Today’s training made the last 2 look like a warm up.
Session 1 Our first session was a trip to the grocery store – on foot. We got up around 6 and were out the door by 7. Kamil had mentioned that it was only a couple of miles away so we took backpacks and a bottle to drink for our short run there and back. The store was actually over 6 miles away which is very similar to what happened the first day here (refer to day 1 post). Anyway, we got a cartload of groceries and loaded them into our packs, being very careful to make the weight even (neither of us wanted to be short-changed on our training run). Our packs ended up to be about 20 pounds each and we failed to realize that we ran downhill to get to the store. Oh yeah, don’t forget that we only brought 1 bottle to drink based on Kamil’s convoluted idea of “a couple of miles.” We ran what we could and walked the bigger hills and by the time we were 2.5 miles from home, we were just about out of water (even with rationing) and Kamil bonked. We ended up using the food in our packs to get us through the run and somehow a jar of jelly from my pack made it into Kamil’s pack. Not cool dude. During our 13 mile run (just a couple of miles…) we wondered about how tough it must’ve been for cavemen to gather and carry food for their families all the time. They would probably laugh at us. And so would sherpas. They regularly carry much more for longer and at higher elevations. We didn’t think this session was that tough after that conversation.
Session 2 We were planning on doing the same ride that we did yesterday – to Vail and back. It was long enough and had plenty of climbs, so after procrastinating after our 2.5 hour run, we headed out at 1:30. We did the ride yesterday in 6.5 hours so we knew we would end up in the dark on the way back. Cool, I get to test my new bike lights. The same beautiful scenery and challenging mountain climbs greeted us today. It was tougher since we ran beforehand and weren’t fully recovered from yesterday’s ride. But we ended up riding the 80 miles in 6.5 hours – the same as yesterday. The temps did drop with the rain so we put all of our layers on and rode with lights until 8:30.
Session 3 Getting our asses to the pool was not easy after nearly getting hypothermia from the bike ride but I convinced Kamil it would help repair his muscles. I got my 2000 meters in and Kamil got his 3000. We finally achieved our goal of 10 hours of training. It took us over 15 hours to do it, but we stuck to it even when we didn’t want to. Tomorrow we sleep in a little and dial it back to 2 sessions.
I can sum up today’s training in 2 phrases. Late start and badass bike ride.
Our 5 a.m. start ended up being 10:30. Our bodies told us we needed more sleep so we did. I had a bad headache from the altitude and knew I wouldn’t get in a quality session without resting more. We also felt we didn’t need our morning run and that a long bike ride would be more beneficial. So we geared up for a ride from Keystone to Vail and back.
The Ride
Today’s ride was without exception the best in my life. We took a route that led us over 4 mountain passes. In Colorado they take care of the cyclists by building and maintaining a bike path system that is really nice. The first climb wasn’t too bad. We did have to add and remove clothing as the temps are colder at higher elevations. It can get very cold going dowhill at 50 m.p.h. at altitudes around 12,000′. The scenery was stunning and that is something we don’t have in Chicago. Going down the first mountain pass was pretty scary. The signs told us to take the entire car lane since we would be going at least as fast as traffic. Since I was using Kamil’s bike I started to wonder if he had it serviced lately… A flat at those speeds could easily kill us. Anyhow, it was really exciting to do what the pros at The Tour de France experience. Our second climb was Vail pass and was tougher. We stayed together on this climb and were looking forward to lunch in Vail. Going down Vail pass was safer since the bike path was a 2 lane road closed to traffic. Kamil’s extra weight (20 lbs ?) got him down the mountain almost a mile ahead of me. It was about an 8 mile descent. Then we cruised through the very upscale Vail and stopped at a German Restaurant to eat. We probably ate more than we should’ve but managed to get back on our bikes to head back. Going back up to Vail pass from this side was a real killer of a climb. After a steady 7 mile climb to the bottom of the mountain, we went up that 8 mile beast one pedal stroke at a time. On the road was graffiti that encouraged the pros like “go big George (Hincapie)” and others like Levi Leipheimer. One named “Cookie” and I couldn’t figure out who that was. We figured it was from the Tour of Colorado. Anyhow, I started to pull away from Kamil when I spotted a guy ahead of me and tried to catch him. I eventually did and then about a mile later I caught another rider from the corner of my eye coming up from behind me. I wasn’t sure if it was the guy I had passed earlier since I didn’t want to completely turn around. For the next few miles up the mountain I could hear his gears change about 50′ behind me which pushed me to go really hard to stay in front. On the last steep section before our turn off I could hear him really close to me so I upshifted 4 gears and jumped on the pedals. I pulled away from him and stopped at the turn off to wait for Kamil. We continued on to the top of the pass where we put our jackets on and went down a steep and technical descent. Down, down we went and our fingers became stiff from gripping the brakes at tight corners and the cold wind seeping through our gloves. We made it to the base of our last climb in record time. We probably averaged 30+ mph for about an hour and a half. But then we had the last climb. This was a few miles long which was mentally tough to get through at the end of our ride. I started to bonk at the bottom of the hill and also had too many layers on from our long descent of the previous mountain. I unzipped as much as I could and pushed on. I started to come unglued about halfway up and started laughing uncontrollably. I’m not sure what else I was shouting out – I have blocked it from my memory. I pushed through my laughing spasm and then I noticed something wet in the corner of my mouth. I was drooling! At the top I told Kamil I needed to eat something, which I did, and then continued down to Keystone. Total miles were 82 in 6.5 hours. I have a new respect for the riders that race in the mountains, like dealing with low oxygen, changing temps, the brutal climbs and harrowing descents. It was challenging to get motivated to do our next session in the pool. When one of us says we’re going it forces the other to go too. That is a huge advantage to training with Kamil out here.
