IM Memphis 70.3 Cancelled

It really came as no shock, but when I received the email the other day, informing me that IM Memphis 70.3 was postponed until 2021, it stung a little. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand and support the decision that was made. A well known hospital like St Jude would never sponsor anything that could possibly put people at risk, but still, I wanted to race.

I have to say I felt my training was right where it needed to be. The swim distance was already doable and already within the 47 minute range for 1.2 miles. I know with over a month I would have gotten that time down to under 45 minutes.

The bike was going well. I have had long rides of between 30-45 miles in my training plan and really felt good afterwards. The speed ranged around 15 mph, but that was due to much traffic on the Greenline around Shelby Farms and not knowing the path on the group rides. All other rides had been done on the trainer, so you know that 2 hours of spinning, means 2 hours of spinning, no coasting. So I felt really good about where I was on the bike.

The run. Now, this is the area that is not my strongest segment. It's something that I have never really been great at. I often used the excuse that I started running at 218 lbs, vs. the 187lbs I used to run at while doing Ironman and that is why I am slower. Truth is this, my knees hurt more because I am not 187 lbs! I have been losing some weight, thanks to all the exercise and watching what I eat, and I have been improving on my runs. My mileage was where I wanted it to be at this point as well. The course at Shelby Farms was going to be ruthless no matter what, but I still had time to get there.

So, overall, I am disappointed, but I understand. They have postponed this till 2021, and I will have just turned 50!  So in a way, it could actually turn into a milestone age race for me.

So what is next?  Am I retiring?  Am I racing?  We will have to see...

Either way, I want to say thanks to whoever reads this, I know blogging is archaic at best these days, but it is still a good way for me to get out what I want to get out.

Ironman Memphis 70.3

How's my training going you might be asking yourself???

Not so good!

Taper Time, It's Taper Time!

Crap, it's taper time. I hate the taper, although I know it is a much needed time. I spent this labor day weekend finishing my long workouts. Friday was a 4000 yard swim, Sat was my first century ride and Monday morning was suppose to be a 12-15 mile run, which turned out to only be 11 miles (but, I am OK with that).

I feel like I have had some strong workouts in July/Aug. I have been peaking in other words. Here are my July/Aug numbers:

July
Swim-  20,400 yards
Bike-  283.84 miles
Run- 54.88 miles

August
Swim- 19,100 yards
Bike- 359.59 miles
Run- 60.91 miles

My biggest month's by far. So Am I ready?

 

 

I mean, I believe I am. My only goal is to finish. I feel good about the swim. I feel good about the bike and eating on the bike, and I feel OK about the run/walk. I have a plan in place that I want to execute to get me to the finish line. So in other words, I think I am prepared. I am prepared for:

1. It's going to be a long day.
2. I am prepared for what I want in my specials needs bag on both the bike and the run.
3. I am prepared for it to be painful.
4. I am prepared for me to want to stop at some point.
5. I am prepared for all the awesome ideas I know I will have out on the course.
6. I am prepared to know I have no set time goals on any segment.
7. I am prepared to get an IV at the finish line!
8. I am prepared to represent my God, my  family, the G.I. Jess Warriors team & my friends well.
9. I am prepared for the satisfaction of completing the race.
10. I am prepared to find out I am not as prepared as I think.

I am excited. The hard work is done. It's time t not go crazy for the next few weeks. It's time.

I can't wait!

Oh Yeah, There Is A Run Involved!

This may be a rookie mistake, but I have been so focused on my biking for Redman, that I feel like I have neglected my running. This is not to say that I have not been running, I mean I hit almost 60 miles last month, and will probably go over that mark in August. What I am saying is that my longest run to date has only been 11 miles!!  And that is starting to concern me.

My concern is this: I wanted to be so ready for the bike because I know bike fitness is very important on the run. No bike fitness, no run finish is the way I see it. So I have really been concerned with my bike miles and time on the saddle. Worse case scenario is that I end up walking a majority of the run. This is not what I want.

Now I plan on walking some, I am not in an unrealistic state of my fitness. I just want it to be a planned walk rather than I hafta walk. So I figure I have 3, maybe 4 weeks of training left before taper and here is what I want to accomplish.

