A Quick, Brief Update - Cycle 22

As much as I enjoy writing about each of my past training cycles in detail, I am forced to be extremely brief with this weeks post.  The very end of this training cycle is the beginning to a very busy period for me.  Country USA began on Tuesday, June 25th in Oshkosh.  This event is a 5 day concert festival in our county's jurisdiction.  From Tuesday through Sunday morning I will be working 11 hour days patrolling the ground of Country USA, attempting to keep some sort of order to a week of pure drunken chaos.  Due to Country USA falling on 2 of my scheduled off days and my daughters birthday being the Monday right before Country USA, I opted to take 3 days off from this rotation to be with my family for Delaney's 2nd birthday and to get in some long training days.

This training cycle began with a scheduled 4 hour block in preparations for Country USA.  I was able to get my swim/bike brick workout in before hand and attend training.  I also picked up a 4 hour block of overtime on the last day of my 3 day work week.  On my 2nd day off we planned a joint party with my in-law's.  My brother-in-law graduated from UW-Milwaukee this past spring and we held his graduation party in conjunction with my daughters 2nd birthday party.  It was forecasted to rain that day on and off all day, but lucked out with beautiful weather.  After a couple high volume training days, it was off to start a hectic 8 day stretch of work, 5 days of 11 hours, followed by 3 regular work days on the road.

Brief Recap

The bulk of my training this cycle came on days 6 and 7 with on bike focused brick and one run focused brick.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit intimidated going into those two days for fear of the unknown.  My first workout was an 80 mile ride followed with a short 4 mile brick run.  I did the bike portion as 2, 40 mile loops.  I was fortunate enough to meet up with a female named Dawn from the Milwaukee area who was in town for a wedding.  She was out to get in a 50 mile training ride.  It turns out she was also training for Ironman Madison.  I rode about 25 miles of my 40 mile with her discussing the difficulties of training for an Ironman as well as the strategies and tips/tricks of Ironman Wisconsin.  It was a treat to finish a long ride with an experienced Ironman.  The very next day was my run focused brick with a 40 mile bike and a 16 mile brick run.  I was not extremely sore from the prior workout, but just generally fatigued, as you could probably imagine.  I gutted it out in the heat and finished with times I am extremely satisfied with.  The last key workout leading up to my Country USA downtime, was a key swim workout of 3,800 meters.  It involved 6 sets of 500 meters done at goal race pace.  I used my current CSS pace of 1:43/100m to estimate a swim race pace of 1:48/100m or 9:00 for 500 meters.  It was another tough workout, but it felt great to get off my feet.

Favorite Workout

My favorite workout from this cycle was my run focused brick.  I picked this workout due to the sheer difficulty of the workout.  I was not nearly as intimidated by this scheduled workout as I was for the 80 mile bike ride, which is the longest solo ride I have done to date (Race the Lake bike race in 2010 was 88 miles).  But I would have never imagined the 40 mile ride and 16 mile run the day after riding 80 miles and running 4 would be so tough.  Granted it didn't help that it was 80* and humid throughout the tail end of my bike and the entire run.  I was able to remain mentally tough and just kept putting one foot in front of the other for the run and finished with an average pace of 7:40/mile.  My average speed on the bike was 20.8 mph which I was also very satisfied with.  It was a very tough and rewarding workout, which is leaving me actually looking forward to adding mileage to it!

Moving Forward

The first 3 days of this cycle are the final 3 days of Country USA.  Because of working 11 hour days, I scheduled lower intensity and lower volume during these days.  Coming out of Country USA, I get right back into Ironman training with an 8 mile run, a two-a-day swim and run, and then an off day before getting back to my high volume off day training.  My mileage is getting upped in my weekend training to an 85 mile ride and a 5 mile run, coupled with a 40 mile ride and an 18 mile long run.  I have them scheduled to be on the 4th and 5th of July which are presented a problem in and of itself.  First, I have my 85 mile bike focused brick for the 5th of July, but my in-laws have a cabin rented in Crivitz, WI and are having the entire extended family over to spend the 4th of July together.  Crivitz just happens to be about 80-90 miles away...and my wife wants me there.  Soooooo, I will probably be moving my long bike brick workout to the 4th and swapping it for the long run brick workout to be in attendance.  I will map out a one way bike ride from Kaukauna to Crivitz and then run once I get to the cabin.  On the 5th I have every intention of getting down to Madison to bike the Ironman bike course.  It is a double loop route and I plan on riding the loop once before doing my 18 mile long run on site.  

