back into the cold...or not.

Not long ago I was suffering through a brutal winter while training for Ironman. I recall a ride sometime in February when I got to the lake around 16 miles into a ride and stopped to pull my gloves off to eat and drink. I opened a package of shot blocks and put them in my mouth, they were near frozen solid and it felt like chewing on a chunk of rubber. I got them chewed up and reached down for a swig of water, turned the bottle up and....nothing. The bottle was frozen solid! It had to have been under 30 degrees and blowing wind terribly.

Today I took off for a short ride in calm winds and 45 degrees. A few layers and some gloves- I was fairly comfortable. I know there will be days when I will be taken out of my comfort zone, but I also know that after last winter I can handle just about anything. Today was just the beginning of even starting to approach what I consider unsavory temperatures for outdoor training, but with any luck I won't have to endure as many brutal days as I did last year.

This year though, I have a secret weapon. I have the option to hit up a session at The Sport Factory called "The Grind". It's essentially an indoor torture fest on bikes that leads to well, nowhere. It strangely parallels my time with the UGA Rowing team where I spent countless hours on the erg (rowing machine). At "The Grind" a large number of semi-psychotic triathletes such as myself subject themselves to up to 2 hours of pedal mashing on a trainer. I attended my first Grind this past Tuesday night and I was not disappointed....there's nothing quite like doing body squats after working up a decent amount of lactate in your legs. Based on the video below though from a previous grind, I suspect it get's much tougher than what I experienced this week. So here's to a warmer winter and The Grind to get me through those days when frozen water bottles just don't seem like something I want to deal with.

get off the couch.....

And start training again. That's what I did this week, after a month long hiatus from any real physical activity. In the past 10 days I've gotten together with my coach, Jen Henry of The Sport Factory, and planned out one heck of an exciting tri season.

Monday was my first day and coming off a cold and a month off, I'm definitely feeling a little lethargic out there. At the same time I feel better than I did towards the end of my off season. So what's on tap for this year? No full Ironman, that's for sure! I'll be focusing on a combination of the olympic distance and the half iron distance.

What excites me most about this year is having a coach from start to finish. Last year I blindly threw myself into Ironman training for nearly 5 months before I started working with Jen, and I paid for it dearly in the end. Looking back I did way to much to early, which may have helped me have a great day for Ironman - but left me with nothing left as far as training mojo after that. I felt lucky to have the results I did the last few months of the season. With that being said I'm looking forward to a more metered approach this year.

Here is my planned schedule for this year, the light gray races are the ones I'm still not sure about and depending on how I'm feeling I may or may not do them.

Dec 11^th Jingle Jog 5k Dunwoody, GA

Dec 18^th Virginia Highliands X-mas 5k Atlanta, GA

Jan 9^th Lakeview 10k Gainesville, GA

Feb 5^th Tybee Island Half Marathon Tybee Island, GA

Feb 19^th Tundra Time Trial Hiram, GA

March 27^th Powerman Alabama Duathlon (long course Duathlon Nationals) Birmingham, AL

April 17^th PT Solutions Cartersville Duathlon Cartersville, GA

April 30^th TryCharleston Half Charleston, SC

May 14^th Peachtree International Tri PTC, GA

June 12^th West Point Lake Lagrange, GA

July 10^th Chattanooga Waterfront Chattanooga, TN

July 24^th Tri the Mountains (Sprint) Blue Ridge, GA

August 13^th Mountain Lakes Tri (Sprint) Guntersville, AL

September 11^th 5150 Series race Gainesville, GA

September 25^th, 2011 Augusta 70.3 Augusta, GA

October 2^nd Lake Lanier Islands Triathlon (sprint) Buford, GA

October 16^th Hickery Knob Olympic Hickery Knob SP, SC

November 12^th, 2011 Beach2Battleship Half Wilmington, NC

Why I Train (the real reason)

I often ask myself when I'm exhausted from a hard workout, or in the middle of a hard workout, why I'm doing what I'm doing. During hard training and during hard workouts, the answer is usually something macho like "so I can kick everyone's ass at that race in a few weeks" or "I can get closer to my ultimate goal of a pro license".

