Things are going well. I’d say even that they are going really well. I’m gradually getting my nutrition dialed. Have a custom formula from Infinit Nutrition on order that should be here tomorrow. It will give me 600mg Na and 250 cal per 16 ounces. It should, along with about 15 ounces of water, meet my hourly requirement. Based on my sweat rate, I need about 30 ounces of fluid hourly under moderate conditions. Of course, that has to be balanced with Na intake or you will end up hyponatremic. It meets all of my nutrition needs. Excited to try it. I have noticed less fatigue this week, especially with running, as I have been focussing on better hydration.
This week I have already put in 3 runs for 16 miles and 3 bikes for 60 miles. I’ve also done one strength workout. My 2 swims have been with the masters team, and both have been 3,000 yards. I will do 70 miles on the bike tomorrow and then get in 12 miles running on Saturday. Then my glorious day of rest on Sunday. I’ve also succeeded a bit in my effor to cut a bit of weight and have dropped a couple of pounds.
Finally, I found a couple of interesting ideas on Cross Fit and Cross Fit Endurance. I’ve added their links over at the side. They speak of the benefits of solely anaerobic training. That’s the opposite of what I am doing. At a mininmum, it is very, very interesting. Once I get this Ironman race behind me in November, I may give it a serious look as I prepare for next year. What are your thoughts on an aerobic approach? Does anyone have any experience with this philosophy?
Doing the Midwest Meltdown August 20. Ironman Arizona November 22.
OK. I’m in full gear now for my Ironman race on Nov 22. Only Diet Mountain Dew until after the race. Shedding 15 pounds. Getting 7-8 hours of sleep per night minimum (got 10 last night). Getting my gear that needs replacement replaced. Went back to short hair. Still not shaving my legs. Did it once. Just don’t like it.
But I have done 3 things very significantly to improve my racing. First, I hired a triathlon coach, and after our first meeting what I need to do is pretty simple. I need to swim more. I need to bike more. I need to run more. But I also need to work on my racing and training nutrition. He said it well. Ironman racing is all about nutrition. And I’ve neglected that until the last year. So second, I have joined a masters swim program at the YMCA. Former college coach. Two sessions a week. 3,000-4,000 yards per session. And third, I am changing my running form. I’ve got to be a more efficient runner. So I’m reading and following Chi Running. And it’s such a great book that I am using it on my new FRT post. Check that out.
I adjusted my racing schedule a bit due to my training. Recovery from a 70.3 is significant, taking a couple of weeks. I don’t want to lose that training time. So I’m opting for a shorter, Olympic distance race in Paola, KS, on August 30. I won’t really have any recovery time after that race, but it allows me to get in a third race for the year.
So that’s it. I will be posting my workouts, times, thoughts along the way. Stay tuned. Thursday swam 3,000 yards hard. Friday I rode 50 miles at 19.6m. Saturday ran 105 minutes. Today, REST.
I’m going to post my workouts periodically just to help keep track. I’m in my full training regimen for Ironman Arizona 2009. I’ve also hired a coach for the first time. Should be interesting.
Sorry to disappear unnanounced for the last week. My intent was to leave a note to explain my abcense, but I did not have time in the flurry of activity surrounding the days of late last week. So I offer it now along with my race results.
Since my last post, I raced in the Kansas Ironman 70.3 in Lawrence, and as I had hoped, posted my best time ever for this distance. I have done now four 70.3 (Half Ironman) distance races, and this was by far my best. After registering on Saturday, we drove the bike course, and I will say that I was a bit concerned. There were many hills and several rather large hills. But my previous two races at Buffalo Springs had hills too so I felt that I could handle it and get the race done. The only question was how fast. It turned out very good.
I don’t recall the exact time of my first Half Ironman way back in 2005. It was the “Hotter Than Hell Half” at the Kansas Speedway, and it was hotter than hell. My finish time was just shy of 7 hours which was a dissappointment. My 2007 race at Buffalo Springs in Lubbock, Texas, was just slightly better at 6:51:55. In 2008, also at Buffalo Springs, I had completed Ironman Arizona just 2 months earlier so my training had been much more extensive. My time for that race was 6:38:17. So this year my goal was to beat 6:30:00.
