The Hills Are Calling 27 Days to GO!

Ironman Triathlons are notorious for having one of two conditions on the bike course.  

Wind or hills.  
(& you hate hills)
Since I hate hills, I naturally I picked a bike course with really bad hills.
(Naturally, because everything about this makes logical sense)
The Lake Placid bike course is notorious for its 20 mile incline. 

There are spots where the course flattens out, but in three locations you have to get over "the hump"...actually, three humps. They are notorious on the course as "The Three Bears - Baby, Mama & Papa." I have been so intimidated by this course that I've actually I avoided it for five years. So the question you're asking me is how does one train for such an endeavor?
(No, the question is: have you lost your freakin mind???)
You practice riding hills.
(Yup, you have. You've nuttier than a psycho ward. You just told us, you hate hills)
Luckily the state of New Jersey has no shortage of hills to climb.

If I lived in Brooklyn it would be a completely different story, but its not Brooklyn it's Joisey.
1 mile from my house is DeGraw.
1200 feet (3/4 of a mile) at 9 degree incline.
Athletes who want to train with me have to be able to get the hill without stopping. 
I will never forget the newbie who had to dismount half way up the hill so they could throw up their breakfast.
(So you hate hills & your athletes)
Getting up the hill never gets easier, you just get faster at ascending to the top. Like the time I road to the top of Bear Mountain.

Once you reach the top, there's a new hill to ride down. At the same time, if you ride down a hill, you have ride back up it if you want to get back home.
(Wouldn't it just be easier to stay home in the first place? Wait a minute, why am I even asking you? It's clear you're a few fries short of a Happy Meal)
These hills are much harder then the ones I will encounter in Lake Placid that's the point.
After 112 miles of hills, I will still have a full 26 mile marathon to run so I need to teach my body hold back and leave a little gas in the tank. This is the mistake I made at Ironman Lake Placid.

(Definitely a few fries short of a happy meal)

Running with the Night - 33 Days to GO

In 2012, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to start Ironman Arizona & almost fell back asleep, because I was so tired.

The following year, 
Peter 
"There is nothing fun about 4:30 a.m." 
Shankman asked me to join him for a run. By the spring of 2016, I was waking up at 3:30 a.m. to join him for "our" 4:30 a.m. runs. 

That was fine, until I needed to start running farther.I have to be at my desk at 7:30, so to cover 3.5 hours of running, I need to start early. By June, I was waking up at 2 a.m. & running 18 miles by myself. 

(How do you function?)
I don't know. I simply wake up & I'm afraid to go back to sleep.
(Afraid of what?)
Nightmares
(Snakes under the bed? Falling? Showing up to work naked?)
Oversleeping the start of the race...& yes to the other three fears.
Shakespear said, "Macbeth doth murder sleep".
Ironman murdered mine.

Actually, I started not sleeping late on my days off.
My body just adjusted.
(To what?)
Sleeping 3 hours and then running 18 miles.
(That's not normal)
Ultra marathon runners go run on minimal sleep
(They are not normal either...wait. Are you?)
I'm thinking about it, but that's not on my horizon right now.
Right now I am thinking about my family.
Ever since he could speak, my 5 year old has thought that 
"Daddy's job is running".
I don't want to be "THAT DAD".
(Which Dad is "THAT DAD"?)
The one who spent his kid's childhood training, not playing with his kids.
(So you run when they sleep?)
I run in their dreams...

What a Year Difference Makes -40 Days to GO

Arriving at the Ironman village last year, for Ironman Lake Placid my wife asked me,
"How do you feel?"
"I wish that I had more time to train."
As I look at my Facebook "memories" from last year, I can see that I am weeks ahead of where I was 12 months ago.
Instead of starting the 4,000 meter swims June 10, I started May 26.
(I'm now 250 meters ahead & minutes faster too)

 

Last year my biking was split into two parts: Indoor & outdoor.
January-April I rode indoors, once a week. That was it.
The longest ride was 90 minutes. All I did was spin, no actual formal training.
This year, I rode 3 times a week indoors between January-April.
Each ride had a specific goal. I also bought a power meter to help me see just how hard I should be spinning.
By the time I started climbing hills outside in April, I found that I was able to climb with ease. Last year at Lake Placid it was the hills that almost did me in.
7:55:04 for 112 miles is way to slow (14.1 mph) when I have put this much time into it.


