46 Days and Counting

I haven't written as much as I thought I would regarding the lead-up to Ironman as others have or that I thought I would. I mean, this is a pretty big deal. In the words of Vice President Biden, "This is a big f***ing deal!"

It's pretty much all that's been occupying my mind lately, I just haven't found the need to go into detail about it here. I wonder why. Could it be I'm not intimidated by the distance? That because of what I've accomplished in training so far I know I can do it? Could it be that I hurt so much during that 24 hour run, and yet still kept pushing onward, that I'm not concerned about hurting in Wisconsin? Could it be that I am worried about what's ahead of me, I've just chosen not to write about it? Honestly, I'm not sure if it's any of those, all of those, or something else entirely.

So let's assess where I'm at in training. I'm not logging as many weekly miles on the bike as I would like, but I'm sticking to the long rides on the weekends. My weekly running mileage has been variable, but strong. My swimming mileage has dwindled somewhat due to the summer hours preventing me from swimming at lunchtime. And I'm not logging any open water time, which bothers me.

This past weekend was 7 weeks out from race day and I had the longest training brick scheduled: a 100 mile ride followed by 8 - 10 miles. I've only ever ridden that long many, MANY years ago, coming a few miles short of a full century. With my knee bothering me on the hills, I didn't know how it would go.

Well let me just say it went very well! I was able to get an early start on Saturday, which was good as Sunday morning turned out to be a windy wet mess, in the hopes I wouldn't be gone all day. I didn't get home until 5:30, but hey, it was a long workout.

Starting out of Buckeye Woods Park, I rode west first, doing a big 50+ mile loop of rolling to hilly roads. This route took me through three counties: Medina, Ashland, and Lorain. I passed three Amish buggies and one large wagon being pulled by two rather large horses. There were also a few Amish children out and about. I wonder what they were thinking when they saw me coming? Crazy! After re-fuelling at the car, I rode the south loop into Wayne County and back. The day was getting hotter and hotter with each passing hour. The only relief was the wind, which though cooling, provided added resistance and made the ride even tougher. There was a storm brewing as I was making my turn to head back and I knew there was nothing I could do to outrun it. I would just have to deal with whatever the weather dealt me. Which in the end was just wind. I was on the very western edge of the developing storm and only received a few drops of rain. The sun was back out just in time for my run.

Which was horribly hot! Possibly one of the hottest runs I've ever done. Right up there with the 2007 Caesar Creek Olympic Duathlon. But at least this time I had plenty of fluids to deal with it. Though unmercifully hot, humid, and buggy, I forced myself to run the 10 miles I had planned. They didn't feel too bad. I could have gone farther, especially if it had been a little cooler. Completing this workout left me with some huge confidence about doing a ride of that length and then running afterward. All the data for the ride and run can be found here (bike) and here (run).

In other Ironman news, after running with Brian from the club last Thursday night on the Hinckley trails, I decided to incorporate some changes. The first of which was to check for hotel rooms in downtown Madison, instead of staying 8 miles out of town. Someone must have been looking out for us because I found a very nice room only 5 blocks from the start and 3 to the finish! That should make everything at least a little easier on race weekend.

One more thing, last night was speedwork night at the track. I've been attending speedwork, but my speed has been something less than what it was last year. Last night felt really good though. The heat was tempered a bit, as well as the humidity. We ran 8 X 800 meter repeats with 400m recovery. My splits were: 3:13 / 3:15 / 3:08 / 3:06 / 3:05 / 2:57 / 3:01 / and 2:59. I felt very strong and am happy to be able to get down to the 3 minute mark and even dip below. I was told by JB to get slow for IM, and that's what I've been doing. But I'm still happy to know there's some speed in there somewhere!

P.S. I need to mention something about that heat on Saturday. It was HOT! By my estimation I drank somewhere in the neighborhood of 230 oz of fluid that day including Gatorade Endurance Formula with NUUN added, Powerbar Ironman Perform, a bottle of Coke, a bottle of cola NUUN, a half bottle of orange ginger NUUN, plus numerous bottles of plain water. It was a hot one!