So what was my time? 6:10:09! That is a 28 minute improvement over last year. And honestly, I think it was a much harder bike course at Kansas than it was at Buffalo Springs. There were many more hills and even a modest headwind after the turnaround. And the bike leg is where I made up all of that time believe it or not. My bike leg in 2008 was 3:21:51. This race it was 2:54:52 for an average of 19.0 mph. This is by far my best performance on the bike ever in any race. My swim and run times matched my bests from previous races. SO I AM ECSTATIC! It would have been hard for me to do much better.
My eventual goals are to first break the 6 hour mark which is very doable now that I have gotten so close. Then I would eventually like to break 5 hours. That may take me a few years to get down to that, but that is my goal. Now that I have gotten over the hurdle on lowering my biking times, I need to focus on my running. And one of the first things I need to do is to trim way down to about 175 or 170 pounds. That will take some dietary focus too. Maybe I can get it done, or partly done, by Ironman Arizona 2009 the weekend before Thanksgiving.
Next race….Redman 70.3 in September in OKC. I’ll post on FSRT later today.
It appears that no one was much inspired by my version of The Matrix – Truth Part 2. Not even Luke, which is surprising. It either means that I was speaking Chinese to people who only know English or that I had know idea what I was talking about. Unless of course no one read it, and then it means that no one read it. But it’s time to quit waiting and get on with another entry.
Scott Tinley is one of the original Ironmen. The first official Ironman race was in Kona, Hawaii, in 1978. Tinley won both the 1982 and the 1985 Kona Ironman World Championship races. He is well known for a sprint to the finish with Dave Scott in 1983, one which he lost by 33 seconds. He now, among other things, writes a philosophical final page column for Triathlete Magazine, and his July 2009 entry is tremendous. The title line is his quote from that column and gets to the heart of what he is saying.
“Our overarching achievements in sport must be contextually bound by how we perceive their value. One person’s M-dot tattoo is another’s skin cancer. Lest we forget, the races we run bring with them their own kind of bearing, their own signature and stamp on our lives. And we won’t really know what that will be until we wake up from the dream. You might feel younger for the rest or you might finally realize that rust never sleeps and that you were caught red-handed with desires exceeding assets.
Either way, the burden and the blessing of excess is a way of being in the world. And if you never go, you’ll never know.”
I like what he is saying here, and it is applicable across life rather than just the endurance sport arena. I have been known to say that when I get to the end of my life, I want to be about used up. I don’t want to get to the end and wish I had attempted more. Wish I had risked more. Wish I had asked bolder questions. Wish I had gone more places. Wish I had known more people. Wish I had wandered out in the wild instead of hiding within the fences. That’s partly what my spiritual quest (which is found more on FSRT) is about I think. It’s partly why I do triathlons I think.
When Tinley uses the word “excess” he is not talking about money. He is talking about experiences. He is talking about “desires exceeding assets” (he himself has completed over 50 ultra-distance triathlons) and the pursuit of those desires. Stepping out of your comfort zone without the disease of fear (Apocalypto reference – check out this old post if you care to discover more) and pursuing those dreams. What a great way to live, stepping out into the unkown, not knowing what the end result is, but wanting to see where it will take you. “If you never go, you’ll never know.”
I hesitate to put another post down here as I don’t want to bury my last Truth Part 2 post, but I just want to finalize my training updates before my next race, the Kansas 70.3, which is this Sunday, June 14. You can follow it on iromanlive.com if you care to see my progress.
I’m very excited. Not only did I put down a PR on my bike last week, Saturday I swam a 1500 in 25min 47sec which is also a personal best. It is not blazing fast compared to NCAA swimming standards, or even high school standards, but it is not shabby and good for me. Then on Sunday I did a 12 mile run in 96 degree heat in 1hr 59min. That is within what my usual time would be, but this is the first time I’ve done a run in that kind of heat. It was intentional both so I could see how my endurance is if race day is that hot and so I could get a good idea of my sweat rate and sodium requirements. I am encouraged because I did not have any stomach issues like I have suffered in the past and probably could have taken in more water than I did which has also been a problem. So hopefully I am peaking at the right time and these good things are a sign of good training.
I am now officially tapering. Today is a complete rest day. Tomorrow I will ride a moderate pace for about 25 miles. Wednesday I will run an easy 5 miles and then get another sports massage at 6 PM. Thursday and Friday I will swim and Saturday will be another complete rest day. I feel ready. I just hope it doesn’t all come crashing down on race day.
Please don’t forget or ignore my previous Matrix post. I’d like some dialogue there.