The Swim
Swimming after our other sessions really helps with recovery so once we do it, we are glad we did. I did 2000 meters and Kamil knocked out 3000. We measured the pool to make sure since its only a 15 meter pool as opposed to 25 meters. Its also a challenge to turn in the shallow end which is 3′. It can be done without scraping the bottom if you curl yourself in a ball. That, however, causes some really nice cramping, which I’ve learned to swim through. I jumped in the hot tub after, while Kamil jumped in the lake. We don’t do everything the same. I felt much better today with some good rest and better acclimatized. I’m hoping tomorrow we can get a little crazy with some long sessions!
After arriving in Keystone, Colorado the evening before, we got up this morning to start our high altitude training for 2 weeks. Keystone has an elevation of 9000′. I woke up on the verge of getting a headache but felt better after drinking some hot tea. Just unloading our gear the day before felt like a workout and we were breathing heavy. We attempted to get in the pool early for our first session but found out they don’t open till 8. So we went back and figured a bike ride would be good – until we realized that no one brought a tool kit so we could change the seat height for me. I was using one of Kamil’s bikes. That left running which is a for sure thing since all you need to run is a pair of shoes. Yes we brought those.
Session 1
Top of the Mountain
We thought it would be a good idea to start off our training with a bang by running up the mountain at Keystone. We could compare our times today with our times at the end of our trip to see how much we’ve improved. My heart rate was way up there the first few miles – I think my body was in shock, but it stabilized after a while. We alternated between running and walking depending on the severity of the grade. Kamil had mentioned that he thought it was just a couple of miles to the top… After 5 miles it felt like the 70th mile of an ultra. And it kept going. And going. Finally we got to the top at 7.5 miles. It was nice to use different muscles going down and not have our heart rates skyrocketing – except 7.5 miles of constant downhill wreaks havoc on your feet and quads. We stopped in town and bought a tool kit for the bike so we could get going on the bike after running. The last 2 miles were very tough, we were both bonking at the end of the run. We were burning a lot more calories than normal at this elevation so keeping fueled was to be a top priority. As soon as we got back we made a huge breakfast and took a nap for a couple of hours. Our 15 mile run had taken 3.5 hours including the stop for the tool.
2700' of elevation gain
Session 2
Our nap lasted a little longer than expected but we both knew we needed every bit of it. We both had been running on almost no sleep the week prior to coming out here. We ate again, filled our hydration bladders and adjusted our bikes before heading out. But then Kamil noticed that one of his tire spokes was loose. You guessed it – we didn’t have a spoke wrench. So back to the bike shop for an adjustment and off we went. There are so many bike trails in this area, you could get rid of your car and just bike everywhere. Next to lakes with sailboats, through high mountain passes, this place has it all. Except for oxygen! Our 45 mile bike ride took us 3.5 hours, just before dark. Again we ate when we got back and headed to the pool for our last session of the day.
Biking in Paradise
Session 3
When we got to the pool, we got in the hot tub which almost proved to be a fatal mistake. We almost bagged the swim session but then decided to just get it done. The pool is only 15 meters long so we tested out a tether for swimming so you can swim in place attached to a bungie cord. We changed to laps instead and got in 1000 meters before getting back in the hot tub. We ate again after that and made our plan for tomorrow’s training sessions. Today was about 8 hours of training but tomorrow we’re planning on 10 hours by starting earlier. So at 5 a.m. we will be starting up again.
It’s 4:30 am and I’m heading to Colorado with my buddy, Kamil and 2 of his friends. I’ve only had 2 hours of sleep in the past 48 but feel wide awake as I’m staring at the full moon directly in front of us. It seems like a beacon, telling us, “this is the way.” I’ve finally arrived at my biggest training week for the Triple Iron Triathlon, which is only 4 weeks away. We plan on having the largest volume of training this week at a base altitude of 9000′. The lack of sleep and unorthodox training seems natural at this point.
Last night I pulled an all-nighter at the health club on the spin bike for 3 hours before heading to the city with Kamil and Robin to swim in Lake Michigan. When we arrived, the 5′ choppy waves were there to discourage us from trespassing. I’ve had scary swims before because of inexperience but this was the first time I was scared to go in because of dangerous conditions. Nevertheless, we pulled our wetsuits on and walked out in the dark churning water. It was only 5:30 but the lights along the bike path revealed the strength of the waves every 50 feet. All 3 of us looked at each other knowing the battle we were about to engage in. Kamil and I were planning 7 miles but knew the conditions wouldn’t allow us to do that within the time allotted. We both had to go to work after the swim. Robin was going to swim a couple of hours before heading to work too.