One Hilly Brick

This past weekend I had a 50/5 mile brick scheduled. After that 85 mile ride the other week I was ready to go a little shorter. But I wanted somewhere new to ride. I came up with the bright idea to park at Hinckley, ride down into the Cuyahoga Valley, and proceed north to the Brecksville Reservation of the Metroparks. Then come back. I didn't know exactly how far that would be, but if it was short I could add some loops around Hinckley. For some reason, I didn't anticipate the hills I would be riding.

They were tough. I began by riding a 3 mile loop around Hinckley Lake to warm up. Then I proceeded up the long climb that is Bellus Rd, turning onto Parker, and eventually turning onto Ledge/Everett Rd which I took all the way down to Riverview in the Valley. That was the easy part of the ride! The climb up Major Rd was tough as was a climb along Riverview north of the ski areas. The big climb up the Valley Parkway in Brecksville really hit me hard but I enjoyed coming back down from the other direction. The climb back up Everett and that huge hill on Ledge had me gasping and my eyes stinging from the sweat dripping into them. And on each and every climb, my right knee hurt. A lot! Like someone was driving a nail into the top of my kneecap every time I tried to really push with it. I was hoping that pain would go away. But it seems to not be doing that. Data for my ride can be found here.

Fortunately my knee is still fine on the run. ??? Your guess is as good as mine. I ran two loops of the all-purpose trail, one in each direction to keep things even. I felt pretty good, even on the uphills. My last mile and a half, though generally downhill, felt really good and I pushed myself to the end of the run as hard as I dared. Run data can be found here.

Another Big Brick

I was able to complete the plans I had made for the weekend. Friday I swam for two miles in the pool. My splits were a little slower, but it had been over two weeks since my last swim. Saturday I managed a 52 mile bike ride all around CVNP followed by a 14 mile run from Lock 29 to Station Rd. and back.

Thoughts on my ride:

I really enjoy riding in the Valley. There are hills if you want them and there are flats if you don't. Most of the road surface is fine for riding, however, the rough spots are REALLY rough. Like, going to MESS YOU UP rough!

Most of the drivers down there are courteous but those who are using the Valley as a cut-through to get somewhere else need to learn I have just as much right to be on the road as they do, and that I have the right-of-way to an auto AT ALL TIMES.

Following a recommendation, I found and rode up one of the hardest hills I've ever tried: Oak Hill. It runs parallel to Riverview between Everett Rd. and Minor Rd. HOLY COW! I made my way up it one pedal stroke at at time in my smallest gear. Had I not had a triple chainring, there was NO WAY I was making it up that hill. And with my shoes locked into my pedals, that would have meant tipping over. Not fun. I look forward to challenging that hill again!

Thoughts on my run:

It was hot and slow going. That's about it. I was tired, but otherwise felt pretty good. I carried plenty of fluids and NUUN tablets to refill with, went through two gels for carbs, and managed to lose my $10.00 emergency cash somewhere along the way. With all the kids who were out riding that day, I hope one of them found it!

A Minor Training Setback

Everything was going so well just a few weeks ago. Then, with one telephone call, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, shifts in importance and priority. Vacations, training, racing, everything was thrown to the wind and left to land where they would.

Without getting into any detail, we had a family medical emergency arise on June 6 that had us cancelling work, school, and a trip to Colorado we'd been planning since January. That's life, I suppose.

The physically hard part for me now is to figure out how to get back into my training. The day before the phone call I completed a rocking bike/run brick in the Cuyahoga Valley. 41 miles touring The Valley with some serious climbs mixed in, followed by 15 miles of running on the Towpath. The day was warm, muggy, buggy, and GREAT!

Then came a week and a half of 0 swimming, biking, or running. I decided enough was enough and planned a long run for the morning of Thursday the 17. I was hoping for 20 to 26 miles but only managed 17. That was all I had. I was hurting and tired. The damp fog I was running in probably wasn't ideal, but the hours I was keeping and the diet I was eating were more so.

Hit the track Tuesday for a 5K in the 90 degree heat and sun. I didn't feel too bad, better than I expected, and finished in 21:40. Definitely great hot weather training!

Hoping to get back into the water this afternoon for a long swim. Something in the range of two miles. I'm also planning another bike/run brick for tomorrow. Maybe this time I will take the run to the trails!

