I'll be completely honest, I am already a few days behind with this post. Things have been busy. Cycle 19 ended on May 30th, today is now June 3rd. This past cycle was such a nice break from the norm. The my work rotation started on May 22nd and I worked only 2 nights, into Friday morning. After a short nap of Friday, I was up and packed up the Jeep for a weekend away to my in-laws cabin in Cayuga, WI, for Memorial Day Weekend. After filling every single free space of the Jeep with our belongings, we were on the road for our 4+ hour ride to northwestern Wisconsin.
For as long as I have known Sarah, her parents have had a share of a plot of land in Cayuga with other members of her Father's family. Cayuga is located approximately 30 miles South of Ashland, WI. It has become and annual tradition for our entire family and extended family to spend Memorial Day Weekend together at the cabin. It's a tight squeeze. There are 2 bedrooms, one being a "master" bedroom with a single queen size bed. The second bedroom has 2 bunk beds for a total of 5 beds, which fit 6 adults. The remaining space of the cabin is a large single open area of a living room and kitchen/dining room. The living room has 2 rockers, 2 couches, one being a pullout. So, including the couches and chairs, your looking at enough space for 11 adults. We had a total of 9 adults, 4 children (4, 3, 2, and 1 year old), and 3 large dogs. It was a full house, to say the least.
After stopping in Wausau, WI for dinner for the girls and I, we made it to the cabin, right around 8pm, for a total drive time of roughly over 4 hours. The girls became a little antsy during the final half hour or so, which is expected. All things considered they were great during the drive there. We unpacked quickly and set up our stuff for the weekend and I was in bed ASAP, considering I made the trip on a little under 2 hours of sleep from working the night before. Saturday was Sarah's 29th birthday and her only request was to sleep in and be able to read her book in bed after waking up. Lucky for me, Sarah and I weren't the only two at the cabin, so I had the help of Sarah's mother to help with Maya and Delaney in the morning, which gave me the opportunity to get my training in.
To me, there is something uniquely enjoyable about training in a new city/area. The change of scenery is so refreshing. It's exciting to plan new routes for both running and biking. It's my way to tour a new area and see a new city or countryside. I had planned on 2 special training sessions throughout the weekend. My first was a 20 mile bike followed by a 6 mile brick run and the following day I had planned a ride which has been on my bucket list since my first trip to Cayuga. I planned a ride to Ashland and back. My final workout for the weekend was a short 5 mile run. So, after waking up with Delaney and feeding her breakfast, I left the girls in the hands of my mother-in-law and was off for a couple hours of training. The terrain in Northwest Wisconsin is very hilly, so coming from a relatively flat portion of the state I was excited for the challenge of some tough climbs. On Saturday, I planned a 20 mile ride to Copper Falls State Park and back. For those of you who have never heard of this State Park, I highly recommend looking it up. It is a beautiful park, with several water falls and rapids set in a very lush forest.
After finishing my brick workout on Saturday, I got the stamp of approval from Sarah to go golfing with the guys. There is a small 9 hole course 10 mile north of Cayuga. It has become an additional tradition for all the guys to go out either Saturday or Sunday and golf a round of 9 holes. The great thing about it, is we are all absolutely terrible. It's purely about the camaraderie as opposed to the competition. After our pathetic attempt at golf, we all went out for dinner. In the past, we usually head up to Ashland and go out to The South Shore Brewery. This year, I attempted to call and set up a reservation, but they where booked until after 8pm, so we opted to try a new place this year. We found a Supper Club just south of the cabin. Dinner was great and found a new place to go for future trips to Cayuga. One of the unfortunate things about being up in the sticks, is there are limited options for shopping. We wanted to get Sarah and birthday cake for dessert after dinner, but after going to the only 3 possible places in the area, a convenience store, which closed at 8pm, a Dollar General, which had none, and a gas station, which also had none. So, Sarah, went cakeless on her birthday.
On Sunday, I finally got to cross off a bike ride I have wanted to do for several years, biking up to Lake Superior in Ashland. The ride was great, there were tough climbs, great scenery, and had perfect weather. We made kabobs for dinner on Sunday night and I did my best to stay awake out at the fire after dinner, but was just drained from my ride earlier in the day. Monday I was up before 7 and got my run in right away in the morning. After my run I helped pack the Jeep back up and since both Sarah and I didn't have to go back to work until Wednesday, we made plans to stop at my parents cabin on Lake Poygan (just outside of Oshkosh) for the night on Monday. Unfortunately the weather was less than stellar. It was cool and rainy. So after getting to my parent's cabin, my dad began frying up some of the fish he's been saving for the right occasion for a large fish fry. The fish was great and after dinner, I went out to the local grocery store with hopes of finding a birthday cake for Sarah. Luckily, I was able to find the best option I had for a 29 year old female's birthday cake. Yes, I found a Barbie Mermaid Cake, it was perfect....maybe more for Maya or Delaney, but at least it was delicious. We were hoping to be able to spend the day on Tuesday at the cabin and allow the girls to possibly swim, or at least play around in the yard. But, the weather continued to not cooperate. It was cool and rainy again on Tuesday, so we packed up and decided to head home right away and start the unpacking process for a great weekend away from home.