1. 100 mile ride on my Specialized Transition Elite
2. 15+ mile run in my Brooks Glycerin
3. 4500 yd swim with my Zoggs goggles
4. medium bike/short run brick using my Timex Global IM Trainer

This is all doable, and when I hit these marks, I know I will feel more confident at exactly the right time going into Redman.

***I have a couple 4000 yd swims done already, I have an 11 mile run and a 71 mile run already under my belt, so don;t worry about me going to far too fast***

This Ironman Stuff is Tiring...

I admit I have not been blogging much lately and that is because I have been early to bed, early to rise lately. I have all these great ideas I want to blog about and they always come to me out on the run or bike, but by the time I get back to the house, blogging is not a top priority. Here is just a sample of things I blog about in my head while I am running:

• July was my biggest training month this year, but I expect August to be bigger!
• The other day some random dude pulled up on my wheel while I was out riding without even letting me know. If I had not looked back, I do not think he was going to say anything. Not Cool
• The rain, we have had lots of rain lately and it makes it sticky hott here in Memphis.Many times I have said "screw it", I am running even though it is raining, only to have it stopped raining and get miserable, but I can't imagine running 9 miles on a treadmill now.
• I have determined that if I walk when I see people and run when there is no one around, I will get a lot more running done.
• An hour swim is nothing anymore, I already have hit over 4,000 yds in the pool, and while boring, it's not a big deal.
• My confidence is growing, not growing to the point of being on the podium or anything, but growing as in I can do this.
• I automatically wake up at 5:05 AM now days.
• It's weird that I am feeling leaner, but not really losing any weight, I am staying around 183.
• We dumped Direct TV and got U verse for cable TV recently
• School starts at 7 AM for my boys this year, that's a big change
• I am learning to become quite the mechanic. Me and a buddy have changed out a fuel pump and I recently learned to change my oil. Auto repair places are there to overcharge you, and I am not giving them any money anymore!
• I really want to look into an athlete tracker for my wife to use to track while I am racing.
• 6 weeks to go!!!!

So see, while I have not been putting things down on the blog, there is still a lot going on, but all I want to do is eat and go to bed. So don't forget me blogosphere, I am still around!!!

I Had the Dreaded Ironman DQ Dream....

First off, I had a great weekend of training and a huge boost for my confidence. I finished a 3 hour ride on Saturday and felt great afterwards. Sunday was a 9.2 mile run which felt amazing. I had the right mindset going into it and I had the right fuel for it. I was really feeling good about everything and went to watch NASCAR on Sunday afternoon (which is code for taking a nap). And that is when I had the dream.

I have heard many people talk about the dreams they have leading up to Ironman. Many are dreams about forgetting their bike or some other valuable piece of equipment they need, some dream about waking up late for the race, but my dream was about me getting disqualified! So here it is:

It occurred on the bike. I remember I was riding up to a hill that was lined with blue carpet which led up another hill to the transition area. As I was coming up to it, I asked the volunteer that was sitting there if I was in the right area. She did not move but said yes, you are in the right spot, so I hopped off my bike and gave it to another volunteer that was going to rack my bike. The volunteer ran my bike up the hill as I went around the corner to change clothes for the run. As I got the to changing area, they immediately said I was the first one there! I knew this could not be right, so I looked at my GPS watch and saw I was still 30 miles short of 112. So I turn back around and run back to the volunteer and head back up the blue carpeted hill and see my bike on the rack. It is the only bike in T2 and there were 4 officials standing around my bike.

I ran over and told them I was totally off course and I still had some of the ride to go and they wouldn't let me take my bike. They told me that since I went so off course and missed the turn at the blue carpet and since I had racked my bike, they had no choice but to DQ me!

I tried to argue my case, but they were not budgeting. I thought if I could get that volunteer who told me I was going the right way to admit that, then they would know it was an honest mistake and I could get back on the course. As I trotted back to the volunteer, I got a good look at her and saw that it was my Nanny!

Then I woke up...


Weird.

This Ford Was Out of Gas!

