The Endurance Pig: Post Race Plans

I realize that the race is still about 2 months out, but I already have the entire 2 weeks surrounding the race planned. September 8th (race day) falls on day 2 of my 6 day work week. Which more specifically means I have off beginning on September 4th, am scheduled to work from September 7-12th and then have off from the 13-15th. I took a full week of vacation to have off the 7-12th and now have a full 12 days off from the 4-15th and go back to work the night of the 16th. My brother-in-law and family have a home in Milton, WI, which is about a 45 minute drive to the race site in Madison. They are kind enough to allow me to shack up with them in their basement for the few days before the race. My plan is to head down there on Thursday around noon, get checked in and all set for the race that day. On Friday evening there is a mandatory athlete briefing that I will attend. Saturday, is a day of relaxing and reflection as well as a mandatory bike and gear check-in. That night, I will be staying in a hotel about 3-5 miles from the Monona Terrace and will hopefully get a good nights rest. Sunday is obviously the big day.

As far as what my family was going to do from there has been up in the air. Sarah had vacation all set for Monday through Friday after the race as did I. We discussed renting a cabin on a lake in several locations throughout the state, we discussed staying in Chicago for a while, or heading up to Door County. We also discussed the possibility of just laying low and doing absolutely nothing at our home. But, as of this past week, we made our final plans.... We booked a 6 day trip to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico! This will be the 4th time Sarah and I will be down in Mexico, but the first time with our girls. We are very excited for the chance to spoil our girls and let them play in the beach all day and just relax and spend quality time as a family. Sarah and I have been to Cancun, Riviera Maya, and Puerto Vallerta, and now we will be staying just outside of Playa Del Carmen. We have been to the city before and absolutely loved it. In fact, we loved it so much, we made a retirement goal of owning a condo or time share right in the city to spend our winters when we are both retired.

This trip was much more my idea then Sarah's and took some sweet talk from my end to convince her. Not that she doesn't want to go, but more along the lines that it isn't her ideal Mexican vacation. But, in my eyes, this will give me the chance to show my appreciation to her and the girls for all the sacrifices and inconveniences I have put upon them over the past 9-10 months due to my training for the Ironman. It will also give all 4 of us to just get away and spend some alone time as a family with no training, no special diets, no workouts, no planning, nada... Just the four of us with no plans and no cares. I am so excited for the opportunity to watch my kids eyes light up when we get to the beach for the first time and watch them just play in the sand for hours on end, while Sarah and I get to relax in a beach lounger soaking up the sun. It will be the perfect way to cap off a long year of hard work and success, all while spending time with the ones I love the most.

Our plan is to shack up with my parents in their hotel room on Sunday night after the race and then drive to Milwaukee on Monday morning and take the girls to the Milwaukee County Zoo for the day. After the zoo we will spend the night at a hotel just outside of the Milwaukee Airport and fly out for Mexico early Tuesday morning. We will return from Mexico on Sunday evening and then it's back to reality on Monday.

But that's enough of looking forward, I still have a lot of work ahead of me over the next 2 months and in fact still have a lot of fun stuff to look forward to with friends and family all before the Ironman. This past cycle was a prime example of all the fun stuff that summer brings when you have kids. I worked a full 6 day rotation with the first 3 days being the final 3 days of County USA, which was one of the busiest 5 days I can recall being out there. It was nice to get back to normalcy coming off a hectic 5 days out there. For the first time since becoming an officer, I had the 4th of July off. Not only did I have the 4th off, but my weekend fell perfectly around the holiday, as I had the 3rd, 4th, and 5th off. My holiday weekend started on Wednesday night by getting dinner at my favorite restaurant (Stone Cellar Brewpub) with my good friends from college, Erik and Dana and their son Landon. After dinner we brought the kids to the Appleton fireworks.

For the 4th, Sarah's aunt and uncle who live near Buffalo, NY, came to town and rented a cabin in Crivitz for the week and invited the entire extended family for a get together on the 4th. We then went directly to my family's cabin on Lake Poygan after the get together and spent the next 2 nights on the lake. Until heading back home on Saturday so I can get back to work Saturday night. It was a nice little get away. The girls had a blast playing with their "cousins" that they do not get so see often (if ever) and play on a sandy beach on the river. The girls then got to spend some quality time with grandma and grandpa Kohl at the cabin and do some swimming and boating. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and a perfect way to spend the 4th of July.

