March Goals Accomplished

I'm about a week late in writing this post, but wanted to share the success that I had in the month of March. After the Time to Paddy 5k at the beginning of the month, I dove right into my 10k training program in preparation for the Drake Road Races in April. I also wanted to start getting myself doing some additional workouts beyond running so I set a goal of spending 8 hours on the bike and walking 15 miles in March. Very achievable goals, but something to help me focus and continue to improve. 

The walking goal fit right in with my plans to do some hiking at the cabin early in the month as well as a trip to NE Iowa with my family over spring break. Walking isn't the most interesting exercise to me, but it is much lower impact than running and is a great way to lose weight and improve fitness. I was successfully able to complete the 15 miles of walking, even with all the crazy weather that we had. 

Beautiful sunshine and fresh snow while hiking at the cabin

Hiking at Effigy Mounds

A very cold hike at Pikes Peak State Park

The cycling goal was less interesting, but it was building on a similar goal that I had completed in February and the intent was to start getting my legs ready for triathlon training and (hopefully) outdoor cycling starting at the end of April. With the less than ideal weather, all of these miles were logged on my spin bike in the basement but I did get to watch a bunch of my favorite movies while I road. 

I did manage to hit a 19 mph average on a couple of the rides and really pushed myself throughout the month. Still a lot of work to do on the bike this year, but meeting this goal got me off to a great start!

My last goal for the month was to keep my run streak going. The weather and planned travel didn't always make it easy, but I managed to accomplish that too. To put some icing on that cake, I was able to log 74 miles running for the month, the most miles that I have run in a month since September 2019!

After such a successful March, I decided to set some new goals for April. I will be continuing my running streak, while ramping up mileage to prepare for Drake, but I am also hoping to complete 100 miles cycling, 4 swim workouts, and 15 strength training workouts. At only 8 days into April, I can tell you that I am well on my way to completing all of these goals. 

Learning to Forgive Myself

2019 was an amazing year for me. After an outstanding end to the 2018 racing season, I rolled right into 2019 with huge goals and so much purpose. I put my heart and soul into that season, giving it everything I had, and I was rewarded with a lot of success. It was the culmination of 6 years of hard work and I was left physically and emotionally exhausted as I crossed the finish line of my final race, the IMT Des Moines Marathon, that October. My plan heading into 2020 was to dial it back for a year, but to still stay active. I wanted to get involved with myTEAM Triumph and do some racing with my daughters. I was going to dial it back, but my intention was to get back after it in 2021 with my first full Ironman triathlon. 

Like most people, I did not predict having to navigate a global pandemic in 2020 nor the ways in which that pandemic would change our world and my daily life forever. I learned a long time ago that in stressful situations I always fall back into bad habits and that is exactly what happened for me. I did not cope well with having to work from home and the isolation that came with it. I missed spending time with family and friends. The absolute worst part for me though, was not knowing when, or even if, it would end and things would go back to normal. Training was slowly eliminated from my daily routine until it eventually stopped altogether. 

At some point in early 2021 a feeling of desperation came over me. I began to fear the fire in me, the one that was lit back in 2014, was fading away for good. From past experience I knew that signing up for races provided me with the motivation necessary to lace up my running shoes and get out the door. So I put a schedule together and began training. I quickly realized that I wasn't the same Patrick that I was in 2019, when I set all of those personal records. I set my sights too high which ultimately resulted in fleeting motivation and eventual failure. 

As the calendar turned to 2022 the only thing that I felt was shame. I have 2 medal racks in my living room that are completely full and a race bib folder on my desk at work that are supposed to remind me of how far I've come. Instead, each and every time that I looked at those I was embarrassed at how far I had fallen and I absolutely hated myself for it. I knew that those feelings were wrong, I knew that I should have felt pride in what I had accomplished, but that just made me feel even worse as I continued to spiral out of control.  

At the start of 2022, things were not going so well in life. My wife, Erin, had been facing medical issues for awhile and ended up having surgery at the end of January and the recovery was extremely long and hard for her. In addition to taking care of her, the house, and the kids, and working my full time job, I was also in the midst of basketball season. The stress was wearing on me and I was exhausted all the time. I needed something to get me through, something to focus on, something to make me feel better, I needed to run. As documented in my previous post, on February 7, I started a run streak and have been going ever since. 

For several months, the runs were short and extremely slow, but I continued to run every day. Gradually, I started to feel better and having the motivation of keeping the run streak going became my new focus. I did run a couple of 5k races in 2022 and it really felt great to be racing again. As the end of the year approached, the fire in me started to return. During my daily run I often found myself dreaming about racing and remembering what it felt like to cross those finish lines in the past. 

As 2023 began, I started pushing myself by increasing my mileage and adding in some swimming, cycling, and strength training. On an extremely cold Sunday morning at the end of January I participated in an indoor triathlon, my first multisport race in over 3 years. After the race, I couldn't stop smiling. It was in that moment that I finally began to forgive myself for everything that had happened during those 3 years. For all of the days that I should have gone on a run or taken a trip to the pool. For all of the days that I ate horribly and let myself go. For all the lost time and lost opportunities to improve and challenge myself. 

