Category Archives: Prep

Gearing Up

In all of the insanity that is training for an endurance event like long course triathlon, the challenges that surround selecting equipment are sometimes lost. The list of equipment that you need it long, and unfortunately much of it boils down to personal choice and comfort. There really isn’t much that is ‘one size fits all’. Just a partial list:

  • Swim suit(s)
  • Swim Cap
  • Swim Goggles
  • Wetsuit
  • Transition Bag – Schlepping the stuff around
  • Run Shoes
  • Run Socks
  • Hydration Belt/Bottles
  • Run Shorts
  • Run Tights
  • Run Shirts
  • Run Cold Weather Shell
  • Bike
  • Bike Shorts/Tri Shorts
  • Bike Top
  • Bike Cold Weather Shell
  • Bike Shoes
  • Bike Socks
  • Bike Helmet
  • Bike Gloves
  • Bike Cold Weather Extras
  • Bike Rack for transport
  • Indoor Trainer
  • Sunglasses

For most of these, you will need multiples. Remember, training is 6 days a week. If you also work a full time job, that means rest days are laundry days, so you need enough gear to get through a week of training. You’ll probably also want a race day kit that doesn’t have thousands of training miles in it.

It is a lot to tackle. Most of the time, athletes coming into this sport already have a base in at least one of the disciplines, but there is still more to add.

Though I have been a cyclist for years, I am having to slowly rotate and replace some of my old cycling favorites with some items that are more tri appropriate, but much of my gear works well for continuing the bicycle base training. I have also been running for a couple of years, but even then, I simply don’t have enough gear to get through all of the training sessions without doing laundry more than once a week. And swimming? not even close.

It goes without saying that building up the gear base is tough, and when you look at that list, a huge percentage of it is gear that boils down to personal preference, and experience. There are things on that list have to tried, and tested and iterated to find that ‘perfect’ fit.

Some of it, I have already done, some I have yet to do. Well, over the coming months, I will be sharing some of my adventures in selecting gear, and some of my misadventures.

My first one will be about a touchy subject, shoes. Specifically my adventures over the last 3 years finding a shoe that really worked for me. The problems that come with doing things for all the wrong reasons, and how NOT to change shoe styles. Should be riveting.

Let the Training Begin ( in earnest )

Well, base building is done. Now we start the training plan. This journey is all about the training. The race itself is just the proof of the training.

At least that is what I keep telling myself. At this point, what I know for certain is that it is time to get my game on. On the agenda for this glorious Tuesday? Core Strength and a run. That is good, but you know the best part?

Over the weekend our youngest decided she wanted to join us on the run. So saturday she went out for a run with us. 9 years old, no training, just jumped in and banged out 3.2 miles in 38 minutes. She had so much fun that she is joining us tonight for the Endurance House Tuesday Night run of 3.5 miles, and wants to sign up for a 5k race in February.

How awesome is that? yeah, she is that awesome.

The Lie: “I just want to finish”

Find me an endurance athlete that hasn’t answered this at least once. I will wait, because I don’t think you can find one. It is an easy answer to give people that really do not understand what and why we do these things to ourselves. When it becomes a lie though is when we start giving this answer to people that do in fact understand these things, particularly when it is not our first rodeo.

I know that I am guilty, and as I talk to other athletes I understand that most of us do it. We tell this little white lie because internally we are fighting a battle with ourselves. There are three translations of this little white lie.

  • It is my first event, and I simply do not know what to expect

This is probably the most legitimate usage, particularly early in the training cycle, but even then, I think most athletes have a number that they are internally targeting.

  • I do not want to admit how slow I am

This one I see a lot with people that are ultra competitive and are unwilling to share a target time that makes them look slow/bad/out of shape.

  • I’ve set an unrealistic number in my head and if I tell you and miss it…

And the is the killer. I think many of us are guilty of this one, I know that I am. We set high goals, and telling someone else these goals makes them more real, and raises the stakes.

Emotionally, each of these translations have ramifications, but I am going on record that 3 is my reasoning. This season I will be doing my first events at the 70.3 and 140.6 distances, and yes, I have set unrealistic internal goals. When I say I just want to finish, I am leaving out the last bit.

For the 70.3, I may tell you that is all about finishing, but that last bit that I say in my head is usually “In a number between 5:30 and 6:30. 40 minutes for the swim, 3 hours for the bike, and 2.5 hours for the run would the ‘realistic’, but in my head, I’m thinking 30 minutes in the water, 2.75 on the bike and a 2 hour run, which would be a 5:15’ish finish. and that’s why I may answer you ‘just finish’ because I don’t really want you to know that internally I’ll be disappointed with a number that starts in a 7 or greater..

Ironman Chattanooga 2015 Here We Come

Well, it is official. Scott and I are now signed up for Ironman Chattanooga in 2015. After a long 8 hour shift volunteering at Run Special Needs for the 2014 event, the OGRE’s stood in line bright and early Monday morning to take advantage of the pre-registration and signed up.

This will be the first Ironman distance race for both of us. Luckily we have a year to prepare, and will be doing several races between now and then as prep. We will be training with the good folks at Endurance House Atlanta, and expect to race under their colors next year.

