The Endurance Pig: Hitting My Marks

I wasn't completely sure how my week of training would go, as far as getting support and cooperation from the family. Especially, following a rough week around the house after coming to terms with what's in store for us this summer just to fit in my training. I made the best effort I could to help out around the house and give time to my girls and getting house work done. Like I wrote about last week, there is little leeway to give or even skip workouts. But, the general atmosphere around the Kohl household was much more enjoyable this past training cycle. I can only think it was because of the discussion that was had between Sarah and I regarding my training; past, present and future. Our discussion last week is what sparked my blog about the "truth behind the training." I was more flexible with my training plan this past cycle to make things work around the house. I changed around the original weekly plan in order to pick up the girls from the baby sitter on Monday. I also took an extra night off from work at the last minute and took advantage of the extra time by spending the day on Wednesday with my girls. I ended up taking Tuesday night off from work after have an afternoon court trial scheduled. Knowing ahead of time that I was intending on taking the night off I signed up for a 4 hour block of 2nd shift overtime on Tuesday night before taking my 3rd shift off. On Wednesday, I brought the girls the YMCA and they got to spend the day at the "Kids Korner" (the Y's drop in day care) while I was in the pool. The weather was so nice that Maya was able to play outside on their supervised playground while I swam. It was truly a win-win for both the girls and I. After our time at the Y, I brought them to a local park for 45 minutes before ultimately going home and putting them down for a nap.

My girls and I at the park.

As I mentioned above, day-to-day life around the Kohl household has been better since discussing the frustrations that come along with training for an Ironman, specifically to those close to the athlete training for it. It's hard, it has been and it will only continue to get harder. I think was ultimately needed to happen was for me to realize what I was asking of Sarah to go through. Sarah definitely reached a breaking point last week with my training and my attitude. But, to be honest, how could I blame her. I was expecting her to be happy for me and share the same excitement I had been feeling since registering for this race. HA! What dream world was I living in for the past 7 months?!?! Ultimately, it took me to realize exactly the numerous sacrifices I was expecting Sarah and the girls to make, in order to appreciate and realize what I got myself into. Now, just knowing what I am doing to my family, has our family somewhat back to where we were before I registered for this race, except for all my training and my attention to my diet. It's amazing where this journey has taking, not only me, but those who I hold close. All in the name of an Ironman...

On a complete side note, The Tri Shop just launched their Blog just minutes ago, literally just as I begun writing this. I encourage you to check it out, in my brief surfing of their site, its very organized and pretty sweet looking. I look forward to reading their articles about equipment, training, and other aspects regarding swimming, biking, and running. The website for their blog is www.justtritalk.com

Brief Recap

Cycle 16 was by no means a peak week in my Ironman training, but had a couple of workouts that left me knowing my training is right on track. Right at the start of this training cycle I was testing myself. The first workout was a 2 mile swim followed by a 20 mile bike ride, which when by itself it really not much, but immediately following the most difficult run workout to date, made it that much more difficult. The very next day was another 20 mile bike workout. Due to light showers and wanting to have a less intense workout, I did this ride indoors and just rode at a consistent resistance for an hour. I really wanted to use that bike workout as a recovery workout to leave me with somewhat fresh legs for the Jailbreak 5k on Saturday morning. The Jailbreak 5k was my first real run test of the training program (forgetting about the St. Pat's day 5k due to the crappy weather conditions). I really wanted to have a good showing. I nailed it! I set a new PR for the 5k with a time of 17:49 or a 5:42/mile pace. I was stoked to not only PR, but also place 1st overall for the first time ever in any race. Winning the race guaranteed that I won the Bloodhound Challenge too. You can read more about the race and the Bloodhound Challenge HERE in my race report. Considering all the training I had been doing leading up to the race, all with no taper, I was extremely pleased with my race time.

The very next day following the 5k race, I was only scheduled a 4 mile run originally, but like I said, I quickly swapped out my afternoon bike ride from Monday and moved it to Sunday. I originally had it scheduled on Monday to allow some sort of recovery, but I was surprised how good I actually felt. A couple of days later I was in the pool for my 4th Critical Swim Speed (CSS) Swim Test. Again, I nailed it! My 400m time trial was completed in 6:29 and my 200m time trial was completed in 3:04. My previous times for each was 6:46 and 3:10 respectively. So I had a HUGE improvement in both distances!

