One week down...

Well the first week was a success. Definitely ramped up the mileage from my previous weeks as this was my biggest workout week since the week of August 16th.  Here are some totals:

Swim: 6850 yards
Bike: 68.4 miles
Run: 15.7 miles
Total workout time: 7 hours 45 minutes

The weather was a little iffy this week with Muscatine getting quite a bit of snow over a 12-24 hour period:

My favorite workout this week was a tie between my swim on Wednesday and  my run on Sunday.  The Wednesday swim had a main set that consisted of 2x600 yards.  I went into the set slightly irked that it was kind of a boring workout, but once I got going it felt really good.  I focused primarily on maintaining my stroke count per length at 12.  This forces me to stretch out a little longer each stroke and make each stroke really count.  The past few months my swim stroke has been lackadaisical and usually been about 15 strokes per length so this workout was really good for me and my stroke.  I soon hope to get the strokes per length down to 11.  The 600's weren't particularly fast, but they felt long and strong and I held consistent laps at right around :40 per 50 yards.  The Sunday run was my biggest achievement of the week.  I have been struggling with my knees all year so the running has been minimal, if at all.  The plan was to run outside with my new Yak Trax i got for Christmas, but the weather didn't cooperate as the temperature barely saw 20 degrees.  I decided to grind out the run on the treadmill at the Y.  When I started running, my 10 (almost 11!) year old friend Miles Utley came up and started running on the treadmill next to me.  I didn't figure it would last very long as he is barely 4 feet tall and his feet have trouble keeping up with the treadmill.  As I kept running, Miles kept running. He would take breaks approximately every 5 min to stretch or get a drink of water, but he ended up being on the treadmill for all 55 minutes of my workout.  This 10 year old ran a total of 3.83 mil;es and for a total of 46 minutes!  I was very impressed and extremely glad to have the company as it made the run fly by.

The hardest workout of the week was the Tuesday bike ride.  I hadn't been on my bike in almost 2 months. I rode the rollers as it was the only training device available.  The rollers make it difficult to adjust on your seat and when you stand you have to slow way down, so my butt started to get pretty sore.  It felt ok leg-wise, but the butt was an issue.

God truly blessed me with a great family and friends for support through this journey. He has kept me strong both physically and mentally through 1 week, and I pray he continues to do so for many weeks to come. So 1 week down, 35 weeks to go!

Thanks for reading!

The Adventure Begins...

So it is officially December 20th and that means the training plan starts TODAY!  This weeks training plan looks like this:


Monday
Swim: 1800yds


Tuesday
Bike: 50min
Run: 35min


Wednesday
Swim: 2400yds
Bike: 45min

Thursday
Swim: 2450yds
Run: 45min

Friday (optional)
Swim: 1600yds

Saturday
Bike: 80min

Sunday
Run: 55min
Bike: 30min

Totals: Swim = 8250yds
             Bike = 205min
             Run = 135min

I have definitely been taking it easy for the past 2 months.  In the past couple of weeks I have been swamped with school work leading up to finals week last week so I have literally done almost nothing.  This should be an interesting experience and I am looking forward to it immensely.  If I were to ask for people to pray about two things it would be for my patience and willingness to follow this program and also for continuing knee strength while I increase my mileage for the next 36 weeks.

Thanks for reading!

Headaches = Cured

I finally figured out the cause of my headaches. I couldn't figure out anything that made them go away. I tried everything I could think of. So finally, I went to the Vision Center. They figured out that I am slightly far-sighted meaning when things are close up they come in a little blurry and my eyes are straining to make them less fuzzy. I didn't realize it because it is so slight but they assured me glasses would make the headaches go away.

That being said, I am ready to slowly ramp up my training again in preparation for the 36 week Ironman Louisville Training Program provided by TriDaddy. It starts on December 21st and runs through the race on August 28th, 2011.

I have started coaching the Boone County YMCA swim team.  This is taking up some of my time. I am actually swimming on the team as well since they increased the age group to 21 years old. I have my first swim meet this weekend at West Des Moines Valley High School. Its going to be an exciting season as I haven't swam very competitively since I was in high school. I will be swimming the 50fly, 100fly, and 200IM this weekend as well as the 200 medley relay.

I will slowly start increasing my mileage in all three aspects of the sport so that my knee can ease back into the routine. No sense blowing it now since I have been saving it for a couple of months now.

Thanks for reading!

What a Headache...

This past week, I have been plagued by an ongoing headache that simply will not be defeated.  I have tried everything from aspirin, to water, caffeine, food, sleep, and anything else anyone could think of.  Just when I think it's gone, it comes back full force.  This being said, I haven't been able to drag myself to go to practices with a throbbing head.  This makes me feel terrible after having a pretty good week working out last week.

