HOW TO BEAT THE BLUES

I hope I don't see this place for awhile

After a couple of days of struggling and feeling horrible I'm happy to say I'm back on track. How do you cure the taper blues? Two days of hard but short workouts at two venues I don't plan on seeing for awhile. Then put your fast race wheels on your bike! 

Tuesday was another drag day of still feeling like I was caught in a fog. I got home and my scheduled workout was a 10 mile bike followed by a 5.5 mile run...whatever. I did get some inspiration form a Homes of Hope donation to my website that evening and thought if people are donating to my cause, I need to get off by butt and train! Getting out on the bike with my aero race  wheels got me fired up. Before I knew it I was hammering down the road at 26MPH in my aero bars. After four days of having the blues I was feeling like an Ironman again. The run went just as well running my first "warmup" mile off the bike at an 8:27 pace. I had to tell myself to slow down as I'm on taper heart rate restriction. That night I went to bed starting to feel confident in my training again.

I have a love hate relationship with the track.

Wednesday for me was a 2,000 yard swim in the morning and a short track workout of :30 min. in the evening doing intervals of 400 and 100 meters. I've been swimming twice a week now for almost a year and I still do not look forward to going to the pool and swimming. Today was different. This is my last workout before Ironman. The last time I stare at the black lined tile going back and forth lap after lap with only an occasional random band aid floating along the bottom to break up the monotony. You can find plenty of motivation driving to your last swim workout...it's like visiting the orthodontist for the last time.

My track workout later was incredible. I love the track and I hate the track. I love it because it's flat, you can run faster, meet interesting people and its different from my 14 mile long slogs. I hate it because my track workout is about speed and pushing your speed to its limits with the idea that you will eventually get faster if you don't throw up first. Usually I feel tired at the track after my morning swim but today was different. I was running 400 and 100 meter hard intervals like it was nothing. It didn't hurt that I had some high school cross country boys on the track racing me a few times while they were supposed to be cooling down from their workout.

Tonight my confidence in my training is renewed and tomorrow I'm off to Arizona!

THE IRONMAN TAPER BLUES

Tapering is the practice of reducing or tapering off, exercise in the days just before an important competition.

Today I'm one week away from my first Ironman and I feel crappy. My final long ride on Friday was more difficult than I planned and I never felt strong during the ride. My easy taper run on Sunday (1 hour at a 9:00 min mile pace) was easy but I felt sluggish and uninspired. Not to mention my right knee was hurting and my right knee never hurts. What's strange about these symptoms is that this is how I'm supposed to feel. This is part of the tapering process for an Ironman. This is what happens when your body adjusts and repairs itself after being pushed thru huge amounts of training volume. I've never tapered for an Ironman before but I've talked to experienced Ironman athletes and they tell me not to worry, that this is normal. I never would have guessed when I started this journey that at some point my weekend of an 80 mile bike followed by a 6 mile run or a 14 mile run on Sunday would begin to feel "good". I certainly wouldn't have guessed that doing a mere 50 mile bike and no run on Saturday followed by a 7 mile easy run on Sunday would make me feel "bad". My new "normal" is now feeling crappy because I haven't trained as much...strange.

Common Taper Symptoms

•At the beginning of the taper, some athletes say they feel more tired than when they were putting in long training hours. For those who are tapering their volume over several weeks, this feeling leads to a temptation to resume higher volume. Resist the temptation; it'll pay off on race day.


•When tapering for a key race, many athletes feel flat and fatigued during the final workouts, wondering how they'll ever make it through the event. This feeling can sometimes cause athletes to test themselves on the actual race course or distance to be sure they can make it. This is what I call fear-based training—and giving into this feeling can harm your performance.


•As the taper continues, many athletes notice (or more likely their family and friends notice first) that they're slightly grouchy—OK, some athletes are more than just a little grumpy. Often, family and friends will urge the athlete to put in more hours, in desperate hope of extinguishing the foul mood. Take their comments and observations to heart and lighten-up. Apologize for any over-the-edge behaviors and educate your family and friends about the tapering process.


