Goals:Failure Success Excuses Disclaimers

In laying out my training plan for Ironman St George, I directed my training toward the accomplishment of some goals. I failed with some goals and succeeded in others. Here is how I did.

Swimming FAIL: Goal 1650 Yards in 23:59: April 20th I attempted this and only mustered up a 25:10. 25:10 is still a PR for me but not what I set out to do.
Excuse #1 I was tired. I swam 4000 epic meters each of the previous 2 days.
Excuse #2 I didn't shave my hairy face so the friction slowed me down.
Excuse #3 My swim cap split as I went to put it on so the no swim cap cost me many seconds per hundred.
Excuse #4 I don't have floppy ankles.
Excuse #5 I am a loser
On the bright side I have improved my long endurance. I have done a lot of continuous intense swims. It isn't great but I have worked it down to where I can hold a 1:45 per 100 meter for 3400 Meters with a pull buoy.

Bike 2 hour power Success: Goal: 2 hour average power of 345: February 11th I got 348. I got this one early, since then I have consistently had rides with good power.
Disclaimer: I am addicted to my trainer and don't know how to ride outside.

Bike 20 minute power FAIL: Goal: 20 minute average power of 400: My best effort was 389 on February 4th
Excuse #1 20 minutes all out is really hard
Excuse #2 Doing fast run workouts tears me up and makes it difficult for me to hit big numbers on efforts over threshold.
Excuse #3 The 389 that I got came as the best 20 minutes of an all out 30 minute effort. I could have done better had I just done 20 not the 30.
Excuse #4 This was a secondary goal to my running goals and my 2 hour power goal. My legs can only handle so much intensity and I had to cut something, so I cut out a lot of my real high power efforts.
I can't think of anymore bogus excuses, I just didn't get it.

Running Speed Success(mostly): Goal: 5x 1 mile repeats at 11 mph on the treadmill. April 20th I finally got this.
Disclaimer: I was supposed to jog a 1/4 mile between each mile. I did this jogging a 1/4 mile between each mile until after mile 4 I was wasted and I walked instead of jogged the last 1/4 mile before doing mile 5.

Running Endurance Success: Goal: 15 treadmill miles in 90 minutes. April 23 (with IM St George 14 days away)the last possible day I could attempt this I got it.
Disclaimer #1 It was on a treadmill and I just stuck it on 10 mph and held that.
Disclaimer #2 Near perfect conditions.I had the room temperature at 55 to start and it only raised 5 degrees.
Disclaimer #3 I had a system of 4 fans blowing on me. One of them a 650 watt blower used to blow up large inflatable slides.
Disclaimer #4 I stopped once (very briefly) to go poop.
This was my #1 goal, my highest priority. About 30 minutes into it I didn't feel great but the fans helped a lot to keep me from overheating and though it was very tough when I finished I was OK and not completely fried.

Weight: Goal Weigh 177 FAIL: I will probably get the scale to say 177 before May 7th but it will not be my true weight. It will be in the morning before I eat or drink and after my bowels have been completely emptied. I will probably have to spit in the toilet a few times to finally get it to say 177, but then I will be up over 180 after breakfast and a tall glass of water. I have lost some weight though.
Excuse #1 My body just does not want to get any smaller. I lost weight easily until I hit around the 190ish range and every pound lost after 190ish is a gazillion times harder than the weight lost before.
Excuse #2 It is a hard balance between fueling for performance and also cutting weight.
Excuse #3 I get hungry............and......I..eat.

St George Ironman 3 Weeks Away

I procrastinated doing the St. George course this year until the last minute. I dislike traveling and I like the consistency of doing my workouts in my basement. I finally collected all my courage and spent last Friday and Saturday biking and running on the course in St George. It was good and I came away with a few thoughts.

#1 I still don’t know how to ride a bike. This was my first outdoor riding since I raced in Kona last October. It is a lot different than the trainer. I fell off of my bike only once in the two days so that is encouraging. I will get in some more outdoor rides here in the next two weeks to better adjust to actually riding a bike as opposed to the unchanging resistance, no steering, no bumps, smooth consistency of my trainer.

