Monday, January 28, 2008

Bonking sucks!

Last Sunday I did a 1/2 IronMan simulation at the gym. I had planned on finishing it in 6 1/2 hours. I came close. I did it in 6 3/4 hours. I wasn’t “racing” by any means. You never want to race when you train. Rather, I had a goal pace in mind that I felt would be reasonable in relation to my goal finishing time in April. So what went right and what did I learn? I felt very good through the swim. I did the 1.2 miles in about 42 minutes. I wanted to finish in 45, so right on track. I wanted to maintain a 16 mph pace on the bike which for 56 miles would have me finishing in 3 1/2 hours. I was able to finish at exactly 3 1/2 hours, cool! On to the run. I usually have very good running legs after cycling. My legs felt great for the first hour or so. I maintained around a 10:00 min/ mile pace, which was my goal. So what happened about 6 miles in??? Simple, NUTRITION, or lack thereof. Bonk!!!! My legs felt ok, I just didn’t have any energy left. I brought 2- 64 oz bottles of Gatorade, 1 Power Bar and 2 of those Sweet and Salty peanut butter bars. It was not enough. The interesting thing is that the following day, I was not sore AT ALL. One of the purposes of training is to learn from your mistakes. I learned that nutrition will make or break my day in Arizona. Yes, I already know this, but sometimes I still need to be reminded just HOW important it is. You can have all the fitness down, but if there is no gas in the talk, you ain’t going nowhere.

I will do another 1/2 simulation in 2 weeks and apply what I learned. Friday, I swam, for the first time, the full iron distance swim. Well, actually 200 meters farther. I swam 4000, meters which is 80 laps in the pool or roughly 2.5 miles. What a relief! The swim has always been the intimidating part for me, so I am very relieved to at least know that I can complete it. Now, I will try to do some long distance workouts that are 4 or 500 meters farther to gain a mental advantage. It is crazy to remember 9 months ago, standing at the end of the pool after finishing 1/2 a lap, gasping for air wondering “how in the world am I EVER going to be able to do that 160 times” and “what did I get myself into”. That is why I am training and doing an Ironman. To remind myself everyday that NOTHING is impossible if you are specific about your goals, make a plan, work hard and most of all believe, you can achieve almost anything. I hate to get so corny, but it is true.

Sunday, Brittany and I will be running in the Surf City Marathon. It will be Brittany’s first full marathon. I am running the half. It should be a lot of fun!

Paul

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Half Ironman simulation

Which culture is it that takes a nap midday at work? I think it is the Japanese. I need to adopt that schedule. Training an average of 2 1/2 hours in the morning then going to work has really started to take its toll. By about 3:00 I am fried. I get an average of 8 hours of sleep at night, but I thing an hour nap midday might be beneficial for me. We’ll see if I can sneak it in somehow.

Brittany and I did the “OC Half Marathon” on January 6th. It was an AMAZING day for a race. It was overcast, cool, with a light drizzle. You couldn’t have asked for a better day. I was very pleased with my time of 1:57:22. It was a fairly hilly course so I figure that 1:22 over my PR was a good time. This was Brittany’s half marathon run, one month before her first marathon on February 3rd. In addition to running her first marathon, she is raising money for “Run for Mobility”. It is a charity that makes wheelchairs for people who cannot walk. Pretty amazing to give the gift of mobility to those who can’t get around on their own.

This weekend I am doing a half Ironman simulation in preparation for IMAZ. I will swim 1.2 miles, ride 56 miles and run 13.1 miles. I am going to do this at the gym for convenience sake. It may get a little boring on the bike but I will load up my iPhone with some movies and try to pass the time that way. I figure that if I can complete the distance in around 6-6 1/2 hours I should be in pretty good shape. It will be my longest run off the bike, but I seem to run better off the bike for some reason. Maybe because I am very warmed up :).

I have decided on my charity for the Janus Charity Challenge. I will be raising money for the Special Olympics Southern California Orange County chapter. You can donate here. Triathlon can feel like a selfish thing to do, since you spend SO much time training in the pursuit of bettering yourself. So it is a great feeling to use it to help other people. The Janus Charity Challenge enables athletes to do that. Pretty cool!

Well, I’m off to bed and who knows, maybe tomorrow I can get in a nap.


Paul