Like I said, short and sweet, now I am off to bed for some sleep.

Below are photos from the past week.

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

My 80 mile bike ride.

The birthday girl and the graduate.

Maya and my nephew Bradyn at the local swim lake.

The kids buried their Aunt Lisa in the sand.

Daddy and Delaney at the swim lake.

The entire family at the party.

This was my weekend forecast for training, was lucky to avoid most of it during my training.

Delaney loves playing in the sand.

This is what 1,675 calories looks like to fuel an 80/4 brick workout.

My fueling plan for my long bike brick workout.

Following in My Dad's (Running) Shoes - Cycle 21

Me and my dad!

This past Sunday was Father's Day, no surprise, or at least it shouldn't be.  It's personally one of my favorite "Hallmark" holidays.  Not only because I am now a dad and have been one for 4 Father's Days, but because it also gives me a chance to reflect on my relationship with my father and my grandpa.  My dad's dad died when I was too young and never had a true chance to really get to know him.  But, my mom's dad passed away while I was in college which gave me ample time to establish a relationship with him.  I remember the day he brought me and my cousins to a farmer's market in town and bought us each a bunny, unbeknownst to our parents.  He was also a very passionate Christmas Tree Farmer and every year after Thanksgiving we would spend hours nearly every night over at grandma and grandpa's house to help sell Christmas Trees and help make wreaths.  Nothing, however, compares to a relationship between a father and his son.  I grew up in a family of four, one brother, and my two parents, a household of boys.  I remember growing up and going hunting and fishing with my dad.  He was my little league baseball coach, our Den Leader for Cub Scouts, he would try to do it all.  Really, if there was something my brother or I needed, he would usual volunteer to help out, no matter what it was or how much (or little) he knew about it.  My dad was a "tough loving" father, he and I would butt heads more than I can recall.  Especially in High School, it seemed the two of us would fight over something so meaningless on a weekly basis.  Turns out though, he was just watching out my brother and I.  Now that I am older and have kids of my own, I can see exactly what he had to endure; you do what you can to set your kids up for success and hope the follow your lead.  My dad was and continues to be a role model to me.  I try to mold my life from his.  He taught me everything I know and still teaches me about common, simple tasks around the house.  He is the hardest worker I know and does everything he can for my brother, mother, and I.  He taught me that there are things in life that you will not agree with, people you will not like, situations that are out of your control, and you simply have to deal with them - that's life.  He taught me what it means to work hard and be committed to something whether a hobby, career, or anything else for that matter.  He is also to blame for my love of endurance sports.  He started running when I was still in Middle School to try and stay healthy.  He lead...and I followed.  I ran a marathon and I said, "I want to do that."  And I did.  He ran the Boston Marathon and I said, "I want to do that."  And I did...with him.  That is one of my proudest moments as a person, son, and runner.  Truthfully, how many people out there can say they got to run the Boston Marathon with their dad???  Fact is, it's hard enough to just qualify and run it alone.  Now, my dad is a grandpa to my two daughters and they absolutely adore him. I love watching him play with them.  It's because of my dad who dealt with the struggles of raising a kid at such a young age and continues to stay healthy and active, that I too, want to be as healthy and active as I age.  I want to be a grandfather that is able to play with my grand kids and hang in there with my own kids as they reach their 20's and 30's.  So Happy Father's Day Dad!  And a sincere Happy Father's Day to all the other dads out there, enjoy the day and joys of being a dad!

Outside of spending time with my family and my in-law's on Father's Day, the main focus of this previous training cycle was my last race leading up to Ironman Wisconsin - The High Cliff Half Ironman.  This race was on Saturday, June 15th at High Cliff State Park.  The race went just about perfect.  I felt great throughout the entire race and felt just as good after the race...dare I say it was easy?  I finished in 4:45:06 which placed my 18th overall and 6th in my age group, which for what ever reason was, by far, the most competitive age group of them all.  3 of the top 4 finishers came from the 25-29 age group.  You can read a my full race report here: High Cliff Half Iron - Race Report.  The evening after the race we ate dinner at my in-laws house and went out for my traditional post-race ice cream treat.  This time we opted for frozen yogurt from Orange Leaf.  I tried their Peanut Butter Frozen Yogurt, which was right up my alley!  It was so good.  I would definitely recommend trying an Orange Leaf if you have the chance, it's the same concept as a Cherry Berry, where you fill a cup on your own with frozen yogurt and then can top it with any topping you'd like from their topping bar.  You pay by weight after you are done with your creation.  Orange Leaf's frozen yogurt is much smoother and tastier than Cherry Berry and is cheaper too - it's a win-win!