So in we went! It was difficult to sight with the large waves because not only were they blocking my sight, but I wasn’t sure what direction I would end up facing after going down the backside of the waves. Half the time I was catching air off the waves, the other half I was stroking almost entirely under water. Every now and then I would have to skip taking a breath when my face didn’t surface. Relaxing in the midst of the chaos was challenging also, but necessary because conserving energy is important. That energy is best used to pull yourself through the walls of water. After a while we couldn’t find Robin. We thought he was with us but its easy to lose sight in the maze of waves. We went to our nutrition bag tied to one if the rescue ladders and the waves had beat it up pretty good. The bag was ripping and nearly lost in the water. So we got out and ran along the shore searching for Robin, only to find out he was safe back at the beach. We quickly devised a backup plan to go eat breakfast and talk about the high seas adventure we had just survived.
After that, getting through work was next on the list. Finished around 6:30 and headed home to pack. I got picked up around midnight and we’ve been heading west ever since. I’m sure the training will be crazy and I’m pretty sure it will seem normal to us by now. With only 1 tough week remaining, anything goes!
Finally a recovery week! Usually it takes a few days to feel any relief from easing back on the training so the first few days were still a struggle for me to get my training in. The sessions aren’t super long (yet) but the daily volume that adds up tends to slowly wear me down. That’s part of the challenge of noticing signs of overtraining. It’s gradual. Here’s week 4 from July 18 – 24.
Tuesday
2k in the pool with the dragsuit. Standard drills. I’ve been trying to focus on breathing on both sides in order to keep my form balanced. 1 hour of spinning at somewhat high intensity. After racing on Sunday it’s better for me to do tempo rather than intervals. My 3 mile transition run is at a slow 10 minute mile pace.
Wednesday
I did not want to do any training today. I put off my 3k pool swim until lunchtime. My main set had 50 meter sprints with 50 meter recovery laps alternatively. Then I nearly skipped the bike ride. I had 40 miles to do and wasn’t motivated at all. I used a lifeline and called a friend who said, “call me after your bike ride.” I would’ve hated to call back later and say, “I skipped the ride,” so I went out – during the hottest part of the day! This time procrastination really got me good. High 90’s with a heat index over 100. I was drinking much more than I normally do and began to run out of water on the way back. With about 6 miles to go and completely dry, I noticed a bottle of water in the road. It had been opened and some was missing. It seemed like someone may have dropped it by accident. I hope you don’t look at me differently but yes, you guessed it. I drank it. All of it. And it was good. 17 mph average in windy conditions.
Thursday
Early run with the run club for 5.25 miles and 2 hills sprinkled in. Slow pace of 12 minute miles. Then my mandatory weight session for an hour. Later in the day it was hot again and I planned on running with the ultra group. With a much different attitude than the day before I opted for 2 loops in the evening for 9.5 miles. Had to walk the last single track section because the darkness had descended on us.
Friday
Woke up to thunderstorms but after checking The Weather Channel, it appeared we were safe in the city for our open water swim. During my 2 miles, I saw 2 oriental women doing backstroke. I see them every year down there and they are always doing the backstroke. They seem to appear out of nowhere and disappear. Jeff and I thought last year they may have been figments of our imaginations. Still not sure…
Saturday
After 1k of easy swimming in the pool, I’m relegated to the indoors from the rain to do 2.5 hours in the spin room and 3 miles on the treadmill. Good thing it’s a recovery week. I would hate to do a long ride in the spin room!
Sunday
Rain again! 1 hour of easy spinning followed by 12 miles on the treadmill. Treadmill running doesn’t seem to drive me crazy like it does to others. Cranked out 8:50 minute miles average and then an hour of weights. This is the first week of doing weights twice. It’s good for me, right?
Overall, this week of training didn’t allow me to completely recover, but I wasn’t exhausted by the end of it either. I went from 21 hours of training in week 3, to 18.5 hours of training this week. Just enough to briefly catch my breath before next training block. This next training block will resemble the peak training weeks just before taper for a single ironman. I’m guessing around 24 hours of training for each of the next two weeks.
Another week down! This one was definitely harder to get through than the others. The good part – week 4 is a recovery week!
Tuesday
Unlike last week, I didn’t get up at 3:30 in the morning. Instead, I slept in and forced myself to the gym for 2k of swimming, 1.5 hours of spinning and a 5 mile transition run. Just a little more volume than last week.
Wednesday
Another day in the pool with the drag suit on for 3k. I avoid doing sprints in the pool so that’s what I did for my main set. I figure if I don’t like it, it’s good for me. I’m hoping it will make me a faster swimmer. Then, out for a 55 mile bike ride – just a little longer than last week. And a little faster at 17.5 mph average.