•Roughly half the athletes I work with begin to notice little aches and pains they never noticed before the taper period. The pains show up for no apparent reason. In fact, these pains were nonexistent during the high-volume training phase, making it tempting to resume longer training hours. If aches and pains emerge, resist the urge to increase training volume.


•Some athletes may feel slightly blue or depressed the week before the race. Others feel they have so much energy they'll go nuts if they don't work out. Don't act on either of these feelings—just let them pass.


•Within one or two days of the race, most athletes feel good. They're typically ready to race and are anxious to race—immediately! This feeling is exactly what you want, and why you've tapered your training volume. Unfortunately, the feeling comes late in the taper process and it takes a leap of faith if you've never experienced the feeling of racing with a rested body.

HOMES OF HOPE

 I've posted about my Ironman training but I haven't posted about why I'm doing an Ironman. Sure I want to experience the personal achievement of finishing an Ironman, but there is a ministry that I have had the privilege to serve with for the past four years that has touched my heart. It's called Homes of Hope. Homes of Hope is a non-profit organization that builds homes for impoverished peoples of Mexico and Jamaica. My goal is to raise enough money to build a home for a family that is currently living in what I like to call a "garage door shack" with a dirt floor. If you feel led to do so, please sponsor me as I try complete my first Ironman with the goal of raising $5,100.00. Just click on the tab above which will direct you to my donation page.

I love Mexico. As I child and teenager I made many trips to Baja with my Grandparents and Father mostly to go fishing and SCUBA diving. What attracts me to Mexico is the simplicity of life. I'm not talking about life in the big cities of Tijuana or Ensenada, but life in the suburbs or "colonias" as they are called in Mexico. There you know all of your neighbors and they are your close friends because you rely on each other for support and help. Parents work extremely hard to earn maybe $200 a week. Going to the store takes planning because you don't have a car. Life is hard but they are proud to have saved enough money to buy a small piece of land that they can call their own.  A little girl is happy to be playing with a doll, her only doll, that has one arm missing. Her brother plays with a soccer ball that doesn't hold air very well. They will never go to Disneyland or have a Wii or a Facebook account, but they have a simple joy and laughter that you don't see with kids here in Orange County. When I'm in Mexico spending time with these families, I feel like I've forgotten what's important in life. I've become so entrenched in the worldly desires of life and culture in Orange County that I've forgotten how blessed I am to be able to take a hot shower for as long as I want or to simply flush a toilet. Why when I'm in my comfortable home using a computer to download my favorite music and transfer it on to my IPod or when I DVR my favorite TVshow because I'm going out to dinner to eat sushi...why do I often feel like my life is boring and I need more?

Going to Mexico and working side by side with a family to build them a simple home has brought all of these questions and many more to the for front of my life. Why has God given me so much and yet I spend most of my time squandering what he has given me to satisfy my own desires instead of using it to make a difference in the lives of other people? I'm not sure that I know the answer to this. I'm not saying that we shouldn't enjoy what God has given us and there is certainly nothing wrong with going out to eat sushi (unless you just don't like it).

Homes of Hope has allowed me to gain a different perspective of  life and the lives of others who I would not have otherwise had any care or concern for. Working side by side with a family you have just met to make a dream come true for them has been one of the most incredible experiences in my life. An overwhelming feeling of joy, love, and sadness always accompanies these projects. Joy when you see how radically you have changed the life of a family. Love expressed to you from the family for what you you have done for them and sadness when you have to leave them behind because you have formed this unspeakable bond between one another.

I want to thank all of you who have sponsored me and contributed to Homes of Hope and I encourage each and every one of you to invite radical change in to your lives. From a life of succumbing to the desires of what culture and the world tells me I need leaving me empty, to a perspective of I've been given so much, how can I make a difference in

the lives of others that will truly leave a lasting legacy for generations.

As Jackie Robinson once said, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives"

HOW TO RECOVER FROM A HALF IRONMAN?