With having my final big race this cycle I took 3 days off from work leading up to the race since it fell on the morning of my first night off.  So if I hadn't taken off from work, I would have worked until Saturday morning at 6:00am with the race starting at 7:00am.  There is no way that would have worked out.  So, with having the extra time off, we had our close friends, Pat and Melissa and their son Lucas over for dinner and a fire on Thursday night.  Friday was a rest day to recover and go into the Half Iron race close to fully refreshed.  With having no training on Friday, Sarah and I took advantage of the free time and brought the girls to Menominee Park in Oshkosh.  Not only is this a really nice park set on the shores of Lake Winnebago, but they have a small free zoo.  The girls loved seeing the animals at the zoo.  The new otter exhibit was a family favorite.  After the zoo we had a picnic in the shade, played on the playground for a while and ended the trip with a ride on the carousal.  It was a great way to spend a rest/recovery day before a race.  

Brief Recap

My training this week revolved around the 70.3 (total miles in a Half Ironman race) race I had on day 7 of my 9 day cycle.  My most specific workout was a couple sets of mini-triathlons on Thursday.  I did two sets of a quarter mile swim, 5 mile bike, followed by a 2 mile run.  I only do this type of workout the week before a key triathlon workout.  This workout takes a lot of time and effort to accomplish.  First, you have to drive to the lake, set up for all three sports, and then lock up all your gear when your out doing each sport.  It can become rather cumbersome to say the least.  But in the end they are extremely beneficial, because they allow you to see the race course (assuming that's where you do them), practice transitioning between each discipline, and you body gets used to doing all three sports back-to-back-to-back.  I did not schedule any full off days for recovery after the race, to be honest I am not sure why, but I scheduled a recovery effort swim for the Sunday following.  Even though a 70.3 distance race takes more time and effort to complete than a full marathon, it seems like I am not left nearly as sore as I am after a marathon.  I did Sunday's swim in a yard pool, as opposed to the meter pool I usually swim in.  It was a 3,000 yard swim and was just 10 sets of 200 pull followed by 100 kick, pretty mindless.  Now, for Monday's workout, I don't know if I am tough, crazy, stupid, or just in good shape, but I scheduled a 50 mile bike followed by a 6 mile brick run.  On Sunday morning I was having second thoughts on that combo and was really wanting to stay in bed come Monday morning at 5am when my alarm went off.  My mindset going into this workout was to just take it easy and not to stress about my speed or pace.  I used my road bike to stress the easier effort.  I came off the bike feeling better than expected and with an average speed of 20.3 mph, which was faster than I had thought.  I went out on the run with the same mentality, of just taking one step at a time and listening to my body and breathing easy.  I finished the run feeling surprisingly really fresh.  I finished the run with an average pace of 7:10/mile, which again, was faster than I had thought.  I was extremely happy with this workout, and realized that I shouldn't have worried about that much volume 2 days after a 70.3 race.  It showed exactly where my current level of conditioning is at and leaves me motivated for the last two and half months of training.  After my long block of training I stopped at my favorite coffee shop, Seth's Coffee.  Normally I will only and always get a straight black coffee, no sugar, no cream, just coffee.  This time, since I was in such a good mood after a good workout, I opted for an Iced Carmel Mocha....good God...it was good, it hit the spot after a tough, hot, workout!

Favorite Workout

My "transition area."

My favorite workout this cycle were my mini-triathlons from the Thursday before my race.  I enjoyed these because I rarely get to do them and the fact that I got to do them in High Cliff State Park.  My swims were both great, and both of my bikes started by climbing the bluff that gives the park its name.  My run's also ran up and down the hill which provided an unique challenge to the workout.  The efforts of all three disciplines were at or below, what I would consider a Zone 2 effort.  Now, I don't specifically train at prescribed heart rates, but I have been training long enough and know what efforts fall where, or at least have a general idea of what type of intensity I am at.  These workouts, where not done to elicit a physiological benefit, but were strictly done for the benefits of going from swim to bike and then bike to run.  They obviously helped as my transition times in the 70.3 race were among the fastest of the day (T1 was 27th fastest and T2 was the 7th fastest).  

