Well, the road to IMFL is now 25% complete.  This week we were back into full training mode after a rest week.  Training this week went fairly well.  My normal swim buddy David was out of town but I managed to pick up a swim with Katy.  She pretty much swam laps around me as I knocked it out.  No surprises there.

My Wednesday run workout wound up going a little longer than expected.  The Iron Cowboy made his Texas appearance so I decided to head over to Dallas and run with him.  In each of his stops he’s been getting a crowd together to run 5k of his marathon as a group.  The rain broke just long enough for us to get a nice slow run in and then he headed back inside to finish his marathon on a treadmill.  I wanted to ensure he had some Texas crowd support until the end so I talked to the coach that was organizing the day.  He said they expected to wrap up around 11 PM.  My regularly scheduled run for the day was a tempo run that was supposed to last around an hour.  It was about 7:30 PM so I decide to go grab a bite to eat and then come back and do my run from 10-11.

I returned to Lifetime Fitness a little before 10 and made my way to the treadmills.  A few other guys were still running with him so I joined in.  As I was finishing my workout around 10:55 PM I hear him say “keep it up, only five miles to go”. Uh oh.  Keep in mind I ran 3.1 earlier and had just knocked down 6 with some of it at a pretty quick clip.  My training plan has me running seven on my long run this Sunday so I’m really not trained for much more than that at this point.  You can do the math.  He was running 12 minute miles which meant we were in for an entire hour more.

I dialed my pace back and held on as best as I could.  By the time we finished I think I logged around 14 miles for the day.  My legs yelled at me for the next two days.  But it quickly put into perspective what this guy was doing every day.  (In case you missed it last week, he’s attempting a full 140.6 Ironman distance race every day for 50 days in 50 states.  Look him up, it’s pretty incredible.)  While I still don’t know that his task is humanly possible, if it is he will be the guy to do it.  He continues to look fresh each morning and his logistics are getting easier.  The heat will likely take a toll on him the next few weeks but after that he should be in the clear.  I’ll be cheering for him the entire way.

The next few weeks will be a little disruptive to training but I’m really looking forward to them.  This weekend my dad and I are heading up to Oregon for a few days.  I’m looking forward to seeing some beautiful country and experiencing all it has to offer, but I’m looking forward even more to getting time to spend with him.  Although we live only an hour away it’s crazy how hard it is to really connect in the busy world we live in.  On that note, I want to say Happy Father’s Day and also Happy Birthday to my mom, both this weekend!

The following week I’ll be headed to Phoenix with Sarah and the kids.  Yeah, we’re that crazy family that goes to the only place hotter than Texas for a July vacation.  Nonetheless I look forward to some down time with them and having a few more days to just unplug.

With training being 25% complete my fundraising is right about where I had hoped it would be.  I would love to have it all wrapped up by September 1 and I’m close to halfway to my goal.  If you would like to donate to help find a cure to NF and help our team reach our goal of $770k then here’s the place to make it happen.

Thanks for all of your support through these first six weeks!

Rest week.  I had such lofty expectations.  Sleeping in every day now that the kids are out of school, letting my body fully recover from the beating over the last month, etc.  It seems that Coach Bob and I have different definitions of rest week.  Of course his definition ultimately won out which meant three rest days instead of two.  Otherwise it was the standard two workouts daily.  Nothing really to note this week.  Five weeks down and I’m still healthy and injury free.

If you’re wanting to see something REALLY crazy you need to look up the Iron Cowboy.  He set out this week to do 50 / 50 / 50 – that would be 50 Ironman races in 50 states in 50 days.  This week he kicked it off in Hawaii, went from there to Alaska, and is now making his way across the continental US.  The craziest of the logistics are behind him.  If he manages to pull this off he’ll earn instant legend status in the Ironman circles.  If he happens to make it to day 12 (this Wednesday) I just may have to go out and cheer him on for his Texas appearance.

On Friday I helped Jason and Katy out with a local golf tournament to benefit CTF.  The day went great and everyone seemed to have a blast.  Jason came ten inches from a new car.  Literally.  But most importantly is that more funds were raised to help find a cure for NF.  Thanks to everyone that came out or made a donation to the event.

This week it’s back to a full training load.  As always, I’ll keep you posted.