It is in the off season though, that I realize the true reason for all the madness- I just feel better when I'm training. I feel better mentally, physically, and most importantly I'm more emotionally stable.

Training for a sport like triathlon has a list of benefits to long to list on this blog. The obvious benefits are a more healthy cardiovascular system. It helps me avoid things such as coronary artery disease - which if I were to lead a more sedentary lifestyle, I'd be at risk for. Vigorous exercise has been shown to improve and maintain brain function in adults. In other words if keep at it as I age, I have a better shot at being one of those old dudes you talk to and think "man he's pretty sharp for and old fart".

For me, the endorphins released from training is the greatest benefit. It acts as a natural pain reliever and anti-depressant in the body. This is somewhat counter intuitive in that one would expect to be sore and tired while training. While this is somewhat true I certainly sleep better and feel better when I get out of bed when I'm training. Right now since I've been taking it easy, I feel stiff and achy when I wake up. This means during training I'm probably more tired and able to reach REM (rapid eye movement) sleep easier and for a longer period of time. Training keeps my anxiety under control and allows me to truly relax.

I often have heard of those who have completed events such as Ironman and marathons talk of being addicted. It's not that these folks and myself like torturing ourselves, it's that we are addicted to how training for and competing in these events makes us feel. How often do you here of person who was serious marathoner or triathlete being over-weight? Not every often. How often do you see former football, baseball, basketball ect. ("popular sports") who are out of shape and over weight? Very often. This shows me that endurance sports are lifetime sports and create quite a unique addiction. Once you know what it feels like to train and compete in sport like longer distance triathlons - it's a hard habit to break. Triathlon is my drug - what is yours?

Mile 130 of Ironman Couer D'Alene - no words to describe how it feels.

TryCharleston Half Iron: new and affordable

I enjoy things that are new and affordable. I also like things that are a great value. Who doesn't?

I've been plotting and planning my racing schedule for 2011 and am pretty certain come April/May I want to get another half iron under my belt. The past two years I've gone down to Panama City Beach for the Gulf Coast Triathlon. This race has has treated me well, but the thought of going and doing the same course again for the 3rd year in a row is not as appealing as I'd like it to be. So what could be wrong with taking a year away from the redneck riviera?

I found out about a race that is going into it's 2nd year in existance. The TryCharleston half, which takes place in Charleston, SC on April 30th. Last year this race had around 400 entries so hopefully it will go up this year (they cap it at 600). It's about 3 hours closer than PCB, and the entry fee is about 70 bucks less...only $130, which really isn't to bad. I've never been to Charleston and a change in scenery would be nice. The course appears to be flat and fast, although all courses are described as flat and fast according to race directors.

So a change in scenery is feeling like the right thing to do this year - gotta keep it fresh and exciting! Other potential new races for me are looking like the Augusta 70.3 in September, possibly the Rev3 half iron in October, and the Beach2Battleship Half in November. Another plus is that I can drive to all these races and lodging should be relatively cheap.

So if your trying to figure out what races to do this year, try something new with me @ TryCharleston - and save some serous cash over WTC races also!

Movin' on up! SF Elite Team for 2011

Just a quick note-

I got some exciting news today. I confirmed with The Sport Factory owner and head coach, Matt Russ, that I will be on the Sport Factory Elite team for 2011! So far all I know is that I will be signing a formal sponsorship contract and am eligible to earn prize money. Hopefully I'll be getting more details soon - because I'm psyched about this opportunity.

Want to know more about the Sport Factory? Check out the Team Sport Factory and The Sport Factory web pages.

Grand Rapids Half: race report

Last weekend I ventured north....way north, to Grand Rapids, Michigan to run the Grand Rapids Half Marathon. Naomi and our friend Lauren would tackle the full. I signed up mostly on a whim since I would be going anyways to support Naomi. I had zero expectations for this race and figured I would just run however I was feeling that day. I had not really run a half in about 3.5 years, since I ran the Tybee half in February of 2007 in 1h 28min. I only ran 3 or 4 times in the two weeks coming into the race, but I'd done a lot of fast tri racing in the last month.

