Summaries

Another one of those days... Just time for summaries.

---

Workout Summary

3.5 mile run - LSD (Wednesday)

1500 yd swim - mixed (form and intervals)

45 minute spin class

5 mile run - tempo

30 minutes circuit/core/stretching

Got in a short run on Wednesday at lunch. I've been wanting to throw another midweek run into the schedule and finally got a chance. Over the next two months I'll grow this to a 7 or 8 mile run. Need the extra volume to make sure I don't get too wrecked by the marathon.

Mixed up the swim a bit today. I've been doing a lot of LSD work so I spent today doing lots of drills with intervals. Shoulders were a bit sore from some cable work I did during Tuesday's circuit training but not bad enough to break form so I worked through it.

Spin was pretty good - the Thursday instructor has great music. Choreography on the other hand wasn't so good so I did my own thing including lots of one legged drills, thus confirming to the rest of the class that I'm a head case.

First half of the run felt great so I pushed hard - 5 minute intervals deep into zone 5. Second half of the run I remembered that I'm supposed to go around 18 or so miles so I backed it off and kept at tempo pace.

The Grindstone

I popped out of the pool this morning and looked out the windows. Dark. Not even a hint that the sun would be making an appearance anytime soon. Crud. Time to bite the bullet. Time to trade in my sweet morning outdoor bike rides for indoor spin classes. At least until spring. Crud.

As I entered the spin studio I noticed a couple of changes. In my absence they had installed a video projection system. During the classes they still continue to play the same lousy music, but now they break up the boredom a bit by playing training videos. Not sure why they don't axe the music and use the video soundtrack but this was certainly better than staring at myself in the mirror for 45 minutes.

During the video they would periodically flash tips, queuing info, and an occasional inspirational quote. I definitely needed inspiration. And then this hit the screen:

Life is a grindstone.
Whether it grinds you or polishes you
is determined by what you're made of.

'Nuff said.

---

Workout Summary

2160 yd mixed swim - 1/3 LSD, 1/3 at tempo, 1/3 alternate sprints with LSD

45 minute spin class. Argh.

5 mile run - tempo

30 minutes core/circuit/stretching

Swim was good. Will continue continuous swims until my last 1/2 of the season and then I'll start mixing it up more and focusing on form for a couple of months. I'd like to get better and alternate side breathing and also my legs feel like they're dragging a bit in the water so I need to tweak my positioning a bit.

Spin class, well, it beats falling down a few flights of stairs. Actually it was nice to catch up with a few people I haven't seen all summer. In the end the music wasn't too bad - though the choreography was still not so good so I spent most of the class doing my own thing.

Run was great. My legs are still a bit sore from the long run on Sunday - so I didn't think it would go so well but my form was spot on and I cruised. I think the leg soreness is due to bad post workout nutrition. I ran out of Endurox two weeks ago and my long workouts since have left me pretty sore. Guess what I'm doing after I publish this post?

Eye of the Storm

Today as hurricane fears grip Florida and the deep south I found myself thinking not about the havoc and fury around the rim of the storm but of the eye in the center. That pocket of relative calm and tranquility surrounded by destruction and chaos.

Once in a previous life I worked for a system testing organization. We were responsible for testing and integrating software into large scale communication networks. For many, load days were always the most stressful day of the week. Load days were when the development teams would drop new software into the lab. I was responsible for getting the software up and running and the lab operational so that the testers could begin test cycles.

The testers and developers alike would hover over me as the various devices went up and down, choking on bad configurations or software. I would be peppered with a constant stream of questions as I tried to get the systems online again. "What's wrong with the RF sites?" "Why are you re-nailing all the circuits?" "When will my system be up?" Many times I'd respond patiently and calmly but other times the interruptions went ignored as I focused in on the problems.

People knew that when I was in this mode that unless they made eye contact they had little chance of getting through. I was in the zone, narrowing and solving problems one by one until the system was up. Someone mentioned that being with me during these times was like being in the eye of hurricane. Everything else was going to hell as chaos ran rampant throughout the system but through it all I remained totally calm and focused.