I had a good weekend of training. It started on Friday and a 3400 yd swim that felt good. Saturday morning was the Graduation 5K race for the Run for God group my wife and I lead at our church! I am so proud of each one of those runners, they all did great and we even had 2 award winners! So after the 5K, I took Stella (my bike) out for a 2.5 hour ride outside on the Greenline! It was awesome and hott, so I ran out of water or I would have gone further. So Sunday morning rolls around and I am planning a 10 miler that morning before church. So I set my alarm for 5AM and I am out running by 5:40 (Yeah I hit the snooze a time or two, but it was planned out that way).

It was the worst run I have had in a really long time. I only managed about 5 miles in 1:15!!!

And I know why!

Here is what I ate on Saturday:

• water before the 5k
• 2 donuts at the race
• banana with PB before my ride
• 3 gels and Gatorade while riding
• hot dog after my ride
• 2 BLT sandwiches for dinner
• half a milkshake
• nothing on Sunday before my attempted run

Basically, I had no gas in the tank. I was running on empty. No bueno!!!

I sometimes tend to get so focused on the workouts that I forget my body needs fuel! And for some reason, I am worse at it on the weekends. Next weekend is going to be another step up in mileage on the bike, so I have to remember to fuel my body. I also have to find something that I can eat prior to workouts. I do not want to start Redman with nothing in the tank because that will set me up for failure right from the jump!

One Workout At A Time...

That is the way I am approaching Redman 140.6. I am not really going to focus on my week's workouts, because frankly, that wears me out just thinking about it. Lately I have only been looking for the next day to plan out my workouts and it has been good. Good for me physically and mentally! I am finding out that that there is more mental involved than most people tell you about.

It has been hard trying to find time to get everything in. Even some mornings when I feel like I wake up early enough to run or swim, it turns out that other commitments have me cutting things short. And that is frustrating. Since when is getting out on the road at 5:45 to run, not early enough to get in your miles? It just happens that my long runs are scheduled to happen on Sundays. As you know, I live in Memphis and it gets very hot during the day, so my only alternative is to either run early morning or treadmill it. There is no way I want to treadmill it for over 10 miles. I also place a high value on going to church on Sunday mornings, which starts at 8AM, so I need to be done running by 7AM to get ready and to help the kids get ready for church. So, I can foresee my running starting at 5AM in the near future. Which is nothing to look forward too!

One Day at a Time...

It is not hard for me to get early anymore, but it is a hard balance between getting to bed on time and getting up early. Sometimes I ride at night, usually after the kids go to bed, so it is normally after 9PM.  so riding for two hours and then getting up at 5AM to run is not good. No Bueno!!! So I have to be smart and plan it out somewhat, but planning out my week does not work for me.

July and August need to be strong months for me. I need to start hitting 4 hour rides, 3 hour runs and 90 minutes swims. Everytime I start to get worried about the race, I can look at the calendar and know I have enough time to get where I will will finish, but I have to take it one workout at a time!

***Since it has been awhile since I posted a video, here is a good motivational video:

Recovery Week Blues? You Ever Get Them?

Sometimes I do not get myself. I feel like I am so focused on my goal of Ironman, yet it also seems so far away. For instance, I am in a recovery week this week, which ends tomorrow, and I have no desire to go on my run. I set everything out, I even got out of bed, but as I came downstairs, I was not there mentally. Not even close, so I made me a good breakfast, and sat down to type this out to figure what my deal is.

Now I know I JUST BLOGGED about not hearing the voices in my head, but this is different to me because half of me want to go running like I should, the other half doesn't. The other day I posted on my Daily Trainings FB page that I was supposed to does a 2.7 mile run, but my first thought was "2.7? Why bother?" Yeah, I was that guy!

I know rest/recovery weeks are important, but I wonder if they throw me off. I wonder if anyone else has these issues with the recovery weeks during their training. So, I Goggled it!  (You can find everything on Google! A biddy and I replaced a fuel pump on our van yesterday following a YouTube video!)