Busy Busy Weekend!

What a great weekend for training! Saturday was a little unpredictable with the hit-or-miss rain showers coming through, but today proved to be wall to wall sunshine just like Dick Goddard predicted.

While some people were running a 100K "fun run" on Saturday, I decided it's time to take the ultra thing down a notch for now so I can focus my training on triathlons. After all, I have a doozie coming up in September. With the scattered rain on Saturday I chose to stay indoors and swim instead. The pool was busy but there wasn't a shortage of lap lanes. We were just sandwiched between the pool party kids on the diving board and the scuba class on the other side of the pool. I wanted a long swim, and that's exactly what I did. 2 miles in 1:35. I'm still not the quickest one in the water, but I'm getting better. My half mile splits were 22:52 / 22:09 / 23:35 / and 26:28. I don't know why that last half mile took so long. I felt really good and thought I was keeping pace with the previous marks.

Today Mrs. P wanted to go for a long bike ride in the morning, so my workout would be later in the day, and would most likely be warm. It was. Sunshine with only a few clouds. 80 degrees plus humidity making it feel even warmer. Today I took the road bike out for the first time since Steelhead last year. Equipped with a shorter stem and a new Adamo saddle, I was also trying out a new fit for the first time. Parking at Buckeye Woods Park I set out on a large loop of rural roads, some of which are part of the Twin Sizzler Bike Races held on the Fourth of July. I completed two 14-ish mile loops for a total of 29.4 miles in 1:50. That's a 15.9 mph average. Not great, but it gives me something to work on.

After stowing the bike in the car and changing gear, I was then off for my run. I was hoping for 10 miles, but it wasn't to be today. 7.1 was the best I could offer before my fluids ran out. This afternoon was just too warm to push too much. It was a great bike/run brick none the less.

Finally, here are some photos from my run along the Reagan Park mountain bike trails this past Thursday evening. Enjoy!

Swim, Bike, Run

That's the racing order, so that's the order I practiced them. Just not on the same day!

Friday I hit the pool after work for a planned 1.5 mile swim. I was able to complete the "planned" distance just fine. The "unplanned" part was completing the distance quicker than I expected. My mile split was 50 minutes. 50 minutes! That's the fastest I've ever been able to do in the pool. And it may have been quicker too, because I lost track of laps at some point and erred on the side of caution. My 1.25 mile split was 1:05. That's amazing too. That means I can potentially finish my Steelhead swim in under an hour. How that swim unfolds will be very interesting.

Saturday morning I joined Scott, the father of a boy who played soccer with Bailey for a couple seasons, and his cycling group for some time out on the Twin Sizzler race course. Since we were starting and finishing just down the street from my house, how could I refuse? I'm not sure how, but maybe I should have because we rode in the rain. I wrote about running in the rain last week and how nice it was. Riding in the rain sucks. There's no other way around it. It's cold and it hurts. You can't see where your going and traction and braking ability are reduced. It felt like longer than 31 miles, but it wasn't. I covered that in just under two hours at an average pace of 15.6 mph. I rode most of the time with a fellow named Bob who was taking a brand new Scott road bike out for a spin. He broke it in pretty good too! Although the others were pretty far ahead of us, we did have a great stretch on the way back in to town with a direct tailwind. I think we may have even made up some time. The only thing to do on a wet ride like that is to finish as best as you can, then go change for a run!

Arriving at home completely soaked and covered in road grime, I changed into dry clothes, grabbed my running gear, and headed back out the door. I didn't know how far I was planning, but I had my Fuelbelt and it was full, so I could go pretty far. Or so I thought. The rain, at this point, was now gone, leaving only an incredible mugginess, a wind that wasn't helping cool things off, and an overcast sky that was beginning to break up adding heat from the sun to the mix. To call this run uncomfortable would be an understatement. It was bad. More than a couple times I thought about just going home. But I got the number 10 into my head and decided that would be my goal distance. I made it. It was hard and it took awhile, but I made it. I don't think Heather realized how out of it I was when she got home from the store. Fortunately I was recovered within a couple hours and was able to get to some chores. That 10 mile run took me 1:24, which is slow. Very slow. But at times, it was all I could manage just to keep moving forward. No cramping, just very tired and very hot. The sweat was just gushing down my face and my shirt was as soaked as my cycling jersey was from the rain. My primary concern was getting enough fluids in to prevent heat stroke. That wouldn't have been fun.

