Road ID App & Products

I have been wearing a Road ID bracelet now for over a year. I bought the Wrist ID Slim online for $17.99.  The price includes one laser etched metal ID tag with up to 5 lines of information.  I originally bought the bracelet for a little peace of mind for while I am out swimming, biking, or running.  But, after I got the bracelet I realized that this is something that would be good to wear all the time, especially while at work.  My bracelet has my full name with my year of birth, my hometown, state, and USA, a contact number for both my wife and father, and a simple motivation phrase - "Never Give Up!"  The bracelet is small, about the size of a LiveSTRONG bracelet and made from the same material.  The nice thing about the Road ID bracelet is they come in a variety of sizes along with a good selection of different colors.  The Slim Bands are only $1.99 for spare/extra bands and come in Black, Blue, Red, Pink, Purple, Green, and Orange.  At only $1.99, I have 3 different colors to change out depending on my mood.  The ID tag is easy to put on and take off the bands, so changing between different colored bands is a breeze.  You can ever order spare ID tags for your band, which I have also done.  I ordered a 2nd tag just for motivational quotes and mantras.  Recently Road ID has come out with Badges, which are narrow versions of an ID tag, to add some flare to your Road ID Bracelet.  Some of the badges include a 26.2 badge, 70.3 badge, a red Medical Alert symbol, among others.  Road ID bracelets are a great way to be identified during an emergency when you rarely have a form of identification on your person.  I do not leave the house without my Road ID and highly recommend checking out their website for yourself or a loved one.  They not only offer bracelets, but also have shoe ID tags, pet ID tags, and a nice variety of bracelets that you are sure to find something to your liking.

My motivation/mantra ID tag on a Wrist Band Slim.

As some of you know, I work full time as a law enforcement officer, so I know the importance of being able to identify individuals in emergency situations.  It is something you hope and pray never happen to you or a loved one, but the truth is things happen that are out of our control.  Wearing a simple bracelet or other Road ID product will insure that your loved ones will be contacted in the event of an emergency.  It's one of the easiest things to do and something I think every active person should highly consider.

This past month I learned that I was allergic to bee stings.  I was out on my bike, in the county, alone, about 15 miles away from my cabin.  My entire family was away and there was no family member within 60 miles of the cabin, let alone, my current location on my bike.  I did not have a cell phone with me, but I did have my Road ID bracelet on.  I made it home as quick as I could before seeking help.  The only peace of mind I had was that I was wearing my Road ID bracelet with my information on it.  I now know more then ever the importance of having a Road ID on at all times.  

It was ironic, but within a week of getting diagnosed with a bee allergy, I was sent an email from Road ID informing me of a new App for smart phones they released.  The app is FREE and allows your loved ones to be made aware that you are out running or biking.  The app will send them a text message when you leave with a link to a website where they can track your progress and monitor your location in real time.  The text message will inform them of how long you plan on being out and will even send a warning message if you go motionless for 5 minutes.  The app is amazing and is just as important as wearing a Road ID bracelet.  I can not stress this enough and hope that ever active person who owns a smart phone takes advantage of this great app.  Below are some screen shots from a bike ride I went on in Madison, WI (which is about 120 miles from my home).  My wife stayed home with our kids and went out biking alone.  This app was just a little peace of mind for my wife and put her worries at bay, especially since I have now been stung 3 times in the past 2 months and was going to be so far away from home without any realistic call for help, other than 911.

This can be set as your lock screen, to be seen when you turn on your phone

What the tracking website looks like, when opened on an iPhone 5.

 Please consider the app and a Road ID bracelet, they are relatively cheap, and are truthfully priceless for the safety they provide.  Below are some links for their website and the app.

Ironman Brain - Cycle 29

Where do I begin.  As of writing this post, I am a mere 9 days out from race day!  Holy shit!  Where did the time go?  Over the past 9+ months, I have completed countless hours training, not to mention the countless additional hours just preparing for those workouts.  Lord only knows how much money I have invested in this race, including gear, extra food at the grocery store, fuel/nutrition that I used during training, supplements, and other races to help prepare me physically and mentally.  I have been extremely dedicated to bettering myself, not only turning my body into an efficient endurance machine, but also learning so much about myself and what I can accomplish with the right mindset.  The last month or so have been the most stressful.  My training has become a second job, on top of my current full time gig as a Deputy for Winnebago County Sheriff's Office.  My body has been sore, beat up, and run down, yet I pushed on for hours on end.  I sucked it up and kept putting one foot in front of the other, one pedal revolution at a time, and one arm stroke at a time.  My training has consumed me to say the least.  Not a minute goes by that this race does not cross my mind.  Whether it be something I need to be sure to pack, something I want to be sure to do in the days leading up to the race, or how I am going to approach a certain aspect of the race itself.  I have official been overtaken by Ironman Brain.

