Double Digits

99 calendar days on the wall, 99 calendar days.  It's real, it's real. 

Have Fun!

That is what my first boss in the Army, a kind female captain who was a great mentor, used to advise me to put at the end of the "goals" section of each Officer Evaluation Report Support Form, the form the junior officer gives to his rating senior officer at the beginning of the period.

My thought as I slogged through another hard weekend of training last weekend was to try to approach the impending IM and the remaining training, as much as possible as something I will enjoy, something I want to do, and to try to have fun with it. 

Yes, the moment of crossing the finish line (God willing) will be exhilarating, but what about the hundreds of hours of training time and the better part of a whole day of race time?  My thought is to try to enjoy the journey as much as the destination, because there will be a lot more of the former than the latter.

100 days today

It's no longer even possible to pretend this race is a long way off.  Fifteen weeks to go.  Wow.  That's actually about right.  If it were shorter I'd be more worried, but I can't keep up this six day a week two day weekend training pattern, with the volumes increasing, forever.  I can't wait, but I am glad it's not next week, at the same time.  I need every day that's left!

Mack Cycle Triathlon Trilogy II, Virginia Key Beach.

It's not always easy for Gennifer and the boys to come watch me race, so it is always a special treat when they do.  They made it out to my International Triathlon today, which as a race was also a very good outing for me.

A short race report - Intro

The Mack Cycle Triathlon Trilogy, our local summer race series, will have a special place in my heart as the "place it all began" for me in 2011.  I have now raced 19 total triathlons, but my first was Father's Day 2011, the Sprint version of  Triathlon Trilogy, Part I.  That year, they were all held next to Miami Marine Stadium.  Last year, they were held on Crandon Park.  Because everything is all messed up on Key Biscayne (long story), it has moved yet again to Virginia Key Beach, so it has been basically a new series each year.

Pre-Race.  Packet Pickup on Saturday was smooth.  I got in early right after my morning run and it was not crowded at all.  I did my typical pre-race checklist (written), and packed.  Got up pre dawn and was over there just after 5 am, early enough to park, set up and warm up before my 6:45 start.  Of note:  as soon as I opened the door of my car, I was a breakfast buffet to every mosquito on the Key. If you are reading this and doing Part III or the Bonus Round - apply bug spray!.  Oddly when the sun came up, I didn't notice them any more.  I'm no entomologist, so I don't know what that is - vampire mosquitos?  Otherwise, getting marked, getting my chip and setting up transition went fine.  I rode 10 minutes, ran 10 minutes, then went down to the water and swam 10 minutes.

Swim:  the swim went fine.  it was in the bay parallel to the shore of the Key, around 3 buoys.  Typical mosh pit for about 2 minutes, then I found my clear water and just knocked it out.

Bike:  the bike course is four five mile loops with about four hairpin U turns.  I quickly learned that if you want overall speed there is one very long straightaway and that's where you have to do it - put the bike in a big gear and a high cadence and go nuts, because in U turn land, you are always slowing down just as you get up to speed.  The Marine Stadium and Crandon courses included several bridge repeats that would slow you down, this year it was U turns.  Anyway, very happy with my bike, under an hour split with 21mph and change!

Run:  All through the old historical park, 10K in two 5K loops.  My Team Hammerhead buddies were there at the turnaround to douse me with water each time I went around and egg me on to run faster!   I was glad after a hard 20 mile bike at a good hard clip to run 9:30s in the 10K.

Overall.  PR by eleven minutes at this distance!   7 of 16 in my age group!   In the early days of this amateur racing craze I'm on, I'd PR every other time.  As I get fitter, and my goals and priorities have changed (less races, more long distance getting ready for Ironman Florida), they don't come as often.  Today was sweet for that reason.  My last PR at any distance was my fourth Half Iron- Ironman 70.3 Miami on October 28, 2012 (my 6:34 finish beat my PR by just one minute).  It's been a while, and I love how it feels.

#IronManTraining  I did not really need to do this race; it is a father's day thing, a nod to my first triathlon, a chance to go fast, but my priority is and has been for a while Ironman Training.  Thus, I did not taper for this, it is not an A race, and I am not going to take much if any time to recover - just train right through it.  In fact, the day before the race I ran 15 miles in searing heat and humidity, normally not advised.  But this race was going to just be a "timed workout" let the chips fall where they may.  I had no expectations of PRing or even doing that well.  I was VERY pleasantly surprised to find that not only did I have bike legs and run legs, but I stayed within myself the whole time too, didn't really redline it or risk injury.  It is said that "quantity has a quality all its own" - applied here it means that though my training has been mostly aerobic (slower) speed training in large volumes - guess what?  That makes you faster.  In running, the same thing happened, the week after my first marathon in 2011, I destroyed my 5K PR and continued to better it all year, with very little speedwork.  Long slow distance above 5K made me faster at that distance.

Post Race Recovery - backyard BBQ with family friends made for great post race recovery.  Playing in the pool with the kids cooled off the legs, lots of protein carbs and hydration, then I napped for hours in a cool airconditioned bedroom like a madman while my wife caught up on all the gossip with high school friends she had not seen in years.

