Juggling...

Quick catch-up! Yesterday (Sunday) was supposed to be a 60 min aerobic run. I took my son along with me on his bike and we headed off on the river trail... along the Willamette River. Its a paved path that runs an approximate 10k loop... not terribly crowded and pretty well shaded. Somehow we got separated and I ran along the river in a panic adding an extra 2 miles to my total run! It was NOT fun! The idea of loosing that young man just made me sick! We found each other... he was in tears... and we continued our outing paying more attention to each other. We had some good one on one talking time... a rarity in our busy family! So the stats for the run were as follows:

• Total time: 60 min
• Total distance: 8.5 miles
• Pace: 7 min/mile
• Avg HR: 148

Run felt good. Today is a rest day.

Spending that time with Jack made me start thinking about the time commitment to train for a full Ironman. Which is where the title of this post comes from... "Juggling". I was reading a post the other day on Triscoop from Jetpack. He casually mentioned that that particular day's workout consisted of 1 hour of swimming, a 6 hour ride, and a 1 hour run. You do the math... that's 8 hours of training in one day! Seriously... part of me says, "YES! SWEET! I want that!" The other part of me says, "Holy COW... how am I going to fit that kind of training in and still be the father and husband that I want to be?!" Again... I guess its a matter of what goals you want to set for yourself. I certainly believe that you don't have to kill yourself in order to finish an Ironman. However, I do know myself... and I won't be satisfied with just finishing. Then again... maybe its foolish to expect anything more for your first race at that distance!

ANYWAY... I really do struggle with those sorts of thoughts. What's most important to me is my family and their well-being and happiness... and how I contribute to that. I do know that if I'm not pursuing something lofty... that I'm miserable... and that lofty goal is generally something physical, (I'm no brainiac!)... and that those goals or challenges keep me sane... which ultimately contributes to me being able to be a better parent/spouse! GEESH! Am I INSANE? Am I the only one out there that obsesses about these things? Doubtful... but sometimes I wonder. Anybody out there have any thoughts?

Thanks for reading!

Breathe...

Kickin My Own A**!

You know what happens when you take a month after your last race to get back into consistent training, and then pick it back up exactly where you left off? You SUFFER! LOL! Ok... that's a bit dramatic but I certainly feel the workouts a bit more that I probably should. That's part of the fun though right? I REALLY enjoy being so exhausted at the end of the day that its all I can do to help get the kiddos into bed and kiss the wife before I collapse into bed!

I have to catch you up a bit... I've been so tired in the evenings that I haven't really had the brain power to put coherent thoughts down on the computer!

Last Thursday's training was awesome! I love doing bricks... probably my favorite training session on the books! The thing about brick sessions is that it reminds you that you're a triathlete... and that you're preparing yourself for a triathlon. That may sound odd... but think about it for a second. Is there any other sport where an hour to an hour and a half bike alone wouldn't be considered enough... that the workout would be over after that? I can't think of one. But in triathlon, you recognize the importance of being able to haul a** running immediately after you hammer out a relatively long bike ride. I think that is COOL! Anyway, Thursday was a brick day and here's what it looked like:

• 1 hr bike
• 15.2 miles total
• 800 ft elevation gain in the 1st 1.5 miles
• Avg HR 142

Since there's a HUGE, MEAN, NASTY, GNARLY hill on the course at Escape from the Gorge, I'm doing hills every chance I get. Painful... but fullfilling

• Run 30 min
• 4.2 miles
• Avg HR 150

I definitely felt the 88 degree heat on the run. I planned the route so that I could hit a couple of water fountains so I did ok.

Saturday I woke up and headed for the pool. I don't know if I've mentioned it before but Eugene has a sweet 50m pool! The Amazon Pool has "long course" lanes open roughly 4 hours a day... mostly in the early morning during the week and then from 10:45 to noon on weekends. I feel pretty lucky to have a pool like this to train in during the Spring thru early Fall. Here's the swim I did yesterday:

• 400m warm-up/drills
• 6X200m tempo on 20 sec RI
• 600m pull
• 200m cool-down
• Avg split: 1:45/100m
  
• Total distance: 2400m (1.5 miles)

Felt good. I was definitely wanted more than 20 seconds of rest after each interval... and I probably took a few extra seconds... but overall the workout felt good. I really should invest in some lessons. I'm pretty sure that I could bring down my times by tweaking a few things... but I have no idea what those things are! Bah ha ha!

