Saturday, December 1, 2007

Hot Chocolate 15K

REHM, JENNIFER L, F35, RWP, 1:41:31, 10:54

Some days you are the runner, other days you are the pavement.
Welcome to my off season.

679 days to Kona 2009.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Disappointments and Success

I’ve been avoiding writing this. While I have some good things to report, I have two major disappointments to air out. Normally I like to report the positives first, but just for today I want to delve right into the dark side. As I sit here, I know I will not achieve two of my goals for the close of 2007. I’m not all doom and gloom but I am especially disappointed in myself for not meeting the goal of completing 95% of my workouts. The last three weeks have been a total train wreck of my training plan. First I bailed out on my swim workouts, then I collapsed my bike training, and finally I lost 2 or 3 run workouts over the past 4 weeks. It all started with a scheduled recovery week when I cut out two entire days of training. Then the following week, everything seemed to get in the way of training. Work meetings, family obligations, holiday prep, you name it, it became a bigger priority than what was previously scheduled. I just fell apart. Stuff happens, I know it and I usually don’t dwell on it, but there are a few reasons that this is bothering me.
First, I know that this piece is critical to my racing success next season. If I don’t get 95% of my scheduled workouts in, I have no shot at achieving my best.
Second, I feel like I let myself down. I had 100% control over achieving this goal. I just had to show up and I didn’t.
Lastly, It is partially because I didn’t achieve this goal that I won’t achieve another goal.

The other goal I won’t achieve is a sub 90-minute 15K. I know, I haven’t run the race yet, but unfortunately I estimate my finish time at closer to 92 minutes. My previous ramble not withstanding, I’m less disappointed about not making this goal. I have raced some of my best times in the past few weeks. I PR’ed at the 5 miler and just finished a 4 miler at a pace of 9:17/mile. Again, in perspective, I began the year running a half marathon at a 12 minute per mile pace. I did continue to run and do my speed workouts over the past few weeks even though I dropped everything else. I’m open to the possibility that I’m wrong here and I fully intend to race my ass off on Saturday, but a 9:30 pace may be out of my reach. This is complicated, but missing my shot at a sub 90 was partially due to the demise of my training schedule, it is also due to my achieving another goal!

This is where the mood picks up a bit.

My goal of achieving an optimal body composition looks like it is within my reach! I have worked really hard at following the Paleo Diet to shed the extra weight. My weight peaked at about 167 pounds this year, as of this morning I am 146 pounds and my bodyfat is at 25%. I am extremely excited about this! The diet is hard. Very hard. It’s also working. My weight loss has absolutely contributed to my enhanced speed, but my diet has been counterproductive to my performance gains. I believe that a calorie and carb restricted diet and training to race don’t mix well. Here’s a quick Thanksgiving story to highlight this piece of knowledge.

Every Thanksgiving, there is one family member who tries to drag me into a political, religious, or social debate, knowing full well that our beliefs could not be more polar opposite. This year I was determined not to take the bait, even when Smedley (not his real name) told the same stupid Hillary Clinton joke he told last year, twice in a twenty minute time span. Then the table began discussing weight (like after we gorged ourselves?! Go figure.). My family was very complimentary of me, then Smedley chimed in, “All you have to do is to exercise and then you can eat anything you want.” That was it. I may have left my politics at the door, but my inner fat triathlete got her chamois in a bunch. See, I know this to be a myth. “Actually, Smedley, that’s unfortunately not true.”
“Oh Yes it is.” Smedley said confidently.
“If that were true,” I responded, “How is it I gained 4 pounds during the 20 weeks I trained for my first marathon?” I couldn’t help myself. “How many calories do you think I burned running 26.2 miles over the course of 5:47 hours? Probably around 3600. Do you know how many calories are in a pound of fat? 3500. All things being equal, without a decent diet, I would need to run 2 marathons a week to drop 2 pounds a week. Maybe more.” I broke into a discussion of the key energy pathways in the body and the ratio of fuel burned at different intensities. Some of the family was genuinely interested however; Smedley clearly was unimpressed with my extensive knowledge of fat metabolism and left the table. I was deeply satisfied. After having spent 3 years as a Clydesdale endurance athlete, I knew what I was talking about. Diet and exercise go hand in hand for weight loss. Later, reflecting on that conversation, I realized something else. For essentially the same reasons, weight loss and performance gains don’t go hand in hand. It is probably why I have been bonking on even short runs and lack the energy to go at a sustained pace for more than 7-8 miles. My caloric intake is hovering around 1500-1600 kcal per day. Even though I have been supplementing my runs with e-gel’s (which I love and highly recommend!) and Amino Vital endurance (also a great product). I simply can’t under cut my calories by that much and continue to push my body in training. It just won’t go. My body feels like I am perpetually in a state of overtraining. My resting HR is up by 4 beats per minute. My HR for a given pace is also up. I’m a little moody (more than usual) and generally unfocused. YIKES! It’s a good thing that I am moving swiftly to my goal weight of 139.

I guess to sum up this really LONG post:

I’m disappointed that I didn’t complete 95% of my scheduled workouts, but that’s history and I can refocus before I need to begin my 2008 racing season.

I’m happy with my running performance gains even if I don’t meet my goal of a sub 90 minute 15K and I wouldn’t trade my weigh loss for a better finish.

I’m ecstatic that I have finally been able to shake of the extra weight. Even though I have a few more pounds to go, I can begin the 2008 season in the best physical shape of my life and fuel my workouts properly to achieve maximum gains.

Finally, Smedley doesn’t know what he is talking about.

I promise to blog after Saturday’s race! Wish me luck.


683 days to Kona 2009.

Friday, November 2, 2007

A New PR, Diet, and Tri-geek in training

Man, I am so far behind in my blogging!

First, welcome Steve Nichols to the exciting world of triathlon! I’ve managed to rope him into giving triathlon a shot next year at Tupper Lake. Poor guy, he has no idea what he is in for! Steve, you’ll be a tri-geek in no time!