I have heard of Ironman Brain before, just never knew what it was specifically.  I listen to several podcasts that answer questions specific to endurance training and racing.  The two podcasts that I regularly listen to and highly recommend others to listen to are The Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast and Endurance Planet.  Each of these podcasts have mentioned "Ironman Brain" before and I would just write it off and just a feeling and I would never experience it.  But, without a doubt, I have Ironman Brain.  It's difficult to fully describe.  The best I can do is a state of mind where you are fully consumed with the intense amounts of training and the feelings of anxiety that arise in the days or weeks leading up to an Ironman Triathlon.  I have not been thinking clearly, my focus is absolutely terrible, and my memory has gone to crap.  I have a difficult time remembering simple tasks outside of my training plan.  I often forget simple things such as my car keys and where I left them.  On multiple occasions I have grabbed all my necessary belongings and sat in the drivers seat of my car patting down my shorts pockets wondering where my keys are, when they are right were I left them, sitting on the kitchen table.  As I have said before, my mind is 100% consumed by this race.  My focus solely lies on proper execution of my race plan.  I am constantly planning and making mental lists and notes for race weekend.  It has carried over into other aspects of my life.  At work, I find myself at a lost of words when dictating reports, when the word I am looking for is as simple of a word and is typically one I use on a daily basis.  I find myself repeating myself or forgetting information and needing to go back and add the information.  I can only imagine what our typists are thinking when they are typing up my reports.  

I doubt there is just one single reason for acquiring Ironman Brain.  It has to be a combination of countless hours of pushing your body to the limits during extreme states of fatigue, the inevitable anxiety that comes as race day/week approaches, and the constant planning and strategizing for each upcoming workout.  But, as of today, I have 9 more days to sit and stew about race day.  It certainly doesn't help that I am in the heart of my taper, which typically leaves me and nearly every single endurance athlete wondering if we have done enough work, and dealing with all the extra free time with the significant decline in training volume.

This past week has been a complete struggle, not only with the aforementioned Ironman Brain, but struggling with the significant decline in my training volume.  I am coming off my largest training cycle ever and entered a cycle with a decline in training volume of slightly over 40% from 22 hours down to 13.  All of that extra time is hard to describe, one would think that you would embrace the extra time.  Don't get me wrong, I definitely have.  I have enjoyed the spare time and spent it with my two girls.  But, it gives you extra time to sit and think....think about what you could be doing....what you should have done....wonder if you have done enough....did you train hard enough....could you have done more....did you do EVERYTHING you could have done?  Tapers have always been tough for me for these reasons, but now, coming off such high training volumes and entering a race that has so much importance to me has exponentially increased the stress.

Enough, with the Ironman Brain and taper stress.  This past cycle is now gone.  I entered this cycle coming off of a cycle in which I had an entire work rotation off and spent the week at our families cottage on vacation.  I was scheduled to work 5 days as I decided to take my last day off and have a 4 day weekend to spend more time with my family.  The first day of my cycle I had scheduled a routine physical after my morning workout - not that I had concerns for my health, but to specifically address my concerns of the potential of a bee sting allergy.  The doctor I saw felt that my reaction was significant enough to warrant prescribing an EpiPen in the event I get stung while out on my bike, all by myself, miles away from home without a viable option to get to a hospital quickly.  Getting prescribed an EpiPen definitely put my mind at ease.  The days following the start to my week where rather uneventful....except for Friday.  I had a double workout scheduled for Friday; a swim in the morning and a bike ride in the afternoon.  I set out on my bike ride around 5pm and Sarah left with the girls to meet with her sister for dinner.  I set out for 25 miles.  I got to about mile 9 when I felt a sharp poke to my right knee.  I had been stung again.  I immediately stopped and looked at my knee.  It immediately began to swell.  As a precaution, I called 911.  The dispatcher I spoke to, recommended I give myself the EpiPen Shot - I refused to give myself the shot as my airways where not becoming restricted.  I told her I would give myself the shot if I started to feel my airways close, but until then I did not feel comfortable giving myself the shot.  I told her, I am not 100% sure if I am allergic to bee stings and will not give myself the shot because of this.  Immediately after getting off the phone with dispatch, I called Sarah and continued to monitor my airways and my knee.  The swelling continued to grow, but I did not see any hives and the swelling remained localized to my knee.  Sarah said she was going to come out to my location in case I needed to go to the hospital but did not need to be taken by ambulance.  A short while later, First Responders arrived and then EMT's.  I did not go into anaphylaxis and had a "typical" reaction to the bee sting, at least typical for me.  The paramedics provided an ice pack and suggested I get a ride home from Sarah and relax for the rest of the evening.  I felt bad that I pulled Sarah away from her errands and didn't want to hold her up any longer.  I talked her into letting my bike home.  I told her I would bike straight home and would call her once I get back home.  As I said before, I was planning on biking for 25 miles and I was already 9 miles in.  In my mind, I thought, I could still salvage this ride.  I convinced her to let me bike home.  I did, but didn't quite bike straight home.  I took a longer way home and turned a 18 mile ride (9 out, 9 back) into a 21 mile ride by taking the long way home.  My knee was tender from the sting, but I salvaged a bombed workout.  

