THE FALL OF SUMMER TRIATHLON

At this stage of my training it seems that every weekend is a test. It starts with the test of my will to get out of bed, prepare my bottles, set up my transition in the garage. Testing of my nutrition strategy for Ironman and my ability to finish my scheduled workout without cutting it short and never looking to far ahead in the days training.

Saturday my scheduled workout was my own personal triathlon. The best part of this triathlon was that regardless of my circumstances or how my body felt, I would finish first! My "event" started with a 1/2 mile swim followed by an 80 mile bike and then a 6 mile run. 

Although the first day of Fall had passed, the weather forecast for the weekend was very unFall like with predicted temps of 90's to 100's.

My swim went well although I felt tired from my swim workout the day before but I finished and headed to transition one which was the back of my Honda Pilot to get on the bike. The first 40 miles I did the usual local race ride or "Food Park" as it's known then headed from the coast inland to pick up more bottles at home and ride Santiago Canyon to get in some hills. Now I knew the weather forecast and riding inland was not a good idea but hey...I'm training to be an Ironman right? As I rode further in to Santiago Canyon I watched my computer temp rise steadily  from 94 degrees to ....107 degrees! My toes were beginning to heat up in my all black bike shoes and after a few miles I was getting the dreaded cyclist hot foot. The feeling of your toes cooking in a microwave like little sausages ready to explode thru your shoes. Fortunately I got a flat in an exposed area totally devoid of shade which allowed me to get off my bike and take off my shoes. 

 Now I was spending a little more time on the bike than I wanted to and my two bottles were empty partly because I used them to douse my toes. This is one of those training moments I thought where I just pull out my cell phone, call for help and have my wife pick me up. No one would blame me...it's 107 degrees! Oh and of course when I get home I will still run my 10K. In my cell phone pouch I see the $10. I remember there is a store within 5 miles. I can fix the flat and ride to the store get some Gatorade, finish my ride and start my run. I fixed the flat was able to ride to the store downed one bottle of Gatorade and put the second one on my bike. Finally at home, I started my run with a side ache for the first two miles (too much liquid before the run) and finished the days workout with one of my slowest runs ever. My personal triathlon was over, I finished first or last depending on how I chose to view the outcome of the days events but one thing I learned from this "race". During an Ironman weather can be unpredictable, flat tires are a possibility, you can come up short on hydration or nutrition and you can make a choice...you can throw in the towel and DNF. No one would blame you...it's an Ironman, or you can overcome, persevere, push on until you finish.

Today I gained just a little more mental toughness, an edge if you will, for my Ironman.

BIKE SANDWICH IRONMAN STYLE

 For lunch I'm having a "bike sandwich". Why a bike sandwich? This helps to prepare your body for what an extended duration of effort and fatigue will feel like without the risk of training injury by breaking up your long run in to two portions.

Last week I talked about how my training is getting to be a drag. So much of training for an Ironman is your mental attitude and outlook. There are some things I never allow my mind to think about during training...for instance during my long bike of 60 -70 miles I never think about the run I have to do after the bike, where I'm going to run or how my legs might feel when I start my run. If I start this type of thinking I begin to lose the joy of being in the here and now of feeling great on the bike and how well my ride is going. 

This week I had an opportunity to rejuvenate to some degree as I had a "recovery" week that looked like this:

MONDAY - Off

TUESDAY - Brick.  Bike 16.5 miles Run 4.4 miles

WEDNESDAY - Swim 1 mile. Run 5.0 Miles (track workout 1,200 repeats)

THURSDAY - Off

FRIDAY - Swim 1.1 miles.

SATURDAY -  Ride 3:27 (68.1 miles)

SUNDAY - "Bike Sandwich" Run 8 mi. Ride :30 min. Run 5.4 mi.

This was the first of four "bike sandwiches" I'll be doing over the next few weeks. Again, if I start to think about the second run during the first run it seems overwhelming to me and I find myself losing the joy of the moment and even slowing down. It's important to just focus on the current task at hand and how your body feels at this moment, for this portion of your workout. Never, I repeat never, think to far ahead in the days workload! Focus and complete one task at a time and enjoy the moment of your effort in the here and now. This will also serve you well at race time.

ENDURANCE, ALL IN A WEEKS WORK

This verse from Hebrews speaks to me this week: Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. 

I'm at that point in my training where its getting to be a grind and at times difficult to be motivated to work hard. On the other hand my Ironman is roughly 11 weeks away and the training I do now is more critical than say my training 11 weeks back. I know that my patient endurance will help me to find God's will for my Ironman journey.

MONDAY - Off
TUESDAY- Brick. Bike 1:38 (30.3 miles) Run 6 miles.
WEDNESDAY - Swim 1,500 yds. Run 5.0 miles (track workout 1200 meter repeats)
THURSDAY - Bike 1 hour hills. (18 miles)
FRIDAY - Swim 2,300 yds.
SATURDAY - Brick. Ride 3:47 (73.9 miles) Run 4.5 miles.
SUNDAY - Run 12 miles followed by a :50 easy bike (12.9 miles).