The heat picked up to the mid 80's and I headed out on my bike a little later than I had wanted. Who cares though... I was out there... and it was great! I took off toward Junction City and thoroughly enjoyed the sun and the scenery! You can tell by the smile! The prescribed workout was 2 hours... here's what I did:

• Total Time: 1 hour 49 minutes total
  
• Total Distance: 33.6 miles
• Avg Speed: 18.4 mph
• Avg HR: 142 bpm

A little short on time but that's ok. I'm happy with the ride overall. Most of the ride was flat with the exception of the last 1/4 mile which was all hill at about a 9% grade... that actually hurt a bit! I had 2 X 24oz water bottles with NUUN in them.... and I lost one off of my rear rack at about the half-way mark! Luckily I carried an extra tube of NUUN with me... so I just found a friendly farmer guy and filled up my water from his hose! LOL... I could tell that he wasn't sure about my "fancy outfit"! I also consumed about 4 oz of Hammer Gel. Energy was good the entire time and I just had a ball being out there... I love this sport!

Today is a 60 minute aerobic run. Ought to be fun although I'm not sure what the heat is going to be like this afternoon... but who cares right? I'll be heading to Bend later in the week and hooking up with Drew for another KMA session AND hopefully I'll be meeting with my potential coach to refine some of the details for next year... i.e. race schedule, annual goals, and of course... $$$!

Breathe...

Back on Track... I think!

Isn't this a SWEET picture?! This is a pastel/photo manipulation by a friend of mine... J.D. Casten. J.D. is one of those guys that you sort of know in college but never really connected with. Then all of a sudden you serendipitously run into later in life and begin to get acquainted. Pretty interesting dude... and I believe... a very talented artist. Make sure you check out more of his art, photography, poetry and philosophy HERE!

Alright! So I've been in a rut... of sorts... in terms of focused training. I think its one of those inevitable things that happens after you spend 5 months training for something and then its over... there's just a sort of let-down that can't be avoided... kinda like Christmas! So I feel like I finally made it out of the rut this week! YES! Really all it took was a conversation with my buddy Jim H. He raced in the Deschutes Dash Olympic this past weekend and placed 4th in our AG! Freakin AWESOME Jim! Nice JOB! SO... that's what it took apparently. All it took was for a friend of mine to do really well in a race... and BAM... I'm back into it! Thanks for the push Jim!

Ok... so here's what my workout was today:

• am swim
• 400m warm-up/drills
• 3 x 600m tempo on 1 min RI
• 200m cool-down
• Total distance: 2,600m
• Avg interval: 1:35

Swim felt great! Consistent pace the entire time. Very pleased with that!

• pm run
• 45 min aerobic
  
• 8 x 30 sec strides on 30 sec RI
• Total distance: 6.5?

Felt really comfortable despite the heat. Legs felt good. No issues with the legs. Not sure on the distance b/c I didn't measure it anywhere... I just kind of randomly ran through some of the neighborhoods in the university area... I love doing that! No plan... just go! SWEET! It was quite meditative actually... anyway... I went for the designated amount of time and it was fun! Good enough!

OH! Guess WHAT? I've picked up a little contracting work a couple days a week. The best part is that it pays about $100/day and ALL of that goes into my personal "Triathlon Account"! YES! Basically I'm saving-up for some coaching for next season AND for a push to a full Ironman in early '09 (either AZ or CDL)! VERY excited! I actually have a jar... where my money goes... childish? I think NOT! A few people have asked, "Why wait until '09 for a full ironman?" My response to is: Why not? Doesn't it logically follow that I can use the '08 season to continue to build a strong aerobic base and gain really valuable experience at the Olympic and 1/2 Iron distance in addition to enhancing my speed and strength? You know it... and that's what I'm going to do! When I go to Ironman... I'm going to RACE Ironman... not just finish. (I can't wait to go back and read this in a year, "DUDE... what was I THINKING???")

Breathe...

VACATION!

My parents came to town last week and we took off for the coast. MASSIVE amounts of friend food and creamed soup were consumed and I think I gained about 20 lbs of FAT! YES! Though it was fun and I loved playing with the kiddos on the rainy beaches all weekend... I'm really chomping at the bit to get back to some training.

