Three mile thursdays

My new workout for Thursdays is either a set of 3 one mile repeats with 6 minutes easy in between or a straight out 3.1 mile TT. I'm going to try to do this consistently over the next 3 months and track my progress.  Today, a did the 3 one mile repeats on a very tight 12 laps/mile track at about 6:20 /mile pace.

Duathlon Nationals in just over 3 months!

I just entered the 2018 Duathlon Nationals! Only a little over 3 months out!  Suddenly it all seems so close now. Can I really get it together by then given the crappy weather here in Chicago? I'm not sure, but I'm going to give it a try. I'll be at that start line and then we'll see how it goes...

Off season

I've read several articles by pro triathletes who all say that you need to really rest up during the off season and do minimal hard workouts. I get it: you want to feel refreshed, both physically and mentally, to take on a new season of training and racing. But, most of these athletes who recommend getting a lot of rest and doing few hard w/o during the winter months are younger.  I have only moderately decreased my workout load over the winter months for last decade because I feel like, at my age, I can't afford to lose conditioning because its too hard to regain it!  So, again this year I'm faced with the dilemma: take more time off or try and retain a higher degree of fitness through the winter months. Then there is also the matter of mentally, how do I back off?  I NEED to workout for multiple reasons, one of which is my sanity!  What to do?   

Getting into the holiday spirit

We had a bit of snow over night and it does look kind of Christmasy out there!  Can't wait to get out XC skiing and ice skating!

As I was going through old photos and videos last night I came across lots of great pics of the kids and a picture from 2014 when I did nationals in Milwaukee, WI.  Mikaely is meeting the Bernstein Bears at the book show in Chicago at about age 3 or 4 and Lance is finishing his first triathlon (Batavia Tri) at about age 5.  I'm with Chrissie Wellington at registration where she was signing autographs.  On the bottom is one of my favorites: Michelle Jones (my daughter's name sake) meeting Mikaely Evans at the now defunct Women's Triathlon in Naperville, IL. Mik must be about 1 year old and that was the last year that Michelle Jones raced (She had won Kona the year or two before). Good memories!   

Swimming TT on Wednesday, 12/6

Did a 1650 swimming TT yesterday with a time of 31:07.  That's pretty slow, even for me, but at least it gives me lots of room to improve!

Milk Weed

Saw this on a long run the other day. Perfect autumn day in November!

Ok, its November 22nd, 2017! The season is over... Time to regroup and come up with a plan for 2018. I don't want to rush into anything just yet: think, think think.... Let me just meditate on this a bit.

Together We Tri Indoor Triathlon

On Sunday I did the TWT Indoor Tri at Glenview Park District.  Really fun race!  Friendly volunteers and raised money for JDRF.  I really like the way they weight each of the events so that it isn't just about the bike as happens in the MITCS indoor tri. 

Personally, I'm very encouraged because my running has been a little suspect laterly and I've been wondering if I'm losing my ability to really run fast, but at this race I had a solid run.  If the distance is what they said it was (~8 laps/mile), then I ran right around 2.5 miles in 15 minutes o 6 min miles.  If that's the case, then I'm really pleased.  I use to regularly run that pace at the MITCS, but in the last 5 years I haven't been able to crack 6 min/mile pace. 

Swim workout

Awesome swim workout this AM. Total of 2K swimming as follows:
5 X 200 on 4 minutes
100 breathing on right
100 alternate breating
5 X 100 on 2 minutes
100 easy
100 all out
100 easy

Monthly 1.5K swim TT

Did my first 1.5K swim TT this AM for the 2018 season. My time was 31:16 which is 1:54/100 yds...pretty slow, even for me.   I really lost it in the final 500 meters. Once your arms turn to lead, there is no going back! Looking back at my times from the spring, 2017, it appears like my best 1.5K was 30:10 or 1:50/100 yds, a minute faster than today and 3 sec faster per 100. That is a good goal for now, but I would like to get under 30 minutes and that seems possible. 

A Life Without Limits

Just finished reading Chrissie Wellington's book "A Life Without Limits".  Wow, really inspiring and without a doubt the best sports autobiography I've read!  Plus, she wrote it without a co-author.  What an amazing life and story.  Makes you want to go out and take on the toughest and longest races and enjoy every minute of it! 

Duathlon Nationals training starts this week!

Ok, the marathon is over and there is nothing scheduled between now and the Duathlon Nationals in April.  My goal is to do as well as possible at that race!  to be more specific, I'm hoping for a top 3 finish. To get there, I'm going to focus the next 3 months on biking and running with more time spend on the biking.  Lots of interval training and some bricks thrown in there.  I'm also going to keep up with swimming at least 1-2 x/week so that I don't regress.  My secondary goal is the Tri Nationals in August.  I may schedule a few races before the end of this year just to keep it real like a 10K or half marathon.  Then in January and February I'll do the indoor triathlon series and maybe an outdoor 10K or biking TT.  Let the training begin! 