It has been a very busy two weeks, but I’ve got some great updates to share with everyone.

The Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff 5 miler: I had an awesome race! I met up with the crazies from RaceWithPurpose who were the only team on the course who had enough spirit to dress up in costume. It was great to see them all jacked up about the marathon and I was lucky to spot Coach Adam (aka Fred Flintstone) in the crowd before the race started. He ran the first mile with me and we chatted about all of the exciting things that are going on for the RWP team for next year. I love that guy! Before I knew it I had run a 9:00/mile and was well on my way to a PR. I ran the race in 48:30. A great comparison is the 5 miler on the same route I ran in June of this year at 53:28. SWEET! Yes, I’m enjoying my speed workouts, but I have to attribute the speed primarily to my weight loss. I’ve dropped about 13 pounds since June. Yeah, me!

While we are on the subject of weight, I was getting really frustrated with my lack of weight loss early in the month. I was eating a reasonable amount of calories, good health food choices, and averaging 8 hours a week of training. My weight was going NOWHERE. I needed to do something drastic, so on October 21, I began to follow the Paleo Diet. While on the surface it seems a little ridiculous to “eat like a caveman”, there are many very accomplished endurance athletes that subscribe to this eating plan, including Joe Friel. He even collaborated on the book “The Paleo Diet for Athletes”. There are about as many opinions regarding the optimal training diet as there are yards in an Ironman, but I really wanted to shake up my metabolism, so I figured what the heck.

The diet is a bit complicated, as it the theory behind it. You can go here: Paleo Diet, if you want to find out more. The very basic part of it is; no dairy, no sugar, no wheat, no soy, no grain, little or no processed food and high glycemic carbs only in the immediate post training window or during prolonged training. Yeah, I know, what CAN you eat?! That’s the hard part. Lean meats, nuts, fruit and vegetables are all fine, but really hard to create an appealing menu from. I find breakfast the hardest meal. I can only eat so many eggs and I still can bear the thought of chowing down on a pork chop at 7am. Having said all that. I committed to try it for 2 weeks to see the results.

My daily menu looks something like this:
Breakfast: 1 egg, 1 egg white, 1 cup of last nights vegetables and a piece of fruit
AM Snack: Diced apple, ½ cup shredded carrots, cinnamon and some walnuts
Lunch: The largest mixed salad I can choke down (2 cups or so) and 6oz of fish or chicken. A bowl of fruit salad and some sunflower seeds.
PM snack: A banana and a few nuts, a sliced cucumber or some other veg
Dinner: 6-8oz of protein, 2-3 cups of vegetables
After dinner: good guess= fruit

I know, no wonder I’m dropping weight! I’m sure I can be more creative if I tried, but I just haven’t had the time to really plan my meals all that well. I also know that if there is a Paleo Guru out there reading this, I’m probably not doing the program justice. I’m making a serious effort to drink more water as well, a lot more water. I hate drinking water, but I’ve been trying to get an additional 60oz a day. The biggest problem I had was that I totally bonked on a 4 miler run 4 days into the eating plan. I started the diet change on Sunday and Monday went for a 10 mile run. I did well. I used raisins to fuel for the run and they seemed to work well. Tuesday I swam and biked, Wednesday I went out for an easy 4-mile run and had ZERO in my tank. Nothing. I could get my legs to move. I hadn’t been eating to restock my glycogen stores after my training. The only time in the plan I should be eating more complex carbs like potatoes and such is right after exercise and I hadn’t been doing that, so BONK! I fixed that and added carbs in the meals directly after my workout, even if they are relatively short efforts. Bottom line: I’ve dropped 6 pounds in 10 days, not bad.

The other big change I made in my program was the addition of a new sports drink and gel combo. Up until this point I haven’t been using any supplements before, during or after my workouts. I know from experience Gatorade gives me diarrhea and while I’ve tried to “acclimate” my digestive system, it just didn’t work. I have used Amino Vital in the past and loved the taste, but it didn’t contain enough carbs to justify using it as a drink during long efforts and it didn’t work with gels. The gels were fine, but didn’t contain electrolytes and if I took them with sports drink, the sugar overwhelmed my stomach and I got nauseous. I just ordered 2 products that I’m going to test over the next few months. The first is a new Amino Vital product called Endurance. You can check out the profile here: Amino Vital Endurance. The thing I like about the product is it contains BCAA’s, a mixture of sugars, and some medium chain triglycerides. It’s a really comprehensive mix and the taste is nice. I used it the other night before my track workout and felt great. I also bought a mixed box of e-gel from crank sports. I haven’t tried them yet, but what I like about these is each packet contains 150 calories as opposed to the 100 or so found in other gels. There also electrolytes in the gel that means I can use them with plain water. I’ll keep you posted on how they work for me.

Well, that’s about it. I’ll be in the city on Sunday to root the Race with Purpose team on during the marathon. If you are in the neighborhood, I’ll be at 5th avenue and 97th, feel free to drop by the cheering zone. Good luck to anyone else running the New York Marathon. Enjoy every minute of it.
708 days to Kona 2009.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Racing to a Sub 90 15K

My race to a sub 90 minute 15K

As I posted early on, I have a goal of running the NYRR 15k on December 1 in under 90 minutes. This is pretty aggressive. It will take a 9:35 pace and my best 10K pace right now is a 10:15. There are a few things that I hope will come together in the next eight weeks.

First, I’m working on dropping another 8 pounds. My weight has been coming off SUPER SLOW. I’m eating well; making healthy choices and managing my calories well. While I’ve dropped one whole pants size and can see a noticeable difference in the mirror, the scale is creeping along slower than me going uphill. In total since August 20th, I’ve only dropped 5 pounds. At this rate it will take me until the start of training next year to get down where I want to be. I’m just going to keep plugging away at this. I can’t obsess over it (too much). Even a drop of 5 pounds before the race will make a noticeable difference in my ability to run well.