Hopefully it gets better soon so I can get back to ramping up my workouts!

Thanks for reading!

First Week Back!

So this week was my first big week back to training.  I didn't do any running because I'm still trying to nurse my knee a little.  But I did get in 3 bike workouts and 3 swim workouts to go along with another easy mountain bike ride. I did the Triclone swim and bike practices this week. Swimming on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday and biking on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  The easy bike ride was to the ISU football game on Saturday afternoon with Chelsey.  The Cyclones won their homecoming game against Kansas 28-16. Only one more game til bowl eligible! GO STATE!

Here are my workouts for this week:
Monday: - Bike Practice - Spinervals "Bending Crankarms" (1 hour)
                This workout consists of intervals in the hardest gear at low RPMs and some off-the-bike squats to build strength. Basically it is a real leg burner that'll have you thinking twice about taking the stairs for a couple of days.
Tuesday: - Swim Practice -
            Warmup: 300 swim, 200 pull, 200 kick
                   8x25 underwater kicking   w/ 45" rest
                  6x50 drill @ 1'
            Main Set: 7x100 @ 1:45
                              5x100 @ 1:35
                              3x100 @ 1:25
              Cooldown: 200 easy
Wednesday: - Bike Practice - Spinervals "Suff-o-rama" (55 min)
              This workout isn't quite as much of a muscle killer as "Bending Crankarms", but it has a lot more high-intensity intervals and some all-out, 100% effort intervals that come one after another to really make you have to work hard.
Thursday: - Swim practice -
            Warmup: 300 swim, 200 pull, 200 kick
                8x50 drill @ 1'
            Main set: 2x200 @ 3:40
                             2x400 @ 7:20
                             1x600 finish under 9:30
             Cooldown: 100 easy
Friday: - Bike Practice - "All Request Friday" - (1 hour)
           We listened to some music and I made up a workout to the songs including some fast super-spins and some ab exercises.
Saturday: - Easy Bike to the football game with Chelsey
Sunday: - Swim practice -
              Warmup: 300 swim, 200 pull, 200 kick
                    6x50 drill @ 1'
              Main set: 4x500 descending @ 7:30
                        My times: (6:39, 6:27, 6:19, 6:17)
               Cooldown: 100 easy

This was my biggest workout week since the week of the Pigman Half Triathlon in the middle of August. It felt good to have a full week of working out.  special thanks to Coach Jon Saxton for a great set of workouts for the week.  This was the first week he has been our official Triclones Coach and he is very eager to help our team in any way possible. If the rest of the year goes as well as this week we should be looking at some tremendous results this year.

Thanks for reading!

                  

Back in the Swing of Things

It has been quite a while since my last post.  In the past month, I have taken a much needed break from the triathlon world (except for the interaction with the ISU Triathlon Club...).  I have started taking a daily dosage of glucosamine-chondroitin (GC).  Many of you might know that this is a supplement that is said to help with joint pains and tissue repair.  I am going to go into a little bit of the science of GC and why it is supposed to be helping me with my recurring knee problem.

Glucosamine is an amino sugar that is part of the building block of something called glycosaminoglycans. These glycosaminoglycans make up the primary structure of cartilage.

Chondroitin is a very hydrophilic (water-loving) polysaccharide (sugar) macromolecule.  Its properties convey much of the compressive resistance of cartilage.

When doing research on this supplement, however...I found that in studies done by independent research institutes, there is little to no evidence that this supplement will help relieve any sort of joint problems.  There have been several outliers of these studies that have shown some improvement over the course of taking GC, but the numbers only equal about 5% of the entire study.  The only studies that support a drastic decrease in pain in joints was funded by commercial companies that are in to make a profit off of the prescription of GC to arthritis patients and other clients with joint complications.

This being said, there is little effect of the GC pills except as a placebo effect.  This means that taking the pills is more of a psychological benefit than a physical benefit. 

Taking time off from exercise is probably helped more than anything else with my knees.  I will continue to take the GC pills because I feel like they have had some sort of effect, even if it is psychological.


Now that I am back in the swing of things, I feel much better.  My knees are feeling pretty great, my muscles are feeling nice and used again, and overall I'm feeling a lot better.

Thanks for reading!

Training Plan

I have come up with an initial training plan. As of now, I can't run. So first I came up with a plan to heal/rehab my knees to running standard again. I looked up various exercises and this is what my weekly schedule looks like:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday - Knee Exercises (leg extensions, leg curls, leg raises on back, leg raises on stomach)  20min

                                            Stretching  5min

Tuesday/Thursday -              Swimming 60 min

                                            Stretching 10 min

Saturday/Sunday -                Stretch 10 min

I am also icing my knees twice a day and taking anti-inflammatory medicine twice a day.

