A Sticking Point

A memorable scene from Marathon Man

Parker has a section in his book that is a compilation of observations that "don't seem fit anywhere else," as he says, and the first one really rings true in my experience. He says when he first started using the heart rate monitor (HRM), "I discovered that I seemed to have a pace that felt 'grooved in.' It was several beats above my 70% recovery ceiling, so it was annoying to have to back off from this very natural feeling pace." He calls this a sticking point. It is a HUGE sticking point for me in my present training. VERY annoying because it happens at about the point where your mind begins to wander off into wherever it goes when you fall into a pace and then the beeping pulls you back from it. It reminds me of being constantly awakened right when you're about to go to sleep. He goes on to say not to give in to the desire to ignore the HRM and also that it will eventually go away too. GOOD!

Another thing he suggests is to use the heart rate monitor for Daily Real World Biofeedback. In my case I went to the dentist wearing my HRM. I was having a filling replaced and I thought it would be interesting to see how high my heart beats per minute (BPM) jumped when the drilling started. Funny thing here...and this was verified by the dental assistant, whenever the drilling started and all during the drilling, my BPM dropped to a very low level in the 50's. When the drilling stopped my BPM went up to the mid to upper 60's. Very strange. And no I don't like getting fillings. I dislike the sound of the drill as much as anyone. So there you go. A couple of interesting things that Parker brings up in Chapter 15 of his book that have been put to the test of experience. In the future I'll be talking about some other writers I've been reading who come from a distance running background that also do triathlons. In particular Don Fink's Be Iron Fit. Gotta go! Time to run!

Hawk-I-Tri, Lansing, MI

Hawk Island, 2010 before I added my aero-bars...

     Besides Steelhead, I've also done a local sprint triathlon a couple of times in Lansing called the Hawk-I-Tri.  It's done at a beautiful place in South Lansing called Hawk Island (hence the name). I remember driving by there every morning on the way to work as Ingham County was developing this great venue for all sorts of things and thought it'd be a great home cross country course for the XC team I was coaching at the time. For a few years it was our home course but with the addition of a splash pad, a dog park, more paved trails, and a sledding hill it became too developed for a cross country course, unless I was ok with lots of cement on the course, which I wasn't. Now I take my current team there to train and for that it is perfect. The paddle boat practice is a team favorite.
     The 2009 Hawk-I-Tri was the first time I used a wet suit in a triathlon. I was watching my wave go out ahead of me (my strategy for not getting kicked or swam over) and I thought to myself, "wow look at those guys wheezing and hanging on to the spotters in the paddle boats; is that really my peer group?" Well, as I approached the first turn, my breathing felt really compressed in the wet suit. It was squishing my chest. Not only that, I began to mentally freak out because it felt like I couldn't get enough air. So to make a potentially long story short, I became one of those guys wheezing and hanging on to the paddle boat/spotters on the first turn. I gasped for probably a minute and then regained my composure enough to swim breast stroke for most of the rest of the way. It is only a 400 meter swim so it wasn't too prolonged. That did NOT happen during the swim the following year at Steelhead. Later on I realized I was hyper-ventilating. Pretty scary but lesson learned. If you want a family friendly beginner triathlon, the Hawk-I-Tri is a growing vibrant event you should check out! Congratulations to Kathie Dunbar for creating such an enduring signature event for Lansing!

TriCrowd.com

Well I'm quite happy to be listed on one of the hippest triathlon sites out there. Real people with real jobs talking about what it is to live with Ironman dreams. I had run across the site before I started my own blog and noticed that it was populated with not only coaching and elite advice but also the reflections of people I've run into while doing triathlons. You know. That person you run with for 3 or four miles because you're feeling about the same way and you help each other along...and then either you or the other person breaks away towards the finish line. Or that person you talk to in the transition area next to you while you're both waiting for the event to begin, but your friend you came to the race with is two rows away from you where their bike is racked . I call them "mini-friendships". 

TriCrowd has interesting featured bloggers and good deals on tri-gear through their associated web site called Trinero.com: (think Triathlon + Dinero). I haven't found another triathlon specific site out there that really fills the niche that TriCrowd does. Check 'em out! (And don't forget to scroll down on the right hand side of the page and look for the "More Triathlon Blogs," that's where I am.)

Walden Pond Triathlon?

