Had to write a blog just so when I land on my page I can see something other than "my first DNF."
Tomorrow I will ride my bike to work. Not because there is some event looming that I feel woefully underfit for, but simply for the joy of riding my bike to work. In some conversation today Becca said something like "Cool, you're going to keep on training?" I had to correct her: "I am not training, I'm exercising." Training implies preparing for something, getting specific workouts in, etc. I am just trying to not turn into a contestant on Biggest Loser by August.
My commuting rig is sweet these days. I am loving my new tires and I got a great backpack for hauling work clothes, lunches, and my laptop. Can't wait to ride tomorrow.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
IMCDA 2009 Race Report - My first DNF
UPDATE: Two and a half weeks after race day I was diagnosed with Stage 1 thyroid cancer. In the weeks following I underwent two major surgeries and iodine-131 radiation therapy. I'm not making excuses for this DNF, but it just seems my 09 tri season was over before it even started. Here is the original race report, written before I knew about the cancer.
I guess I have been dreading writing this blog since about 20 minutes into the swim last Sunday, so here goes. I have always done my best to make my blog a positive place to visit, so I'll try to extract the positives out of this race experience and not dwell on the negatives.
Everybody knows the back story leading up to this race, but if not, here it is in 30 second recap: After a 10:08 at full iron last fall and looking ahead to this June, IMCDA was to be my chance at a Kona slot. That changed when we had to move to PA because of my job. All the hassle of buying and selling a house and moving, plus trying to train in a much colder climate took its toll, and soon I had readjusted my goal from getting a Kona slot to just training the best I could and having fun. Then April came and I had my whole "neck lump" fiasco, which knocked a 1 month sized whole in my training plan. So, I gave myself 5 hard weeks and hoped for the best. Throw into the backdrop my wife, who had been kicking ass with her training early on, and by the numbers all things were looking like a cake walk to a Kona slot. Then, late in her training plan she got a stress fractured femur. This was diagnosed the day before we flew to CDA, meaning all the money, time, and effort of CDA was coming down to me, as undertrained as I was.
The week before we flew my buddy Alex, who was staying with us, called to say a hip injury would keep him from the race. We started joking about the house being cursed, between Becca's stress fractured leg, Alex's hip, and my neck tumor. And the week before leaving I got a foot infection that hurt to walk on. Then, Becca, Elena, and I all got pink eye the day of the flight. It was just not measuring up nicely at all. Alex even asked me if I thought racing was a good idea, spooky....
This trip was, thankfully, coupled with a visit to my parents and sister, who all moved to the west coast while I was in grad school. I had such a great time visiting with them, and watching them play with Elena, that I basically forgot the reason we were in Idaho was for a race. I skipped all the Ironman propaganda dinners and such and just did the minimum necessary to get my chip and race.
Needless to say, my mind wasn't on smoking this course when I woke up Sunday morning. I was forgetting all kinds of silly crap, like filling my water bottles (Becca was very helpful in keeping my head on straight). I also woke up in a coma, with what I call "convulsive yawning." I think this had to do with the travel and my daughter not adjusting to pacific time at all (she should work for the CIA in the sleep deprivation dept). But, in the end, none of these little things ended up mattering to my race, and I knew they wouldn't. Ironman is so long and complicated that there is always something unforseen that takes center stage on race day.