Thursday
To make sure I actually am doing hill “repeats,” I did 3 this morning with a total mileage of 5.5 miles. Yes, that’s 1 hill repeated 2 more times for those of you who are confused. I finish it off with an hour of weights. I’m still doing 2 sets of 10 reps. Since I’ve been racing on Sundays, I’ve only been able to do weights once a week so I’m making sure to get it in.
Friday
Up early to head downtown for a swim at Ohio Street Beach in Chicago. Hands down the best open water swimming but it takes some time to get there. One of my guilty pleasures of training. I like it because there are a bunch of triathletes swimming there on any given morning, the water is clean and there are rough waters at times, which I like to swim in. About 2 miles and my training is done for the day.
Saturday
An easy 1.5k in the pool (easy meaning no drag suit or drills) and then out with the bike club. I figure it’s nice to ride with others when the miles get higher and going an easier pace is good for me since I have a race tomorrow. We do 63 miles through flat areas and narrowly avoid the rain. 17.6 mph average. After the ride I head up to Racine with Judy to drop off my bike into transition for the half ironman tomorrow.
Club ride!
Sunday
Race day! Overall, it was a solid race for me. Time – 5:01. To see the race report, click here. Now, time for a rest day and a recovery week.
So, this half ironman was to be a training race. That means no taper but still racing it. I swam 1.5 kilometers and rode 63 miles the day before so I wasn’t expecting to do anything miraculous on race day. My hope was to put in a solid effort all the way through. The original forecast was sunny and hot – in the low 90’s. The day before the race, the forecasted temps changed to the high 80’s. The water temperature was 66 degrees and there were 10 mph winds. Got up at 3:30 am to get there before transition closed, then waited for a 7:26 wave start. On the way, I was thinking of my friend Billy, who just a few weeks ago had his foot amputated from a motorcycle accident. I’m not sure why I was thinking of him other than how grateful I was to be able to do these races. The Friday before the race Judy and I went to Runner’s High and Tri to see Craig Alexander. One of the first questions asked by the crowd was what he thought about Chris McCormack’s new book. Part of his response was it should be filed in the fiction section. I saw Crowie in transition before the start and said, “Good luck Craig.” He responded with, ” You too.” I thought he looked a bit nervous seeing me there at the race. I’m sure he’s been reading my blog and knows how fast I am. I hope he doesn’t try to draft off me in the bike. It would be a shame if he got a drafting penalty just to try and stay with me.
The Swim
See ya!
The swim is a point to point so we had to walk 1.2 miles up the coast to the swim start. We had a bunch of gear for filming which Judy would have to lug back by herself. The true race would be if she could get to the swim finish before me in order to film me coming out of the water. I didn’t make it easy on her. My swim went good (for me) with a time of 37 minutes in the water. She made it on time to see me huffing and puffing up the beach. They had a couple of little tubs that you could rinse the sand from your feet which was really nice. No one likes sand in their shoes. However, when I got to the wetsuit strippers, there was sand all over the area where we lay down to have the volunteers pull the suits off. The guy who was my stripper (that doesn’t sound right) had a heck of a time getting my suit off. He was pulling and pulling. I told him I felt bad for him and that I would make up the lost time on the bike. I didn’t say anything about the sand covering my entire body.
The Bike
Hammering the bike
The night before the race I decided to try something new. Usually when you hear those words you can expect a horror story to follow but this was only a training race, so I was ok if it backfired. I decided to try Red Bull on the course so I bought 2 cans, one for T1 and one for T2. In T1 I grabbed my gel flask and Red Bull, stuffed them in the back pocket of my tri suit and headed out to the bike course. Right away there was a hill and as I climb it I hear Brandi and Karen call out to me. That was a nice surprise since I didn’t expect to see them until later. A couple of miles into the bike I reach back to get my gel flask (I like to push the calories as soon as possible on the bike) and nothing is there! The Red Bull is gone too! Races rarely go as planned and in this case I needed to find as many calories on the course as possible. There are only 3 aid stations on the bike course. I had Perpetuem in one of my bottles so that gave me some calories, and at the first aid station I grabbed a bottle of Ironman Perform. I also grabbed a couple of gels. The first half of the bike was mostly into the wind and my bike computer was showing an 18 mph average – not very encouraging. I was passing people but I wasn’t moving as well as I normally do. I assumed it was because of the 63 mile training ride the day before and the wind I was riding into. However, on the way back, I found the drive to push hard and was able to get up to 23 to 30 mph nearly the whole way back. At one point I saw Judy filming me as I was passing another rider. Overall it was a good bike with an average of 22 mph. I did feel like I pushed too hard the second half of the bike but the run will show the truth.
