"Big Day"

Now that I can finally move my fingers, I figure it’s time for a post “big day” report.

Courtesy of triathlon training expert Joe Friel, I decided to include two “big days” in my training leading up to the Ironman. The basic gist of these two days is to simulate race day and complete about two-thirds of each leg, with 90 minute breaks in between each. It gets you used to the long day of movement and helps dial in nutrition, but the breaks help with recovery so you’re not dead the next couple days. It’s the perfect way to test endurance and get mentally prepared for the race.

5:30am, alarm goes off and I hate life. Technically I should have gotten up earlier since I’ll be up around 4:00am on race day but there was no way in hell I was getting up that early yesterday. After a couple snoozes, I rolled out of bed and made sure I had everything packed for the big day ahead. Thankfully, I wasn’t heading out until 7:00 so I had plenty of time to move as slow as I wanted.

7:00am, I’m out the door headed for Annapolis. I wanted to train as closely to race conditions as possible so I joined up with a few DC Triathletes an hour away to start off my day with a very cold, open water swim. The low 60’s water temperature in Idaho is a big concern for me since everyone tells horror stories of the frigid swim, and I had zero experience training in anything sub-70 degrees. Well, not the case anymore. The water temperature yesterday was in the high 50’s and aside from the first minute where I could barely breathe, I felt comfortable and strong in my 45 minute swim.

the hot spot for open water swims

10:20am, the guys hop on our bikes for a little spin around the Annapolis area. I was surprised how good my legs felt after the swim so I knew I wanted to push it out there. The ride was over 75 miles of rolling hills and a couple flats which meant I had the opportunity to test my climbing mixed with a few tempo miles pushing 26+ mph – the perfect recipe for a tough training day. After all was said and done, my nutrition was right on point, my legs were still feeling fairly fresh, and I was surprisingly eager to hit the pavement for a run.

getting ready to head out

pit stop

4:25pm, I’m out the door in DC for my 12.5 mile run. The drive back from Annapolis provided me the perfect break between the bike and run so immediately after getting home I laced up the running shoes and headed out with a couple gels and my hydration pack. The first 6-7 miles flew by. I wasn’t paying attention to my pace because I just wanted to see what my legs were capable of but when I saw 45 minutes on the watch at the halfway point, I knew I should slow it down a bit. There was absolutely no way I was clocking that same pace on the back end, especially up the hills. The last 4 or 5 miles were a challenge, to say the least. My legs were starting to feel like two lead weights and my lungs decided to shrink on me. I desperately wanted to walk the last couple uphill miles but knew that I would be thankful I didn’t when June 27th rolls around.

6:05pm, home safely. Legs felt great, lungs were mediocre, and my spirit was on cloud nine. I was happy the day was over. The only downside was the feeling immediately after getting into the house. My body went into a cold-shock and I spent 30 minutes curled up in ball with blankets draped all over me.

That was a wrap. I made it through my first long day and came out the other side feeling confident. After two dinners and minimal movement, I spent the rest of the night on a couch with friends in Georgetown, in a chair at Whole Foods, or laying on my bed at home. It was bliss.

Now, my body has fully recovered after devouring plenty of carbs and enjoy the comfort of a bed for a terrible night’s sleep and two naps.

feeling fresh after 2/3 of the day

Five Must-Do Marathons

Not too much to update you on the swim, bike, run front. Training is moving along at the normal pace and I don’t have too many exciting stories to tell. My most recent long run was humbling thanks to some fairly serious stomach problems but I’ll attribute that to my reckless nutrition plan the day before.

Since I have this free day to write a semi-unrelated post, I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about my future goal races. As I recently wrote, one of my (relatively) short term goals after my Ironman is to qualify for Boston. I’ve given myself a year and along the journey I expect to compete in more than a couple marathons before accomplishing the goal. Ideally, I can bang this out in my first try but realistically I’m estimating getting it done on my 3rd.

With that said, my eyes have recently gotten bigger and bigger with the idea of more marathons in my future so I’ve made a list of five races that I want to do before I die. Most, if not all, will be completed after 2011 but I thought this would be a fun post to keep my mind on training hard.

1. Boston Marathon – need I say more? The ultimate marathon, with plenty of memories from four years at Boston College and four Mondays watching thousands of runners struggle up heartbreak hill. Note: if and when I qualify, I will not be “racing” this. You better believe I’ll be stopping at BC for a beer or two.
    
2. Big Sur Marathon – tagged one of the most scenic marathons in the world, I had to put this on my list. If the reason I’m doing Coeur D’Alene IM in June is because of the scenic course, you know I can’t wait to race this one. Plus, I’ve been to the area a couple times and it’s without a doubt one of the most beautiful locations to host a marathon.
    
3. Twin Cities Marathon – going along with #2, the Twin Cities race is known for being the most scenic urban race in the US. Not to mention, my entire extended family is from Minneapolis and I have so many great memories from my childhood of summers spent in Minnesota.
    
4. New York City Marathon – I can’t hide my dislike for this huge city but it’s a marathon with plenty of energy. Hard to pass up running such a famous 26.
    
5. Napa Valley Marathon – wine, vineyards, wine, vineyards. ‘Nuff said.

Boston 2012

This post is long overdue. Partly because I’ve talked about this goal with a few people and partly because I promised my brother I would give him a shout out in the blog.

