Deeper Calling

Tonight I progressed towards a promise I made at the beginning of the year that I would volunteer more often.  It took discipline to break away from the office around 5 to do it, but I'm really glad I did.  The shelter was busier than the last time Steph and I served meals, which was in December.  I must have personally served at least 500 meals in about two hours. Think about that for a second.

That's 500 people who were lucky enough to get a hot meal from the Union Rescue Mission (ham, corn, salad, potatoes, bread, pie) and presumably a cot to sleep in.  Men, women, children.  What about the rest of LA's homeless?  Where are they tonight?  While we're home, while I'm typing this very blog, where are they?  How are they keeping dry?  Warm?  Safe?

I wish there was a way I could make my training pay off for the homeless somehow.  I wish I could raise a couple bucks for every hour I put in the pool, on the bike or the trails.  Tie dollar amounts to what I'm doing for fun, and help put more food on people's plates, or more clothes on their back.

I'm going to think about this more in the coming days and see what I come up with for next year. My good buddy Rusty is doing some special work through Season 1 Racing now.  Maybe I'm next.  Perhaps a deeper calling to all this training is exactly what I need to stay motivated.

***

My new-and-improved running technique -- focusing on higher cadence and more elbow torque -- seems to be paying off.  I ran for 5.25 miles this morning (in my Newtons, no less!) as part of my brick workout in just over 40 minutes.  As you might recall, I was running 4.5 miles in 45 minutes not too long ago.  The best part of today's chilly jaunt: My heart-rate was consistently in the low 150s and my pace was a consistent 8:15-8:20. This is especially uplifting given the Cheseboro Half Marathon this Saturday.  A week ago I thought the sky was falling and I lacked motivation to train at all.  This caused Coach Gerardo to mention I was a little behind overall in my Wildflower Long Course training.  But now I feel re-energized.  And eager for competition.  My goal is to break two hours since I've never run a trail race before.  But the way I'm running since Sunday causes me to wonder if I can do even better.  Cheseboro is supposed to be a training run, but I know myself -- and you probably know me by now too.

1:50 or bust!

OK, that's all the energy I've got tonight.  Steph is watching Glee in the other room.  I can feel the gravitational pull through the wall.  Help me.  Please.

90 days and counting.

Coeur d'Alene Race Strategy Lesson

What a busy day.  First, the hot water was knocked out in our condo so that killed any chance of a morning workout.  (Sorry, I may do 12 hours of physical pain and mental anguish, but cold showers and I don't get along.)  Then, from there I've been non-stop in meetings, impromptu meetings and more meetings until around 7 tonight.  I've just finished dinner at home and am waiting around 20 minutes to get on the bike to spin for an hour, moving my strength session to Wednesday because I just can't fit it all in today. Fortunately, one of my meetings was an interview for my next Lava Magazine column.  I connected with Andy Potts, Ironman winner and 2004 Olympian. Andy has been tough to pin down for the past week so I jumped at the chance to talk. While I won't disclose what I'm writing about for April's Lava piece, we did get to the subject of race strategy at Ironman Coeur d'Alene during the final few minutes of our call.  That, I can share here.

Andy won Ironman Coeur d'Alene last year in a time of 8:24:40.  So I asked him what tips he might have for me and others who read my blog.  Andy advised me to use the course to my advantage, explaining that it's two laps on the swim, bike and run. He broke the race up into two parts for each leg, racing each lap like a half Ironman.  "Any tricks you can play with your mind to help overcome the obstacle (of an Ironman) really goes a long way," Andy said.  He added that the course is nice but challenging, a little hilly. Fortunately the crowd gets behind everyone, especially as racers enter the heart of town.

I may not have been able to train much today, but I feel like I got a great lesson in race strategy nonetheless.  I'll keep that in mind as I prepare for IM CDA, though don't worry, Coach Gerardo, I'll stick to our plan (for the most part!).