For me, trouble started less than two minutes into this race. Unlike IM Florida, where the starting pen is narrow and deep, at IM CDA you can basically start anywhere along a long beach, and the people only go about 20 deep or so the whole length of it. Being it my third IM, and feeling like a 1:05 or so was totally within reach, I looked to the inside. Nope, way too crowded over there. The outside was really packed up too, but the middle was almost empty comparatively, so I chose a spot about 8-9 bodies deep in the middle. When the cannon went off, I waited a few seconds, then entered the masses into the water. Conditions were choppy, and right off I realized I started too far back. There was a wall of people in front of me swimming too slowly, and the chop made breathing a real pain. I started getting bumped and hit almost immediately. On Slowtwitch and other people's blogs, I have read this year's CDA swim described as a "rugby match" and a "goatf#ck." I have never been to the latter, but given the choice of that swim or the goat, I'd go with the goat every time. I think I must have gotten thumped 4-5 times in a row pretty hard, and every time I turned to breath I started taking in water, and I started to panic. Now, I have been in full contact swims before. I have been punched, kicked, goggles knocked off, dunked, and even had my pants pulled down once. But this was entirely different. Just too many people in too small of an area to swim. I tried at forward progress for another couple strokes and when all I was getting was water and no air, I decided I was going to need some help. Just like they tell you to do when you're in trouble in a triathlon, I rolled over and waved my arm in the air. When I lifted my head up to see where the nearest kayak was, all I could see was swimming mayhem around me. As I was on my back trying to catch my breath, people were swimming right over top of me. I can honestly say I thought it was all going to be over. A few nice swimmers could see my predicament and offered to help, but as soon as they stopped they got clobbered and kept on their way. So, I gave up on getting rescued and just layed on my back, and tried to keep my head out of the water, while kicking with my legs to keep from getting run over for what seemed like forever, but in reality it was probably 15 minutes or so. I've never had a panic attack before, I am just not the type, but when faced with those circumstances its fair to say that's what I had.
Eventually, I found some open water in the middle of the rectangular course. I continued on my back and took a look around. I decided my race day was over, and I just wanted out of that lake. But, I couldn't swim against the people coming around for a second lap, and I couldn't cut across the center of the course (probably be known forever on Slowtwitch as "course cutting man" or something like that). So, I had to finish my lap. After a while my breathing calmed, and I was able to flip back over and swim normally for the rest of the lap. When I got on shore, I stopped and looked around for my parents and Becca, so I could walk off the beach and be done, but there was nobody there (naturally they assumed they missed me since I took 46 minutes to swim this lap). I was ushered back in the water by cheering volunteers, and thought, OK, sure I will go swim another lap, even though that was just about the last thing I wanted to go do. The second lap was fine, except for the nasty chop. I swam this one easy and by the end I was even thinking of continuing the race.
So I walked through T2, having swum a 1:26 or so. I was really tired. I have never swam that long in my entire life. Sure, I have swam that far several times, but never for that long. I put on my bike stuff and decided to give it a go. The bike was fine, except I was cold. And I couldn't seem to get my legs going. They were cramping early on, like 30 miles, and I have to think it was from the treading water during the swim part (trying to stay alive). The course was hilly, but more so than I expected from having done the Computrainer Real Course. I saw my family at 15 miles and yelled "I love you guys!!" knowing they would have no idea what I had just been through in the water. I saw them again at 55 miles, and I was ready to pull the plug, but they were cheering so hard they couldn't hear a word I said. Then, when I went by them at 75mi, I said "It isn't going to happen today." Becca knows that I know my body well enough to know when I have it and when I don't. She told me after the race she wanted me to pull out right then. Somehow I got through the rest of the bike, and when I saw everybody again at 111 miles I said "This might take all night." By then I was feeling better emotionally, but not physically. And having finished the bike course, I was determined to give the run a try. I thought it would be disrespectful to the race and to all the other competitors to quit before I was totally used up.
So, I took another leisurely transition: put on fresh shorts and undies, changed socks, ate a Gu, and took a pee. Then I walked out to start the run. I began running out of transition, but it just wasn't there. I only made it about 2 miles before I got super dizzy and had to walk. I adopted a strategy where I would run aid station to aid station, then walk and eat pretzels, cookies, and gatorade until I felt better. By 6 miles I could tell it wasn't really helping. I walked from there to the turn around at 7.5, where I thought there might be a golf cart or something I could ride back to town in, but no luck. So I walked the next 8 miles. I got super cold, as it was 50 and lightly raining, and I wrapped myself in a heat sheet. My walking was more like a dizzy stagger, but eventually (after a 3 hour first lap) I made it back to where my family had been waiting for me. I was really afraid everybody would be disappointed in me, and that Becca would want me to keep walking and finish the next 12.5 miles. There was no way I could, and she saw it. They were so supportive, and just happy I was OK, as they pulled me off the course. All I could say was "I can't do it today. I just don't have it." Becca unceremoniously took off my chip.
