triathlon

IMAZ Week 2 Review

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Well I’m not dead yet!  Actually, that may be how I start a lot of these posts.  The week started out pretty tame swimming, a few two-a-days in a row, and a solid 10 mile run on Friday.  That 10 miler was in place of an optional swim day.  I am still training for a marathon, so I thought running might be a good idea.

The big news (which will get its own blog post soon) is that I got a new bike Thursday night!  It’s red and fast and awesome.  Anyway, with that new bike and 3 of my neighbors, we set off to tackle a charity ride that supports a school near our houses.  It was a cold, windy morning when we put our wheels down for the 42 mile route.  We planned to regroup at each rest stop and I took off to see what the new bike could do.  I was flying!  Well, at least when I wasn’t going uphill into a headwind, which is what the first 11 miles felt like.

Unfortunately, as a result of my own poor mechanic work, around mile 28.5 the left pedal loosened itself out of the crank arm, stripped the hell out of the crank arm, and then detached from the bike while still connected to my shoe.  I went another 1/2 mile on one leg and decided riding the last 13 miles on one leg wouldn’t be smart.  I hitched a ride with the SAG truck to the finish line and waited for my friends.  Not awesome, but the bike is great and I can’t wait to get it back from the shop!

On Sunday, with tired legs and a bad taste in my mouth from Saturday’s ride, I amped things up.  Hazel and I set off for a quick 5 miles (7:35 min/mi for the little one!  She’s fast.).  I then dropped her off and knocked out 13 more for a really solid 18 miler.  With no time goal for Boston, I was ecstatic with how things went!

To refuel, Ev, some friends, and I went up to Pflugerville for food trucks.  What did we sample?  Well among other things… deep fried beef ribs!  So.  So.  Good.  So good.  They were a combined effort from Hall of Flame BBQ and a new trailer that specializes in hushpuppies!  Overall a really good week of training.

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Two weeks down, thirty-four to go!

week2

IMAZ Week 1 Review

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Preface: I’m going to try to give a quick recap of my Ironman training all the way up until the race. I’ll try

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to keep it brief, but no promises.

Consider training officially underway for Ironman Arizona! The first week was a gentle ramp-up in the form of ten workouts spread over 6 days. No question I have some work to do, especially in the pool. But the change of pace from run-only training to include biking and swimming has remotivated me! After my hip injury last month and scrapping my Boston goal, tri training has given me new focus.

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned while tri training last year, my favorite part is seeing huge, immediate improvement. At this point, for me it’s hard to see big gains in running, but when you’re basically drowning on Day 1, Day 5 feels like you’re Michael Phelps! By my third swim day I was exhausted, but ready to dive back in for Week 2. So we’ll see how things progress from here.

One week down, thirty-five to go!

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p>week1

Ironman Arizona is For Real

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Now that I’m coming around on the fact that I’m signed up for an Ironman, I realized I haven’t really said much about my training recently, so here’s a recap to bring you up to speed.

Since Ironman 70.3 Austin, I took some time off before ramping up for Boston training.  As you may or may not know, I had huge plans for the Boston Marathon: 3 hours.  Or really, 2:59:59.  That’s a huge threshold to break as a marathoner, and I wanted it bad.  Things got off to a slow start with a minor medical procedure, but I rebounded quickly.  I was feeling strong and my training runs were even better than when I qualified for Boston at Vermont.

And then things derailed in a major way.  After a great 21 mile run, my hip flexor called it quits.  I couldn’t run 100 yards without intense pain.  Now I’m pain-free thanks to physical therapy and a month off, but my Boston goal is out the window.  It’s 5 weeks away and I’m not quite back to where I was when I got injured.  So instead I’m going in another direction and starting my Ironman Arizona training.  Today.

It may seem early, starting 36 weeks before the race, but it’s an Ironman.  It doesn’t get harder than this.  2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run.  I need all the preparation I can get.  So I intend to run Boston for fun, using the fitness that I’ll build from triathlon training and carry it all the way through to November.

I’ll try to post regularly about my training in between all the food posts that have been coming up recently.  I’ll need to in order to burn off all these calories.

Now, off to the pool!

What Have I Done…

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It’s easy to say things. I can say whatever I want. Watch this:

“I’m gonna climb Everest!”

“Hey, check it, I’m gonna fight a kangaroo!”

“Yo, I’m gonna read a book!”

“I’m going to sign up for an Ironman.”

But it doesn’t mean anything unless you act on it. You know, walk the walk. Well, now this is happening…

click to enlarge (new window)

 

2013 is going to be huge for the bucket list. Boston early in the year and now Ironman Arizona (IMAZ) lined up for November. Let’s just

say it should be an exhausting year. (Lots) more info to come about Boston, IMAZ, and the rest of 2013’s training plans.

For now, let’s just pretend this was a good idea. It may be the last chance we have…

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p>PS – for perspective, an Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. In a row.

Ironman Austin 70.3 Preview

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Well folks, after 18 months that saw a switch to triathlons, back to running, and then back to triathlons, the time

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has come for my big challenge. This Sunday is the Ironman 70.3 Austin. It’s a Half Ironman about 10 miles east of downtown that will definitely put all my training to the test. It starts with a 1.2 mile swim, followed by a 56 mile bike, and finishes with a 13.1 mile run. So here’s what we can look forward to.

