Bring It!

For the fall season this year, I've adopted a different plan from what I've done in the past. I spent a lot of time over the past few weeks looking for a good cross-training/strength training/core routine and I think I've found the answer. This week, I did two workouts from the P90X program and they definitely fit the bill for what I was looking for. They're efficient (~1 hr long), effective (judging by my level of soreness), and provide a decent cardio workout. My hope is that over the next 6-8 weeks, I can gain some strength and work on my flexibility before I actually start training for next season. Since I'm not in the market for 10+ hr training weeks anymore, I've decided to hold off on swimming until the new year and just enjoy my new schedule.

Hope everyone is having a Happy Thanksgiving!

Turn On the Off Season

During my last few years of triathlon, I was a member of what I think might be the best triathlon club west of the Mississippi. At the end of each season, I would take a few weeks off from structured training and instead of suffering by myself through a cold, snowy, off season, I'd begin organized training with the team in mid-October. This was one of the many advantages of being a part of a collegiate triathlon club. Each fall, new students would arrive on campus and many of them were new to the sport of triathlon. This provided a great sense of motivation for the relative veterans of the club and because of this, most of us were able to keep a consistent, year-round training regimen.

Now that I'm out of school, in a new city, and without a coach, I've come to the realization that I need to figure out what I'm going to do with myself in the off-season. I initially considered using a plan from the book where I got my Ironman training plan but found that the off-season plans were lacking in detail. I then thought about buying an outseason training plan from the guys at Endurance Nation, but then thought that I would really like save some money (I'll probably never loose the poor student mentality), learn some physiology, and take control of my own training.

So this year, instead of using a pre-fab training plan or hiring a coach, I've decided to use the principles from the Triathlete's Training Bible to develop my own year-long training plan. Joe Friel, the author of the Training Bible, writes a fairly regular blog which I follow, and I really admire his scientific approach to training. I'm also a fan of how he uses his knowledge to help the everyman understand the principles of exercise science and use that knowledge for self-coaching.

Over the next couple of weeks, my hope is share some of what I learn with anyone who's willing to listen. And so begins the off-season.

Back in the Saddle

When you spend over 6 months thinking about and preparing for an event like an Ironman, there's an inevitable transition period following that event. Since February of this year, my workout schedule has been steady and packed, but as soon as I returned from Louisville, that schedule was scrapped. It wasn't so much that I was physically exhausted from the race, but more a sense of mental fatigue from the weekly regimen. To recover from the monotony, I've developed the following untraining plan:

1. Eating all the foods that I tried to limit during training (e.g. McDonalds, McDonalds, burgers, fries, candy, and McDonalds)
2. Sleeping in when I feel so inclined
3. Staying away from the pool
4. Off-road/trail running


I can definitely say that I've enjoyed executing this plan for the past few weeks, but now I feel like it's time to get back in the saddle (pub intended). In spite of the amount of time spent each week preparing for Louisville, I'm now starting to miss having a clear milestone or something  to work towards while I train. It seems like it's actually more difficult to just hop on the bike, go to the pool, or even go for a morning run without a pre-planned workout. Maybe it's the engineering mind that I have, but I think it's about time to get back on some sort of schedule.

I'm currently toying with the idea of setting up informal races or time trials this fall just to have some small milestones and a little motivation to maintain the fitness gains that I've made over the summer. We'll have to see if I can get a few other people to join me, but if not, keep an eye out for the results of the Shark's Half Marathon where I'll be sure to win my age group!

Ironman Louisville Race Report - Part 3, The Run

When I finished my first marathon in 2005, I can vividly remember the excruciating pain that overwhelmed me at the finish. Although I felt a great sense of accomplishment, I didn't know if that would be something that I'd ever do again. Things didn't get any better until almost a week after the race when I could finally descend a set of stairs without pain and without walking backward. Fast-forward a few years, a few triathlons, and another marathon late,r and somehow I'd convinced myself (or been convinced) that I could actually complete a marathon after swimming 2.4 mi and riding 112 mi.

