Ironman Memphis 70.3

What was I thinking?

Picking a Training Plan

This is one of the toughest things for me to do. I am talking about deciding on a plan to train with. I am the first person that would tell any new triathlete to "Trust the Plan", but how do you know? What do you look for in a plan? When you simply Google "HIM training plan" I get 145,000,000 results. That's alot. So how does one narrow it down? Here's how I roll when I chose my plan for my HIM in Sept.

First thing I looked at was the length of the plan. One thing I learned from my IM training was that you CAN train to long for a race and get mentally burned out. For me, about 16 weeks is perfect for me to get ready for a HIM, especially since I have not been consistent with my training. If I was in better triathlon shape, I might consider a shorter plan.

Second thing I look at is the balance. Is it run heavy, swim heavy or bike heavy? Is it a balanced plan? Personally with me, I feel good about the swim, decent about the bike and hate the run. As you know that is normally where I lose the most time, so I want to make sure I am using a plan that focus on my weakness oppurtunity.

Third thing I want to see is how is the plan laid out? Is it even possible for me to hit the designed workouts with my family schedule and my work schedule? Is their some flexibility in it? Are there scheduled rest days? Nothing is more frustrating than to get a plan together and then find out there is now way to execute it. So I want to make sure it is a plan I can actually follow.

Lastly, I want to look at the detail of the plan. Is Monday a swim 40 minutes, bike 60 minutes day? Or is is broken down for me. Does that 40 minuite swim come with a workout designed and explained to me? that is what I like. I admit, I get bored going to the pool knowing I have to swim 40 laps. I would much rather have it broekn down for me with a warmup, main set and cooldown (plus I honestly believe that is how you get faster, not by simply swimming a bunch of laps)

Normally I would just get a plan off of beginnertraithlete.com, but the ones they had for HIM did not really work for me, so I searched elsewhere and found a plan that I think will work. It comes from a site called trinewbies.com. Now the fact that the website is called trinewbies does not bother me at all (well a little, but I am getting over it) It is an 18 week plan, is the right balance of S/B/R. I actually like the way it is laid out (which means I don't always have to stay up late to get workouts done like I did for IM) and it has detailed plans for the S/B/R.

The only other issue I have is that sometimes I will think I decided on a plan until I run across another plan, and then I see another plan. So I am taking a few days to really dive into this plan and make sure this is what I want and that it will work for me.

So how do you decide what training plans you use? Did I miss anything on the decision factor?

Today was the Day...

12-23-13 and I ran.

Today was the day I started back with my training. I literally have done nothing since late October. I have not even wore my running shoes since Ragnar. Have wanted too, so I didn't. I figure the lack of desire to run meant that my body was tired. A lot of people asked me if Redman took that much out of me, and at first, I thought yeah, it did. But now as I look back, it was much more than one race. If you are a regular follower of this blog (meaning my mom who reads and my wife when I make her), you know that I have been going pretty good the last couple of years. Sometimes racing up to 14 times a season, which is a lot I think. So the break has been good for me, but it is time to get back to it.

So the first thing I did was go get a physical. I am 42 and have not been to the doc in...I cant remember when I was at a Dr last, except for a clinic for a cough or cold. I really expected the doc to do a lot more than he did, but really all he did was take some blood and run some tests on it. He said everything came back as normal, so I guess that is good!

Step 2 was to make out a plan. The first race is and always will be the Memphis in May triathlon... in May. I really like this race. It's fun. It is a race that my family can go to and hang out at the pool while they wait for me. This is one of the first races I did, and I swear I thought I was not going to make it out of the swim! So I made a plan for MIM.

I used the custom plan from BT (www.beginnertriathlete.com), which will have me doing two swims, three bikes and three runs a week. Plussssssssssssssssssssss I am going to be working with a trainer twice a week. Yeah, I am going to be doing like weights and stuff! this part excites and frightens me a little. She is totally going to kick my butt. My wife has been working out with her for awhile and my wife is fit! She can probably do more pushups than I can, so I know I will get some good results.

The last thing I have done is start working on my diet. I know, it's Christmas time and probably the WORST time to worry about what you eat, but I seriously need to drop about 15 pounds. I want to get lean and mean again.

Other than those things, I have not planned out 2014 race wise yet. And I am probably only go to look at MIM and a HIM, but 2015 is all about beating Brad. (scroll down a few posts).

With all that said, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas!  And remember, a new year means the gyms will be crowded again!!!!

Yeah, That Didn't Happen!

