TS Blog (Train Like Me) «

TS Blog (Train Like Me)

9/7/08

My new theory on training: spend 8 nights sleeping in a chair in a hospital room, eating fast food, cokes, and cookies, and do zero training.

Karen forced me to go ahead with my one race of the season on Saturday morning. My heart wasn’t in it at all; I just wanted to stay with her and Izzy. She urged to me to go ahead and race because it was the only race I was signed up for all year – I normally do 7 or 8. When I left Karen’s hospital room on Friday night headed for my parents house in Hendersonville I was thinking that I wouldn’t do the race. My mom encouraged me to go ahead with it just to relieve some stress. I didn’t bother to set an alarm because I didn’t really want to get up. To my surprise my dad woke me at 5:45am.

We headed out for The Old Hickory Lake Triathlon, but my mind was still with Karen at Baptist hospital; I was trying to figure out how to manage my life and my 4 year old daughters life for the next four months without Karen. I went about my prerace stuff very casually. I hardly warmed up. I just stood around staring off towards the lake. I wasn’t thinking the tradional “rah rah” stuff…”come on dude, do it for your family!” That wasn’t there. I was just numb…and tired…and preoccupied.

I started 74th, which as usual, was too far back. I passed 40 or 50 people in the water. I was surprised to look at my watch when I exited the water at 6:19. I was about :20 seconds ahead of last years time despite having done almost no swimming at all in prep. I started the first 1.5 mile feeling a little slow. I wasn’t breathing well and started to think “ok, here it comes…the last 8 days are catching up with me now.” I kept passing people though. I had a smooth effortless transition to the bike. Cycling is the only thing I’ve done any race specific training in the last few months. I put the hammer down and passed more people, especially on the climbs. I started to think a little about Karen and Izzy. I wanted to get back to the hospital to see Karen. I wanted Izzy to always think that I’m “awesome”. I started the final 1.5 mile run feeling fine, but I was still unsure where I was in the race.

When I started triathlon 6 years ago one of my goals was to win my age group at the Old Hickory Lake Triathlon. My home town race. I’ve come close many times finishing 2nd a couple of times, 3rd a couple of times, and 4th. I normally hang around for the awards ceremony to see how I did. On Saturday we just packed up the car and left. A hug from Izzy was the only reward I needed. I showered and went straight to Baptist. Later in the day I checked the results to learn that I had finally won the Old Hickory Lake Triathlon. I finished 1st out of 47 in my age group. I was 1st on the swim, 1st on both run segments, and 4th on the bike. Overall I was 12th out of 450; another best for me.

This sort of thing happens in my life alot. I can train and train for things, constantly thinking about needing to win, but I still fall short. Something special happens when I compete with a burden on my heart or when I compete with some repressed anger. I can do anything. It’s the mythical “zone”.

Thank you God for this special day. My family needed something to celebrate for a day. Karen was thrilled when I told her. Izzy thought I had won anyway.

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8/28/08

sorry gang…way behind on the updates. Here’s the last couple of days:

Yesterday: Ran 3 miles at 7:00 pace then did 3 half mile repeats at a 6:00 pace.

Today: Swam 1000 as 10 x 100:

1 – 1:14

2 – 1:15

3 – 1:13

4 – 1:14

5 – 1:08

6 – 1:17

7 – 1:17

8 – 1:17

9 – 1:18

10 – 1:08

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8/25/08

Short ride y’day morning – 1:10 with an average HR of 139. Mid day I went for a run in the rain. I ran 5 miles even in exactly 35 minutes. I was a little surprised that I had averaged 7:00 miles for 5 miles, because I hadn’t intended to. I thought I was running 8:00’s or so. My legs are good right now. I’m starting to believe that less is more when it comes to training for sprint distance racing.

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8/24/08

Ran a couple of FAST miles y’day. Brett and I scaled back this weekend before we start our really long rides next weekend (5 plus hours). We did 1:40 on the bike this morning. I swam 1500 yards later in the day including a 5:30 400 yard time trial.

I spent some time crunching numbers this morning as I really start to think about the Old Hickory Lake Triathlon. This will be my 5th time to race there…and I’ve yet to win my age group. I’ve placed 2nd a couple of times, 3rd, and 4th. I thought I’d examine my training volume from April to August since 2005 to show the lead in to the early September race date. I knew I had scaled way back on tri specific training this year, but the numbers are alarming. Funny thing is …I still feel just as fast…maybe faster because of the extra hours on the bike. Here ya go (cycling and running are hours, swimming is yards)

Swim:

2005: 80,330 yards (this is studly)

2006: 50,887 yards (big drop off)

2007: 40,050 yards (another drop off)

2008: 17,375 yards (did I forget how to swim?)

Bike:

2005: 59 hours

2006: 57 hours

2007: 64 hours

2008: 81 hours (so long Michael Phelps…hello Lance Armstrong)

Run:

2005: 41 hours

2006: 34 hours

2007: 39 hours

2008: 30 hours (gosh I hope all that H.I.T. training and plyo kept me in shape).

Total hours plus swim distance:

2005: 100 hours and 80,330 swim yards

2006: 91 hours and 50,887 swim yards

2007: 103 hours and 40,050 swim yards

2008: 111 hours and 17,375 swim yards

Let’s hope the extra bike hours keep me competitive. The good news is that swimming is the sport of the three that I’m most naturally talented in. I started scaling back my swim volume after 2005 because I noticed that I wasn’t slowing down any even with severly reduced training yardage. Running used to be a real weapon for me in triathlon. I could often catch the guys who passed me on the bike on the run. The real studs stayed away though because cycling is the key to winning in triathlon. Starting last year I started really boosting my cycling hours and the difficulty of my rides, because it’s always been my weakness. I havent done a single tri yet this year, unlike other years when I normally do 5-8 by this time. My results at OHL will be a true mystery until race day. I’m headed to the pool in a bit (by the way Izzy is out of town otherwise I’d be spending Daddy time instead.)

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8/21/08

Ran 4.5 miles in 36 minutes during. Nice breeze…still muggy.

8/20/08

I did the H.I.T. workout this morning with the guys: 3 rounds of 6 stations each 2 minutes each. After the workout I ran an extra 3 miles in 23:00 minutes.

During lunch I did 35 minutes on the spin bike like this: 5 minute warmup, 5 minutes FAST, 1 minute standing, 5 minutes FAST, I minute standing, 5 minutes FAST, 1 minute standing, then I altnenated 1 minute FAST and 1 minute standing the remainder of the time.

I jumped off the bike and got on the treadmill for a short FAST transition run. I did 1 mile at a 6:15 pace.

Getting ready for Old Hickory Lake Triathlon. Here are a couple of pics from that race last year: