Ironman Lake Placid Race Report: Race morning and swim

Race day is a bitter sweet memory. While I was incredibly grateful to be out there, the way the day ended still has me up at night trying to figure out what I could have done differently or whether or not I could have dug any deeper and pushed through to the end.

I woke up at 3:45 feeling like I had gotten a great nights sleep. One thing I seem to have inadvertently trained myself to do is to use the bathroom first thing in the morning. This may seem like it isn't a big deal but being able to empty the bowels before leaving the room and not have to worry about standing in a port-a-potty line with 2,400 other athletes is a huge relief!

After using the bathroom I went about the routine I had been running through in my mind a thousand times. Get the uniform on, put the timing chip on, put on my sweatpants and sweatshirt, mix up my nutrition and fill the water bottles. I was hoping to be done by 5 but was ready to walk out the door at 4:45. It was nice to have my bike and transition bags already dropped off from the previous day.

The plan was to meet Paul at 5 and walk down to transition together. I don't remember what we talked about while walking down to the transition area but I was glad to be walking there with him. We had done marathon training together, lots of training for other races together and most recently we had been training for the past six months together for Ironman, his first and my second. We developed what was already a pretty tight relationship to one that was even tighter. Doing 7 hour bike rides together with someone who you have so much in common with will do that.

Once I arrived at transition I went through body-marking in what was a surprisingly short line, and went to my bike. There I put the bottles in their cages, topped off the air in my tires with a borrowed pump and gave the chain a quick lube. The last step was to drop off my special needs bags.

The only thing I had to do now was sit and wait. I found a seat at the place where I was going to meet my family and took in the craziness for a while. I felt calm even in the midst of all that was going on around me. While I was waiting I started the process of getting my wetsuit on so I was ready to go once my family arrived.

At 6:30 I met up with my wife and son and we made our way up to the swim start area. I had the chance to say a quick hello to the rest of my family. At about 6:40 I took in two Hammer Apple Cinnamon gels, took a swig of water, said my good byes and off I went to the swim start.

It took about 10 minutes to actually get into the water even though the total trip was only about 50 yards. All of the 2,400 athletes were being corralled over the timing mats through a 10 foot wide chute.

Just as I was getting in the water it started to rain pretty hard. The water was refreshing as I did my first few strokes and I was feeling very comfortable and relaxed after swimming for three or four minutes. I swam over to one of the beaches to minimize the treading I would have to do before the start. With about 5 minutes before the start I made my way up to the starting rope.

I still don't know how smart a decision this was. In 2006 I started about 25 yards back from the starting rope and while it was pretty crazy I was able to find clean water after the first 1/4 mile. This time, that wasn't the case. My swim had improved a lot in three years and I was feeling comfortable about starting closer to the front. I was still surprisingly calm when the cannon went off. I put my head in the water and started to swim.

The problem with starting so close to the front ended up being that I was never able to get into a great rhythm until close to the end of the first 1.2 mile loop. All the craziness actually made the first loop go by quickly. In that first 32 minutes I had my goggles knocked off once, almost had my wedding band pulled off, and got knocked around pretty good.

The 2nd loop wasn't much better, even though I had cleaner water to swim in with fewer people, I seemed to have gotten stuck behind a slower group that no matter how hard I tried, I could not get around. I got out of the 2nd loop and saw that my time was almost 1 hour 8 minutes. I was swimming sub 1 hour training swims at this distance so I was kind of disappointed in my swim time. But, I just made my way to T1 to get on with the rest of my race.

In the grand scheme of things the Ironman swim is just a warm up for the rest of the day.

What it takes to do an Ironman

With over six months of training under my belt I thought it would be interesting to look at the aggregate of my training over that time period. I'm a little obsessive about keeping track of my training so putting the numbers together was pretty easy. Here are my numbers since I started my "official" training on a sub zero 10 mile run on New Year's Day.

Swimming:

• 66 hours
  
• 166,000 yards (that's about 94 miles)
  
• 49,500 calories burned
  

Biking:

• 148 hours
• 2660 miles
• 140,600 calories burned
  

Run:

• 98 hours
• 625 miles
• 98,000 calories burned

Thanks to the input of @IronmanJourney (check out his Ironman training blog), I'll put these hours into some frame of reference. I finished my first Ironman in 13 hours and 55 minutes. My goal for this race is to finish in under 13 hours. Aggressive, but looking at my previous times, its possible as long as weather conditions cooperate.

