Atacama we are not crossing. At least not this year!

Seven nights in a row, I woke up at 1,2,3,1,12:30,3,4AM, you get the picture. During these nights my days were spent running what it seemed like a half marathon every day and the usual 3 hours hard training in the morning followed by an even harder weekend of 4-hour workout days. The weekend runs were in the 20’s each day. Driving crazy distances, putting as much time into work and family as life allows, and the daily grind, something or someone was going to give and I knew it. Nothing I could do was combating the mounting pressure!

For a few days I was so tired that even when I relaxed I felt that I could not breathe full enough to rest my body. Even when there where nights when I could sleep in and did, I did not feel restored. I wondered when I was going to crack!!!

You see, I know myself and count on myself as unstoppable. It’s my identity and I’m not proud of that, but we all have our crosses I am told. I did not doubt that I would be able to hang in this state until the start of Atacama. All endurance training and races are all about the sacrifice and hard work before you tow the line. Actually race day often is anticlimactic. I’m ok with this and love it!

A few weeks back when I started to assemble all of the details it became apparent early on that all three of these goals were not well suited with each other. I guess in a form of mourning, I was also coming to terms with the fact that all of the races were possibly going to be completed in an average fashion and in the end I’m not ok with that. I had also put a ton of time racing Ironman and I felt I had unfinished business to attend (Hawaii).

You see, the growth here for me and the profound aspect is that I realized after killing it for so many years that I certainly am busy, crazy driven, passionate about a lot of stuff and have the Quantity, but it irks me that I’m not well grounded in living in the moment and often lack the quality that is so important to me. Do you ever have that feeling?

I had lunch with my good friend Karen who is an internal medicine doctor and she spent the better part of the lunch grilling me about getting base-line data on me before Atacama. She made me promise that I’d do a cardiac echo and blood work after a couple of athletes who died with underlining hidden issues. After not being able to wiggle out of it, I was off to see my doc to get what he called “the full Monty”. After a couple of days everything came out fine except it showed I was a tad anemic and had to have a repeat.

Over the past few days I agonized about how I was going to pull this off and not knowing what quitting is. I’m simply not wired to quit or give-up. I was dying inside because over the many weeks I train myself during each training session to go to that dark place so as it’s not foreign when it’s needed. I was on my bike checking work, etc and then I knew I had to re-focus and pull the plug.

I wrote Jesse and told him I needed to refocus and to call it off and he wrote me back telling me that he thought it was smart and took a lot of courage to realize this. This made me feel better and after talking it over with my incredibly supportive, amazing wife who was concerned about me, the weight of the world lifted from my shoulders. 

I took three days off of training and had my plan re-worked to focus on the next 29 weeks with now just Boston and Lake Placid on tap. I added qt2 full nutrition support to better learn how to restore and to get stronger during the next push. I also have the huge honor of coaching 15 mostly first time athletes to run their first marathons via Spaulding Rehab. It’s certainly a passion of mine and a great chance to give back to those in need. I’m sure this is why one obstacle turns into an opportunity; I have a chance to touch someone the way I was and paying it forward can never get old.

The next 29 weeks start now and Atacama or something like this will be waiting for me!!!!

Recovery and Chile

Preparation continues for Chile/Atacama Crossing (same place they just plucked the miners from 33 of 33!) and the miles are definitely accumulating at a good clip now!

The coaches and I have been assembling data on Chile and reaching out to others  who have completed this event prior to get a good feel for how to attack this feat. The training is very different compared to the typical ironman build I’ve done multiple times. I’m still doing a little swimming and biking but mainly I am back in the gym working on building a more solid core and trying to stave off injury for the increasing load that is happening each week. Check out the race data here: http://www.4deserts.com/atacamacrossing/

The focus now is to go out there extremely slow and methodical for each run. On the days where recovery runs are called for are even slower. They are really, really slow and I’ve mixed them up a bit by going off trail and running in the woods on packed mud and pine needles without a Garmin or heart rate strap (naked).

In the beginning of this build I was completing some of my Z1 runs at the top end of my zones. This is always an issue for me and I got pulled back and reminded by the coaches that there was no way I’d be able to show up on March 6^th at Chile, attempting to run a sub 3 in Boston and transition into full blow Ironman mode for lake Placid by cranking out almost peak runs. Not getting injured is going to be a miracle in of its self. I’ve reeled it back about 10bpm’s per run and now I get really nice emails from the coach when I barley crack the Z1 charts. I know that going slower is the only way to go faster. However, it’s against my nature and fight with it. I do feel that I am developing a pretty solid aerobic engine over the fast few weeks.

Recovery and 110% (play harder!)

