The Endurance Pig: Living the "Normal" Life

I was spoiled this past cycle and it couldn't have come on a better week, to be honest. I was assigned to attend Field Training Officer (FTO) Training this past Monday-Friday May 13-17th. An FTO, for those who may not know, is an officer who is assigned the duties of training new hires. The training was held at Fox Valley Technical College, which is about a 10 minute drive from my house. So, that was just the start of my lucky week. The 5 day training was held from 8:00am to 4:00pm and began on my scheduled Monday, as my rotation ran from Monday-Saturday. I took Saturday night off as I had planned on running the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon on Sunday morning and wanted a full nights sleep prior to running a full marathon. Taking Saturday night off gave me a full 12 nights of sleeping at night in a row (3 days from my prior "weekend," 6 days from my regular rotation, and 3 additional days from my current "weekend"). I couldn't have been happier to be able to sleep at night for over a full week leading up to my marathon. I knew that would give me the best opportunity to go into the marathon fully rested.

The ability to sleep at night was so nice for a change. It had been nearly 3 years since I started working 3rd shift. It gave me the chance to get my workouts done in the morning and spend the evening with the family. I was able to help out putting the girls to bed every night since I wasn't busy getting ready to leave for work, which was nice. It was a good change of pace. What also helped was the fact that after my brick workout on Tuesday morning, all my workouts were short and easy. I had scheduled rest days on Thursday and Saturday to allow proper recovery to be fully rested for the marathon on Sunday. One difficulty I had this past cycle was I found me eating more than I should have, especially since my training volume took a significant hit. I found myself continuing to eat as though my training volume never changed. My weight climbed slightly, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I compare it to a race car starting a race fully topped off with gasoline. A fully filled race car is going to weight more, but there isn't a single driver who would sacrifice the fuel to lower the weight of the car for speed. It's the trade off that nearly every runner will take, fully topped off with stored fuel and rested for the negative impact carrying a couple extra pounds can cost.

The marathon came and went in the blink of an eye. I won't waste any of your time describing the marathon, as I completed a race report on Monday following the race. You can read that report by following the link below:

Cellcom Green Bay Marathon Race Report

Immediately after the marathon, I was picked up by JD, my brother-in-law, who drove us down to Milwaukee which is about an 1:45 drive from Kaukauna. Sarah's brother graduated from UW-Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon and they had made reservations at Bar Louie for a big family dinner. JD and I arrived in Milwaukee with some time to spare before everyone got out from the actual graduation, so the two of us stopped in at Water Street Brewery for a craft brew, or two. After dinner it was right back home to start another week. I still had two more days off before having to go back to working 3rd shift. I had scheduled Monday to be a rest/recovery day, so, Monday was just my daughters and I. Surprisingly, I was not nearly as sore as I had been in past years following a marathon. Since I felt pretty good, I took the girls for a walk. Maya pushed her doll in her stroller while I pushed Delaney in her bike. It was nice to go for an easy walk with the girls for recovery. Monday night, I went out for my traditional post race celebratory Cold Stone Creamery treat.

On Tuesday, it was right back to training as usual. After getting my workout in, Sarah and I had the car packed up and we brought the girls down to Miller Park to watch the Brewers take on the LA Dodgers. The game was great, long, but great. The girls had a blast at the game. It was a great close to a great week! With one "A" race down, it's back to high volume training and very Ironman focused training on Wednesday.

Brief Recap

It was so nice to be able to sleep at night the past week and live the life of a "normal 9-5 Monday-Friday person." I am normally a morning person and for the most part, I always have been. This past week I was up nearly all week around 5:00am, some days even before, just to get my workouts in. On Monday, I had scheduled a swim/run brick workout, which I have never done in the past. It was a short swim, at only 1,600 meters followed by a short 4 mile run. The toughest workout to get in before leaving for class was my Tuesday 25 mile bike ride followed immediately by a 1 mile brick run. I was up around 4:30 and was biking shortly after 5:00am. That was my last "long" workout leading up to the marathon on Sunday. I have been saying that the Green Bay Marathon was clearly one of my two "A" races on my schedule this year, but not my highest priority race. The Ironman is my highest priority of my races this year. Normally I would not schedule a workout like a 25 mile bike followed by a brick run the week of a marathon. But in the grand scheme of everything, I am not training to run a fast marathon, I am training to ultimately, run a fast marathon AFTER swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 miles. The remainder of the cycle had just a couple other short runs and rest/recovery days on Thursday and Saturday.