Moving Forward

The High Cliff Half Iron race was my last event before the Ironman (I sound like a broken record).  I now have 82 days of nothing but training....and a lot of it.  I will now focus on a lot of biking, more open water swimming, and working on a strong run coming off the bike.  My next few cycles are in the midst of our busiest time of the year for work.  We have to staff two major concert festivals in a span of about 4 weeks.  The first is Country USA from June 25-29th and then comes Rock USA from July 17-20th.  I have adjusted my training plan to work around my odd work schedule as we are scheduled to be out at these festivals, regardless if they fall on our scheduled off days.  I have no double day workouts scheduled for this cycle, but do start to incorporate back to back long brick days.  I have scheduled these to include one long bike and shorter run brick workout and then a second day of a shorter bike followed by a long brick run.  This cycle has an 80 mile bike followed by a 4 mile run on my first day and then a second brick consisting of a 40 mile bike and 16 mile brick run on day 2.  Those will become the "meat and potatoes" to my training plan moving forward.  My hopes is they will strengthen my legs to be able to put a strong marathon time in coming off the 112 mile bike of Ironman Wisconsin.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!!!

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

Some of the professional photos from the Elkhart Lake Triathlon came available this week and can be found below.

Maya with the horse at the zoo.

Not sure if this guy got loose or what.

Delaney - the "cooler" of my two daughters.

Found this on my bike ride on Monday.  Some sort of "Transformer" insect.

My favorite picture from this weekend's race.

First one at the YMCA on Sunday morning - that's called dedication kids!

My swimming pool at High Cliff State Park.

Daddy and Delaney on Father's Day.

My best "Zoolander" pose after my swim in Winnebago.

Elkhart Lake Triathlon

Elkhart Lake Triathlon

Just finishing at the Elkhart Lake Triathlon.

High Cliff Half Iron - Race Report

It's come to this...my last race before Ironman Wisconsin.  It's only 84 days away!  It is only fitting that my last race leading up to the Ironman is a Half Ironman; a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run (70.3 total miles).  This race will be the 5th time I have done an event at the High Cliff Triathlon and my 4th 70.3 distance race (I did the sprint one year).  So, it's not like I have never done a 70.3 race before.  I was using this race for a couple reasons.  First and foremost was to judge how my training has been going thus far and where my current fitness was at.  Secondly was to practice my race day nutrition and race strategies for Ironman Wisconsin.  The course is a little different from most triathlons as it is set in a Wisconsin State Park. High Cliff State Park is set on the Northeast edge of Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin's largest inland lake.  Immediately after the swim you are challenged by a long, steep climb up the edge of the cliff that gave the park its name.  After returning from the bike, you are forced to now climb up the cliff for a double loop half-marathon.  The run is done on the intricate trail system.  Other than running up and down the cliff and crossing a couple of roads, the entire run is done on a very nice, level, packed down, dirt trail.  The day's leading up to the race, I kept a close eye on the weather since the days surrounding Saturday were nice, but Saturday continued to have between a 40-60% chance of rain/thunder storms.  The morning of the race, the radar looked, okay, not great, but it looked like we might dodge a bullet.  Majority of the storm systems were south of High Cliff State Park.  I figured we might get wet on the bike, but it looked like the transition area would stay dry.

Training Plan

As I said in the introduction, this race was more than just an opportunity to get out and race.  For those reasons, I considered this an "A-" race. It wasn't necessarily an all out "A" race, but it wasn't a sub category "B" race.  I still scheduled a rest day on Friday leading up to the race, but I also still trained relatively hard leading up to Thursday.  I also raced hard the weekend before, so no, it wasn't my big race of the year, but I still wanted to give myself a good opportunity to race well.  Coming off the Elkhart Lake Sprint Triathlon last week, I realized I needed to get in the water for some open water swims before the Half Ironman.  I did just that.  I went to High Cliff on Tuesday right after work for a mile swim.  I then had a couple short "mini-triathlons" scheduled for Thursday.  I did these 2 sets right at High Cliff to simulate the race.  I did 2 sets of a quarter mile swim, 5 mile bike, and 2 mile run.  The combination of the one open water swim and getting in the lake for the 2 mini-triathlons really helped build my confidence and put me in the right frame of mind going into the Half Ironman.

