Planning For A 5k PR

For the past 4 years my focus while training has been to increase the distance that I can run. During that time, I have become a stronger and more efficient runner and naturally have become faster. However, I have never actually focused on developing speed. During that time, I have really enjoyed pushing myself to go farther and farther, but after checking several races off my bucket list it is time to start shifting my goals to running faster.

To get things started off, I have set a goal to run a 5k PR by the end of the year and am targeting the Des Moines Turkey Trot 5k to do just that. My current 5k PR of 28:39 was set during a 5 mile training run on September 10, 2016. I have been training about 1 minute per mile slower than I was at this point last year, and I am about 15 - 20 lbs  heavier (mostly muscle) so I have some ground to make up.

With all of that in mind, I have set up an 8 week training program that, along with good racing conditions on Thanksgiving, should give me a good chance at breaking that previous PR time. My training program will include several days a week of high intensity running while mixing in plenty of recovery time. I have spent most of my year splitting time between running, cycling, and swimming but with my triathlon season in the rear view mirror, I will only be including 2 days of swimming and 2 days of cycling per week. Those 4 workouts will also have the intensity and distance/time dialed back significantly. In addition, I will be shifting from training 6 days a week down to only 5 days a week to allow for extra recovery. I have laid out my run training program below:

Monday:
Tempo Run (30 - 45 minutes)
Strength Training
Lap Swim (Easy)

Tuesday:
Rest and Recovery

Wednesday:
Interval Run (Progressive 200 or 400 yard intervals)
Strength Training
Lap Swim (Sprints)

Thursday:
Run (3 - 5 Miles Easy)
Bike (15 - 20 Mile hills or intervals)
Strength Training

Friday:
Rest and Recovery

Saturday:
Pace/Fast Run (4 - 6 Miles)
Bike (15 - 25 Miles Easy)

Sunday:
Long Run (60 - 90 Minutes Easy)
Strength Training

As mentioned in a previous post, my off season this year is going to involve getting refocused on losing weight and getting lighter. Although my off season won't "officially" start until after Thanksgiving, I am already planning and starting to implement my off season nutrition to support weight loss. The reason that I bring this up is that it will probably take awhile for me to find the correct balance to fueling the more intense running workouts while trying to lose weight. My hope is that by starting early, I will go into the holidays with a solid plan and a good head start on my off season plans.

I will keep you updated on my progress throughout this training cycle and hopefully I will be sitting atop the PR mountain come Thanksgiving day. For now, time to get back after it!

Thank God It Was Me

Let's start off with the most important fact of the night and that is I crushed my training run tonight! This is the last week of my 3 weeks of "unstructured training" so I didn't even know how far I was going when I ran out the door. I ended up running a little over 5 1/2 miles keeping an average pace of 10:05/mi. The weather was perfect for running and I really enjoyed not having a preset route or distance. 

Running in the dark

So I do have a goal of trying to keep my blog posts positive, but I also believe it is important to be as honest as possible when sharing my journey. I'm sure all of you will have different thoughts about what follows, but if you like to stick with the positive, then you should probably stop reading here.

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For those that know me, or have been keeping up with my blog posts, it is no secret that I am an overweight individual. You also know, that for the past 4 years I have been working very hard towards changing that. For the first time in those 4 years I had someone yell a derogatory remark at me out the window of a truck that was driving by as I was running. I was over 4 miles into my run when it happened and very much "in the zone" so it took a second for me to process what had happened and my thoughts were as follows:

Thought #1: Well duh? Like I don't know that? Why do you think I'm out here running?

Thought #2: Thank God it was me that they decided to yell at. I am at a point that although I desire to improve my body composition, I am very confident with my body (have you seen what I wear for my races?!?). 

They could have been yelling at an obese middle aged man who just had a wake up call when his aging dad had a heart attack and decided to give running a try out of desperation. Or maybe it could have been a mother of 4 who is embarrassed by how she looks and finally built up the courage to ask for some "me time" to go for a run. Or maybe it is a single guy in his 20's that has always been made fun of and is choosing to run after dark to avoid being seen and judged. 

