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.
Monday, August 27, 2007
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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….
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.
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.
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.
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.
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