So, a tough mental as much as physical workout this weekend, but that was just to prepare me for Sunday. Our Father's Day doings were fun and will be along shortly. Lots of pictures to go through first!

13.1 in a Brick

Man, I need to get caught up again. Just when I thought I had these updates taken care of, a week goes by and I'm behind again. So, here goes.

I'll start off with today. I had a very successful training day. VERY successful! I had another bike/run brick scheduled for this morning. But as opposed to the previous two weeks' events, I had no intention of raising my cycling mileage. The 52 miles I did last week were long enough. I wanted to do a run focused brick. So with that in mind I again rode from Strongsville to Brecksville and back. That's a 30 mile out and back route which is simple and light on traffic. And it has hills. I need to work on hills. And when I say hills, I mean HILLS! I mean, it's not everywhere in Ohio that you can find 600 feet of elevation change. There are some very nice hills located in the Brecksville Reservation of the Metroparks.

I ended up riding 30.6 miles in a little over two hours. That's a 14.9 mph avg. Which isn't good unless you consider I wasn't riding flats today. Some of those hills hurt bad!

Once back at the parking lot, I loaded up the bike, packed my fluids, and set off on my run. I headed towards Berea today for something different. Three miles out and back gave me six, so two more out the other directions would give me an even ten. But I felt good today and decided to go all the way to Rt. 82. By the time I reached the parking lot again I was just into mile 12. But I had told myself that if I reached 12, I would just do laps around the park until I hit the half marathon distance of 13.1. And that's what I did. It took me 1:43 and some change to do it, but I completed my longest run after biking ever. And that's as far as I need to go this year. I felt good pretty much the entire run which was great. I was worried about how I would feel running that far with tired legs. I'm beginning to thing that won't be too much of a problem.

The problem is going to be that swim. And swimming is what I did Friday afternoon. I did the full 1.25 miles of Steelhead in 1:14. That certainly is not good in comparison to good swimmers, but it would have me done with the swim before it gets cut off. I won't be racing other athletes that day, I'll be racing the clock.

Thursday night Ladd and I hit the trails in Hinckley with the regular trail runners for another 15 mile loop. We did a lot more single track trails than normal, which was nice. But we really picked up the pace when we got on the larger gravel paths. That hurt. I was more tired than usual that night. We did the circuit in 2:45 with only minor stops along the way. What a terrific opportunity for a mid-week long run.

That's all for today. I'm still very tired from this morning and will probably hit the hay early tonight. Well wishes to those I know who are currently vacationing in exotic locations such as Hawaii and the Canadian Rockies. We still need to wait till August for our break from real life. But I'm sure it will arrive sooner than we think it will.

Busy Weekend

Lots of things happened this past weekend. I shall put them in list form:

1. Left work Friday and went to the muffler shop to get the car looked at just like I planned.

2. However, unlike I had planned, muffler shop shows me that there's nothing wrong with exhaust system. It's the engine. A re-build or a replacement and I had no intention of dropping more into the Grand Prix than it was worth.

3. Went for a swim after leaving the muffler shop. I took my new Ironman watch with me to get better timing. After a 25o meter warm-up I swam my half mile in 29:18. I know that's a horrible time, but I wasn't feeling comfortable at all in the water. The only thing I could think about was what to do about the car and I was lucky to keep my head above water a couple times.

4. Friday night we went over the neighbor's house for dinner and wine. Maybe a little too much wine. Well not TOO much, but more than was necessary. We did find out about an extraordinary red that slips my mind right now. Food included pizza, a pasta salad, a cheese dip, and key lime pie for dessert.

5. Saturday morning Heather ran in the Runstrong for Livestrong 5K while I played the part of race photographer while keeping Bailey company. This was the first year for this race and was created by an eighth grader from Root Middle School where the race began and ended. It was great weather for a run and it looked like everyone had a good time. Heather set herself a new PR by over a minute!