Second, I’ve embarked on a speed program. I’ve looked at a variety of speed programs aimed at 5k’s and 10k’s. I couldn’t find one for a 15K so I improvised a bit. The core of the plan involves 2 speed workouts a week, one long run, and one mid distance tempo effort. I did my first speed workout on Tuesday it included the following: 800m warm up, 2x1200, 2x800, 4x400, and 6x100, 800 cool down. I ran all repeats at my goal pace of 9:35/mile with 2 minutes of recovery between and the 100’s I ran at my speed interval pace of 9:00/mile with 100m recovery in between. I liked the workout a lot. It was my first real track workout ever and it felt good to go fast. I still had some kick in me after. I knew I could have gone faster, but I stuck to my plan. What took work was not getting distracted off my pace. A few times I found that when my mind wandered, I slowed down. Not because I needed to, but because I wasn’t paying attention to my leg turnover. Besides the fast twitch benefit of speed work, this focus work will help me a great deal. After all, I started this business of running as a marathoner. I never spent much time at all working on short distances. When I run long, it has become natural to disassociate from my body. 2 or 3 hours into a run, it was impossible for me to sustain focus on my footsteps. I think the track workout (sans the ipod) will help me with this. To really perform, I need to stay in touch with what my body is doing and focus how it is feeling.

I did my second speed workout on Friday. First I biked 60 minutes of hill repeats around my house (the 5 Sisters Loop), came home, ate and went to the gym for a treadmill run. Did a half mile warm up, 2x800, 4x400, 4x200, 4x100 all at 30 seconds faster than my goal pace. It was a solid effort and I got through it without too much struggle. I think I’m on my way!

Lastly, to compensate for the fact that I am gunning for a 15K PR on a 10K speed program, I will continue to run over-distance long runs, similar to what I would do for a half marathon. 15k is just long enough to need a good pacing strategy. I will run my long runs in the Race With Purpose fashion of a commute, warm-up, race pacing. I figure that running long runs of 10-13 miles with a good progressive pacing strategy will help me race the 15K distance well.

I have 2 tune up races between now and then, a 5 miler on October 28th and a 4 miler on November 18th . We’ll have to see what I can do at those.

722 days to go.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Go Chrissy Go!!

Chrissy Wellington - World Ironman Champion 2007 9:08:45

Here is living proof that anything is possible – even my remotely insane dream of going to Kona in 2009.

Chrissy Wellington
- began triathlon in 2005
- Raced her first Iron-distance race in IM Korea 2007 as an Age Grouper and WON.
- Turned pro after IM Korea and seven weeks later arrived at the starting line of the 2007 World Championship
- Posted a 58:04 swim split
- Burned up the bike course finishing with the fastest women’s split by 5 MINUTES. She also managed a negative split with an average speed of 23.1 in the second half (5:06:15)
- Sealed the deal with just under a mile lead in the finish and a blistering 2:59:58 marathon.

Holy Newbies, Batman! Who is this woman?!
Yes, it’s true that it was a bad day for many of the top pros. It looks like stomach flu put most of them out of commission, either before the race or during it. Yes, it’s possible that had Natasha Badmann not crashed her bike early in the bike course, she might have given Chrissy a run for her money, but let’s be clear a 9:08:45 finish is a full 10 minutes FASTER than the time Michellie Jones won with last year and only 13 minutes slower than the course record. The girl has got game!

Chrissy must have had a strong fitness base before starting triathlon, and she did secure one of the top coaching professionals in Great Britain to train her for Korea. Even so, I have to believe that she had extreme clarity of purpose and “iron” determination to achieve the goals she set for herself. Clearly she did not enter IM Korea with the intent to finish and similarly she did not discount her own ability to perform on the great Kona stage either. She put on a fearless performance, confident in her abilities, and committed to giving it all.

I’m always motivated by watching great sports events, but I can count on one hand the events where true champions can emerge spontaneously. I watched Chrissy’s finish over the live internet feed on Saturday. As usual, I found myself getting all choked up watching her high five people along the last half mile. I think a tear snuck out when she grabbed a Great Britain flag from a spectator to carry across the finish. She even stopped and turned around to wave briefly just before crossing the tape. I wanted to watch it again. It’s been playing in my head ever since. I keep thinking, “That could be me, crossing the finish of IM Lake Placid. Knowing I’m going to qualify.” It’s not impossible. Nothing is impossible. Be clear, be determined, be fearless.

724 days to go.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Grete's Gallop

October 6, 2007, Grete’s Gallop 13.1 miles 2:30:11

Given the heat and humidity, I’m delighted with the results. I ran a god awful 2:47 half marathon in March of this year and a 2:34:44 last year at Grete’s. What went right? I’m feeling very confident about my running these days. No injuries at all and a respectable amount of mileage each week. I built up slowly to the distance and it worked well. I felt more prepared going into this race than any other in recent history.

What went wrong? It was hot and humid. The kind of day I just melt. I did not have a nutrition plan well thought out. I’ve stopped using Gatorade, because it doesn’t agree with me. Even if I dilute it, my gut just empties it out. I ran brilliantly according to plan until mile 10 when I started to bonk a bit. I only had 1 hammer gel with me that I used at mile 8. 90 calories weren’t enough to get me to the end and I was dehydrated. The last set of hills just wiped me out. I still was very happy with my results; knocking 4:30 off a ½ mary is pretty cool. There was one other point that will mark this race as one that I won’t forget.