As simplistic as these numbers are, I do believe it truly is what it takes to do an Ironman. I tried to capture some of the personal characteristics we develop through training on another blog I write for. Take it from someone who used to think that a 5k road race was a challenge, as long as you have a plan and put in the time, virtually anyone can do an Ironman.

A reminder, help to raise money for Bretton Woods Adaptive! Only a few more days to make your tax deductible donation.

Caution: Athlete in Training

So I've been a little busy.  Between 15 hour training weeks and plenty going on at work, I haven't had a lot of time to keep all my readers up to date - which I think is just my Mom and my wife :) 

Just in case any one else happens to make there way to this blog I wanted to write briefly about my recent trip to Lake Placid for a training weekend.

There was a grand plan several weeks ago for all my buddies from the Granite State Triathlon Club who are  racing to get a couple of training weekends at Lake Placid in before race day. There are five of us.  Then there were four. Then there were three. Then the day before we leave there were two -  Me and Paul.

We were able to get an awesome deal at the High Peaks Resort right in the middle of town and had a room overlooking Mirror Lake. If you are ever in Lake Placid, definitely check them out.  Bill, their marketing guy is also definitely worth following on Twitter.

The Swim

We arrived on Friday afternoon and after unpacking headed to the local  pool at North Country Community College to get a swim in.  It was a nice pool  and we were pretty much the only ones there.

After grabbing some dinner we called it an early night to try and prepare for what would turn out to be a hellish day on the bike.

The Bike

The plan for Saturday was two loops on the Ironman course, excluding an out and back section for a total ride of 85 miles.  We had cool weather with  mostly sunny skies and LOTS of wind.  The last 12 miles or so are mostly uphill, and, the wind was also in our face. The first loop went well. The 2nd loop was going well, until the last 12 miles. After that it sucked. My legs were cramping whenever I got out of the saddle so I stayed seated and ground out the last section of the ride.

Thank goodness Paul was there. I think we needed each other to keep motivated not to get off our bikes and walk the rest of the way. At least I did.

Suzan, my coach, in her slightly evil but do what you need to do kind of way, also had a short run on the schedule after the ride. When I first got back to the hotel room I thought to myself there is no way I can run. But, after 10 minutes of taking in fluids and some Hammer gel I felt good enough to get a short run in along Mirror Lake.

The Run

Sunday was run day. The High Peaks Resort is about a mile from the run start of the Ironman course.  So the plan was to run to the start of the course and then do 1 loop, 13.1 miles, making a total of 15.

We had another great day of weather, cool and mostly cloudy. The first 10 miles I felt pretty good, the last 4 sucked, which also happens to be mostly up hill, including an incredibly steep section coming into town.  Notice my total only equals 14 miles instead of the 15 planned. I skipped an out and back section along Mirror Lake since I was pretty certain that I would pass 

out if I tried to squeeze it in.

Paul was feeling good and did the out and back section. He came back to the hotel to find me sitting on the recumbent bikes in the hotel fitness center trying to loosen up my legs.  We were going to try and do a 1 hour spin outside after the run but quickly realized while driving around Lake Placid that it sits up on a peak. No matter what direction we went would mean a downhill out and an uphill back. We'd had enough of hills for the weekend.

Wrapping Up

After showering, packing up and splitting an entire large pizza (the 2nd of the weekend) we made our way back to the New Hampshire seacoast. But not before taking one last picture. No one can argue that Lake Placid is not an athlete's town.

Love the weather, hate the loss of daylight

It's been a good but challenging week of training. I was hiking this weekend up and around Mt. Cardigan (pictures to follow soon) and I started off the week already sore from the terrain. It was more challenging than I was expecting. Sleeping in a tent didn't help either.

I've had to rearrange the week's training because my 15th wedding anniversary is next weekend and I figure Amy wouldn't want me training all weekend while we are celebrating.