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| Sarah and her Barbie Mermaid cake. |
The final couple days of this cycle were soaked up by either a full day of training for work on Wednesday, or Ironman training and other personal commitments on Thursday. To end the week, we met up with our family friend, the Nissens, for dinner in the Green Bay Area. We went to a new pizza place and it was absolutely delicious. It was a great way to end the week.
The week was fantastic. Especially considering that it was coming right off a great finish in the Green Bay Marathon. Speaking of which, I received my 3rd place age group medal in the mail this week. The medal was gold in color and was easily my biggest medal to date. It's a simple award, but easily one that I am most proud of. It was easy for me to feel like I was in "off season" mode coming off the GB Marathon. Mentally, I felt as though the hard work was done, I just finished the Marathon, it's time to enjoy my time. But, then I would have to remind myself that the work is just beginning. Even though I was still training hard, I still seemed to eat as though I was not training. I drank plenty of beer this past weekend away. I also ate waaaay too much. I had some s'mores, pudgy pies (tonka toasters), and countless other unnecessary treats. I'm not sure exactly what my weight gain was over the weekend, but I know I put on a few pounds, which is not what I need 3 months out from the biggest race of my life.
Speaking of the Ironman, I created a t-shirt for those who are planning on watching the Ironman in September. This is a common thing especially for large events such as an Ironman. It makes it easy for the person who is racing to find their family and friends while out on the course. It also elicits a sense of pride and motivation for the group and the athlete racing. I find it to be motivating and shows a strong sense of support from my family and friends. The shirt is 2 sided, with the race info on the front and my mantra for the race on the back. If you are interested in ordering a shirt, please email me or send me a message on Facebook. I am estimating the cost of the shirt to be around $17.75 a piece. My plan is to order them in early July, with hopes of getting then in August. When my father and I ran in the 2011 Boston Marathon, we made shirts for my family who watched the race, which was neat to see while I was running.
Finally, I just want to discuss something that happened this past Thursday while I was out on my 45 mile bike ride. I had just left the South end of High Cliff State Park and was continuing South when I noticed another guy out riding. He eventually caught up to me and pulled along side me. The first thing out of his mouth was something like, "I thought that was you, I had always hoped I's see you out training!" At first I was a little confused where this was going, then he continued by saying, "I have followed your blog for the past months." I was caught off guard. I was excited to hear that, not only people are reading and following, but the fact that I was recognized by the photos I post on here. The coolest part was he was also a fellow Officer for the City of Appleton. We were able to talk and share some stories of past experiences as we rode, he knew exactly what I had all been through and all my accomplishments and struggles, by reading my blog. It was easy to connect with his as a fellow triathlete (he is a Ironman Finisher), but also as a fellow Law Officer. We didn't ride together for long, but long enough to ask for training advice for racing a strong Ironman. He offered a very common suggestion - ride the course, at least once. Hopefully, Greg reads this post, because I appreciate him taking the time to say hi and let me know he follows my blog. It was motivating and I appreciated the advice he offered for the Ironman.
Brief Recap
Cycle 19 was my first cycle that had a specific triathlon focus. My bike mileage increased significantly from what it was leading up to the Green Bay Marathon. My biking is my weakest of the three disciplines, so in order to race a strong Ironman, I need to focus on becoming a stronger cyclist. The key to racing a great Ironman is riding smart to set up a strong run. It's very easy to put up an excellent bike split, but typically you'll find that person walking through majority of the marathon. A smart racer will reserve themselves on the bike and put up a strong marathon split, which will ultimately beat the person who blew by them early on in the bike.
This cycle had my highest volume for both mileage and time. I felt as though my body handled it surprisingly well, especially considering who crappy I ate throughout the cycle. Being off from work for 4 days of my rotation, on top of my regular 3 days off gave me a total of 7 days off. These days off gave me the opportunity to increase my training volume easily. This allowed me to ease back into training coming off from the marathon and still have some higher volume training sessions later in the week to give a higher total training volume at the end of the cycle. I was able to do a 20 mile bike and 6 mile brick run on Saturday, a 70 mile bike ride on Sunday, a couple longer swims on both Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as a 45 mile bike and 8 mile brick run on Thursday.