Now, time to cram in an hour of spinning.  Wish me luck.

92 days and counting.

Rough-Fit Running Lesson

Today I met with a high school friend of Stephanie's, Greg Moe.  He and a partner run a fitness performance training company in Tustin called Rough-Fit.  Greg has qualified for the US triathlon team in his age group for the Olympic distance and considers running one of his specialties.

I recently did some website copywriting for Rough-Fit, which you can check out here: http://roughfit.com/

In exchange, Greg was kind enough to offer me a coached running workout.  Since Steph and I were in the OC to visit some family friends, today was the day to take him up on it.  And I am so glad I did!

Riding alongside me in his Trek mountain bike, Greg counted my cadence, observed my foot striking, arm movement and body positioning.  It turns out I'm doing a lot more right than wrong.  My biggest accomplishment is that I've successfully transitioned to forefoot/mid-foot striking.  Greg mentioned that my feet are under my hips and that he even didn't notice the fact that my left leg is longer than my right.  In other words, my running is pretty balanced even though my right leg swings outward a bit (a structural problem, not necessarily technique).

Where I needed the most work was increasing my cadence, going from 84-85 steps a minute to 92 -- where Greg says most elite runners maintain their stride count.  I picked up the tip quickly without trying to raise my speed, which is a common mistake among runners playing with cadence.

Then, Greg worked with me on using my arms more to help drive movement.  He said that most runners think that swinging your arms forward makes you go forward faster.  But Greg argued that driving your elbows back, so your fingertips almost brush past your hips, is more effective.  The backwards drive of your elbows can help increase power and speed.  A great analogy he offered was that I could try to picture filing my fingernails on my hips to get my elbows back more.  I felt a difference most notably on some uphill drills we did in the Newport Beach back bay neighborhood.  Fortunately, Greg said my body positioning during these drills was upright, which further helped.

Finally, Greg gave me some pointers on how to run downhill more effectively.  In short, it's good to give in to the downward slope of the hill.  Let the hill and gravity do the work, and do not use your legs as brakes if possible.  Greg said he can gain up to 20 seconds on his mph-pace going down hill by letting his cadence and strides increase while keeping his heart rate the same or decreasing.  I tried this on a few hills and went noticeably much faster than I ever have on downhills. Granted, my heart-rate didn't subside during those intervals, but Greg said that would come in time with practice.

Despite some heavy winds, I ran at a low 7:00-7:15 pace for a few miles on the way back to my car, Greg pedaling casually beside me and both of us doing our best to beat the imminent rainstorm.  Today's lesson was a huge confidence booster.  Greg validated that my running form is largely on track, and with some tweaks and practice, I'll get faster.

I may not be the world's fastest runner, but my form is improving, just like in the pool.  And despite the workouts I've missed lately that may be key to preparing for Wildflower, Greg thinks I can definitely run in this weekend's Cheseboro Half Marathon trail run.

When I showed up to visit Greg I was on the fence. Coach Gerardo said I could do it but to see how I feel.  Now that I know I'm not a "running reject," I think I'm ready to give it a shot. It only took two failed running events (LA 13.1 and Surf City Full Marathon) for me to participate in a half marathon this year.

It's about time.

93 days and counting.

400 Blog Posts

There's a lot I could write about over the past two days.  I had a solid run on the treadmill on Friday, amping up the intensity while picturing all my friends racing at Coeur d'Alene that I want to beat.  (Yes, I'm a tad competitive, in case you didn't know already.)  I could write about how my running is falling behind at the expense of cycling and swimming, causing Coach Gerardo to question whether I could run a half-marathon next weekend or how I'd even do at Wildflower in a few weeks.  (Totally reasonable on his part, so no disagreements there.) Instead, I'm going to write just a bit about hitting the 400th blog post of the site on Thursday night.