#2 I like my Zipp Firecrest 808. Thank you Power Tri for your help in getting me this very fast/stable wheel. It is the perfect front wheel for the St George course.

#3 Watch out for Heath Thurston. I spent some time biking with Heath and he is looking strong. I think that he is due for a great race. He’ll be way ahead after the swim; He is strong enough to still be in contention after the bike; He did a really fast 50 mile ultra run a month ago so the marathon should be a piece of cake for him; All together Heath is in a good spot to have a great day.

#4 I hope to do well on May 7th. My bike has improved since last year. My run has improved more than my bike has. I am hoping for a breakthrough race.

St. George Ironman four weeks away

May seventh comes like a thug in the night

Will I be ready to throw down and fight

I hope that I can have a really great run

That I can handle the hills and the hot sun

Unlike before my three other Ironman Races

I have pushed the run at much higher paces

My bike has improved by around 20 watts

I realize that 20 is not really lots and lots

But I hope my drop in weight will help on the hills

I am still quite heavy, 20 pounds under two bills

My swim is better and my plan for icy sand hollow

Is a warmer wetsuit and to find fast feet to follow

I hope for a breakthrough race but we’ll see

Just what May seventh has in store for me

I obsess about results but they mean so little in the big view

It is a joy just to line up, give my all and through fire renew

My Lame Threshold Poem

Every last fiber is firing right up to the brink
Try to turn off my brain I don’t want to think
Struggling to sustain the effort level
Wrestling with my inner quit devil
But, amid the pain I find my peace
Yet this elation has a short lease
For a time I am one with the swords edge
I’m close to the limit right at the cliffs ledge
My stay in this place is of terse duration
Its filled with both misery and exaltation
Then, I stop, the effort ends, and I leave this place
This abode, where I’m at one with time and space
Why do we love to see how far we can go
If you never feel it, you never will know

Yes, I have completley lost my mind. I just wrote a poem about doing 1x60 minute interval at 100% of FTP. What is wrong with me. I was just really happy about averaging 362 for the 60 minutes today. But seriously I truly have major mental problems. I can't believe my wife allows this type of behavior.

Seven Weeks Till St. George

St George is now seven weeks away
I hope to do well but I can’t yet say
I dropped my miles and feel fresh not spent
I’ve cut my bike hours by about 30 percent
My swim is still really really bad
If Im close to an hour I’ll be glad
My run is where I hope to cut a chunk of time
I hope that you have liked this lame-O rhyme

Keena is smart I am stupid

As we all know Coach Keena Schaerrer is immensely intelligent concerning all things triathlon. I have received and followed many nuggets of wisdom from her over the last 20 months. As a new triathlete her pearls of foresight have helped to straighten my crooked triathlon path. She has always harped on the importance of core strength. This is one nugget that I stubbornly ignored (thinking that improved core strength would not improve my performance) until a few months ago when I started to do upward leg lift exercises that target my core and hip flexors. I feel like the added strength has helped the upward lift of my pedal stroke. I believe that this is a contributing factor to my power improvement on the bike. I should have followed her abdominal admonition earlier. Keena’s smart I am stupidly stubborn.

Supersonic Quantum Breakthrough

Well.... not quite supersonic or quantum but I did improve my 30 minute power by around 2%. I finally broke the 375 barrier with a 382 watts average for 30 minutes today. I also set new 15 (393) and 20 (389) minute records. It was nice. I hope that I can continue to improve my power. In other news Heath, and everyone else at Power Tri, are Awesome. I brought my bike in to get a 55 tooth chain ring put on for the downhill sections of ironman St George. Heath not only did a great job of putting on my chain ring but he also did a brilliant piece of work mounting a bottle cage to the back of my saddle. He saved me a bunch of grams and I am sure he improved my aerodynamics. I bet it saves me at least 37 1/3 seconds at St George. Everyone at Power Tri goes the extra mile, sooooo go online right now and buy lots of stuff from them. Even if you don’t need it just do it because they are really great people and I am sure you could always use an extra wetsuit or two.