Last year I cut my marathon down by an hour. I was blown away to be running instead of walking (like the three previous Ironmans).
Part of that was running more than one 18 mile run.
So as I said to my wife...I wish that I had more time
So?
So I mapped out my training & started the volume loading sooner

With just over 40 days to go, I am running 18 miles & the only thing stopping me is time.
I have to get to work.
(So start earlier.)
That, is a conversation for another blog.

Like a Ton of Bricks- 60 Day to GO!

And the season of BRICK workouts is upon us.

(What is a BRICK workout?)

When you do two different workouts, one after the other without a break. Like going for a bike ride and as soon as you get off the bike, switch your bike shoes for running sneakers and go running.

(So why do you call them BRICKS?)

Because they are stacked one on top of another...like bricks

or

Named after world duatholon champion Matt Brick, who employed them in his training and thereby made them famous.

or

Because of the way your legs feel the first time you try to run off the bike ;-)

or

Because you feel like you've been hit by a ton of em’ when you're done.

For the record, I hate doing them.

(So, don't)

But I recognize them as a necessary evil.

(Why are the a necessary...evil?)

When you dismount after 112 miles, you hand your bike off the volunteer in the yellow shirt.

Then you have to run to the changing tent & prepare to run a marathon.

If you are not use to running after hours of pedaling, you might face plant, right there.

(But you are wearing sneakers)

No, you are cycling in bike shoes & now you need to go put on your sneakers.

Triathlon is a race where you swim, run to your bike, bike, get off your bike, then go running…all without stopping.

(Why would you do that?)

That, is an entirely different blog entry.

When You Gotta Go - 75 to GO

I was giving a talk do elementary school kids about Ironman triathlon.
I was talking about how the 112 mile bike section takes and the inevitable came up
"What do you do if you have to go to the bathroom when you're on the bike?"
I told the class of 5th graders point blank,
"You have three choices; you pee on the bike, you get off the bike to pee or you wait and pee later."
"What if you, you know have to..."
"Make a poop?"
"Yeah....

So we are dealing with two issues:
First, what to do when have to pee?
Some athletes will just go while they're on the bike.
(Sounds disgusting)
Others will pull off to the side of the road and find a bush.
(Sounds less disgusting)
I tried to pee once on the bike, but in the bent over position on the bike, nothing happened.

(Why didn't you straighten up?)
I did & I still couldn't pee.
(What did you do?)
I chose option 3, I waited til later, in the changing tent after I finished the bike.
(You peed in a tent?)
There was a urinal in the tent.
(What if you...you know?)
Need to "make poo" as my 5 year old calls it?

(Yeah, that)
There are porta-potty at several points on the course.
(Have you ever, during a race ?)
Kinda...
The 24 hours before a race is a carefully choreographed food fest. This dance between my food & my plumbing takes place "any time" I compete in a triathlon, not just Ironman triathlons.
By 5pm Saturday the almost non stop calorie in take will result in your question becoming a non factor the next day on the race course.
So by Ironman Louisville 2014, I had done this successfully over 40 times.
(But on that race morning...)
Nothing, nada, no word from the plumbing.
Until we heard, "Swimmers, line up".
Thats when my plumbing said, "Now."
"Now?" I asked myself in bewilderment
"NOW!" A voice came back with a Satan like growl.
(What did you do?)
I lined up for the porta-potty.
(Long line?)
Two minutes felt like two hours, as I stood there in fear.
(That you wouldn't make it to the race? )
That I wouldn't make it to the toilet.

The Final Twist 140 Days to GO

No one likes to stretch, that’s why so many of us don’t do.

(Present company included?)

Guilty as charged. I have the second biggest file at the physical therapy practice I use. 
(Because you don't like to stretch?)

The problem is that what starts out as just a 30 second stretch becomes a 30 minute ordeal my wife calls  “Pretzel Time”?

(Pull & twist?)

Very much so.
(What could you be doing for 30 minutes?)
Stretch. I stretch everything. 
Let me explain...