Now, 5 days post race, when I reflect on it, I think the panic in the water was the deciding factor in the race. I think I used up so much effort staying alive and freaking out that I couldn't get my head or my legs right the rest of the day. My nutrition was solid, no issues there, and my fitness was in the 10:30ish neighborhood, so it must have been the panic.
There are a number of positives to come out of such an awful race though. For one, it was good to have a bad race at a time when I wasn't 100% on top of my fitness. It would have been so disappointing to be thinking Kona and then have that happen in the swim. Also, speaking of Kona, I picked just about the worst race in history for the M30-34 age group as a Kona qualifier. I turns out you needed to be sub 9:30 at this one, as 10 hours got you 20th place or so. Historically, 10 hours gets it done at IMCDA, but not this year. There's a slowtwitch post about this that's pretty funny.
So, there it is. My no DNF streak is broken. My buddy Thys said if you race enough ironmans eventually a bad one will get you, and I guess mine is out of the way for awhile. Now that I am back home and this is all behind me, I am really looking forward to not training hard the rest of the year. I have my neck surgery in 2 weeks, and after that I will kick back for awhile.
I wanted to say thanks to everybody who sent texts, calls, and emails of concern on Sunday. It was warming to my heart o know that so many of you care enough to check in on me during this race. And I guess the Trakkers thing was a bust (please comment if you got it to work, Becca and others said it never picked me up).
And a huge special thanks to my family: my dad, who had to spend his father's day worrying about my out there, my mom, who worried more than he did and swore this is the last time she'll spectate and Ironman, my sister, who had never been to a triathlon before and had to have this be her first, and to my wife and daughter, who all cheered hard and waited for 3 hours in the cold and rain for me to come back to them during the run. It really meant the world to me to be able to DNF off the course right into a great big hug of the people who love me the most.
I guess I have been dreading writing this blog since about 20 minutes into the swim last Sunday, so here goes. I have always done my best to make my blog a positive place to visit, so I'll try to extract the positives out of this race experience and not dwell on the negatives.
Everybody knows the back story leading up to this race, but if not, here it is in 30 second recap: After a 10:08 at full iron last fall and looking ahead to this June, IMCDA was to be my chance at a Kona slot. That changed when we had to move to PA because of my job. All the hassle of buying and selling a house and moving, plus trying to train in a much colder climate took its toll, and soon I had readjusted my goal from getting a Kona slot to just training the best I could and having fun. Then April came and I had my whole "neck lump" fiasco, which knocked a 1 month sized whole in my training plan. So, I gave myself 5 hard weeks and hoped for the best. Throw into the backdrop my wife, who had been kicking ass with her training early on, and by the numbers all things were looking like a cake walk to a Kona slot. Then, late in her training plan she got a stress fractured femur. This was diagnosed the day before we flew to CDA, meaning all the money, time, and effort of CDA was coming down to me, as undertrained as I was.
The week before we flew my buddy Alex, who was staying with us, called to say a hip injury would keep him from the race. We started joking about the house being cursed, between Becca's stress fractured leg, Alex's hip, and my neck tumor. And the week before leaving I got a foot infection that hurt to walk on. Then, Becca, Elena, and I all got pink eye the day of the flight. It was just not measuring up nicely at all. Alex even asked me if I thought racing was a good idea, spooky....
This trip was, thankfully, coupled with a visit to my parents and sister, who all moved to the west coast while I was in grad school. I had such a great time visiting with them, and watching them play with Elena, that I basically forgot the reason we were in Idaho was for a race. I skipped all the Ironman propaganda dinners and such and just did the minimum necessary to get my chip and race.
Needless to say, my mind wasn't on smoking this course when I woke up Sunday morning. I was forgetting all kinds of silly crap, like filling my water bottles (Becca was very helpful in keeping my head on straight). I also woke up in a coma, with what I call "convulsive yawning." I think this had to do with the travel and my daughter not adjusting to pacific time at all (she should work for the CIA in the sleep deprivation dept). But, in the end, none of these little things ended up mattering to my race, and I knew they wouldn't. Ironman is so long and complicated that there is always something unforseen that takes center stage on race day.