I never expected I'd still be writing almost every day when I first created the site in 2009.  But here we are.  Honestly, I can't imagine not writing here!  The blog is as much a part of my training as my bike.  It helps me sort through the madness and monotony of Ironman training.  While I'm admittedly facing burnout issues at the moment, I think they would have occurred far sooner had it not been for being able to find something unique in almost every workout I complete.

What's especially interesting to me is what the next 400 posts might look like.  I think my full Ironman days will be behind me.  But I'll be attacking half-Ironman distance events and Olympics as fiercely as ever.  Still, I wonder if there's something more.  In fact, I know there is.  I just have to figure out what that "it" is.  Is there a charitable angle I want to explore?  Maybe.  A self-published book?  Possibly.I dunno.

I do know it's late and raining, and I'm tired.  Frank, Chris, Murray and I climbed 5,000 feet today and did close to 60 miles on the bike.  Then, I swam 2,500 yards, basically 50 minutes non-stop.  I'm mentally woozy and physically spent.

Back to the blogging thing for a moment.  If YOU were writing a blog, what would you be saying about your training right now?  What insights are you internalizing that could help you have a major breakthrough in your workouts? What's holding you back?  Why?  What's worth celebrating?  Why haven't you then?

If you haven't made one blog post there's never been a better time than right now.  Tri season is beginning.  It's just the start of something special for you.  Why not commemorate it with something that will last longer than the hat, T-shirt, visor or medal you'll receive after finishing the big race?  Remember, the process is just as important as the destination.

Perhaps the journey of 400 blog posts begins with a single word.

94 days and counting.

Answering the Call

I heard the bell tonight in my head.  Round 1: Fight! Really, it's round 12 of a 15 round slugfest.  The prize is my second Ironman.  As far as I'm concerned, Ironman CDA training "officially" began today.  It began in the pool, when in the final 100 of the night, two swimmers I had swam as fast as in speed drills all evening passed me in our time trial.  That made me think of my friend Chris, who the other night told me his only goal at IM CDA is to beat my IMAZ time, "a little friendly competition" he told me.

My friends are gunning for me.  They're training to beat their best aspirational times, and me in the process.

There is no more room for moping, or bitching.  Now is the time to work.

Coach Gerardo reminded me of that tonight when he said it's time to stop taking Sundays off.  Wildflower is essentially six weeks away. I haven't done enough brick workouts.  My conditioning is good but not great.

Like the Lakers, if there's some magical "switch" that I can turn on, now is the time to flip it.  Now is the time to drop the negativity.  Now is the time to put on the proverbial hard hat and go to work.  To answer the call.  Perhaps my three-day slide isn't unlike the Lakers' pre-All-Star skid where they lost to fairly miserable teams Charlotte and Cleveland.  Perhaps the champs were looking for motivation, and found it after taking some time to rest and recover.

That's how I'm feeling right now.  Re-focused, if not re-energized. I'm still working on that latter part, but I can sense the urgency in Wildflower approaching. I've honestly overlooked it, with nearly all my focus placed on IM CDA.

And today, Wildflower and IM CDA training officially began.  In the pool, losing badly to my buddies.

But to my friends who think they're beating me in Coeur d'Alene this year, I will say this:  Step your game up.  I'll be waiting.

Switch = flipped.

96 days and counting.

Back on the Bike

Back to my normal training, starting today. I didn't do so well -- heavy legs, high heart rate -- but I saw this spectacular view of Los Angeles around 7:30 a.m.  That's Griffith Observatory in the upper left and downtown LA behind it.  The best thing I can say about today's workout is that I completed it.  And it was only 90 minutes.  It felt good to be back out on the road, especially on the road bike.  While my cycling may not be great, my descending skills are improving dramatically.  I'm much more confident on the bike now than ever before.  I'll take progress where I can get it.

I wish I had more energy to write.  But it's been a long, long day.  Meetings from 10-3:30 p.m. straight, another meeting until 4:30 and catch-up straight until 6:50 p.m.