I'm a big believer in active recovery the day after a race. You would think that after swimming 1.2 miles, riding 56 miles and running 13.1 miles the last thing you would want to do is get on your bike the next day and go for ride, but I've found that a nice easy ride the day after an event helps to flush the legs out and keeps you from being stiff the next few days. My wife Liz and I both had Monday off after my Half Ironman and we decided to ride a course that has been on our to do list for some time. The ride is mostly flat around the streets of Irvine, CA where we then get on to a bike path that winds thru the city and conveniently passes a Del Taco right next to the path. Our route would take us 18.6 miles with a lunch stop at Del Taco.
With my metabolism still on overdrive from the day before, I placed the following order including a Coke. ( I rarely drink soda)
Double Del Cheeseburger 560 Calories
Deluxe Combo Burrito 570 Calories
Small Fries 270
Small Coke 250
TOTAL 1,650 Calories
I'm an Ironman Rookie who is learning things as I go and I'm sure this meal is not a wise choice for recovery and continued training, however I've been in the "zone" and focused for five months now. Once in awhile I need to step outside of the discipline of becoming an Ironman, eating wheat pasta, brown rice, fish, chicken and vegetables. I need to celebrate that even if I don't become an Ironman, at this moment in my life I can eat nearly 2,000 calories of fast food for lunch without any guilt what so ever.
Yo Quiero Del Taco!

ARMOR UP!

I just made it thru my most difficult week of training and the last of the huge weekend workouts. And what did that weekend look like? On Saturday it was a 97 mile bike ride followed by a 6 mile run. Sunday was my last "Bike Sandwich", 16 miles of running and 18 miles on the bike.  From this point until Ironman Arizona my training weeks will be easier. Just getting to this point in my training seems like a huge accomplishment. The hardest work is done. My armor is up. Now its just a matter of honing that armor for three weeks and then two weeks of taper. The week of work was tough coming off of a Half Ironman race and in to a tough week of training. I have to admit I feel a little over trained right now but this week is a recovery week with a lighter workload.

I want to thank all of you who have been so supportive of me giving me constant encouragement that helps me to push through the harder times. 

Here are last weeks numbers...I'm glad that's over!

MONDAY - Easy recovery bike after Half Ironman 18.8 miles.

TUESDAY - Brick. 37.2 mile bike then 6.2 mile run.

WEDNESDAY - 1.2 mile swim. 5 mile tempo run.

THURSDAY - Bike 18.4 miles.

FRIDAY - 1.5 mile swim.

SATURDAY - Brick. 97 mile bike then 6 mile run.

SUNDAY - Bike Sandwich. 11 mile run, 18 mile bike, 5 mile run.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 

Eph. 6:11

MAGIC MOUNTAIN MAN HALF IRONMAN RACE REPORT

Sitting at the computer two days later I'm still not recovered from the effort I left out on the roads of Castaic. My wife after it was all over asked me what was the best part of this race for me? My response, seeing my close friend and former training partner John Lau, his wife and family for the first time in six years!

Although this is only my 6th triathlon, this might have been the hardest one day event I've ever done. The bike course was epic with not a single flat section on the entire course and 80% of the Long Course participants riding straight up road bikes with one guy opting for a mountain bike with narrow road tires. Seeing riders get off their bikes to walk was not uncommon. Throw in the 94 degree weather and you have a real test of what you can endure and that's before running 13.1 miles. This picture of me may have been my last smile for the day as I prepped my transition area before the race.

THE SWIM - Lake Castaic was calm and compared to my other open water swims warm with a 68 degree temperature. I had none of the nervousness I usually have before the swim and felt confident with my training. The gun sounded I went in the water behind most of the other racers since I'm slow and there is no reason to make others go around me. Two hundred meters in I noticed I was with the main group and that's when it hit me, I cant breath, my wetsuit is too tight, panic, I went out to fast? Something felt wrong and I thought I might have to abandon. I have no idea why this happened other than the excitement got the best of me and I tried to swim beyond myself. As I always do in this situation I ask God to bail me out and calm me down. I got to the first buoy and finally settled in to my stroke. The panic was gone and I was making my usual smooth but slow progress. At the end of the swim I noticed I was taking a longer line to the beach than everyone else. Confused I asked one of the lifeguards if I'm supposed to go to the right our left of the last buoy? He told me right, everyone else went left. Oh well, a longer swim is better training right?