When I started this journey 10 years ago, I developed leg pain.

(Which part of the leg?)

Every part.

Quads, hammies, the knee.

(The knee has many parts. Which ones?)
All of them.

(All of them?)
Do I stutter?

Pain landed me in physical therapy (PT). I soon discovered that I needed to stretch after my workouts, so guess what I did?
(You stretched before your workouts?)
Yup

(Why is that bad? Isn’t that what you are supposed to do?)

No & here’s why:

The muscles are like rubber bands that expand & contract when you exercise.

If you stretch them before you train, they are so elongated that they cannot contract.

This can cause injury.

(So what are you supposed to do before you train?)

Dynamic stretching

(But you just told us not to stretch)

Static stretching is holding the leg while leaning against a wall or table.

Dynamic stretching is what Michael Phelps does before a meet when he shakes out his arms.

(You mean when he does the gull wing)
Yes.

(So how do you do that for running?)
Jumping jacks or climbing stairs.

You just want to get blood flowing into the muscle.
Stretch muscles, not joints
(No ligaments or tendons?)
Tendons are part of the muscles.

Patellar tendon, Achilles tendon

(Tenderloins?)

This is why I spent so much time in physical therapy.

Exactly. Everytime I master a stretch, my body finds a new place to knot up.

(Pretzel Time?)
Yup

"Where is your bike?" That's what my coworker asked me as we left work for the day.
I stared at her like a deer in the headlights.
"Didn't you ride to work?" She inquired.
It was 50 degrees that day. For January in New York it was considered exceptionally warm for that time of year.
She was asking a totally reasonable question, since I have a reputation for spending all day on the bike.
"I have it here in my trunk, but I only spin indoors this time of year."
Now it was her turn to stare at me like a deer in the headlights.
Triathletes talk in a language all our own and we regularly forget that rest of the world does not.

• Spinning
• PR
• Cadence 
• Aero position 

Anyone of these tend to elicit a visual facial reaction the legal equivalent of
"Just how far back down the road did the spacecraft drop you off?"  I proceeded to explain to my coworker that between January and the end of March I do not ride outside.
Before she could ask about where the spaceship was actually going to land again, I showed her a picture me on my bicycle connected to a stationary bike trainer & that is called spinning.

If the air temp is 40, it feels like 20 on the bike.
In snow or ice, you have zero traction.
Carbon road bikes 
(& human bodies)
snap, like twigs on impact with cars trucks 
(or buildings).
Hence, spinning indoors.
(You could take a spin class?)
A. Why spend ten minutes re-adjusting the seat when you have a bike at home that already fits you?
B. Who says the class will be targeting you race season goals?
C. The instructor at my gym sings along with the workout music...& she is way off key.

I used to dread the 12 weeks when I could not ride outside. Then I discovered instead of staring at the walls of my garage, I could be watching movies or Netflix episodes of West Wing. Once I spent so much time on the bike that my family set a table setting on my back to tell me to stop for lunch.

So the next week, I took the bike outside & did a 30 minute set while my neighbors shoveled themselves out.

Now 3 times a week for about an hour each, I'm doing bike workouts after the kids go to bed.

(Hopefully inside the house).

The advantage of becoming a "triathlete hamster wheel" is the ability to reproduce workout results in a controlled environment.
There are 5 zones, ranging from 1 to 5.
Zone 1 requires so little amount of effort that it's practically "checking for a pulse".
Zone 5 on the other hand feels like "I'm going to die at this pace".
Each of the three workouts I do, require me to hold at a different zone for an extended period of time.

For example:

Zone 1: 5 minutes
Zone 3: 2:30 minutes
Zone 6: 30 seconds
(Zone 6????)
This is the plan. This is how I am going to get faster at the 112 miles of cycling for Ironman Lake Placid.

Here are a few Triathlon terms:

PR is Personal Record, your new fastest time. 
We want to be so faster, that we shortened the term for it.

Cadence is mph, but we are measuring how fast you make the wheel spin when you pedal. If you are pedaling too fast, you are in the wrong gear. The bike is a machine & it should be working harder.

Aero position, bent over the handlebars being aerodynamic. The lower you are, the less wind resistance slowing you down.