Thank God it was me and none of those people, because I know that I can brush something like that off and keep going. Everyone is on a journey in life and everyone's journey is different. If you take something away from this post, don't let it be anger, frustration, or embarrassment. Instead, I ask that you do your best to be kind to others even when it is not easy or even when they don't seem deserving. I challenge everyone reading this blog post to do 1 extra nice thing for someone tomorrow. Something as simple as saying hello or holding a door, or even better yet, ask someone how their day is going or tell someone they are doing a great job. If we do that, then we will all help make tomorrow better than today. 

Cyman Triathlon

My 2017 triathlon season came to a very HOT end at this morning at the Cyman triathlon in Bondurant. To avoid a trip up to Ames on Saturday, I decided to take advantage of the race morning packet pickup so I arrived bright and early at 7:00 am. This is the latest race start that I have had this year. The first Olympic distance wave started at 9:00 am but I was in the last wave, with the sprint males, that didn't start until 9:40 am.

New tri bag packed and ready to go

I was one of the first people into the transition area and was surprised to run into a co-worker who was running the same race as me. He set up in transition next to me and we spent the next hour chatting about our recent big races (he competed at the Madison full Ironman triathlon 2 weeks ago). I also got to meet another co-worker that he knew was racing. It was nice to have some people to talk with as we killed time waiting for the race to start. 

Racers are starting to trickle into the transition area

The race start was new to me as it was an in water start, which means that we all entered the water and walked/swam out a little ways and waited for the horn to start swimming. The swim course was modified due to an algae bloom on half of the lake. I will add that the water conditions were also pretty disgusting as most of the lake was covered in vegetation of some sort. The altered course was a basic out and back but we had to complete 2 loops. The distance was 750 meters and my official time was 21:29, which is not great, but not my worst either. 

View of the swim course

I was very happy with a time of 1:40 for T1 (again, putting socks on wet feet takes a little bit of time). Since I was in the final swim wave, there wasn't many bikes left in transition as I left on the bike. With the wind at my back on the way out on the bike, I had an outstanding first 5 mile split, but that was offset with some hills on the back side of the course followed by a few miles directly into the wind on the way back. I finished with a time of 45:17 (18.5 mph average) for the 14 mile course which was the 43rd fastest time on the bike out of 84 racers. I can't say I was overly thrilled with that time, but it is on par with previous races this season. 

T2 off the bike was 1:05 which is also slower than I would like although, thinking back, I'm not sure where I lost time. Either way, as I headed out on the run course, I was feeling pretty good, but it was getting very hot and the sun was really getting high up in the sky. I felt fine on the run but I just wasn't running very fast. I finished with a disappointing time of 33:07 on the very flat 5k course. My overall time was 1:42:40. A solid performance to end the year, but certainly not my best. Overall, I placed 61/84 and 7/9 in the male 30-39 division.

I'll admit, as the race came to an end and I was loading up my bike to come home, I felt a bit sad. It has been one heck of a triathlon season for me and I am disappointed that it has come to an end and my next triathlon is nearly 8 months away. For now, it is time to get back to work. I still have a goal of setting a new 5k PR this year and an entire off season schedule to plan. My mantra for this off season is going to be "Get smaller, get faster." Weight loss is going to be my primary focus while also working hard to improve my swim time throughout the winter months. With 5 more races under my belt, I learned a lot this year and have started to get more comfortable with racing triathlons, but I still have a long way to go.

Thanks for following along with me this season, and keep checking back for more updates on my quest for a 5k PR. 

So, Now What?

This is a question that I have found myself pondering each of the past 4 years as my racing season starts to wind down in the fall. With my "A race" for the year  in the rear view mirror, what do I have to look forward to now?

From early on, I knew that the most important thing for me was to have a plan in place for the end of my season and off season. It is fairly common for athletes to focus and train hard for a race, only to not have a plan to keep their fitness level up throughout the off season. Often, this even results in not getting back into racing shape at all. For me, triathlon and running is now part of my life and not just a one time occurrence.