I know I originally had plans to post about daily workouts for my 140.6. That didn't happen. Not sure what I was thinking!  I then thought, well I will just post about my weekly workouts. Again, that didn't happen either.  The reason why that did not happen is: I am training for an Ironman! Trying to work in training between family and work has not left me a lot of time to blog. So I am going to go high level on this post and give you some updates:

1. I am having my biggest mileage month in August like I planned. I have 2 70+ mile rides under my belt and I am planning on the big 100 miler this weekend. I can honestly say that I have not been dead to the world after my rides, one of them even had a 2 mile run tagged on to the end of it. Knowing that I am not useless the rest of the day gives me hope. Saturday I rode 72 miles, with a 2 mile run afterwards, then Sunday I ran 8 miles and felt pretty good.
2. Redman is not going to pass out gel packs on the bike, but they will have gel refills for flasks. I had never used a flask before, so I went and got one and I actually like it better. Now thinking back over my races, I have always brought enough gels with me that I have never had to grab any from the aid stations, so in all reality, not sure this is a big deal to me.
3. My nutrition on the bike has been pretty good. I am using Gatorade, Power Shots gummies, Hammer gels, slat pills and mini Payday candy bars, these things are awesome!!!
4. I do plan on walking some of the run, there is no way around it actually. I just want to make sure I am not the "Agony of Defeat" guy coming down the chute.

Now I also want to give some shoutouts!  Several of my friends finished their first Ironman this weekend in Louisville! Congrats to Shawn McKinney!!!  Congrats to Coy from First in Philly, and Congrats to Matthew Smith from Go Smitty Go! I can;t wait to read their race reports.

I also want to shout out to my bride who completed her first 10k run last week. It is her furthest run to date!!  She may be beating soon with the gains she has made with her running!

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:

Back in a Groove...

I would not say this has been the best week of training, but it has been a good week as far as me getting back into the groove after vacation. I hit all my workouts this week, although I did make some changes to the mileage on the bike. Being away from my bike for over two weeks is never a good idea while training for an Ironman! (Write that down and remember that piece of gold!)

I have already almost surpassed my monthly total from last month on the bike! That should tell you why I am altering my rides. There is no way I could just jump back into an 80 mile ride! It is amazing how quick you can take a step backwards. I admit I am a little nervous about the bike still, but I know I have time to get where I need to be. I have been able to set up a few riding partners for my long rides coming up which will be a huge confidence boost.

I feel pretty good about my swim and run, or I feel I am where I should be at this point of my plan, and I love that feeling. I just have to concentrate on the bike. Bike. Bike. Bike.

So here is this week's schedule, a recovery week, so it is going to work out perfect for me to get back on track:

Sunday: 10 mile run
Monday: 15 mile ride, 2500 yd swim
Tuesday: 2.7 mile run
Wednesday: 20 mile ride
Thursday: 4.7 mile run
Friday: 2000 yd swim
Saturday: 45 mile ride

I know I have work to do, but the fear is slowly turning into confidence!

Stay Tuned for my Ironman Goals!!!

The Dog Ate My Homework????

There are things I am learning while going through IM training, and I think I learned an important one the other night on my 3 hour trainer ride. And no, I did not learn that a 3 hour trainer ride sucks. I already knew that.

The thing I learned, or more like realized is that I should be doing these rides in bike shorts and not tri shorts.I know I will be changing into them at the race, so why am I not training in them now? I realized this about 2 hours into my ride. BUTT, I toughed it out and made it all three hours (did you see what I did there?) I have had to move my bikes to Friday night because of a running group I am leading on Saturday morning. I am committed to this group, so I am having to stay up later at night to get it done. Anyways, I watched the following while riding. I started with Revolution, I really like that show, then I watched "Does Someone Have to Go?" This is one crazy reality gem. I then finished my ride watching the movie "Looper". It wasn't a great movie, but it was a good trainer ride movie.

Anyways, it is going to be a weird week again for me, so here is my training plan for week 3:

Sunday- 8.4 mile run, which was cut short due to high winds and storms
Monday: 14 mile bike and 3900 yd swim
Tuesday: 3.7 mile run
Wednesday: 24.5 mile bike
Thursday: 6.5 mile run
Friday: 3150 yd swim
Saturday: 60 mile ride

***One note for me to mention is that my bride has started running with me on Thursdays. I have a 3 mile loop that she runs with me and then I go any additional mileage I need afterwards. I really do enjoy running with her!