Muncie 70.3-ish

EXTREME!  Sweet, sign us up!

Swim:   24:57 (1:34/100m)

Bike:    1:07:29 (25.8mph)

Run:     41:36 (6:43/mi)

Time: 2:18:30 (3rd AG, 32rd OA)

We got to travel down to Muncie, IN to race the Muncie 70.3 half ironman this past weekend. Unfortunately, due to a National Weather Service Excessive Heat Warning  (Heat Index forecast of 115 degrees), the Race Director had to make a hard decision to shorten the race.   (1mile x 29 mile x 6.2 mile run).  Nobody was happy about it.  I personally don't think it's in our personalities to concede that something is TOO hard (or in this case, TOO hot).  In the end, at the awards ceremony, Greg Bennett said it best "the right decision was made, no one died today and that was the goal."

Training Update

I fell into a nice groove after the Grand Rapids Tri, it felt good to have a good race and I rode that momentum for a while.  My numbers from GR helped to validate the time I've spent training is doing something.  I'm nearly where I was this time last year and the good news that I’m still 12 weeks out from IMOO.  I’m hoping that this mean there won’t be any “cramming” during my final build up this year.

Swimming
My swim training this go around has remained the same but I joined a new club that has much better pool hours.  I'm still swimming once a week for an hour but now that I can swim at 5am, it frees up my evenings for more family time and other biking/running activities.  

 

My main set this time a year is 10 x 200 on 3.  It's a hell of a set for me and I get in a boat load of work in 30mins.  I also do a 

little kicking and a handful of 50's for good measure, but other than a warmup/cool-down that's it.  I'm in, I'm out.  Just like Big Black's motto, DO WORK.

Biking
Biking has fallen off a little since the 1/2 in GR. It got stupid hot here and even though I thought I was recovered, I fried myself one afternoon attempting at 4hr x 4 mile brick.  I make lots of mistakes; too little calories, too many cals, too much water, too little, and probably the most painful, too much power.   

I can tell you what exactly what each of these feels like as the symptoms set in, so I guess it’s good that I’m learning something, even if it is the hard way.

Running
Still progressing.  My long run is still hung up at 11 miles but I'm able to get in a "long" one that doesn't destroy me for days.  They say Consistency Counts, so I'm gonna go with it.  The treadmills at work allow me to get in one 1/2hr speed session a week during lunch.  I'm all about 

lots of work in a little time, so I love me some intervals.  2min on, 2min off has been the flavor of the week lately.   2x2s aren't nearly as scary as Tabata Sprints on the bike (ala Chuckie V) but the body definitely gets stressed!

Ironman Muncie 70.3 is about two weeks away.  I have one more big training week to get in before I dial things back a bit.  Really excited to see how fast I can go down in Indiana!

Wow – that was boring.  I don’t even think pictures helped this one.  My bad.

Until next time.

Hope all is wonderful!

Grand Rapids Triathlon (½ Ironman)

Swim: 27:45

Bike: 2:22

Run: 1:34

Total: 4:28 (1AG, 5th OA)

This race was approached much like the Triple T has been raced in the past.  The main objectives were to test the early season fitness, establish and maintain some self imposed limits  to train discipline and patience (HR, power, pace) and finally to make sure not to dig too deep a hole so I could resume my ironman build within two days of recovery.  This past Sunday I was mostly successful in accomplishing these goals.

Island Lake Triathlon

I hesitated for a moment before submitting this one but then realized I promised myself not to sugar-coat any of my Ironman experience. Warning, brutal honestly to follow.

Race Report: Island Lake Tri - Olympic Distance (1.5k, 40k, 10k)

Executive Summary:
22:15 swim
1:01 bike (24.0mph)
39:34 run (6:22s)

Total: 2:06, 4th overall, 3rd in AG.

Update

Has it been 2 months already!  Jeez, time flies when you're having fun....or incredibly busy.  Here's a mind spill.

My Boys
My 3rd son was born early in April and once again I got to add another day to my list of Most Incredible Days of My Life.  Have you ever been so happy that you've laughed and cried at the same time?  I'm not talking about "oh, man that was a funny joke, my eyes are watering".  I'm talking about actually laughing and sobbing and smiling and sniffling with joy.  I'll admit, I'm not even remotely close to an "emotional guy" but for some reason each of these little ones have reduced me to a blubbering mess.  Maybe I am human.  3 BOYS!  All I'm gonna say about that is we're gonna have one hell of  tag team!

 

On to the update...

Run CF Half Marathon

I've never really been into race reports.  They're boring for me to write, so I can't even imagine what they must be like to read.  So here's the quick and dirty, non-race report writing, racers report.

Distance: 13.1 miles
Time: 1:19:14
Pace: 6:02 min/mile
Average HR: 165
Place: 1st AG, 3rd OA

It was a smaller race and that is indicative of my overall place.  Sure it's the best I've ever placed in a running race, but in reality a 1:19 for 'real' runners isn't squat.  I still consider myself a triathlete that can run, not a runner.  I wanted to go 1:18:45 but really that was just so I could have claimed a 6:00/mile half.  I missed it by a little but am happy with my overall time.  I pretty much laid it all out there, doubt I could have gone faster, even if it was only 29 sec faster.

Pre Race Update

I'm just a day away from my last race as a father of 2.  I'm hoping for a big PR!  Once again I expect the Degree of Difficulty to race "fast" will increase with the arrival of #3.  

The Triple Indy

On to the update...

Update

Man, while it seemed like a great idea at the time, this blog thing is getting hard to keep up with.  I said it up front but I’ll say it again, the purpose for capturing this adventure was many-fold: to provide entertainment, capture some of the my training protocols that may or not be successful, pay tribute to my sponsors who all allow this sport to remain “affordable” for me and lastly to capture some honest thoughts so if I ever have a notion that doing this with a working spouse and 2, going on 3 kids, is a good idea, this blog will be a reminder of the sacrifices required and that it’s not all fun and games.  (that was a really long sentence…F-it, I’m keeping it).   

My plate is full.  Work is crazy.  Home life is crazy.  Squeezing in the training that I feel is required to be successful is crazy and is teetering very closely to not being  much fun anymore.  I do want to send one strong message to Ironman and to my 4 regular readers.  “I won’t quit you”.  It’s not in my blood.

Damn, I had to check that because I thought that was a Broke Back Mountain quote…,nope not quite…F-it, I’m keeping it.

On to the update….

Going Primal

I read The Primal Blueprint (Sissin 2009)  about two years ago and it was very thought provoking book.  So much so that nearly every time I sit down to eat, I can gauge the ‘primal-ness ’of my meal.  Now that’s not to say I often eat ‘primally’ but I at least think about it.

Sissin’s mixed narrative of storytelling and the science behind his primal theory kept me turning pages as I continued to hear his argument on how far we (society) have strayed from eating what our bodies were designed to eat and process.

I’m no expert book reviewer so I’ll keep his theory summary short and to the point.