For me, trouble started less than two minutes into this race. Unlike IM Florida, where the starting pen is narrow and deep, at IM CDA you can basically start anywhere along a long beach, and the people only go about 20 deep or so the whole length of it. Being it my third IM, and feeling like a 1:05 or so was totally within reach, I looked to the inside. Nope, way too crowded over there. The outside was really packed up too, but the middle was almost empty comparatively, so I chose a spot about 8-9 bodies deep in the middle. When the cannon went off, I waited a few seconds, then entered the masses into the water. Conditions were choppy, and right off I realized I started too far back. There was a wall of people in front of me swimming too slowly, and the chop made breathing a real pain. I started getting bumped and hit almost immediately. On Slowtwitch and other people's blogs, I have read this year's CDA swim described as a "rugby match" and a "goatf#ck." I have never been to the latter, but given the choice of that swim or the goat, I'd go with the goat every time. I think I must have gotten thumped 4-5 times in a row pretty hard, and every time I turned to breath I started taking in water, and I started to panic. Now, I have been in full contact swims before. I have been punched, kicked, goggles knocked off, dunked, and even had my pants pulled down once. But this was entirely different. Just too many people in too small of an area to swim. I tried at forward progress for another couple strokes and when all I was getting was water and no air, I decided I was going to need some help. Just like they tell you to do when you're in trouble in a triathlon, I rolled over and waved my arm in the air. When I lifted my head up to see where the nearest kayak was, all I could see was swimming mayhem around me. As I was on my back trying to catch my breath, people were swimming right over top of me. I can honestly say I thought it was all going to be over. A few nice swimmers could see my predicament and offered to help, but as soon as they stopped they got clobbered and kept on their way. So, I gave up on getting rescued and just layed on my back, and tried to keep my head out of the water, while kicking with my legs to keep from getting run over for what seemed like forever, but in reality it was probably 15 minutes or so. I've never had a panic attack before, I am just not the type, but when faced with those circumstances its fair to say that's what I had.
Eventually, I found some open water in the middle of the rectangular course. I continued on my back and took a look around. I decided my race day was over, and I just wanted out of that lake. But, I couldn't swim against the people coming around for a second lap, and I couldn't cut across the center of the course (probably be known forever on Slowtwitch as "course cutting man" or something like that). So, I had to finish my lap. After a while my breathing calmed, and I was able to flip back over and swim normally for the rest of the lap. When I got on shore, I stopped and looked around for my parents and Becca, so I could walk off the beach and be done, but there was nobody there (naturally they assumed they missed me since I took 46 minutes to swim this lap). I was ushered back in the water by cheering volunteers, and thought, OK, sure I will go swim another lap, even though that was just about the last thing I wanted to go do. The second lap was fine, except for the nasty chop. I swam this one easy and by the end I was even thinking of continuing the race.
So I walked through T2, having swum a 1:26 or so. I was really tired. I have never swam that long in my entire life. Sure, I have swam that far several times, but never for that long. I put on my bike stuff and decided to give it a go. The bike was fine, except I was cold. And I couldn't seem to get my legs going. They were cramping early on, like 30 miles, and I have to think it was from the treading water during the swim part (trying to stay alive). The course was hilly, but more so than I expected from having done the Computrainer Real Course. I saw my family at 15 miles and yelled "I love you guys!!" knowing they would have no idea what I had just been through in the water. I saw them again at 55 miles, and I was ready to pull the plug, but they were cheering so hard they couldn't hear a word I said. Then, when I went by them at 75mi, I said "It isn't going to happen today." Becca knows that I know my body well enough to know when I have it and when I don't. She told me after the race she wanted me to pull out right then. Somehow I got through the rest of the bike, and when I saw everybody again at 111 miles I said "This might take all night." By then I was feeling better emotionally, but not physically. And having finished the bike course, I was determined to give the run a try. I thought it would be disrespectful to the race and to all the other competitors to quit before I was totally used up.