I’ve run long enough and in enough places to know that runners come in all shapes and sizes; tall, short, old, young, slow, fast, fat and skinny. It’s one of the very things that kept me coming back to the starting line. There is truly a place for everyone, be it 1st or 1537th. I used to joke with one of my marathon running buddies, Nancy Shanley (good race by the way, girlie!) that my real goal of running was to someday be able to run in just a sports bra. Well, it was half a joke. Like many people, athletes included, I struggle with my body image. Carolynn tells me I am too hard on myself in that respect, but this body has been bigger for most of my life and it’s a hard image to erase. Anyway, right around the time I began to bonk and overheat, I was passed an older woman. She looked a little overweight and had wrinkles on her face and body that would suggest she was a lifetime “in the sun” runner. The very first thought that went through my mind was, “I can’t believe she’d run without a shirt on.” How horrible of me! I actually sped up a little to run side by side with her. She had such a serene smile on her face. The longer I looked the more I realized how strong and vibrant she was. Of course I couldn’t keep up as we approached another hill, but as I faded back I began to get jealous. It was obvious she could care less what people around her thought about her body; she was using her body in a way she loved. I was jealous that I was not only carrying all that emotional crap, but also a drenched shirt that was not helping me keep cool. So I took it off! Yep, ran the last 3 miles in just a sports bra and since brightroom was out there, there will by pictures to prove it! A milestone can be more than just a PR.

So what’s next. This is the longest run I intend to do until next season. I have a goal of completing a sub 90 minute 15K at a race on December 1st. It may be a little aggressive, but I’m gonna give it a shot. Next week I start a 7 week plan of speed and tempo work that should give me a boost. I’m still looking to drop another 7-8 pounds before the race. I’ll load up my training plan on my google calendar later this week, but the heart of it is 2 days of track workouts per week at a pace 30 seconds faster than my target pace. Roughly this translates into sets at a 9-minute mile pace (target pace is a 9:37). I’ll still be doing 8-12 miles on the weekend to keep up my endurance; 15k is 9.36 miles. It will be a nice way to end the season.

I had a great swim workout yesterday with a total of 1400m of “swimming golf” (100m sets) and technique sets. Today I tackled the “5 sister hills” bike workout. Essentially I live on a hill and there are 5 separate streets that get you to top of the hill. Each has a different pitch and grade and I rode them all in succession for a total of 10 miles. Really solid strength workout and it beat a DVD in the basement on a trainer.

I want to wish Peter and Bryan a great race in KONA this weekend! Make us proud, boys and bring me back some good course recon for 2009!

732 days to go.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Proof of Fitness


I'm getting fitter!

No really. Above is a screen shot from my garmin comparing the same interveral run, on the same course. It shows my heart rate during the run. What do you think?

The workout consisted of 8 interverals of 5 minutes at 10K pace then 30 second pick ups, then back to 10K pace. A total of 44 minutes for the whole workout and both workouts were on the exact same route.

The blue line in the chart is from September 12th. I covered 4.19 miles in 44 minutes. My average heart rate was 154 my max was 168. Total ascent 880 feet.

The pink line in the chart is from tonight October 3rd. I covered 4.22 miles in 44 minutes. My average heart rate was 145, my max was 161. Total ascent 880 feet.

I'm feeling really good about my running these days. I ran a 10 miler loop on Monday at an average pace of 11:04 per mile, a whopping total ascent of 2335 ft AND my heart rate averaged 146. I'm excited about Saturday. I'm running Grete's Gallop Half Marathon in Central Park. I've run that twice, with a best time of 2:34:32. My best 1/2 mary was the Manhattan 1/2 in 2004 at a time of 2:30:34. I'm hoping to PR this saturday with a 2:28 or better. I think I have a shot! Tune in on Sunday for the results.

738 days to go!

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Mightyman SPRINT Triathlon

Mightyman Sprint Tri – Montauk NY September 29, 2007

First things first…..

I’ve mentioned that I didn’t race much this year because my partner was diagnosed with lymphoma in March. It has been a long seven months, but on Friday we found out she is CANCER FREE inCOMPLETE REMISSION!!!! I can’t tell you how it felt to hear those words. We would have gone out to Montauk regardless of the news, but it turned into a weekend of sheer joy.

I decided to race the sprint only about 4 weeks ago. We knew Carolynn would be done with Chemo and figured it would be a good time to take a 3-day weekend and relax. I’ve been back in the training groove only since the end of august and have been just working on building base with no “race” to cap it off. Racing is like the punctuation at the end of a sentence. It makes the sentence complete. I feel that way too. Racing makes me complete. In a life filled with loose ends and many unknowns, a race is the one point in time I can see something to the end and then when it is over, look to begin again. With my family beginning the ascent out of the shadow of cancer. It made perfect sense for me to just give it my all.

Saturday, race day, was a beautiful day, very cool (53 at the start) and VERY windy. The winds were sustained at 16-18 MPH with gusts to 26 MPH out of the north. I was so excited to be there. I had a secret goal of a 1:30 finish, but really I was just happy to be there.

Got to the transition area ridiculously early, set up and went for a little bike ride. It was still dark when I back, put my running shoes on and went for a mile run. I was way to peaceful. Normally I am a bundle of nerves before a race. I was chatting with some other athletes; many had chosen not to wear their wetsuits because the water was so warm. I put on my wetsuit and headed for a warm up swim in the calm fresh water of Fort Pond. Calm my a**! It was like a blender! The wind was coming in straight out of the north and whipping up 2+ foot chop in the lake. Oh man, I thought, this one is gonna be rough. The first 300 meters were due north, right into the wind and chop. I was the only athlete who jumped in to warm up, everyone else just stood and watched. Back to the transition area for one more gear check and I was ready.

Swim: Wave 3, chest deep start. The water was so choppy I couldn’t see the kayak to my left over the white cap. Also, since it was a fresh water lake, you didn’t rise up with the wave like in the ocean, it just crashed on your sorry head. I started to scull and get prone, the gun went off, and so did we. The usual kicking and beating commenced, but the water conditions made it really hard to swim and sight. Two strokes and a white cap would stop you mid breath. I stayed calm, but it was the hardest swimming I’ve ever done. Lots of carnage, 2 and 3 people hanging on the kayaks and more than a few cries for help. I rolled over on my back for a few strokes about every 50 meters just because I was swimming so much harder than I should have been I needed to catch my breath. Even that was rough, because more than once a wave would crash right over my face and put me underwater. Made it around buoy 1 and changed direction to head north west, Swimming was easier, but sighting was still a nightmare and I probably added 50 meters by getting drawn off course. Around buoy 2 and I made it home. I was hoping that the chop would help take us in, but again it wasn’t like a wave or a current, and it was only a little helpful. It wasn’t pretty, but it was over. I was confident that I could swim this in 15 minutes, but that was before I saw the water conditions. I did the best I could. No regrets. Probably went 18-20 minutes.