Breakfast this morning was a good triathlete breakfast I imagine. Hodgson Mill steel cut oats with blueberries and bananas with some milk. I also took my fish oil pills (must get that daily Omega 3) and a men's generic multi-vitamin. I'm not one for chasing food supplements. I'm trying to make my life feel as normal as possible while still building in habits that in the long term support being able to do long course triathlon competitions and marathons. I've also cut back on certain foods that I used to let myself go crazy on such as pizza. I can easily eat 1/2 to 3/4's of a large pizza quite rapidly but I now eat one or two slices and then wait awhile and usually I'll eat another one hours later if I still want to. I guess watching all those Biggest Loser type shows or Dr. Oz (wife TV in other words) have left their mark. I generally avoid cookies and muffins as well. I've never really had a weight problem until I started pushing 50. Really it's more of an out of shape problem. Still I've lost 16 or so pounds in the last couple months without any real drastic change other than what I've mentioned and this is my down time anyway between Thanksgiving and Christmas... the annual Shalom from any kind of structured training. In Michigan our winter season most likely contributes to being one of the top ten fattest states in the US. Of course that doesn't explain why Mississippi is #1 on that list. Regardless of why Michigan and Mississippi consistently share space on that list, my training begins again January 29th. In addition to the Lansing Marathon I'm also considering doing this 24 hour cycling event next year too. I've never done a cycling specific event (my least favorite of the three multi-sport disciplines).

I’ll let someone not known for his prowess in endurance sports finish this morning’s post:

“All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish spirit is the one... characteristic we must posses if we are to face the future as finishers.” 
Henry David Thoreau

I wonder if Thoreau ever had steel cut oats for breakfast when he was hanging out on Emerson's property on the north shore of Walden pond?

Algebra Class 1979

I was sitting in Mr. Hauser's algebra class where I usually read either Sports Illustrated (SI) or Hot Rod Magazine when I was done with my assignment...or maybe instead of it occasionally. On one particular day I was reading an unusually long article (10 pages) in SI about this new-fangled endurance event in Hawaii. It seemed really cool. I had just started running marathons and I wondered what else was out there to test myself against. There was the 100 mile Western States Run I had read about in The Runner (NOT Runner's World) and then there was this "other" thing called Ironman. I liked the fact that the trophy was just a little handmade nuts and bolts guy. Such a humble token for such a gargantuan effort. Anyway that "Ironman Dream" went into my head and heart and it has been residing there until the time when I could actively pursue it. It seems so strange how long you have to wait to do some of those things you've always wanted to do. I recently heard someone quip, "Make sure you chase your dreams while you're still young enough to catch them." Fair enough. Well Barry McDermott's article is history now but I never forgot it. Now of course, that race I read about in SI has become the Ironman World Championship: "Kona" and the Word Triathlon Corporation (WTC) has formed to push a "brand" etc. And I think all that is fine because I do appreciate my LAVA subscription and I've had nothing but good experiences from doing WTC sanctioned events but my dream came from 1979. Just a small group of people pushing themselves well beyond current norms and for some reason I've been waiting, ever since I sat reading magazines in algebra class, to do the same thing. I guess the '69 Camaro "Backyard Buildup" will just have to stay on hold a little longer.

Full disclosure

The main triathlon I've been going to every year for my annual gut-check is a wonderful event in Benton Harbor, Michigan called Steelhead. The first time I went in 2008 they canceled the swim which was good because I didn't have a wet suit. I was the ONLY one who didn't and I remember thinking "Wow, look at those white caps. Man, this water is cold." I seem to remember some people drowning at some other triathlon event the previous weekend elsewhere in the US too. I don't think I even did one open water swim to prepare myself, just pool work. So...God looks out for fools and middle aged men who regularly overestimate their own abilities to endure physical challenges. I remember also thinking that the whole "clip-on cycling shoe thing" was a little over the top for me as well. Of course I was wrong on both accounts. I post these times not as a badge of honor because really they're not terribly good, but just to show how much skin I have in the game leading up to Ironman Wisconsin. And of how far I have to go so I don't get yanked off the course. There are of course a few stories to tell about these races as well. In the end however I treasure these experiences for the valuable lessons they've taught me. Should anyone want a fantastic, well run, scenic 70.3 event to do, you can't do any better than Ironman Steelhead in Michigan. 

Heart Monitor Training

I imagine I've been a little slow to take up heart monitor training. But in the end... I've heard, and agree with, the truism that distance runners are a little more traditional than triathletes. So anyway I bought Parker's Heart Monitor Training for the Compleat Idiot and, much as I dislike that sort of dummed down type of title....I really like the book. It works for me. And he's really funny. So in my road to IRONMAN Wisconsin when I turn 50 years old in 2013, I intend to keep this blog as both a record of my travails and reach out to a community of people to whom I can be accountable.