 

Sunshine!  It’s finally back!  Last week I mentioned how we’ve not really seen it for the past month.  This week it was finally back and it was glorious.  The nights are still cool, the humidity is dropping, the days are pleasant and sunny and are starting to get longer.  Perfect training weather!

Training this week went well.  We typically have two rest days a week.  I prefer for one of those to be Sunday just because I really enjoy resting on Sunday.  We typically spend the morning at church, grab lunch (Fresco’s anyone?), and then have a lazy afternoon.  For the first month the training schedule was very accommodating.  However, I think we’ve had our last Sunday rest day.  From here on there will generally be a long bike ride on Saturday and then a long run on Sunday.  It’s highly beneficial doing  a long run the day after a long ride as it acclimates your body to running while somewhat fatigued just like race day.  While it’s not my preference I understand why it’s scheduled this way.  As the weeks progress and the runs go from single to double digit miles it’s just hard to get that in before or after work.

More important than workouts this week came news from my buddy Denver.  He’s my NF Hero (I’ll be doing a full write up on him in the coming weeks).  He’s the reason I’m training with CTF this year.  He’s the reason your donations matter.  His mother posted a blog entry early in the week about a trip to the doctor for a routine check up.  Inevitably the doc found some items of concern; nothing over the top, but a few things that warrant a closer look.  Then came the words that tore me up:

Denver instantly started to get upset when he heard “testing”  No matter how many times we do this he is always nervous, scared and anxious. He begged and pleaded not to have to go to the hospital…

It turns my stomach when kids are not able to live a “normal” childhood.  Denver’s mom would tell you that all things considered his childhood is fairly normal.  Still, most kids don’t live with the same fear Denver does when they go to see the doctor.  Most kids haven’t had to endure the testing he has.  And that’s why this whole thing is so important.  If our entire team hits our fundraising goal we should be close to $1,000,000 to put towards finding a cure.  The smallest donation on your part gets us that much closer.

Thanks again for being part of something life changing.

 

 

It’s hard to believe another week has passed. They seem to be going quickly and I’m sure summer will only get worse. And I’m really hoping to see some sunshine soon. I certainly won’t gripe about the (much needed) water that’s been filling the lakes or the cooler running temps. I just really want to see something other than clouds in the sky. Feel free to quote me on that in about eight weeks.

The week began with a three day weekend. We had a camping trip scheduled with some friends but given all of the recent flooding and chances of even more we opted to move the camping trip indoors (as in to a hotel). Unfortunately someone forgot to let Coach Bob know it was a holiday as my training schedule showed the normal two workouts. I managed to get a weight room workout in at the hotel that morning. Later that afternoon I grabbed a trainer ride back at the house. And so life goes when training for an Ironman.

It’s amazing to me the tools that are available to aid in training.  Thursday I was scheduled for a 90 minute steady bike ride.  Rather than just hop on the trainer and spin I used a program called BestBikeSplit to simulate my IMFL bike ride.  The app is pretty cool and has been used by pros to predict their times on 112 mile rides to within a minute or two.  Pretty amazing to me, and it’s even more amazing that their base package is absolutely free.  I was able to export the simulation and import it into TrainerRoad, the software I use when on the trainer.  I saved a full version of the 112 miles (that will come in handy in future weeks) and then lopped off everything but the first 90 minute to create a workout simulating the first 90 minutes of my race day ride.  The ride went fairly well (in the image below, the yellow line displaying my power should match the top of the blue).  My heart rate and cadence pretty much flat lined, which is good in that my heart rated didn’t drift up and cadence didn’t drift down.  If I can manage to hold onto those numbers on race day I’ll be a happy guy.

I’m starting to get a good feel for the level of fatigue that comes with four workouts in two days. We typically have two days of workouts, a rest day, three days of workouts, and then another rest day. I really do live for rest days lately. It’s amazing how your body needs recovery when you begin to challenge it. I’m also getting a feel for how hard I can push during a workout when I’ve completed three other workouts in the past 36 hours. The answer: not as hard as I would like. I typically like to push myself but I’m starting to realize that I just can’t push as hard at the end of a block. If I continue to, especially as the duration picks up, I’m going to wind up hurt. Most coaches recommend at most one really hard bike or run for the week and the rest should be done at lower intensities. It’s all about the body learning to perform while fatigued; push a fatigued body too hard and it could literally end a season.

