Week 3 - Training takes a back seat to life - Adjusted and overcame

I am thrilled that I complied with my plan (as adjusted by me ahead of time) for two straight weeks.  Inevitably, as a trial lawyer and a dad, life happens and disrupts my plans.  That happened in week 3.  I took my scheduled day off on Monday, and completed my scheduled 3 miler on Tuesday.  Then I had to work super late on Wednesday and did not complete the scheduled 4 miler.  On Thursday, I was too tired either to make up the four miler or to do the scheduled three miler.  Friday was my wife's birthday dinner, and fatigue from that almost-all-nighter was still kicking my butt.  Finally, on Saturday, in lieu of the scheduled 2 miler, I ran 7 miles to make up Wednesday and Thursday's runs.  I took Sunday off, and will make up the weekend's 2 miler and 6 miler today, a scheduled day off, and then I will be back on track to begin Week 4's training tomorrow.

M- OFF
T - 3 mi
W - missed (3 mi)
Th - missed (4 mi)
F - OFF
S - 7 mi (make up of W and Th)
S - OFF
Total: 10 miles

Daddy's Running Again! Half Marathon Mania - Week 2 complete

Hello, I'm back.  I have really been focusing on other things than my amateur athletic exploits this year, including focusing more on work and family, and accordingly I kind of put the training on the back burner, without letting it go entirely.  After almost a year's "sabbatical" mental and physical, which followed about six years of hard training and racing, I've now decided to strap on the shoes and get back in shape.  Earlier this year (January 2016) I ran the Miami Half Marathon for fun, and afterwards, I signed up in the post-race blitz, when the race is substantially discounted.  Thus, two weeks ago, I began an 11 week training program for the 2017 Miami Half Marathon, because I intend to train for it this year, and race it.  Yesterday, I completed the second week.

Week one was pretty much about shaking the rust off:

M - OFF
T - 3 mi
W - 4 mi
Th - 3 mi
Fr. - Off
Sat - 5 mi
Sun - 2 mi
Total:  17 miles.

I completed the whole thing as planned, all five runs, just switched Saturday and Sunday, because I preferred to run long on Saturday, out of habit.

Week 2 included the Turkey Day 10K race in Tropical Park.  So I took Wednesday's three miler off and combined it with Thursday's four miler, for a total of 7.3 mi (1 mi warmup, 6.2 mi race).

M - OFF
T - 3 mi
W- OFF
Th - 10K race, plus 1 mi warmup - Total 7.3 miles
F - OFF
Sat - 2 mi
Sun - 5 mi
Total - 17.3 miles

Week 3 begins today, Monday, 11/28/16, with an off day, which is nice.

Breaking Silence - Year to Date - Fall Races - In Loving Memory of my Dad, R.I.P.

Anybody there?  It has been a while, so just checking.  If 2013 leading up to IMFL was the "Iron Year,"  this has been the rebalancing year.  Having climbed that ultimate mountain, I found that 1) I am not as driven to accomplish amateur athletic feats, 2) it was time to focus on work and family, but 3) I am not ready to hang up my spurs.  I have done enough races and training to "keep me honest" but nothing result-wise to write home about, really.  The 5K swim was a first, and that was an interesting challenge.  I will probably do it again.  As the year has progressed, I have done the following races. 

1) Miami Marathon, Feb. 2, 2014
2) Miami Beach 13.1 Half Marathon, March 16, 2014
3) Lifetime South Beach Triathlon - Olympic Distance, April 6, 2014
4) Swim Miami 5K - April 19, 2014 (open water swim race, my longest swim ever, and first 5K).
5) Mercedes Benz Corporate Run, April 24, 2014
6) Inaugural Miami Man Speedway Edition Half Iron Triathlon - May 25, 2014
7) Weston July 4th Celebration 5K, July 4, 2014
8) Huntington's Disease Triathlon International Distance - July 27, 2014

So you can see I have been doing some racing, enough to keep me going, and I've also been doing some training.  My triathlon team has made several trips to Clermont, FL (near Orlando) to train on the hills there, on the bike, which I've done twice, and since they are training for an Ironman, I have been doing some very long bike rides and runs along with them. 