We all have chaos in our lives. Some of it is momentary like T1 and T2 of a triathlon. Others are just normal patterns that have become part of our daily lives. Traffic. Emails. Phone calls. If you get caught up in that chaos it's easy to become frazzled and exhausted. Frustrated. Irritable. If on the other hand you can remain calm - if you can be the eye of the storm - you can overcome and avoid being emotionally and physically drained by the effects of chaos.

Workout Summary

15.5 mile run - LSD - 2:24

Weekly Summary
Aside from the skipped workouts on Thursday everything else went pretty smoothly. I give myself a bit of leeway during my recovery week, but I still felt guilty about dumping the workout. Type A OCD to the core....

Neck is still a bit sore after yesterday's bike. Not sure why since I haven't changed anything in my bike setup since early in the summer. Will be going to check out a bike shop near where my son plays hockey - they apparently do fittings there so it's worth a shot. The other alternative is driving up to Madison to the guys who originally set me up. I'd like to stay local if possible though.

Little tired in the legs today for the run. Plus I forgot to grab nutrition on the way out the door so I suffered through the last 5 miles, arriving home a bit on the shaky side. I kept my pacing pretty slow today - about 10 minute miles. Next week I'm shooting for an 18 miler for the long run.

Easy Way Out

I turned the corner and there it was. I had completely forgotten about it. It was there all along, patiently waiting for me. The wind. Every cyclist knows that eventually it will find you. Unless you have the tremendous good fortune of riding across the middle of a pressure system.

As I felt the wind push against me I tightened up my form to present the smallest target possible. I downshifted and adjusted my focus to spinning circles. I went from an invigorating 28 mph downwind cruise to a 15 mph grind over the course of 10 feet. Pretty rough transition.

But this is what the mental part of training is all about. Dealing with the ups and downs. Persisting. Resisting. By working through it I learn that I can deal with it. I learn that I can succeed by adjusting my attitude and focus. I can get angry and frustrated at being unable to fly effortlessly, or I can focus on tuning up my form and being more efficient.

As I grind my way down the road I pass another road which if taken will provide a shortcut out of the wind. The easy way out. The quick path back to effortless flight. I smile as I grind pass the street. I smile because I'm not the type that goes wherever the wind blows. I smile because I don't give into temptation and take the easy way out. And I smile because I know that my training has brought about this change. I continue smiling as I keep pushing into the wind.

Another turn. The turn I had planned not the turn of temptation. Wind at my back again. Earned instead of given. Another smile.

In the end the wind, like any adversity, holds the potential to make us stronger. However strength will only come if we're unwilling to yield to the temptation of the easy way out.

---

Workout Summary

2880 yd swim (yesterday)

65 mile bike

A cloudy, humid, windy ride today. Actually the wind was only about 15 mph out of the south but for some reason it felt stronger. Humid air always seems to feel heavier, especially when there's a bit of wind behind it. The ride went well but I was pretty wiped by the end. Still haven't scheduled a fitting yet but I definitely need to. My spin feels very solid so I think my seat height is good, but my neck has been getting sore and I don't feel quite right with my for/aft positioning. Time for professional help.

Word Spinning - Part 2

Looks like another dizzy day for me again. Today I was spinning on "train to race" vs. "race to train".

I'm definitely in the race to train camp. I need goals - the race - to keep me motivated and focused. But the emphasis for me is definitely on the journey - the training. For me the race is just a quiz along the way to allow me to focus and gauge my training. The training on the otherhand is what shapes and sculpts me. It has transformed me - both in the physical and mental sense. Actually the mental transformation was the biggest surprise - the benefit to training that I wasn't expecting. I completely expected that training would make me stronger physically. It never occurred to me as I started down this path that it would change how I approach and view life.

It's amazing what your mind will get up to when your body's busy and knows what to do.

---

Workout Summary

Slacked....

What? Slacked? Yeah - guilty as charged. Actually there were thunderstorms this morning which means they close all the pools at the health club. The idea of going anyways and sitting on a spin bike and then running on a treadmill was too great of a hill for me to climb today. It's a bit of recovery week for me anyways so I snuggled in with my daughter (who got woken up by the thunderstorms and climbed into bed with us) and caught a couple hours of bonus sleep.