Finally, I want to say a huge “thank you” to those of you that donated to CTF in the month of May.  As you may know May was NF Awareness Month.  I found out very late in the month that all May donations will be MATCHED!  How cool is that?  I don’t think that the match will go towards my fundraising but that’s not the point.  The point is to generate awareness and funds so that the right folks can find a cure for NF.  If you’re reading this and want to be a part of this great cause then you can do so here.

This week was fairly uneventful as far as training goes.  Most days consisted of two workouts but the workouts are still relatively short (one hour max, usually less).  I do find myself sleeping well at night. One area I began to focus on this week was nutrition.  My mom always said that I don’t eat, I graze.  Generally speaking Sarah and I eat fairly well at mealtime but come snack time I usually crave sugar and carbonation.  Not the best options.  I found myself taking in more protein than normal and cutting back my carbs (ie sugar).  My normal afternoon pick-me-up, a blue Monster, was (mostly) thrown out as well.  Reducing carbs is a viable option while the training load is still low and my body has some extra “fuel reserves”;  as the weeks progress there’s no question more daily intake will be required.  I just have to remember to put the right kind of fuel in the engine.

On Saturday Sarah and I did a local bike ride, the Honeytour.  We  met up with our usual CTF training buddies Jason and Katy.  Several of my co-workers (Bernie, Graham and Cheney) came out and Sarah had a friend come all the way from New York just to ride with us.  Amy and Chip, it was great getting to hang with you guys this weekend.  Amy posted later that one of the best parts of endurance sports is the friends you meet along the way and I could not agree more.  The Texas spring floods held out for the most part and we had a nice 47 mile ride.

Finally, thanks to those of you that made donations to CTF this week.  Sarah hosted a Bingo night that wound up raising over $500!  Thank you, thank you, thank you to Sarah for organizing this and to everyone that donated prizes, time, and money to make it a success.  Several individual contributions came in this week as well; all told I’m approaching the 50% mark which is fantastic.  If you’re reading this and would like to contribute to finding a cure so that kids don’t have to live with NF you can do so here.

This week it officially began. The first of many weeks that will ultimately lead to Ironman Florida. I was reminded multiple times this week that this was just the beginning of the journey. The bike workouts were not as intense as I’ve done over the past few months but training is different now. It shifts from a focus on intensity to a focus on endurance. Mentally it’s different doing shorter “endurance” workouts. But I know for a fact that the longer workouts are right around the corner. Just like racing, I have to remember to pace my training and stay healthy for the long haul.

The week was also a bit unusual in that it was a race week! While others on the CTF team were knocking down 70.3’s I did my first sprint of the season. My goal for this race was to place in the top 10 in my age group. I’ve done a ton of bike training since January so it was finally time to put it to the test. I pushed myself pretty hard and wound up 14 out of 39, missing a top 10 finish by less than 90 seconds.  All in all it was a good day.  I was pleased with my bike and my run; as usual my swim still needs some work.  I got to race with my good buddy David which was a rare treat.  Today (Sunday) was a rest day and tomorrow it’s back to two-a-days.

I want to thank everyone that has donated to CTF thus far. I’m currently sitting at ~25% of my goal thanks to the generosity of friends and family like you. Real lives will be impacted because of the gifts you have given. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Before signing off a few “congratulations” are in order.  The first goes out to my parents who celebrated 45 years together this weekend.  They are a huge inspiration in my life and I’m beyond thankful to have them as parents.  Next, a few local guys completed their first Ironman down in the Woodlands this weekend.  They survived the Texas humidity and a brutally sunny day and both crossed the finish line.  Richard and Scott, you guys are Ironmen!  Last, my cousin Garrison ran a 9:42 two mile to take 4th at the state track meet.  His two mile pace is way too close to my one mile pace.  Congrats man.

My six months of training for Ironman Florida will finally start in May.  With that on the horizon I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about goals and expectations for the coming year.  My goals for the coming year come in two different categories: fundraising and performance.