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Austin 70.3 Training Update

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Hey.  It’s me.  Mike the Triathlete.  You may have seen my counterpart, Mike the Eater, here a lot recently.  Well fear not, I’ve been working just as hard training as he’s been eating.  Thought I’d check in to let you know how all this exercise is going so far.

We’re about six weeks away from the big day (October 28th) and the workouts have really ramped up.  In particular this past weekend I completed a little personal triathlon, though “little” probably isn’t the right word.  A 30 minute swim, 2 hour bike, and 30 minute run made it the longest triathlon of my short multi-sport career.  In distance it racked up about 1400 meters swimming, 35 miles on the bike, and 4 miles running.  And it couldn’t have been more fun.  It renewed my excitement for race day while proving to myself that I could tackle some longer distances.

Overall my training has been going very smoothly.  Over the past 14 weeks, I have missed exactly zero workouts.  That’s 132 workouts in a row, averaging 9 workouts per week.  It’s been tough, but just scheduling everything has been harder than the workouts themselves.  Yesterday was a work of art, planning my swim and bike back-to-back, and then running in the evening.  More of that is expected as we get into the most demanding block of the training plan.

With all this progress I’m starting to define my goal of the race too.  Back when I signed up I said “For now there are no goals but to finish”.  Ha!  That doesn’t even sound like me, but sure enough, I said it.  Well that’s bunch of garbage.  I’m definitely going to set a time goal.  Right now here’s what I’m thinking, relatively realistic and moderately conservative:

Swim (1.2 miles) – 0:44

Bike (56 miles) – 3:02

Run (13.1 miles) – 1:45

Of course add a little in for transitions, as much as a total of 8 minutes?  That comes out to 5:39.  A little slower than what I think I’d like, but it is what it is.  The swim isn’t going to set any records, and the bike is not an easy course.  The main place to make up time will be on the run, but we’ll see.  I haven’t exactly run a half marathon after a 3 hour bike ride before.

Audible!

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Triathlon training isn’t all that different from marathon training. Wake up early, blindly do some ridiculous

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workout because an online training plan said so, repeat. The only difference lies in juggling three sports instead of one. The great thing about running is there are very few variables that can mess up your plans. With triathlon training you have to deal with things like pool hours, rainy weather on the bike, and generally finding time to work out twice a day several times per week.

Today I was ready to rock a 22 mile bike ride before work. Got up early (go to heck, 5:45am alarm), had a little snack, and went to prep my bike. I’m pretty neurotic about my bike’s tire pressure, so even if I just filled them for yesterday’s ride, I’m going to top them off again today. So this morning at 6:15am, in my garage, ::pump:: ::pump:: ::pump:: ::pump:: ::pump:: PSSSH. Tire 1 is good to go. Next up, back tire ::pump:: ::pump:: ssssss ::pump:: ::pump:: sssssssss ::pump:: sssssssssssss :: pssshhhhhhh. I tried the front tire again. sssssssssssssssssssssssss. And now it was flat too.

What!? I’ll spare you the profanity drama. My bike pump broke. It broke so much, in fact, that it did the opposite of

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its normal job; it unpumped my tires. So, no air in my tires. 6:25am. Get back in bed? Never! Time to roll with the punches. With a quick change of clothes I was in my car and heading down to the pool. Rather than give up on the day I cranked out Friday’s swim workout this morning. Win!

During lunch I swung by Freewheeling Bicycles who told me it was the tube in my bike pump that was leaking. Ready to drop some money on a new pump, he slid a pen and paper across the counter and asked for my name and number. He then gave me a brand new bike pump and said he’d file the old one as a defective unit still under warranty. Score!

I got it home, pumped up those flat tires, and hopped on the bike after dinner for my ride. Not too bad after a shaky start.

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Couples Triathlon Preview: 2012 Edition

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This Sunday is the Couples Triathlon. I did it last year as my last hurrah

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in the world of triathlon before decidedly switching back to a running-only lifestyle. A ton has happened since last year running-wise: I started and completed the Austin Distance Challenge, I ran the Chicago Marathon with Team Volkswagen, I ran on my company’s team for the Cap10K, and I qualified for Boston at the Vermont Marathon! Looking back, it was a big twelve months. Which brings us to now, two days before my first triathlon of what will be a long journey that will hopefully take me across the finish line of an Ironman.

The Couples Triathlon is a pretty typical sprint tri –800 meter swim, 11.2 mile bike, 3.1 mile run– that takes place in and around Decker Lake just east of Austin. My goal for this race is easy… do better than last year. That means I better be faster than:

Swim 800 m: 18:15
Transition 1: 3:05
Bike 11.2 mi: 36:05
Transition 2: 1:23
Run 3.1 mi: 23:06

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p>The “twist” on the Couples Tri is that you sign up with a teammate (friend, spouse, stranger) and then your times are combined for a team time. Last year I signed up with a coworker (and he was way faster than me). This year I just signed up solo, meaning I won’t have a combined team time. I’m excited to see where I stand in terms of fitness with less than 4 months to go until my Half Ironman!