Raleigh Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Race Report

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Jeff

The below picture is the saddest picture of my bike you will ever see.  It’s almost embarrassing.  Look closely… there are no pedals.  The pedals have been resting in a ziploc baggie since late June….of 2013Sad smile. The last time I rode my bike was in Coeur D’Alene Idaho, but it was awesome!

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In the days and months since, I had this crazy idea to see how fast I could race a marathon.  Not just run it, but race it. So that is exactly what I did for the next 286 days.  I’ve always had this idea of someday qualifying & running in the Boston Marathon, preferably before age 40. So, I created a plan based off several of Hal Higdon’s Plans. This was a 6 day per week plan for 20 straight weeks.  In the past I honestly didn’t want to train as hard as it would take to qualify for Boston.  This year I decided would be different.  The Line was drawn. The time to beat was 3hrs 10min 00sec. I think I only missed 2 days of training.

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Things that changed over the next 286 days of running:

  • I didn’t really worry at all about Heart Rate Monitoring, Zones, etc.
  • The only thing that mattered was getting to where I could run a marathon in 3:10:00, averaging 7:10 pace.
  • I focused on running much slower on my long runs.
  • I focused on running much faster on my short runs/hill repeats, intervals.
  • I had more fun.  Long gone were the death march long runs.  I knew I could complete distance.  My motivation was on the speed workouts, hill repeats, etc.  I looked forward to it.

Race Day!

Start

I had a near catastrophe on race morning.  Driving downtown on race morning, I was only 4-5 blocks from race start line when I realized I had totally forgotten to grab my race nutrition and put in my gear bag.  For a split second, I contemplated the possibility of running without nutrition.  I put the car in reverse and drove backwards up the exit ramp shoulder in standing traffic back onto Western Blvd.  A quick couple of sketchy U-turns and I was heading back home to grab my EFS nutrition out of the fridge.  Long story short, I parked at a church and quickly jogged about 1 mile to the starting line, arriving with under 2 min prior to start time.

So, typically it works best if I break things down into chunks.  For a marathon it helps if I split it up into 4 x 6.55 mile segments.  Mentally it’s just easier; and easier from a pacing standpoint to correct things if your pace starts to slip.  So at each split, I just reset to target my goal pace.

First 6.55 Miles: 7:05 Pace, Check!

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Second 6.55 Miles: 7:14 Pace, Check!….Avg 7:09

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Third 6.55 Miles: 7:30 Pace, Oh Damn, trouble ahead!  Trouble with math at this point….Avg 7:15ish pace.  Need to push the last 6.55

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Fourth 6.55 Miles:7:37 Pace.  No!!!! You can see how relatively smooth my heart rate was during the first 3 splits.  I pushed a bit harder from mile 19-22 to try and get back on pace.  At about 22 miles in, the wheels start to fall off.  At this point I was in a real situation…heart rate was dropping even as I tried to run faster,  then I would slow down, and my heart rate would elevate, just like a yo-yo.  In short, I was bonking.  I took my remaining salt tablets, electrolytes, and a gulp of some sugary sports drink from the nearest aid station.

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Somewhere around mile 23-24, the 3:15:00 pace runner passed by me.  He asked if I needed a pacer. I said yes, and said I was shooting for 3:10:00 (even though I knew this was evaporating before the road in front of me.  He picked up the pace, and I went with.  A short but agonizing 2-3 miles later I rounded the corner and saw the finish line ahead.  The clock was ticking 3:13:XX and change.  3:10:00 was out(total Boston bummer) today, but my old PR of 3:16:13 from 1998 was going down today!

Finish Time was 3:13:53, Woot!  Good enough for a top 3 in my age group, 25th Overall.

Finisher

After the race I double-checked the Boston Qualifying Website and noticed in the fine print that the qualifying times for Boston are based on the age that you will be on the race day of the Boston Marathon in which you are attempting to qualify.  As luck would have it, I will clicking the big 4-0 this year.  So, I thought my time to beat was 3hrs 10min 00sec (for 35-39 year olds on race day). But, for 40-44 year olds(on race day), the time to beat is actually 3hrs 15min 00sec.  GOAL!!!

Thanks for Reading!