It has been 2 months since that race, and I am still on the road to complete forgiveness. The weight has started to lift from my shoulders and it has helped greatly with my motivation and determination. I have a lot hopes, plans, and dreams for the year but I am taking it 1 race at a time. Next up on my schedule is the 10K at the Drake Road Races on April 23rd and training has been going very well. With each day that goes by my confidence has been growing as has my trust in myself.  I'm not sure what it will take to completely forgive myself, but the path I'm on seems to be the right one. 

400 Days Into a Run Streak

On Monday I reached the milestone of running 400 days in a row. Those 400 days were quite a journey and so I thought I would talk a little bit about this run streak. I'm going to try something new and do it self-interview style.

When did the streak start?

The streak started on February 7, 2022 at an early hour as I laced up my running shoes for the first time in a very long time. I headed out the door and used a run/walk pattern to complete the very first mile. My time wasn't impressive by any means, but I had to start somewhere. Over the course of the next couple of months, I worked my way up to running the full mile without stopping and the days really started to pile up. 

Fitting in a run during Easter in the Quad Cities

First race of the year!

Why did you start the run streak?

There was a couple of reasons. The first is that I was in the middle of basketball season and often found that my back was bothering me after standing at practice each evening. During the pandemic in 2020 I lost all motivation to work out and train consistently. In addition, I'm a stress eater, and the years of 2020 and 2021 were a very stressful time in life, so I ate and gained a lot of weight. I knew that I had to do something to get into better shape and to begin to lose weight to help with the back pain so I decided to run.

The second reason is that I am very nostalgic and I know myself. I had been spending a lot of time staring up at those medal racks in our living room and each one of those races was flooding me with memories. I wanted to race again, but I knew that I was A LONG ways from where I was when I was at my prime in 2019. I started with baby steps in 2014, and I thought I could do it again this time. I am such a habit oriented person that I knew if I could just get myself to do it for a few weeks, not wanting to break the streak would motivate me to keep going, and that is just what has happened.

What motivates you to keep going?

As mentioned above, once the streak started, it really was enough to keep me going each day. The truth is, though, there are a lot of days that I don't want to run and then there are days when it is just plain hard to run. Whether it be during an illness, having a full day with no free time, or the weather, sometimes it is hard to get myself out the door. More recently, the excitement of training for races has kept me going. Early on in 2022, I envisioned getting back into racing shape fast and signing up for a lot of races by the end of the year. In reality, I only completed 2 road races last year and never significantly ramped up my mileage at all. More recently, at the start of 2023, I have rededicated myself to racing. I kicked off 2023 with an indoor triathlon and have competed in a 5k already as well. I'm already signed up for 4 more races (10K and 3 sprint triathlons) and have a goal of competing in at least 8 this year. Training for races keeps me motivated for sure. 

How do you balance the run streak with the rest of your life?

The simple answer here is that I make it a priority. Whenever we are traveling away from home, I try to fit runs in before we leave and after we get home on those days. If we are gone for a full day, I will pack my gear and try to plan it out ahead of time (i.e. treadmill at a hotel, looking up routes or area paths/parks ahead of time). I think it is hardest during basketball season. Not only do I have work Monday - Friday, there are basketball practice and/or games 6 days a week as well. Additionally, the weather in Iowa usually isn't ideal for running during this time of the year. During this time, it is usually a must to get up early in the morning and run first thing just to make sure I fit it in. I helped out with the sophomore team a bit this year and they practices on Monday and Thursday at 6am, so I would get up at 4:45 to get a mile in before heading to practice. Another struggle was running during deer hunting season. I don't want to run around in the woods while it is dark out and hunting is usually best shortly after sunrise and before sunset. I found a sweet spot of taking a mid-day break from hunting to head back to the cabin and run late morning or early afternoon. 

Mid-day run between hunts

4:45am run before basketball practice

What is the hardest part of keeping a run streak?

My initial reaction was to say staying motivated to keep going. However, I think the best answer is dealing with the weather. Even though I am very cognizant of the forecast, sometimes the weather is unavoidable. There was a day before Christmas where the high temperature was -12 degrees. I did my best and waited for early afternoon when the sun was shining, but that was cold no matter what. Another annoyance is snow and ice, especially overnight refreeze after a warm day of snow melting. It can be dangerous out there under those conditions but I do my best and try to not worry about pace on days like that. I'm sure many of you are thinking, "Why don't you just run inside on the treadmill?" and you would make a good point. Honestly, right now I'm over the weight limit for the treadmill we have in our basement (it will literally stop if I try to run on it) and at least during basketball season, I didn't have time to drive out to the YMCA most days. It is a viable option, along with the indoor track, even though it isn't my favorite thing to do. 

How long will you keep the streak going?

I'm actually not sure, and for now I'm purposefully leaving it open ended. Recently, I've been working through scheduled training for races and have been ramping up my mileage as well as incorporating cycling and strength training. I know how important rest is during a training cycle, so I do worry about running on my off days and how that might lead to injuries so I try to take it very easy on those days without scheduled runs and do the minimum 1 mile. Even though I've been training and racing, I still don't quite trust myself yet. I feel like I have to prove to myself that I will stick with racing long-term again before I will let myself call it quits on the run streak. 