FUNDRAISING

This is my first year as part of a charity team.  Last year Sarah and I were introduced to the Children’s Tumor Foundation (CTF) by some good friends of ours.  Their family is impacted by Neurofibromatosis (NF) so in the past few years they’ve started racing and raising funds to help find a cure.  Sarah raced with them and CTF last year and it was a fantastic experience.  This year I’m joining their team and looking forward to racing with CTF.

As a part of that I’m committed to raising awareness of NF and and raising funds to help find a cure.  For those of you who know me, I’m not one to just associate myself with any organization or cause.  If I’m going to be a part of something it has to be something that I believe in.  After getting to know some of the CTF folks last year and seeing what their organization was all about I can tell you that this is a first class organization committed to a great cause.

Our team this year has a combined goal of $770k.  My part in that is $5,500.  If you would like to be part of something amazing you can make a donation here.  No amount is too small.  There are real lives that are impacted.  And for any amount you give I am truly thankful.

Let’s do this.

 

PERFORMANCE

Setting goals for long distance races is a tricky thing.  Over the course of a day there are a lot of variables that come into play, with weather and nutrition being on the top of the list.  A combination of the two absolutely buried me at my first 70.3 attempt.  As a result I’ve learned to set a few different levels of expectations.

“Worst Case Scenario” – The official time cutoff for completing the 140.6 miles is 17 hours.  Should the wheels completely fall off and my nutrition go south, there’s the number I need to hit for them to call my name as I cross the finish line.

“Realistic” – For a point of reference, the professionals will finish in just over 8 hours.  In 2013 Hines Ward became the first former NFL player to take on Ironman.  His official finish time was 13 hours 8 minutes.  I figure that if I can match the time of a former Pro-Bowler that would be something respectable.  Based on my race results over the past few years it should be achievable.

  

“If The Stars Align” – I’ve really only hit this goal once in the past five years.  My training was stout.  The weather was fantastic (60’s with zero wind).  My nutrition held up.  On that day I broke the 6 hour mark at the 70.3 distance the only time in my four attempts.  Should the same conditions come together on November 7th I would be absolutely elated to see a 12 hour finish.  Some of what will be required to hit that time is within my control; for those parts I plan to do everything I can to make it happen.  However, there’s a verse in the Bible to the tune of “we often make our plans or set out to do our business, when what we should really be doing is saying IF the Lord wills it, then we can do these things…” (slowpope paraphrase).  Ironman Florida last year is every bit a reminder of this.  The currents were so bad they cancelled the swim and then athletes took off for a 112 mile bike ride in 20 mph winds.  Some days are just not conducive for setting a personal record and there’s not a thing in the world you can do about it.

So there you have it.  My official goals for the year.  Nothing will be achieved overnight, and nothing will come easily.  But the most rewarding things in life seldom do.

If you’ve ever completed an organized run or triathlon, chances are you can find your results on Athlinks.  It’s a great site that basically goes out and collects race results from the various race and timing sites.  Once you set up a free account you simply put in your name and age and it takes its best guess as to which race results are yours.  You can “claim” the ones that belong to you and leave the others for their rightful owner.

Along with tracking all of your results, it lets you know how your best finishes stack up against the rest of the world.  I consider myself a triathlete, but I might should consider myself a runner.  All of my running results place me in the top 50%, while all of my triathlon results place me in the bottom 50%.  Reality is that many more people participate in running events, which means my triathlon results are probably a little more indicative of my actual abilities.

So all of that brings me to the “ego” portion of this post.  The first organized event I ever did was the Cowtown 5k Back in 2009.

I distinctly remember the day.  Sarah trained for it.  I figured I could keep up with her for three miles just off of my natural studliness.  Somewhere around the first mile marker I realized I had made a huge mistake.  At the second mile marker I came as close to throwing up in a race as I ever have.  I told her to go on and I’d see her at the finish.  Athlinks doesn’t have splits listed for this run, but I’ll guarantee you my last mile dropped off considerably as I watched Sarah disappear into the masses.  My end time wound up just over 31 minutes.

It’s crazy the journey life takes us on.  The next year I did my first sprint triathlon.  The following I did my first Olympic, and on it went up through the completion of my first Ironman last fall (side by side with Sarah, no doubt).