So last night I had to get in both a swim and a run, but it's getting dark pretty close to 8. So, I had Amy drop me off at Masters and swam from 6:30 to 7:30, then got on my running shoes and reflective vest and started the 7 mile run home. About 1/2 way into it I turned off of the main roads onto back country roads, with no street lighting, and no day light. Luckily I knew the roadsd and could tell roughly where I was but it was a little strange running in complete darkness, since I didn't bring a headlamp or any other lighting.

The upside - the temps were in the 60's, the air was crisp, dry and perfect for running. I'll have to plan a little better next time and make sure I have some lighting.

Wiped out

I had a great week of training last week. I fit all my workouts in despite having to shuffle things around because of the constant thunderstorms throughout the week.

The way I was forced to shuffle them around I ended up with a double session on Friday that consisted of a long swim workout in the morning followed by a difficult brick workout afterwork. The next morning was a 12 mile run followed by a 2000 yard swim. Sunday was the annual GSTC ride around Lake Winnipausaukee which is a 62 mile hilly course that kicked my butt.

Thankfully, Monday was a day off before getting back to the routine on Tuesday. I hadn't fully recovered by Tuesday. I did an hour run that felt like it was two. My legs felt like cement and I realized then that I probably shouldn't have crammed all those workouts in last weekend.

I felt better at Masters swimming on Tuesday night but lesson was learned on re-scheduling workouts too close together.

Tough weekend

It's been a while since my last post, I hope to have my Mooseman Race Report up soon.

This weekend I struggled. Amy had surgery on Friday and while everything went well in terms of the result, it was still a surgery and the recovery will take several days. As a result I've been picking up all of the household duties this weekend with the help of Connor and Skip.

I was able to get a ride in yesterday. I was out for just about four hours, down to the Massachusetts border and back. It was a windy day, which made Route 1A a blessing on the way south with a tail wind and a curse on the way back with the wind in my face. It was the longest ride of the year and I definitely had some ups and downs.

The plan was to run today and swim also. I got the swim in but had to move the run until tomorrow morning. I had a lot of errands to do today between grocery shopping, buying clothes for Connor for my brothers wedding next weekend and keeping up with the house. I decided to get some things done around the house this morning and then get the training in this afternoon.

I was reminded of how much my eating schedule is determined by the training schedule. Because I decided to not trainin in the morning, I decided to have an actual breakfast, which included a rare cup of coffee. Bad idea. By the time I went to the pool around 11, my energy level had spiked and plummeted. I had 2,500 yards straight swim on the schedule and I struggled after the first 500. Because I was so wiped after that I decided to put my run off until tomorrow morning.

We'll see how that goes given the Celtics are playing tonight starting at 9 PM!

Chilly swim

The primary pool I swim in is the Dover Indoor pool. The typical pool temp is 82 - 84 degrees, very comfortable to swim in.

So last night I'm trying to decide if I want to take advantage of the 80 degree sunny day and do a bike ride or do what is on the schedule - a 1800 yard straight swim. With my shoulder not feeling great a few weeks ago and my swim yardage being lower than I would like at this point in the season I opt to swim. However, I went to the UNH pool instead because it is closer to the house and has open lap times until 7.

Who knew that a few degrees would make such a difference in comfort?! I didn't notice the 75 degree water temp written on a while board until I left, all I knew was that for the first 50 yards it was cold enough to not get a good breathing rhythm and reminded me of what next weeks swim will be like in Newfound Lake during the Mooseman Tri. Temps are usually in the mid-60's for that race but it is bearable with a wetsuit.

After a few hundred yards the water actually felt pretty comfortable. I'd compare it to running when it is in the 40's or 50's outside. Cool when you start but comfortable after you get going.

Catching up

After three weeks of blowing my nose, shooting phlem out of my nostrils on rides and runs and coughing that same phlem up each morning....I'm finally feeling close to 100%. Thankfully, I've been able to get back to a normal training schedule over the past we and a half.

The one shortfall I am still finding is during swimming, my left shoulder has a twinge on the recovery part of my stroke. I first felt the twinge about four weeks ago attempting to do the butterfly stroke. Big mistake. I've never had any formal coaching for the stroke, only watching other people at Masters. After that first time, I took two weeks off, but to no avail. After 15 minutes of swimming at Masters the pain returned. I'm going to try again tomorrow morning. I have about 2,500 yards on the schedule for tomorrow.