Saturday came and went pretty quick since I picked up a 4 hour block of overtime from 6pm-10pm and then worked my usual 10pm-6am shift.  After my work shift, I entered my 4 day weekend.  On Sunday, Sarah and I brought the kids to the Timber Rattlers game in the afternoon.  It was a HOT day but bought seats in the shade and were comfortable for the entire game.  The Timber Rattlers are the Class A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.  Going to a T-Rats game is one of my favorite things to do with the girls - they enjoy it and its relatively cheap.  Monday was a day dedicated to training in the morning and then spent the afternoon at Tanner's Grill and Bar which installed a large pool for this summer.  With school starting nearly all family pools are closed for the season around here.  All pools, except the pool at Tanner's Grill and Bar.  They allow kids to use the pool from noon until 4pm.  It was a perfect afternoon activity considering temperatures were over 90!  I had SWAT training on Tuesday from 8-4pm and then we brought the girls to a family picnic put on by my mom's employer, Thrivent Financial.  The picnic was fun, there were inflatable slides and bounce houses, games, entertainment, and even an artist drawing caricatures.  

Perfect day for a ball game!

Wednesday was a day that didn't go as planned at all.  I did get down to Madison to bike 50 miles on the bike course one last time before the race.  I got home around 2ish and after showering and cleaning up my gear it was a little after 4pm.  At about 4:30pm my phone went off - it was another SWAT call out....I had to go into work.  I was a little disappointed, as I really wanted to spend the evening with Sarah and the girls, especially since I was gone all morning in Madison.  The situation was resolved safely and was home late.  Again, due to the nature of the incident and fact that there are active criminal investigations taking place, I will not delve into details, but you can choose to read about the incident from local media outlets.  Here is a link to follow if you are interested in reading about the incident.  Standoff on HWY 41, Oshkosh

Brief Recap

This was my first Taper Phase and after it's all said and done, I'd say it went well.  The cycle started with my longest swim to date.  I swam a 5k or 3.1 miles.  After the swim, I got on the bike for a 25 mile ride.  Swimming a 5k was just something I wanted to do to say I did it.  I thought it would be neat to swim a very popular running race distance.  I usually run several 5k's throughout a season and have never swam that distance, and frankly, never crossed my mind.  I wanted to take advantage of the current condition I am in.  I truly do not know if I will be in good enough shape to swim that again, so for all I know that may have been my last opportunity to swim that distance.  The swim took me 1:43 and left me sore for the first time ever after swimming.  The next workout that sticks out was my last swim fitness test on day 4.  I was really hoping to set new personal records in each the 400m and the 200m.  I tied my 400m time and set a new PR in the 200m.  All things considered, that was the next best thing that could have happened shy of setting two new PR's.  My confidence, really, has never been higher in the pool.  I have now swam over 134 miles since starting my Ironman training.  I have never swam over 100 miles in a calendar year, let alone 9 months!

My workout for Monday (day 7) was interesting and I loved it.  I was scheduled for a 35 mile bike followed by a 12-13 mile brick run.  However, when I woke up it was raining, and thunderstorm were on the way.  I decided that I was willing to run in that weather, but chose not to bike in it.  I did not feel like putting myself at an unnecessary risk by riding in the rain this close to the race.  Instead of riding for 1:45 on my indoor trainer, I decided to break my original workout into 3 sets.  I did a 30 minute ride on the trainer and transitioned to a 4 mile run.  I completed that workout 3 times for 1.5 hours total on the bike and 12 miles total running.  I have never done multiple bricks back-to-back, so this was a first for me.  I loved it!  I was nice because I was able to keep the intensities much higher in each individual set due to the relative shorter distance, all while keeping the total duration where I planned it being.  The following day I took off due to having SWAT training and on Wednesday, I went down to Madison to bike 50 on the bike course one last time before doing it for real.  I wanted to ride it hard and try to average 20mph.  I was able to do just that, but really didn't overly exert myself.  I rode at a high intensity than I have done in previous rides on the course, but I was not beat up afterward.  I averaged 19.9mph when it was all said and done.  It was exactly what I needed to put my mind at ease in the final days leading up to Ironman Wisconsin.

Favorite Workout

My favorite workout this past week was my 3x(30mins bike indoors,4 mile run outdoors).  It went by super fast as it seemed like I was always changing from outdoors to indoors and visa versa.  My first time running outside, the rain hadn't fully started to fall but on my second set the rain was just starting. By the time I got outside for my 3rd set it was at a steady rain.  It was actually a lot of fun running in the rain and then getting the opportunity to come indoors and sit on a bike out of the rain before heading back out into the rain.  As I talked about above, breaking up each individual sport allowed me to increase the overall intensity of the workout all while not sacrificing the training volume.  This is a workout that I will definitely incorporate into future training plans for that exact reason.

