VanderTri.com

We will all get knocked down from time to time in life.  Sometimes it might be physically, mentally, at work, at home, financially, spiritually, emotionally. For the most part what's great about humans is that we have the capability and capacity to bounce back.  This doesn't always mean we will but mostly we have the opportunity and ability to. 

I've been knocked down a few times in life and I think I've always come through the other side stronger and with more knowledge (doesn't always mean I applied that knowledge in the future).  At the time it's happening I don't always think about the knock down in the moment as an opportunity, but at some point theres a trigger that says "OK" what do I do, how do I overcome, what's the plan and I go formulate, and put into action the "plan". 

If you follow this blog you know recently I was actually knocked down, well more accurately fell down.  In the moment I thought I might actually die, then I though no I'm just going to be in the hopital for months (all of this happened in a second), then in the moments following hitting the pole I realized I was alive and really not that seriously (life threatening) injured. 

The crash has forced me to put a big part of my life on hold at least temporarily.  I really love training and racing trialthon but for the time being neither is happening.  What's different this time is that from all the knockdowns in life I'm taking a different approach and frankly handling this one really well.  In the past this would have devastated me, other than the physical devastation there would have been mental and emotional devastation which would have been far worse and acutally much more damaging.  I could have been mad, disappointed that I didn't finish, that I didn't have a good day in the race, or that I didn't qualify for Kona.  I mean my expectations were that finishing an Ironman isn't a problem for me, qualfying for Kona is a no brainer and that I should be able to race to a PR.  Not doing any of these could have crumbled me.  I've talked to a few people who had a rough day at IMC that didn't go perfectly for them, that didn't meet up to their expectations and I can feel the bitterness, the dissapointment and to some degree anger and I know where their heading and it's not good.

So what am I doing to to deal with this knockdown. 

I'm healing physically it's been 11 days since the crash and I still hurt, my legs are swollen, black and blue and sore but they get better each and every day, my ribs are sore but again getting better.  I've just come to the realization that it's going to take a couple more weeks before I can begin to train again in the meantime I'm doing what I can to speed the recovery, massage, icing, and now walking.  Yep walking is my workout, and that is very hard thing to do for someone who truly races 140.6 miles.  I know when I start back it will take a while to get back to where I feel fit again but it won't really take that long.

I've just said my season is over.  I had hoped to race Silverman in November but now I'm not planning on it.  It still might happen but my expectations are that it won't and I'm Ok with that.  Instead I've started to think about and plan for next season, laying out the races I want to race and the challeges I want to take on.  Kona is always in the back of my mind as it's such a special race but honestly I'm not planning any races that are qualifiers.  Instead I'm looking at mixing things up a bit and racing a mountain bike, road bike, paddle, run relay solo, in addition to several half Ironmans, some sprints, and maybe an international Ironman race (Western Australia sounds nice).  I always race better when I'm doing it to have fun, this season was mostly fun.

I'm going to Kona.  I had already booked my trip to Kona for October with the expectation that I'd either be racing or relaxing.  So I'm going and will be relaxing, spending time with Kristen, hopefully feeling good enough to do a little bike riding, some swimming, a little running and some paddling. Taking pictures of the race and taking in the race as a spectator (I still believe that everyone should experience the Ironman as spectator, TV just doesn't do it justice). 

I'm focusing on work. Work is always there and it's always busy, part of why I started doing triathlon was to get in shape after several years of too much focus on work (working 6 days a week 70-80 hrs a week for a couple of years).  I can use this time to buckle down for a few weeks and do a little above and beyond effort and get ahead of the curve.  At Microsoft we always seem to be just behind the curve no matter how much you work, that actually probably won't change but hey it's worth a shot.

So I'm in a good place overall.  Went to the doctor yesterday and he said he didn't think I had a broken rib, offered an x-ray but I declined as the prescrption was the same no matter what, rest it so I thought I'd do my part to reduce the cost of healthcare.  I expect to get a little irritable, that's just a fact that exercise is my outlet but I'm taking it all in stride and moving forward.

A couple of announcements coming up in the next couple weeks regarding coaching and charity events so even though there might not be much in the way of updates on the racing front there will be a few blog updates. Now I need to go enjo

Well as most of you know things did not go exactly as I had hoped at Ironman Canada last Sunday.  It started off well enough but ended with a pretty nasty bike crash and ride in an ambulance to the medical tent.