One of the hard parts of putting in all this training is also putting together all of the remedies, concoctions and nutrition to recover the correct way. It seems like every run is over 10 miles these days with some of the more intense ones being completed as split runs with combined volume of 20 plus miles.

Over the years, I tried my best to use ice baths as a recovery tool. I’ve read all the data and it makes complete sense getting in a cold water based environment to reduce swelling. I’ve felt so much better and come back stronger after using them. However, each and every time I felt like I was going to have cardiac arrest after getting into the tub filled with ice water. A few weeks back I followed my massage therapist suggestions (she’s a world class marathoner) by using a diaper and sitting in the tub and slowly letting the water creep into the tub and then apply ice last. By the time you are about to freeze to death, you let the water drain. Start to finish this was to take 15 minutes. It was a nuisance lugging the ice upstairs and not to practical.

So I was on a tear to find out a better way after getting frustrated!

I was on Face Book one night and read a posting by Kellie Smirnoff that discussed this company called 110% that actually came up with a great idea!! This product has fit into my routine nicely. They have really comfortable compression knickers and calf sleeves that have pockets where you can put ice packets in and get the full benefit of an ice bath and the areas that are needed (no more diapers). Because I have a long commute, right after my run and recovery drink I put these babies on over my shorts and drive to my meetings. Tonight after my 10 miler, I wore them at dinner immediately after the run vs. ignoring recovery all together. Total multi tasking at its best!! I was using Zoot compression for a couple of years but I was so hot wearing them that I started avoiding them along with the ice baths. I like this company so much I’m looking forward to buying more stuff!! The compression knickers and calf ice sleeves have made a huge impact on my back-to-back runs that are pretty standard at least until April of 2011.  Check them out http://www.110playharder.com

Next up: Please RSVP if you have not already to our Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation event on Nov 4^th. We have some really nice auction and raffle items. It’s going to be a fun night. To RSVP click here: http://new.evite.com/#view_invite:eid=00A5AAQZXGK5ZYW2CEO7WQYVESS5BA

Pumpkinman Challenge and the juggle of life

This past Sunday I completed the Pumpkinman 70.3 Half Ironman Challenge in South Berwick, Maine. I want to say it was my eighth Half Ironman in the past 20 months?

I was exited to do this race, as it was the first half ironman where I had raced the course prior. Last year I raced Pumpkinman after completing Lake Placid and was shelled, still nursing broken ribs and a bruised spleen and completed little or no speed work or intense training leading up to the race. Last year my completion time was 4:45.

Well this year, my mouth was writing checks it in the end had no business cashing. It was all on credit!!! I had been fooling around with my teammates on our on-line forum and well, as it stands with all of us being ultra competitive and pranksters, it got serious and we started the throw down of who was going to do what to each other, etc. I’ve had a leg up on the ultra course as of late. As bold as I can be, I think I had a pretty good bulls-eye on my back as a result of the banter. It was all in good fun! Let just say, our team of www.qt2systems.com athletes have talent all over the place!

Actually, the added incentive was needed, because at times the season seems long and mundane especially after doing a spring Ironman (St. George). I like to push and this certainly motivated me even a little more. I took the banter and brought it into my workouts as I do with pretty much anything that is going on in my world. For instance, if I’m having an issue at work, with the kids, etc I’ll try and find a way to use it as motivation even if only for an hour. I’ll visualize at times trying to reel in a Qt2 mate or another competitor. I'll even well-up in tears of happiness dreaming of walking my daughter down the isle getting married or something futuristic that just moves me to want to dig deeper.  Come to think of it, I pretty much do that all day!!

As I wrote in my last post, I completed the Pemi Loop about three weeks ago. Man, was that more of a recovery than I could ever imagined!!!! I was warned it would be like that, but I’m just so stubborn I always think it’s going to be different for me with this sort of thing. The recovery should take about 6-8 weeks, and racing 1-3 weeks after was going to be issues come to find out.  Almost all my toenails popped off and I could barley walk for three days! I’ve never been that messed up after a race after many!!!

My workouts prior to this race where coming along nicely. I train in Maine and run some pretty hilly routes. My track work was fast and I was able to shed the weight pretty fast in order to attain race weight. I was pretty exited to see what could happen even though in the back of my mind I was not recovered I felt my durability had increased a good amount. This process of learning what your body can or cannot do is another aspect I love about endurance training. It was certainly going to be a “what if” playing out live.

The past few weeks at work have been stressful and that has so much to do with how you recover as well. In addition, I’ve been driving a ton with work and family and my sleep was not where I would like it to be. For a few weeks I’ve been trying to spend more time with my kids, driving about 600-800 miles a week, putting in 40-50 at work and 10-16 in training. This is never an ideal mix, but the only way I can pull off all that I want in order to have the kind of life I dream of. Something or things give like this and it’s a work in progress.