Anyways here is a good article I found that says what I need:

So I get the recovery part. What I am NOT quite getting (or maybe what I am not quite appreciating) is how downright terrible I feel during recovery weeks. I can barely make it out of bed in the mornings and I feel lethargic, sleepy, and puny the rest of the time. I ache and hurt to the point that I think I may be injured and I even experience moments where I feel feverish and think I am getting sick. I run three miles and can barely knock out a 9:30 pace all the while feeling like I'm dragging a bag of bricks behind me. I should have tons of energy. I should feel great and invigorated, strong, and super enthusiastic...so why don't I?

The answer is simple. Once again, my poor body is trying to recuperate from the heinous beating it has taken for the past three weeks. I am on the razor's edge of overtraining and my body is in shut down mode, so expecting to feel great and invigorated is like telling someone who is recovering the day after surgery that he should feel great and invigorated. It is always during recovery weeks that I begin to have self doubts. Too much free time and feeling like dog doo is a deadly combination for triathletes; it is when we are at our most dangerous. We begin to question our training and goals and then before we know it, we start tweaking our programs and screw up everything with our training. I find that I constantly have to reassure myself that feeling beat-up during a recovery week means one thing: IT'S WORKING! I usually don't appreciate my recovery week until it is over and I am already halfway through my new build week. That is usually when I suddenly notice just how good I am feeling and realize, "Oh, I get the point now!" So, take full advantage of your recovery week; while your body might not seem to appreciate it at the time, it will thank you come race day! 

So Thank You Google! I have been working on a post about looking at my training one workout at a time so I do not get that overwhelmed feeling, because this journey has been a rollercoaster of a ride so far! It is so funny to me how I can go from being confident to being scared straight about a race I know I am not going to even come close to winning.

About the only thing I can say about today is that at least I got out of bed and had a nice quiet breakfast. Tomorrow is going to be a great swim day!

Yeah, I Hear Voices, Don't You?

At any time when I am talking about my upcoming Ironman (which I have found that I can work into any conversation, but that is another post) I am usually asked "How long is it going to take you?" Normally, I would have my time figured out, broken down and over analyzed to a T.

A good friend of mine (His name is Ted) opened my eyes to this nonsense. Ted is a badass when it comes to endurance sports, and is actually the one guy that got interested in this little adventure many years ago. Anyways, I bug Ted a lot with my questions and my training plans, and Ted ALWAYS gives me an honest frank, blunt answer. We recently had one of those conversations.

See, I started listening to those voices in my head that always pop up during a recovery phase. The voices that say stuff like "a 2.7 mile run??  why bother with that, you need more miles fella!"  (I guess my voices are Irish?) Then I get all, "I can't do this" "it's too far" and "there is no way I can finish this mileage"!! And that is when I usually text Ted for my quarterly kick in the pants.

Ted quickly tells me to shut up and stop over analyzing it. Stop over training and remember that I am not making my living as a pro triathlete and I should stop obsessing about it. Remember to keep it fun and that I could go out and finish it right now, which should be my goal; Just finish it!

The way he breaks down a race for me is simple. Go have a 90 minute swim, keep my HR at a certain level on the bike and be prepared for a run walk marathon. I tried to tell him I think I can do better than a 90 minute swim, more like 80 minutes and his reply was simply Why? Why limit myself that way? And I get what he is saying. I have to manage my race. I am not looking to set records on my first Ironman attempt. I simply want to finish it and have fun.

Let's say I do set a goal for myself of an 80 minute swim, 1 hour 20 minutes for 2.4 miles.  What happens if I miss that goal? Then I am mentally looking at missing a mark already. Do I try and make it up on the bike? You bet I do, cause I know myself! Then my run is shot cause I went to hard on the bike. A 90 minute swim is respectful! And I know I can do better, but let's say I do come out of the water in 80 minutes, then I am feeling good and I know I am having a good race.

So Thank you Ted for always shooting it straight with me and calming me down. I am so looking forward to doing this and calling you afterwards and simply saying, "I did it Brother!"

This triathlon thing is all mental I am finding out. From the workouts to the race, you have to make sure you are mentally ready, and let's be honest, the only goal I need to focus on is 16:59:59!

Or maybe 16:37:09, Yeah that's a good goal!

It Makes Perfect Sense to Me!