During training, as I completed each of my long runs, I steadily built the confidence that I would be able to run the marathon at a decent pace come race day. During the race, I purposely swam and biked at an easy effort in an attempt to save energy and save my legs for the run. As I started the run, my plan was to continue to take the first 6 mi at an easy pace, focus on hydration and get my running legs under me. The first 10K took a little over an hour and I can honestly say that I succeeded in maintaining an easy pace. The problem was that once it was time to pick it up, I had nothing left in the tank.

It's hard to put into words how you feel when you realize that you have 20 miles of a marathon ahead of you and almost no energy to do it. By this time, I had been moving for almost 10 hours and really just wanted to sit on a curb or lay in someone's yard and take a nap. I spent the next 5 or 6 miles mostly walking and running for short spurts immediately before and for a short time after each aid station. I tried to keep the calories coming in via gels and powerade in hopes that I would get an energy spurt at some point, but apparently, it just was not enough.

The low point of the day came right after the halfway point in the marathon. At the end of the first loop, you literally come within 1 block of the finish line, see people complete their race, and hear spectators cheering "you're almost there!" even though you have 13 more miles to go and no desire to complete them. The picture below was taken right after I passed the finish line after the first lap. Fortunately, I more or less look like a serious competitor, but if there was ever a time that I wondered if I could make it, it was at this point.

During the second loop, I started implementing a strategy that I should have begun much earlier. My friend who introduced me to the sport of triathlon, we'll call him Anthony, told me that the cola at the aid stations was the best part of the run. I had also heard that chicken broth is great way to rehydrate after a long day in the heat (the high on race day was 96 deg), so at every aid station past mile 15, I had a cup of cola, a cup of chicken broth, and some powerade if I could handle it. I figured that if sugar, caffeine, and salt couldn't do the job, nothing could.

Somewhere around mile 16 or 17, I started run-walking with another guy and we pushed each other to pick up the pace for the subsequent 3 or 4 miles. By mile 20, the cola-broth strategy finally started to pay off and I felt good enough to start pushing my way towards the finish line. I resolved that I would stop walking, run the last 10K, and finish before 10pm. In the final couple of miles, I started to see more spectators and could hear the cheers near the finish line. With less than a mile left, I ran past my Iron Team (wife, mom, dad, and mother-in-law), got a boost of adrenaline, and sprinted to the finish line to hear that words that I never thought I would hear. "James Finley, you're and Ironman!"

Ironman Louisville Race Report - Part 2, The Bike

112 miles. That's roughly the distance from my home in Chattanooga to East Point (Atlanta) Georgia. And I used to think that was a long way to drive, my how things have changed. Prior to the race, I was most excited about experiencing the bike course in Louisville. I'd heard that the course was mostly rolling hills with one longish climb and nice scenic views of Kentucky's horse country. This description was also fitting for northern Baltimore county where I've done most of my training, so I felt ready to tackle the course and hopefully finish the 112 mi in around 6.5 hours.

One of the major challenges of long distance triathlon is determining how much fuel (food) you need to sustain yourself for the duration of the race. Through training, I found that I preferred to use Accelerade for hydration since it contains protein and delivers about 240 calories in a 24 oz bottle. Without going into too much detail, my goal was to consume 400-500 calories per hour via sports drinks, gels, and Clif Bars.

The first half of the bike course really felt great. I kept a really easy effort (Zone 2) and just focused on eating and/or drinking something every 12 minutes when my watch beeped. The weather felt great for the first 3 hours and I'm sure that had I selected a more temperate race, the bike would have ended much better than it did. I had a couple extra bottles of Accelerade and a bottle of 5hr energy stashed in my special needs bag near mile 60, but in retrospect, neither was necessary. It turns out that after sitting in the sun for 5 hrs, the bottle were literally hot, so I decided to switch to Powerade for the remainder of ride. I also found that solid foods like Clif Bars were not appetizing in the least bit after spending that much time in the heat.