Weather permitting I'll get out for a bike/run brick tonight. I at least want to run because I need to keep consistent during my marathon build period.

Word Spinning

While swimming today my mind chewed on the subtle differences that occur when words shift. It surprises me sometimes that I can keep count of my laps with junk like this running through my head. The word shift that had me so intrigued this morning was the difference between "train to eat" vs. "eat to train".

I consider myself to be in the eat to train camp. I've been trying to focus more on my nutrition over the last couple of months and am to the point now where I'm beginning to periodize my diet along to complement the way I periodize the workouts - easing back on carbs when I don't have a workout the next day, going big on proteins when I have long rides or runs, more natural fruits and vegetables instead of crackers and such for snacking, etc. In short, giving my body what it needs when it needs it instead of giving it anything it wants because it tastes good. Because I'm in this camp my focus is eating right so I can train better. Another broader way to spin this is to say that I prepare so that I can succeed. Quite a revealing spin. Am I a classic OCD or what?

My neighbors on the other hand are definitely in the train to eat camp. They're the ones who go on family bike rides a couple of times a week with food stops along the way at the Dairy Queen and Burger King (the royal ride is how I refer to it). In fact pretty much any physical activity they do is followed by some sort of food reward. They might actually be large hairless hamsters - I should look into this (this particular thought caused me to laugh out loud - not real smart since I was underwater at the time). Because of this focus they're definitely train to eat campers - in the end their focus is more on doing something healthy to justify their treats and rewards. The broad spin here is that they work hard in order to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

My point? Spinning does more than make you dizzy sometimes. Consider where you stand on the eat to train/train to eat question. You might be surprised at how much thinking about the why of your answer reveals about you and the way you approach life. Kind of like the half-empty vs. half-full debate. Careful trying this while swimming though. Laughing and being underwater don't seem to mix very well.

---

Workout Summary

2360 yd swim - continuous - easy cruise

15 mile bike - mixed

5 mile run - tempo

30 minutes circuit/core/stretching

Legs held up pretty well on today's run. Still a bit sore from the big run Sunday but form and energy were both surprisingly good. Still have this weird adductor injury that doesn't seem to want to heal. The weird bit is that it doesn't affect my running or biking - it only hurts when I walk. Guess after two months of this it's time to bite the bullet and go get probed by the high paid guys in the white coats.

Only Summaries

Another busy weekend - only time to jot down my summaries!

Workout Summary

17 mile run - 2:35

Went a bit overboard on the run today but the weather was fantastic and I just couldn't help myself. Plus I think I'm feeling a little residual guilt for not running last weekend due to the Dairyland Dare. I played it smart though and ran about 70% on gravel trails and kept my pacing around ten minute miles. Little tightness here and there but overall things feel pretty good.

Weekly Summary
Definitely felt the after shock of the Dairyland Dare this past week. Legs were still heavy but they held up well enough that I felt confident to go longer than planned on today's run. Only skipped workout was the Saturday bike ride - rainy in the morning and plans for the afternoon. Not too worried about that though as my focus is more on getting my run up to Marathon distances.

Also need to be a bit more consistent next week for the bike - still have one more half in September and then the Hilly Hundred weekend in October so I can't completely drop the bike just yet.

Crutches

While swimming today I noticed one of the "regulars" was also there. We chatted for a bit and he commented on how long I typically swim. He complained about his lack of swimming fitness and the fact that he'd been coming for months and hasn't been improving. Without his "accessories" he can only go 50 yds before he has to stop.

In the three or so months I've seen him there I've never seen him swimming without his accessories. He wears flippers, flipper-gloves, a swimmers snorkel, and a pull buoy for almost all his swims.

When they come off, he struggles. So he uses them all the time. I'm gifted with a keen sense of the obvious. The ensuing conversation went something like this:

Me: "Dude - you gotta dump the crutches."
Him: "Huh?"
Me: "All the accessories - flippers, pull buoy, snorkel. Gotta dump those if you want be better without them."
Him: "Yeah. I don't feel strong enough with out them though."
Me: "And you never will unless you dump them."

After that I enlightened him a bit on balance and form and gave him some basic drills to work on.