T1: No big problems here. My wetsuit came off easily. I did do one foolish thing. I put my garmin on my handlebars and had trouble getting it off. No biggie. Hopped on my bike and took off.

Bike: I’ve ridden this course several times. There is one big climb about 1 mile in, but other than that, only small inclines and declines. I have learned to love hills, but headwinds I can do without. At one point, I came around a corner and hit a headwind so strong I swear it almost stopped me in my tracks. I went from 17 MPH to 6.6 MPH in a matter of yards. Oh well. My HR stayed in upper zone 2 most of the time and climbed above only on the hill. I stayed seated and aero on all of the climbs. I actually stayed aero the whole ride, except to shift (my next bike will have bar end shifters).
I don’t have my splits yet, but my garmin clocked me at 15.6MPH for the leg. Much slower than I knew I could do, but with the wind conditions, I was ok with that.

T2: Seamless. Invested in yankz. 1:30 in T2.

Run: Since I wasn’t preparing for a race per se, I didn’t do any brick work. I expected to feel like crap for the first mile, but it didn’t happen. After the first 100yds or so I felt great. According to my garmin I ran 10:30, 10:05, 10:15 HR around 160. I was VERY pleased. If my Garmin is right I ran a 5k PR!

The finishline clock read 1:35:40, since I was in wave 3 the offset was 4:00, so I missed my secret goal of 1:30:00 by a minute 40. No worries here though, after only 5 weeks of training I sliced a whopping 8 minutes off my best sprint to date and 14 minutes off my sprint from June of this year. So maybe with a little work ethic, I could really be good at this? I’m beginning to think that the whole “training” concept has some merit. Kona 2009 here I come.

Two great points I have to mention. I got a high 5 from my triscoop friend Tom (Ram) just about a mile before the finish. That was a great boost.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the race was Carolynn, cancer free and smiling at the finishline. She is the real champion in the family.

There is 741 days to Kona 2009!

Friday, September 21, 2007

Losing to go fast

My stats today

155 pounds
29.5% body fat
Long Run to date: 9 miles @ 11:35, average HR 156, Max HR 166
Long Bike to date: 25 miles @ 15.5 MPH, Average HR 138, Max 150
Long Swim to date: 1000m @ 2:05/100, 20:50minutes, RPE: Hard

This past week was a recovery week, but a good one. I had some really good workouts. Tomorrow is a 30-mile bike ride and Sunday is a 10-mile run. I’ll post those results on Monday. I’ve re-posted my training calendar, you can scroll down and click open the link. I have decided to participate in the Mini Mightman sprint triathlon in Montauk next weekend. I’m doing it because it will make me feel good. I don’t really care where I finish I just really want to race.

As you can see, my weight is starting to drop. That’s a relief! I was starting to get depressed. I’d like to get to 18% body fat, which I’m estimating will put me around 135 pounds. I’ve never been lower than 146 pounds in my entire adult life, so I haven’t a clue what 135 will feel like. I do know that several studies have linked weight loss and running pace. It is generally accepted that a 2 pound weight loss will result in a 5 sec per mile gain in speed. So while I’m busy lugging an extra 17 pounds around and building leg strength, I can expect to be about 45 seconds per mile faster (at least). Then there is the bike.

I’ve promised myself a new bike for next season. I love Clyde (my current bike), because I credit Clyde with getting me into triathlon. I rode him now through 5 tri’s and he is still my only bike, but he is a steel frame Raliegh Sport. Complete with a triple chain ring on front and an eight speed cog set on the back, the shimano sora group set is a shifting nightmare. I love Clyde, but at 31.5 pounds he’s also a little portly. Even a modest tri-bike won’t tip the scale at more than 21 pounds (probably a little less) and with an additional 17 pounds off my frame, that a whopping 27 pounds less to lug up the hills of Tupper Lake NY! I’ll have to remember this if I’m tempted to fall of the wagon again.

750 days to go!

Friday, September 14, 2007

The Choice is Yours

I went to bed the other night about as “tri” psyched up as I could be. Sunday was Ironman Wisconsin and several of my Triscoop friends were racing. From 6:30pm until about 9:30, I was glued to my computer screen. I had the live feed from the Ironman finish line in one window and the athlete tracker on the Ironman website open in another to keep tabs on my friends. On the top was the Triscoop transition area chat room with up to 28 people chatting about all things triathlon. Watching the finish line feed gets me so emotional and choked up. Just listening to the announcer say “Bob, from Texas, you are an Ironman!” brings a lump into my throat. Then to also have a virtual Ironman party in the chat room just left me feeling so motivated and committed to my goal of racing IMLP with the intent of qualifying for Kona. I was triathlon dreaming all night long.

I had planned a longish bike ride the next morning of 100 minutes before work. I only work 5 minutes from my house so if I leave for my ride by 6:00am, I have plenty of time to fit in up to 2 hours of training and still make it back, take my daughter to school, and get myself to work at a reasonable time. I set my alarm for 5:45.

I woke before the alarm and looked at the glowing red numbers on my alarm clock; 5:27. The first thought that went through my head was, “I could get up now, sneak out without the alarm waking everyone else up, and have a little breakfast before my ride.” That was immediately followed by, “It’s so dark out still, I’m really comfortable.” And so began this well scripted fight between Jen the over achiever and Jen the under achiever.

OA: “I have to get up.”

UA: “I could really use a few more hours sleep.”

OA: “Carolynn will be annoyed if I don’t get up and the alarm goes off.”

UA: “I could tell her that I don’t feel well.”

OA: “I couldn’t live with that lie all day, it would kill me.”