Around mile 80, I was really starting the feel the heat and my speed was on the decline. By this point, my right foot was hurting for some unknown reason, my back was tired from sitting in the aerobars, and I was starting to feel every seam in the road through my frame. I think that I made the ride a lot rougher than it should have been by inflating my tires at a higher pressure than I normally ride thinking that they would roll faster. I guess I'll just have to count that as another lesson learned.

After almost 7 hours of riding, I finally reached the end of the bike course and as I neared the final few miles, I had a chat with a guy from Colorado who chose to do Louisville as his first tri. One of the best things about long distance racing is that everyone becomes friends when they're exhausted and it's almost an unwritten rule that you support and encourage those who are suffering beside you. Though I didn't go as fast as I'd hoped, I was thankful that I was not laying under a tree from exhaustion, in an ambulance, or otherwise incapacitated like others I had seen on the way. I did my best to conserve energy on the bike (as evidenced by my final time of almost 7hrs), so after I handed my bike to the volunteers and put on my running shoes, it was time for the most important part of the day, the run.

Ironman Louisville Race Report - Part 1, The Swim

Since I've been building up to this day for over 5 months, I didn't think that it would be fitting for me to attempt to summarize the whole day in a single post. After spending 14+ hours suffering in the Louisville heat, there are far too many events that deserve to be documented as a part of the Ironman experience. And so we begin...

The swim at Ironman Louisville is unique in comparison to all the others in the Ironman circuit. During each of the other Ironman races, all the competitors begin in a single group and most people describe the experience as trying to swim through a washing machine. In Louisville, this apparently isn't possible because the first 1/3 of the swim is in a narrow portion of river between a small island and the shore. Because of this, the race begins with a time-trial start, with about 6 competitors jumping in the river every few seconds. At the pre-race meeting, the organizers said that everyone should be in the water by 7:30, but that you should arrive early if you want to begin closer to the actual 7am race start.

My plan on race morning was to take this advice and get to the swim start by 6am so that I could be near the front of the line. Apparently, about 75% of the field had the same idea and by the time I reached the swim start, there was a line that seemed to extend for about half a mile past the start. Although I wasn't the last person to arrive, I didn't get into the water until around 7:30am. If anyone reading this plans on doing Louisville in the future, I would advise you to get to the swim start by 5:30 and be sure to bring water and a snack. Or, if you don't care when you start the swim, set up your transition, take a nap, and then show up at 7:30 ready to run down the ramp and jump in the river.

My goal for the swim was to be out of the water in less than an hour and a half and hopefully not burn too much energy before the real race began on the bike. From the start, I tried to stay relaxed and treat the whole swim like a long warm up despite being kicked in the face and the stomach multiple times. The nice thing about the Louisville swim course is that once you pass the island swimming upriver, you then turn downstream and complete the majority of the swim with the current. You also swim beneath 2 different bridges and once you pass the second bridge, you can see the transition area and the crowd awaiting the swimmers.

When I finally reached the swim exit and looked at the clock, I was surprised to see that I finished in about 1:20 which was great considering that I had only really done two long continuous swims and they both took place at other races. This was also the fastest pace that I've held in a swim longer than 1500m and despite the fact that this was probably due to the current, I took it as my first victory of the day. With the swim behind me, I ran into transition with a huge smile on my face, ready to enjoy what I had heard was a very scenic bike course.

The Plan

I thought that today I'd share my plans and goals for Sunday's race. It's always nice to have these things in writing before the actual race and ideally, what I hope will happen and what actually happen will match up come Monday when I look back on my race experience.