Don't get me wrong - each of these crutches have their place. It was by using the pull buouy that I discovered that the power in the stroke comes from your upper body and not by kicking. Once I discovered this my swimming changed from exhausting torture to something I really look forward to. Had I not used this crutch I probably would have ended up a Duathlete (not that there's anything wrong with that!) or a couch potato.

The problem isn't in using the crutches - the problem comes when we begin to rely on them. When we begin to believe that we can't do without them. The more we rely on them to correct flaws in our form (or our lives), the harder it is to walk away from them. The trick is to know when use crosses over to abuse. My personal rule when using crutches is this - if by using a crutch I'm no longer making progress towards the point where I can do without them, then it's time to stop using them and try a different approach. As long as the crutch is being used as a tool you're good. Once it's truly a crutch, it's time to dump it. You may take a few steps backwards, but eventually you will come out ahead.

---

Workout Summary

3240 yd (1 hr) continuous swim - moderate to easy.

Ever have one of those swims where you felt you could continue going forever? Yeah baby! Love those! Today was one of those days. I found myself wishing I had gotten up earlier so that I could swim more.

Bad Habits

I think it started with the blistering heat we've had a few weeks ago. The kids started spending more time inside. Specifically, more time inside watching television. They now are beginning to organize their activities around particular television shows. Not the good educational shows - Nova, Nature, Discovery Channel, History Channel. No, they're hooked on the stupid mindless cartoons and teeny-bop sitcoms that channels like Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon are pushing these days.

I didn't really notice it until I was working from home yesterday. I knew the kids were home, and when I went upstairs a couple of times it struck me how quiet things were. Quiet? Our house hasn't been quiet since my son was born. Even less so since my daughter arrived. What the heck?

I went upstairs and saw my daughter laying in bed watching cartoons. My son was in the spare bedroom. He was playing cards (he's recently become fascinated with Poker) but also watching TV. I realized that not only are they watching more (too much) TV, but they're also getting more antisocial. They each go to separate rooms since they can't agree on a program to watch. They're more agitated because their attention is unfocused and splintered. This is a bad path.

In my training I've learned constantly evaluate how my routines are going. Too much? Too hard? Too little? Am I getting any benefits from the effort? Why am I suddenly getting injured? In response to each of these questions little adjustments are made and then reevaluated later. Failure to do this periodically can keep you on a path that yields diminishing returns for your efforts. It places you on a wasting path, instead of a strengthening, building path.

So there will be changes. They'll each get to pick two shows - one in the morning and one in the evening. Exceptions will be made for programs that are educational. After dinner we'll spend time doing active things indoors or out depending on the weather. We'll do things that everyone can participate in, not things that exclude one or the other. Most importantly we'll make it fun. Because if it isn't fun, the strengthening path can quickly become the wasting path.

---

Workout Summary

1440 yd swim - form

17 mile bike - Z3/Z4 boundary, form focus

5 mile run - Z3/Z4 boundary, form focus

30 minutes core/circuit

Now that we're past the equinox it's staying darker longer in the mornings. Today the sun was just beginning to come up as I got on my bike, so I might not be able to do the outside rides for very much longer - too bad as I've really enjoyed them and I think they've helped me considerably this year.

Still tired (big surprise) so I dropped my workouts down a notch and focused on form. Improvised a bit on the bike route to keep things interesting. On the run I had good turnover and felt pretty smooth. Will be shooting for a 15 or 16 mile run this weekend to start my ramp up to 20 by the beginning of September.

Had to cut my swimming a bit because I realized 10 minutes after I left home that I had forgotten my bike shoes and had to go back. Long swim tomorrow should compensate for that though.

In a somewhat radical shift I'm going to cut back on stretching, at least after my bricks. I think that it's actually causing some of the minor injuries (pulled muscles and tendons) that I've experienced over the summer. I'll still do some stretching later on the day but I'm going to be a lot more careful right after workouts.

Exorcism

Preseason hockey clinics started last night for my son. Much to my surprise he was terrified about the whole thing. Trembling lips and verge of tears terrified. After several attempts he couldn't explain to me why he was so afraid. It's so frustrating for kids - they feel emotions but lack the vocabulary or the comprehension to explain them. The why eludes them. It's especially frustrating for my son who sees his inability to articulate his feelings as another imperfection. It's tough to be perfect - he still hasn't figured out that it's ok to not be perfect.