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The Last Harvest

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Jeff

The last three months I have been incredibly busy with work, so I have not had much time to post anything.  I’m not complaining, as I don’t handle boredom very well.  In addition, over the last 4 months we have spent pretty much every weekend at the coast, fixing one thing or another at the Anntique.  I tried to keep my camera by my side or close by if at all possible.  Many times I would just set the camera up for timelapse, and continue working on whatever project(hard manual labor) was underway.  Every once in a while, I would end of up with a sequence that was  a keeper.  There was even an instant where a bear came within 20 feet of the house. 

After recording several hours of video, and thousands of photos, here are the 4 minutes that turned out pretty good.

Thanks for Watching!

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Grand Teton National Park

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Jeff

After three days at Yellowstone, we headed south for about an hour into Grand Teton National Park.  This country was simply stunning.  I can’t really describe the things we saw in a way that would do any justice.

I nearly drove off the road on numerous occasions because I just could not stop looking at the mountains in the distance. The view was spectacular.

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Once I got my head around the incredible views of the mountains, I started to look closer and notice all of the wildflowers in bloom right under my feet. This was not planted for show in someone’s garden, but rather just a wide open prairie.  Everywhere you looked seemed to be straight out of a postcard.  The mountains were perfectly placed in the background with the colorful valley below with all of the flowers in bloom. 

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Hiking one of the trails near Jenny Lake.  Perhaps the clearest water I have ever seen.  When I saw this, I just wanted to jump in and swim all afternoon.

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This was taken from the old empty Cunningham Cabin.  Makes you wonder why one would ever leave a cabin empty with a view like this.

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And lastly, a couple pictures from the Mormon Row Historic District at the base of the Tetons.

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All in all, we drove about 2000 miles(and flew another 5k) in our little rental car and hiked/walked whenever we felt like it was a good area.  I am really happy I was able to see the Northwest part of the United States, though I still want to check out Washington, Oregon, and check out more of the Pacific Coast.  We still need to figure out a way to explore Utah at some point as well. 

I hope everyone enjoyed the pictures/video. We sure did.

Thanks for Reading!

 

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Yellowstone National Park

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Jeff

After three days at Glacier, we had to pull ourselves away and convince each other that there were other cool places to see outside of northern Montana.  So we loaded up the rental car with all of our gear and headed on the seven hour drive south to Yellowstone National Park.  I failed to mention earlier that part of our rental car excitement in Glacier National Park included a boulder rolling down the mountain and smashing into the car as we were driving on one of those windy narrow roads.  The scary part wasn’t so much the microwave size boulder that hit the side of the car, but rather not knowing if there were other rocks hurtling down the mountain towards you at the same time.  Lucky for us it was just the single boulder and not too much damage to the car.

Anyway, eventually we arrived at Yellowstone, and here are some of the amazing things we saw.

Yellowstone is one of those places that has something for everyone.  Tons of wildlife to see, beautiful river canyons with waterfalls, open views that are hard to imagine, and the world’s largest collection of geysers.

Here are a couple of random pictures that turned out well

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I was kind of surprised by how tame much of the wildlife was.  They didn’t seem to care in the slightest about people walking by.  This elk just plopped down in the grass on the side of the road.

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Honestly, my favorite part was looking at all the geothermal areas of Yellowstone.  I expected to see geysers, because everyone has heard of Old Faithful.  But I didn’t expect to see so many hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles.  These things were everywhere, and they are constantly changing.  Walking around here and seeing the contrast in colors was like being on another planet.

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Anyway, got to run….Next stop, Grand Teton!

Thanks for Reading! 

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Glacier National Park

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Jeff

The day after Ironman Coeur D’Alene, we packed up the rental car and headed Northeast for about 4-5 hours to Glacier National Park in northern Montana.  The drive through northern Idaho and Montana was great, but nothing like what we saw when we arrived at Glacier.  There is a spectacular road that basically traverses the park called Going-to-the-Sun Road.  Lucky for us, this road was just opened about a week prior after plowing all of the winter snowfall for the year.  This road is an incredible scenic drive and has some of the most dramatic mountain views I have ever seen.  The road is only open for 3-4 months out of the year.

Below is some of what we saw along the way over the next 3 days.