The last week has held some good workouts. Saturday consisted of a 50 mile ride on a beautiful warm spring day. I went out with Paul and Kate for the first 90 minutes and then Paul and I did the rest of the ride on our own.

Sunday was a 90 minute run. My legs felt pretty heavy for most of the run which was concerning me because my coach had me doing the last 30 minutes at 80% - 85%. But by the time I got to the one hour mark I was feeling pretty good and was able to go pretty hard for the last 1/2 hour.

While I was planning to ride on Memorial Day just because it was a nice day, the day just didn't allow for it and I spent some quality time with the family and good friends. Our GSTC group ride is on the schedule for tomorrow night. It is supposed to be nice night so I'm looking forward to the ride.

GSTC Group ride begins

Tuesday's workout was a Masters swim session. We normally don't quite finish the full workout in the hour practice. The yardage for a workout typically varies from 2,700 yards up to 3,200 yards. Ironically, with Tuesday's workout being 3,200 yards, it was one of the few workouts we've finished the entire thing. There was a lot of freestyle swimming which definitely helped and we also got started a few minutes early.

Evening workouts always make the next morning's workout more difficult. Wednesday was no exception. Yesterday morning I did a run of about 5.5 miles in just under 50 minutes. Then after work I met up with GSTC for the first Wednesday night club ride of the year. There was only four of us but it was nice to ride with a group, despite the 50 degree temp and stronger than expected winds. We got about 22 miles in about an hour and 15 minutes. We had some good hills and a pretty strong headwind for the first half of the ride that kept our speed way down. Two of the four were also new to the club so I think everyone wanted to make it more of a casual ride than a hammerfest. That certainly contributed to the slower pace.

After the ride I went on a run through college woods on my own. I don't usually enjoy afternoon runs but this one felt good. I think I planned my nutrition timing better yesterday which helped make the run more enjoyable. I ended up getting home around 8 last night, boiling a big serving of pasta and having it with my wife's homemade sauce which she had just finished making. After that I finished the meal off with a small serving of Ghiardelli dark chocolate chips (I tell myself I eat them for the antioxidants in dark chocolate ). Nice way to finish the day.

I was supposed to swim this morning but decided to get the extra rest. Tonight I have another ride scheduled which I'll be doing on my own and will be more of a workout than last night

On a training roll

I really feel like I'm in the depths of spring training. I've been regularly getting 5-6 hours of training in on the weekend, I'm exhausted on Sunday night, and Mondays are tougher to get up. I finished up the week with just under 11 hours of training.

After the long run I wrote about on Friday, I had a 2 hour 45 minute ride scheduled for Saturday. I was able to connect up with a buddy for that ride and we left my house around 7am. At the time the temp was around 40 degrees and I was dressed for a warm ride, booties, hat, double gloves, etc.

After about two hours the temp was in the low to mid 50's and I was way overdressed.

We ended up doing a little over 54 miles in about 3 hours with some challenging rollers and hills along the way. I was supposed to also swim on Saturday but the family schedule wouldn't allow it with lacrosse practice for my son, a fundraiser at my wife and son's school and delivering my son to a sleepover.

Sunday morning was a drag. I didn't get to bed until after midnight on Saturday and there was a GSTC training scheduled for 9am. I almost didn't go. Apparently the rest of the club was thinking the same thing and decided not to go. There was only seven of us and I was dragging for most of the morning.

We started out with a 2700 yard swim. I did start to feel a little better after getting a few hundred laps, but then I started to really drag for the balance of the swim. We transitioned out to the track at UNH. By this point it had started to rain and it was feeling pretty raw out. Once we finished a warm up run through college woods I was feeling comfortable, until Suzan gave me my track workout for the day.

It consisted of 2-400's, 4-800's, and 8-200's all at a 7 minute per mile pace with a 200 meter jog between each rep. While I was able to keep the correct pace through the first 800, after that it started to deteriorate rapidly.

By the end I was about ready to collapse but there is no rest for the weary. After a quick recovery meal when I got home I was off to pick up my son from his sleepover, grocery shopping, making dinner, etc, etc, etc.