My injuries mostly consisted of some serious contusions on my upper thighs and bicep and some scrapes and scratches.  It also appears now that I may have cracked a rib.  In short it's just more than a week later and I'm still pretty sore but I'm healing. 

Interestingly enough I didn't really have much in the way of dark bruises where I hit considering how hard I hit, but they're showing up now.  The bruising is no where near where I hit the light pole.  Basically all the soreness and bruising is moving through my quads and thighs as the deep pooled bruising is moving through my muscles.

The good news is that I can actually bend my knees now more than a few degrees but my legs will still cramp up going downstairs or a ramp.

My trouble is the sore rib.  Why? Basically the legs will be back to a point where I can be active again in few days but the rib, well that's another story.  That's going to keep my inactive for a while. 

So for now I don't have any plans but recover and relax.  I was thinking about racing at Silverman in November but we'll see how quickly the body heals up.  For now I'm just looking forward to some relaxation in Kona in a few weeks. 

I've been asked a few times now about whether I'm worried about getting on the bike?  Absolutely not, to the contrary I'm ready to get back.  One of the things you find when you ride is that it's not if you'll fall it's when and how hard.  In the past three years I've ridden nearly 14,000 miles and have crashed 3 times.  That's a lot of miles and not a lot of falls.  So far the tally a broken hand, some scrapes and scratches, two big thigh contusions and a sore rib.

More recovery updates as things improve or future race plans solidify. 

Packing all the stuff for my trip to IMC has slowly been refined and confined from five rooms in my house to two, soon it should all be contained in my foyer and living room and then I have to delicately and strategically load it in my car.  In an effort to help the environment, reduce the chance of a search of my car (not that I have anything to hide), and force me to not pack everything and anything I might possible need I'm going to drive my Mini (clubman that is) up north.

The decision of what to drive (I know a luxury most people don't have and one that I probably shouldn't) is not taken lightly nor is it an easy decision.  It's like every single decision that goes into packing for the Ironman from the smallest of things to the big things. 

Things to consider when considering what car to drive up north.  Bike inside the car saved from wind, rain and the smash of bugs or strapped to the roof exposed to the elements.  Passing efficiency let's be clear it's a 7 hour drive and if I can shave 15 minutes off that I'm going to, god forbid I get stuck behind an Okanagan farmer (nice people but slow drivers) on one of those north eastern Washington roads that passes for a highway, Mini wins (heck 70 to 100 in 2 seconds). 

I'll digress for a minute for non Ironman racers we've been waiting months for this event patiently training away and so we're anxious to get there and want to get there as quickly as possilbe, hell I'm showing great restraint in having not left for Canada on Wednesday.  The funny part is everything leading up to an Ironman race cannon is one big slow line. Wait in line to register, in line to eat at the reception dinner, in line to check in at my hotel, in line to cross the border, in line to purchase race logo clothing we really don't need, in line to get my tires pumped on race morning, in line to pee on race morning and finally in line to get into the water so we can finally get going.

Where was I?  Oh yeah, I need to decide which tools to take in my bike tool box since I only know what half of them do so I took those that I don't know anything about out of the box, it didn't make more space in the car but I was able to get more other stuff in the box thus reducing the clutter in the car.  I have to decide which camera(s) to bring and how many the fact is I'll probably only use one of them so I'll bring 4.  I need to decide which clothes to bring, both for looking fancy around town and looking fancy and keeping cool or warm on race day (down to two relatively small bags.  How many helments,  how many spare tires, how much nutrition (for training, pre-race, during the race), how many pairs of run shoes, how many pairs of bike shoes, swim googles, mirrored, clear, tinted, which race wheels disc or 1080 or 606... this is the mind of an Ironman in the week before race day it would make most people dizzy but for an Ironman athlete it keeps your mind busy in the week leading up to the race and keeps your demons and doubts at bay. 

Things not too think (and fret) about, the weather, your race number (#976 has a nice ring to it), the training you didn't do, the nagging aches and pains, what other people are doing.

