The Start of Summer

Well, allow me to re-introduce myself... All kidding aside, it has definitely been a while since I have posted on here. My last post was on May 23rd and my last post about my life and training was even longer. To be honest, life has been b.u.s.y. BUSY.

My last personal post was my Green Bay Marathon Race Report. Literally the Monday following my withdrawal from the Marathon, I started my triathlon training. I can't take any credit for designing my plan. For the first time ever, I will be using a non customized, general training plan. I scoured the web for any type of training plan I could find. In the past I have always created my own training plans. These plans were based on distance. I know how to structure a plan and build distance onto what was done the previous weeks. I felt comfortable with that. I even created my own 9 month training plan for Ironman Wisconsin. But, I'll be honest, I have no idea how to structure a training plan for a short course racing, where endurance isn't necessarily the key factor. I had no clue what type of individual workouts I should be doing for each individual sport. I ultimately found 3 plans which I felt fit my personal life, strengths, and weaknesses. This "winning" training plan is actually an Olympic Training program, which I found on the European Triathlete Magazine's website. The title of the article/program is "Training Plan: Your Fastest Olympic Distance Triathlon" check it out by just clicking on the link. The program lined up perfect with the 12 weeks between the Green Bay Marathon and my final "A" race, USA Triathlon's Age Group National Championships on August 10th. Sure, that race is a sprint distance race (750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run) and the training plan is for an Olympic distance race, but I wanted a little more challenging training plan, plus the two distances are pretty similar.

Since starting my triathlon training, I have absolutely fallen in love with this type of training. To this date, my longest day of training was just 90 minutes. The training is short, with a lot of emphasis on intensity. Even though my training volume is down from what I grew accustomed to last year with my IM training, I still feel as though I being challenged each and every workout. Some of my favorite workouts thus far include a double brick set of 2x(20min bike at race pace; 20min run in zone 2); Shorter swim sets followed immediately by a brief intense run; and a lot of pace specific interval sets on the bike, such as a 75min ride with 3x15min at race effort with 5min easy spin.

Even my dog, Bella, has enjoyed getting back to running

As far as the condition of my calf which ultimately caused me to pull out of the marathon has been a non-issue since coming off the marathon. I took a full week off from any running and substituted all my scheduled runs with a session on an elliptical for the equivalent duration. Since taking the week off from running, I slowly introduced running back into my training plan, depending on how it was scheduled in. For the past couple weeks, I have been following my training plan as prescribed with no residual pain in either of my calves. I stopped running in my Newtons (whether or not they are the root cause) and purchased a pair of Zoot's for my new triathlon racing shoes. My hypothesis is that the last few weeks leading up to the marathon, when I first started receiving Dry Needle treatments, I never stopped trying to run. This constant cycle of getting treatments followed by a day of rest, followed by an attempt at running again, never fully allowed my calf to heal. After being smart and withdrawing at the first sign of pain, and taking time off from running, I think my calf was ultimately given ample time to heal. I fully believe that Dry Needling aided in the healing process of my calf, I just never allowed it to fully heal prior to the marathon. Either way, it appears that my calf issues that were ailing me just one month ago, are a thing of the past.

As committed as I have been to my triathlon training the last 4 weeks, I have finally fully committed to eating a healthy diet. I know I have claimed to make the change, or commented on how I wanted to change, but now, since May 26th, I have been eating a very strict high fat, low carbohydrate diet. I have been eating the exact same thing every day. Except for the weekend we had our friends come visit, I have been spot on and not had any of the cravings I thought I would. Generally speaking, I eat my high fat kale shake after waking up (Recipe Here); almonds, sardines, guacamole, and vegetables for lunch; and yogurt with frozen berries, hard boiled eggs, and a Wild Friends Nut Butter Packet before my workout. Depending on how hard/long my workout is, I may include a post workout recovery drink. Keep in mind this is my diet while working 3rd shift, so my greens smoothie is had during dinner time (my breakfast) and the rest is had while at work overnight, before my morning workout. When you break down the nutrients of this diet, I am roughly consuming 60% of calories from fat, 20% from protein, and 20% from carbohydrate. In just the last 3 weeks, I have lost roughly 6 pounds (most likely fat) and honestly feel really good.


My triathlon race season kicks off this upcoming weekend with the High Cliff Sprint Triathlon. Last year I raced the Half Iron distance race here. The distances of their sprint is a .25 mile swim, 22 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. I am treating this race is truly a training race for me - especially being my first triathlon of the year. Sure, I'd love to have a great finish near the top of my age group and near the top of the overall standings, but ultimately I have 2 specific goals for the race. First, I want to have clean, fast transitions, and second, I want to have a strong bike with an average speed around 23mph. Part of my clean and fast transition goal is my experimenting with not wearing socks. For the first time ever I have found a pair of shoes that I am able to run sockless in without any issues. So this will be the first race I complete with out the hassle of socks. Oddly enough, as excited as I am to start racing triathlons again, it honestly doesn't compare to how excited I am camp that weekend at High Cliff State Park with my wife and daughters. The triathlon is based at a State Park and we jumped on reserving a site early in the year. The race is on Saturday morning and we are staying Friday through Sunday, which will make it super easy for me to get the race on race day, but also allow us to enjoy the remainder of the day Saturday just relaxing by a campfire until we head home Sunday.

The best part of my new training schedule, is all the free time. Having all this free time has allowed me to spend literally all my free time away from training and work, with my kids. I know I have mentioned to Sarah at least a couple times already that last year, I grew accustomed to spending all my free time training, that I never realized how much I was away from my kids. This year, my training volume is just a mere fraction of where it was last year, I realized how much I missed last year, honestly, it makes me feel kind of guilty. I'm not saying I regret doing the Ironman last year, because that still remains one of the greatest days of my life, I'm just saying it's something I am learning. In just the past 4 weeks since the marathon, I have probably spent as much, if not more time alone with my kids - both with and without Sarah. Granted a lot of this has to do with the fact I have taken a couple of weeks of paternity leave since the birth of Harper.

The week following the marathon, I was still off from work on paternity leave. That week, I brought the three girls on a nature hike one day and then to Mulberry Lane Farm another day. Then, Sarah's cousin got married over Memorial Day Weekend. This threw a wrench in our traditional plans of spending an extended weekend at my in-laws cabin, but we made the most of it for sure. The next weekend our good friends from college came to visit from Minneapolis. It has been almost 7 months since we last saw each other. That weekend, Dave and I were able to sneak out early Saturday morning for a quick 9 holes of golf and then spent the evening at a Timber Rattlers baseball game. It was a great summer weekend. The next week, Sarah and I brought the girls to Menominee Park and Zoo in Oshkosh. This past Thursday was Maya's first ever dance recital for her spring dance class. She was so excited for her recital all week. It was adorable watching her perform her dance with her class for us.

For summer just getting started, I am extremely excited for what's still in store!

Sarah with her Grandfather