Work will seem like a break after this past weekend!

(As you'll see I'm trying to add more pix to enrich the content, let me know what you think!)

Strong start to the week.

I felt strong today during my workouts. This week has double workouts every day and is the last full week before a recovery week.

This morning was a 5 mile run. I felt good through the run but when I got to work I started to drag and felt like that through most of the day. I ate well throughout the day - apple, banana, salad, brown rice, trail mix and two Luna bars. As the day went on my energy level picked up and by the time I got to my 2nd work out of the day, Masters swim, I was feeling good.

Masters practice was great. I did 3,100 yards and completed the full workout which is not the norm. Typically, I can't fit the workout into one hour which can get frustrating. While I was swimming tonight everything was clicking. I was taking nice long smooth strokes and really felt like I was gliding along on top of the water.

It is supposed to be in the high 70's tomorrow! Thankfully I have a bike and run on the schedule so I'll be riding with some buds from GSTC.

What a weekend!

I'm exhausted...

But I wanted to make sure I got an update on the weekend. It was probably the toughest but best weekends of the year so far.

Friday started out on Friday night after work when I got about 7 miles in on a run. I was on a field trip all day Thursday with my son and stayed up too late on Thursday night. I just couldn't get out of bed early enough to get out and still get to work on time. I'm glad I waited because I think I figured out some distinctions of my nutrition strategy.

Normally when I train in the afternoon I make sure I eat my last meal/snack around 3 to give my system three hours to fully digest before starting the workout. However, if you've read any of this blog you know that I usually have gastrointestinal problems when training in the afternoon. This time I had my last meal around 12:30 (I even resisted temptation when there were chocolate chip cookies floating around the office around 3!) and when I left for my run around 6, I felt really good and was able to maintain a solid pace for the hour run.

Saturday morning I was up early to bring my son to Lacrosse for 7 am. After that I was able to get to the pool by about 10 for a 2,700 yard swim. The best part of the day was the bike ride in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day, mid 60's, sunny and I ended up doing about 45 miles in about 2 1/2 hours. I felt good afterwards and had enough energy to go out and do grocery shopping and get new shoes for my son!

Today started out with a 90 minute run with a few old running buddies. We finished up around 8:40 and I had a 20 minute drive to the pool where I was joining the GSTC for a swim. Unfortunately I forgot to bring any nutrition with me to have between workouts and I all had for breakfast was a couple of scoops of Sustained Energy. I did a few laps and actually felt a little dizzy on my flip turns. Thankfully my coach had a gel which helped me get through the workout which was about 2,500 yards. Hard yards.

I was done with workouts but the day continued with my son's first lacrosse game (which he scored a goal in!) followed by a cookout at a friend's house. To top it all off, after getting my son to bed I sat down in front of Tivo and Paris-Roubaix had taped.

I can't ask for too much more in a weekend. Thankfully, tomorrow is a day off for training!

GSTC Training Today

Today was a GSTC training at UNH. We started with a 2700 yard swim that had a few tough intervals. Suzan gave me some good tips on my stroke. I really feel like I'm honing in on my perfect stroke. The swim workout was tough, particularly since the run workout wasn't any easier.

I know that this makes absolutely no actual difference in my swim speed, I felt like I was gliding through the water faster since shaving the legs yesterday. I know it was all inside my head, but hey, anything helps!

The run started out easy enough, a 20 minute warm up through college woods followed by some drills and strides on the outdoor track at UNH. Then Suzan dropped the bomb - a two mile time trial. In other words, run as fast as you can and still finish a two mile run. I hadn't done a running time trial in a while and it was tough. The key with a time trial is to pace yourself. I did the first 400 meters around the track in 1:45 but I was afraid that I was going to hard so I slowed a little for the next couple of laps, 1:49 and 1:50. At this point I was feeling OK and picked the pace up a little, the next few laps were at 1:45. On the last lap I was still feeling good so I pushed a little and finished in 1:39, my fastest lap. This brought my overall time to 13:57 which was just under a 7 minute mile. The workout wrapped up with another 20 minute warm down.

I followed up the workout with a big breakfast with some friends from the club and am now looking forward to a nice Sunday afternoon nap!

Run above freezing!