Before each of my races, I like to set 3 different overall goals, each involving a different level of success. Considering my past history of severe cramping, asthma attacks, and impromptu, post-race trips to the hospital (all in one race), my first goal is always to finish the race without needing medical attention. For a 140.6 mile race, I’ll definitely be content with completing this goal. My second overall goal is to finish the race in around 13 hours. I figure that if I finish the swim in 1.5 hrs, the bike in 6.5 hrs, and the run in under 5 hrs, that should put me right around my goal time. If everything going according to plan and I don’t die on the run, my third goal is to finish in under 13 hours. This likely will come down to my performance on the marathon and I honestly don’t know if that will work out. I’m by no means a fast marathoner as my best time is only 4:15, so I hope that I can stay within 45 minutes of this time after a 114.4 mile warm-up.

2 days and counting!

7 days and Counting!

This time next Sunday I should hopefully be nearing the end of my Ironman marathon. The closer I get to D-day, the more I realize how crazy this whole endeavor will be. The remaining week of training will be the easiest week I've had since the winter and I've really been looking forward to getting some sleep this week. However, it looks like my body has something else in store for me. Last night I felt like I tossed and turned from the time I laid down until my alarm went off this morning. And today, after a long day of running errands, I returned home exhausted, but again could not fall asleep.

I can't decide if it's anxiety about the race or if my body simply needs less rest during my taper. I remember the same thing happening after both of my previous marathons, but generally this occurs after the event and not before it. I'm trying not to worry about getting enough rest this week, but that's easier said than done. Every time I take a pause during my day, all I can think about is race weekend. Even as I write this entry, I'm thinking about what I need to bring to Louisville, when I can check in, if I'll go to the practice swim, and who knows what else. I guess the best thing right now is to use this energy in a constructive manner and go ahead and make an agenda for the weekend. You know what they: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Time to get to work!

Crunch Time

I'm finally in the last stage of training, the taper. I can still recall a time back in February when I thought these days would never arrive. At that time, looking ahead to the long hours that I've now put in the bank was exciting, but almost overwhelming. Now that I'm on the other end of my training, I can honestly say that I've really enjoyed pushing my body to see if it can handle the stress, recover, and then become stronger. Over the past few weeks, I've had times where I really felt great, especially on my mid-week runs, but there have also been a few rides that were slower than I'd hoped. I have to constantly tell myself that when I ride slowly on Saturday, it's probably due to everything that I did Monday through Thursday. What I really have to count on is that over the next week and a half, my body will finally get a chance to fully recover and be in top form come race day.

Speaking of race day, I'm starting to get into panic mode just wondering what the expect on the big day. I guess my biggest fear now is getting off the bike at T2, throwing on my running shoes, and then being completely out of gas at mile 5. If it somehow comes down to that (and it won't...I hope), I'll have to be (Iron)man enough to just walk it out for 21.2 miles. The 2 biggest things that could potentially get me in this situation are going too hard on the bike and/or not eating enough on the bike. I'm not a big fan of uncertainties, so this evening I made a detailed, hour by hour nutrition plan to make sure I get adequate calories while I'm riding. I've also made a vow to ride by heart rate for the first half of the ride and then by perceived effort until I get to T2.

I think the key for me is to realize that in an Ironman, the swim and bike are just a long warm-up for the marathon.

Running Technique

I've always been a fan of finish line photos since make nice souvenirs from your race (if you're willing to pay for them). At the Colonial Beach Triathlon, the race organizers apparently decided against finish line photos and instead opted for video clips. I never realized how revealing it is to look at your own running technique via video. The nice thing about this setup is that you can also look at other videos from faster runners (see the winner here) to see how their technique differs from your own.

I was actually pretty happy with my form at the end of the run considering how slow I always feel. The big things that I noticed when I compared my video to the overall winner's video are:

1. Cadence: I generally try to maintain a cadence of around 90 strides/minute, but that typically drops as I get fatigued. The winner looked to have a cadence closer to 95 strides/minute and that makes a big difference over any distance (~25 sec/mi).

