed that all the strength training has paid off and continues to. The legs never felt like giving up and the next morning did not provide any concern. 9 miles for the first time in two months. A good result.

Good luck to us all!