UA: “It’s raining out.”

Here I must of dozed back off because when I looked back at the clock it was 5:39.

OA: “Turn off the alarm and get up.”

UA: “I’ll turn off the alarm so it won’t wake Carolynn”

I turned off the alarm. I must have dozed again, because the clock now read 5:48

OA: “This is your last chance get up or fall back to sleep.”

I wish I could say that my mind was completely united in the pursuit of becoming a champion, but as evidenced above, that’s not the case. As I thought about writing down this internal conversation, I began to wonder if perhaps, I lacked the natural mental drive of a champion. I couldn’t imagine Lance Armstrong or Paula Newbury-Frasier having that kind of inner dialogue. Is this evidence that I don’t have what it takes to commit to this dream? After all, if I struggle with getting out of bed, what am I going to do when I’m faced with a dozen climbs during Lake Placid?

Faced with a dozen climbs, I’d do what I always do, take one at a time, gut it out, and think about the downhill on the other side. You can’t decide to ride all of them at once, you just choose to as they present themselves. I guess in the same way, you can just choose to be a champion all at once; you have to choose as opportunities present themselves. There are hundreds of ways those opportunities can show up; during training, when eating, when thinking, when trying to get out of bed. Each decision will either lead you closer to your goal or take you farther away. Becoming a champion is a long series of choices you make every day.

So, back to my inner conversation:

OA: “This is your last chance get up or fall back to sleep.”

I swung my legs off the bed and stepped on the floor and thought to myself. “That’s one step closer to Kona.”

757 days to go.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

How NOT to run 9 miles.

I did my long run today in conjunction with the NYRR Fitness 4 miler in Central Park. The men went off at 8:30 and the women at 9:30, so I figured I would run with the men plus 1 then make it back around to start the 4 miler on time. I sandbagged a bit and left myself a 15 minute cushion in between. Not all days are good ones. Below is a lap/pace/HR chart of someone who spontaneously combusted during a 9 mile run, see if you can figure out what stupid mistake I made:

Mile 1: 10:52 max HR 158

Mile 2: 10:29 max HR 159

Mile 3: 11:17 max HR 163

Mile 4: 11:10 max HR 164 (yikes)

Mile 5: 10:42 max HR 164

(15 minute break)

Mile 6: 10:52 max HR 166 (tick, tick)

Mile 7: 10:50 max HR 166 KABOOM!

Mile 8: 13:45 max HR 166 (Walking!)

Mile 9: 12:04 max HR 166

It’s not like I haven’t run long before. I should have known better. I had no business going that fast that early, or charging up the hills, or not taking in any fuel, or stubbornly ignoring my HR in lieu of pace. Man I crashed hard and I kept crashing. I took in about 600 Kcals of fruit and yogurt right after the race. I was starving. I could have fallen asleep in my car on the ride home. I did fall asleep when I got home for 2 hours. You would have thought I ran a marathon.

Normally, I would have been very dejected after a run like I had today, but I’m still pretty jacked up. I think without the pressure of a race looming over my head, I can keep my eye on the big picture, without getting so caught up in the smaller pieces of the puzzle. Even though I blew up today, it still progresses me toward my big dream.

Oh yeah.... 763 days to go.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Vacation Agrees with Me!

I wonder if anyone has done a study on the effects of stress on athletic performance and training. If not they should. I had an amazing week of training while on vacation in Montauk, Long Island. I love training in Montauk. Situated at the tip on Long Island, there are many beautiful miles of riding, running and open water swimming at your fingertips. I did not plan a structured week of training, but wanted to do at least one long workout in each sport before the week was out.

I took my bike out for a quick ride, just to put myself in vacation mode. Twelve miles later I realized that I averaged a 16 MPH ride at a HR of 143 up and down one of the most challenging climbs out there. Building on that little feel good moment, I went out for a four-mile run the next day. It was hot, but beautiful. I nailed the run with an 11:06/pace with my HR in Zone 1 the whole time and no walk breaks. I felt wonderful and refreshed. It was shaping up to be a great week.

I had 2 route choices for my long bike. One was a familiar loop to the lighthouse and around town. This is actually the course of the ½ iron distance that is held out here in October. It is very hilly with lots of climbing. I’ve ridden it before and just love getting out to the lighthouse. The second route would take me out of town on Montauk Highway. I’ve never ridden the route, but the appeal of it has to do with a 5 mile uninterrupted stretch of flat road. I don’t have many flats around my neighborhood, and I was very curious to see what I could do on such a nice open road. I chose the flats and decided to ride that portion as a time trial of sorts.

To get to the flat portion of the ride, there was a substantial climb out of town, so I was fully warmed up before hitting the flat. I hit my lap timer, shifted into a reasonable gear, and got down on my aero-bars. My cadence sensor is broken, but I tried to keep my legs focused on making big circles and estimated I was turning at 80RPM or better. There was a bit of a headwind on the straightaway and I kept my muscles feeling just a bit above the point of feeling pushed. I purposefully did not look at my garmin, so I used my RPE to figure out where my HR was. I could speak in a complete sentence; I knew I was right in Zone 1 or 2.

Lap 1: 5.04 miles, 18:12, 16.6 MPH avg/ 20.5 MPH max, 142HR avg/ 147HR max

I took a 1.5 mile recovery lap before heading back. Then rocked the back lap!

Lap 2: 5.06 miles, 16:11, 18.7 MPH avg/ 26.4 MPH max, 144HR avg/ 150HR max

That’s what I’m talking about! I felt great, so great I managed a 14.7 MPH avg over the hills of the next 7.5 miles back home and never let my HR get over 150bpm. The ride was a big confidence builder for me. 25 miles in 1:36:30, compared to my last long ride of 19.5 mile in 1:28:30. Nice.