So, I took another leisurely transition: put on fresh shorts and undies, changed socks, ate a Gu, and took a pee. Then I walked out to start the run. I began running out of transition, but it just wasn't there. I only made it about 2 miles before I got super dizzy and had to walk. I adopted a strategy where I would run aid station to aid station, then walk and eat pretzels, cookies, and gatorade until I felt better. By 6 miles I could tell it wasn't really helping. I walked from there to the turn around at 7.5, where I thought there might be a golf cart or something I could ride back to town in, but no luck. So I walked the next 8 miles. I got super cold, as it was 50 and lightly raining, and I wrapped myself in a heat sheet. My walking was more like a dizzy stagger, but eventually (after a 3 hour first lap) I made it back to where my family had been waiting for me. I was really afraid everybody would be disappointed in me, and that Becca would want me to keep walking and finish the next 12.5 miles. There was no way I could, and she saw it. They were so supportive, and just happy I was OK, as they pulled me off the course. All I could say was "I can't do it today. I just don't have it." Becca unceremoniously took off my chip.
Now, 5 days post race, when I reflect on it, I think the panic in the water was the deciding factor in the race. I think I used up so much effort staying alive and freaking out that I couldn't get my head or my legs right the rest of the day. My nutrition was solid, no issues there, and my fitness was in the 10:30ish neighborhood, so it must have been the panic.
There are a number of positives to come out of such an awful race though. For one, it was good to have a bad race at a time when I wasn't 100% on top of my fitness. It would have been so disappointing to be thinking Kona and then have that happen in the swim. Also, speaking of Kona, I picked just about the worst race in history for the M30-34 age group as a Kona qualifier. I turns out you needed to be sub 9:30 at this one, as 10 hours got you 20th place or so. Historically, 10 hours gets it done at IMCDA, but not this year. There's a slowtwitch post about this that's pretty funny.
So, there it is. My no DNF streak is broken. My buddy Thys said if you race enough ironmans eventually a bad one will get you, and I guess mine is out of the way for awhile. Now that I am back home and this is all behind me, I am really looking forward to not training hard the rest of the year. I have my neck surgery in 2 weeks, and after that I will kick back for awhile.
I wanted to say thanks to everybody who sent texts, calls, and emails of concern on Sunday. It was warming to my heart o know that so many of you care enough to check in on me during this race. And I guess the Trakkers thing was a bust (please comment if you got it to work, Becca and others said it never picked me up).
And a huge special thanks to my family: my dad, who had to spend his father's day worrying about my out there, my mom, who worried more than he did and swore this is the last time she'll spectate and Ironman, my sister, who had never been to a triathlon before and had to have this be her first, and to my wife and daughter, who all cheered hard and waited for 3 hours in the cold and rain for me to come back to them during the run. It really meant the world to me to be able to DNF off the course right into a great big hug of the people who love me the most.
Friday, June 19, 2009
GPS Tracking by Trakkers
If you want to know my GPS position and speed during IMCDA, go to this website during the race:
http://www.trakkersgps.com/beta
You'll need IE 7.0 to run the application.
http://www.trakkersgps.com/beta
You'll need IE 7.0 to run the application.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Going it alone
I think everybody who reads my blog also reads my wife's...after all she is much more interesting (and attractive) than me...but in case you don't, she has pulled out of IMCDA with a stress fracture in her femur. So, I am racing this one alone. Bummer indeed, but we are excited she will be on the way to being pain free again.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
New tires and a foot infection
Got my new commuting tires this week, and gave them a spin on a rainy ride to work Thursday. What I ended up going with was a set of Schwalbe Marathon Plus in 700x28c. They are sweet indeed, and fit nicely in the forks of my Roubaix. At 70psi they give a really nice grip on slick roads. And I think the added weight (they claim to be almost 100% puncture resistant due to some kind of kevlar belts), and rolling resistance makes for a harder workout, bonus! Hopefully no more close encounters with the pavement now.
The only other tidbit of news is that I have a sore on my foot that's been getting worse over the past month. Today I diagosed myself with pitted keratolysis. Mine is not nearly as nasty as the picture on the web though. So, its flip flops and antibacterial ointment in hopes it clears up and doesn't present an issue next Sunday. I don't think it will. There will be much bigger demons to face than this silly sore on my foot.
One bummer about the race is my homeboy A-Mac is out of IMCDA. He's got a leg injury that kept him from finishing Rev3 last weekend. We were going to be sharing a house for race week, and Becca and I are pretty bummed to be missing out seeing him again...oh and of course all the free pro triathlete pre-race tips. Heal up fast my good man!