Day/Night Before the Race

Like I said above, I scheduled a complete rest day to recover and recuperate from all my training with hopes of getting to the start line fully rested and ready to go.  Sarah also had off from work on Friday.  To take advantage of the benefit of having a full day of nothing to do, we brought the girls down to Oshkosh's Menominee Park and Zoo.  The zoo is free with an optional donation.  It is nothing extravagant by any means, but for free you really can't complain.  It takes about an hour to walk through the entire zoo.  After the zoo we found a nice spot in the shade for a family picnic and then spent about another hour at the park.  It was a nice opportunity to spend the day as a family, which to be honest, hasn't happened too much this summer and probably won't happen too much more until after September 8th.  The girls had a blast and were found sleeping in the car almost immediately.  We stopped at High Cliff on the way home to pick up my race packet and were home around 3pm.  I then laid out all my gear and got all packed up for the race the next morning.  After packing up, it was time to start cooking my usual prerace meal of Walnuts and Pepper Pasta.  After dinner, I was in bed relaxing by 8 and sleeping by 8:45 with my alarm set for 4:01am.

Getting to the Start Line

I was completely thrown off of my normal routine from the get-go.  I was not woken up by my alarm as I had planned, but by Sarah yelling at me saying, "Matt!  It's 4:45, wake up!"  I don't know if I didn't set my alarm properly or if I shut it off in a dead sleep right away, but either way, I did not get up nearly as early as I had liked.  After actually getting out of bed, brushing my teeth, getting dressed, and getting the final loose ends together I had planned on, it was already shortly after 5.  I decided to forgo my usual prerace breakfast of a sweet potato and honey and just have a Bonk Breaker Bar an hour before the start.  I left around 5:20am when my original plans were to leave around 5.  I had my usual (large) cup of coffee on the drive to the race.  After getting to the race, I first set up my transition area.  The gal beside me had already staked claim to a large amount of real estate and the guy on my other side showed up right away too.  This is another reason I like to get to the race early, you get first dibs at the space you need and want for your transition area.  I made do with what I had and then wanted to get into the lake to do a short warm-up swim.  I got on my wet suit and got down to the swim start area around 6:40 (20 minutes before the start) when suddenly I was overcome with a feeling of needing to get to a restroom....FAST.  I jogged up the hill to the shower/restroom pavilion and got in line.  I had a wave 1 start right at 7am sharp and while I was in line the announcer was making announcements about staging.  I was getting nervous that I was going to miss the start!  Luckily, I got in and out of a restroom and felt much better.  I jogged back down the hill to the shoreline and put my suit back on and got in the water for the start.  I had just made it to the start line...Whew....  THAT was close.  All because I didn't get up on time.  I am a creature of habit and routine and I was clearly thrown off this morning.

1.2 Mile Swim

In one word, the water was rough.  There was a decent wind out of the South and with the race being set on the North-Northeast corner of Lake Winnebago, the waves were coming in hard.  The swim was a triangle shape.  For how big Lake Winnebago is, it is very shallow.  I took advantage of this at the start by walk/jogging until it was counter-productive and then I started to swim.  The first edge of the triangle was head on into the waves.  It was difficult to get into a rhythm, as it seemed every breath I would take, a wave would come crashing over my head and I would get a mouthful of water.  After making the first turn for the longest edge of the triangle I was finally able to find a rhythm.  I was able to breath primarily on my right side since the waves were coming in on my left.  I really got comfortable on this edge and started to swim hard.  After making the final turn to head into the shore, the waves were at our back pushing us in.  I really swam hard on this edge and as soon as the water was about waist high, I took my goggles off and started to run toward shore.  That all sounds great, until I realized that was a sand bar, and the water got deeper...I stopped swimming too early!  I was able to get in a dozen strokes or so with my head out of the water to get back to shallower water and finally made it to land.  I finished the swim in 0:36:20, a 1:44/100 yards pace, which was the 61st fastest swim.  Not bad, but I was really hoping for something between 30-35 minutes.  