GOAL TIME  :45:00

ACTUAL TIME :51:50

T1
GOAL TIME :7:00
ACTUAL TIME :5:25
THE BIKE - I knew going in to the race that this bike was tough. It was made tougher with the course change weeks before the race. The upside to the change was a single transition area. The downside was the course went from 5,600 feet of elevation gain to over 6,800 feet of elevation gain for 56 miles. I was smart enough to put my bike in the 39x21 gear at transition so I wouldn't look foolish falling over in a 53x21leaving transition to start a 7 mile climb with an average 5% grade. It felt great being on the bike even during a 7 mile climb as I was alternating standing and sitting and passing the faster swimmers. I always have to be careful and hold myself back when I first get on the bike because my instinct says "get a turtle on the bike and he can catch dolphins." One of my problems for this course is that this turtle has an ego that says I can ride any course in a 39x23. The reality is I would have been better served with a 39x25 set up or even a compact so I could be more efficient, saving my legs for the half marathon. How tough was this course? I spent I would say 65 to 70 percent of the bike in my 39x23 at times going 5 to 7 MPH. I averaged 13.7 MPH for the entire course! Brutal! In contrast at Ironman California 70.3 in March I averaged 18 MPH and triathletes were saying that course was tough! Despite the tough course my training was paying off as I passed and encouraged countless riders including a guy who got off his bike to go sit under a tree. Oh, and did I mention the heat? On the final climb of say 12% I approached five guys who all got off of their bikes to walk, one cramping and grabbing his leg. The final 7 miles was the screaming decent in to the transition area where my worried wife and friend stood fearing the worst for me since my goal time was 3:25 to 3:45 range.
GOAL TIME 3:25:00
ACTUAL TIME 4:06:42

T2
GOAL TIME :7:00
ACTUAL TIME :6:22 (Gotta run in my compression socks whatever the time penalty)

THE RUN - I took a little longer in transition visiting with my wife and friend and sharing my bike experience. I felt tired but my hydration and nutrition were right on as I suffered no cramping or heat exhaustion at this point like others. I ran out of transition chasing a guy just in front of me to see if I could pace off of him. Always good for motivation. I looked down and my first mile was an 8:53 and the second a 9:11. It was going to be a good run. I passed the guy I was pacing off of at mile 3 as he was slowing to a jog and at mile 4 was thinking I'm going to PR for sure. I was running a 9:10 pace and my goal pace is 9:30...huge after that crazy bike course. I hit the one short but steep hill on the run course and it happens...my heart is racing at over 200 BPM. I'm losing power and energy, it's hot and I have no choice now but to slow down. Any chance of a PR is done. I see my wife LIz and I ask her to pray for me as I now struggle to run 10 minute miles. While this racing heart phenomenon I occasionally get is not life threatening, but it drains most of my energy leaving me fatigued.

Info on this condition can be found here: http://www.bobbyjulich.com/?p=46

With the high heat and heart rate all I could muster was a steady jog for the rest of the course running mile 12 at a 11:20 pace followed by a 9:44 for my final mile. Not exactly the way I envisioned finishing this race.