So what's the point Ironman athleletes are generally a nuerotic, compulsive, list obsessed bunch but really I'm just trying to keep my mind off the race until it's time to race.....12 hours until the strategic packing of the car begins.

I hate tapering.  My body always starts to get cranky when I start my taper, my body seems sore, and by the end of the taper I'm anxious and ready to bust down the gates. 

Tapering is a pretty individualistic thing but for me it's about a slow reduction in volume and intensity.  So for exampe three weeeks ago I put in 21 hrs of training, two weeks ago I put in 19 hours and last week I put in 13 hours which was the beginning of the taper.  I still did some hard efforts including a longish run on Saturday with hard tempo.  This one of those confident booster runs, 15 miles the first hour at low end aerobic effort (for me it was sub 140 bpm HR and around 7:20 mile pace then crank it up for the last 45 minutes which I was holding 6:35/mile pace at 158 bpm.  My race threshold HR for the marathon in the ironman is right around 161 bpm anymore than that and I'm cooking the engine.  So what does all this tell me?  If I'm having a good day, good energy, body loose, hydrate well, fuel well on the bike and don't go anaerobic on the bike much I should have a good run in me.  It won't be 6:35/mile pace but I don't think low 7's is out of the question.  That's a lot of variables however. 

My bike power and endurance is there and my swim should be a good one based on my workouts and other races this season.

This week I really back off the volume as I'll drop to 10-11 hours of total activity, while maintaining a bit of longer workouts (not really long) and some intensity workouts but these are much shorter than normal the goal being to keep the muscles firing and sharp.  This was a problem at Kona last year.

Next week will be much lower volume but it doesn't dry up as I'll still be doing workouts and keeping some short intensity in there.  Most of all I'm getting really religious in my eating and hydrating the next two weeks. 

Other than that I'm picking up the last few things I need for the race, my bike is in the shop getting some much needed TLC so I hopefully don't have any problems on race day and I'm getting all of my race stuff laid out so I know I have everything I need and starting to glance at the forecast so I can get an indication of what the weather is going to be like on race day. 

The reality is that I like to race with as little as possible in my transition bags and on my bike.  Just keep it simple.   

More updates to come with pictures hopefully.

I'm in the final push to IMC.  This past week was a big week, not my biggest in terms of volume or time but seriously big in terms of the combination of volume and intensity and just plain suffering.

The week opened up on Tuesday with some hard running.  30 minute negative tempo, 10 min warmup, 30 minutes at a good clip of 6:49/mile pace then I heated it up for the same 4.4 miles I had just covered at 6:18/mile pace followed by a 10 minute cooldown.  It was comfortable, that in and of itself is a little scary.

Wednesday was a nice solid swim of 4K comprised primarily of 6 x 500 all of which were near my fastest ever for that distance. That was followed up later with a nice little 2 hour ride, nothing big just easy tempo.

Thursday was another good solid run of a little over an hour with a bunch of fartleks.  Another solid run.

On Friday I headed south to Hood River.  I arrived early and headed out on a nice little 5.5 hour ride.  East I headed out past The Dalles, the wind was light, slightly overcast, feeling perfect.  Up over the top of State Road.  As I started down the crazy descent I noticed the wind had picked up, it was a white knuckle descent but just a tast of things to come.  I headed out through The Dalles and onto 7 mile road before turning onto Emerson Loop.  Cruising along at a flat section feeling great holding 28 mph, damn I feel good.  After turning onto Kelly Cutoff I understood why I felt so good a few minutes earlier, as I headed west I came to a standstill.  The wind was raging in my face, I was working huge effort and only moving at 6 mph (on the flats).  Twice I was actually blown to a standstill by the gusts and twice blown off the road.  Now I'm not the most sensible person and sometimes I just like to suffer well this is a bad combination as I came back I debated and headed out for another loop, just plain stupid. I realized the error of my way about halfway through the second loop.  At the conclusion of the second loop I then realized that I still had 25 miles of riding directly into the teeth of the wind (I would only find out later that the reported average in The Dalles was 46 mph with gusts to into the 60's).  It was pure suffering, the only time I've ever been scared on my bike, and much windier than anything Kona and the Queen K can throw at you.  The only highlight was riding up to the Rowena Butte.  Riding uphill (7%) grade as I turned around a switchback the wind was at my back, I going uphill at 14 mph, not pedaling.....sweet, but it only lasted for about 50 yards.  I was cooked, fried and pretty much done and never wanting to get on the bike again.