After taking the Monday after the marathon off, it was right back to training on Tuesday. I had scheduled a swim/bike brick or 1,600 meter swim followed by a 15 mile bike. I decided to be economical and save some time and bike to the YMCA to swim and bike home after. I planned a 10 mile route from my house to the Y. On the way to the Y, I blew out a spoke on my rear tire around mile 6. It made me a little worried to finish my ride to the Y, but decided it was too close to call for a ride. My rear wheel was extremely untrue, but I just undid my rear brake and made it there with no issues. I completed my swim and bike back with no issues. It was a good workout, different, which I liked. I wore one of my full tri suits and just swam in that suit, instead of changing clothes before and after swimming. From start to finish it took a little over 2 hours, including time to assess my rear tire and prepare for swimming.

Favorite Workout

I actually have a few workouts that I really enjoyed from this past cycle. I enjoyed both my brick workouts from early on in the cycle. Both the swim/run and bike/run brick went smoothly and were enjoyable. I also enjoyed my swim/bike brick from late in the cycle. Having 3 similar workouts in the same cycle makes it difficult to pick one. The better of the 3 fun workouts was the final workout from this cycle; the swim/bike brick workout. As I stated above, I planned to bike to the YMCA and complete my swim and then bike home immediately after. I packed a single back pack and wore one of my full tri suits. After getting to the Y, I locked my bike up and went right into the pool. I never had to change my clothes. At first, I felt a little wierd swimming in a full tri suit, but got over it quick. I swam a 2,500 meter drill pyramid (listed below) and then hopped out of the pool and stopped only briefly to put back on the socks and bike shoes.

100m - Free Style (nice and easy)

200m - Pull

300m - Fins - 6-1-6 drill down // Free Style back

400m - Free Style (breath every 3 strokes down // breath every 5 strokes back)

500m - Oull with paddles

400m - Free Style (negative split)

300m - Fins - 6-3-6 drill down // Free Style back

200m - Pull

100m - Free Style (nice and smooth)

The bike back was nice with the wind at my back. The weather was ideal, which, honestly, was probably the main reason this workout was my favorite of the 3 great workouts. From leaving the house until I returned back home, took me about 2:15. I was happy with my time, considering I had to take time to stop and assess my busted spoke on the way to the YMCA. But the bike route was a 10.75 mile route and took me 34 minutes there and 32 minutes back. My swim took roughly 55 minutes. It was an efficient workout and one that I will probably repeat again, as opposed to driving to the YMCA for my swim and then biking separately after returning home.

Moving Forward

With the marathon officially behind me, the real training begins now. My training focus will make an obvious shift from a base triathlon program with a marathon focus to strictly an Ironman focus. The next cycle (#18) is my last Build phase. It's technically listed as a Recovery Build cycle, but coming off a dramatic decrease in volume, my training volume actually increases back to where I was before I began my taper for the marathon a couple weeks ago. I only work a couple days this rotation as I took the final 4 days of my rotation off to send time with Sarah's family up at their cabin waaaaaay up in Northwest Wisconsin. Their cabin is in a town called Cayuga, which is about 30 miles south of Ashland, WI. It has almost become a tradition of ours, to spend Memorial Day Weekend with her family in Cayuga. I had to adjust my plan a little as I had a few swims planned during the weekend, but with no access to any indoor pools and the fact that the water temperatures are just too cold to swim in yet up there I decided to focus on my weak link - cycling. I scheduled a bike/run brick workout on our first full day there. On Sunday, I scheduled a bike ride I have wanted to do since I've stated going up to Cayuga, that being a ride up to Lake Superior and back. It's a little over 30 miles one way. Once in Ashland, there are some pretty scenic parks and piers that overlook Lake Superior, so like I said it has always been a goal of mine to bike there, and now with my Ironman training and my need for long bike rides, it fits in well to my plan this season to do this ride this weekend. I will for sure have pictures to post next week of my journey. On Monday, its a simple short run and then we will be heading back home, but spending Monday night at my families cabin on Lake Poygan near Oshkosh, WI. I have my wet suit packed with plans of getting my first open water swim of 2013 in on Tuesday morning. If I am unable to swim in the lake on Tuesday due to cold water temperatures, I will try to get the the YMCA on Tuesday night for my swim. The remainder of the week is all relatively shorter workouts, because, like I said, is a recovery cycle. Without a doubt, it should be a fun cycle and I am definitely looking forward to the change of training scenery!

Below are some photos from this past cycle.

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!