But I knew the reason. The why doesn't elude me so easily as it does my son. We've been down this path before. It's a beast he should know very well by now as he's had to confront it several times. Performance anxiety. The beast that undermines. An especially subtle and wicked beast. A beast that once confronted, shape shifts and comes at you again. And again.

I hate this beast with all my heart and soul. I hate it more because it has my son who still can't quite figure out how to grapple with it. How to recognize and trivialize it. As a child he still hasn't yet developed the weapons required to exorcise his demons. One day he'll understand why I won't let him run away and hide. He'll understand that by exercising this demon he'll also exorcise his demon. He'll know that we're building his arsenal. If he doesn't learn this the beast will dominate every decision he'll make for the rest of his life. He'll relinquish control to fear instead of self.

I've posted on this topic before - it's a recurring theme in all of our lives and the lesson to be learned from it remains the same. Be prepared to exercise your fears or be prepared to be exercised by them. God gave you free will - the biggest weapon in your arsenal. Use it to choose to confront the beast and become the driver, because if you don't you'll become the passenger. The ride is much better when you're the driver.

---

Workout Summary

1800 yd swim - mixed tempo and form (morning)

15 mile bike - mixed tempo and easy (morning)

5 mile run - tempo (morning)

30 minutes core/circuit/stretching

22 mile bike - long intervals (afternoon)

3.6 mile - Z4/Z5 (afternoon)

Legs are still feeling pretty heavy from the Dairyland Dare, but was able to slog my way through while maintaining decent form. I've decided to cut down my bike mileage a bit to make more room in the mornings for running - the NY marathon is now under three months a way so I need to shift focus a bit. Went ahead and did a double today - will continue doing that for a while as it seems to be working well for me.

Dairyland Dare Trip Report

Catch-up
First a quick catch-up since I've been slacking on postings. After Steelhead my family and I went up to Muskegon to spend the day at Michigan's Adventure - a kid oriented amusement park with a great assortment of rides as well as a great water park. Afterwards we took the Lake Express high speed ferry over to Milwaukee (costly but worth it in order to avoid the hellish ride through the Indiana/Chicago perpetual construction-zone corridor of death) and then headed for home. Overall it was a fun trip and a great way to slip in a Triathlon while still spending quality time with the family.

After arriving back home I decided to take the remainder of the week off to rest up for the Dairyland Dare - a new "challenge" ride that I was totally unprepared for. Slacked on posting because I was totally swamped at work and home. From the Matchbox Twenty song - I wish the real world would just stop hassling me. Ahh, the delicate balance of priorities....

---

Dairyland Dare Trip Report
It was redemption time. After the miserable showing at the Horribly Hilly Hundreds in June it was time to return to the scene of the crime and give it another go. Pre-ride my game plan was to at least do the 200K route, and then based on how I was feeling decide whether or not to the 266K route. Given the fact that I haven't had a ride over 100 miles since June due to my focus on Muncie and Steelhead I knew I was going to be in for a challenge.

The Dairyland Dare is a new challenge ride this year for those who didn't suffer quite enough during the Horribly Hilly Hundreds. There are four options for the ride - 100K, 200K, 266K, and for the truly sick and twisted - 300K. I signed up for the 266K but knew going into this weekend that that was unlikely since I haven't done a lot of distance training.

Arrived at the Pine Ridge Motel in Dodgeville late Friday afternoon after three hour drive and hooked up with Pa and Luddie who had left an hour and a half ahead of me. After riding down to get our packets (and getting lost along the way) we headed to the Pizza Hut for dinner. The Pizza Hut sign had another sign just below it that proclaimed that this Pizza Hut was an "Italian Bistro". I guessed that meant pasta so we went for it. It was indeed pasta and it was surprisingly good. We were off to a good start.

Saturday morning it was up at 6 and on our way by 7. The ride start was uneventful and I was quickly dropped by Pa and Luddie on the first rollers coming out of the start. In contrast to the Horribly Hilly Hundreds and the past couple of weeks, the weather was very cooperative - high 70's, low humidity, and clear skies. Outstanding.