Moving Forward

Due to a late night on Wednesday night's SWAT call out and a slew of errands to run on Thursday, I changed my workout on day 1 of this cycle.  I was originally scheduled for a 1,800m swim, 20 mile bike, and 6 mile run.  I cut out the swim to save time.  Granted, an 1,800m swim doesn't take a ton of time, but when you take in travel time to and from the pool it turns a 30-40 minute swim into a 1.5-2 hour time commitment.  To make up for lost time in the pool, I pushed the swim to day 2 which was originally scheduled to be an off day, with the option to keep it an off day depending on how I feel, physically and mentally.  The rest of the week is nothing special, nothing too stressful, just a lot of easy workouts to keep me focused and loose.  I was really stressing out about how much to actually do in the days leading up to race day.  I talked to several coaches and triathletes who are apart of TheTriShop.com's Triathlon Team and was convinced to cut some of my training volume this week.  I think I cut about 3 hours from 8 down to 5 total hours.  I think the decrease in volume will allow ample time for my body to fully recover and really be prepared for race day.  My plans leading up to race day are to leave for Madison on Thursday midmorning, get registered and signed in, then go down to my borther-in-law's home in Milton where I will stay until Saturday.  I have a hotel reserved for Saturday night to ensure a stress-free and quiet night.  I will try to check in on Saturday after checking in my bike and transition bags which has to be done on Saturday.  Sunday I will take advantage of the free shuttle service to the start line from the hotel and then it's on!  It's race day!

I plan on getting one or two more blog updates about the race itself and a recap of this training cycle as usual, so stay tuned!  Thanks for reading!

Be fast, be strong, & carry on!

My dream home...right on the IM bike course!

Maya about to go down a slide.

Another of the caricature in progress.

Sketching the girls.

The finished caricature.

Family game night, I lost 2 games to none...and I tried!

Delaney at the Tanner's pool.

Maya and Whiffer

At the ball game with my two favorite girls.

My 3 favorite girls.

Yea, it's vain, but my legs will most likely never look like this again...

The product of over 3,300 miles on the bike.

Paleo Pudding Recipe

A few months ago I added a bucket list to my blog.  My thoughts were that it would supply a road map for me of things to do or accomplish.  Frankly, since I began adding items to the list, I haven't ever really look at it.  To be honest, I have been busy as hell.  Between working a full time job, raising 2 kids, and training for the Ironman, I haven't had more than a minute of free time every day.  And more times than not, that minute is used prepping for the next days workout.  But, a few weeks ago, I actually crossed one of my bucket list items off the list....I made some Chocolate Paleo Pudding.  It wasn't quite what I had envisioned...but then again it wasn't Jell-O Pudding.  The flavor was ok, you could definitely taste the nut butter and the avocado, but when it was served fresh and cold it was best.  I had the second serving the next day and it was not nearly as good.  So, if you chose to make this recipe, I highly recommend eating it within 8-12 hours for sure.

Ingredients

1/2 Avocado

1/2 Banana

1 Tsp Cinnamon

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Spoonfull Dark Cocoa Powder

1 Tbsp Almond Butter

1/4 Cup Coconut Milk

Directions

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.

That's it, pretty simple! 

Benadryl is Not a PED - Cycle 28

The last time I wrote on here, my face was swollen as though I had been socked in the face by a bully.  I was stung by some type of bee during my 100 mile bike ride this on August 10th.  I made it home, but had to postpone my 16 mile run that I had intended on doing that evening.  I pushed it back to my first day of my next cycle and couple it with a 25 mile bike.  That evening I took Benadryl every couple hours with hopes of taming the insane swelling.  I went to be early on Saturday night thinking the swelling would be gone or just about gone when I would wake up.  Oh boy, how I was wrong.  In fact, my face was worse than it was the night before.  My lip was better, but the swelling had spread.  My check, nose, and under my eye became swollen.  It was annoying more than anything.  I continued to take Benadryl like it was candy.  I can only imagine what my face would have looked like had I not been taking Benadryl.  With this training cycling being my biggest, most difficult training cycling ever, I was not exactly thrilled with the fact that I was taking an over-the-counter drug that is notorious for causing drowsiness.  But, one way or another, I had to get out to train, regardless of what my face looked/felt like - and if Benadryl made the bee sting just a little more tolerable, damn it, I'll take the side effects for the benefit of being a tad more comfortable.  The picture at the start of this post is me the morning after being stung, Sunday morning around 9am.  I kind of lucked out, because it was raining in the morning hours of Sunday, so it was the exact excuse I needed/wanted to stay indoors and relax before heading out to train.  In fact, I really did not want to train on Sunday.......at all.  I was sore, tired, drugged up, and swollen; it was also cool and raining on top of my personal excuses.  By about noon, it was still raining with no sign of stopping.  At least it was a light drizzle and not a steady rain.  I sucked it up and went out to bike and then run.  I was tired and unmotivated.  Needless to say, I can certainly say that Benadryl is not a performance enhancing drug....in fact, it's quite the opposite.

