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!