High Cliff Half Ironman - Swim Details

56 Mile Bike

I utilized the wetsuit strippers, who take your wetsuit off for you.  It saves time in transition and is just one less thing I need to worry about.  I grabbed a quarter chunk of a Bonk Breaker Bar at transition and was off on the bike.  My 1st transition time was 1:10, the 27th fastest T1.  The bike started with a hard category 5 climb.  A cat 5 climb is the lowest ranked climb by road racing standards, but the fact that it's still ranked says something for a Wisconsin climb.  After the initial climb, the ride took us straight south along the East side of Lake Winnebago.  The wind was out of the South, so it was a headwind for pretty much the entire first half, which is exactly what I would have asked for (if any wind at all).  My fueling strategy was to eat a quarter chunk of a Bonk Breaker Bar every 10 miles at miles 10, 20, 40, and 50.  I then had a water bottle with a total of 400 calories which I would take a sip of every 10 miles starting at mile 5 and then at 15, 25, 35, 45 and 55.  Something I have been experimenting with this season is fueling with nut butters.  Justin's makes individual 200 calorie packets of peanut butter and almond butter, they even have varieties mixed with maple syrup, honey, and chocolate.  I had one packet of Maple Almond Butter at mile 30.  The rain that I had hoped we missed came as we continued to travel further South.  The rain started with a light drizzle between mile 14 and 15 and got harder and harder until it was a steady rain, nothing significant, but enough to soak everything, including my socks, which left me wondering if that would become an issue on the run.  It continued to rain until about mile 24-25.  With the rain ending early in the bike leg, it left ample time for my socks to dry out and were never an issue.  After turning around on a large loop, it was back up heading North on the same road we came South on.  This time the wind as at my back and I really began to hammer on the gears.  My speed was consistently above 20 and was hovering around 25 with the wind at my back.  I really pushed hard on the bike knowing that I have been training hard on my bike this year and knew it would not destroy my run, like it did last year.  I finished the bike leg in 2:30:48, a 22.3 mph average, and was the 25th fastest bike.  

High Cliff Half Ironman - Bike Details  

13.1 Mile Run

After coming into transition, I racked my bike, threw on my shoes, grabbed another quarter of a Bonk Breaker Bar and was out in 0:50, the 7th fastest T2.  As I started running, I immediately realized there was something in my shoes.  At first I wrote it off as being something from running from the beach to transition after the swim.  It didn't go away or move out of the way from my feet.  I decided to take the time to take what ever it was out of my shoe.  I slipped off my shoe and found a frickin' wall anchor.  I have no idea how the hell that got in my shoe, but it did.  I was really happy I took the 5 seconds to stop and take it out, because that would have just reeked havoc throughout the half-marathon leg.  I reached the base of the cliff that I had initially climbed on the bike, and now I had to run up this damn thing.  It was at this point I could fully feel the effects of riding my fastest Half Iron bike split ever.  My legs were HEAVY, but I just calmly pushed on up the hill.  As I was running up, a spectator told me I was the 13th overall Half Iron runner at that point in the race.  That was extremely motivating.  After getting to the top of the climb, I had a double loop of about 6 miles per loop.  My strategy was to run as hard as I could, as long as my breathing stayed relaxed for the first loop.  After completing my second loop, I figured I would crank it up for the final 10k and race hard at that point.  The first loop went just as planned.  I passed a couple of other runners and was passed by only 1.  On the second loop, I was passed by a guy who looked to be my age around mile 7 and I immediately decided I would do what ever it takes to hang with him and hopefully pass him before the finish.  I stuck with him for the entire 2nd loop, but just wasn't able to match his final kick on the last quarter mile or so.  For fuel on the run leg, I filled a gel flask with 5 servings of Hammer Gel (450 calories) and planned on taking a small swig from the flask every two miles starting at mile 4 and then at miles 6, 8, 10, and 12.  I did not want to finish the flask completely and hoped to take in about 4 servings or 360 calories.  By the end of the run, I did just that, left about 1 serving in the flask and felt fantastic throughout the run.  I finished the half-marathon in 1:35:55, or a 7:20/mile pace, which was the 23rd fastest run.  

High Cliff Half Ironman - Run Details

Post Race

I finished the race with a total time of 4:45:06.  My previous best time at this course was 4:40:28, which had a significantly shorter swim.  So, I was EXTREMELY happy with my finish time.  I consider this a definite PR for me.  I met up with Sarah and the girls, along with my Mother-in-law and they estimated that I was the 9th or 10th overall athlete to cross the finish line.  Granted a lot can change due to the nature of having wave starts.  But, regardless, I was super excited to see how I officially placed.  I have never placed in my age group at a race of this distance and felt confident that I had an opportunity to do just that.  After grabbing some eats, a couple of post race complimentary beers from Stevens Point Brewery, the initial race results where posted.  Sadly, I didn't place in my age group.  I ultimately placed 18th overall (out of 441 finishers) and 6th in my age group (of 51 finishers).  I was not necessarily surprised that I didn't place, but 6th??  I was really astounded that 5 others placed higher than me.  Especially since I finished 18th overall.  But like I said, I am not letting the fact that I didn't place derail my satisfaction of my race time.

Other Notes

I have nothing to really add, other than I am motivated and ready to move on up to the full Iron distances of 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run!