The Run
Passing another runner
In T2 I saw the Red Bull that had come out of my tri suit earlier but decided not to pick it up in case someone watching thought I was stealing someone else’s stash. I had another one at my transition spot anyhow. I had brought socks to the race but forgot to put them into transition in the morning. I wasn’t decided on whether I was going to wear them or not but forgetting them kinda made my decision. I can usually do a half ironman without them but my feet were a little scraped up from the triathlon I did the week before. So I donned my shoes without socks, grabbed my hat and Red Bull and headed out to the run. Within a half mile there were 2 decent sized hills. After tackling those I got into my groove and settled into a heart rate of 162. I was doing about 7:30 minutes per mile which was what I was hoping for. The Red Bull went down ok and didn’t come up so that was good. The course was a double out and back which is nice because you can see the other racers. On my first loop I saw Crowie pretty far from the front of the race and told him good job. He didn’t respond so I’m sure he was trying to calculate the splits he would need to stay in front of me (in reality he was on his second loop). As I finished up the first loop I saw Judy, Brandi and Karen cheer me on.
Brandi, me and Karen
There is a long downhill and then back out for a second loop. This time, when I got to the 2 hills, I walked part of the second one. I didn’t have the snap in my legs that I had before. 2.5 miles into the second loop (mile 9) is where I came unglued. I was bonking so I walked that aid station in order to get more calories down before running again. My pace went down into the 8’s and at the turn around aid station I walked that one as well in order to get more fluids down. With just over 3 miles to go I know that I only have 2 more aid stations to go and I try to keep a steady pace. The extra calories and fluids from the last 2 aid stations start to take effect and I feel a little better. Now it’s a matter of how much I want to push – how much pain I want to go through. I think of Billy again and know that I don’t want to waste the opportunity to run as fast as I can – something he may not be able to do for the rest of his life. About a half mile before the last aid station I start to pick up the pace. I usually wait until a half mile or a mile from the finish to start the last push but this time I started earlier because I’m getting close to breaking 5 hours. This was nearly 2 miles from the finish. I fly through the last aid station and try to grab a water from a volunteer but end up spilling most of it. With half a gulp I push on, totally committed to the end. It seems to take forever getting to the finish chute but I finally see it and the girls cheering me on. I max out to the finish line and check my watch – 5:01.
Finished!
Aftermath
I kept hearing about how bad the heat was but I never really felt affected by it. However, in the finish chute when Karen was pouring water on me to cool me off, my body was jerking from the drastic difference in temperature of the water. That told me it was really hot out and my body temperature was high. I felt really tired from racing, getting up super early and finishing a 2 week training block with this race. I accomplished what I wanted – to push through the entire race and to make Craig Alexander look over his shoulder in fear of me passing him. He’s lucky I didn’t taper for this one!
July 4 – 10. Week 2 of my triple ironman training! This week was full on whereas last week was kind of a lead into the madness. Not including the lead in week, I’ll be doing 2 hard weeks with the 3rd week being a recovery week. I’m eating all the time and starting to lose a couple of pounds. Here’s the scoop.
Tuesday
3:30 a.m. wake up to get to the gym and in the water by 4:15. I don’t think my body is very happy with that. 2k swim with a drag suit doing drills takes me about an hour. I only work on form in the water Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Then I head to the spin class at 5:30. This is supposed to be my high intensity bike and I’ll build up to 2 hours, but this week is only an hour. I finish it off with a transition run. I try to do this within 10 minutes of the spin class. It’s designed to be relatively easy and short. Today it’s 3 miles at a 10:09 pace.
Wednesday
Another day of drills in the pool in the drag suit to work on form. This one is 3k and then a 50 mile bike ride up north. I get lost in Bull Valley about 90 % of the time and this is no exception. I remember why I call it Death Valley. Some of the roads are really bad and it’s quite hilly so it’s not uncommon to get going down a big hill and go through “pothole heaven” at ridiculous speeds with water bottles flying out of their cages. Somehow I white knuckle my way through it and find my way home.
Thursday
My “high intensity run” day is 5 miles with a hill repeat. A friend points out that only one hill is not a hill repeat and that knocks me down a notch. Then I remember I just ran 100 miles less than 3 weeks prior and I’m ok with my one little hill. Then to my least favorite part of training – weights! This blog may help keep me accountable to the weight room. I start with 2 sets of 10 reps which will build over the next few weeks to 3 sets of 15 reps. I’m lifting about 65% of max and do the entire body with some core work too. 1 hour is all I can stand. Later, I feel like getting another run in so I head over to the trails and run with the ultra group another 5 miles. This is a nice easy pace and it’s so beautiful with everything getting green and full on the trails. Very nice!
Friday
After running in the evening on Thursday, I didn’t get up early to do my long swim this morning. I had a busy day and got home around 9:30. I decided this wasn’t the time to start blowing off training sessions and headed to the pool. I also knew that a late swim with little sleep and a 2 mile open water swim the next morning would be good training for me. So 3k of straight swimming and I get home around midnight.