Clermont Training Pictures

As we roll into Fall, I have two major races on my agenda.  Ironman 70.3 Augusta this coming Sunday, September 2014, and the New York City Marathon, November 2, 2014.  I am excited about both.  I will be driving up to Augusta, Georgia on Friday to race Ironman 70.3 Augusta. 

On a more serious note, that it would be remiss of me not to say, this last month has been very tough for me and my family, as my Dad died a four weeks ago today.  I am getting through it day by day.  Needless to say, this put all the training and racing in the back seat, but when I have been able to do it, it has been a great source of peace, and I will be racing Sunday in honor and loving memory of him.  I am glad he and Mom made it to one of my Half Ironman triathlons last year and got to see my personal brand of crazy in person. 

Stay tuned, and I will let you know how it went.

Chopping wood and carrying water

"Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.  After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water."  Ancient Zen proverb. 

I can look at that finisher photo at the top of my blog and recall what it felt like.  That was one of the most amazing feelings, or, more accurately barrage of feelings, I have ever experienced.  I put so much intention and hard work into crossing that line, and it happened!  What do you do after you finally accomplish a goal that was four years in the making and one year in the accomplishing?  How do you top that?  My best answer so far is, you don't.  You pay a lot of respect to the wife, children, friends, employer, coworkers, and clients who patiently put up with your mad quest and allowed you to see it through, and reward them for your patience.  Athletically, you take it easy.  A couple weeks of recovery before recommencing training for this "mere" marathon on February 2, 2014, the Miami Marathon, which will be followed in November by a "goal" race, the New York marathon.

Try to do the little things well, enjoy the moments, not everything has to be a monumental struggle toward some great end!

Those long runs for that marathon are keeping me honest.... 

"The Celebration" The Iron Year Concludes, a Brief Race Report of IronMan Florida, November 2, 2013, Panama City Beach, Florida.

Preface: A Chat with a Champion, October 24, 2013

A few days before Ironman Florida, 2012 Ironman World Champion/Ironman 70.3 World Champion Leanda Cave (the only woman to win both titles in the same year) came to Miami to speak to my triathlon club, Team Hammerheads.  She was in town to race Ironman 70.3 Miami, as she has done every year since the race began in 2010. 

Shortly after she arrived, she was standing by herself, and I went to speak with her for a few minutes.  I found her to be remarkably down to earth and approachable, and like all the pro triathletes I have had the privilege to meet, she seems to have a heart for the middle-of-the pack age groupers like me who form the base of the sport (and thus, her own fan base). 

Then there was a "photo op" after her talk. 

Actually, we had met at the expo of Ironman 70.3 Miami last year, and she gave me the "don't I recognize you?" look when I approached - I told her I was the guy with the two rowdy boys who would not stand still for the picture and she remembered!  (My younger son has become a big fan of hers, by the way).

Me and the boys, hanging out with Leanda Cave in Oct. 2012 (Christoper (l) was trying to run away).

We briefly discussed her 2013 outing at the World Championship in Kona (she had been struggling with an injury and went too hard on the bike trying to stay in contact with the lead pack and blew up on the run).  She asked me if I had any races coming up and I told her my first IM.  She said that you will never forget your first one, and her advice was to be positive and view it, not as an ordeal but the celebration at the end of all that training, a day to have fun.  I tried to take that to heart.

Our sport of triathlon is growing in popularity by leaps and bounds but not so much that an ordinary age grouper can't approach the World Champ and just chat like two triathlon fans that we are! Love it.  Fast, slow or in between, we all have the same bond in our "love of the game."

Pre-Race: Wednesday and Thursday October 30 and 31 - Getting to Panama City and Checking In.

I will truncate this part, because, you know, it's the pre-race.  I left Miami mid-morning in a convoy with three friends and fellow triathletes and we made it to Panama City by early evening.  It was about a 9 hour drive, much shorter than the race!  Checked in to the Shores of Panama Hotel, a condo on the first floor of the Hotel (not so good for the view but good for speedy entry and exit, no elevators)... which is only half a mile from the race hotel, the Boardwalk.  I had a nice seafood dinner at the Saltwater Grill up the road, a nice traditional seafood place with a piano bar, and while I was eating, it was obvious that many other triathletes were there. 