Lessons for Future Events

I am confident now that I will be able to physically make it through a full Iron distance race.  It is strictly the mental aspect of moving for 10+ hours and not giving up.  My training moving forward is what is really going to prepare me for the mental aspect of racing for that long.  I am also confident in my fueling strategies.  I have never felt better on the running leg of a 70.3 race as I did today and I give full credit to my fueling strategies.  I will continue to implement those fueling strategies as my training takes me to distances I have yet to get to.  I know I need to continue to work long open water swims into my training plans.  Swimming in a pool is great for technique and pace specific swim sets, but there is no substitute for swimming in a dark and murky lake for over an hour.

What's Next

It's right back to training tomorrow.  I have a 3,000 meter swim set scheduled for Sunday morning.  I'm guessing it will end up being done in a yard pool as opposed to a meter pool, but it is just a recovery swim set, so nothing major.  On Monday, it's right back to the long brick workouts.  I am not sure if I am crazy or what, but I have a 50 mile bike followed by a 6 mile brick run scheduled.  The intensity will be strictly aerobic and I will not push myself.  As for after this cycle, I have no more races on the schedule until the Ironman on September 8th.  All I have now is a lot of race specific training.  My training will no continue to take my body to places it has never been yet and most likely will not go to again or at least will not get back to for a long time.  The true work begins now.  So obviously, this will be the last race report until the race report I have been dreaming of writing.  Until then, it will be just personal weekly updates.

Below are more photos from the day.

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

The swim start.  I am the guy right in front of the metal post.

Heading out on the bike.

Back from the bike, about to head out on the run.

Getting my shoes on.

Just starting the 2nd loop.

Coming in to the finish.

The home stretch.

The finish chute.

All done!

My favorite post race picture yet!

The entire family.

New Family Wheels - Cycle 20

It's hard to believe that I have just completed my 20th cycle.  Truthfully, it still feels like I am just getting started with my Ironman training.  But the fact is that I only have 10 more cycles and one more race before my goal race.  My life has really changed over the past 20 cycles.  My life has become more hectic than ever.  I find myself searching for extra time in every day.  My training volume has never been higher then it's currently at and I will still need to find time to add nearly 2 more hours a week in my peak week.  My life revolves around 3 things right now; training, my family, and work.  That is about all I have time for these days.  Unfortunately, the only one of those I have been willing to sacrifice is my family, how bad is that?  I keep telling Sarah, "Just another 3 months and it will all be over."  She keeps clinging onto the hope that she can manage to get through the next 3 months and things will be back to normal.  As much fun as I am having training for this event, I do miss the flexibility to do things such as go camping, visit friends, go on vacation, go away for a full day, etc.  Needless to say, it's been a complete life adjustment.

This previous cycle was one of the few weeks where I actually worked close to a full rotation at work.  I still took the last day of my rotation off just to have more time around the house to get some things done with Sarah.  June 2nd was our 6th year anniversary of our wedding and we have been trying to get out to dinner with just the two of us.  We also wanted to get out and start car shopping since our 2005 Hyundai Sonata was nearing the end of its life.  So, with taking Wednesday night off from work, gave me Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off from work.  Wednesday was my "turn-around day" and worked until Wednesday morning at 6am and needed to take a short nap before taking advantage of my night off.  We made arrangements for my parents to babysit the girls while Sarah and I did some car shopping with intentions of going out for Sushi after test driving some vehicles.  Well, we test drove one vehicle and decided we liked it enough to buy it.  We bought a 2012 Ford Flex after doing online research and test driving it once.  We started our shopping around 5pm and by 9pm we were driving away in a "new-to-me" car.  We love the new ride - it has a ton of room for the potential of a 3rd child or just the 4 of us plus our dog.  It has a 3rd row of seats and decent gas mileage which was we were looking for.  Unfortunately, since our spur of the moment decision to buy a car took much longer than we anticipated we missed our opportunity to go out for sushi.  We immediately made arrangements with Sarah's sister to watch our girls on Friday night so we could finally get out for our anniversary dinner.

How delicious does that look?

Friday, I had a full 8 hour block of SWAT training from 0800-1600.  Saturday, was my first triathlon of the 2013 season in Elkhart Lake.  Elkhart Lake is about an hour to the Southeast of Kaukauna.  The race started at 7:15am.  I knew I would be leaving early enough as it was, so I opted to run down to Elkhart Lake immediately after training and pick up my race packet to save me time the morning of the race.  I brought a change of clothes to training so I could pick up Sarah immediately after picking up my race packet and go out for our dinner.  Both Sarah and I absolutely love sushi, it's one of our special dinners that we save for special occasions.  After our dinner, it was straight home so I could finish packing for my race and get to bed at a decent time as my alarm was set for 4:15am.  Below are the stats from the triathlon and finishing results. 