2. Movement Range: The other big difference that I noticed was hip movement range. The winner looked like he had much more hip flexion and extension than I did. I know that tight muscles much a significant contribution to reduced range of motion, so I'm hoping to get more time of the foam roller to loosen those puppies up.

Don’t Eat Chinese on Race Night (a.k.a. Colonial Beach Triathlon Race Report)

This past weekend I ventured down to Colonial Beach, Virginia for my second tune-up race of the summer. I initially planned on racing Diamond in the Rough Triathlon in Perrymile, MD on Saturday, but my procrastination resulted in missing registration. In a nice turn of events (at least for me), it ended up raining for most of Saturday, resulting in a duathlon at DITRT, while the weather in Colonial Beach on Sunday turned out to be perfect.

Unlike the Ironman branded races I’ve done in past and will be doing later in the summer, this was a much smaller race with a field of less than 200. I always forget how much I enjoy community-run races because there’s a sense of hospitality that you don’t get at larger, corporate races. Registration on Friday took all of 3 minutes and the race packet included two of my favorite stocking stuffers, a 24oz water bottle and a pair of synthetic socks. Booyakasha (see Ali-G). After registration, I went on a search for food and had a hearty appetite for some pasta or rice. Being the adventurous person that I am, I decided against looking for a dependable pre-race staple like Olive Garden and instead used Google Maps to find some highly-rated local fare. I ended up at a nice Chinese Restaurant down the street from the race registration site and over-indulged on a tasty plate of curry chicken and rice. With a full stomach, I was off to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep after watching a bit of cycling on Versus for motivation.

On race morning, my pre-race ritual went off without a hitch. I arrived around 5:45am, setup my transition area and did a quick reverse warm-up of 10 minutes running, 5 minutes riding, and a 10 minute swim. After the warm-up, I had about 15 minutes until my wave began, so I tried to focus on having a strong start to the swim to begin my race day. The swim was two triangular 750m loops, ITU style, in the Potomac. The first leg of the swim required that we swim perpendicular to the current to get to the first and second buoys. This called for constant sighting and adjusting and I was able to do this surprisingly well, albeit slowly. The rest of the swim went smoothly and I finished feeling excited for the bike and run ahead. The bike was uneventful and it was a nice change to only have to ride ~25 mi after all the long rides I’ve done this year. After looking at my times for each discipline, it turns out that this was the fastest 40K I’ve ever done in a race, so all the riding is really paying off. A-yayee-yayee (see Ice Cube).

After the bike, I had a smooth transition and hit the fast and flat run course. My legs felt really energized for the first mile and I thought that I’d be in good shape for an overall PR. Unfortunately, the Chinese that I ate the night before decided to speak up and slow me down for the next mile and a half. Fortunately, I passed a port-o-john and was able to eliminate the problem in about 54 seconds. :) The remainder of the run went much better and I ultimately crossed the line within about 2 minutes of my Olympic distance PR. I would definitely consider doing this race again, though I would try to stay at the race hotel and find a tried-and-true pre-race meal.

The day after the race, I was informed, by my wife, that the writer of one of the blogs that I follow attended the race and posted some pics that he took during the day. Lo and behold, he managed to get great pick of me near the end of the run. Good shooting Rainmaker!

The Crack of Dawn

I can't believe I'm up this early on a non-race day. Today I'm meeting a guy from my Master's class to go for a 1.5-2hr ride before work. The good news is that I'll learn a new route that I can bike to straight from home. The bad news is that we're meeting at 5:20am. These are the times when I realize how crazy this whole process is, especially since I'll be swimming this evening. I have an odd feeling that I'll be asleep by 9 tonight. Yep, just like a 5 year old. Hopefully a swig of 5 Hr Energy will get me through the day.

The New Plan for Nailing My Long Runs

As I mentioned in the last post, there are a number of things that I hope will help me actually "run" my long runs instead of shuffling through them.