So this week I’m going back to the beginning.  While most of my friends are running the full or half marathon  I’ll be doing the same race I did six years ago.  This time I’m in a completely different decade of my life, yet I still hope to take five to six minutes off of my time from 2009.  For the past year my ego has wanted to see a new 5k number on Athlinks.  God willing and weather cooperating, this week it will finally happen.

 

Many of us are familiar with the Tour de France and other multi-stage races that happen in cycling.  Over the past few weeks Sarah and I embarked on our first nine day tour – the Tour of Sufferlandria 2015.  There’s a program we use when on the bike trainer called TrainerRoad (hands down the best $10 a month you can spend if you are a cyclist) and one of its partners is a company called The Sufferfest.  Sufferfest is known for putting out videos and workouts that make you really (yep, you guessed it) suffer.  Their workouts have some great names like Blender, The Long Scream, Nine Hammers, and my personal favorite ISLAGIATT (It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time).

For the past several years they have had an annual Tour of Sufferlandria, nine days (stages) of back to back killer rides.  No rest days.  No easy workouts.  Stage 1 was actually two workouts in a row and Stage 8 was three.  Each stage was anywhere from one to two and a half hours of fun filled suffering.  I think this may be the first time I’ve gone that many days pushing my limits with no reprieve.  Some days felt better than others, and just when I thought my body was starting to acclimate my next ride would feel like I had lead legs.  I really enjoyed the videos that accompanied the workouts; they were a great mix of race footage and encouragement with occasional clips of comedy and outright absurdity.  Sarah, on the other hand, soaked up a few seasons of Gilmore Girls.  To each his / her own.

One thing I love about events like this is that they are typically come with a charity partner helping raise awareness for those in need.  The charity for the tour was the Davis Phinney Foundation.  I’ll admit that it is not one I was familiar with two weeks ago, but I’m glad to have learned about it.  Many foundations are raising funds to find a cure for some illness.  The Davis Phinney Foundation exists not to help find a cure but to provide assistance for those currently dealing with Parkinsons.  The tour had a goal of $60k and wound up almost doubling that, raising $104k in just nine days.  I’m glad we got to play a small part in raising funds for another great cause.

Now, for the results [drumroll]….

The tour started with a peloton of 2827 riders.  Of that group 1137 riders were dropped while 1690 actually finished.

I’m glad to report that Sarah and I were both among the finishers.  In training, there’s a season for building your base and a season for building your endurance.  This is definitely the time for base building, and there’s no question that events such as this are an excellent way to do exactly that.

I decided last year that as long as God blessed me with good health that I would attempt an Ironman each year between ages 40 and 50.  My birthday is in September (gift giving is encouraged) so when Sarah and I did Cozumel I officially checked off IM40 (my Ironman for age 40).  I decided to take 2015 off and then think about IM41 and IM42 in the fall of 2016.  Maybe kill two races with one training block.

Then it got complicated.  For starters, our friend (and Sarah’s training partner) Katy signed up for Florida.  As soon as that happened I knew Jason (her husband), Katy, Sarah and I had some long training days coming up this summer and fall just to train with and encourage her.

Next my buddy Kody signed up for a marathon, a half Ironman (Galveston), and a full Ironman (Boulder – excellent choice for a first if you’re totally into suffering).  Again I could see myself doing some training with him, although training with Kody usually means watching his backside for hours on end.  I don’t know how much “encouraging” I actually do from behind, but he’s been there for me over the years so I have more than a few favors to return.

Then it happened.  David signed up.  He’s the one I 100% blame my addiction on (well, him and Kurt).  He’s the guy that introduced me to triathlon back in 2010.  He’s the reason my bank account has charges to crazy names like TrainerRoad, Ironman, and Sufferfest (Yes, all this month.  Seriously).  But he’s also the reason I’m 40 pounds lighter and have normal triglyceride readings.  To this day we’ve never raced each other.  Come to think of it, I don’t know that we’ve ever even trained together.  Still he’s a great friend and encourager.  Along with Katy he signed up for Florida.  It was at that point that I knew I would be doing this race.

So today I made it official.  I will be racing Ironman Florida 2015 with the Children’s Tumor Foundation.  I’m excited to be training with great friends and raising awareness and funds for a great cause.