Still can't believe a week from now I'll be at bike check...
The only other tidbit of news is that I have a sore on my foot that's been getting worse over the past month. Today I diagosed myself with pitted keratolysis. Mine is not nearly as nasty as the picture on the web though. So, its flip flops and antibacterial ointment in hopes it clears up and doesn't present an issue next Sunday. I don't think it will. There will be much bigger demons to face than this silly sore on my foot.
One bummer about the race is my homeboy A-Mac is out of IMCDA. He's got a leg injury that kept him from finishing Rev3 last weekend. We were going to be sharing a house for race week, and Becca and I are pretty bummed to be missing out seeing him again...oh and of course all the free pro triathlete pre-race tips. Heal up fast my good man!
Still can't believe a week from now I'll be at bike check...
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Taper Updates
I've been so into Tweeting lately that I have fallen off the blog world. I must say, Tweeting (aka microblogging) totally fits my style better than blogging. I rarely have enough time to sit down and type up a blog, but summing things up in a sentence or two is a snap. Here's a series of updates as to what's been happening these last couple weeks.
1. I made it through my 5 week big block, well almost:
Once I got the all clear to race IMCDA from my panel of expert doctors, I set on a course to do 5 weeks of big volume training. Considering I did next to nothing in April, this was ambitious, and somewhat reckless. A few people mentioned the high probability of injury I'd be flirting with. Now, I know I have to find some wood to knock on before even typing this, but I have been really fortunately not have not had an overuse injury in years. Now, this could be just that I don't train enough! Anyway, I am sidetracked. The point is, I almost made it through the 5 week block. Physically I was fantastic, but in a strange twist, it was my head that broke down. I've always described myself as "the robot." Whatever training there is to do, I go do it. No drama, no meltdowns, just get your ass out there and do it. But, this time around I got a little taste of the burnout. On consective Thursdays in weeks 4 and 5, after rising at 5AM on the four previous days, I had to bail on the workout. I was just like, "No way. This is not going to happen this morning." Rebecca took pity on me both times and made me feel less guilty. Then, for the last long ride, on Sunday of week 5, I got up early, made my bottles, got all my gear on and left the house only to turn around 3 houses down. I simply couldn't face riding for 5 hours that day. I bailed on the enitre workout. I got the ride in the next day, but it was unfamiliar territory for me to be having training burnout. I guess I am not the robot after all.
2. Not entirely true, there was one injury:
When I say I was physically great, that is meaning with exception to a bike wreck that happened in the fourth week. My back wheel got away from me on a slick corner in the rain on my commute home. Fortunately it was cold and I had long leggings and long sleeves on, so no road rash, but I did bang the hell out of my right hip, elbow, and ankle. It was such a fast wipeout too. The first indication I had that I was going down was seeing my back wheel on the left side of the road, then boom, right on the pavement. Its my third bike crash lifetime, and second one in the last two years, though last year I only had one hand on the handlebars (don't ask where the other was). So, after skidding outt in the rain, I decided I needed a better commuting bike.
3. I decided I need a cyclocross bike...or not:
So, I immersed myslef in cycloss terminology and bike specs. I budgeted myself $500. What I came up with was a Motobecane Phantom CX. I came so close to pulling the trigger too. But then I realized I probably wasn't going to like the ride, and started looking at bikes that are $800, then $1200, and pretty soon I was ready to scrap the idea. See, I absolutely love my current commuter, a Specialized Roubaix. It has a super smooth ride, and great handling, its just that the tires are too skinny. So, in the end, I convinced myself to keep riding the Roubaix, be more careful in the rain, and get it some 700x28 knobbys.
4. I'm a swimming monster, for no reason:
In other news, I took 4 weeks off from swimming. Because of work and being a busy Daddy, if I am to maximize volume (thus available training time), I have to cut swimming. It simply takes too long to drive to the pool, change clothes, swim, and then drive back. That's all time that can be spent riding or running where I need to go. So, my big volume weeks were all biking and running, which is different than I have ever done. So, to see how bad the news was, I did my usual 1200m time trail at my Saturday pool. And for no reason at all, I took 1min10secs off my PR. What the heck? Who says more yardage make you faster??? For me, I guess being fitter makes you faster!