Most of the park sits in the 7000-8000 foot range.  Not too bad in terms of hiking, but we were a little fatigued in the first few days after the Ironman just walking up gentle inclines. But who cares, we weren’t in any hurry.  The thing I found so interesting about this place is how dramatically different it is from one side of the park to the other. 

First, on the western side you have dense evergreen forest like you seen in the Pacific Northwest.

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Next, you can drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road from the Western side to the Northeastern side.  On the way, you cross over the Continental Divide(Logan Pass ~8000ft), where you still have significant amounts of snow on the ground.  This is only about 30-45 minutes away.  Quite a bit colder and at least a foot or two of snow on the ground.  This area is much like the Colorado Rockies.

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Once you get down to the other side to a place called St. Mary, you can go to two other parts of Glacier National Park.  If you drive south about 30-45 minutes towards Two Medicine, the climate and the scenery change to that of the open prairies of Montana.  Just amazing…open…vastness(and lots of wildlife).

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However, if you drive north 30-45 minutes, towards Many Glacier, the climate and scenery change back from prairies to that of the Colorado Rockies.

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We spent almost three days at Glacier driving and hiking all over the place.  The first day and a half it seemed to rain quite a bit, but I really didn’t mind at all.  It was fascinating to see how fast the clouds would roll in, dump some rain and wind, and then clear right up in 30 minutes.  This would repeat itself over and over, rain, wind, sun, etc.  I guess this was the last stand of spring as the rains were finally giving way to the summer sun and warmer temperatures.  In the days after we left, I heard that the skies were clear and that the Northern Lights were really starting to fire up.  We’ll have to make a special trip back some day.

Next stop, Yellowstone!

Thanks for Reading!

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Ironman Coeur D’Alene Race Report 2013

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Jeff

Race Day finally arrived1  There’s only a couple things we do before a race.  Eat breakfast, and get our mindset right. I found this video a couple of years ago, and for some reason it does the trick for me.  I know it’s over the top, but it makes me think of all the great coaches that I’ve had in my lifetime(I’ve been lucky).  The best coaches are those that really know how to motivate you above and beyond your potential.  Thank you to any coach who has ever been tasked with coaching me. 

We headed down to the swim start area with 2700+ other athletes to attempt to warm up in the chilly Lake Coeur d’Alene waters.  After a couple out and backs it was time to make our way to the starting corral around 6:25a.m.  I kissed Ann and gave her a big hug and made my way to the front line.  I was thinking 6:30a.m. was the start time, so the next 5 minutes was agonizing….

Swim: “If I see an opportunity, I am going try and break 1 hour.”

swimstart

Photo by: IRONMAN photographer Nils Nilsen

Suddenly the race started and we all just started sprinting through the race chute to the water.  I went wide right from the onset on this counterclockwise course.  I wanted to be far outside of the pack for the first 900 yds. to the first turn buoy so I could get into a rhythm and avoid the blender of arms and legs.  I kept only the farthest buoy in my sight and kept heading directly towards that from the outside.  I took the first turn about 5-10yds wide on purpose, then proceeded to the second buoy.  As I approached the second buoy, I saw a gap between swimmers, and cut through to pass the 2nd buoy touching my left hand as I passed by. Then it was a straight shot back to the shore for the end of the first of 2 laps.  I eventually exited the water, passed the timing matt, and looked down at my watch.  29 mins!  Ok, “just chill’, I thought.  Same thing second lap….stay a bit wide(but not as wide as the first lap), and just get back into a rhythm.  First turn buoy, no problem.  Second turn buoy, “go hard”, I thought.  There was plenty of open water in front and a direct line back to the swim finish.  I increased my effort a little but not so much that I was going to regret it later.  I exited the water, crossed the timing mat for the 2nd time, looked down and saw 58: something.  Sweet!! This was my first time going under 1 hour. 

Swim:  58:52 1st PR of the day!

Transition 1:

I was a little disoriented from the up and down motion in the water and the chilly temperature of the water.  I made it through the wetsuit strippers in about 3 seconds, grabbed my gear bag for the bike, ran into the change tent, put on bike shoes, helmet, all very fast.  I think my total transition time from water to bike was about 3 minutes, definitely my fastest yet.