It was a rough start to my vacation week.  My vacation officially started on Sunday, which was supposed to be my first night back to work.  Sunday, was the day I described above.  Monday was an off day.  Unfortunately, it was cool and dreary that morning, so Sarah and I brought the girls into town to do a little shopping.  By the time we got back to the cottage, the sun was out and it was warm.  The remainder of the week was my chance to not only take advantage of the extra free time to train, but also to spend some quality time with Sarah, Maya, Delaney, and my parents.  On Tuesday, Pat, Melissa, and their son, Lucas, came out to the cottage for the day.  I was up early and did a short swim and run before they got there.  It was windy and cool again on Tuesday.  But the sun was out, so we loaded up the pontoon boat and took it up the Wolf River to Fremont for a little cruise.  After getting back to the cottage we relaxed some more and a little while later, Sarah's parents came for dinner.  I grilled hand-pattied hamburgers, hot dogs, and brats along with brussel sprouts for dinner.  It was a great day spent with our good friends and family.

The next day was my mom's birthday.  I did another short swim followed by a bike ride.  After showering off, we took the pontoon into the Village of Winneconne and docked at a public dock and walked into town for an ice cream treat.  Almost immediately after getting back to the cottage, my phone started ringing....it was a SWAT page out.  I had to go to work.....on vacation.  There was an officer involved shooting in the
City of Wautoma which is west of Oshkosh in Waushara County.  They asked for mutual-aid assistance from surrounding agency SWAT teams.  I won't dive into the details - if you are interested you can follow this link for the media's coverage of the incident.  http://www.wbay.com/story/23139994/2013/08/14/update-6-wautoma-standoff-suspect-identified I didn't get home until close to 2:30am.  It was a long night of wearing my gear.  I was sore and tired.  Luckily, I had a short workout scheduled for Thursday morning.  Sarah and the girls let me sleep in a little extra on Thursday morning to make up for getting to bed late.  I got my swim in and then we took the pontoon all the way into the City of Oshkosh to one of my favorite restaurants, Fratello's.  Fratello's is part of The Fox River Brewery, my 2nd favorite local brewery - which is probably one of the main reasons Fratello's is one of my favorite restaurants.  I broke down and had my first beer in since early July.  It was so worth it.  I figured only one beer won't hurt me. I think I'm probably safe.

Friday and Saturday were nearly booked solid with training.  But on Friday night, Sarah and I packed up and headed home in order to hopefully keep time on our side with a busy weekend ahead of us.  Saturday, Pat and his family hosted a benefit for his Brother-in-law at a local bar and grill.  After spending a few hours there, we brought the girls to a drive-in movie theater.  Oddly enough, my 2 and 3 year old daughters have already been to a drive-in theater...but for me, it was my first time...ever.  It was actually pretty neat.  We saw Disney's Planes.  It was a great movie, even for adults.  It wasn't quite ideal for my daughters, as they prefer a more girly. princess type movie.  But, I enjoyed it.  Sunday was pretty much the end of our vacation, as Sarah went back to work on Monday.  Sarah and I are in a Fantasy Football league with some of our friends and family that we have done now for 5 seasons.  It is a pretty serious league, with 12 teams and nearly all 12 have been in from the start.  We do a live, in-person draft every year.  Unfortunately, I am terrible at fantasy football...not just terrible, but absolutely pathetically, embarrassingly, horrendous.  I am then only team of the 12 who has NEVER made the playoffs.  Yup....I'm that bad.  The draft is always the best part of the season.  Like I said, we always get everyone together and it is always a big event.  It's a lot of fun.

Brief Recap

As I mentioned above, this training cycle was by far my largest week of training in volume.  I accumulated a total of 22.5 hours of training in 9 days of training (2.5 hours/day average).  I covered record highs in biking and running mileage for a single training cycle, with 226.51 and 54.68 miles, respectively.  My previous high for total training volume was just over 18 hours - so this training cycle was a HUGE step up for me.  After it all said and done, I totaled a 20+ hour training week (7 day week) after covering 278+ miles.  