In closing -  I've dropped  well over 10 pounds since this started, three this week alone, and I am not dieting!   Which led me to the following thought - apologies to Jeff Foxworthy:  "If you eat everything that isn't nailed down, and you're still dropping weight more than you ever have, you might be #ironmantraining!" 

Thanks for your attention!  Adelante!

18 Weeks Out!

Eighteen weeks.  123 days.  Somehow that feels significant.  Four months and change.  I have never really stopped training; I rolled right from training for and completing the Miami Marathon into training for IM 70.3 FL, six weeks ago, then it became Ironman training exclusively.  That half iron race gave me a base to work from, but there's a lot of work to do, and that much time left to do it. 

The View from the Train:  It's a lot of time, and yet it's no time.  The first eight weeks have been a roller coaster ride.  The days are starting to blur together, a familiar pattern of short workouts during the week, with a rest day thrown in (my schedule says Monday usually, sometimes Friday), and long workouts on the weekend.  This past weekend was like a Mini-Ironman:  a 1.8 mile long open water swim, 15 miles running (over two runs) and 67 miles on the bike.  In all, about two thirds of the race over a three day period.  I am very smoked, but not injured.  During the blur of these first few weeks, it is almost like I didn't have the luxury to feel anything about it other than relentlessly dragging my rear end to one training session after another - the "just do it" mindset.  After this big weekend, and a good night's sleep I find that I can take a wider view of things and realize the whirlwind of emotion that started when I signed up is still there, it was just suppressed by discipline and physical exhaustion. 

Confidence and Fear, (at the same time):  I find myself feeling two contradictory things at the same time, yet both quite strong.  On one hand - confidence!  What a confidence booster that weekend was - makes me feel like I've got this.  On the other hand, fear!   I realize how compressed the next four months is going to be; how several weeks of disciplined effort has paid off, but is there enough time left to do the work I need to do to have the race I want to have?  All that is really nothing but fear.  I am not sure if that is even good or bad.  Confidence is good.  Overconfidence is bad.  Fear that holds you back is bad.  Fear that motivates is good.  Where's the line?  I don't know.  I do know one thing -- this train is going full speed now, and it ain't stopping until I cross that finish line on November 2; it's not even slowing down.  I will occasionally comment on the passing scenery here, and share it with friends, family, training partners.  In conclusion, I trust the wisdom of my mind and body acting together, fully awake - they've taken a look at the mountain ahead of me and said - now! now's the time to buckle down.  There is time to do the work that remains to be done,  It can be done.  I will do it.  This is going to be a hard life to live from here to Nov., like a monk or a Spartan.  Wake, Train, Work, Family Time, Sleep.  Lather, rinse, repeat 122 times = Ironman. 

If you want it you can have it, just look at me:  I am no star athlete, just an ordinary guy who happened to be gifted, not with a fantastic serve or jump shot, but strong legs and a seemingly extraordinary capacity (and willingness) to endure pain - the sport found me, if you will.  Maybe someone is wondering if they can be an Ironman and one day they will wonder if it's normal for their feelings to be all over the map.  Well, if I am normal - it is!

Day in Day Out:  What's the biggest challenge - doing the workouts day in and day out whether I feel like or it not.  A healthy fear of this race has proven to be the thing that has finally gotten me consistent like I've never been.  But guess what?  It's tiring.  Faced with the day's workout I say to myself "training?  again?  really?  didn't we just train yesterday?"  and then I am dragging my rear end into yet another workout.  Usually I feel pretty good about it after.  It mitigates the fear and feeds the confidence.

Have Goggles, will Travel:  I travel like a gypsy with various items of gear in my trunk, ready to catch a quick run or swim when my schedule opens up.  I change in my car like Clark Kent and I've gotten pretty quick and discreet about it.  I finally have begun to look at food as fuel, and crave blueberries, bananas, walnuts, lowfat yogurt, ground turkey, kale.  Don't get me wrong, Casola's Pizza is not going to go bankrupt for lack of my business while I train - (but I'll burn it off!).  I am often heading to bed before Gennifer (who's of the early to bed, early to rise persuasion, where I've always been a night owl), and getting in workouts before any of them wake up sometimes.  I am learning to be present wherever I am, to give my full attention to whatever I am doing, because I have no time to waste.

HTFU:  In sum, this process is turning me into the athlete I've always wanted to be - hardening my body- focusing my mind - but be careful what you wish for.  Working out six days a week is NO JOKE.  Then you do it again.  But I can already see that I'm getting "gears" I've never had.  You can't mentally "tough" out 140.6 miles with a body that's not ready.  Mental toughness without physical fitness = the medical tent.  But I know I will do this task - with a tough mind and fit body.

Is it worth it?  I expect it is; I do know these hundreds of dollars and hours I am spending on this are not merely directed to acquire a piece of metal and a memory.  I hope and expect that a different person will wake up early on Sunday Nov. 3 to buy a finisher jacket.  An Ironman, who knows something new about himself, by going to and through some pretty dark places inside and nevertheless seeing it through, with relentless forward motion, one stroke, one pedal and one step at a time, who knows, from experience, that "Anything is Possible!"  It will have been worth it.