I’ve recently become a fan of The Matrix trilogy. For some reason, I had never watched them until now. Not sure why. Well, yes I am. For awhile, my wife and I had a “no rated R” movie policy, and then I realized that blind application of an ideology like a blanket on my life, while it may protect me from some things, robs me of others. The original movie came out during that rated R ban, and it is proof that I was being robbed. Robbed blind. These movies are rich, rich, rich in philosophy, religion, philosopy of religion, life lessons, you name it. I have already posted on the particular clip I am going to use here over on my other blog, freestyleroadtrip, and you can get to quickly here. That post was about how sometimes you have to go against the grain, sometimes you have to be a contrarian (a fav word of mine) to discover truth, especially new truth. I promised a part 2 discussing what the nature of that truth sometimes is. This is that part 2, and I have put in on the triathlon side of my blog because this is where what I have to say will be the most relevant on the face of it. Not that the rest of life won’t be pertinent, but as I am in the final stages of prep for the Kansas 70.3, triathlon is on my mind. Plus, I need to live up to the title and purpose of this blog and mesh in some tri and philosophy together.
So again, the script and the clip:
Agent Smith: Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you’re fighting for something? For more that your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Yes? No? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can’t win. It’s pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist? Neo: Because I choose to.
Again, as I stated in part 1, this entire scene is just surreal. I recall watching it for the first time, just captivated. The rain. The moves. The darkness. Everything stacked against Neo and the overwhelming odds against him. It was just amazing, and I look forward to watching it again (and again and again and again and again…and I rarely watch movies even one again).
The nature of the truth of which I speak is just what you get on the surface as you watch the clip. Perseverance. Because we/you/I choose to. Sometimes, you just don’t quit. You just don’t die. You just don’t crawl into a ball and whimper. You just don’t give up. Why? Because you know, in your gut, that you have to keep going. That if you quit you will regret it forever. That if you quit you might as well will die so you ought to just as well go on fighting. And sometimes when you are in the middle of a triathlon and things aren’t going well, that is where you find yourself. Am I gonna finish what I started or am I gonna give up and quit. And sometimes life is like that too. You’ve just got to keep going because you choose to.
This also reminds me and ties in well with the message of one of my favorite songs, One Day Remains, by Alter Bridge. It talks about how sometimes fighting through the struggle is when you find yourself most alive and where others see the best in you. I think that is one reason why I do triathlon.
“One Day Remains”
As your will is bent and broken
and every vision has been cast into the wind
as your courage crashes down before your eyes
don’t lay down and die
‘Cause I see in you
More than you’ll ever know
And I ask you, “Why
You question the strength inside?”
And you need to know
How it feels to be alive
When every wound has been re-opened
And in this world of give and take, you must have faith
And the distance to your dreams stretch beyond reach
Don’t lay down and die
No
Cause I see in you
More than you’ll ever know
And I ask you, “Would
You question the strength inside?”
And you need to know
How it feels to be alive…
How it feels
How it feels to be alive…
How it feels
How it feels to be alive…
How it feels
How it feels to be alive…
Cause I see in you
More than you’ll ever know
And I ask you, “Would
You question the strength inside?”
And you need to know
How it feels to be alive…
How it feels to be alive…
Of course, there is a ton of other stuff in that clip from The Matrix Revolutions. Maybe I need to have a parts 3 and 4 and 5. We’ll see. Obviously, the truth for which Neo is fighting in the end is love. I find it odd that many have felt that this was a less than inspirational ending to the trilogy. What thing is there that is more true than love? Love is God. Love is that for which the fight is never in vain. I sense the need for part 3….
Just laid down a new PR (personal record) for myself. And the timing couldn’t be better with race prep for the 70.3 on the 14th winding down. Wind conditions were probably perfect with just a light breeze. Not too humid. Temp in the low 80′s. I have a 12 mile loop which is all on 4 lane roads that are not very congested which I do regularly. I did that route today.
56.5 miles in 2hrs 53min at an average speed of 19.5mph. And that includes having stopped at a handful of traffic lights. That beats my best 70.3 bike leg time by 15 minutes. And my legs still feel good. I managed my fluid and my nutrition intake very well, and I felt very strong the entire ride. I Rock! Hopefully this is an indicator of things to come on race day.
Race day is June 14th. Lawrence, KS. Clinton State Lake. 6:30 AM. It is a wave start for the swim which cuts down on the confusion a bit. I read just yesterday that Chrissie Wellington, winner of the Kona Ironman October 2008, will be competing. That’s cool, and one of the things I like about triathlon. Pro’s and Age Groupers racing together. I’m looking foward to her smoking my butt by 90-120 minutes. At some point on the bike leg, I will see her coming back in after making the halfway turn. Humbling.