1. Technique: When I get tired, I tend to focus on pushing off the ground with my already fatigued quads instead of driving my knees forward using my hip muscles. Turns out that it's much easier to propel yourself by lifting your legs rather than doing the equivalent of single leg squats.

2. Hydration: In contrast to the well placed water fountains on the Lakeshore path in Chicago, there are only a few options for hydration along the Harbor here in Baltimore. Since I sweat like I'm on trial, I decided to invest in a Camelback this past week and it made a huge difference in my energy level at the end of my 14 miler on Sunday. Instead of trying to get by on 40-50oz of fluid, I had about 90 oz of water, plus gels and salt tabs to get me through.

3. Recovery: The most difficult part of Ironman training is following up a long 4+ hour ride on Saturday with a 2+ hour run on Sunday morning. Even if my legs aren't too sore, I often lose motivation about 6 mi into my long runs and this is exactly what happened at Eagleman. I did a little research into supplements that actually show promise as recovery agents and found that branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), and in particular, glutamine, have been shown to improve recovery in a number of studies. I picked up some chewable glutamine tablets at GNC last week and I now try to get at least 5g a day. Hopefully, I'll start to see my recovery strategy pay off in the next couple of weeks.

4. Focus: The last thing that I really need to work on to improve the quality of my long runs is my focus (or as my high school basketball coach would say, mental toughness). Often times when I feel fatigued, I don't feel the kind of burning sensation that I get at the end of a race. Instead, it's like my brain decides to slow down and/or walk even though my legs aren't dead. To combat my waning focus, I now try to accept the onset of mental (aka central) fatigue as a natural feeling and then tell myself that there's much more in the tank. My new running mantra is "if the legs don't hurt, then you can go faster."

Can't Believe It's July

Somehow, almost 16 weeks have gone by since I began training for IM Louisville and now there are only 8 weeks left until race day. Ahhhhhhhhhh! I can definitely say that training has paid off and now I actually feel like completing the race will be possible. As a practice for August, I recently completed Eagleman 70.3 in Cambridge, MD (full race report to be posted soon) on what was an unseasonably hot day. Since then, I've just been chugging along with my training and really trying to focus on my run. At this point, I'm satisfied with my swim and biking endurance and I think that I could complete those legs of the Ironman, albeit slowly, at my current level of fitness. After a disappointing run at Eagleman, I had to assess what was going wrong with the run component of my training and came up with the following problems which I'll discuss in my next post.

1. Technique
2. Hydration
3. Recovery
4. Focus

Long Overdue for an Update

It’s definitely been a while since I’ve posted any updates, but I’ll try my best to give a nice synopsis of the past two weeks of training. I’m still settling into my training regimen and trying to get accustomed to the new settings here in Charm City. During the past few years in Chicago, I never had to drive my bike anywhere to ride and I had two pools where I could do my swim training at any given time. Here, my options are more limited in some sense, but I’m hoping that it will make for a more successful season. Though I can only swim during Master’s practice times and I often have to drive at least 20min away for good riding, I’m getting more feedback about my swimming technique and hopefully riding up and over all the hills in the area will make me a stronger cyclist. Speaking of training, what does real world Ironman training actually entail? A typical training week for me looks something like this:

Day	Session 1 (am)	Session 2 (pm)
Monday		Master’s Swim
Tuesday	Patterson Park Loop Ride
Wednesday	Run	Master’s Swim
Thursday	Trainer Ride	Run
Friday	Rest
Saturday	Master’s Swim (early am)	Long Ride/Brick (late am)
Sunday	Long Run