5. A new hypothesis will be tested:
So, here we are in the taper for my third Ironman. The first one was the test of if I could finish, and the second was seeing how fast I could go. In this one, there is a new question: how fast can an undertrained, yet very well rested Scott go? I think this will be a fun race for me. No pressure, and I can try out different ideas. One thing I might try is to see how fast I can run the marathon after going easy on the bike and swim. Who knows? The cool part is, it doesn't matter, so I haven't made my mind up just yet.
That's the updates for now. Watch the Tweet bar!
1. I made it through my 5 week big block, well almost:
Once I got the all clear to race IMCDA from my panel of expert doctors, I set on a course to do 5 weeks of big volume training. Considering I did next to nothing in April, this was ambitious, and somewhat reckless. A few people mentioned the high probability of injury I'd be flirting with. Now, I know I have to find some wood to knock on before even typing this, but I have been really fortunately not have not had an overuse injury in years. Now, this could be just that I don't train enough! Anyway, I am sidetracked. The point is, I almost made it through the 5 week block. Physically I was fantastic, but in a strange twist, it was my head that broke down. I've always described myself as "the robot." Whatever training there is to do, I go do it. No drama, no meltdowns, just get your ass out there and do it. But, this time around I got a little taste of the burnout. On consective Thursdays in weeks 4 and 5, after rising at 5AM on the four previous days, I had to bail on the workout. I was just like, "No way. This is not going to happen this morning." Rebecca took pity on me both times and made me feel less guilty. Then, for the last long ride, on Sunday of week 5, I got up early, made my bottles, got all my gear on and left the house only to turn around 3 houses down. I simply couldn't face riding for 5 hours that day. I bailed on the enitre workout. I got the ride in the next day, but it was unfamiliar territory for me to be having training burnout. I guess I am not the robot after all.
2. Not entirely true, there was one injury:
When I say I was physically great, that is meaning with exception to a bike wreck that happened in the fourth week. My back wheel got away from me on a slick corner in the rain on my commute home. Fortunately it was cold and I had long leggings and long sleeves on, so no road rash, but I did bang the hell out of my right hip, elbow, and ankle. It was such a fast wipeout too. The first indication I had that I was going down was seeing my back wheel on the left side of the road, then boom, right on the pavement. Its my third bike crash lifetime, and second one in the last two years, though last year I only had one hand on the handlebars (don't ask where the other was). So, after skidding outt in the rain, I decided I needed a better commuting bike.
3. I decided I need a cyclocross bike...or not:
So, I immersed myslef in cycloss terminology and bike specs. I budgeted myself $500. What I came up with was a Motobecane Phantom CX. I came so close to pulling the trigger too. But then I realized I probably wasn't going to like the ride, and started looking at bikes that are $800, then $1200, and pretty soon I was ready to scrap the idea. See, I absolutely love my current commuter, a Specialized Roubaix. It has a super smooth ride, and great handling, its just that the tires are too skinny. So, in the end, I convinced myself to keep riding the Roubaix, be more careful in the rain, and get it some 700x28 knobbys.
4. I'm a swimming monster, for no reason:
In other news, I took 4 weeks off from swimming. Because of work and being a busy Daddy, if I am to maximize volume (thus available training time), I have to cut swimming. It simply takes too long to drive to the pool, change clothes, swim, and then drive back. That's all time that can be spent riding or running where I need to go. So, my big volume weeks were all biking and running, which is different than I have ever done. So, to see how bad the news was, I did my usual 1200m time trail at my Saturday pool. And for no reason at all, I took 1min10secs off my PR. What the heck? Who says more yardage make you faster??? For me, I guess being fitter makes you faster!
5. A new hypothesis will be tested:
So, here we are in the taper for my third Ironman. The first one was the test of if I could finish, and the second was seeing how fast I could go. In this one, there is a new question: how fast can an undertrained, yet very well rested Scott go? I think this will be a fun race for me. No pressure, and I can try out different ideas. One thing I might try is to see how fast I can run the marathon after going easy on the bike and swim. Who knows? The cool part is, it doesn't matter, so I haven't made my mind up just yet.
That's the updates for now. Watch the Tweet bar!
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