Chicago marathon 2017

The marathon didn't go well for me. My time of 3:16 was not what I was hoping for and the race was difficult from start to finish.  Mile 19-23 were particularly bad with my hamstring cramping and throwing my stride off.  I'm just glad its over!  That was my 14th and maybe last Chicago Marathon.  The thrill of finishing just isn't there for me any more.  On to the 2018 duathlon and triathlon seasons!   

Oh God! Race Time

Ok, the marathon is only 4 days away... I'm very apprehensive!  I know my rep as a sandbagger, but this time I'm sincere: I'm going to fail!  This has been my worst marathon training EVER! Last year wasn't great, but I ran all of my training runs as a substantially faster pace. This year, every training run has been a slow slog. I fear this will be my slowest marathon ever. Also, the memories of last year and the pain in those last 6 miles is still in my head! 

Chicago marathon training

Good run yesterday: 24 miles on IL prairie path. Rather boring scenery, but running with GE runners made it much more enjoyable!  I ran the first 12 with the group, but then no one else was going long this week, so did the 2nd 12 miles solo with music. Felt pretty good afterward, so that's encouraging.  

Hartigan Beach swim

Awesome swim this morning with Rich and Arron starting right at 6 AM. Swam about 1.5 miles out and back from Hartigan Beach. Water temp in upper 60s, but air temp only in the 50s. Huge swells! Really fun trying to follow Rich's orange wet suite through the waves! Best part was body surfing in at the end!     

Chicago Marathon training

Officially started Chicago marathon training yesterday with a 17 mile run with the GE runners. Likely that was too far for me given I've only run 12-13 as my longest run this year and that was a few weeks ago. Today I'm extremely sore and tight!  Hopefully my legs make a quick recovery so that I can progress from here.  

Naperville Triathlon

7/8/17- Naperville tri was Sunday and I won my age group.  Perfect day and great race overall. I was able to hang on in the swim thanks to running as far into the water as I could and then standing up and running out of the water at the end as soon as I got to waist deep.  The bike went well and I paced off a faster cyclist for most of the way.  The run started a little slow, but then after about a mile I picked it up.  1:01:06 and 17th overall. I'm happy with that! Now the only race left is the Chicago Marathon!    

7/23/17- Awesome ride on Campton Hills Rd yesterday AM.  Started out with my brother-in-law in Carol Stream on Smith Rd, which was nice, but Campton Hills is the best! Rolling with a few small out of the saddle climbs.  Its the closest we get to real hills here in northern IL.

5K running TT

July 19th, 2017: Did a 5K time trial today for comparison.  My time was 19:59, 5 seconds slower than in April.  But conditions were very different. In April it was 40 degrees and windy and today it was mid 80s and humid.  Interestingly, back then my HR topped out at around 165 and today it topped out at 140, more than 20 bpm slower. Part of that difference can be explained by vasodilation as evidenced by profuse sweating today, but I'm very surprised my HR wasn't higher.  I had zero time in zone 5 and last time I was in zone 5 for 15 minutes.  Weird!

Really fun open water swim in Lake Michigan from Hartigan Beach Park yesterday morning. Met Rich at 7 Am and swam about 1.2 miles. Very invigorating!  Then drove up to NW University in Evanston to watch my daughter play soccer at a camp.  Fun morning!  

Palatine Twin Lakes Tri

Twin Lakes tri was this past Sunday 6/25. I took 4th overall and 1st in age group.  Perfect conditions with temps in the upper 50s at start.  I wore a wet suit despite warm water. Overall, I'm very happy with my race. Felt good even though my time was slower for every event compared to the last TL tri 2 years ago. My swim was 30 sec slower and my bike was 2 min slower and I was a little slower in T-1 and the run.  Overall, I was 3 minutes slower than 2 years ago.  I guess that's not too bad going from 57 to 59, but does this mean I'm getting 1.5 minutes slower at this distance every year?  That's depressing!

Next race coming up in 5 days: Twin Lakes. This is a small, low key event with a 700 yd swim, 14 mile bike and 5 mile run.  I'm feeling a bit over-trained despite not really training much last week. I did get in a 50 mile ride out to Johnson's mound on Sunday,but that was about the only hard w/o since the Batavia race.