Bike:  “Just focus on wattage and nutrition.  Go hard if I still have the legs after 80 miles.”

Well Crap… As I turned onto Sherman Ave to head out of town, I looked down and saw that I had somehow lost 2 bottles of nutrition during the first quarter mile.  I only had one bottle of nutrition on board, and 2 more waiting at mile 60ish…..I needed 5 bottles total.

Note to Self: If you ever do one of these races, just realize that the day is long and everything will not go exactly as planned.  It’s not a crisis, and your day is not over.  You just have to problem solve and find the best solution to the current situation.

I don’t remember too much about the bike.  I was so focused on having a solid bike split that I just tuned out everything.  My only focus was my wattage and nutrition.  I was feeling like it was a real effort to keep things in the 190w-200w range instead of the 200w-220w range.  I was light on the pedals going up the hills and passing plenty of folks, but they just seemed to drag on, and I was starting get a stitch in my side.  I figured this was from the new untested food onboard at this point.  I just wasn’t hitting the the 20, 40 mile markers where I thought I should dreamed I could.  Somewhere near the end of the first 56 miles I realized mentally that I was just slowly working my way into a funk.  I had to let all of that negative thought just go. 

New outlook:  I am racing an Ironman! I am biking in one of the most beautiful areas of the country.  I have an endless buffet of food and pretty much a closed bike course.  It’s sunny and 70F with no humidity.  So I just put on a smile and kept spinning.  Slowly all the negative worries about wattage and stomach cramps disappeared.  Instead I noticed the Indians from the local tribe beating their drums to help you climb the hills.  I noticed the awesome bagpipes(loved this) playing on the next steep climb.  I noticed the incredible farmland country in the mountains that I was biking through.  I noticed the totally awesome 2.5 mile down hill that I was getting ready to fly down like it was the worlds largest roller coaster.  Woop Woop!  I used every gear I had, until I spun out.  It was exhilarating.  

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Coming back into town on the bike was the best crowd reception that I have ever seen during an Ironman.  The local news station was expecting huge crowds(nearly 30k), and they certainly didn’t disappoint.  Going down the main street to start the second lap was standing room only behind the barricades.  We were zipping through town on our bikes so fast, I was actually a little worried of a wayward kid or a dog stepping out onto the street.  Traffic control was awesome! Crowd was awesome!  Lets do this!  More bagpipes please.  I kept up this outlook for the 2nd lap even though I knew nutrition was starting to be a problem. 

Bike 5:50:33 2nd PR of the day.

Transition 2:

I don’t remember this.  I’ve become pretty fast at transitions by keeping every item I need in a big Ziploc baggie.  So all I do is put on my running shoes and run out of the change tent with my Ziploc.  I’ve got my hat, race belt, nutrition, and emergency stuff all in smaller snack size bags.  So I just grab and go and sort it all out while I’m running.  About 2 minutes.

Run: “Run fast early, because you sure won’t run fast later.”

As I looked down at my watch I saw that I was under 7 hours by about 5-10 minutes.  My first thought was, “I’ve got this…Today I’m going under 11 hours.”  My second thought was, “Don’t be a jackass..You have 26.2 miles to run with some serious hills….Anything can happen.”  I started out feeling pretty good.  I was actually running at about 7:40 pace for the first 2.5 miles.  I knew I would eventually slow down significantly, but I wanted to get  as many quick miles in as possible before the suffering set in too much.  Sooner than expected(probably about mile 5) the suffering showed up and started to camp out in my head.  I usually hit this point at mile 16-19.  I was starting to feel really nauseous, like I was going to vomit.

Repeat Note to Self: If you ever do one of these races, just realize that the day is long and everything will not go exactly as planned. It’s not a crisis, and your day is not over. You just have to problem solve and find the best solution to the current situation.

     Sub Note to self: Pack an “Oh No” baggie with Anti-Vomit(Tums), Anti-Crap(Imodium), Anti-Pain(Advil), and Anti-etc(sh*t happens)…and whatever else you can think of.   