Saturday
Saturdays will be my long bike day but this week I’m changing a couple of things since I’m doing the Lake Zurich Triathlon tomorrow. So today is another long swim in Crystal Lake. I’ve heard good things about this race so I thought it would be worthwhile to check it out. They offer a 1 mile and a 2 mile swim so naturally I pick the 2 mile. The water is upper 70’s so I decide on the speedsuit. I notice as the time is drawing near to start, there are no buoys in the water. They announce they are having trouble getting them set, so the race is delayed for about 20 minutes. Finally they are ready to start and there are just a couple of buoys in the water. Most of them are still on shore. The gun goes off and we go! It’s a 2 loop course and the buoys are so far away from each other it’s hard to find them but we all know the general direction to go. I am pretty good at swimming straight but somehow I get way off course one time and am swimming into oncoming swimmers! Oops! I get back on track and carry on. This felt really long and I know that swimming the night before would make me tired. After the second loop I get out of the water and they are starting the award ceremony. That was really slow. I found out later that the turn around buoy wasn’t anchored well and drifted which made the course more like 2.8 miles. Cool – more training.
Sunday
I finished the week off with an olympic distance triathlon in Lake Zurich. Judy filmed it and will have a video for me to post in the near future. This was to be a training race which means no taper, take it somewhat easy, but push if I can. The water temps were high and I went with the speedsuit again. The swim course was excellent. There were lots of buoys, the staggered start worked well to reduce congestion, and best of all, we didn’t swim into the sun at all. I did the .9 mile swim in about 33 minutes. I was happy with that although my swimming friends will smirk. Got on the bike hard from the start and averaged around 22 mph for the 25 mile course. In T2, I realized I didn’t have elastic laces in these shoes and spent a little time tying my shoes. I’m sure I looked like a rookie doing that. If that didn’t make me look green, my unshaven legs did. I figured it was just a training race so why spend all that time shaving? Anyhow, my run went very well. Started with sub 7 minute miles and averaged around 7:15 minute miles. I was able to keep my heart rate within a couple of beats above and below my threshold for the entire 10k run which told me I was pretty much recovered from the 100 miler a few weeks back. Overall time was 2:32, 42nd overall and 4th in my age group. Not too shabby for a training race.
This was a hard week for me to get through. Next week will be harder since I will add some volume and end the week with the half ironman in Racine on Sunday. I will certainly earn my Monday rest day.
Well, a week after completing the Mohican 100 I have made a training plan for the triple ironman I’ll be doing October 7-9. It’s only 15 weeks away so I’ll need to ramp up my cycling and swimming pretty quickly. I’ll post weekly updates on my training progress and this will be the first week from June 27th through July 3rd.
Monday
8 days after the race and I head to the club for a nice easy spin class. Turns out they are doing anaerobic intervals. Somehow I justify doing them when I should really be doing an easy spin. Oh well, at least I’m not justifying not going at all.
Wednesday
Going to the lake for an open water swim with friends. We try to get there early enough so we don’t get caught swimming there because it isn’t allowed. We get caught but not until we are on our last lap so we still get in about 2 kilometers. It’s a shame since this is the cleanest lake around. Looks like we’re back to dirty swimming.
Thursday
I was really sweating this one because it was my first time running since the 100 mile race. My left shin had been bothering me since the race so this was scary! I was the run club lead for this run so I went out with 3 others. We were only doing 4 miles and started out at a very easy pace – maybe 10:30 or 11 minute miles. I hung back with a newer runner and ended up with an 11:15 minute per mile average. My shin started hurting the last half mile and as a result I was walking funny all day. Fortunately, walking funny is nothing new to me (especially lately) so I was able to pull it off.
Friday
This was supposed to be a long swim day but I totally blew it off. I used the excuse that it’s been less than 2 weeks from my race and promised myself I would shape up next week. I try to be more flexible at the beginning of my training and during recovery weeks.
Saturday
Judy (my wife) and I head out of town to Wisconsin and go boating with friends on Lake Chetek. I use this opportunity to get in some open water swimming and jump in this thick green lake. It doesn’t taste good but the water temperature is perfect – maybe 70. I use my speedsuit and feel really comfortable until I’m ready to be picked up by the boat and they are nowhere to be seen. They eventually do pick me up and I get in about 2 miles. I feel better about blowing off my Friday swim now.
Sunday
I get some alone time on the bike in Chetek, Wisconsin. I rode this route 2 years ago when we went up there last time and I remember how great it was. Nice wide shoulders and not too much traffic. I decide to do 50 miles, just like 2 years ago, and remember that back then I averaged 20 mph in windy conditions. I was curious about my pace this year since I hadn’t been out on the road yet and almost all of my training has been running. I go out easy and after about 10 miles I get my rhythm and start cranking. It isn’t windy this year and I’m out early enough to miss the heat. On the way back, around 37 miles, I am stretching my neck (looking down) and go off the road. I’m going about 28 mph and I’m pretty sure I’m going to bite the dust. Next to the road is gravel and I would rather not go down on that, so my other option is to drop into the grassy ditch which is about 3 feet deep and probably has sticks or rocks or whatever hiding in it. I opt for the ditch and cruise to a stop without wrecking. I dodged that bullet and came in with a 20 mph average. Yeah baby!