With all the usual nutrition and prep work complete and not a single brick or workouts missed I felt ready despite the above.

I received the pacing from my coach and it all made sense. The goal was to put out 215 Watts, Swim 30-32 and run a 6:50 pace and hold onto that for as long as possible. The possible completion time would be 4:30-4:38 or about seven minute improvement form last year. Here we go!!

Race morning, on time and ready. Up at 3AM and get delayed a little and I’m now finding myself a little late. Don’t like this, but the course and crew at Pumpkin get me in and ready fast. I head down to the water and I’m excited to race as an Elite even though I’m the oldest and have no business being there. This year I’m excited to swim because my volume and mechanics were worked on a ton over the summer.

A couple of people who I’ve crossed paths with came up to me to say hello and told me that they’ve been following this blog and posts and thanked me for motivating them each day. They told me that they have no excuses because they seem to have a simple life as compared to mine. Wow, what a way to start a day and race. I thanked them and we wished each other success for what lay ahead!

Boom, off and actually find feet and stay with them. No contact and I felt like I was sailing pretty well. I did not want to look up and lose the feet and I cruise for a bit. I round buoy one and shoot for the next. I have two swimmers to my right swim over me and force me to my left at the next buoy. It was a turn, or was it? I look up and we were turning one buoy too soon. Darn, lost feet and I get back on course. Here come the other swimmers from the next wave behind!! Oh!! 33XX but ok with this.

Bike transition and we are off. The weather and day are ideal. I get after it and immediately I’m not feeling it. Having a hard time meeting the watts. There is something a miss. I struggle for a bit and more or less determine that after the first 25 I’ll free up and I stay consistent. Mile 26 and I’m not getting any stronger.

Finish up a little dejected however, I see all my kids, mother N- Law and wife heading out into the run. This actually was the first time my kids saw me race and I was so excited. I wanted to stop right there and hug them all and forget about the race, but I was pretty dialed in and wanted to catch my teammates in the worst way!

I head into 6:50 without issue and I felt I was going actually nail this run and run a 1:30 or better half. Legs are turning over and I’m holding back a ton. I keep the pace for the first 3 miles and then I start to fade faster than the slide we plan. Mile 6-7, my legs are cement and I can’t get my heart rate up based on perceived exertion. It was like mile 20 in a full ironman. I’m not breathing hard just no pop at all. I nailed my nutrition leading up and all day up until that point and even added an extra gel shot because my stomach felt fine. I peed on the bike on plan.

Mile 8-13 where I dig deep and pretty ugly. I slid all the way to a 7:45 pace. I finished at 4:51 and off about 20 minutes of where I projected. This day was all about completing and as soon as I knew I was cooked, I went about smiling and high fiving my mates on the course and was happy for their days.

For about 2 minutes I was bummed, but I had my family with me and it changed my spirits immediately. We went and left the venue and had pizza and the kids were so excited to start swimming and running after watching all the amazing athletes. I was able to snag medals for each of them and they were thrilled. It was one of the reasons I started this a while ago and I had forgotten about wanting to expose them to other people and families that lead active lifestyles’. It was in the end the best part of this race for me! They are still talking about it!

During my long drive home with the kids I sat quite in the car thinking about my life. I spoke to Jesse and sorted out some stuff that didn’t make sense with him or me at the time. Jesse re-enforced that the Pemi Loop was more important to my future and races than this race and that Pumkinman was not an “A” race for me. I posted to Face book my initial sense of disappointed and the fantastic thing about FB is that you def get a different perspective when you can’t get out of your own absorbed way once in a while. My pal Shanna summed it up for me, take it in, learn from it and make the necessary changes if need be. So true and this is what I came up with.

1)   I need to continue to simplify my life and say no more.

2)   The Pemi Loop was more critical to my future than this past race and my durability is what is being focused on right now.

3)   I’m very much on track for the other larger goals.

4)   I can’t shed weight so fast because it borders on being unhealthy

5)   You can’t race fast after shelling yourself 3 weeks prior

6)   Driving 800 miles a week is not going to make any of this get better.

7)   The pacing was based on a best-case scenario with the possibility I was recovered enough to achieve the result. It was going to show around mile 7 if I was not recovered. This was a good test.

8)    Don’t do every ride on a Computrainer. I have not ridden outside since May!!

So in closing, I’m really exited to push onto some incredible goals next and feel great about my effort, etc. The next five months are going to be epic.  I just know in my soul that what I’m learning out there is invaluable and gong to fuel some great stories. Up Next, Raising Funds for Chile!!! Picture above is part of the course (that's not me, but it will be). I'm learning now about altitude sickness.