Like I said before, I'm having trouble getting/staying motivated to train super hard right now. The next race I have is Escape from the Gorge... which is a qualifier for Escape from Alcatraz. I just can't seem to hone in on the intensity at the moment. I'm more likely to skip a run recently in order to do something else... like do yard work. What's up with THAT? Who knows.

Eh.. I'm back at it tomorrow with an early morning swim and an afternoon bike. REALLY looking forward to it!

Hippies LOVE Triathletes...

That's RIGHT! I said it! Hippies have an odd appreciation of endurance athletes. It could be that after spending hours at a time in the drum tower dancing their Patchouli Oiled booties off they find that maybe a little bit of endurance training might actually enhance their spinning, grinding, jumping, rhythmic contortion skills. Oregon Country Fair was this weekend and if you've never been you're TRULY missing out on one of the most unique and fun experiences of a life-time. Its an awesome time to just let your inner hippie out OR... just watch everyone else get their's out! Needless to say the triathlon training took a backseat this weekend and I got to hang out with my college buddy Dean and go to the fair! What a great time! What a great guy! What a great DAY! I won't go into great detail but Dean and I spent the entire day wandering around hangin with the freaks, listening to some great music and doing a little juggling. I will say that I did sweat a bit... but don't worry.... I managed my hydration needs with a Camelback filled with NUUN! YUMMMMMM....

Back to training tomorrow! SWEET! My parents will be coming into town for a visit starting tomorrow... might be difficult to manage a heavy training load while they are here... but we'll give it a go! On the agenda for tomorrow? 3,000m in the pool in the am and a 50 aerobic run! YIPEEEEEEEE!

Breathe....

Failure... its an option!

So I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine yesterday. Slimer, (aka Gary), is a long-time friend of mine from college. Actually, I think we've gotten closer over the last few years as we've both evolved into some semblance of "adults". Bah ha ha! Anyway, we were talking about triathlon in general and racing in particular. One of the things that he brought up is coming across a finish-line with absolutely nothing left... in other words, pushing yourself to your absolute limit... and seeing where that takes you. We were talking about Escape from the Gorge, a race held up near Hood River in Sept, that was my inaugural triathlon and will continue to have a solid place in my race schedule for many years to come. I believe his exact words were, "I want to see you come across the finish line absolutely exhausted... not coming across saying, 'I feel fine'." This brought up a very interesting question for me. Am I completely comfortable doing that? Pushing my limits. The thing is, if you're going to push your limits... put it ALL out there... you need to be more than willing to accept failure as a possibility. Its a huge risk. 2 things can happen, 1) Go all out... put it ALL out on the course... and it could be BRILLIANT! or 2) Crash and burn and DNF. Where I start to have a problem is with the failure part. I've failed in many things in my life... but to be honest... it has very rarely been in sport. SO... this begs the question, have I not failed in sport b/c I've never pushed to the point of breaking? I dunno. I mean, the closest I think I've come to collapsing due to complete exhaustion was during Ranger school in the Army... but I think that was more due to lack of food than anything else. SO... do I push harder and risk complete and utter failure? OR... do I just race, be comfortable, and still do fairly well? Hmmmmm... no idea...

Any thoughts out there?

K and the kiddos took off for Minn. early this am... so I have nothing to do for the next 5 days except work and TRAIN! Oh... and clean the house, fix the toilet, mow the lawn, finish the laundry, do the dishes.... on and on and on! Bah ha ha! SWEET!

Semi-weak swim this afternoon:

• 300m warm-up/drills
• 10 X 100m tempo on 15 sec RI
• 200m cool-down
• avg pace = 1:20/100m

Felt good... wanted more!

Breathe...

Coming SOON!

I just love it when something new comes along... and actually promises to bring something of value to the community! Last year, when I got it in my head that I wanted to do triathlon for the long-term, I started shopping around for a bike. I serendipitously met this buff little dude named Gilad Gozlan. We immediately hit it off and he became an integral part in the decision making process of buying my first tri-bike!
Since then Gilad has always made a point of asking about my training and racing, offering great advice, and ensuring that my bike is performing exactly the way that it should! What I really enjoy about Gilad is that he shares and celebrates your success and offers solid solutions to the various and sundry problems you might encounter.