On race morning we awoke to perfect racing conditions. I had a good nights sleep - thanks Naomi's brother Dennis and his wonderful family for hosting us. They also showed up at 8 AM for the start of the race and cheered us both through the whole ordeal. I toed the line feeling optimistic. When the horn blew I positioned myself with the 2:59 full marathon pace group and decided I would run with them and see how it felt. We glided along and it was feeling almost effortless at 6:45 miles. I Passed the Newton gang after a few miles

and gave them big goofy wave - I was having a grand ole time. The leaders of the pace group did a fair amount of talking which was pretty entertaining, the miles were ticking away fast and smooth. Doing some quick math in my head I figure we were right on pace for me to be just about at my PR.

Nearing the half way point I started to feel myself surging off the front end of the pace group and decided I must not waste this opportunity to run a fast half marathon. I brought my tempo up and left the pace group in the dust. My garmin read of my mile 7 split at 6:18 and it really didn't feel to frantic. Seeing a low number like that got me really excited so I did some more math...if I could hold onto that for the last 10k of the race I'd be around 1:25 or 1:26 total time. The next three miles I ripped off 6:19, 6:19, and 6:20.

5k to go and I started to have to work for it a bit, and my HR was letting me know it - I was only about 3 beats from my threshold of 185. The greenway path I was running along came to a T with another path and there was no course markings. I went right, then quickly realized 3 guys behind me went left, shit - that just cost me a couple hundred feet of extra running and maybe 15 or 20 seconds. This kind of knocked me off my rhythm a bit and my HR went up even more. Garmin tells me that mile was 6:30, not to bad only 2 to go and I star

t to get my rhythm back. I'm really gritting my teeth now running way outside my limitations at this point. As I start to double back on the course we ran out, I see all the 4:30+ plus full marathon pacers prancing along like their out picking fricking dandelions. Meanwhile I'm grimacing like a gazelle trying to escape a couple of hungry lions, full on foaming from the mouth.

Garmin beeps again saying 6:27 for that last mile. The course breaks from outgoing traffic and I'm pretty much all alone. Wide open and flat to the finish there's only a handful of runners ahead of me. I passed a few more runners, make a right turn and see the Newtons giving me a big cheer so I stick my tongue out in the fashion of a dog that just can't stop chasing his ball. The Garmin beeps 6:23 and I'm at 1:25 something with the last tenth to go. Hit the line in 1:26:15, an new PR by a couple of minutes - definitely a fist pump worthy performance (and yes I did a fist pump).

This was easily the most fun I've had at any marathon or half marathon I've done. There's nothing quite like feeling great on a long run and having it all come together when you least expect it. I had a nice recovery brew while soaking in a hot tub at 10:30 AM thanks to Dana! Naomi wasn't to happy to hear that I was living the good life while she was crankin' it through mile 20 of her marathon, but I felt it was well deserved after all the races I've had this year.

Time to start planning the 2011 racing schedule - more to come on that later!

Bordom

A couple of weeks have passed since my last race of the year and I have done my due diligence in taking some much needed down time. I've gone on couple of mountain bike rides and runs here and there just to keep myself from going crazy, but not two weeks into the "off season" I'm starting to be wishing I was training for something. I'm definitely bored.

This weekend I'm running a half-marathon in Grand Rapids, MI while Naomi runs the full. I decided long this was not a race that would be high on my totem pole of importance after the year I've had. I think I may actually just run it for fun - now this is something that I have never done. Gonna take it nice and easy and enjoy the course and the trip.

I'm certainly not very good at working out just to work out. Training for me is a means to and end. That end usually being a race with a specific goal in mind. I think one thing that got me last year was not enough down time in the off season. I ran the Rocket City Marathon in December of last year which I training pretty hard for, and then went right into Ironman mode. I was in really good shape right away, but the second half of the year I struggled to stay with it. I read a quote that I really liked about the off season:

Don't be a (January) National Champion

With that being said, I'm going to keep my training very unstructured and keep my racing to a minimum this off season. I want to make sure I totally recharge the batteries mentally and physically before I get into next year. On that note - I think I'll go for a run. How far and how fast? Well maybe just whatever I'm feeling like :)