Saturday started off a little stiff but I headed out early for a nice little run.  I ran a new route on Klickitat trail which goes along the Klickitat River.  One of my best runs ever.  The trail climbs at 1% for I don't know how long but I went 9 miles before turning around.  It was beautiful, peaceful and relaxing.  18 miles of pure bliss.  After a quick nap and food I headed out a nice little ride.  I found a ride which is supposed to be good for windy days.  The ride headed out towards Mt. Adams and started off climbing for the first 20 miles for 3000 feet (into the wind....sigh).  The road was beautiful however, butter smooth and almost no cars.  I was supposed to hit a turn off but never got to it as the road turned to gravel before I got to the turn, so I turned around to head back the way I came.  After climbing for another 2000 feet I started my descent with a tailwind.  It was a nice way to end a tough day, riding for 15 miles averaging 35 mph, probably the most fun I've ever had on the bike just flat out going fast with not much effort.  When I was done though I was tired, dog tired.

Sunday going to be another good ride effort.  Again I found a new ride that again was supposed to be good on windy days.  It was definitly better wind-wise but the ride was anything but easy, it climbed for the first 30 miles, nearly 5000 ft of climbing in total.  The ride went onto the approach of Mt. Hood.  I finally turned onto a fire road called Wathum Lake Road and then onto Branch Lake Road.  It became clear early this road didn't see a lot of traffic as there was debris all over the road and a few weeds growing in the cracks.  At one point I looked up and the road just continued to climb straight up for what seemed like ever.  The ride as bit eerie as I was very alone climbing through the forest on the deserted road.  I finally rounded a bend in the road and I suddenly wasn't alone, rumbling down the road towards me about 100 feet in front of me as a huge black bear.  I began yelling "go home bear" and waving my arm, only later did it dawn on me that telling the bear to go home probably didn't make much sense to the bear since he was home.  The bear reared up on his hind legs looked at me for moment, then in a single instant motion he turned and began galloping up the road and into the woods.  I was glad he ran away because with the speed that bear was running I would have been toast if he decided I was lunch.  I rode past where he went into the woods and continued checking over my shoulder to make sure the bear hadn't had a change of heart.  Just about the time my HR had come back to reasonable level I looked up the road and what do I see....another bear, this one was much smaller just as scared of me.  That was the highlight of the weekend.

Needless to say it was a tough week and a hard weekend of training, but I'll put those hard efforts in the bank for three weeks from now.  Just 250 miles on the bike and 40 miles of running and a little swimming.  This coming week will be some pretty serious swim volume and still as solid volume week but the taper is underway.

I'm in the home stretch to IMC and this past week was a big one. 

I knew going in there was lots of volume, big intensity and the forecast was for some of the hottest weather Seattle has ever seen. 

The week started off innocently enough, just a nice little 2 hr ride.  It was warm but not sweltering yet.  The ride included some time riding 75% and 85% of TT effort.  In the end it was a good ride to just get the legs warmed up for the rest of the week.

Tuesday we ramped things up a bit with a nice little 3500 yd swim in the morning with lots of drills and some short pacing intervals.  Things started to really get tough later in the day when I headed out for my negative tempo run.   Basically for this one you warmup, then run at a mod/hard effort for 25 minutes, turnaround and cover the same distance you just ran in 25 minutes at a hard effort.  These are tough regardless but as I started the run at 6:00 pm it was 95 degrees.  It wasn't as fast as I normally run these but intensity was there given the heat with an average for the whole run around 7 minutes per mile.  This would just be a hint of the rest of the week.

Wednesday was a simple day.  Another 2 hour ride, only a little twist ride 26 miles at full time trial effort.  Pretty much this ride is ride as hard as you can hold for 26 miles, again normally a hard workout but as I cruised through Redmond towards the Snoqualmie Valley the temp was 104 degrees at 6:30pm.  The temps were as hot as my legs.  I had a great TT ride with an average of 23.6 mph for the 26 miles.