10523319_1491889741067907_3479052639149083201_nAs you see here, the motley crew of people racing with Endurance House should make for a very fun year of training. Along the way however, we have some things to do. Oddly, this was the event that really compelled us to start this website. The journey to get there is the real story behind every race. This is the story of the journey, to be told along the way, in all of it’s painful glory.

I hope you enjoy the next year. I can honestly say that I am excited, but also terrified. At the end of the day though, volunteering this year helps me understand what we have gotten into.

Not too long ago, I say a quote that really sums it all up though:

If your dreams do not scare your, then you are not dreaming big enough

With that in mind, we are dreaming big. When we run though Run Special Needs next year, we hope to see the kind of support the race earned this year.

Coping with Schedule Conflicts

One of the most difficult things we face as amateur athletes is that while we may want to train like the pros, this is not our job. We have other commitments and when it comes down to it, our training time doesn’t come out of our work time, but our personal time. Normally this is a challenge, but when you start throwing in things like business travel, well, sometimes your training schedules get more than a little disrupted.

Right now, I am feeling that pain. Having been on the road for 7 of the last 10 days, my training schedule has been a mess, and compounding matters, I have been battling the lingering effects of a minor, but uncomfortable injury in the form of a bruised heel.  In a stretch where I would normally have logged about 35 miles of running, 4 hours in the water, and another 80 miles on the bike, only a 15 miles of running, 2 hours in the water, and one 35 mile bike ride have been completed. Even those miles have been haphazard at best. The net result, is that I am probably fine, I don’t feel that way. I feel guilty, like I have cheated.

The thing is, I know from historical evidence, that not only will it be fine, I will likely benefit from the break. Personally, I have found that these lulls provide me a training benefit by giving some healing time that I am won’t to not take otherwise. Time will tell, but these ‘rest weeks’ may well be more beneficial than the rest days that I so hate.

The challenge though, is making sure that a rest week doesn’t overflow into multiple rest weeks. Getting back to the routine is hard after time off with a schedule disruption. That is my challenge this week. Overcoming the lethargy of a 10 days of travel, to get back on the horse, and not letting my hectic schedule overcome the training schedule.

Meaning that this afternoon will need some time on the trainer if the predicted storms roll in, and if not, well, I’ll see you on the roads of north Fulton and south Forsyth at about 4:30!

Listening to Your Body

Often when training we hear the phrase “Push through the pain”. It is often good advice, but not always. There are times when you have to find the difference between ‘discomfort’, ‘healthy pain’, and ‘injury looming’. You can push through any of these, but pushing through ‘injury looming’ is a quick way to take a forced 4-16 weeks off. Today, I got a first hand glimpse of this, and almost made the wrong choice.

It is a saturday, it is long run day. So I headed out on the run. Things were good early, but somewhere about mile 4, something wasn’t “right”.  By the 5.5 mile mark, it wasn’t just not right, it was headed for really wrong, and fast. The signs were there, but I wasn’t paying attention. By the time I caught on, it was almost too late. I backed it down to a walk, but the left hip, calf and heel were all telling me that there was a problem. It took a bit to figure out the source of the problem: worn out shoes.  Sadly, they shouldn’t be, they only have about 150 miles on them, but this particular shoe ( Brooks PureDrift ) just hasn’t worn well at all. In this case, though the sole looked to be in good shape, the softer foam padding between the insole and the sole itself was breaking down, and fast.

Slowing to a walk I figured I could at least work my way back to the car, lick my wounds and live to run another day. Unfortunately, the shoe damage was terminal.  By mile 7, I concluded the shoes were doing more harm than good, so off they came, socks into a pocket, and walk/run the remaining mile or so. Since I frequently run in New Balance Minimus Zero’s, running barefoot is not a crisis, but I do not have the callouses built up to do it for long distances.

At the end of the day though, I ignored ‘discomfort’ and pushed into the ‘injury imminent’ territory. I got lucky, and started listening before it turned into an injury, so I shouldn’t have any downtime for it. But it is days like these that reinforce the dynamic that I sometimes forget.

Listen to your body it is talking to you all the time and you ignore what it is saying at your own peril.

Pre Race Day Jitters

I am fairly certain that I am not alone in the following, but the week before a race, particularly at a venue or distance that I have not done before, I get the jitters pretty bad 4-5 days in advance. I worry that I am undertrained, have missed something in the preparations, or even really crazy things like did I forget the registration. I love race day, but I am not a big fan of the week leading up to it.

Dog Days Run 2014 Race Day

Dog Days Run 2014 Race Day

This week, I am going through the ritual. With the upcoming Labor Day weekend long sprint triathlon at Callaway Gardens lurking on Sunday, the pre race jitters are in full effect. This is only my second triathlon, and it is a quirky distance, with a  1km swim, a 30km bike and 8km run, it is a little longer than the usual sprint triathlon. I do not feel like I am under trained, but it is a new distance.  I have trained at every discipline, at longer than these distances, but there remains an irrational, what if that drives me crazy.

There is a point at which the mind overcomes and I get excited.  Too bad, that time probably won’t be until about midnight on Saturday before the race itself. Oh well.

On the upside, this weekend will be a trial race with aero-clips on the road bike until the budget ( or a sponsor steps in ) to allow for the purchase of a dedicated triathlon bikes.