Let me digress for a moment.  I noted, not for the first time, that triathletes can spot each other even without race regalia on.  It's the lean, hungry look, I guess.  I talked to a nice couple from Texas, who introduced themselves to me with (no kidding):  "Have you checked in with the race yet?"  Accurate assumption (that I was racing) but I had not checked in (that was for Thursday).  As an aside, I was spotting triathletes on the road and at rest stops the whole way up:  MDOT and 70.3 stickers on the SUV's bike racks with tri bikes.  Like members of a secret club (or obscure cult) gathering on the highways and byways leading to Panama City.

I got up the next morning, and skipped my warmup swim because the Gulf was too choppy, and I went straight to the expo (Ironman Village).  Less than 48 hours pre-race at the entrance of IM village:



What are you going to be?

I got my race packet and gear bags.  Without going into too much detail, you have to pack your gear for the day into five bags:  Morning (what's with you on the beach for the swim), Bike gear (helmet, sunglasses, bike shoes, gloves, etc., Bike Special Needs (you pick it up halfway, and put whatever will boost your morale:  special candy, prescription medicine, sunscreen, etc)., Run gear (shoes, visor, race number), and Run Special needs (again, pick up halfway through the run for a morale boost). 

Not pictured here:  My run special needs bag had Lay's Potato Chips (regular) and a Snicker's Bar.

 

 

That night was the Athlete's dinner, which was very cool and which I shared with a bunch of local triathletes from South Florida with whom we've been training together, comisserating and obsessing in a cloistered online forum (sparing our spouses, coworkers, friends, etc. from the TMI obsessions and angst of first time Ironmen in training)



 

Race Day minus one (Friday November 1, 2013):

Weather was horrible again Friday, as a storm was passing through, but I swam in the Gulf anyway.  I did not want the first time I went in it to be race day.  The surfline was very choppy but it smoothed out a lot after about 100 meters of swimming out in it. My schedule said 15 minute swim, 30 minute bike and 15 minute run.  Basically a systems check, so that is what I did.  The weather said we'd get "perfect" conditions on Saturday

About midafternoon, I racked my bike and dropped off my gear bags.

My modified Cannondale roadie and I had raced 20 triathlons (4 sprints, 11 olympic/internationals and 5 half irons) and our big 21 would be our big Kahuna.  I was hoping for no flats or technicals and that came true race day (thankfully).

I had dinner with a nice couple, Ted and Theresa Blume, who live in Panama City.  I had met them last year when I was volunteering, and they offered to let me stay in their condo.  Long story short, that did not work out because they moved, but they still gave me a nice prerace dinner (homemade tortellini a la panna - yum!) and lots of advice as multiple-time IM finishers.  They would be there for me at the finish to get me to the massage table, get some food in me and escort me back to the hotel.  It was very kind of them!  Thanks, Big T and little t! 


Race Day: 

I slept pretty well and woke up really early to eat.  I made it down to the race site for final prep and then headed down to the beach for the swim start. 

The plan:  My friend Julio Balaguero posted in our group a saying from diving:  Plan your Dive and Dive your Plan - applied, that would be Plan your Race and Race your Plan.  My race plan was conservative.  I had never done this distance before, and my biggest concern was to hit each cutoff and pace myself for a long days' effort.  To that end, a simple plan is best and mine could be summed up with two main elements -

1)  keep the pace aerobic and slow until the the half marathon mark to conserve energy and then make a decision to race it in (if I was feeling my oats) or just keep it slow and steady through to the end (if not). My weakness as a racer is to go out too hard and then suffer in the back half.  I could not risk that in an all day race.  Not to belabor a point but your aerobic system (heart rate zones one and two) can basically go all day long (as in an all day long Ironman!) because it burns fat.  Your anaerobic system kicks in when you increase exertion into heart rate zones three four and five, and you start burning Glycogen.  That is the sugar stored in your muscles and it burns up fast when you go fast.  When it is gone, you "bonk" or get that heavy feeling like you can't move another step.
So for an all day race, you want to be a fat-burning aerobic machine and save your glycogen.