So I hit mile 5 feeling like I was just going to hurl.  I chewed one of the six Tums that I had with me, and a sip of Coke(yep, not good, started Coke at mile 5).  This calmed things down after about 5 minutes as I tried to keep my pace up.  After another mile or two I was so nauseous again that I just could not take in any more EFS Liquid Shots or I would surely lose it.  I switched over to Ann’s routine, which is 1 pretzel and 1 sip of fluid every mile.  This seemed to be palatable until it wasn’t, so I would then chew another Tums to calm things down.  This whole time my mind is waging absolute war with myself.  On the one hand, I’m telling myself to just walk, because that’s the only way for the nausea to pass.  On the other hand my mind is yelling HOLD!!!!  DO NOT WALK.  YOU CAN ONLY WALK FOR 10 SECONDS AT THE AID STATIONS.  WE ALREADY DISCUSSED THIS.  THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS.  EXPECT THE PAIN AND USE IT…HOLD ONTO IT!!….Back and forth, with the mind games…I run and do not walk.  My stake in the ground is to concentrate on keeping my cadence at 92 and my pace as close to 9 min miles(under the 11 hour mark) as possible.

At the end of the first lap you go through downtown Coeur D’Alene again.  The feeling is so intense through here.  You can see and taste the finish.  The crowds are really pushing you on.  Their loved ones are out on the course as well and they’re hoping everything is ok.  The music is loud, intense, rib thumping…You can’t possibly quit in this section or the shame would overwhelm you for the rest of your life.

For the second lap I made sure that I gave out high fives and fist bumps to anyone that was offering.  I went through 6 chewable Tums throughout the marathon portion, but it actually was enough to keep everything down(until 1 hour after the race).  Around mile 23, I saw Ann, or rather Ann saw me and yelled.  I was so delirious at this point, but so relieved to see her.  I hadn’t seen Ann in several hours since the middle of the bike course.  She was smiling, which made me smile.  We will both finish today, no matter what, and I knew it. 

Mile 24, huge seizing cramps in my adductor muscles in the front of my hips.  “Don’t blow it now”, I thought.  I took every salt tablet I had left at that moment(4), and a sip of water and Coke.  Go, Go, Go…Have to keep running to be under 11 hours.  Eventually, I rounded the last corner to see the finish line straight down Sherman Ave about a 1/2 mile away.  I looked down at my watch and read about 10:49:00.  I was good to go.  I slowed down to take in the moment.  I was going to be under 11 hours and I didn’t care in the slightest by how much. 

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Run:  3:56:34 3rd PR of the Day(barely)

Finish:  10:51:17 new PR by 12 minutes.

Finally, I broke the elusive 11 hours(for me) barrier.  So happy I was able to PR on the hardest course I’ve ever done.  Ann was able to finish her 3rd Ironman after some severe motion sickness for 2 hours in the cool, choppy Coeur D’Alene waters.  I honestly don’t know how she overcame that to even start the bike course.  One of these days, she’ll have a race that goes like clockwork, and she’ll knock 3 hours off her time.  I can’t wait to see what the next year has in store.

Tomorrow we’re heading on an incredible Road-Trip to Grizzly Country!

Thanks for reading!

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Ironman Coeur D’Alene, Here We Go!

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Jeff

"If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse." – Jim Rohn

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Ironman Coeur D’Alene! We are just a couple of days from doing this, and I can’t wait. We are both 100% healthy. We are both fit. We’ve managed to keep the bike tires on the pavement, despite all the rain, hail, wind(oh the wind), and sleet this year. No running injuries, no swimming mishaps, and no dog bites. Just lots of solid, intense training.

For those newcomers that don’t know what an Ironman is, here is the deal:

  • Swim 2.4 miles(about 60-90 minutes of swimming hard)
  • Bike 112 miles(6-7 hours of biking hard – no drafting)
  • Run 26.2 miles(A full marathon, this can take anywhere from 3-5 hours depending out how hard you ride the 112 miles)

The vast majority of the participants fall somewhere in the 11:00:00 – 14:00:00 hour time.  The cut-off is 17:00 hours(midnight), and not everyone finishes.  The last 30 minutes before midnight is the highlight of the race, as EVERYONE cheers on those trying to beat the cutoff.  This is where you see the amazing human spirit. 