After much consideration, and weighing how much I absolutely despise marathon training, I’ve decided to spend my time between August 2010 and August 2011 attempting to qualify for the Boston Marathon. The reasoning is simple - I want to run the marathon when my brother is a senior at BC. Yes, it’s a race that I would probably want to do at some point in my life, but the lure of Boston is 10 times stronger when my brother is still there. What could be better than running up the infamous Heartbreak Hill and seeing your intoxicated brother and his friends screaming incoherent things at you?

Christopher, me, Jordan (left to right)

But seriously, after hearing baby bro Jordan joke about the idea months ago, I put some real thought into it. First of all, it would be a great experience and there would be no better time than when Jordan is still there to see it. Second of all, it would help me improve the worst of my three disciplines in the Ironman so that in the next couple years I could start posting some competitive age group HIM and IM finish times.

Who knows if this is even doable given my lack of running skill but based on a handy marathon pace chart, I’m currently around a 3:19 marathon (using my recent 10 mile finish time), so I’ll need to shave 10 minutes off of that within the next year and a half.

Heartbreak Hill with BC in the background

Cherry Blossom Weekend

his weekend was a tough one on the legs. I woke up early on Saturday to brave the morning cold and head out for a long ride which I had intended to be 6-7 hours but decided to cut it short so my legs wouldn’t be shredded for the 10 miler on Sunday. This proved to be a great decision because I joined up with some of the local hardcore triathletes in the area and they pushed a hard 25+ mph and did a new route with plenty of steep inclines. The first hill was a killer but once my legs warmed up it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. Bike update – with 2.5 months to go, I’m feeling more and more confident on the bike and I’m ahead of my training schedule for mileage. So far, so good.

Now the reason I cut my Saturday ride short was the exact same reason I cut my pre-Cherry Blossom race run short – competition. One of my coworkers’ best friends just qualified for Boston and has a similar marathon pace as I do, so naturally we’ve been talking a bit of trash about who would win in a race. Everyone knows I’ve sucked at running in the past so I’m never too confident and since she’s already a proven strong runner, I was a bit worried she would beat me. Therefore, I decided to cut my ride and run (instead of the intended 8 miles, I did a very slow ~4 mile warm-up on Sunday) leading up to the race so that I’d be as fresh as possible to put up a strong pace. Plus, she’s a perfect training partner for long runs and I knew if I lost to her in a race, I couldn’t run with her ever again for fear of constant dusting and embarrassment.

Onto the race… As I said earlier, it’s a race I’ve always wanted to do. But now I can confidently say it’s a race I don’t want to do again. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a wonderful experience and a great atmosphere, but the nonstop bobbing and weaving is not my idea of a fun day. I started out in one of the last waves (the group we signed up with was listed at 10:00 mile pace) so I already knew my entire hour-plus would be spent saying “excuse me”, “on your left”, and “sorry about that.” I estimate that I ran at least 75% of the race on the grass or sidewalk next to the road. Not terrible but just one of those minor annoyances that gets old after so many miles. With that said, I’d still recommend running the race at least once because it’s a good trek around the heart of DC and if you don’t care about PRing, then it’s a fun experience.

Unfortunately, I had a goal in mind and knew I needed to put up a strong time to save face with my new Boston-qualifying training partner (Emily). Long, uneventful story short, I completed the first 5 with 6:59 miles and the second half with 7:08 miles (note: I hate negative splits). 1:11:06 = Success. I ran right on pace with my goal time and luckily/barely beat Emily. Overall, I’m happy with the result given the conditions. Even though I know I have a lot more work to do, I couldn’t be happier with the 7:06 pace, especially when last year at this time I could barely manage ten miles under 8:45 pace.

Ohhh, and I made it just in time to our first BC soccer game where the one-two combo of the Nunez brothers dominated Arizona.

Perfect excuse for a relaxing Sunday in the sun with a few beers and the Masters on the tube.

What Happened?

I’m not quite sure when or how it happened, but I’ve somehow done a complete 180 in my life. Just a few months ago I cherished the freedom of my independent life and looked forward to my free time because that’s exactly what it was – free time. I could do anything that I wanted and I rarely ever made plans more than 24 hours in advance. Simply put, I hated schedules and craved spontaneity. If I felt like sitting around all day after a workout, I did it. If I felt like calling up a friend and walking around the museums all day, I did it. It was perfect.

Now, I’m a different person and I’m not sure I like it. I just spent over an hour (on a Friday night, no less) planning almost every hour of my weekend. And if that’s not enough, those plans were made with the knowledge that they would have a domino effect on my schedule for Monday, Tuesday, and even Wednesday.

How will my long ride tomorrow affect my ten mile race on Sunday? If I add a couple miles before my race on Sunday, will that impact my recovery from the long ride or even my interval training on Tuesday night? Should I do a swim on Sunday afternoon or concentrate on recovery… but then that will mean I don’t swim for almost four days unless I move my swim up to Monday. If I go out with friends tonight, how late can I stay out and still have enough time to sleep before my long ride? ….. I think you get the drift.

My life has turned from absolute spontaneity to nonstop planning. And now, as the hours and mileage increase, I find myself updating and tweaking the schedule at every chance I get. I rely on my body (my legs, mostly) to tell me what I can and cannot do, instead of before when I just did whatever sounded fun or whatever I felt like doing.

Worst of all, I find myself planning out exactly how long (down to the minute) I can spend doing the simplest things of all – reading, watching TV, or hanging out with friends.

Sad, I know! Let’s just say I have a list of what my life will be like during those weeks after the race, and NO PLANNING is very very high on the list. The only thing I intend to do on June 28th is anything that I don’t intend to do on June 28th.

That is, until I start training for my next challenge… (possibly coming in a post on Sunday)