Next up was my long run. Eight miles is hardly a “long run” for some people, but it would be my longest since March. I knew I wanted to stay on a reasonable course without any mountains to climb. I headed out starting on the same course I ran the 4 miler to build on that success. Historically on my long runs, I stop every mile to drink and take a walk break, but with the success I had going 4 miles straight a few days earlier, I told myself I’d stop only when I felt I really needed to. I checked my garmin at 1 mile at with an 11:20/ mile my HR hadn’t even gotten above 140 yet. I kept going on to mile 2 picking up the pace ever so slightly. I hit mile 2 at a 10:57 pace and my HR settled in at 143. The next five miles I ran a consistent 11:15 pace and my HR stayed between 143 and 148. I felt so strong that my last mile was my fastest at 10:55 (up a mile long incline!). Woo Hoo! I’m Baaaaaaack! 8 miles in 1:29:28, compared to 7 miler in 1:23:40. Sweet.

Clearly, vacation agrees with me!

767 days to go.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Congrats New IRONPEOPLE!

First of all…..

A HUGE congratulations to all the new IRONPEOPLE who finished IM Kentucky and IM Canada yesterday. This includes my RWP teammate, Dana Lawerence who threw on the heat 2/3 of the way through the marathon to finish super strong and my Triscoop buddies, Drew, Mike and Chris at IMC. Just WOW! If you ever lack motivation, go to www.ironmanlive.com website and watch the live finish line feed. It’s all the emotion you’ll ever need. Next up: IM Wisconsin, Sunday, September 9th.

And now for my sad story, Monday, August 27, 2007

158.2 pounds
31% body fat
Long Run for the week: 7 miles @ 11:37, average HR 144, Max HR 155
Long Bike for the week: 20.5 miles @ 13.8 MPH, Average HR 143, Max 160
Long Swim for the week: 700m @ 2:17/100, 15:55 minutes, RPE: Somewhat Hard

Training Notes for the week: I’m still in a “Preparation” phase, where I’m just trying to get into a regular training routine. I have to NOT look at the numbers; they are very depressing to say the least. Especially my weight! I ate substantially better this past week, but still fell off the wagon once or twice. It’s going to take A LOT of focus for me to get that job done. I’ve worked out a reasonable training schedule for the next few months that looks like this:

Monday: OFF
Tuesday: Technique Swim, High Cadence Bike ride
Wednesday: Long Swim, Medium distance tempo run (still in HR 1 or 2)
Thursday: Medium Distance Bike ride; short run (hilly run form work to home)
Friday: OFF
Saturday: Long Bike
Sunday: Long Run, Technique Swim

I will update my Google Training calendar with my new schedule when I get back from vacation next week. My 14 week Base Training Cycle starts September 5th! For now, I’m off to Montauk for a well deserved week of R&R with my family. I can’t wait to get a nice long bike ride to the lighthouse and a run by the ocean.

775 days to go.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Food Glorious Food!

Goal Update! I pulled the trigger and registered for 3 NYRR races to move closer to the 9 I need to qualify for the NYC marathon in 2008. I guess that’s the easy one on the list. Let’s move on to the challenging one….

Build and follow a consistent healthy eating plan to reduce body fat to 18-20% by 12/1/07

I’ve been on Weight Watchers, Atkins, Slim Fast, a handful of “10 pounds in 14 days” magazine diets, and of course the “I’m just not going to eat” diet. I should cut myself a little slack. I was a lot heavier than I am now. Prior to my adult onset athletic pursuits I was tipping the scale at 220lbs. So I’ve done well to a point. It’s just that my body seems to like 160lbs. I’ve dipped down to around 144, and then crept back up. Got back down to 150 then PING back 160. Maybe it’s just that I panic when I see 160 on the scale and stop eating for a day or two. Clearly, nutrition is an issue for me. It also is the KEY to achieving anything that I have set out to do. I need a plan. Few things that I have learned about myself with regard to my eating habits:

  1. Less is more. Not just in portions and calories, but choices. I do better when I only have a few meal choices more than when I have the whole food world open to me.
  2. Must travel well. I work in a place with an awesome chef and full kitchen, I have no fewer than a dozen excellent restaurants within a 10 mile radius, and I love to cook. I need food that is portable and well packaged to avoid food emergencies.
  3. Hunger is bad. When I get hungry, I eat the wrong things, too much of them, and often at the dinner meal. I’m also cranky. Eat well and eat often.

I would do well to have a Sports Nutritionist on my payroll, but since that’s not in my budget, here is my plan. I intend to eat 1600 – 1800 Kcal per day with a nutrient profile of about 65% carb, 20% protein, 15% fat. To address the issues above, I’m creating a few meal options of 250-300 kcal each that I can mix and match to eat throughout the day. I’ll also have a few emergency choices that I can keep handy in my office. I also want avoid processed food, sugar, and white flour.

Easy right? Well, we’ll see. I’m using a website www.fitday.com to help me track and calculate my food. I highly recommend it. It’s FREE and easy to use. As for right now, I’ve got to go eat dinner!

Post any meal suggestions or ideas you have….

779 days to go.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Planning to Plan

It’s in my nature to construct elaborate plans and strategies for everything I attempt to do. I don’t always follow them mind you, but I can sure build them! My Kona dream is no different. Essentially I have from now until January to prepare myself to have a really strong base that can handle a solid training load from January to June. I will do Tupper Lake next year as my first shot at a ½ Ironman distance race (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile, bike, 13.1 mile run). There are 19 weeks left in 2007 and I’ve been in a sort of “Prep” phase for the last 2 weeks. I’ve just been trying to get back into the habit of training to a schedule and cleaning up my diet. I have a week’s vacation in Montauk planned beginning next Tuesday and continuing to the following Tuesday. I’ll be bringing, Clyde (my bike), my wetsuit and of course my sneakers fully intending to ride, bike and swim at least twice during the week. By the time I get back we are down to solid 16 weeks to create an aero-base building training program. Here are my SMART goals for this period:

Build a strong aerobic base to +10 percent of the ½ IM distance in all 3 disciplines as defined by:
Bike: Be able to complete a 60 mile ride by 12/17/07 maintaining an average HR of below 143 in 4 hours
Run: Be able to complete a 14 mile run by 12/17/07 maintaining an average HR of below 148 in 2.5 hours
Swim: Be able to complete a continuous 2000m swim in 42 minutes by 12/17/07
Build speed on run for 15K time trial to sub 90 minute by 12/2/07 (9:40 pace)
Complete 9 NYRR races for NYC marathon entry.
Complete 95% of all scheduled workouts.
Build and follow a consistent healthy eating plan to reduce body fat to 18-20% by 12/1/07.