Mondays from here on out will be my rest day throughout my training. If I need to take additional rest days to avoid overtraining I try to take them during recovery weeks which are every 3rd week. I felt like this was a good start and without injury. My shin is feeling better everyday and I’m anxious to get into the routine. I know that starting out is tough but gets manageable. Training is a way of life. Going to bed early so I can wake up at 4 am, taking supplements regularly, sneaking in naps when possible and eating 5 times a day are all changes that make this heavy training possible. In a couple of months I know the training load will be massive but that is part of the challange of endurance racing.
The Kettle 100 this year was my first attempt at running 100 miles. There’s always something special about first races and this one definitely falls into that category. I constructed my own training plan for this race which was primarily running with biking and swimming for cross training. The most I had run on average prior to this training program was about 30 – 35 miles per week. This program had me in the 60 mile range for a while and then up to 80 before tapering. I realized that trail running was very different than road running and I had to make many changes to my program along the way. I consistently ran trails with the experienced M.U.D.D.’s (awesome group that has lots of belt buckles (ultramarathons give out belt buckles for 100 miles (I’m not sure why they give out belt buckles since only Texans wear them))).
My Plan
On the Trail!
I felt confident in my training and felt I could finish in about 24 hours. The plan was to go out a little quicker knowing I would slow down at night in the dark.
Kettle’s Plan
Weed out all the unexperienced fools that have “plans.” The fools (I’m in that group) are the ones that set a pace based on finishing time rather than heart rate. Add heat and humidity to the mix and watch them drop, one by one. I have used pace based on finishing time before for shorter races and it has worked. I seem to be able to race for about 12 hours, even while dehydrated, and get through with puking, mild heat stroke, etc.
The Gun Goes Off!
I start at a 10:30 or 11 minute pace on flat and downhill wide grassy trail. The temps are climbing into the 80’s already and very humid. There’s a possibility of rain for the afternoon. I’m loaded up with a camelback with Perpetuem, gel flask and phone so I can call with special requests to my wife and crew, Judy. At the minimum, she will meet me at the first turnaround at Scuppernog Trailhead (31.6 miles) and Nordic Trailhead (63.2 miles) to replenish my camelback and gel flask. My heart rate was a little high starting out and I attributed that to the B-12 I took earlier that morning. Usually after a couple of miles my heart rate lowers and stabilizes. I felt really comfortable and carried on. Jake passed me at 1.5 miles and I felt good that he was ahead of me because I kept thinking,”am I going too fast?” The only other memorable things in those first miles was that I was sweating profusely and I passed a guy that was running barefoot. I found out later that this was Tenderfoot’s first time running barefoot. It looked painful. Maybe I should’ve been more conscious of my heavy sweating?
deep forest
Getting to Emma Carlin Trailhead (15.8 miles)
On shorter races I often skip the first rest stops which I did this time too. Tamarack (5 miles) and Bluff (7.5 miles) seemed very close to the start and I wanted to use up what was in my camelback to lighten the load. Instead of eating I was taking lots of gels. Looking back I needed more substantial food earlier on as well as taking in Heed at the rest stops to keep my electrolytes high. Eventually, I caught up to Jake and then pulled ahead a little. I didn’t stop at Horserider’s very long (12.7 miles) since they didn’t have any food. I ran out of gel so I put in a special request for Judy to meet me at Emma Carlin to replace my gel flask. I was still going at an easy pace (11 to 12 minute miles) but by the time I got to Emma Carlin I could feel the ache in my muscles from dehydration. I was also hungry which I knew meant that I was too late in eating. I refueled as best I could and decided to slow down a little in order to rehydrate better.
The Sauna
After refueling at Emma Carlin, I felt better and headed out with the hope that if I kept drinking enough and slowing my pace I could bounce back. In just a couple of miles the trees fade away and everyone goes through the open prairie lands with no shade and extra humidity to boot. By this time it is in the 90’s and somehow my camelback is empty! My plan to rehydrate is foiled by this miscalculation. Somehow, I am drinking twice as much as expected but it is still not enough. When I get to Antique Lane (18.9 miles) I fill up my camelback and head back out. Wilton Road (21.6 miles) is another unmanned aid station with only water on the way to Highway 67 (24.1 miles). Finally, the open prairie lands end and it’s back to trails.
Open Prairielands
Just get to the Turnaround!
It was great seeing Judy at a lot of the rest stops. I think she was a little worried because I was struggling so early. I got only 3 hours of sleep the night before, the humidity surprised everyone and I wasn’t acclimated to it. I figured this is why I was feeling the deep ache in my muscles only 25 miles into the 100. So, I did what I usually do. I pushed on – towards the turnaround at Scuppernog Trailhead (31.6 miles). I stopped quickly at Highway ZZ (26.6 miles) aid station on the way. The temps and humidity kept climbing as well as my muscle fatigue. Since this was an out and back, I saw the leaders run towards me. Zach Gingerich, who holds the record at Kettle and also won Badwater last year, was passing so I said, “good job.” He replied, “keep it up.” By the time I got to Scuppernog, I was really doubting myself finishing this race. Judy saw the pain in my face but was still being upbeat and supportive. I took about 30 minutes at this aid station so I could get back on track with nutrition and hydration.