The course(s) for this event were absolutely fantastic from a scenery standpoint. I've often told my wife that if we were to ever move anywhere in the Midwest that it would be to the Madison area - it is absolutely beautiful up there. I had plenty of time to enjoy the scenery because I was so pathetically slow on the climbs. Even my forerunner thought I was standing still which screwed up my mileage stats a little bit.

The beauty of the landscape was in stark contrast to the sheer brutality of the course. This course has some of the steepest most grueling climbs I've ever done on a bike. There were times on some of the climbs where I thought my quads would stop firing because they were so burnt. There were also times where I was literally doing track stands because I was going so slow. My cadence was reduced to a push-pause-push-pause grind up the steeper climbs.

Overall it was a good hard ride with only a couple of hitches. The organizers allowed a special needs bag to be dropped and one of the rest stops. Pa and I decided to drop some Perpeteum into a bag and have it waiting for us at the Pleasant View rest stop - about 80 miles into the ride. Unfortunately we both missed the rest stop (I thought it was just a water stop and not the official rest stop when I went by) so we had to back track tacking on another 4 to 6 miles to the trip. A few of the roads had some "surprise" gravel patches on the downhills which took a few folks out of the ride. Fortunately I saw the patches in time and didn't freak out so I escaped unscathed. There were also a couple of poorly marked turns which got quite a few riders lost. In the end I finished the 200K route - not quite the 266K I'd signed up for but great considering the lack of big mileage rides since June. Overall though the organizers did a great job - I think this ride will be very successful in the future.

At the end of the ride I was totally, utterly, spent. After collapsing in a heap and not moving for a good 10 minutes I got up and had a burrito and felt a bit better. A quick shower (Pa brought along his Sunshower portable camping shower - a must have for rides and tri's) and we hopped into cars and headed down to New Glarus for a proper dinner at the Glarner Stube - home of the largest urinal in the Midwest. There I proceeded to consume at least as many calories as I burned by eating wiener schnitzel (veal cutlets breaded and fried in butter) and ruesti (a kind of hashbrown pie with cheese filling), as well as a pint of Squirrel Nut (local beer). A perfect ending to a tough day.

Steelhead Trip Report

The short version: Another PR - 5:10!

The really long version:

Prerace
After a grueling three hour drive through Chicago we arrived at our hotel just outside of St. Joseph, MI and got checked in. Transition opened at two so we repacked the family and headed down to get a feel for things and get checked in.

The Triathlon was staged from Jean Klock park a small lake front park with a fantastic beach for the kids. My wife and kids headed down to check out the beach while I browsed a bit at the expo and headed over to get my packet. After getting my packet and body markings I ran into a few folks from the health club as well as a couple people from my Triple T race earlier this summer. Triple T folks get around - each race I've been at I've seen at least one. Afterwards I racked my bike and then headed to the beach to find my family.

Hung out down at the beach for a while with the kids and then pried them away (they weren't very pleased) to head back to the hotel for a quick change and then dinner.

Dinner was arranged by Habeela at an awesome Italian restaurant called Santinellos that was just five minutes away from our hotel. Shelley and family, E-Speed and a couple of friends, DJGoldnboy and his wife, and Habeela and her Mom were present. It was great to meet everyone. Everyone was very nice and very excited about the coming race. My kids were a bit antisocial and cranky (they were banking on more beach time and McDonald's for dinner) but what's a parent to do.

After dinner headed back to the room, premade my coffee, stuck in some earplugs and drifted off to sleep in record time - it had been a long day of traveling back and forth so we were all pretty wiped.

Race Morning
Up at 4:30, fully caffeinated by 4:45. Mixed my Perpeteum bottles and roused the family. They were all quite pleased at getting up so early - especially the kids. Knowing they were headed back to the beach helped encourage them a little. Got them fed, packed into the van, and then we were off.

Last year this Triathlon had around 800 participants. This year there were 2000, so there was a bit of growing pain. Parking was a bit of a nightmare as they routed us through an industrial park about a mile away from the start. The idea was that we'd be bussed to the start. After waiting for about 10 minutes with a mob of people (kids and wife very pleased by this time) we were told by a volunteer that we'd have to walk to the other side of the industrial park to get a bus. Glorious.