My ironman training program is a 36 week program. This means that it starts on December 20th.  That is only 3 months away so I have plenty of time to rehab my knees. I will post the 36wk training plan soon!


Thanks for reading!

My Ironman Decision

So you might be thinking, why an ironman all of a sudden? Some of you may know that this racing season has been a down season for me.  It started off fine at the Miami Int'l Tri in March where I missed 3rd in my age group by 9 seconds. My next race was in April at Collegiate Nationals in Lubbock, TX.  The weather was cold (45 degrees), rainy, and windy. I flatted twice in the race and was unable to finish. I decided to race the Quad Cities Distance Classic 1/2 marathon on Mothers Day. Mistake. For the second year in a row I found out that my knees aren't cut out for that race so early in the year. This was the start of my knee problems. The next couple races were good. I won my age group at Bluff Creek in May. Then I didn't get to race again until August where I began my span of 6 races in 6 weeks. I got 2nd in the collegiate division at XTERRA Sugar Bottom. I won my age group at Crossroads Triathlon in Dewitt. The next weekend Andrew Bennett and I won the male team division at the Du-State-Du and took 2nd overall to a very fast Jeff/Jen Paul team. On the upswing right? Not so fast...the following weekend was Pigman Half-Iron. My knee gave out 43 miles into the bike. I was having a great race but decided the run wasn't going to happen. I saw a guy on the side of the road struggling with a flat. It turns out he was on a team and his CO2 cartridge wasn't working so I gave him my disc and waited for a truck to take me back to transition. Next up was Chicago Accenture Triathlon. I was having an AWESOME race and was leading my age group/wave after the bike. I was feeling great and then my knees decided they didn't want to run. My run split ended up being a 12:30 pace. But I finished. Here it is again in a nutshell:


-MIT - 4th in age group
-Collegiates - DNF (2 Flats)
-QCDC 1/2 marathon - Hurt knee
-Bluff Creek - 1st in age group
-XTERRA - 2nd in collegiate
-Crossroads - 1st in age group
-DuStateDu - 1st male team division
-Pigman Half - DNF (knee)
-Chicago - Leading off bike, ended up 36th in age group


This has been a season filled with regret, under-achievement, and lack of motivation. When Spencer Holten and I talked about doing an ironman, I decided that this would be something to inspire and motivate me.  It would give me a goal to train for. A goal that I have been lacking in my last couple of   seasons. 

Now that I am signed up for Ironman Louisville on August 28, 2011, I have established a goal and a training plan to achieve my goal. This will include approximately 3 months of light exercise and strengthening my knees followed by a 36 week daily ironman training program. I am very excited to have something in the distance to prepare myself for. 


Thanks for reading!

How I Got to Where I Am

We'll start with a little bit of background in each sport...

Biking - My family is an avid cycling family.  I was going on bike rides at a very early age.  Every year mom and dad would take me out to the Melon City Criterium at Weed Park (Muscatine) to watch the races and race in the kids race.  We would often ride to and/or home from the babysitters house as well as the occasional ride to school. Growing up watching dad race at criteriums and Lance dominate the Tour made it easy to want to, one day, stand atop the podium in Paris with the "maillot jaune."

Running -  Every school has the kid who overachieves in math class. I was the kid who overachieved in the gym class mile.  Everyone groaned when they heard we had to run the mile. I smiled.  Running was kind of my thing growing up. When I got to middle school, the choice came whether I would play football or run cross country.  My parents made that decision pretty easy for me as I chose cross country.

Swimming - I took my fair share of swim lessons when I was young. I thought I could swim pretty well. But I went to one of my cousin's swim meets and told my mom, "I'll never be on swim team." Well, in sixth grade I changed my mind.  I heard a couple people talking about it at school and it sounded fun. I told my parents that night I was going to join swim team and I think they thought I was kidding. I soon found out that I wasn't as good of a swimmer as I thought. Everyone else was a lot better than me. So naturally, I did what any athlete would do. I played catch-up. Over the next 2 years I dedicated myself to the sport of swimming and when high school rolled around I was one of the top freshman.  From there I continued my dedication to the sport and qualified for state in 9 events, brought home the team 3rd place trophy my junior year, and became the leader of the fast lane at practice and team captain my senior year.

Triathlons - I did my first triathlon at the Muscatine YMCA (indoor tri). I decided that this could be my sport. It combined all of my favorite sports into one race.  That summer I did my first outdoor tri at the Quad Cities Triathlon.  I was hooked.  A year later at the same race, a guy by the name of Matt Rowe told me that he saw potential in me and encouraged me to do more races.  This sparked my interest and I decided right there to make this one of my favorite hobbies.

Thats a little about my early years in each of these sports.

Thanks for reading!