2) keep a steady intake of calories, electrolytes and fluid.  I had been working on this through all those absurdly long bike rides and runs.  I had determined I need about 300 calories/hour on the bike and 200 on the run (you can't eat as much when running because the GI system is all jiggling around (technical term)).  I had food in my bags, food and drink on my bike, and had a plan to replace them and supplement them at the many aid stops.  All in all, this worked like a charm.

1.  The Swim:
It was a mass swim start with about 2800 age groupers starting at the same time.   It was still a little choppy:

This was taken from the beach behind the swim start.  I am the guy toward the right with the green swim cap on (just kidding).  It was pretty hairy at the start, but not as bad as Thursday and Friday (they'd've probably scrubbed the swim if it were!).  Once you got past the surfline it was not so bad.

It was a rectangle shaped course - a half mile out to sea, .2 miles east, and one half mile back (1.2 miles total.  You swim that, run back over to the start on the beach and swim it again.  My friend Nicole captured me between laps:

Total Swim Time:  1:39:39.  Coming out of the water after the second loop, a volunteer helps you strip off your wetsuit, you run under some fresh water showers, grab your bike bag in the transition area from the volunteers, and go change into your bike gear.  To keep it simple I just stayed in my tri suit that I swam in under my wetsuit, but I did put on gloves and the other bike gear (helmet, glasses and bike shoes) and ate some calories to even up the deficit burned on the swim (a Clif Bar and some sports drink).  Again, Nicole got a camera on me running through the Swim to Bike Transition ("T1" as the jargon has it).



 

 "No!  That one!  There!"

 

 

Grab your gear and go!  Thanks, volunteers!

2.  The Bike:

IMFL has a reputation for being a "flat as a pancake" bike course.  Well, maybe to people from far and wide across the fruited plains it is.  I train in Homestead.  Farm Country.  South of Miami.  THAT is pancake flat.  This was not.  Rollers, bridges, some bumpy sections, particularly at the 56-mile turnaroud.  But yes, it was "pretty" flat. 

 

 

Going "aero" on the highways north of Panama City.

My speed was all over the place depending on the headwinds, but it all averaged out around 16.6 mph which was more or less my training pace on Long A** Rides (tm) in training (over 90 miles).  Again, I was holding back to save my legs for the run.  Total Bike Time: 6:47:34.  My coach, Frank Carino, and Alberto Hernandez from our group, got a shot of me cruising back into the Bike to Run Transition ("T2"):

Again, in T2, I elected to stay in my tri-suit and just put on running shoes, and race belt and go.

3.  The Run: 

The Marathon Run is a two 13.1 mile loop course through Panama City Beach, with the far loop in a state park and the near end by the race site.  My specific run strategy was the "Galloway run/walk method" I used in my first marathon:  run 5 minutes walk one minute.  It preserves your legs and erases fatigue.  I also kept my pace in high Heart Rate 2 for the first half, which equated to about 11 minute and change miles.

Again, Frank and Alberto captured me on the first loop, feeling good and strong -- my pacing method was paying off: 

 

How do you finish a marathon after swimming 2.4 and biking 112? One step at a time!

During long parts of the run course I ran with my training partner Gema Midence and, later, my colleague at the law firm, Cynthia Morales.  That was really nice to have the company along the way a friendly face.  We all  finished within about a half an hour of each other, but they had a little more oats or zip than I did, so each of them hustled on and it was "ladies first" like my Mom taught me. Congrats Iron Sisters Gema and Cynthia - we did it!  Together!

 
Anyway, so when I hit the special needs bag and ate my chips and Snickers, it was time to make the decision - race it in or just finish.  Clearly, it was "just finish" I had no race in me.  In fact, I fell way off the pace in the back half.  I wasn't bonking or particularly sore or tight, just 12 hours of racing caught up to me.