I hope a pretty picture will substitute for my prose now.

More words tomorrow, I hope.

97 days and counting.

Mind and Body Re-Unite!

It took me two days, but I think my head finally made it home from Texas, along with the rest of my body.  But it cost me a day of work to do it.  I stayed home today as I was utter trash when I awoke this morning. In fact, I slept straight through 10:15 a.m. and could have kept sleeping had it not been for the massive rumbling in my stomach.  After all, I dropped three pounds of water weight overnight!  I went to sleep at 137 pounds and awoke at 134.  No joke. Most of my day was spent in a hazy, exhausted fog. All I wanted to do was sleep. I felt like Ryan in Wonderland. Up was down, right was left.  I just didn't feel like my normal self.  Lethargic, to say the least.  And, for the third day in a row, I didn't train.  I just couldn't do it.  No energy.  No desire.

Tonight though, I had to drop my monthly coaching fee check off to Coach Gerardo. Normally, I'd give it to him right before jumping in the water for my Tuesday swim.  Instead, I was observing the team from above the deck.  At first, I was afraid that I had ZERO desire to be in the water with them.  But, in talking with Gerardo, he said what I was going through is normal -- especially for someone training for his second Ironman within a year.  "This is why I told you not to do two Ironmans in one year!" he said.

Hindsight is a bitch.

Gerardo added that I haven't lost any speed or fitness in the past couple days and to simply reset mentally.  Don't dwell on the lost workouts, or trying to make them up.  They're gone.  And it's not a big deal.  Focus on the workouts at hand.  Start from zero mentally.

I can do that.

By the time I was done chatting with Gerardo, I was smiling and starting to feel like my old self again.  By the time I got home, I was listening to the Rocky soundtrack, "Going the Distance," and ready to jump back into the ring again.

Tonight was one of those moments where having a coach really paid off.  Yes, it may cost a lot less to train on your own.  But when you run into mental obstacles like the one I faced the past few days, it's invaluable to have someone you trust tell you it's gonna be OK and adjust your workout schedule accordingly.

Thanks Coach.  I needed that.

Back on the bike tomorrow.  I'm back.

Let's do this!

98 days and counting.

Treading Water

I meant to take a half-day at work today.  Cool the jets a bit.  Take a load off.  Put my feet up at home.  Reeeelax.  Schedule some much-needed wedding planning (website and honeymoon!), fix our broken internet connection, and handle some washer-related issues. Well, it's 5 p.m., I've been here since 8:30 a.m. and I'm not leaving yet.  And those chores haven't finished themselves.

Grrrr!

And of course, I put off my workouts this morning because I needed the sleep, which I didn't come close to getting anyway. And of course, I thought foolishly that I could leave work at a decent hour and fit everything in tonight.  No dice.

Oh yeah, and I've got a magazine column I need to start working on!

Right now, I feel like my life balance is tipping away from me for the first time in a long time.  I need to tip things back in my favor and I hope to do that by mid-week.

Breathe, Ryan.  Breathe.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  Right now, it's all about catch up.  And treading water.  The worst part is I know a good workout would set me straight and wake me up.

I simply don't have the time.

99 days and counting.

Falling Off the Fitness Wagon

(Note: Photos will be added tomorrow. I'm still on a plane on the way back from Austin!) I fell off the fitness wagon this weekend.  This doesn’t happen often, but when it does, my demise is rather spectacular.  In this case it meant lots of Texas barbecue (Salt Lick OMG!), lots of Amy’s ice cream (Oreo Speedwagon!), Shiner Bock beer (among my favorites!) and good wine.  It also meant very little training, to the tune of one hour, 15 minutes over the entire weekend.  The odd part is, my travel-driven fitness blunders usually happen when I have everything planned in advance.  Pool to swim in at hotel confirmed in advance.  Fitness center with all the good equipment confirmed in advance.  Gear packed.  Cycling class scheduled, shorts packed.  Even my Garmin watch was charged.