Favorite Workout
It was a very easy decision to pick my favorite workout. My bike ride to Ashland was my favorite workout from this past cycle and also my favorite workout this year so far. I first went up to Sarah's family cabin in Cayuga while I was in college, probably around 2005 or so. Ever since then, I knew I wanted to ride up to Lake Superior and the City of Ashland. It's a very hilly 33 miles from the cabin to Lake Superior. I rode right to the most Northern point of that part of Wisconsin. There is a pier with lots a large ships and boats that tour Lake Superior. I had the wind at my back for majority of my ride to Ashland, which was super nice. After riding to the pier I rode west a couple miles and took an alternative route back home. The wind was in my face and was primarily uphill. The ride home was difficult. The wind that was at my back the way up to Ashland was now in my face. On top of a head wind the ride home had more difficult climbs which were made that much more difficult by the wind. I ended up getting back to the cabin with a total mileage of 67.75, which was too close to 70 for me not to do a quick out and back to reach a total of 70 miles. After a short out and back jaunt I had reached 70 miles in just over 3:30, not too bad, especially considering I stopped a few times to snap some pictures and didn't stop my watch. I was extremely satisfied with my time and the ride. It was everything I thought it would have been. Below is a link to my Garmin data and a few pictures from my ride.
70 Mile Long Ride at Garmin Connect - Details
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| Finally made it to Ashland! |
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| Made it to Lake Superior |
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| Loving the view! |
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| That's a huge pier for ships off to the right. |
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| A large boat at the pier. |
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| The picture does not do this hill justice, it was a long and steady climb, with a head wind. |
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| A river I passed on my way to Ashland. |
Moving Forward
Cycle 20 is my first Peak phase cycle. Moving into the peak phase means multiple two-a-day workouts. In fact I have 3 scheduled two-a-days. You'll also notice that I have a second option for each day for training. This is due to the unknown with my work schedule. We are so short handed right now at work that there is a possibility that I may be forced to cover an additional 4 hours either before or after my regularly scheduled shift of 10p-6a. Working a total of 12 hours on top of my commute makes it difficult to get two separate workouts in during a single day. So, I left myself a lot of flexibility in this cycles schedule. Some workouts I am looking forward to are the swim and bike brick workout on day 1. I plan on doing what I did a couple cycles ago and biking to the YMCA for my swim workout and biking after. I am also actually looking forward to the addition of more two-a-days for the challenge they will present. I am nervous about my day 7 run and bike workouts. I originally had a 70 mile bike ride plan, but I know have a meeting I have to attend in the early afternoon and I will be coming off of working 3rd shift that morning, so my time and sleep will be limited. I am also concerned due to the fact that I will be doing a Spring Triathlon on day 9 and my Half Ironman Triathlon is the following weekend. I am treating this Ironman as my other "A" race leading up to the full Ironman. But I am still keeping the main focus of my training to the full Ironman. I want to have a good showing at the Half Ironman and be somewhat rested, but I do not want to be over stressed at that race. I changed my plan to be a 3 mile run right after work with the plan of getting some sleep until my meeting and then riding 50 miles after. On day 8, I have a full day training at work followed up with my Sprint Triathlon at Elkhart Lake in Southeast Wisconsin. This will be used as a tune up race before the Half Ironman to practice transitions and my open water swimming.
Another thing I need to really start focusing on this cycle is my nutrition. I NEED to start eating to fuel my body to race fast and strong and to recover properly. I cannot continue to just eat what I want because I am working out so much. My weight may not fluctuate that much due to the volume of my training, but realistically, I am not feeding my body properly for the stress I am putting it through. I am only setting myself up for a potential disaster. If I want to train and race as an elite age grouper, I need to treat myself and feed myself as an elite triathlete. For the next 3 months or so, I am going to start making smart decisions with my nutrition. This past week was just the opposite, I ate any dessert or sweet that was put near me. I can not continue to eat like this. So, as of this cycle, I am completely cutting out sweets, ice cream, processed foods, and focusing on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and real foods for my diet. It's officially time for my to put my nose to the grindstone and put in the real work for the next 3 months. There is no time for excuses now. I do not want September 9th (the day AFTER the Ironman) to come and me sit there thinking what might have been, or think what if.....
So as always, thanks for reading - Be fast, be strong, and carry on!
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