In total, each week has 10 scheduled workouts and so far I’m averaging around 8. Since the first 8 weeks of my program are devoted to building a strong aerobic base, the majority of my workouts are done in Zone 2-3 with sets of short sprints or hill climbs for running and cycling respectively. I’ve been able to see some real fitness gains recently as running has become a bit easier and my heart rate isn’t climbing as high as it usually does at a given pace. Swimming is coming along slowly as usual, but that’s probably because I’ve yet to have a week where I’ve completed all 3 scheduled sessions. Even though the training intensity is mostly easy, I’ve noticed that the cycling hill intervals really wear me out. On Tuesday, I did 10 x 1 min climbs in Patterson Park and my legs were feeling really fatigued until Thursday morning. I’ve also noticed that it takes me about 10 seconds to fall asleep at night and I have no problem sleeping for 9 hours straight depending on when I go to bed. Speaking of bed, I guess I’ll wrap up this post and get ready for an early morning swim workout. Gotta stay streets ahead of the game.

Changing Lanes

One of the major differences between Chicago and Baltimore is that in Chicago, I had no worries about starting and finishing my cycling workouts from my front door. Well, at least the front door of my building as I haven't yet learned how to ride down 3 flights of stairs on aerobars. There were basically only two routes one could take when riding in the city: east to the lake and head north or east to the lake and head south. Even though Chicago lacked riding options and the terrain was mostly flat; riding was definitely convenient.

In Baltimore on the other hand, I have to drive to all the places where I would feel comfortable riding on the road. This presents a problem for weekday morning rides because I'm not a huge fan of losing sleep so that I can wake up early, install my bike rack, secure my bike, drive 20 minutes, ride for an hour or two, and do the whole process in reverse. However, the idea of doing all of my mid-week rides on a trainer is not appealing in the least, so today I decided to suck it up and drive to a "safe" spot.

Last week, while driving to a local park, I spent about 15 minutes driving down Pulaski Hwy. Surprisingly, the highway had wide shoulders and was marked as a bike route to some of the towns northeast of Baltimore. Although the road was extremely busy during the afternoon, I figured that it would be relatively quiet at 6:30am on a weekday. It turns out that this assumption proved only partially correct. The problem was that I had to ride far enough to get outside of the beltway (I-695) before the traffic died down and in the meantime, I had to make sure that I stayed as far to the right of the shoulder as possible. As a aside to any city planners who might happen upon this post, if you have a bike route that bypasses one or multiple interstate on-ramps, build a bridge or underpass or specify a detour so that cyclists don't have to play Frogger with cars, trucks, and semis driving along at 50 mph. Anyway, once I made my way outside of the beltway, the ride was great. Nice rolling hills that required use of most of my gears (a nice change from Chicago) and not too much traffic.


View Larger Map

All in all, it was a good experience and I will now suck it up and spend the extra 5-10 minutes to park outside of the beltway before hopping on my bike.

Off the Chain

So my plan for today was simple. Wake up bright and early at 5:00am, eat breakfast, go to swim practice, and then join the group ride leaving from Tri-Speed. If everything went according to plan, I would have enjoyed about 3 hours of training while also earning my post-workout, pancake breakfast. Steps 1 and 2  went smoothly, though I woke up about 7 different times last night, so it was off to swim practice.

Unlike Wednesday's swim, I joined the group at Meadowbrook this morning. They have a nice 6 lane, 50m indoor pool and in the summer, they open a massive 10-lane outdoor pool as well. Today's swim was mostly composed of varying sets of 300's for a total of about 2400 yds. I guess things went well for about half of the workout, but as is typically the case, I was seriously getting dropped near the end. Fortunately, I was able to hold on until our hour was up, so with my swim in the books and a bagel and some Gatorade in my stomach, I went to meet my new-found riding group.

This would be my first real ride since I've been to Baltimore, so I was really looking forward to riding on the quiet country roads in Baltimore county that I've heard so much about. The ride began on time and I quickly realized that a tri-bike is not the best for riding in these parts. Unlike Chicago, where everything is pancake flat, the roads here are more like a rollercoaster. I hear that Louisville has a similar terrain, so I guess this will be the proper place to prepare for the big day in August. I was able to stick with the group for the lesiurely beginning of the ride, but once we hit the first hill, my bike had a surprise in store for me.