That being said, my racing season isn't quite over as I still have 3 races remaining on my schedule. The finale of my triathlon season will come next Sunday, when I race in the Cyman triathlon in Bondurant.  In mid-October I will be joined by 4 other teammates to complete the IMT Des Moines Marathon Relay for the 2nd year. I will finish off my year with the Des Moines Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving day where I will attempt to set a 5k PR.

After my big race in Lawrence a week ago, I took 2 days completely off of training before getting back after it. I kept things easy for the remainder of the week as my body continued to recover. In fact, I would say that even today I am only about 80% recovered. I purposely left 3 weeks of unstructured training to finish out the month of September to not only allow for physical recovery, but mental recovery as well as I have been following a strict training schedule since last November.

Beginning October 2nd, I will start a new 8 week training cycle that focuses on developing speed for the 5k distance. At the same time I will be dialing back my swimming and cycling mileage significantly to accommodate the increased running load and intensity. In addition, beginning this week I am refocusing on my nutrition and starting prepare for an off season of weight loss (more on this in future posts).

What an amazing year it has been, but it is not over yet. I am excited to see how the remainder plays out.

Legend Ad Astra Triathlon

1.2 Mile Swim
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56 Mile Bike
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13.1 Mile Run
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70.3 Miles in total make up a long course/half Ironman distance triathlon and I fought my way through every inch.

With my in-laws in town to watch the girls, Erin and I headed for Lawrence, KS bright and early on Saturday morning for packet pickup. We arrived just before 10:30 am to pick up my packet and get some details on the race.

At packet pickup, I was number 349

After getting my packet, we headed out to Clinton Lake on the West side of Lawrence to check out part of the race course. On the way in, it struck me that the bike course was a lot more hilly then I expected. That started to make me a little nervous as most of my training in central Iowa does not include much for hills. As we drove into the beach parking lot at the lake they were already beginning to setup for the following day. The lake was beautiful as was the campground and surrounding roads that were part of the run course. 

After checking out the course, we headed back to Overland Park to stay with John and Susan (Erin's aunt and uncle). We ate lunch at Johnny's Tavern and spent the afternoon in their pool before heading to church. After mass, we relaxed with some games, supper and a visit from Erin's cousin Sarah. 

Hydrating at lunch

Pre-race dinner

I slept well, but the next morning came quickly as my alarm went off at 4:00 am. After loading up the truck, we were off to Lawrence and arrived well before the sun.

Setting up transition in the dark

Checking the water temp and admiring the sunrise

It probably comes as no surprise that I prefer to arrive at the race as early as possible. This gives me plenty of time to set everything up, handle any issues, and calm down and spend time doing visualizations of the race in my head. To me, it is all part of the race experience and I just want to soak it all in.

My beautiful wife and I before the race

Before I knew it, they were announcing the close of transition and we were being sent to the beach for the swim start. I was in the first swim wave, but due to some technical difficulties the race was delayed by about 20 minutes. As we stood in the starting corral, I took the extra time to look over the swim course and try to memorize the pattern of buoys. With early morning races, it can sometimes be very hard to sight buoys, but as it turned out, this course was laid out perfectly and I had no problems sighting at all. 

Anxiously awaiting the start

And we are off!

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming

So I'm not going to lie, 1.2 miles in the open water feels like it took forever. If you recall back, I was expecting my swim to take about 57 minutes (2:45 min/100 yds), so I was surprised when I got out of the water to look at my watch and see a time of just over 50 minutes (2:26 min/100 yds). I was smiling big as I headed up into T1. 