But my intentions were outweighed by reality.  Standing on my feet for hours on end at events and the show floor, being “on” for press and fans of our games, simply wreaks havoc on my back and legs.  I can run all day but can’t stand still!  I’d rather run 15 miles and be sore than deal with the stiffness of waking up after hours standing in one place.  Combine that with being in Austin for the annual music, film and games festival, South by Southwest, and combine that with daylight savings time…and boom goes the training dynamite.

What the heck was I thinking to even try fitting training in this weekend???

Now I know what is meant by the term “Triathlete Zombies.”  We don’t think practically sometimes.  We just have tunnel vision to find a way to complete the next workout.  Stay on schedule, at all costs. Even at the coolest gathering of live, authentic entertainment and kick-ass food in the country.  Meanwhile, life marches on, by and through our somewhat self-absorbed plans.

I should have known it was going to be a long weekend from the very beginning.

I had booked a bike at Mellow Johnny’s (Lance Armstrong’s cycling shop) in their Pedal Hard Training Center, where I was supposed to preview the Ironman Coeur d’Alene course via CompuTrainer.  There was only one problem – Mellow Johnny’s forgot to reserve a bike for me.  My original plan was to cycle for two hours, maybe more, run back to the hotel a few blocks away and then head to the show floor to report for duty.  That blew up in smoke, and in fact Pedal Hard training master Chrissie had to apologetically send me back to the hotel.  I was devastated, like going to the toy store and being told you brought a dollar too little to pay for that favorite action figure you’ve coveted all year.

But then, Cycling Karma smiled.

I had chatted casually with a few of the cyclists using the CompuTrainer equipment on their own bikes as they prepared for their workouts.  Two of them, Casey and an unknown but very kind cyclist on a sweet Felt/SRAM roadie, heard about my plight from Chrissie after I had left.  They both offered to let me borrow their bike for an hour.  So, as I was talking to Steph back at the hotel, dejectedly preparing to swim, Chrissie texted me back and told me to hurry on to the shop again.

That was probably my fastest mile all week!

Chrissie single-handedly saved my morning.  I was so grumpy and dejected at first that I was afraid it would affect my performance at the panel I was leading later in the day.  Missing workouts through no fault of mine is the worst!  But Chrissie doted over me for the hour at Pedal Hard, devising an intervals workout for me, instructing me carefully on how to balance my cadence, and gently urging me to, well, pedal hard, when it counted.  By the end I was spent.  She also advised me to look into a 25/27 cassette for the hilly Coeur d’Alene course as it might save my legs on the run.  Further, she had completed Ironman Coeur d’Alene and gave me all sorts of great advice on how to handle the bigger hills at roughly miles 18 and 72 (“just keep spinning,”)

I was preparing to pay for my session when Chrissie said it was on the house, for the “inconvenience.”  I told her it all worked out fine and I was more than satisfied but she insisted my workout was free.

My faith in all things Cycling Karma had been restored, Mellow Johnny’s remains the Mecca it had always been, and I can’t wait to plan my next trip there.

Thank you, Chrissie.  Thank you, Lance.

That would be the last bit of training I’d do the entire weekend.  An entire day of booth duty, a panel, press interviews and a dinner that lasted until midnight (at Driskills, DO recommend!) crushed me Sunday morning. I simply couldn’t get out of bed.  I knew it was a combination of daylight savings time, fatigue and really the heart of the matter, a quiet room with no Bam-Bam upstairs banging on the ceiling, no snoring next to me (sorry honey!), and the quiet hum of the air conditioning set at the temperature I love.  And the room was dark.  The trifecta was complete, Quiet, Dark, and Cold.  The perfect sleep cave.

Ain’t.  Gonna.  Move!