I feel like I have been pretty good with my diet so far. I did not gain any weight after my vacation, which was a surprise, but also a huge win, cause we ate good! My goal weight for Redman is around 175 lbs, which is only 5 lbs away currently. So what am I doing?

Not much actually, just eating sensibly.  I try to not snack throughout the day. I try to eat to not stuff myself. I also try to not eat late at night. I still have my weakness for Taco Bell though, but that is not what I want to talk about. (Cause no matter what you say say, Yo Quiero Taco Bell!!!!)

One thing I am doing is I am having one day a week where I could care less about what I eat. If I want ice cream, I eat it. If I want chips and salsa, I eat it. If I want three or four Cokes, then bottoms up! Now does this work as a weight loss program? I seriously doubt it, but I am not a doctor.

This is MY philosophy!

But it does make this journey more realistic for me in a weird sort of gluttonous type of way.  These days are not necessarily planned either, I mean I do not wake up and think, "today is my day, now feed me!" It just kind of happens and then I go with it.

Today was one of those days. Coca Cola was my poison today, along with prime rib, mash potatoes, sweet tea, ice cream and chips and salsa, bite size candy bars, cinnamon jolly ranchers and a couple of Tootsie Rolls!

Don't judge me.

Here We Go!

It's time.

I start my Redman 140.6 training this weekend. 17 weeks.  September 21 will be here before you know it, but will I be ready?

Dunno!

I mean I am going to train hard. This is something I want, but there are more factors involved than just my physical fitness. One thing I really did not think of until recently was that Sept in OKC can still be really hot! After reading all the reports from IM TX and how people were dropping like flies from the heat, it got me wondering. I mean TX in May is as hot as Aug and Sept, but OKC can get warm too. I know I will have plenty of chances to get in workouts in the heat, but I have to figure out if that is the smartest way to do it.

I also did a second look over my training plan. I used the custom plans over on BT.com. I based my workouts on the following criteria. Swimming a 1:55/100 pace, biking 16 MPH average and running a 10:00 pace. I have no idea if that will actually be true on race day...

I also based the plan on doing 3 bikes a week (a short, medium and long) 3 runs (short, medium and long) and 2 swims (med and long) per week, or basically doing something everyday. the plan does have some scheduled rest days worked in.

Overall, the weekday workouts look totally doable. The weekend workouts are going to hurt. Only because of the long rides, the runs are manageable as the longest run on the schedule is 15 miles! Where else but IM training would one say, "it's only 15 miles!"??

All my workouts will have a design behind them, it is simply not just go run 5 miles or swim 1800 yards. There are lots of drills.

It is going to be an interesting next few months. I know I cannot hit all the workouts due to travel and life (I have a family, job and other things going on) but if I did, I would be looking at these numbers between June and September.

Swim: 60 miles
Bike: 1780 miles
Run: 312 miles

Yeah, it is doable, but I'd be lying to you all if I said I was not a little nervous about taking on this distance. I am sure I will blog about my doubts, but never mistake it with me backing out. This blog is just my way of expressing myself (something I am not that great at in words, but I know I am typing words, but I mean that I that great at talking those words...see what I mean?)

I thought about titling this post "It Just Got Real", but triathlon has always been real for me. Instead, my journey to IM has been a long one and I have come a long ways. It keeps getting better, and I can't wait to cross that line!

No Other Word for It but Epiphany!

Now I have never claimed to be the smartest guy around. Let me make that clear, but recently I had an epiphany! (while writing this I also learned that epiphany is not in a thesaurus, I was going to try and show you that I really was smart, but that backfired quickly) Not sure why I never thought of it before, but I think it could be a break through for me.

One of the biggest issues I have with training is nutrition. I always worry about getting in enough calories and what should I take on the bike so I do not bonk the run. I always worried about this because I never really thought to track how many calories I was burning during a swim/bike/run. I know right? Seems simple enough, and it is pretty darn important!

Even on my logs where I record my workouts, it tells me exactly how many calories were burned doing that activity. So I really do not even have to think about it, just review my logs. All I need to do is really make sure that my weight is close to be accurate and it will do all that fancy math for me. Now, I do not know if it is accurate or not to a science, but it should give me a pretty good idea about what I need to replace.