Brief Recap

First, coming off of a hectic work week out at County USA, I had arranged my training to accommodate the extra work load. I only had one day with a AM and PM training session and everything was moderately short and lower intensity. As for my weekend, it was all about putting in the necessary time and effort that's required to race a successful Ironman. As you read from above about my holiday weekend, our family was extremely busy. So in order to get in all my training I had to be a little flexible and even a little creative. I had to rearrange my training plan a little to get in all my long blocks of training and to be able to be there with my family at all the get-together's. Crivitz is about a 70 mile trip by car from Kaukauna and I had a 90 mile bike ride followed by a 5 mile run scheduled for one of my long workouts this past weekend. I figured, why not just plan a little longer route and bike to Crivitz and then run once I get there. That is just what I did. I planned a 90 mile route and opted to bike there and just meet Sarah and the girls there shortly after they got there. The next day, I just did my workout from my parents cabin on Lake Poygan. It actually all fit in about as good as I could have asked for with all the things we wanted to cram in those days. My long run brick workout I did at the cabin was scheduled to be a 40 mile bike ride, followed by an 18 mile run. I nailed my bike workout and came off feeling fresh. I didn't get out as early as I would have liked due to staying up a little later the night before. By the time I was out running the temperatures were just under 90* and a lot of humidity. My plan was to take my time on the run and just focus on maintaining a low heart rate (in the range of 145-155). I stuck to my plan well for the first 14 miles, but by that time I was beginning to slow significantly and began feeling woozy. I don't know if it was my hydration or nutrition or just the heat all together, but I felt like I was going to faint. I was walking just to get the distance. Normally an 18 mile run would take about 2:15-2:20 but I was at 2:30 for 16 miles. At that point I decided that the risk of continuing outweighed the benefits and called it quits. I figured I had already been on my feet longer than I had anticipated even though I was still 2 miles short and know that I was not going to gain anything if I pushed through the final 2 miles. For the first time ever, I cut a workout short and had no issues mentally with doing so.

Favorite Workout

I have to say my favorite workout from this cycle is the brick session from the 3rd of July. I did a 90 mile bike ride and followed it up with a 5 mile run right off the bike. As I mentioned above, I made some adjustments to my training plan in order to fit in my long training blocks. I originally had my 40 mile bike and 18 mile run scheduled for the 4th and my 90 mile bike/5 mile run scheduled for the 5th. But in order to get my workouts in AND spend time with my family and my wife's extended family in Crivitz, I planned a point-to-point bike ride from Kaukauna to Crivitz. There are some definite considerations when planning a ride like this. First, anything that I will need for hydration and fuel I need to carry on my person, as opposed to doing multiple shorter loops where I can reload at home. Second, I had to make sure I was traveling on safe roads. So, In order to carry all my necessities with me, I used an 80 oz camel pack for my water, and used two water bottles with calories along with 2 Bonk Breaker bars and 2 packets of almond butter. I packed a gear bag with my running clothes and shoes to change into after arriving in Crivitz that Sarah brought with her in the car.

I left around 8:30am and I was extremely fortunate to have a light tail wind out of the West-Southwest. But any benefits that I would receive from the winds seemed to be negated by all the rolling hills. Yup, it was much hillier than I had anticipated. I almost felt as though I was always either climbing up a hill or coasting down one recovering from climbing the previous hill. It was a tough bike ride and is the longest bike ride I have done to date. My legs began cramping at mile 75, which threw in an added challenge. I just tried my best to ignore the cramps and just tried to keep my legs moving to not allow my legs to lock up. It was a hot day with temperatures in the upper 80's and considerably humid to go along with the high temps. I drank a lot of water, but found myself rationing the little water I had left for the final hour of my ride. I am not sure if this is the reason I began to cramp or not, but like I said this is one of the drawbacks to doing such a long point-to-point bike ride. I did stop at a gas station (the first and only gas station I passed) at mile 76 with hopes of topping off my water in my camel pack, but they did not have an option for water in their soda fountain selection, nor did they have a bubbler...so I was SOL.

After getting to Crivitz, I covered a total of 90.09 miles in 4:19:30 (average speed of 20.8mph). I was really happy with my time and speed. I finished my 5 mile run feeling really good, especially for how hot it was. I did a total of 5.04 miles in 40:08. It was exactly what I needed mentally for my upcoming workouts!

Moving Forward

As I continue to move forward in my training my workouts become more and more specific to the Ironman race and the also continue to get longer and longer. My last training cycle had a total training volume of just under 16 hours with 1 rest day, while my upcoming cycle has a training volume of about 16.5 hours with 2 days of rest. When looking at cycle 24's plan, I see two big challenges. The first being 3 consecutive days of two-a-day workouts on days 3, 4, and 5. The second being my "Big Day Training" day on day 8. This day is my first of two race day simulation workouts. The goal of this day is to put my race day nutrition plan to the test and to see how my body handles a full day of working out. The day will start in the pool at 6am sharp with an hour of swimming. I will then take 1.5 hours of rest time to refuel and then will head out the door at 8:30am for 5 hours of steady state biking. I will then take another 1.5 hours of rest time to refuel and then it's back out the door at 3pm for 2 hours of running. I will then be done at 5pm. It's a total time commitment of 11 hours, with 8 hours of training. It will be a serious mental challenge that will mimic the Ironman without all the physical stress. I am actually very excited for the challenge ahead!

But like I said, I know I have my life pretty much planned out. Now, all the way through September 15th. It is so easy to catch myself looking ahead, but I need to remain focused on the next workout in the schedule and take everything just one day at a time.

Thanks for reading and as always - Be fast, be strong, and carry on!