Finally got a bus and got to transition. Said goodbye's to the family as they headed down to the beach. Their mood improved the closer they got to the beach. Good thing.

Set up my transition area and then wandered over to the porta-potty's and the water coolers to top off my bottles before catching yet another bus to the race start - the pier marking the entrance to the St. Joseph river. While in transition I ran into Habeela and E-Speed and friends, as well as my buddy The Mountain who I did Triple T with earlier this summer and one of my spin instructors from the club. We chatted a bit and then headed for the bus.

On arrival we regrouped and finished getting our wetsuits on. I wandered down to the water to check the temps (very nice) and to rinse my goggles before heading up to the pier with my wave.

The getting to the start point part was the most stressful part of the day. Once I got there and got ready to begin my usual race-calm descended. I get a little jittery and nervous prior to a race but once things begin I slip very quickly into my zone. The fact that my plan for race day was to focus on fun first also helped keep my mind in the right place.

The Swim
For the swim start you lined up with your wave-mates and jumped off the pier. The drop into the water was a good 6-8 feet and you had to wait for the person in front of you to pop up before you could jump, otherwise you'd probably land on top of them. By this time I was totally calm and pumped - an odd combination, sort of like a spring coiled and ready to go. The countdown came, the horn sounded, and I launched.

I hit the water and quickly sank down, and then popped up like a cork. Cool! Got myself oriented and started swimming. I kept my mind focused on pulling from my back instead of my arms and was for the most part successful. About 15 minutes into the swim I started picking up people from the wave ahead of me. I was also passing quite a few folks from my wave so I knew the swim was going pretty well. About mid way through though my goggles started fogging badly. I thought about stopping and rinsing them out but was afraid I'd get hit in the face by a swell and wash out my contacts so I carried on. It got to the point where I was sighting through a dime sized clear spot in my goggles. Fortunately I'm a pretty straight swimmer so though it was a pain not to see clearly it didn't really hurt me and I didn't get spun up about it.

As I reached the beach I took off the goggles and swim cap and started running up the beach into the crowd of supporters gathered at the waters edge. I looked up and there was my family - very cool! I gave my daughter a quick wet hug and then ran up the hill and into transition.

The Bike
Got out onto the bike course and found my rhythm immediately - very good sign. I slipped into cruise control and started picking off riders one by one. The weather was perfect, the road surface was awesome, and the scenery was beautiful.

Things were going perfect until mile 15. At mile 15 I got a front row seat to the worse crash I've ever seen. A woman had just passed me and I dropped back the required four bike lengths to avoid a drafting penalty. She pulled to the right a little too much and her front tire went off the side of the road. She tried to compensate by turning back into the road but her tire slipped and her bike shot to the left right in front of me - very similar to my crash a few weeks ago, except this time it was her and not me crashing. Her attempts at regaining control of the bike only seemed to make things worse. As her back wheel lifted she flew off the front of the bike. I'll never forget her scream as she went down hard. She rolled for a good ten feet before stopping. Her bike continued for a few more feet before sliding to a stop. Fortunately her and the bike went down to the left of me and I avoided the crash. I turned and a few people had stopped to help out. I saw the intersection ahead had a volunteer so I continued and let the volunteer know that someone had crashed. I never found out her number so I don't know if she finished. I don't think so though.

The rest of the bike was fortunately much less eventful. I had my computer set to show me splits every 10 miles and each split was a bit under 30 minutes - perfect pacing. I ran through my nutrition according to my plan as well and felt great. With about 10 miles to go The Mountain caught up with me. He was tackling the hills in big gears and grinding his way up so I encouraged him to go with little gears and spin. By the second hill he got my point and was cruising away from me. I was tempted to pursue but instead stuck to my plan.

I hit transition and glanced down at my computer - right around 2:30 - good news from a pacing standpoint. After that though I totally botched the transition. This was my worst T2 ever - clocking in at above 4 minutes. The problem was I didn't think through the mechanics before I entered so my mind was all over the place. First I started without my race belt and gel pack. Then I started without my watch. Third time was a charm and I finally successfully escaped the confines of T2.