Gilad has branched out on his own and made the audacious move to open a NEW bike shop here in Eugene! Life Cycle Bike Shop will be open for business in the VERY near future and will carve out its own niche in the Eugene cycling community. They are located at 1733 Pearl St. (in the Chapman Bldg) right behind Starbucks on the corner of 18th and Pearl. The Life Cycle team is hammering away in their new space getting it spruced up and ready for business. What's REALLY cool is that they are making every effort to use recycled and/or sustainable materials to complete the inards of their shop! Neat huh? Even though they aren't offically open for business, they've already started building bikes! Don't hesitate to stop by and say "Hi!" to Gilad, and Geoff (manager)! They love getting visitors that are as excited about bikes as they are!

Early morning swim this morning! Here's what it looked like:

• 300m warm-up/drills
• 3 X 500m tempo on 1 min RI
• 200m cool-down
• Total: 2,000m
• Avg Interval: 8:35

Felt great the entire time and got to see a few of the folks from the Collins Tri-Team!

Supposed to be 98 degrees in Eugene today! I have a 40min aerobic run with 6X 30 sec strides on 30 sec RI scheduled for this afternoon... ought to be fun!

Breathe...

Now I know WHY...

Drew calls them KMA (Kick My Ass) sessions! Met up with him at his strength/endurance coach's studio. The big ball I'm holding over my head is a 20 lb medicine ball... my little buddy during a few of the exercises! Here's what we did:

• 10 min warm-up on treadmill
• We alternated between 2 exercises back and forth for 1.5 min, 1 min, and 30 sec.
• 1st set: chest presses with upper back on balance ball; hands on balance board in push-up position and with feet on balance ball.
• 2nd set: kettlebell squat hops on bosu ball; box jumps holding 20 lb medicine ball
• 3rd set: scissor hops while pressing 20 lb medicine ball overhead; backward ab roll on balance ball
• Treadmill: skipping at 9% grade for 1 min then sprinting for another min or so.
• 25 push-ups
• 2 minutes hard jumprope
• 2 minutes out of saddle on stationary bike going hard
• Abs: 50 crunches, 30 bicycle, 20 bicycle in V-up position, 20 side V-ups, 20 planks

That was it! It was a lot of fun and challenging as well! I felt pretty good... till the next day. My entire torso (I love that word... "torso" hilarious!) was tender to the touch! I haven't been very good about doing core/strength training so I am paying the price now!
After the session I went off to get some work done then we hooked back up later that evening for some sushi! YES! At left is Drew experiencing his first Flying Fish Roe with a raw Quail egg on top... yum yum YUM!

I've got some good news about coaching for me next year! I'm gonna wait until we solidify things a little more but it looks like I'll be preparing for a full Ironman distance race in early '09 with the aid of a really talented coach! More to come on that!

OK! SO... Friday morning I met Drew for a swim workout at Juniper... here's what it looked like:

• 300 yd warm-up/drills
• 10 X 100 yd tempo on 15 sec RI
• 500 yd with pull buoy
• 200 yd cool-down easy/moderate.

The water felt GREAT! My muscles were tired from the previous days KMA session... but I was really happy to get the swim in.

Today I went for a really hilly ride. My quads and hams were on FIRE pretty much the entire time... but I definitely feel like I gained some fitness over the course of the 22 mile ride. Because of the hills my avg speed was 15 mph... super slow... but grinding up the hills.... at least for me... is really tough.

This is a really weird time right now. I got done with the half IM and now I'm kind of floundering out there not getting ready for anything in particular. The only race I have scheduled for the rest of the year is Escape From the Gorge in... SEPTEMBER! That's a long time away! I was supposed to do the Deschutes Dash but the dates conflict with a last minute visit from my parents... who rented a beach house in Cannon Beach during that time. So here I am with all this fitness and nowhere to use it. Kind of an odd feeling... like... "Why the heck should I go out and ride tough hills right now?" I suppose I should just think of it as extra base training for years to come! Yeah... that's what I'll do... perfect... thanks for letting me think through that!

AlRIGHTY! Off to coach a T-ball game and then a baseball game! Life is good!

Breathe....

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Pre-Race: 5:30 am

Yeah! I completely forgot that I have a 10k road race today! Unfortunately I had a fairly intense workout yesterday so I'm a bit tired... at least that'll be my excuse if I don't do well! Bah ha ha!