I don't think I can count the number of times on more than one hand where I've run this winter and it has been above freezing. Today was one of those days, it's about time, it's April!

It was only four miles but it felt good to not have several layers on and not have to wait for 15 or 20 minutes before I actually felt comfortable. Suzan had me include 8 pickups for 15 seconds each, which when I read it on the training plan never sounds like much, but it helps to break up the run and I definitely feel just a little more run down after adding those in.

Tonight I have Master's swimming which I'm looking forward to. I've spent more time in the pool over the past few weeks than I did over most of the winter and I can feel my swim form coming back together. Suzan gave me some tips in late February and right afterwards I felt like I was learning to swim all over again but I now feel stronger in the water with the revised stroke.

I've been having trouble figuring out my diet on the days when there are two or three sessions. I'm always good in the AM but it's trying to find the right combination for lunch and mid-afternoon meal that has me struggling some days. I suppose if I had more time in the morning I could bring in to work something that would give me more energy in the afternoon. However, I've been taking the easy route and bringing in a Clif Bar and Banana. Ideally I should probably start brining in some brown rice and veggies.

Overall I'm happy with the nutrition. My caloric intake has been where I want it though I struggle some days to get my carb count up to where it should be. I guess I need to start eating more cookies!

Bump in the road

Last week I hit a bump in the road with my training. Some avoidable, some not.

I was able to get two tickets to the Celtics game last Monday night which I brought my son to. Even though they lost we had a great time. As my son said, "it was good father-son bonding time". On the way home, it was 11 PM on Route 1 and traffic came to a standstill. We moved about 1 mile in 45 minutes because the Mass. DOT decided to close all but one lane to do some kind of construction. The result - we got home at 1 AM, on a school night. My Tuesday morning was shot but I was able to make it to Masters swimming that night. This was the avoidable bump, we didn't need to go to the game.

The unavoidable really made it a tough week. At about 1 AM our home phone rang, never a good thing. It was my Mom (who lives 2 miles away), she wasn't feeling well. She had been dizzy since 10:30 the night before and was nauseaus. She was really pale when I got to her house so I ended up bringing her to the ER. Everything is good now, turned out to be an inner ear infection that was causing vertigo. I walked back in the door around 4:30 AM on Wednesday, so needless to say my Wednesday workouts were shot.

I was able to get some training in on Thursday but not Friday. Saturday I was on the trainer (again!) for two hours and hit the UNH pool for a swim afterwards. Sunday was a one hour run and one hour swim.

All in all I was OK with the hours I got in given the bumps but as I build up for the summer racing season, I don't want to have too many weeks like the last one.

Long session with GSTC

Today was a long training session with the club at the Gunstock Inn. Coincidentally I got a bunch of free ski tickets for Gunstock from a promotion the dealership I just bought a car from and my wife & son were able to ski while I was training.

We started the training session with a 2500 yard swim. It was great to get some stroke feedback from my coach while I was there. She could see some progress from the last time I was at one of the coached trainings. I finally have stopped crossing the mid-point of my body. Next on the fix list is to work on my rotation and hand exit.

After swimming we did a core workout in the weight room. I haven't been as consistent on my core workouts as I'd like so it felt good to get that in.

Next on the agenda was a 1 hour run with the club plus an additional 30 minutes on my own. I finished my core workout early with a couple of others so we left for a run early. One of the guys I ran with is new to the club this year and has lost 75 pounds over the past 2 years! He's doing his first triathlon this year. I love stories like that. They help to put struggles that I may perceive as too hard into perspective. Losing another 10-15 pounds before the first tri of the year now doesn't seem like that big a deal.

So, after I ran for a 1/2 hour with the first group, the rest of the club was ready to go. This was a great run also. I was able to run with my coach for the entire run. She's a great coach and a great person so we had some good conversation while we ran. Once we got back I still had another 15 minutes to get in so I went out solo for the rest.

I came over to Gunstock to get the family and they were just eating lunch when I got there. They weren't done skiing yet so here I am in the lodge writing in my blog in between my son calling me on the new two way radios he got for his birthday yesterday. Thankfully there is wireless which helps pass the time a little quicker.