I’m torn about ditching my weekend training.  On one hand, I know I needed the rest.  I worked hard this week and through the weekend, on top of all the recent business travel.  I know the incremental gains made by training through the fatigue could have worn me down enough to be susceptible to illness considering all the dirty hands I shook (I set a world record for hand sanitizer used in a six-hour period), sweaty console controllers I held, and how much air travel I’ve done the past several weeks.  I feel like rest now will pay larger dividends later than trying to be a tri-zombie and cram in one or two more mindless workouts just because they’re on the schedule.  I also know that I’m not quite in the final critical three months stage just yet, and if ever there was a time to relax a bit, eat a bit more, enjoy a city I love just a bit longer and have a bit more fun, this was the moment. I just wished I had come to terms with that sooner, as in Saturday night when the streets were bustling with activity, rather than Sunday morning alone in my hotel room staring at my suitcase with the goggles and swim cap inside.

Will training a grand total of seven hours this week hurt me at Coeur d’Alene?  Maybe. How much?  I have no idea.  Do I care?  Kinda.  But right now I don’t regret it.  I made the choice.  I did what I had to do to listen to my body and my brain.  My heart didn’t object.  Everything said, “take it easy.”

Whether that’s experience or laziness talking, I’m not so sure yet. Though I can tell you that I’m ready to attack training as best I can in the coming days.  Maybe it’s guilty nervous energy.  However, I may ease back into it just a bit so it’s not such a shock to the system.  I’ve been in this place before, trying to overtrain to compensate for lack of activity (and stretching).  That’s how problems really start.

So while I’m eager to train hard, I know it can’t come all at once.  I’ll have to train smarter.

Maybe my Tri-Zombie days are finished.  Maybe I’m getting a little wiser, a little more relaxed  and gaining better perspective about this crazy sport.

Or maybe it’s time to just have a little more fun when I go on these trips.

Maybe falling off the wagon is a good thing.  After all, once you fall, you have to stop, dust yourself off, and take a look around before getting back on again.

100 days and counting.  Bye-bye triple-digits.

Lesson Learned, and Some Homework

Once again, I'm in bed, blogging. Unlike last night though, the lights are on, and my laptop is recharged.  As am I.  This time though, it's from you, my readers.  I got a couple great comments from yesterday's blog and I really appreciated the perspective. I will take each workout one day at a time.  I needed that reminder.

Today's workouts were meant to be one long workout, a three-hour bike ride.  But I couldn't get out of bed at 5:30 a.m. after a hard evening swim last night.  So, I rode for about 1.3 hours this morning with Bob, the same Griffith Park route. Today was absolutely gorgeous out.  You could see the ocean clear to Long Beach from the Hollywood sign lookout point near Griffith Observatory.  One funny thing that happened on our initial climb was the howl of a coyote directly behind me not more than 20 feet away.  I wish we had it on film, but I sped up so quick, my legs must have looked like Shaggy and Scooby-Doo when they encounter a ghost or monster!  I hauled ass outta there!

For the first time in my training, I climbed the Hollywood sign route twice, back-to-back.  It's not that bad considering the longer climbs I've been doing recently.  It was nice to find some progress in my training, along with improved handling skills on descents.  That's something that really has taken a lot of time, getting used to the feel of a tri bike on cornering compared to a road bike.  It's literally something I work on specifically for every workout.

Another gem worth sharing from my ride was this tidbit: Give yourself a specific goal to shoot for and achieving that goal is much easier. I made the mistake of telling Bob how hast I had ridden up to the Hollywood gate last week, speculating that he could beat me by at least a full minute.  Well, Bob needed to see for himself, and beat me by nearly two minutes.  He explained, while panting between breaths, that a specific goal helps him motivate more than something vague.  I took this to heart and am going to figure out how I can apply it to my own training behind the 12-hour IM CDA milestone.  Maybe you can use this advice too.

So how 'bout some late night homework then?  I'll think of a specific goal in the short-term for my training, and you do the same.  Feel free to let me know what you come up with!

104 days and counting.