Thursday was another short day.  Just a one hour run with fartleks (short hard effort) in 96 degree heat.  I was really happy how my body was handling the heat, my HR was up a bit not it wasn't spiking or blowing the roof off from the heat which helps with my confidence if it's hot at IMC. 

Friday as a swim/run brick.  Another 3500 yard swim workout this time mod/hard 300 as in 9 of them all at even pace.  Immediately after off for another 1+ hour run again the temp was in the 90's.  This is my taper day before "big" Saturday. 

Saturday was supposed to be swim, bike, run brick day but as I hadn't slept well with the heat all week I pushed the swim off to Sunday and just did the bike/run workouts.  This was enough believe me.  I started the ride at 7:30am.  The call for the day was hills and pickup the effort in the 2nd half of the ride.  I did a double loop ride hitting 5 hills each loop none were really what I'd consider climbs as the longest was probably 2 miles but they were steep and at the start of the bike it was 70 degrees and humid.  It was a great ride I rode hard focusing on nailing the hills and rode them all in the big ring except one (it's 15% in spots).  In the end I rode 106 miles in 5:45.  Immediately off the bike and out for a run.  40 minutes of easy running.  I felt great on the whole run as was clicking off the miles at near 7 minute mile pace. 

Sunday was not going to be any easier just 2:15 minutes of running.  This is my low aerobic run but anytime you're running for 2+ hours it's a tough day.  The legs were a little stiff for the first 20 minutes then loosened right up and had one of the best long runs I've had in a long time.  It was humid and still warm but not sweltering.  17 miles in 2:10 @ 138 bpm average.  What did this tell me?  If I'm having a good day, I can run a fast marathon off the bike since my HR race threshold on the run is around 160 bpm.  I finished off the week back in the pool with another 3300 yards just 4 x 500 (first 3 were at even pace then ratchet up the pace for the last one. 

Whew....I survived and best of all felt great throughout the week. The totals for the week were 10,000 + yds in the pool, 180+ hard miles in the saddle and 50+ solid miles on the run.

One more big week this week with a huge 3 day weekend of training which will include a very long run and upwards of 13 hours on the bike over 3 days.  The weather is supposed to cool off so I'm headed south this weekend in search of some more warm temps.

Just one more week then I start the long slow taper.  I'm swimming well, riding well and running well.  I may be fitter than I've ever been before.  We'll see how it all comes together in 27 days.

I didn't think about it until I was about 2 miles from the top of the climb but I had ridden the entire ride in my big chain ring.  My turnover wasn't fast but it was very consistent and smooth and the bike was really moving.  A year ago or even a couple months ago there would have been no way I would have been able to ride in the big ring up a climb like this.  Apparently this is a pretty popular ride as I passed about two dozen other riders on the climb and I was going much faster than most.  The road was in really great condition and there were few cars.  At the top I took a minute to refuel and then I was off for the bombing descent.  This is the reward for alll the climbing and I love to descend.  I really flying holding mid to upper 40 mph range.  I had been passed by a rider descending while I was climbing about a mile from the top and about half way down from the top I came flying up behind him.  He was down in the tuck position going fast and I flew by him and I think I spooked him a bit as it wasn't a slow roll by and I certainly don't think he expected to be caught and passed by anyone on a bike.  I finished off ride back to the park on the interstate but I really didn't want to be on there and was rolling fast at 30mph average.  I'm really feeling like my bike fitness is coming around.  We'll see in a couple weeks at Vineman.

After a night of a few margaritas at the little mexican restaurant in Stevenson and sleeping at the fairgrounds while the wind howled I got up and hit the road for a nice 1:40 run.  This was along Highway 14 which wasn't too bad but there were a few sections where there wasn't a lot to shoulder thankfully there weren't a lot of cars.  I felt pretty good after my long slow aerobic run. I'm looking forward to another couple of weeks of hard training before Vineman. 

I need to give a shoutout to James who is one of the athletes I coach who raced in some tough conditions at Buffalo Springs 70.3 this weekend.  He had a pretty good race overall finishing up in 4:46.  Best of all he's getting much more balanced in his race effort and it's paying off, I think he even had a half IM run PR of 1:39. Patience, hard work and consistency is a recipe for success. 

This coming week.  Sunshine, lots of training, work, the beach, watching fireworks from the rooftop of the houseboat.  Happy Independence Day holiday.