Erin made everyone smile with this sign
designed by her mom for a race last year

Out of the water and heading to T1

I took my time in T1 as I downed some extra nutrition and Gatorade before heading out on the bike course. And oh, what a course it was. The 56 mile course had 2,700 feet of elevation gain and it kicked my butt. There were several points throughout the bike course, starting from as early as mile 15, that I wasn't sure that I would be able to make it. With the exception of 3 very short flats, I was either going up a hill or down a hill. With the course being made up of 4 out and back sections, I started to count hills on the way out and then count down on the way back. This seemed to help as I at least knew what to expect.

Even with the extremely challenging bike course, I managed to finish in a time of 3:29:24 which was just under my goal of 3:30. Through 2 legs of the race, I was still slightly ahead of pace, but I knew that I had used up a lot of my legs on that bike course and was unsure of how the run was going to turn out. Either way, I was sure glad to be off the bike. As I came into T2 Erin asked how I was doing and all that I managed to get out was "That was really rough!"

Glad to be finishing the bike course

Again, I took some extra time in T2 to take in some nutrition and Gatorade before heading out on the run course. As I headed out on the run, I could tell my legs were going to be too tired to run the entire half marathon, but I still felt pretty good. The sun was high in the sky and it was starting to get pretty hot out by this point as well. 

Heading out on the run course

The first lap went very well as I only took a few short walking breaks. By the end of the 2nd lap, I was on a steady pace of alternating between running for 5 minutes and walking for 2 minutes. I was pacing about a minute per mile slower than I wanted to, but with a "built in" extra 30 minutes of time to finish in under my goal of 7:30 I wasn't too worried. 

Just finished lap 1 (3.25 miles)
and coming in for a high five

Finishing lap 2 strong (6.5 miles)

About a mile into lap 3, my calves started to cramp up, and around mile 8.5, both of them cramped completely. It was easily one of the worst pains that I have felt in my life, and even worse, I started to get emotional as the realization that I might not finish started to hit me. But, I had come too far to not keep trying so with some encouragement from a fellow racer (who was now a spectator) I worked out the cramps and started walking. I did attempt to run a couple of more times but each time I felt my calves start to cramp up again. Luckily, as long as I was walking, I was able to keep my feet from flexing too far and was fine. 

By the end of lap 3, I accepted that the only way that I could finish was to walk the remaining 4 - 5 miles. As I finished up the last lap, Erin put down here camera and walked with me for about 100 yards encouraging me the whole way. I was putting all of my energy into holding back tears as in the moment I was very discouraged. This was the first time in my racing history that my body started to give out before my willpower and my energy.

Throughout that last lap, I really got the chance to experience the best side of humanity. From random spectators, aid station workers and other athletes still on the course, EVERYONE had an encouraging word for me. I dug down deep and gave it everything I had to finish out walking that last lap. My focus had gone from worrying about my pace to just trying to finish the race. Before I knew it, I was headed back down the last straight away towards the turn into the finish line. Now, I don't know how to finish a race other than giving it everything I have in the final stretch, so as I turned the corner, I dug down deeper than I ever have before and started running (not fast mind you, but still running). My calves cramped up instantly but I pushed through until I crossed the finish line. 

I crossed the finish line with a final time of 7:47:06. It was longer than I had hoped but I didn't care (and I still don't). I had finished and I have never felt so proud of myself then I did in that moment. All of the sacrifices that I have made and time that I have put in paid off big time. In addition, I had won the Clydesdale division (for those wondering, this is a division for male athletes that weigh more than 220 lbs). It is the first race that I have ever placed, but I will admit that it was mere icing on the cake and the award paled in comparison to just being able to finish the race. 

I learned a lot about myself my competing in this race and most of it would have never come had I not faced some adversity. I am more confident in myself today than I ever have been and I have the sport of triathlon to thank for that. If you take one thing away from my post, let it be this. Don't wait for anything in life to come to you because chances are it never will. Instead go out and make life what you want it to be. Through hard work and dedication, pretty much anything is possible.