On Thursday I made another adjustment to my schedule, as I was originally planning on doing a 50 mile bike ride, I upped it to be a 60 mile ride. The ride was ridiculously windy with a steady breeze between 13-17mph with gusts upwards of 30mph! It was by far one of the most difficult bike ride to date, based on the distance and wind. I finished the ride in 3:19 when I was hoping to finish it around 3:10. The very next day I was out the door for my final race pace long run before the marathon. I started with a short 1 mile warm up, then it was right into a 10 mile tempo run at or near race pace, and finished with another short 1 mile cool down. I wore my GPS watch but did not look at it and simply went based on feel. I finished the run with a total time of 1:24 and averaged a 6:44/mile pace for the 10 mile tempo portion. My goal pace for the marathon is 6:52/mile, which would get me across the finish line with a time of 2:59.

Map of my 60 mile bike ride.

I'm a data freak - data from my 12 mile race pace run.

Favorite Workout

My favorite workout from this cycle was my CSS swim test. I had my eyes on this test date a couple of cycles ago. I had really been working hard in the pool with hopes of improving my swim fitness and my CSS pace. I am a total self taught swimmer. I come from a terrible swim background. I took all the stereotypical swim lessons that all the kids take growing up. My brother (who is 4 years younger than me) ended up catching up to me because I kept failing stages along the way. But, back in 2006 when I signed up for my first triathlon, I started to swim and made it a goal of mine to learn how to swim. I remember when I first started I would swim 25 yards (a single length) and would be so winded that I would need to take a break before heading back. Now, I am logging multiple miles in a single session in the pool. I still get psyched out the day of a swim test or a long swim set. There's just something about swimming that intimidating, but in the same sense, I look forward to it, as I now enjoy my time in the pool - especially AFTER the workout. I completed my prescribed warm up of 400m freestyle, 300m pull, 200m drill work with fins, and 100m freestyle. After that 1000m warm up, I did a build set of 8x50m as 25 fast, then 25 easy. The CSS swim test is a 400m time trial, followed by a 200m time trial. I finished the 400m time trial in 6:29 and the 200m in 3:04. I then go to the Swim Smooth blog and use their CSS to figure my CSS pace, which is a specific 100m pace to utilize in training that will help improve your swim fitness, specifically your race pace fitness. My previous CSS pace was 1:48/100m and my new CSS pace is 1:43/100m! I took off 5 whole seconds per 100m, which is a HUGE improvement! My upcoming CSS workouts will be that much more difficult and challenging. :)

Looking Forward

Looking forward I have another race scheduled for this Sunday. It's my first multisport race of the season. The Paper Discovery Duathlon is one of the races I have been doing for quite a while and usually try to do every year. It is a duathlon which only has 2 disciplines unlike a triathlon which has 3. Typically a duathlon is structured to be a run-bike-run of various distances. This duathlon is a 2 mile run, 19.5 mile bike, and finishes with a 2 mile run. After the race, it's time to start focusing on the Marathon with will be only 2 weeks out. As I draw closer and closer to the marathon, I can't help but think about my training plan and wonder what I should be doing and how I should be going about it. I really REALLY want to run a sub 3 hour marathon, but I also want to remain focused on the Ironman. Even as I right this blog I am adjusting my training schedule. You can see that on Sunday the 12th (one week out) I have a bike-run brick work out scheduled, which is fine, but I can not decide what the distance of the bike should be. I originally had a 50 mile bike planned, then I changed it to 60, but now, I literally just changed it to 40. Oye...

My thought processes are...

A) I should really cut back and make sure I go into this marathon rested and strong, you are in shape and fit, a single long bike ride will not make or break my Ironman training - which ultimately becomes the focus of my training the cycle following the marathon. My training the last few weeks was really a "triathletes marathon training plan," where my training plan coming up is strictly an Ironman training plan.

B) I should be focused on the main goal at hand - training for the Ironman. Training my body to adapt and be able to bike long and properly recover a week out from a marathon is great training for the Ironman. Ultimately I will need to run a full marathon after biking 112 miles, and after swimming 2.4 miles, so running a marathon one week after biking 50 or 60 miles, should be a cake walk.

C) Another part of me thinks I should completely cut back the bike miles. In previous years, in which I have raced the Paper Discover Duathlon, Green Bay Marathon, and the High Cliff Half Ironman, I would ride my bike right up to the duathlon and then completely cut out ALL biking miles until the marathon at which time I would bike heavy leading up to the half ironman.

My guess is I will probably go with option A and ride a 40 mile brick bike for a couple reasons. First, it is mothers day on Sunday and I should spend some time with my wife and my mother. Second, for the reasons I listed above, ride 20 miles less one week before a marathon is not going to ruin my Ironman race which is still 4 months away yet. Plus, the way I structured this training plan months ago was to focus on running a strong marathon and focus on a building a strong running base leading up to the marathon. After the marathon my running mileage will decrease and my biking mileage will increase greatly. So for those reasons, I am guessing I will bike 40 miles that weekend. But I do reserve the right to up it to 50....or 60 :)

Below, as always are some pictures of my week.

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!