Piece of cake (fat free, sugar free cake of course).
After putting it out to my online triathlon family at http://www.triscoop.com/ (check them out they ROCK) and getting some sage advice from my mentor, coach, and friend Coach Adam (check him out here: http://www.racewithpurpose.com, he is amazing for so many reasons), I decided to re-think my training plan for the rest of this year to align with this goals. It is still a work in progress and feel free to comment on it, but I am thinking that I will take out 1 workout per week of each sport and replace it with strength training and core work (blech!). That will leave me 2 workouts per week in each sport one of which will be a steady state long event at an aerobic heart rate (for me that’s below 148 on the run and 143 on the bike, swimming is just by feel). The other one will be a technique workout for the swim, a steady mid-distance tempo run, and a high cadence bike session. Given my desire to nail a 15k race in December, I will also add one speed work/ hill workout on the run somewhere along the way. This plan should get me where I want to go. I’ll tackle the whole eating issue in another post.

I am open to any ideas on this, so if you have’em, post’em!

781 days to go.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Dreaming the BIG dream

So, a few days ago I laid out my BIG dreams. Since then I got smoked by pack of cyclists out for a leisurely club ride and watched my heart rate go through the roof during what was supposed to be an easy six mile run. Not only do I have big dreams, but they are light years away from where I am now. I don’t want to bore you with overwhelming stats, but it’s useful to know where I’m coming from, if you are going to follow me to where I’m going.

Sunday, August 19, 2007:
159 pounds
32% body fat
62 resting heart rate
11:00/mile running at 143 beats per minute
14.9 Miles per hour average bike at 147 beats per minute
2:10/100 meters or 4 lengths of a pool
Best Sprint Tri time: 1:30 (2006)
Best Olympic Tri time: 3:29 (2006)

Clearly there is enormous room for improvement, about 20% improvement over the next two years. I had a conversation with Carolynn yesterday related to this. She asked me “Why are you trying to do this in 2 years?” She is and always will be my biggest supporter, but she also knows me better than anyone. I can be very hard on myself and she saw first hand the depression that followed my disappointing 2005 marathon. It’s a really good question too, because it may not even be physically possible for an overweight, back of the packer to improve that much in such a short period of time. I guess it comes down to this; If I limit my dreams to only what is perceived to be possible, I might never know what I am actually capable of. Even if I fall short in reaching my dream, chances are that I will have achieved far more than if I had not tried for it.

When learning how to set goals, you are taught to make them S.M.A.R.T.. That means a “good” goal is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. This is true and most people would argue that I am breaking most of these rules with setting my sights so high. Qualifying for Kona isn’t a goal, it’s a dream. Dreams have a different set of criteria. I believe dreams just need to be; Vivid, Inspirational, and Personally meaningful. Now, I have clearly outlined SMART short range goals to set a trajectory to my Dream but, I will reach farther and try harder to tick off these goals knowing my dream lies beyond them.

Don’t be afraid to dream.

784 days to go.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Hello there....

Well, here I go. I'm not sure what this blog is going to turn out to be, but if nothing else it is a way for me to announce to the whole world that I intend to find out what I truly capable of. I've got dreams, big ones and I am the only one who can make them happen. It is up to me. Let's begin with the end in mind.
There is 780 days until The 2009 Ironman World Championship in Kona Hawaii and I want to be there. There, I've said it! I don't just want to be an ironman, I want to go to Kona. The crown jewel of ironman. To put this dream in perspective, I will need to complete Ironman Lake Placid in 11:00 hours to even be close. As far as I can calculate, that's a 2.4 mile swim at a 1:47 minute per 100yds, a 112 mile bike at 19 miles per hour, and a 26.2 marathon at a 9:00 per mile pace. Cake walk, right? There are people who train for years and never get close. So, why even try? I want to know what I'm truly capable of. If I don't set my sights high, the end result might not answer my question. I guess some people will say that setting your goals too high will just lead to disappointment. I don't know about that.
Disappointment is what I felt when I crossed the finish line of the 2005 NYC marathon. I crossed the finish in a very slow and painful 5 hours and 47 minutes. I wouldn't have been disappointed if I knew that I had given 100% in training and just had a bad day on the course. That happens. I was disappointed because I gave my training only a 50% effort. I let myself down way before race day. I missed that boat. I had all of the opportunity I needed to succeed. I had a great coach, a huge team, all of the family support I could have wanted, but I didn't have me. That was almost 2 years ago. Since that time I completed a few triathlons and fell in love with the sport. I fluctuate between being really committed to being a competitive athlete and a weekend warrior; sometime on a daily basis. I began this year strong and determined to finish the Tupper Lake 1/2 ironman race in June. I began training consistently and started seeing progress. I had a great team, a great coach and this time my head was in the game 100%. March 22, that changed. Doctors found a mass in my partners chest. Tons of tests and one major chest surgery later, she was diagnosed with Non-hodgkins lymphoma. I needed to be with my family, so I let go of Tupper Lake.
Watching Carolynn, endure chemotherapy and move through her cancer has made me very aware that health is a gift. We aren't entitled to be well and we don't "deserve" to get sick, it just happens. I also have observed that just when you think you can't possibly do more, you do. I feel a sense of urgency to get on living my dreams. And why not live the big ones?
So that's it in a nutshell. I have 780 days to do more that I think is possible and discover what I am really capable of. Check in with me every now and then and I'll keep you up to date on my progress. The experiment of one begins here.

779 days to go.