Tri-ing For Hailey

Swim, Bike, Run, Give Back

My last long workout in the books!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

This past week has been full of great workouts.  My workouts included:

• 30 mile ride that I finished at 19.7 mph
• 3800 yard swim that I did at 1:40 / 100 yards
• 4300 yard swim at 1:45 / 100 yards and then a 7 mile run with Michelle where we pushed hard through miles 3, 4 & 5
• 14 mile run where I didn’t stop at all and averaged 8:28 min /mile
• 3800 yard swim at 1:45 / 100 yards

I wanted my last long workout to be something strong and something that would give me some confidence going into my two weeks of taper.  For this workout I decided to do a 112 mile bike ride.  I haven’t done anything over 100 miles and I wanted to see what those extra 12 miles felt like.  I also wanted to do it on a route that had some good hills.  The route ended up only having about 200 feet less of climbing than the Ironman course so I was pleased with that.  The morning of the ride was nice and cool, but about 3 hours into the ride it was very hot, even with a 10 – 20 mph wind.  I thought going east and west would be good since the wind was coming out of the south west.  Going out I knew I would have the wind at my side and at my face for most of the ride, but what I didn’t expect is that the wind would shift a bit and be at my face on the way home too.  I only got about 11 miles where the wind was at my back which made for a long ride!  I could tell the wind was getting bad when I reached a hill I had gone down before.  Last time I went down it, I hit 43 mph, this time I only hit 26 mph.  I was pleased with the ride, but a little sad I didn’t bring more food along with.  I could have used about two more powerbars.  You can check out the output from my bike computer here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/46619799.

Looking Forward…

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve posted!  That should tell you, without a doubt, that training is in full swing.  There’s no way I could possibly recount the last two+ months, but here are a few highlights:

• My 27th birthday!
• Door County Half-Ironman – delayed due to lightening, crashed on the bike going through an aid station
• Open water swims in Lake Michigan with 4+ft swells
• My good friends Kyle and Erica’s wedding
• A week away from a bike and pool in Washington DC for work
• Lots of quality time with my family and girlfriend Trisha!

This summer has been a blur, but a fantastic one.  It has been great to look back and savor the peak moments, and especially the quiet moments of calm, which are rare and precious.

As I read the count-down timer on the front page of triingforhailey.com, 16 days until race day, I can’t help but to look forward.

• I’m looking forward to the taper – the next ~2.5 weeks will bring some much needed rest as the workouts shorten to repair for race day.
• I’m looking forward to the Monona Terrace – the Friday and Saturday before race day will be bustling with excitement, loads of beautiful bikes, and fellow racers.
• I’m looking forward to the weather forecast – the last time I raced Ironman in 2008, the weather was absolutely perfect.  Low to mid 70’s with a slight breeze.  There’s no way this year could possibly be so perfect, but I hope its close.  I feel like the last task on my training plan will be to mentally (and equipment-wise) prepare for the race day weather.

Most of all, I’m looking forward to seeing you, in the middle of a sea of bright green Triing for Hailey Ironman shirts, at the finish line.  Please come cheer Adam and me on in Madison on Sunday, September 12th.  I sincerely look forward to seeing you there!

-Pete

Almost Taper Time!

Starting this coming Sunday (08/29/2010) I will start my two week taper.  I have been busting my butt for almost 34 weeks now and the two week taper will allow me to hopefully heal my sore muscles and rest up.  This doesn’t mean that I will be sitting around doing nothing, I am just not going to being doing brick workouts and pushing myself super hard.  During these two weeks I hope to do some good speed workouts with short distances and also work on my transitions.  Thats the future, this is what I have been doing over the past week or so.

4300 yard swims with 6 mile runs

4300 yard swims with 7 mile run.  This run was hard as Michelle and I pushed super hard through miles 4, 5 & 6.

30 & 40 mile bike rides during the week.

3800 yard swim with a 50 mile bike ride on the weekend.

2 mile open water swim

I am looking forward to finishing up this week hard with a 14 mile run, 3800 yard swim and a 90 mile bike ride with a 10 mile run.  I am really excited it is not 90 and super humid any more.  At least for now!

4 Weeks Left

Pete and I have been training now for 32 weeks.  We have 4 more left to go!  Two hard weeks then two weeks of taper.  I am getting more and more excited and nervous as the days go on.  Over the past week I have done:\

19 mile run (about 16.5 of running, 2.5 of walking…. It was hot)

70 mile bike ride w/ 1 hr 23 minute run

30 mile bike ride w/ 5 mile run

4300 m swim w/ 3 mile run

2800 m swim w/ 3 mile run

6 mile runs

30 mile bike rides indoors on the trainer

11 mile run

The weeks are getting tough as my body is really starting to feel the toll of working out so much.  I hope I can hang in there for the next two long weeks without injuring myself before the taper period.

It’s Getting Close

Looking at our site I noticed two things.  One is that we only have 37 days left until the race and the other is that I have not posted in a while.  I can’t believe how time consuming training for an ironman is.  Lately it has been a part time job.  I have logged 16 – 19 hours a week in workouts over the last 3 weeks.  I am happy this week I have a rest week.  Over the past few weeks I have been doing a lot of biking and swim / run brick workouts.  Pete and I have been working on our open water swimming by cruising up and down the Lake Michigan coast around Oak Creek, WI.  The open water swimming has been great practice.  I am getting nervous about the race since I only have 3 more weeks of hard training left.  I need to hit these next 3 weeks hard to make sure I am as prepared as possible.  I hope to keep this blog a bit more up-to-date in the next few weeks!