Outside of these distances that must be covered, there are numerous things(See !@#$ happens) that can go wrong.
For example:

  1. Someone could get tangled up in your zip-chord on your wetsuit during the 2.4 mile swim, unzipping your wetsuit and filling up with water…not good.
  2. Someone could fall off their bike onto your bike, knocking your wheel off in the process before you even start the 112mile ride.
  3. You could get stung by a bee that is stuck in your sleeve while descending at 40 miles an hour on the bike. That same bee could be so pissed off for being stuck in your sleeve, that it stings you 3 more times just for spite.
  4. You could be forced to take 2 Benadryl because of said bee incident.  Have you ever tried to bike 112 miles after taking 2 Benadryl?
  5. It could also monsoon rain on you for 18+ miles of the 26.2 mile marathon.

All of this actually happened to Ann last year, during Ironman Mont-Tremblant.  At some point, the obstacle becomes the path.  She’s the toughest person I know.

Sunday:

The race is this Sunday 6/23 at 6:30a.m. Pacific.  We’ll hopefully finish anywhere between 5pm-10pm_PAC.  We will be joined by 2800 athletes from over 50 countries.  If you would like to see how we are doing, you can go to the following site throughout the day:

Ironmanlive.com (click “Ironman Coeur D’Alene” link or "Live Race Coverage")

  • Jeff’s Bib# 1532
  • Ann’s Bib# 732

Race Goals:

Just finishing one of these things is an unforgettable experience.  As long as Ann and I can safely finish the swim and bike without incident, nothing else matters.  We can both walk 26.2 miles if needed to finish.

It’s tricky to throw out numbers for something 140.6 miles long.  But, I feel if you don’t state goals out loud, they’re not likely to happen.  Last year my stretch goal was to break 11:00:00 hours.  I came oh so close at 11:03:00. I was happy with my time but still really wanted to break 11:00:00.  This season, I still want to break 11:00:00 hours.  THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN.  But I don’t want to just barely squeak by.  I’ve trained way too hard this year to simply shave off 3 minutes.  So here are my real goals that I haven’t told anyone out loud:

  • Swim: 0:59:00.  Break 1 hour on the 2.4 mile swim.  I’ve never done this before, but I’ve been really, really close.
  •      T1 – 5 min(Not sure how far away the transition area is)
  • Bike:  5:36:00.  I’ve been trying to hold 20mph for a hundred miles for 12 years.  I might as well shoot for 20mph for 112 miles.
  •      T1 – 5 min(Not sure how far away the transition area is)
  • Run: 3:42:00.  This puts me at 8:30 pace for the marathon if I can hang on long enough.

So, here we go 10:30:00!

Thanks for reading!

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Ironman 70.3 Raleigh

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Jeff

If you would have asked me 12-14 years ago if there would ever be an Ironman event in Raleigh, I would have said you are crazy. It’s funny how things change.  Raleigh used to be a sleepy little medium sized city with the State capital and a few universities.  Today, Raleigh seems to always be on the top 3 list of best places to live/work in the country.

I was excited when Ironman made the announcement that they were coming to Raleigh.  Then I was bummed when I learned it was 3 weeks out from Ironman Coeur D’Alene.  No race for me, but lots of good opportunities for spectating.  I really enjoyed seeing all of the familiar faces.

Here’s what I captured

After being on the spectator side of the fence for this race, I really have a better appreciation for all of the coordination/planning it takes to put on an event of this length.  When you factor in Police, EMS, volunteers, Aid Stations, Water safety personnel, road closures, etc…and then spread that out over 70.3 miles covering 2 counties, you’ve got plenty of opportunities for problems.  From what I could tell, everything went flawlessly.

Thanks for Watching!

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How To Increase Bike Power

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Jeff

Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results…..Albert Einstein

Biking has always been my weak link in triathlon, whether it’s the sprint distance or the Ironman distance.  I somehow just thought that if I kept at it, I would get better.  You know…if you just keep putting in miles, you’ll eventually get better.  THIS IS A SIMPLY NOT TRUE!

As you can see below, over 4 different Ironman races, my bike splits are all within ~15minutes of each other.  When I look back over the hundreds, if not thousands of hours I have spent on the bike, I see a 15 minute variation as solely attributable to the different race conditions. So, really no improvement here at all.