To be honest, looking back at it all, it really didn't seem like it was that much training (relative to my training volume the previous few cycles).  This is probably because I had the benefit of no work and the ability of sleeping at night for a change.  I had a few key workouts this cycle, including my 16 mile long run, which I was supposed to do following my 100 mile bike ride on Saturday, but got pushed into this training cycle due to an evil bee sting, my 120 mile bike and 2 mile run, and my 50 mile bike and 20 mile run the very next day.  I was looking forward to getting out and being in the saddle for 120 miles for a couple reasons.  First and foremost, for the mental edge of being on my bike for that long.  Secondly, for the opportunity to get out and train for a long duration without the physical stress of running.  I followed up that workout with a short 2 mile run.  I did this just to get the feeling of putting one foot in front of the other after sitting in the saddle for nearly 6.5 hours.  Before starting my 2 biggest back-to-back workouts of my training plan, I had figured that the 120 mile bike/2 mile run brick workout would not only be the physically toughest workout, but also the mentally toughest workout.  I was wrong, my 50 mile bike ride followed by a 20 mile long run was by far the most difficult thing I have attempted...ever.  I was sore as all hell the next day following my 120/2 workout.  I set out for my 50 mile bike and I can't even begin to describe what my ass felt like sitting on my bike seat the very next day after sitting in it the day before for 120 miles.  There was a steady wind out of the South, which made the first half of my bike ride that much more difficult.  I set out toward High Cliff State Park which is the hilliest area around my home.  I finished the 50 mile ride rather slow, but considering how sore I was, along with the head winds, I was satisfied with my ride time.  I took a short break after riding to dry off and use the restroom.  After my brief break it was out to run.  I planned on completing five, 4 mile loops.  It was hot, with temps in the upper 80's.  I just focused on putting one foot in front of the other and knew that would get me to the finish.  Before I knew it, I was done, with an average pace just over 8 minute miles.  I was extremely satisfied.  I have learned to realize that my average speeds for biking and my average paces for running are just going to be slower in my training and hope that my paces are faster for my race.  I am optimistic that they will considering all the fatigue I am carrying over into each individual training session.  Below is a video I took during my 30 mile bike ride following a 1 mile swim on Wednesday, August 14th.  You can still see how my lip is swollen on my right side.  

Favorite Workout

Without a doubt my longest bike ride ever was my favorite workout.  I loved just about every minute of it and it went about as well as I could have hoped it to.  I started at around 7:20am and planned to ride a 25 mile loop four times and finish up with a 20 mile loop to total 120 miles.  I started out with the strategy of taking my time early and just taking it easy with the focus on the time on the bike, not the speed of the ride.  It worked great.  I took a minimal break after every 25 miles to refuel and top off my water bottles.  I felt myself getting stronger after every lap, which is a great feeling to have during such a long ride.  I finished the ride in 6:21:28.  After my ride, I laced up my shoes for a very short 2 mile jog.  I was unsure how I would feel after riding for 120 miles, but surprisingly, it felt really good to run after biking.  I went out comfortably and used the 2 miles as a sort of cool down.  I finished the run in 15:41, just over a 7:30/mile pace...not too shabby!  The total time spent on the workout was 6:37:09, plenty long for a single day workout.  I was left feeling confident and excited for the Ironman after this workout.  I am so glad I got out and rode 120 miles.  Even if just for the mental edge of knowing that I can ride for at least 112 miles, no problem! 

Moving Forward

Well, all my hard work is done.  As of typing this post, I have 19 days, 11 hours, 37 minutes until Ironman Wisconsin.  In other terms, I have just 2 more full cycles left.  My final 2 cycles are tapers.  A taper is a phase in a training plan where training volume is dramatically cut usually by 30-75% from previous training cycles.  The training intensity remains high, but the decrease in training volume allows for proper recover to theoretically arrive on race day in prime condition to race at maximal effort and produce the best possible results.  I scheduled a 3 week taper leading up to Ironman Wisconsin.  I have a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that its less than 3 weeks away.  I feel like I just registered for this race and now here I am with the bulk of my training done.  I have no more long bike rides (nothing over 50 miles) and no more long runs (nothing longer than 13 miles).  My swim volume remains constant through this cycle and then will get cut next cycle.  This is due to lack of physical stress produced by swimming.  My key workouts this cycle are my longest swim workout of my training plan on Tuesday morning.  I am swimming a 5k.  Swimming a 5k is a personal goal of mine more than a training goal, per se.  I thought it would be neat to swim a distance which is a popular running race distance, so I scheduled in a 5k (3.1 mile) swim.  Other than that, I have a 35 mile bike/13 mile run brick workout on my weekend.  A day or two after that workout, I will be going down to Madison for a 50 mile bike ride on the bike course.  This will be my final go around on the loop.  My plan is to ride the course hard, faster than goal race pace.  My training volume will drop from 22.5 hours to a measly 13.5 hours.  

Below are many pictures from our week of vacation.

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

Shit just got real, I got my bib number for race day!

Just about to leave on a run with my princesses.

Daddy and Delaney on the pontoon.

Delaney fell right asleep, as usual.

Going out for ice cream.

The entire family heading to Oshkosh on the pontoon.

Maya's ice cream cone.

Maya and her new baby rabbit.

Maya and Bradyn at the drive-in theater

Mommy staying warm on the pontoon.

Delaney with her baby turtle.

A new favorite....Campfire Bananas!

Daddy and Maya.

Maya fishing.

Grandpa teaching Delaney how to fish.

From last week - receiving my Bloodhound Plaque.

Another photo with the Bloodhound Plaque.

Bad Luck Comes in 3's - Cycle 27

I hope that the formatting of this post follows suit with all of my past posts, because I am writing this weeks post on my iPhone....yes, my phone.  I am currently at our family's cabin on Lake Poygan, just northwest of Oshokosh.  I have no internet hookup....trust me, I've tried and apparently no one wants wi-fi at their cabin - bummer.