Lest I forget,
OH MY GOD, WHEN THE SUN WENT DOWN THEY PUT OUT WARM CHICKEN BROTH AT THE AID STATIONS - IT WAS SO SO GOOD!!! SALTY WARM FUEL to finish with.  If you race this race, do yourself a favor and eat the chicken broth. 

Just throwing that out there for anyone who may be reading this race report as a race report for their future use.  I into got a routine at the aid stations - Powerbar Perform Drink, Coke, and Chicken broth.  After the turnaround I could not eat anything.  That might be part of the reason for me slowing down, but again, I think it was more the day catching up to me.  Good thing I'd conserved energy, because I was able to run my intervals all the way in, just the run intervals became more like "plod" intervals.

Anyway, there was nothing to do but plod on in the darkness until I saw the lights of Panama City Beach and then the finish line appear.  After the quiet in the park, the cheering you got on the course was really great. 

The Finish

My friend, Tim Reimink's wife Melissa Goldberg took this - thanks for Sharing!  I love it.


I can't really put this into words, but I will try.  To cross that finish line in a state of absolute physical fatigue and combine that with an overwhelming sensation of relief and JOY is a heady, intoxicating combination.  I felt tears come but I didn't cry.  I was probably too dehydrated! Marathon Split Time:  5:54:12  Official Finish Time:  14:42:12

Hooray!

 

That crazy man is happy.

Finisher Photo - Unofficial, by Frank and Alberto.

The Ironman Litigators

"Hi, how are you? I am an Ironman.  Did you know that?"  :O

After celebrating a little with my friends at the finish line.  I got a massage in Ironman village (free to athletes) then went home and, with Ted and Theresa's assistance, got all my gear squared away and me in bed.

Gennifer and the boys could not make it, so I don't have one of my traditional "me and the support crew" photos, but they were watching me on the Ironman.com live feed and rooting for me.  When I got home, I saw the signs the boys had drawn.  Aw.

The next day, I had a celebratory lunch with Gema, Cynthia and Mari from our group, and Cynthia's friend Liz, at a seafood place called Hammerhead Fred's.  Ice Cream at Hershey's after that (Not for nothing did we burn 7500 calories - time to live a little and put some back!!). 

From left to right, me, Mari, Cynthia, and Gema.  Newly minted Ironmen.

Then it was time to drive home to Miami and resume real life. 

Everything was back to the same, and yet one couldn't help but feel that in some way, now everything was going to be different too.  What, a problem, a challenge, you can't do this or that?  Wait a second, if I can keep plugging through a 140.6 mile, all-day race I think I can handle _________.

To be continued.... Stay Tuned.
 

Ten Lessons Learned from Completing Ironman

I hope that this journey is more than a medal and fond memory.  I want to carry it forward.  In the Army we followed every training exercise with "lessons learned" to capture what went right and what went wrong.  What we should do and not do.  In my event, I have no regrets.  I trained as hard as a busy married professional father of two could possibly train and finished my race healthy, uninjured and in good spirits.  Here is what I hope to take away: 

1.  You can do anything you set your mind to if you commit, plan and do the footwork.
2.  You will need the support of those around you to make it come true.  You make it happen alone, but you are not alone - no one is an Island.
3.  Train now, find the motivation later.
4.  Show up Every Damn Day and make it happen.  No excuses.
5.  Life will happen.  Adjust.
6.  Realizing a dream is a process and a journey.  Enjoy the journey and learn from it.
7.  Plan your race, then race your plan.  Exercise self-discipline.
8.  You can do more than you think you can.  Dig deep.
9.  Believe in yourself.  Trust the hard work you've done.
10.  When you work and suffer to make a dream come true, there is no joy like it! 

"Edson Briggs, you are an IRONMAN!"

What a year this has been.  What a journey.  I did it; my Iron dream came true in Panama City this Saturday and my goal was realized.  It was a long, hard day's work, but as I planned, I kept moving forward until the finish line appeared.  The experience was overwhelming and everything I hoped it would be.  I am an Ironman!  Post-race exhaustion, Saturday night, recover and a long drive yesterday, and the need to get caught up with work and family limit my thoughts for now, but more details will follow.