My stats and race times from the Elkhart Lake Triathlon.

The race came and went on Saturday and was back home around noon.  I was very happy with my finish in the triathlon, placing 6th overall and 1st in my age group.  You can read a full race report here for the Elkhart Lake Sprint Triathlon.  Sarah brought the girls to the Flag Day Parade in Appleton with her mom and sister in the afternoon.  So, I stayed home and got some chores done around the house.  That evening/night we went to my aunt’s house form my cousins' graduation party.  My two cousins, Justin and Stephanie had a dual graduation party.  I found myself falling off the wagon at the graduation party.  I drank too much and ate nothing of nutritional value.  I had done so well all cycle leading up to Saturday.  It wouldn't have been so bad if it was a piece of cake with one or two other treats, but it was multiple pieces of cake or cupcakes, cookies, desserts, trail mix, and beer.  It seems like whenever I am around food that is just sitting out, I can't help but just eat to the point of discomfort, it's pathetic actually.  This is the exact reason why I am 3 months out of the Ironman and my body weight is still between 165 and 170 and not between 155 and 160 as I want it to be by the Ironman.

Brief Recap

This was my first cycle with more than one day with multiple workouts.  I had 3 separate days which had both a morning and evening workout.  On top of the dual workout days, I had to make a couple changes to my originally scheduled routine to work in the Elkhart Lake Triathlon.  I moved things around and scheduled a 13 mile long run on Wednesday and then a 50 mile bike and 3 mile brick run after on Thursday.  I kept my morning swim before SWAT training on Friday and then used the Elkhart Lake Triathlon as a workout and an opportunity to practice transitions.  I ended up getting stuck in the basement on my indoor bike trainer twice this cycle due to rainy conditions.  Unfortunately, one of them was my 50 miler.  Yup, I rode for two and half hours on a stationary bike in my unfinished basement.  Let me tell you, it was BORING!  After I was done, the rain had stopped and I was able to get outside for my 3 mile run, which was nice.  My body continues to adapt to the increased demands I am putting it under.  Last cycle I remember being generally sore from the increased volume, but this cycle I seem to have adapted and am handling the increased volume well.

Favorite Workout

My favorite workout from this cycle came right away at the start of the week.  My first workout of this cycle was a scheduled 3,600 meter swim and 40 miles of biking.  I again planned to split the bike by biking to the YMCA and then completing the swim and biking the remaining miles after my swim.  I planned it out to bike 10 miles to the Y and then 30 after my swim.  I became a little concerned on my way to Y due to some extremely dark clouds coming from the West.  I decided to take what comes and just keep on pushing forward.  I lucked out and the clouds dissipated by the time I got to the Y.  My swim workout consisted of a reverse pyramid.  I started by swimming 800 meters and then took 100 meters off each following set.  So, my remaining sets were 700, 600, 500, 400, 300, 200, and then 100 meters.  I finished the 3,600 meter swim set in 1:12 and was back on the bike for my 30 mile ride home.  My workout from start to finish, including time spent getting down to the pool and back on the bike took about 3:45, which wasn't too bad at all.  I have really taken a liking to the split bike/swim/bike workouts.  They seem to save time and are a fun way to couple up workouts.

Moving Forward

The focus of my upcoming cycle is the High Cliff Half Ironman on Saturday, June 15th.  My training schedule leading up to the race is minimal.  I have only one day of double workouts.  One of my favorite workouts to do a couple days before a big triathlon is a "mini triathlon."  I don't do them often due to the time constraints of putting together multiple short triathlons.  I do them based on time and do 2-3 sets of them.  The way I structure them is to swim for 10 minutes, bike for 15, and run for 10.  My plan is to do one set and then take a short break to reorganize my gear and do a second set of them.  Doing this style of workout allows me to spend time on transitioning from one disciple to the next.  They are a great workout to do the week of an important triathlon race.  They can really help ease the nerves of a triathlon and the unknown for tri-newbies. After the race on Saturday, it's right back into Ironman training.  The triathlon is my last opportunity to fine tune my strategy for the full Ironman.  It is my last race of any distance before the Ironman as well.  After this weekend, my midweek training volume will decrease and my weekend training volume will see a large increase.  My training volume needs to increase to the demands of a 140.6 mile triathlon.  

Thanks for checking out the blog and the continued support!  Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

The Osthoff Resort is absolutely gorgeous!  It was the host of the Elkhart Lake Triathlon.