This past cycle was another rather uneventful week.  Sarah and the girls went to the Wisconsin State Fair on Saturday Aug 3rd while I worked 2nd shift overtime from 6p-10p before my regular 3rd shift.  I worked a regular work week with the usual amounts of training during the week.  I opted to take my Friday off in order to get some free time to get ready for our family vacation at my family's cabin.  So, I took off Wednesday night and was up early on Thursday for a whole slew of chores to get done by Thursday evening.  On top of swimming, grocery shopping, and paying bills, I had to pack up our car, get some cleaning done around the house.  My hope was to leave for the cabin by 8pm Thursday night, sleep there, and go to my SWAT training from the cabin.  At SWAT Training I was presented with the Bloodhound Challenge Plaque to be displayed in the lobby of the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office.  If you remember back in April I ran in the Jailbreak Marathon 5k.  The "race within the race" is the race to be the fastest Law Enforcement Officer.  I have now won it the past two years.  It's nice to stick it to the other agencies - especially the host agency, Waushara County Sheriff's Office.  HAHA!  I am totally kidding, seriously.  It just cool to have a competition like that in the area and I hope it continues. 

 Sarah brought the girls camping at Mirror Lake this weekend with her family and I stayed at the cabin for my Ironman Training.  Yea, yea, yea....I know...and yes, I did opt to miss a family camping trip for my training....see my prior posts, specifically, The Truth Behind the Training or The Cost of Success...  Anyway, after the weekend Sarah will be bringing the girls to the cabin and we will be here for the entire week, through Friday.  Other than that excitement, I have nothing else to report, unfortunately.  My training as taken away any type of free time I used to have and I am left to simply write about my training.  How exciting - right?

Actually, I did have some other things happen that aren't necessarily 100% related to my training/workouts.  I mentioned  last post that my old wetsuit developed a tear in the crotch which I was planning on repairing - or at least attempting to repair.  Turns out the tear was more significant then a little neoprene repair cement could handle.  I had to order a new wetsuit.  I went directly to TheTriShop.com for help in getting me set up in the right wetsuit for my body type and swim type.  They recommended a Blue Seventy Reaction.  I ordered it on Sunday and had it by Wednesday, just in time for our vacation! I couldn't be happier with their knowledge and service, they were a lifesaver.  On top of that, on Tuesday, I woke up to go for a run and took my Garmin Forerunner off the charger, and nothing....it died....YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!  I got on the phone Wednesday morning with Garmin Support and they 2nd day air mailed me a new watch.  I was thoroughly surprised that they offered to do that.  I explained to them that I was leaving for vacation on Friday and needed it for my training week and for the Ironman and they delivered - BIG TIME!    I was only left wondering what was next....cause we all know these things come in 3's.....

A Brief Recap

Like my weekly recap photo?  haha, I guess, you can put photos into your blog posts when using the Blogspot App on the iPhone. - who knew?  As you can see, my training volume took a HUGE hit this cycle, down from just over 18 hours down to 14:45.  This was partially intentional, as I had scheduled a down week the week before I go into my biggest week of training of my life to allow ample recovery.  But, I had scheduled this week to have 16:15, not 14:45.  I'll explain in a bit.  My cycle started out with a race paced swim workout on day 1.  This was my second time doing this workout, just a little longer in total distance.  The workout went well, based on my average swim pace of the 500's I am able to predict my swim time.  Granted this is all done in a pool, which has a complete 180 degree turnaround every 25 meters....that's a lot of turning over the course of 4,000 meters - 152 to be exact.  After a little calculating my IM swim time would be 1:08 - not too bad, I'll take that.  The rest of the cycle saw a total of 5 additional swims for 6 total for 11.12 miles, by fay my highest weekly swim volume.  There really were no major or different workouts during the week.  On my weekend, I scheduled my 2nd of two "Big Day Training."  This day consists of all 3 disciplines - 1 hour swim, 5 hour bike, 2 hour run, all done with 1.5 hours rest between the sports.  I had big intentions for this day, I wanted it to be as much like an Ironman Simulation as I could.  I set my alarm for 4:30 and was up at 5am and tired.  I stayed up too late Friday night, and my day was not off to the start I had hoped.  I wanted to be out swimming at 7am (IM start time) but didn't start until 7:13.  I did my swim in Lake Poygan and it was choppy, which is not ideal, but you take what's given to you and deal with it.  I wore my Garmin and swam 2.57 miles in 1:06 (1:01 IM pace).  I was thrilled with my swim time, especially with the water condition.  My mom offered to kayak along side me for safety - so I don't get mowed over by a boat.    I was nice to have that peace of mind.  I also gave her the task of snapping a few photos of me swimming, which turned out rather nice.  There was also a Bald Eagle watching me from the shore line, which was neat to see.  