EATING FOR AN IRONMAN

As I continue to rack up the mileage and hours of training for Ironman Arizona I'm amazed at how much fuel I burn and how much I need to take in. With my wife Liz training for a marathon at the same time as my Ironman training, our nightly dinner table is loaded with thousands of calories which usually includes lots of pasta, steamed rice, or potatoes with fish or chicken a vegetable and of course our staple of a loaf of warm bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. A tasty meal for sure but basically this is what we eat every night...except for last night. Sunday night we decided to take our recovery meal to a new level and go to In N Out. First we had to complete our training plans which for me was a 12 mile run followed by an hour on the bike. For Liz it was a 16 mile run. There's nothing like a Double Double after a long workout!

ITEMS ORDERED
2- Cheese Burgers
3 - Double Doubles
3 - French Fries
 

TOTAL CALORIES - 4,110

It sounds like a lot of calories until you compare it with these numbers. 

TOTAL REPLACEMENT CALORIES NEEDED FOR IRONMAN ARIZONA - 3,323
ANTICIPATED CALORIES BURNED AT IMAZ - 8,664

RACE REPORT - Peters Canyon Trail Run #3

It's been an unusually mild summer here in SoCal and that makes for great running conditions. This was the last race in the series and I had set of goal of doing a PR for this race to really test myself and my conditioning. My best time was 42:16 and I was hoping to finish under :42 The race was being run counter clockwise again which I think is the harder direction. Most of the 1,000 feet of elevation gain on this five mile course hits you at the one mile mark whether you are warmed up or not. I kept leap frogging a woman much younger than me when we hit the hills. On the climbs I would race past her, on the down hills she would race past me. She had to be under 5'3" with an inseam of 10" but somehow she is faster than me on the downhills? It was weird. I was thinking if we were both on mountain bikes I would show her who was fast! There's nothing like a race to get the competitive juices flowing. As we finished the majority of the climbing and started back to the finish line with two miles to go I pulled ahead. With one mile to go I caught a guy wearing an Ironman Finisher hat and flew by him. Looking at my watch I knew I would PR...not because of the elapsed time but because my heart rate was at 180! With a half mile to go 10" inseam girl goes flying by me while Ironman Finisher is at my heels. I pick up the pace and jump on 10" inseam girls heels for about... 10 meters and I realize there is no way I can beat her but I've dropped Ironman Finisher. With 50 meters to the finish line Ironman Finisher kicks it in and catches me... I try to stay with him but I'm done and slowing down. I cross the finish line 41:15! To my surprise my wife is at the finish line as well...the woman who eats 7:00 minute miles for breakfast!? She beat me by seven seconds? Now admittedly my wife had a bad day and still beat me by seven seconds...but those seven seconds will go down in Clarke family lore for some time.

IRONMAN 15 WEEKS OUT

This past week was one of my best overall training weeks. I set a PR at Peters Canyon and the following morning had a great swim which was unexpected with the stress of the race the night before. On Sunday my wife decided to join me for my long run and I had one of my best long runs since I began training for IMAZ. One interesting training note is that my run after the bike on Tuesday is always slower and harder than my run after the bike on Saturday. Maybe it's because I work all day Tuesday? Maybe it's because I'm coming out of an off day? If you look at the numbers you would not guess I would be faster on Saturday.

MONDAY - Off
TUESDAY- Brick. Bike 1:37 (30.1 miles) Run 4.2 miles.
WEDNESDAY - Swim 1,500 yds. Bike 1 Hour.
THURSDAY - Trail Race 5.0 miles 41:15
FRIDAY - Swim 1,500 yds.
SATURDAY - Brick. Ride 2:56 (56.7 miles) Run 5.6 miles.
SUNDAY - Run 11 miles followed by a 1:00 easy bike (14.6 miles).

TROUBLE IN TEMPE!

"When The Levee Breaks I'll have no place to stay" I cant get that Led Zeppelin song "When the Levee Breaks" out of my head. For those of you who don't keep up on local news in Tempe Arizona, the levee or in this case inflatable dam, burst sending all of the water used for Ironman Arizona down stream. Fortunately no one was hurt but it does put somewhat of a cloud over IMAZ. The City of Tempe hopes to have the dam replaced and the man made lake refilled by November 1st just three weeks before the start of my race. It's completely out of my hands so I will just keep training with the hope that all goes well with the repair. I'm trusting WTC who runs everything Ironman has already come up with an alternate strategy if Tempe Towne Lake is dry and maybe my first Ironman will have an added historical footnote.

Here is the lake during the IMAZ swim start.














Here is what it looks like now.