Sunday, June 22, 2008

A Rookie Mistake


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After 11 years in this sport of triathlon you'd think I wouldn't be making any rookie mistakes right???

Well, yesterday on my 100 mile bike ride I made a rookie mistake and can't believe I did it.


The workout was to ride the 100 miles but for 4 hours and 15 minutes of the ride, go hard at 150 beats per minute heart rate.

Everything was going perfect but after about 45 miles I ran out of water and was getting hungry and since I couldn't drink my Perpetuem without water since it was in concentrated form...I just stuck it out for another 5 miles until we got to the gas station to refuel...but by that time I was pretty darn hungry.

Do you ever go to the grocery store hungry and buy all this crap that you never end up eating but it looked SSSOOO good and yummy when you were in the store? A similar situation occurred when I walked through the gas station aisle. A payday candy bar caught my eye and for some stupid, stupid, stupid reason I bought it and wolfed it down faster than I have ate anything in my life....YUMMY!!! It really hit the spot! My hunger pangs went away!

So now I'm totally psyched for the ride home and thinking to myself that I'm gonna continue to rock out at my hard pace of 150 beats per minute for the remaining 2 hours I had to do.

Unfortunately, about 30 minutes after leaving the gas station at the hard pace I began to get very nauseous. I tried to ignore it and keep my heart rate up...but to no avail. I felt like getting sick so I immediately knew what I did wrong...eating a damn simple sugar candy bar with stupid chemicals in it then going hard at 150 heart rate thinking my body could use that as fuel. Well my body went on strike big time.

So to make sure I didn't loose my lunch (so to speak...a payday candy bar is NOT a lunch for those kids at home reading this) I backed off to 125 beats per minute heart rate and sat up straight on my triathlon bike and figured I would be ready to rock it out again at top speed in about 10 min or so....

Nope, it took about 1 hour and 40 minutes for the nauseousness to go away, and even when that went away I couldn't get into my aero position for very long because it was too much stress on my abdomen/large intestine...where the dumb payday bar was now sitting and being digested.

So I ended up having only 3 hours 15 min at my 150 heart rate and then just limped home the remaining 2+ hours at a 125 heart rate all in the upright position.

I was so mad at myself because I KNOW better to not deviate from practicing my race-day nutrition plan (Perpetuem and hammer gel ONLY) but NNNOOO I had to listen to my stupid brain that was obviously delirious from hunger and suggested I eat a payday bar.


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Friday, June 20, 2008

Now the fun begins

Well, now we're finally getting into the part of Ironman training that is really tough. Anyone whose done Ironman training knows that the final build period before the peak weeks of training all season...just are plain tough.


Your body is tried from the training building up to this point, work stresses, family stresses, and just the idea that you want to have the ability to just hang and not have to work out 6 days a week...really begins to tear most people down mentally.

However, the amazing part about this upcoming arduous portion of the Ironman training season is that once you get through it (even though it seems like it will never end) you are so utterly amazed at yourself for accomplishing the training that when you get to race day, that day means so much more to you because you've really had to work your @ss off to get there...literally. ha ha ha

Just to prepare everyone...these next 6 weeks are going to most likely be posts of me complaining how I hate Ironman training, how I'll never sign up for another Ironman again, how I can't believe I'm putting myself and my family through this, etc, etc, etc. But don't worry...it's completely normal and "this too shall pass"

I'm going to begin my fundraising efforts in earnest soon...which, quite frankly, is just another added stress to my 168 hours I have each week to accomplish things.

So, IF YOU'RE READING THIS, and you haven't take time to donate (even if it's only $10), PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE click on the donate button and help raise money for a foundation that so badly needs people like you!



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Sunday, June 1, 2008

The Training Volume Begins

Well, the training volume is starting to ramp up. In about 2-3 weeks I will write a blog entry that says something like "I hate doing the Ironman, why did I sign up for this crap, the world sucks, training sucks, my coach sucks..."


It's like clock work...every time I train for an Ironman I always get the "everything sucks" attitude about 8 weeks before race day...which will put the "everything sucks" time about mid-late June this season.

Knowing it's coming doesn't stop it for coming, but it does shed a little humor on it when it does get here...even though I'm quite humorless during the 3-4 week "everything sucks" period.

ha ha ha...can't wait for it to get here...NOT!

Here's how my training has been going so far:




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