I'm not sure where the saying "sick as a dog" came from but it fit this past week. Last Sunday I started to feel iffy, Monday much worse and called it and slept the day away, Tuesday not really much better but I had to go to the office, Wednesday another day of sleeping the day away.
Now as an athlete we tend to feel invincible and immune to the flu, or at least better equipped to get over and recover quicker. So Thursday rolled around I was feeling better, so I headed out for a solid run in the afternoon. 1:20 minutes of easy tempo work, as the run started I was checking my HR and it was right in line where it should have been and I felt great. I debated turning around at 30 minutes but I still felt good. Clearly I was not well. 20 minutes later my HR spiked and my pace dropped off a cliff. It wasn't helped by the fact the temp dropped 10 degrees and the cold rain started falling. 10 minutes later I could barely lift my legs off the ground to continue moving forward. I did make it back to the finish but was close.
Friday was borderline but not great, but my coach and I exchanged emails about the planned Sunday race and he strongly recommendd I not run, in my mind I was going to run. Yeserday I spent an hour on the trainer which nearly killed me as not from the workout but the fact that it was dry and moderately warm outside and I really wanted to be riding outside. So today I had already resolved that I wasn't going to race but I did get out for a 50 minute run. I'm clearly not back to "normal" yet but I was feeling better.
It's a funny thing trying to separate the athlete from the neutral observer. As a coach I'd never recommend an athelete I coach run in this condition but again as an athlete the work that's been put in and the desire to race sometimes cloud your rational decision making. This is one of the advantage having a hands on coach as opposed to be self coached or just getting cookie cutter workouts, that little person on your shoulder your alter ego who can be the voice of reason.
So I'm hoping that this is it for the flu and me this year and that I get back to "normal" this week, because it's time trial time this coming weekend. It should be interesting, short and sweet, and utterly painful. I'll let you know how it goes.
So towards the end of last season I was begining to think about coaching after getting a few inquiries. So after some debate I decided to take on a few athletes for the 2009 season and donate the coaching fees to a charity I support called Charley's Fund. So I have a few athletes I'm coaching this year and I got my first test yesterday with one of the athletes I coach racing at Ironman New Zealand.
I'm calling it a success. I wasn't too excited when James told me he wanted to do this race for a couple of reasons. First it's early season (for us in the northern states) and second he lives in Detroit which, well frankly is known for it's snowy cold winters which is not great for training.
After some discussion and negotiations we agreed that he should race with the expectation that this be a "get your feet" wet first Ironman. James goal is to qualify for Kona but given the training conditions in winter, the timing of the race and his swim and run fitness, looking at the history of the qualifiers from this race and the fact that he is also planning on racing at Ironman Lousiville later this summer I didn't think this was the one to go after.
So we set up a plan to focus on some basics and focusing on James weak spots to ensure he had a balanced race. I believe if we hadn't taken this approach it would have been such a success as he would have been relying on his strength on the bike which I believe doesn't set you up for a great overall Ironman. The work he put in over the past couple of months has been fantastic and the improvement in his swim and run has been great and he's done just enough this winter to be balanced on the bike. Above all he's stuck with the plan and been consistent which is key to any good Ironman program.
I haven't talked to James since he finished but it looks like he executed the race plan just as we discussed. He had a great swim it appears finishing the swim in 1:05 which is significantly faster than I would have expected given his swims in the half distance races last season. He had a solid bike effort given the fact that most of his riding has been on the trainer with the exception of 1 week in Florida posting a bike split of 5:05. The big unknown for me was how the run would go. I think the cooler temps and not expending too much energy on the bike really helped him limit his losses on the run. He finished up the run in 3:42 (not sure but this might be his marathon PR), I honestly wasn't expecting this great a run from James but a coach always likes being surprised by their athletes performances.
Overall James just missed going sub 10 in his first Ironman finishing up in 10:00:52, good enough for 23rd in his tough 35-39 age group and 106th overall. Way to go James, take this week off and by the way you'll be paying in the upcoming months for sandbagging the swim and run.
The takeaways is have a good training plan (an engaged coach is recommended), be consistent in your training and train with focus (most of us don't have unlimited time to train) and success will come.
So when I started in this whole triathlon thing I wasn't exactly a competitive swimmer (and for the record I'm still not). I grew up on a lake and spent summer days "swimming". Well if you count doing cannonballs and dives off the springboard on our dock as swimming. Not the kind of swimming that makes you fast or efficient.
My first year in this sport (3 years ago) I was swimming 1-2 days a week and mostly in the lake because I hated the pool, to be fair I wasn't comfortable in the pool (I couldn't do flip turns..still can't). In my second year I didn't improve much but neither did my volume or focus on my form.
Last year I got a coach and my swimming world changed. Not because he was standing on the deck criticizing my every interval because he is in Canada and I'm not, but because he focused me. He focused me, focused me on every workout. Now I don't swim more times per week or significantly more per workout but my focus is deep. I now don't do a workout without a focus, every set, every interval, every lap and yes every length of the pool.
It's been a very simple recipe really, just break down the stroke in the pieces and focus on the little things and repeat many, many times. This is probably one of my strengths; the ability focus on the routine without becoming bored. This has served me well in the pool and in the evolution of my swimming and it has evolved. I have the ability to repeat a drill lap after lap after lap. The real break through has really only occurred recently as I have begun to put all those little pieces together at one time in my stroke and shazam I'm swimming faster.
A year ago I did a set of six 200's (2 x (3 x 200yds)) and I was estatic with a fastest interval of 2:53 and towards the end I was gasping for air and could only manage a 3:01. Today I did 10 200's (2 x (5 x 200)) the first set was supposed to be for pacing and the second set was suppossed to be for speed. Now I still don't fully get the the pacing thing in the water (although I'm getting better) unlike on the run if someone tells me to run 7:00/min mile pace I can pretty much go out and hit that without even the slightest hint (probably the 35,000 miles I've run in my lifetime). Now back to today's swim I got out hot in the first set but my intervals looked something like this 2:47, 2:48, 2:46, 2:48, 2:51, 2:45, 2:47, 2:48, 2:50, 2:51. That is improvement and the best thing about it was that except for the last 3 intervals these felt pretty controlled and comfortable and that control and comfort came from better, more efficent form born from focusing on the little things.
So what have I learned about improving your swim. Be patient, be focused and be consistent and improvement will come. I really can't wait to see what this seasons swim performances look like.
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