If you have read any of my previous blog entries you already know that earlier this year myself and my wife, Renee, along with our friend Margaret, won lottery slots to race in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships race that takes place on September 9th, 2012, here in Las Vegas out at Lake Las Vegas resort in Henderson. In order to get the lottery spot and compete in the World Championships you have to have previously completed any 70.3 distance race during the previous calendar year before the race, so we signed up for the Ironman 70.3 Boise race in Boise, Idaho on June 9th. After reading up on the race I found that it is a favorite of first-time Half-Iron distance triathletes because it is a challenging course, but also manageable. I remain dubious about that for now.
So, we were all in! We paid for both races. $650 combined on the IM WC and $500 combined for Boise. We got a book for training that outlined a training plan and mapped out a strategy for the 20 weeks until the Boise race, but after a couple weeks we realized that our levels of training were different and we needed to tweak them a little. We decided that the best thing to do would be to get some professional help, so we hired a personal trainer to get proper training, both to help us improve, as well as keeping us from getting injured.
OBSESSING
I, of course, began to obsess over the details of the race. What was the start time? Cutoff times? Wave start times? Course profile? I am a planner when it comes to a race, so I need to know those details. I wanted to know how long after the swim start I had to get done swimming, and then how long I had until the first bike cutoff time, etc. It helps me plan my training goals. I found out that this year's race would be the same as last year's race. Start time - Noon. Yes, the water would be ICE cold, probably less than 60 degrees. My wave, 45-49, would start at around 12:40. According to the athlete's guide from last year a racer had 1:10 after the last wave start on the swim to be out of the water and then they had until 4:00 pm to get to bike aide station #2, which was 20 miles out. This year the bike aide stations are supposed to be every 15 miles so aide station #2 would be 10 miles farther at mile 30. Hopefully they extend the cutoff time accordingly to allow for 10 extra miles. A racer also had until 5:30 to get to T2 and had to be at the turnaround to start the second loop on the run by 8:45 pm. These cutoff times are good to know so you know how fast you need to be going to make them.
TRAINING
So, here we go. Let me start by saying that my swim improved with leaps and bounds last year by the end of the season. I started last year with alot of anxiety with the swim. I couldn't breathe well with the wetsuit on and I had a huge problem with a gag reflex in the water, so I did a great deal of my first few swims using the breast stroke or the back stroke so I could breathe. By the end of the season I had done alot of open water practicing at the lake, so I was able to get 1500m with no problem and conpleted an Olympic distance event as my last race of the year.
My bike, on the other hand, was my weakest event. I was a runner to start with, so once I got into my groove and comfortable, I could usually go for a while without any problems and had completed 6 half marathons last year as well. The distance wasn't going to be an issue. On the bike, though, I was slow. My average time to get 25 miles was 1:35:55. This was one of the reasons we hired a trainer - to improve the bike time and get a time cushion. There are, however, a couple things different this season. first, I have a new bike. I bought a Cervelo P2SL triathlon bike. Secondly, I have a home bike trainer now and I have put alot of miles in on that, as well as having ridden a couple courses completely that I hadn't done before, increasing my distances. My legs and my stamina on the bike are better now that at any point last season and I still have 3 months to go until the race. I am very optimistic about my bike splits.
My last half marathon was the Las Vegas Rock 'n Roll back on December 4th, 2011. After that race I got ill for a week or so, and then I took the entire month off to recoup from all the training last season. When I finally got back into training, my run times were as though I was starting over. I got winded running 2 miles. Now, to be fair to myself, we also moved to a new house which was up the hill a mile from where we used to live, so every home leg of a run was now almost all uphill so the runs are now more challenging than they used to be. That can only help, right?
The first week of training I put in 8 hrs 21 min of training, using just the training book. I was swimming distance and getting about 2300m in per session. I wasn't running alot, and I was concentrating mostly on biking. The second week I did 9 hrs 20 min of training, pretty much the same stuff as before. After working with the trainer the weekly time went up to 10 hrs and 18 min and two training sessions a day, with Mondays off. After 1 month of dedicated training I put in 45 hrs and 6 min of work and that translated into:
Swim: 13,414 yards (7.6 miles) in 7.08 hrs
Bike: 239.34 miles on the road in 20.04 hrs
Trainer: 129.56 miles in 10.58 hrs
Run: 62.8 miles in 10.58 hrs
Strength: 2 hrs
Now that we work with our trainer, our training times will increase, as will the distances.
WORKING WITH A TRAINER
One of the best things about working with a trainer is that you actually learn not only what to do, but how to do it correctly and why. It really doesn't do you any good to go through the motions of training without understanding the reasoning behind technique and what it does to your body. Sure, you can swim any old way and get across the pool, but doing it correctly in proper form will get you there more quickly, efficiently and without injury over time. When you do things with greater efficiency, you allow for more energy to be spent throughout your event instead of wasting it. In triathlon, it is all about pacing and the wise use of energy. The longer your event, the greater the emphasis is on energy conservation.
The hardest thing for me to do in training is to be patient. I have a hard time only putting in a certain amount of energy that is called for during a training session if it is less than what I think I am capable of at that time. If the session only calls for swimming 1800m and I know I can do 2300m, I want to go more. I had to learn to resist the urge to go beyond that plan. Save it for next time. If I am supposed to run for 1 hr, but I feel like I can go another 2 miles, it is hard to back off, but I am learning that it is probably the right thing to do. That is another benefit of having a trainer - Wisdom in training.
The one thing that I have never really understood about training is nutrition. I don't really know what I should eat and when I should eat it. I used to weigh 210 lbs. On my 5'9 frame, 210 didn't look good. I lost 25 pounds in a period of about 6 months a few years back and got down to what I thought was a good weight of 185. Looking at pictures of myself - No. Then I lost a little more and got down to around 175, but couldn't quite get down any farther. I started eating 5 or 6 times a day and controlled my portion sizes and calorie intake and lost another 10, getting down to my current weight of 165 once I also added running to the equation about 2 years ago. Still, I wasn't eating the "right" foods. I couldn't resist the urge to hit Buffalo Wild Wings a couple times a week because, damn their wings are good! My trainer has me reporting my daily meals now and I am much more responsible with my foods. When you have to log what you eat and be responsible for it, it makes a difference! I eat more veggies now and actually increased my caloric intake up to around 2500-3000 calories a day to support the extra activity. I am still maintaining weight.
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