You can follow the race if you are interested in IronmanLive.com. All athletes wear a timing chip so progress can be followed as timing mats are crossed. There is usually a live video feed from several spots on the course too.
I’m in the final week of hard training. As we were out of the country vacationing in the Dominican Republic last week, I did 90min BRICK’s most days. Now I’m back to training hard for about 10 days and then will tape for 5 days. Saturday I did a 90min BRICK at race pace. Sunday I did a 30 mile ride followed by a 5 mile run in 95 degree heat. Yesterday I did a fast 25 mile ride. Today I did a hard 6.5 mile run. Over the next 7 days I will do two 60 mile rides, two 12 mile runs, a couple of mile swims, and a couple of 120 minute BRICK’s. I have my second sports massage scheduled for the evening of the 10th. The days that I am tapering I will do full effort swims at least 2 days and then probably a light run and a light run on two days with one day of complete rest. Based on my performance the last 3 days, I feel ready to race.
You might want to check out my other blog, linked up there at the top. My latest post there has connection to my triathlon passion. I think I orignally got into it as a way to gain approval from those around me. That is probably not the best reason to keep doing it. But I do love it, and Karmen has challenged me to begin living my life, not in an effort to gain approval that I am OK, but because I love what I do. So this time, this race, I will be racing because I love it, not because it will gain me any approval from anyone.
Stay tuned as I’ve got some Matrix posts I am working on for this blog.
Life is fast. Life gets crazy. And sometimes you’ve just got to decide to put it all back right again. I’ve just finished a 2 week stretch, 16 days actually, of work averaging probably 12 hours a day. Half of that was doing the night shift. And by the end of this stretch, I felt strung out, and my family felt strung out. We need to intentionally do that resetting, and we are. My wife and I leave for a week long Caribbean retreat to celebrate our 16th anniversary Friday. I’m juiced.
Amazingly, through this stretch I have been able to keep up my triathlon training which culminated in a 60 mile ride in 25mph wind yesterday afternoon after I recovered from my last night of work by sleeping the morning away. But I didn’t try to match to schedule to my training, I adjusted my training to my schedule. Knowing that this stretch was coming, I timed my training so that one of my cut-back weeks was scheduled during this time. So last week, after I was done sleeping and my kids were still at school, I did BRICKS. I alternated swimming, biking, and running, each for an hour at at time combining two hours back to back each day while rotating through the three disciplines. And it worked marvelously. But I didn’t try to fit a round peg into the triangular hole. Sometimes training and life take the proper perspective.
At the YMCA where I do my swim, treadmill, and some of my BRICK work, I recently came across a copy of Relevant magazine. The subtitle reads “God. Life. Progressive Culture.” I have heard of it prior but have never checked it out so I swiped it for my own reading pleasure (and will return it if anyone is offended by my swiping). I am in no way endorsing the publication by putting a quote from the editor here. In fact, I don’t even know if I like the magazine. It seems a bit like the same old, same old in just different packaging in some ways, but I am still holding out judgment as I haven’t had the time to look through it in detail yet. But the quote is good and relevant to this idea of keeping things in the proper perspective so I will share it. From page 6 of the May/June 09 issue, Editor Cameron Strang:
“My life’s priorities had flipped without me intending them to, and I needed to intentionally bring balance into my life and how I spent my time. I had gotten so busy with what I felt I was doing ‘for’ God, I started to lose my relationship with [God]. In the midst of the stress, I was becoming a shell of the man I wanted to be. A void in my heart had formed, and I’d filled the void with more busyness-harming my friendships and marriage in the process. Worse yet, I didn’t even see it was happening.”
There is a lot more to say about this quote such as can we really do anything ‘for’ God? Does God even need us to do anything ‘for’ God? Blah, blah, blah. But I put this in here because of the view it gives me of getting out of perspective. It is so easy to get so busy doing stuff for bosses, or friends, or God, or whomever or whatever that we often forget to take care of ourselves and our closest relationships. We have to quit forcing square things into non-square holes if we ever expect to be in a good place of peace and balance. I have likened this in the past to riding life like a wave, flexing and flowing to what comes instead of forcing.
Triathlon helps teach me this idea of perspective. It is such a huge task, that it can overtake your life, and then it destroys your life and your ability to do triathlon. It’s critical to approach it with perspective.