Now I am also not full enough of myself to think that I could not have done this without plenty of help. For starters, I would like to thank all of the spectators, racers, and staff at the race. It was an awesome race with an excellent atmosphere. Thank you to all of my friends and family that showed interest and support leading up to the race as well as on race day. Thanks to Kurt and Mary (my in-laws) for staying with the girls so that Erin could come to the race with me. Thanks to John and Susan for the pre-race entertainment and a place to stay. Thanks to my 2 girls, Abigail and Bridget for all of the encouragement I get when returning home from hard workouts and the patience that they show when daddy isn't around some evenings and weekends. 

Most of all, however, a big thanks to my wife, Erin. Not just for coming to the race with me and cheering me on, but for being the most loving and supportive spouse EVER. There is no way that I could accomplish any of this without your love, patience, and support. You are my rock and for that I am most grateful. 

Now the plan is to rest and recover for a couple of days before getting back after it. My next race, and last triathlon of the year is the Cyman sprint triathlon on Sunday, September 24 in Bondurant, IA. I hope to make it a great end to what has been a fantastic triathlon season. 

Race Strategy And Other Pre Race Ramblings

Three days from now I will be competing in the longest and most challenging race of my life. The Legend 70 triathlon in Lawrence, KS is a long distance triathlon that includes a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. Over the past 4 years of racing, I have always done a great job of ensuring that I am very well prepared for every race on my schedule. I can honestly say that this race has me a little nervous. I am confident in my physical ability to complete each of the 3 legs individually but at this point I am just hoping and praying that I can put it all together on race day. 

Although my only goal is to finish the race prior to the course cutoff time of 8.5 hours, my training and previous race experience allows me to calculate an estimated finish time for myself. My current estimation has me finishing between 7 - 7.5 hours broken down the following way:

Swim: 1 hour 

• 58 minutes puts me at a 2:45/100 yard pace which is probably on the slow side, but I don't plan to push it very hard

Bike: 3:18 - 3:30 

• This would be averaging 16 - 17 mph, again a conservative estimate based on not wanting to abuse my legs too much on the bike
• If I were to pull a surprise out of my hat, it would come on the bike as I always seem to perform much better on the bike during competition

Run: 2:27 - 2:44

• This would be an average of 11:15 - 12:30 min/mi 
• This is the leg that I am most unsure about as I'm not sure how much my legs will have left by this time in the race. In addition, I have some past experience of fading late in half marathons. 
• I am fully prepared to include walk breaks during the run
• Lastly, it will be approaching mid-day when I start the run which means that I will be running in the heat of the day with the sun high in the sky. This has also caused me issues before

With a lot of practice I have worked out a fueling and hydration plan for the race. My in-race fueling will include granola bars, Nutrigrain bars, Jelly Belly Sport Beans, Boom Energy Gels, and Gatorade Endurance Chews. I plan to have a bottle of water and bottle of Gatorade in transition. On the bike I will have 2 bottles of Gatorade as well as my hydration pack with water. The bike route is a "+" with an aid station at the cross roads. I should be able to refill water bottles at least 1 time passing through that aid station. There are plenty of hydration stations along the run route and I plan to stop at most of them to take in just a little water or Gatorade at each.

As for fueling, my current plan has me taking in 200 - 250 calories during both T1 and T2. On the bike I will take in a gel, packet of sports beans, or sleeve of energy chews every 10 miles. During the run, I will take in 1 item every 3 - 3.5 miles (at the end of each of the 4 laps through the course). 

So there is the plan. Besides staying on time with fuel and hydration, there are a couple of other key items that I need to remember during the race:

• Stay calm during the swim and try to manage my adrenaline level and breathing
• Don't push it too hard on the bike and keep a steady pace
• Go out very easy on the run, if I have anything left in the tank, push it hard during the last lap through the finish

So this brings me to my request to all of you reading this blog. On Sunday morning, any thoughts or prayers sent my way would be greatly appreciated. I'm also well aware that many factors associated to the race are out of my control. Flat tires, high winds, heat and humidity (as well as a million other things going through my mind) are all out of my hands. For me to succeed, I will need everything to come together that day. 

Now, all there is left to do is to relax, rest, eat and give it my all come Sunday.