After my 1.5 hour break, I was out on my bike leg.  I planned on covering 100 miles and hoped to average a 20mph pace.  I mapped out a 25 mile loop that I planned on doing 4 times allowing me to stop at the cabin to refill water and restock my calories.  The sun came out from beind the morning overcast skies during my 2nd lap.  By the end of my 2nd lap, the winds picked up and made the ride all that more difficult.  It was at that point I realized there was no chance of averaging 20mph.  But, during my 4th lap, that third evil event happened that I had so wished would avoid me.  I was at mile 87 and some variety of bee flew into my mouth....yes - my mouth....and stung me on the inside of my right upper lip.  I quickly dug the bee out of my mouth and continued on.  The one good thing was that the pain from the sting made me completely forget how much my legs burned.  I kept pushing on.  I could feel my lip swell...and swell......and swell.  After getting home, I was finally done with the bike leg after 100.91 miles and a total time of 5:15:10, for an average speed of 19.2.  That time is including all my stops.  My actually moving average speed was 19.6mph.  After putting my bike away and grabbing all my empty water bottles, I went directly to a mirror and here is what I saw....

My first thought was, "grrrreeeeaaat...."  My lip continued to swell, and I developed itches all over my body.  It was miserable.  I was all alone at the cabin (my parents were at a wedding out of town and Sarah was still camping with the girls).  I sent Sarah this picture and she freaked out and recommended I go to the hospital.  I thought that was a bit excessive, and damn it, I had to RUN!  My body continued to not feel right, so I went to my mom's uncle's cabin, which is just 2 down from ours to see if someone would take me to a hospital.  Sarah didn't want me driving incase they gave me a high dose of Benadryl.  Lucky me, there were 2 nurses at the cabin.  They looked at me and didn't think I needed to waste my time going to the ER.  They gave me some OTC Benadryl and told me to continue to ice the swelling.  I did just that and continued to monitor my swelling and my airways.  I am not allergic to bees, at least I haven't been allergic.  I think that is starting to change.  I have never had a reaction like this to a bee sting.  My only hope is it was either a wasp or something with more potent venom or the fact that I was stung in the inside of my mouth. I opted to not run, due to the swelling on my lip, the amount of Benadryl I had taken, and the general irritations on my body as a result of my body attempting to combat the bee venom.  Yup - that was definitely the 3rd evil in my string of bad luck.  So hopefully it's now smooth sailing to the Ironman on Sept 8th.  So frustrating to say the least.

Favorite Workout

Tough to pick a favorite workout this week.  It's like picking the prettiest flower at the florist the day after Valentines Day.  I guess I have to pick my 7 mile run on Monday, August 5th.  I had to pick up the girls from the day care before I ran and since Sarah was stuck at work, I had to bring the girls running with me.  I actually really enjoy running with the girls in their stroller, it's quality time I get to spend with them.  It also gives me a chance to share my passion with them, even though they can not run with me - yet. :)  I feel I am also leading my example and hopefully someday, they will find health as important as I do.  They were very well behaved, minus Delaney pinching Maya's check once or twice.  To reward them we stopped at Auntie Lou Lou's house (my sister-in-law Lisa) to say hello.  My girls absolutely adore Lisa in every sense of the word.  By the time were done I ran 7.03 miles in 56:58 which is just over an 8:00 mile.  Slow, yes, but pushing a 4 and 2 year old is not as easy as you may think.  

Moving Forward

The picture above is my most up-to-date training plan for this week, which I just updated prior to starting this blog post.  I think my very 1st edition of my training plan had about 18-19 hours of training.  That was before I changed my vacation plans for this week in August.  I figured I would take advantage of my ability to actually sleep at night and the fact that I won't be working to up my training volume this cycle.  I then added some swims to get the open water training since I will be living right on the water this week and brought my training volume up to 20.17, and additional 2 hours.  I wanted to do this since this is my last training cycle before I go into my taper phase.  So, I will have ample time to recover from this tough week.  But that was all before my little incident today with the bee sting.  I had to revamp my training plan, because I did not want to simply just forget about my 2 hour run, especially this close to the race.  I need to get the time in on my feet.  I was originally scheduled to have Sunday off as a day of recovery and then a 30 mile bike ride on Monday.  I combined the miss run distance with the 30 mile bike and bumped it up to Sunday and will no take Monday off.  That, friends, is my way of making up for lost valuable training time.  Granted it will not mimic the race specificity of the Big Day Training, but it's going to have to do.  Key workouts this cycle are my 3 open water swims, 2 of them are relatively short, but just getting into the water is beneficial.  My big workouts are a 120 mile bike ride and a 2 mile run on Friday.  This will be my longest bike ride ever and probably forever.  It will be mentally challenging to say the least.  The next day is a 50 mile bike ride and 20 mile run.  My total training volume this cycle is 22 which is probably a low-end estimate, I'm guessing I will be closer to 22.5-23 hours.  This is it....my final big week, I can't believe I am already this far, its crazy to think that during my next post I will talking about my taper week.  

So until then, Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

A "selfy" before I start work.

Maya stopped to see daddy at work on their way home from the State Fair.