I'll leave you with a few more pictures from throughout these 400 days of running.

Time to Paddy 5k 2023

Last Sunday I competed in my 2nd race of the year at the Time to Paddy 5k. The race was held at Big Creek State Park, on a course that I am very familiar with from training back in 2014 - 2019. The morning was cool and overcast with a chilly wind, but I warmed up fast once the race got going. I had been running well the week before the race which helped with my confidence going in. I have run 4 5k races since my record-breaking 2019 season with my fastest time being 41:18 at the Drake Relays Road Races 5k last year. My goal for this race was simple, beat that time. 

As my watch buzzed at the 1st mile marker, I looked down to see a time of 12:11 and was feeling pretty good. I was doubtful that I could keep up that pace, but it was a great start. After coming in with a 12:41 split for mile 2, I started to think that I might be able to finish in under 40 minutes, something I would have never believed before the race began. As I crossed the finish line, I looked at my watch and saw a time of 39:07. 

The feeling as I crossed the finish line was pure elation. That familiar feeling of having given everything that I had, leaving it all on the course, pulsed through me as I tried to catch my breath and made my way through the finish chute to retrieve my finishers medal. In addition to the medal, I was awarded a silver pin for finishing 2nd in my age group. While I was excited about my time, it is by no means a fast or competitive 5k so that award surprised me a little, but I will take it. 

I am still a very long way from where I once was, but for the 1st time since 2019, I'm actually beginning to feel like myself again. So much has changed in my life since I crossed that last finish line at the end of the Des Moines Marathon but that guy is still inside me. 

I have so much more that I want to share, but for now, I will end it here. A small success at the beginning of a long journey. Next up on my schedule is the Drake Relays Road Races 10k in April. 

Getting My Groove Back

 It has been nearly 17 months since my last race and my last blog post and it amazes me how much has changed in that time. In my wrap up post for 2019 I shared my intentions to take the 2020 season off of racing to spend more time with my family and at my cabin. Little did I know at the time that 2020 was going to bring a global pandemic and a lost season for nearly all triathletes and runners. 

After my season was over, I stopped working out completely for quite awhile and put on quite a bit of weight as a result. I was both physically and mentally exhausted from a long 2019 season and needed the time away. It was never my intent to avoid training and exercise completely so in February 2020, I started training with Abigail, my 8 year old daughter, to run her 1st 5k at the Drake Relays Road Races. We were several weeks into training when the pandemic became real and the race was postponed. Abigail and I did end up running our 5k virtually in the fall.

With the pandemic came working from home and being stuck in our own little bubble for several months. As you can tell from how I train, I am big into planning ahead and knowing what to expect. The pandemic took that feeling of comfort away from me and instead of turning to exercise for stress relief, I turned to food and gained more weight. I'm not going to sit here and act like all of 2020 was a complete loss and that my life was miserable because that would be a lie. Plenty of great things happened over the last year as I was able to spend plenty of time with my family and at my cabin, I continued to build on my career at John Deere, I had a very successful deer hunting season, and I found my way back into coaching high school basketball (for just a few examples). 

As the holidays came and the year turned to 2021 I knew that it was time to get back after it. My motivation was lacking but I wanted to start somewhere. I started setting an early alarm on weekdays to either go for a walk or ride the bike in my basement. Nothing too intense but at least I was moving a bit more. As basketball season was coming to an end, I put together a training plan and started to formulate a racing schedule for the year. The excitement was starting to build. My current weekly training schedule includes 3 runs, 3 bike rides, 3 walks, and 4 strength training sessions. 

2021 Tentative Schedule

• 5/1 - Live Healthy Iowa 5k
• 6/27 - Ames Triathlon - Sprint Duathlon
• 7/11 - Summer Iowa Games Triathlon
• 8/15 - Bluff Creek Triathlon - Sprint
• 9/? - Cyman Triathlon
• 10/17 - IMT Des Moines Marathon - Half Marathon

The schedule is purposely light as I need to ease my way back into racing. I'm starting off very out of shape and overweight so it will take awhile to build up my fitness again. Additionally, I have so far been uncomfortable with returning to the YMCA to swim (hopefully soon!) and haven't swam since August 2019, which is why my 1st 2 scheduled races don't include swims. 

My goals for the year are simple, I want to complete my racing schedule and return to an acceptable race weight. From the outside, I'm sure those don't seem too exciting but I have some REALLY exciting things in mind for 2022 and 2023 so it is very important to get my base fitness back. 

So far, things are progressing well. I am on my 3rd week of a 9 week training schedule leading up to my 1st race. While my pace is slow, I have worked my way up to running for 25 continuous minutes and am averaging nearly 19mph on the bike. I have also lost 7 lbs. More importantly, I have been feeling much better physically these past few weeks and have started to feel the power burn inside me again. 

It may not have turned out the way that I envisioned, but a year off is exactly what I needed. 

Some people want it to happen,

some wish it would happen,

others make it happen.

- Michael Jordan