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Reflection Time:

At the end of Mont-Tremblant last year, I had to reflect on the past training to determine what the problem was. It’s really not that complicated.  If I train day in and day out at 18 miles per hour, and even throw in a 6 hour ride on the weekends, I am never going to race at 20mph.  I would say that the bulk of my training(like 95%) has been in HR Zone 2(135-145bpm).

There’s so much discussion out there about how to race an Ironman course.  In short, you try to flatten out every hill by choosing easier gears, so you don’t expend too much energy, and just focus on steady heart rate.  But, this does not mean you should train the way you race.  If I never let my heart rate get above 145 in training, I’m not going to magically be able to race at a higher heart rate or produce more power.

  • The Good News: This can be fixed.
  • The Bad News: It’s going to hurt.

My New Approach

My only real focus this year is to increase my FTP as much as possible before Ironman CDA. 

FTP

The FTP test is basically the maximum average power you can output for 30 min.  For all intents, my first real FTP test was on 9/16/2012 where I held 211w for the 30 minute test. The plan is to test every 4-6 weeks.  So, I use my current FTP(258w) as the basis to establish the different training zones each 4-6 weeks.  You have to keep pushing the bar with the FTP tests to force yourself to improve. It’s really as simple as that. 

When you continually push the bar, you never get comfortable with a workout.  The FTP test is always mind numbingly painful, because it is always your max effort for 30min.  If you’re not on the verge of physically and mentally snapping in the last 3 minutes, you’re really not reaching your FTP.  I’ve found the same to be true with following workouts.  Time spent at FTP or at low Z4 for example, is always based off of my most recent FTP test.  So the net result is a challenging forced improvement plan.

Workouts I am doing to get stronger:

Tuesdays:

  • Hill repeats(intervals) for 1.5-2hrs. 
  • If inside on the trainer, my “hill” is a low Z4 wattage with cadence around 70-75rpms. 
  • I do these pretty hard when outside, since the longest accessible hill that I have is 3/4 of mile in length(so I do Z5 range outside), about 3 minutes.

Thursdays:

  • Sweet Spot workout(1.5-2.0 hrs w/ cool down).
  • 15 minute warm up
  • 5 min at FTP wattage(currently 258w for example).
  • 3 x 20 minutes at low Z4 (5-10 minute recovery between)

Friday:

  • Recovery spin day

Sunday:

  • Long ride – With some harder intensities thrown in.  I Usually go hard(mid/high zone 3) for the last 30-60 minutes.

Strength Training:

  • I am also trying to add 2-3 strength training sessions per week at the gym.  Although lately, I must confess, this is the first thing to get scrapped when I have time constraints.  When I do have time, I try to get in a quick 30 min strength workout during the day.  The weights seem to really help keep me feeling strong throughout my core and my joints.  If I don’t lift, all of the focus on aerobic work starts to make my joints weak…..ankles, hips, shoulders, etc…

These workouts have definitely added a new “Pain and Suffering” element to my life, in the form of intensity.  In the past, I would kind of fear the long ride on the weekend, but now it’s the Sweet Spot workout that gets me.  If you’re doing it right, these workouts really add that “I am about to crack” element, where you’re not 100% certain that you can hold the intensity. But then…you DO hold it.  And you get stronger mentally and physically as a result.

Thanks for Reading!

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Pamlico River Time-Lapse in NC

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Jeff

It’s been a while since I’ve put anything up on the site, mainly because things have been really busy at work.  But it hasn’t been all work and no play.  In fact I’ve been playing quite a bit with the camera over the holidays, while down at the coast on multiple weekends.  I started out just taking lots and lots of pictures.  Next, I wanted to take pictures of the moon.  Then I decided to take pictures of the stars and the moon, which starts to make things much more complicated.  This got me thinking about time-lapse photography.  So my thought was, why don’t I try a time-lapse with the sun, moon, and stars, and then go from there. My first several attempts were total failures.  Eventually, things came into focus as I got some decent shots.

Here is what I came up with.

In the end, I ran out of time.  But the ideas for time-lapse are endless.  I am looking forward to taking some more shots that hopefully will turn out better.

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