GOAL TIME 2:05:00

ACTUAL TIME 2:12:20

GOAL RACE TIME 6:27:00
ACTUAL RACE TIME 7:22:42


RACE RECAP - So...lets look for the positives of my event...uhhh... I beat my predicted transition times! I finished 5th in my age group! What I did accomplish and learn is that my all liquid nutrition is working well even in 94 degree weather. Putting on my compression socks in T2  was easier. I used my GPS on the run for the first time in a race and have decided to use it for IMAZ on the run only. (Battery life is an issue). I've experienced a small taste of how tough a full Ironman will be and how things beyond your control (heart rate, weather) can impact your race goals. My biggest disappointment was my swim. To see my swim fears coming back in a race that was to be a final tuneup for Ironman is really disheartening. I swim this distance twice a week and see no improvement? The Ironman swim cut off for 2.4 miles is 2:20:00. Theoretically based on even this slow race swim I should be able to beat it, but it still plants a seed of doubt in my mind. Physically I don't get tired during the swim, I'm just not comfortable in the water and swim very slow. The bike was just a great workout and the run I'm not completely unhappy with considering the circumstances. I'm proud to have raced and finished this difficult Half Ironman and it was great preparation for my ultimate goal, Ironman Arizona.

I want to thank my Heavenly Father who strengthens me and because of His grace and mercy I'm able to do these things in hope that somehow I can encourage others and glorify God with my actions.
I also would not be able to do this crazy training and racing without the support and encouragement of my wife Liz who brings me fresh bottles on long training days, prepares food for me and tells me how proud she is of me even when I fail to meet my personal goals.
Also a shout out to John and Ruby Lau. You guys were such a blessing this weekend, caring for us and feeding us ridiculous amounts of food. Thank you so much! John, I miss the long training rides we used to do together. Lets make it happen again!

MAGIC MOUNTAIN MAN TRIATHLON PRE RACE REPORT

This Sunday I will be participating in the 2nd Edition of the Magic Mountain Man Triathlon at Castaic Lake California. My second Half Ironman. This race will give me a final opportunity to test my transition skills, nutrition strategy, and equipment in a race situation before Ironman Arizona (IMAZ). I will be returning to familiar grounds from my mountain bike racing days as this venue is also one of the race locations for the California State Championship Mountain Bike Series. I loved racing here then, and I’m hoping some of that positive thinking will cross over racing here as a triathlete.

The 1.2 mile swim in lake Castaic will be my first mass start triathlon so it will be a good test of getting hit and kicked without panicking. The water is advertised as between 68-70 degrees so being cold is not an issue with a full wetsuit. I’m hoping to improve on my Half Ironman swim time.

The bike course will be very challenging with a total elevation gain of 6,800 feet for the 56 miles but cycling is my strength so my biggest concern is how this tough course will impact my run. To give you an idea of how tough it is, after the swim you jump on your bike and start a seven mile climb with an average grade of 5%! That should warm me up after the cold water!

The 13.1 mile run is mostly flat around the lake on asphalt with some dirt.


Some of my most important testing during this race will be my nutrition. I’ve been using a liquid nutrition formula from a company called Infinit (http://www.infinitnutrition.us). I’ve been testing this product in training (at the recommendation of other Ironmen) and it’s been working great without causing any gastro intestinal distress. To give you an example, I did a training ride last Saturday of 97 miles and the only nutrition I had was 5 bottles of Infinit which kept me hydrated and fueled for the entire ride. No gels, cliff bars or Double Doubles. I will also be using a special formulated nutrition mix for my run from Infinit.
Praise God for giving me the, health, strength, determination and perseverance to do this race.


Here are my goals for this weekend.
SWIM - :45:00 (I know, still slow but it would be a PR!)

T1 - :07:00 (I’m not using my compression socks on the bike. I will put them on in T2)

BIKE – 3:25:00 (Not sure about this one…really tough course!)

T2 - :05:00 (Put on compression socks and sunscreen)

RUN – 2:05:00 (This would be a PR…the tough bike and heat could keep this from happening)

TOTAL TIME 6:27:00

I would love to PR this race going under 6:25:57 which was my time at California Half Ironman in March. It would be amazing considering how tough this bike course is. I can’t wait to get on the run course because this is where I feel I’ve made my biggest improvements. What may kill my run in this race is the predicted 87 degree weather after a very tough bike course. Regardless of the outcome the real goal is to use this race as a training tool to finish Ironman Arizona! Please pray that my race will be accident and injury free!