Update On Hailey

Today, Brian posted an update on Hailey.  Unfortunately the post did not have much good news.  They received the results from Hailey’s MRI and found out her tumor has grown as much as 20%.  They are not sure exactly how much it has grown, but that was their initial thought.  The good news in the post was that Hailey’s ventrical has gown down to a normal size after her surgery.  Please read Brian’s post at www.teamhailey.org to get all the details.

Under Two Months Until Ironman!!

It has been a long time since I have been on here to post something.  These past few weeks have been very busy and when I have had downtime, I just wanted to do nothing.  Over the past few weeks I have accomplished a lot with workouts and races.  With the countdown around 50 days, I am happy where I am both physically and mentally.  Here is what I have been up to lately:

My week days have been almost as tough as my weekends.  During one week I did 4 miles of swimming, 23 miles of running and 150 miles of biking.  My weekends consist of long bike rides followed by a run or long runs.  All of which are followed by a nap and relaxation.

Besides long workouts, I also competed in the Door County half Ironman. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run.  I completed the race in 5 hrs and 43 minutes.  I am pretty happy with this time.  Overall I felt good, but I kinda blew up on the run around mile 8.5.  I was on pace of about 8:55 min/mile before then, and by the end I was at 9:46 min/mile.  I hope this doesn’t happy so quickly in the Ironman race.

I’m looking forward to the next 50 days of training & hope I can stay healthy throughout.

Week 17 & 18!!

Week 17 was a bit of a rest week, but week 18 sure hit me hard.  Starting with two Friday’s ago, it has been nonstop.  I wont go into detail on everything, but I’ll try to highlight some of the highs and lows over the past ~14 days.  Two Friday’s ago I had a 50 mile bike ride followed by a 5 mile run.  The bike was great and I finished in a great time, but the run was really tough.  I had to walk for a few seconds after every mile after my second mile in.  The following day I had a 12 mile run that was just way too tough.  The pace wasn’t bad, but I was super tired and my mind wasn’t into it.  It is amazing what your attitude can do to your workout.  Last week I did a 8.5 mile run, a 33oo m swim a fast 3 mile run and a 81.5 mile bike ride.  I did the 81.5 mile bike ride alone.  It was a good confidence booster to be able to a 4+ hour ride alone.  It got boring at times, but I managed.  You can see the route I took here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/38549369.  On this ride I got to test out my new wheels and tires.  They are 85mm deep carbon tubular wheels.  They are really fast and give me about 1 -2 mph advantage over my other wheels, but they can be tricky to ride in a cross wind.  The first time the wind blew I wasn’t ready and almost fell off my bike as I was tossed across the road.  I will have to ride on them a few more times to make sure I am super comfortable on them before Ironman.

So far I am really happy with my training.  I will really get to put my body to the test in a few weeks when I try to do a half ironman distance triathlon in Door County.  I feel I am ready and hope to do well.

This week doesn’t look to be any easier than the last.  I have a 40 mile bike ride, a brick of a long swim and run and a long brick of a bike and run.  If I can make it through this week and hit my workouts good I will feel really good!

First 100 Mile Ride!

On Saturday, June 12th, 2010 Pete and I along with a friend from college, Justen (J.D.), embarked on a 100 mile ride through Waterloo and surrounding areas.  We were riding in the Trek 100.  It was a long day.  I got up around 4:30 a.m., drove up to Waterloo where we took off for the ride around 7:30 a.m.  We were a bit unlucky in our starting spot because we got in line a bit late, but by mile 25 or so we were through the part of the pack that did not want to ride very quickly.  It was fun and a bit nerve racking riding with so many people.  We skipped the first rest stop to hopefully get into a more open area, but then stopped at the second one about 30 miles in.  We picked up a Cousins sub and topped off our water and headed out.  J.D. unfortunately got a flat tire about 2 miles after our stop.  We changed out his tube, but noticed there was a good size slash in his tire.   We stopped that the rest stop about 5 miles down and found out it would be a wait for a mechanic and not idea if they would have a tire to give him.  We took off with no repair and just hoped for the best.  Most of the roads were in pretty good condition.  I thought it was going to be a pretty flat route, but there was quite a bit of slow, long climbs.  We made two more stops along the way, one at ~50 miles and one at ~75 miles.  It was the longest I have been on my bike both in time and distance.  The ride was posted as being 100 miles, but as I was crossing the finish line my computer was only at 98.3.  Seeing as I have never been over 100 miles I didn’t want to stop.  I continued on around the local roads for the last 1.7 miles to cool down and also to make sure my computer would say I went 100 miles.  It was a great feeling to have accomplished this ride and still feel good.  By no means do I feel I could have ran a marathon after the ride, but that is what I have to train for in the next 90 days!  We finished the ride in 5 and a half hours!  It was also nice that we did not have any rain on the ride.  All week I was worried we would have to spend over 5 hours on the bike soaking wet.  If you follow the link, you can see our route.  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36630651