6. After scouring the Saturday car ads and looking online, we headed out to the local Honda dealership to peruse their wares. We test drove both the Fit and the Civic. They were both decent cars, but the Fit was just a little too small for us, although Bailey liked it because of all the cup holders. We ended up leasing a Civic and may end up going back there in November when the lease on the Jeep is up.

7. I was up early on Sunday to get in another bike/run brick. Parking at Bonnie Park in Strongsville, I headed east this time to the Brecksville Reservation. Lots of hills there and I wanted to get them out of the way early. I'm just not strong on the bike anymore. Those hills made me hurt! The descents were fun though. It was a chilly day and I kept a beanie on under my helmet, two pairs of gloves, and a wind proof running jacket on over a base layer, long sleeve, and jersey. Passing back through Strongsville I headed toward Rocky River, turning around somewhere before the golf courses down there. All told I rode 52.6 miles in three and a half hours. My 14.8 mph average is a little misleading as I was really slow going up some of those long climbs. I tried to take it easy and not hammer and I'm happy with the result.

After the bike it was time to run. I did the same out and back course as last week, but the Garmin gave me a different distance reading. That leads me to believe the trees are interfering a bit. So it looked like 6.6 miles in 51:29 which is a 7:48 per mile pace. Not bad considering the 50 mile ride beforehand. And it was a nearly 4 1/2 hour training session which is ultimately the important part.

8. After refueling and taking a short nap, we were off to see Up. We walked over and it wasn't crowded at all. It was there I learned other showings were offering 3-D screenings. Maybe that's where all the people were? It was a nice little movie. A little sad, OK, maybe a lot sad, but nice. I would recommend it if that means anything.

So a busy weekend. I'm sore and worn out today. I should hit the pool again tonight, but I don't know if I will. I guess I could just go easy and log laps. There are now only 13 days until my first triathlon. I should try to get as much pool time as possible.

Whoa, I missed a week

This is a catalytic converter. I think this is where all the noise is coming from on my car. It got a LOT louder last night coming home from running trails and I am finally forced to take it in and have it looked at. I was hoping to go swimming today after work, and maybe I will still be able to, but I'm heading over to the garage to have the exhaust system inspected.

Back to that trail running thing. We had a small group last night in Hinckley to run. We were getting some storms and steady rain earlier in the afternoon which I was under the impression would continue throughout our run. Unfortunately that did not happen. I kept waiting for the rain to start, but it never did. I would think, "now would be a really good time for it to start raining," but again, no such luck. You see, last night after the earlier rain, under the now full trees, with no wind, in FOG, it was 100% humidity and very uncomfortable. The rain would have felt really good. And it would have kept the bugs down too. I could see them and feel them. One even decided to fly into my ear. Right after his buddy decided to land in my eye. Like there was nowhere else for them to fly! We were out for 2 and a half hours and covered somewhere between 13 and 15 miles. It's always hard to tell exactly how far we go in there.

Sunday I was able to get my first brick workout under my belt. I rode from Strongsville to Rocky River and back along the parkway for 40 miles and followed that up with a strong 7 mile run in the heat. I felt good on the bike and since I chose to ride on the roadway instead of the all-purpose trail I was able to stay on the aero bars for most of the ride. My neck and shoulders were stiff and got sore later from that, so I think I'm going to raise my bars back up a spacer or two. The run felt good. Not as good as what the Garmin was showing, but good. I don't know if it was losing satellites and giving me a low pace or what. I certainly did not feel like I was running as fast as it said I was.

We had visitors on Tuesday so I missed the speed work. It sounds like I picked a good one to miss too as they were running 24 X 200's! Yuck! Rob and Becky, two friends of ours from when we lived in Denver were driving through our neck of the woods with their two sons Alan and Gregory, and stopped over to have some Romeo's with us. It was nice to get caught up with what's been happening in the last 9 years since we moved back to Ohio.

Other than that, just some early morning runs before work on a couple days for 4 or 5 miles. It depends on how quickly I can drag myself out of bed. I'm hoping to get another long bike/run brick in this weekend as well as get my behind back into the pool. I'm running out of time to get it together before Wendy's. Just 2 weeks to go.