Random thought - when is the last time you heard Billy Squire's Stroke Me, it just played in the Gunstock lodge?!

As a result of the birthday party yesterday and visiting friends I didn't get my 1 hour 45 minute ride in, so tomorrow it will be an early morning to fit the ride and a leg workout in.

Been a while

I wish I had the time to post here every time I had something to write about. This past week was particularly busy.

Since my last post I've had some tough but fulfilling workouts. The most memorable was last Saturday which consisted of all three sports. My son and I went to the UNH pool where I did a swim workout while he played around. That was fun but the memorable part was to come. I still had a 1 hour 15 minute run followed by 30 minute ride on the trainer. We had a lot of errands to do during the day after swimming so I wasn't able to start running until about 5:30. That long a run isn't normally that big a deal but it had been raining all day and by the time I left the temperature was 34 degrees and still pouring rain.

I've always like running in the rain but after being out all day, swimming earlier in the day and the cold weather it was one of the most difficult runs to finish that I've ever had. By the time I got back, I was soaked, cold and emotionally drained. There were actually a couple of times when I considered stopping at a house and calling my wife to come pick me up.

It was one of those character building runs that I thought that I would never finish, but that I did finish AND went and got on the trainer afterwards also.

I figure that getting through a few of these sessions will help give me the reference points I need to get through the tough points in a race.

Good week

Even though I've been remiss in updating the blog, it doesn't mean that I haven't been training. I've had a good consistent week so far.

Sunday consisted of a great 1 hour run along the coast with Paul & Kate. There is always good conversation with them making the run that much better. It was at a good easy pace, the sky was incredibly clear and I could see the Isle of Shoals clearer than I ever have.

I took Monday off and followed that with a run on Tuesday morning. I had to get to the office early so I kept it to a short and quick 4 miles. This morning I hit the trainer (because it snowed again!) and finished a fine cinematic presentation of "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry". I don't think it received any awards at the Oscars last weekend ;)

It looks like a little more snow again tonight. I probably could run but I get nervous that on the roads that I run I'll get clipped by a plow truck that doesn't see me even though I have lights and reflective layers on. That means I'll probably hit the trainer again and also try to get to Dover Masters tomorrow night.

Today ended up being very busy, for work and training.

I was up early this morning and got a 10k run in. There was a beautiful full moon out and even though I had a headlamp on, I really didn't need it because the moon was so bright it was like daylight out. It was also very cold, the temperature read 10 degrees on the thermometer but the windchill read just above zero. It felt it!

Work is very busy as well. I have a big week next week and an important meeting tomorrow so I was going out straight all day.

Tonight I went to about 45 minutes of the Masters workout in Dover. I saw Brett from GSTC who looks like he is swimming well. He'll need to he has two Ironmans this summer (yes that says 2). I could feel some leg cramping starting towards the end of the swim workout but if felt good to get two workouts in today. It's been a while since I got this much time in on one day. I know it is just the first of many for the season.

Shock to the system

I wrote last week that I felt like I had turned a corner with regard to my training regimen. And for the most part I still feel that way. However, at our GSTC training today our coach had a workout that made me realize that it's time to train seriously again!

We started out with a one hour swim which was tough in and of itself. I think I made it harder than it was. After getting my swim form critique from the club coach, Suzan, I was hyperfocused on correcting the things she pointed out. Even though I had better form, I was using some new muscles with my revised stroke which made it more difficult to have that smooth flowing stroke you should have.

Then, we went to run. Our trainings on the seacoast are at UNH and the run we do is either through college woods or on the track. Well, college woods was wet and icy from our recent weather and the track was still snow covered. However, the stadium steps were dry so she had us doing some stair repititions. While I wasn't all that excited at the prospect of this workout when she told us about it, I found that I had this sense of fulfillment as Iwas in the middle of the repititions. It was reminiscent of the feeling I had when in the middle of the breakthrough workouts I was doing during Ironman training.

I don't know if it is the oxygen deprivation or the endorphins flowing through the body, but as odd as it sounds, I had an incredible feeling of fulfillment when I was at the hardest part of a tough workout. I think some of it was a feeling of gratitude just to be out there. Though whatever it was, it's shocked my system into really looking forward to the spring training cycle and racing season.