Its called "Butte to Butte" and its held every year on the 4th and has been around for quite a long time. This is the first year that I've ever done it and I'm really looking forward to it! According to some of my friends it has a really festive feel to it and some of the intense Eugene running elites actually have some fun as opposed to being all, "I'm super fast running dude... and I will CRUSH you!"

A friend of mine, Jeff, who I know through coaching his son in soccer and baseball threw down the gauntlet and said he's going to take me... of course... his wife Sally has been egging him on... which is hilarious. The thing is... I think he's a stealthy bastard and will probably throw down some sub 6 min miles! He's so very quiet and unassuming that you just never know. We'll see how it goes.

My plan is to have fun! I'm going to stay with Jeff.... period... and if there's an opportunity to blow by him while laughing... I'll do it. However, if he kicks my butt... I'll claim injury or something like that! HA HA! YEAH! (In a super whiny voice) "But Jeeeeeff! I had a really big workout yesterday AND... my pinky toe hurts!" Yeah... that ought to do it! His son Daniel will be running the 5k walk... he's a little stud and I'm sure he'll do GREAT!

Post Race: 10:30am

I'm home and happy! What a great event! It almost seemed as if the entire city turns out for the thing... as evidenced by the line for the porta-johns before the race. Like all races the energy was extremely high and people were just tickeled to be out there! I was standing around listening to some of the conversations people were having... they ranged from two young, strong, svelt runner dudes, "Bro, I'm chillin on dis one yo. I fugunna put down about a 36 min finish." To a couple of overweight ladies in their late 40's, "I'm just SO happy to be out here doin it! I'm just glad that I don't work tomorrow! Hee hee hee!". That's exactly why I LOVE these races! So many differenct people with so many different goals... but they are ALL out there... and they are all THRILLED about it!

Jeff immediately said that he wasn't expecting much from himself in this race so I decided to pace him and make him be consistent throughout. The weather was PERFECT! Totally clear and sunny... although I did hear some complaints at the starting line! The picture above is just after mile 5. Jeff did a great job of holding his pace! He would go off into LaLa land for a second and start to drop but all I had to do was say his name or "Come on Jeff" and he would come right back on pace. At mile 5 Jeff told me to go, "I'll be right with ya." So I went... and he didn't come with me. LOL... I'm proud of him though. Considering the lack of training on his part he should be REALLY happy with his performance! I'm not exactly sure what the official times were... but I'm pretty sure that Jeff held an 8 min/mile avg! Not too shabby! My unofficial finish time after leaving Jeff at mile 5 was 45:39 which averages out to be 7:42/mile. Slow for me but very VERY comfortable. The best thing about it was running with a friend and getting to have that experience with him! It was just cool!

GREAT JOB JEFF!!

It's hard to see in the picture but at left is Jeff's son Daniel BLAZING through the 5k! Did I mention that he's 10 years old and he cut 6 whole minutes off his time from last year's race?! What a STUD! OH! He's also a good student and enjoys My Little Pony! (Just kidding about the Ponies Daniel) He is a smart kid though! Be very proud Daniel! I expect you to smoke your Dad next year in the 10k!

As I type this I'm smokin a brisket in the smoker and gettin ready for the 4th of July festivities! Tomorrow I'm heading to Bend on business AND I get to join Drew for a KMA session with his trainer! I don't expect to be able to walk after we're done... and I fully expect to throw-up all over Drew about halfway through the thing! YES!

Breathe...

p.s. What's your fav part of the 4th? I wanna know! Leave a comment!

Future Plans...

So now the question becomes... what next? I know that I have a few more races this year... but I'm already looking toward the '08/'09 season. Do I make a push for a full Ironman in '09? Which one? What would my goals for that race be? Should I hire a coach? Do I need to get my lactate threshold testing done? Can I handle that kind of training volume? Can my family? Can my job? (Bah ha ha! That last one's a joke right?!). All of those questions are things I need to consider right? Am I leaving something out? Heck... I dunno! Plus there's the money. Did I read somewhere that you'll spend roughly 6 k just to compete in an Ironman qualifying event?

This is where you all come in! I KNOW there's a lot of experience out there... I'd really appreciate some of your opinions!

Breathe...