The Sauna – Again!
When I left Scuppernog, I was feeling much better. The long break was therapeutic and I was super-conscious of slowing down and keeping up with
In the Open
my hydration. This was working well. I went back through Highway ZZ (36.6 miles) and Highway 67 (39.1 miles) at a nice easy pace. Judy saw me and said I looked much better. Yes! I was feeling hopeful of seeing this through to the end. I think it was that hope that got me through the sauna again. Another 10 miles of open prairie lands with high humidity and heat was grinding me down, down, down. Just before Wilton Rd. (41.6 miles), I started to get dizzy so I stopped and put my hands on my knees to catch my breath. That made the dizziness worse so I pushed on to the aid station. When I got there, 3 of my friends (Dorn, Steve and Robin) were there. Dorn had dropped so as to not jeopardize his upcoming race at Western States. Steve had dropped and so had Robin. Apparently, Robin had thrown up some blood which I responded with, “Cool! ” I’m always impressed at how far we can push. While I’m filling up my camelback and thinking of heading back out in the sauna, I start getting dizzy again so that’s when I started again, thanking them and hoping just to make it to Emma Carlin, which was still 5.8 miles away. Those were a long 5.8 miles. I went through the Antique aid station (44.3 miles) and finally to Emma Carlin (47.4 miles).
War Zone
Mike
Getting to Emma Carlin took everything I had. For some reason, I felt if I only made it there, everything would be alright. When I got there, the realization that I was just under halfway was disturbing. I was groggy and not interested in food. I tried to drink but really every part of me wanted to stop this madness and rest. And it was sooo hot! Judy was telling me of all the runners that were suffering and dropping. Looking around I could see people getting iced down and being tended to, like a war zone. Meanwhile, some other friends came into the aid station, Mike and then Michele and Brandi. Michele was looking to place high in the 100k and was doing a great job of pacing and nutrition, something I didn’t have a handle on all day. She looked like she was ready to really turn it up these last 15 miles. Judy asked the volunteers if I could lay down under their canopy for a little bit. I had to try whatever I could to bring my heart rate down and cool off. So I layed there for about 20 minutes. I kept asking myself, “Is this the end of my race?” My wife (and Mother) have always told me how stubborn I am. I try to be stubborn at times like these. So I got up and started eating, drinking and preparing to head out as best I could for as long as I could. I tried not to think of how much farther to go but that I needed to keep going. Judy looked totally surprised that I was even thinking of going. Mike was also hurting a lot but was ready for some more hurt. So Mike and I headed out and I felt like I really needed to run in order to keep my body in that rhythm, if I could find it. Mike wasn’t ready to start running yet, so we split pretty soon after leaving.
To the Very End
After I began to run again, it didn’t take long for the suffering to start again. I was walking more and running less. At Horserider’s (50.5 miles) I was not feeling all to well. I did have to urinate and as I’m going, I’m realizing that this is the first time all day. And it’s dark brown. At this point I can
Martha
only walk, running is out of the question. Martha comes running up from behind and tells me Mike was sprawled out on the trail. She got him on his feet and now caught up to me. She asked, “Do you want to run together for a little bit?” I think I said no, my pace would slow her down. So she heads off and runs the next hill and out of sight. My walking is getting slower and slower until the dizziness comes again. I’m stumbling through the trails for a little longer till I spot a rock in the middle of the trail to sit on. As I sit, I realize I am about to pass out so I go to grab my phone (special request: please make this stop. Can I get off this merry-go-round now?) and it rings. Judy is asking me if I’m going to get to Bluff (55.7 miles) soon.
I’m telling her that I’m passing out and I’m not sure where I am when a guy with a really orange fluorescent shirt comes up and asks if I’m ok. I lose consciousness and then come to with the good samaritan getting me to stand up. He has given Judy our location and is encouraging me to walk to the next road. Young Rd. is about 2 miles away. He gives me one of his walking sticks and heads off, he has a race to finish too. Judy has called for help and isn’t sure what shape I’m in or if I can walk all the way. Robin (blood puker), Steve and Brandi head out on the trails for a reconnaissance mission. They locate me and help me to Young Rd. where the madness is finally over.
Juan, Jake, Michele, Me, Mike, Steve, Robin, Karen, Annastasia, Holly, Martha and Mark
Aftermath
Most of my friends didn’t finish this race and I can see why. Juan, Annastasia, Mark, Steve, Robin, Karen, Dorn, Mike and I cashed it in early. The heat and humidity were punishing all of us. A few of us did finish and even did well. Jake, the guy I was running with early on, went on to finish in 22:49 hours. Martha (27:09) placed 3rd female masters and Holly (29:10) placed 3rd female open. Michele (15:11) snagged first female masters for the 100k. I’m ok with not finishing because I know I pushed as far as I could go on that day. I also know I need to improve on nutrition, hydration and pacing. Getting sleep the night before is a good idea too. Since I’m fully trained and only got through half of this race, I’m signing up for another one 2 – 3 weeks out. The plan: Take what I’ve learned from this race and get it done!
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