The Run
legs: Umm, hello?
mind: Yes?
legs: Whatcha doin?
mind: (slightly annoyed) Running.
legs: Yeah. About that. Umm, aren't we going a bit fast?
mind: No. Anything else I can help you with? I'm a little busy.
legs: Uh, guess not.
mind: Great. Mind out.
legs: Yeah. You can say that again....

My prerace plan was to focus on form if I felt bad, and go fast if I felt good. I felt good. Instead of starting at a 10 minute pace and splitting down I started at an 8:30 pace and kept that for the whole 1/2 marathon. Normally I wouldn't do this but I felt really, really good. I had good form and rhythm and felt very calm and smooth.

The great thing about this run is that there are a few out and back legs so you get to see and cheer on other athletes as they go by. As I saw people from the health club and the blogger group we'd cheer each other on. That made the whole run that much more fun and gave me something to focus on other than counting my steps. The positive energy you pass comes back immediately and I milked every bit of it. The run was a mixture of shady neighborhoods, unshaded roads, and industrial park areas. There were plenty of aid stations along the way and this time I avoided filling up my running shoes with water!

By mile 12 my legs were getting smoked. I could feel the energy ebb. I could also see the final hill and turnaround down to the finish line so that got me through. I shot down the finish line and saw my family perched on the side of a hill adjacent to the finish line. I looked up and saw the clock. 5:35. My wave left 24 minutes after the clock started. I knew then that I had a new PR. With a huge smile I crossed the line and reunited with my family.

After hydrating I met my family down by the beach and soaked in the water for a while. The perfect ending to a fantastic day.

Steelhead Preview

After a blistering hot week what better way to welcome in a "cold front" then doing another Triathlon! This weekend I'll be doing the Whirlpool Steelhead 1/2 Ironman in Benton Harbor Michigan. This will be the first 70.3 series race for me - not sure what that means exactly but I will in a few days.

There are two bonuses for this trip as well to add to the overall fun factor.

The first bonus is that my family (wife and kids) will be accompanying me for this one. It's not often the whole family is able to make it to one of my events and it always lifts me up when they do. Right after the Tri we're going to drive up the coast to Muskegon for the night, spend the following day at Michigan's Adventure (water/amusement park), and then the next morning we'll take the ferry across lake Michigan to Milwaukee. In Milwaukee we'll spend the day at the zoo and then head for home.

The second bonus is that Habeela has organized a dinner for several other bloggers and friends on Friday night. It wil be a lot of fun to meet the people behind many of the blogs I've been spending so much time reading. Then we'll get to support each other through the race the following day. As Stu would say - "Wickedly Cool!"

So this one's shaping up to be a fun time - and that's what I'm focusing on. No PRs, no stressing, just having fun. If I feel good I'll go fast. If I don't I'll focus on form and enjoy the scenery. Either way, I'm having fun on this one.

Overall my plan of attack will be identical to my Muncie Endurathon plan, though I think I was a bit optimistic about negative splitting the run down to 8's. Instead I'll try to shoot for 9 to 8:30's. I'll also try to avoid pouring a whole cup of water into my shoe this time.

How

One thing I've learned through miles and miles of training is that the how part is just as important as the what part. Screw up the how part and the what part will not get you to the where part. I should really spend less time in shallow water.

In the spirit of how I focused on form for my workouts today. Since this is a taper week I should be cutting volume but keeping intensity high, but frankly I'm still a bit burnt from last week's workouts. Interestingly enough this turns out to be the perfect time to focus on form. It's when you begin to tire that your form begins to break down. Indeed, loss of form is usually the first indicator that you're tiring. Ironically when you're tiring is exactly when you need your form to be at it's best. Good form leads to efficiency and allows you to conserve energy. Bad form leads to inefficiency which results in wasted energy which leads - well you get the picture.

A side benefit of focusing on form is that it also helps keep your mind off the fact that you're getting tired. Giving your mind something to focus lessens the chance that it will get up to mischief and start spinning up negative thoughts. An unfocused mind is a dangerous opponent.

---

Workout Summary

2160 yd continuous swim - LSD with form focus

18 mile bike - tempo with form focus

3.25 mile run - tempo with form focus

30 minutes circuit/core/stretching