I initially tried to stay seated at the bottom of the hill, but as I started to get dropped, I decided to stand and apply some power. Three pedal strokes later, I heard a loud pop and I thought that I had simply dropped my chain. Instead, I looked down to see that my chain had snapped and looked something like the picture below.

Though most of the group was already pulling away before my chain snapped, Mike from Tri-Speed stayed behind to help. Unfortunately, neither of us had a chain tool, so I was stuck about 10 miles from my car with a useless bike. Mike, however, was generous enough to ride the 30 minutes back to the store, and drive back out to pick me up (Thanks Mike!). Since my chain failed near the top of the hill, I was able to coast back nearly a mile so that Mike wouldn't have to drive quite as far to pick me up. After about 45 min, Mike made it back and we were able to install a new chain at the store. Woo hoo!

Moral of the story: Always be prepared.

Oh, and I ate a bowl of cereal when I got home. The 30 minutes of riding wasn't really deserving of a pancake breakfast. Maybe next time.

My Attempt at a Regular Update

It finally feels like springtime here in Maryland! Today was one of the wonderful two-a-days that are characteristic of triathlon training, so that gave me a chance to take advantage of the nice weather. In the morning I did a nice 5mi run along the harbor to Fells Point. Though I've only been in Baltimore for a couple of days, the nicer areas are fairly interesting and have a lot of character. This evening, I did my first swim practice with the Master's group at Merritt and I quickly realized how I'm lacking swim fitness. Fortunately, I manged to make it through the whole workout for a total of about 2700yds. That's almost 1000 yds farther than any workout I've done this year, so if I can keep this up, I think I'll be in good shape come August. I've got a couple more workouts scheduled for Thursday and Friday, but I'm really looking forward to the group ride on Saturday. I think the high is supposed to reach about 80deg, so hopefully we'll have a decent sized group. I hear that the roads are great for cycling once you get out into Baltimore county, so I'm ready to see if it's true.

Crazy Times

So I've been missing in action for the last two weeks and I think I have a couple of decent reasons for not updating my blog.

1. I defended my doctoral dissertation a week ago and for some reason, that whole process consumed a decent bit of my time. I think like many triathletes, I have a penchant for punishment. Who in their right mind celebrates the completion of a Ph.D. by training for an Ironman?

2. After my defense, my wife and I had about 3 days to celebrate, pack our place, and drive to Baltimore so that I could begin my job on Monday (yes yesterday). Needless to say, it's been a wild ride for the past couple weeks.

Somehow, throughout this process I've managed to keep a decent training schedule and now I'm starting to get back into the full swing of things here in Baltimore. As far as workouts are concerned, today was an hour on the trainer with 8 sprint intervals and tomorrow has a moderate intensity run in the morning and a Master's workout in the evening.

I think I've settled on joining a local Master's group at Merritt Athletic Club for weekday workouts, and I'm considering doing Saturday swims with the Master's group at Meadowbrook. Fortunately, these practices start bright and early at 6:30am. If I can manage to actually roll out of bed around 5:30, I can swim, eat breakfast, and then join a local group ride at Tri-Speed (http://www.tri-speed.com) at 8:30. That way I could actually get a bit of rest on Sunday and not have to worry about doing both a swim and run. I guess we'll see how well that works in the upcoming weeks.


Until next time!

Here we go!

Week 1 of my training plan begins tomorrow (technically Tuesday since Monday is a rest day). In preparation for Ironman Louisville, I will be following a 24-week training plan from Matt Fitzgerald's book, Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide.

Check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Triathlete-Magazines-Essential-Week-Training/dp/0446696765

The first 8-weeks are focused on building a solid aerobic base and letting my body adjust to doing 8-9 workouts per week.

If you're interested in how "normal" people balance Ironman training with the rest of life's commitments, stay tuned to future posts!