This will become more important once I start my Ironman training. I have to fuel this machine. So logically thinking, if I know about how many calories I am burning during a 5 hour run, that should give me an idea of how many calories I need to replace. Now I am not looking at re hydrating OK, i am specifically looking at what nutrition I need. I still have a lot of research to do regarding special needs bags, but this epiphany gives me somewhere to start.

I normally just kept up with my logs to see my progress and my weekly, monthly totals, but I feel like I have been missing a lot of important information now!

Now I just want to drop some more "troof" on ya:

Every pair of Anti Fog goggles I have owned have fogged up!

I am running the last race in the Winter Off Road Series this Sunday. A 10K trail run. This is the 1st time I have ever been able to complete the series! I am looking forward to having a good run!

It Just Got Real, Real Fast!

I know I have joked around about blog post titles like mine before, but I experienced it! As you can gather, or if you know me on Facebook, you know that today I officially registered for my 1st 140.6 iron distance race.

So there it is. I am committed. I have to tell you that it took me all day to register. Not because I was having internet troubles or anything like that, I was just having trouble hitting the submit button. I was nervous about hitting it. I was having a moment of no self confidence that I could actually do finish it and that I would be wasting everyone's time. I had a moment of thinking that I do not have time to train for it, I mean, I only have 8 months to prepare!

But then, I had a moment of clarity. I was talking to my bride, telling her that I had almost signed up three different times today and she said plainly, "well, why didn't you, you sexy sexy man?"  So we continued to talk and before we hung up, she said "Go sign up for your race and I will see you when you get home you hot stud of a man"  So hearing it from her totally change my outlook and I then hit submit and it was history.

And then I got sick to my stomach again! I think I walked around with a wide eyed look on my face, still a little speechless for a few minutes. And I did what everybody does when something big happens in their life, I put it on FaceBook! Tons of likes followed with a lot of encouragement. I even got a message form an elementary school friend of mine asking about it, which was cool.

Another good thing is that t he race is on my son's birthday and he is excited about going to OK City for it. Which is a big relief to me. I have been asking him for awhile if he would be OK with me racing on that day and he has always said yes!! So that definitely made it and easier decision.

So, in true National Signing Day form:

After discussing this with my family and a few close friends, I have decided that I will be taking my talents to OK City to race the Redman 140.6 Iron distance race in Sept!

Finally...

I signed up. I finally signed up for the half Ironman I have been training for since March.(And just so we are clear, it is a half iron distance race, not a branded Ironman race, but I don't care, I am still calling it my HIM). Now I do not know why I wait so long to register. I knew I was going to do it for a long time already.

The worst thing I could think of was doing all the training and being ready and then not being able to register.And doing a lot of training I have been doing. It seems like I am more tired this time around than I was last year when training for Branson. My mileage is up over last year on my bike and swim and I feel stronger. These past couple of weeks have given me a lot of confidence. I have about 2 more weeks of training, then it is taper time!

So I have really been thinking about what I have done different this year as compared to last year. I have come up with several things:

• Getting up at 4:30 AM to get in my training. So much of this summer has gotten me out of bed early to fit in the miles, either due to the heat or because I need the time to get it all done.
• I have done a lot more riding on my trainer this year than in the past.
• Speedwork on the treadmill.
• I have been paying attention to my diet, I am actually about 10lbs lighter than I was last year.
• Water, water water. I have not stopped drinking cokes, but I do not have one everyday.
• PR's!!  I have had more personal records this year than ever!
• Dumping the Garmin and iPod. I still will carry the iPod on longer runs and might use it late in the run, but it is no longer a necessity.
• Sleeping more

So overall, I am happy with where I am training wise. I think I am so much stronger than I was last year going into this distance. Last weekends 52 mile ride and 12.3 mile run felt good, and what is better than that, is I felt good after the run, which is more important to me. I am more physically tired than I was last year, but I think that is totally normal. I am on track to have my biggest mileage month ever on both the run and bike (my pool has been closed for the last 2 weeks), but after the taper, I feel confident in beating Branson's time.