Batavia Duathlon

I'm really happy with yesterday's race! I don't think I've felt this much pressure in a long while, but in the end, I squeaked out a win. That makes 7 years in a row that I've won my age group (one of those years was in the Triathlon, but the other 6 were in the Duathlon). 2011-2nd overall, 2012-5th overall, 2013-Tri-6th overall, 2014-3rd overall, 2015-won overall, 2016-2nd overall and 2017-4th overall. I've slowed down from year to year, but still hanging in there! This is the biggest win of my life- Mid East Regional Championship!  This was also the closest age group race for me. Bob Jones, who is always fast was right behind me every step of the 2nd run, but I hung on.
    I think that getting a sports watch and hiring a coach for the month of April was a key for me.  That got me thinking a lot more about pacing and training at higher intensities. My build up to this race was perfect: slow steady increase in distance and intensity with swimming in there to help take some of the stress off the running and biking musculosckeletal systems.  I also think that running the Batavia half-marathon in April was a key because it gave me confidence that I can still run fast and provided a great stimulus for my CV system while still giving me plenty of time to recover.  Then the week before this race I took in very easy. A 50 mile fairly hard ride on the Sunday before and then a 7 mile low-moderate intensity run on Monday and then really easy the rest of the week with only swimming (2K yards only) and very easy biking. On race day I felt rested and ready to go!
    In the race, I checked my watch early and often in the first run with the goal of running 6:15 and that is exactly what I ran (12:30 for the 2 miles).  Then I pushed hard on the bike and even began to get cramps toward the end.  Starting the 2nd run I had some calf cramps on both sides, but I took it very easy for the first mile (7:30 + min /mile pace), but then was able to pick it up as the cramps subsided. By the end of the run,  think I was back around 6:45/mile. I knew that Bob was right behind me on the run because I heard people cheering for him at the turn around, but I never looked back!    

Friday, June 9th.  Batavia triathlon and duathlon are in just two days.  I feel pretty good. Still very nervous that a bunch of really fast people are going to show up and kick my butt.  I have to be careful not to make my most common mistake: going out too fast.  This is especially problematic when there is a fast crowd at the front.  The good thing is that this year I have my Vivoactive and I can keep an eye on the pace and I won't have to wait until the 1 mile marker to see how fast I've been running.  My plan is to stay under 6:20 for the first mile and 6:15 for the second.  Will see how it goes!

Yikes, only 6 days to the race!  I've done this race at least half a dozen times and I'm still really nervous. No matter how well I've done in the past, I always feel like that doesn't matter and that I'm starting from scratch!  I can't assume anything and I could just fail miserably!  Also, I keep thinking that this is a regional championship and some really fast people are going to come out of the woodwork and kick my butt!  I've trained as hard as I've ever trained for a race (hopefully not too hard), so its not like I slacked off.  But the one difference is that this year all that training was in pain (right ham sting, hip and SI joint pain) and I'm definitely slower.  All I've got to do now is rest up, but I hope I can relax and stay calm this week....  

Training is going ok. 18 days until the Batavia Duathlon!  My hip and SI joint have felt a little better this weeks, but that may be because I haven't been running much.  I've only put in 12 miles in the last 2 weeks. Kind of scary given this race is coming up quick.  Will try and run some more in the last part of this week.  

Volunteered with Dare2Tri last night at Northerly Island Park in Chicago. What a beautiful night to be down at the lake: windy and warm looking out over the lake which appeared more like the ocean because of all the white caps.  All of the athletes and other volunteers were very nice and I think everyone enjoyed it.

5/17/17- Training is going ok. I decided not to do the Lemont Quary 10 miler this weekend and am focusing on the Batavia duathlon on June 11th.
 I had an X-ray taken of my low back, pelvis and hip due to the pain I've been having with running and biking. It showed a variety of abnormalities, some of which are likely congenital and some are likely chronic, degenerative changes.  The most significant was a spondylolesthesis at L5/S1 which is likely, at least in part, the cause of my left leg and hip pain. So, I'm going to try physical therapy starting next week.  Getting old sucks!  

I'm backing to self-coaching. Bummer! However, after working with Cheryl, I'm now trying to follow a more organized and planned-out schedule (rather than my usual, wake up, see what the day looks like and then decide what I FEEL like doing). I'm scheduling workouts on TrainingPeaks to spread out swimming, biking and running better and to be more consistent with swimming.

I'm excited because I re-did my 1K swim time trail yesterday and took 30 seconds off my time!  I did the test on April 7th and my time was  18:11. Then I did the test yesterday, May 4th, and my time was technically 17:50, but I forgot to stop the watch and when I looked at it after finishing it said 17:40. That's pretty good and not too far off from my best time for 1K over the last 10 years (17:10).  This weekend I would like to try to re-do the 30 minute distance bike trial and next week the 5K run trial to see if I'm improving.

5/1/17: Well, my one month of coaching is over for 2017!  Bummer, because it really helped me to boost my motivation, the intensity of my workouts and my confidence. I just hope I can keep up with the same high intensity swim sets. Although it was a big boost to my training, I'm not sure that I could take much more than a couple of months at that level before getting injured. It wasn't so much the swimming and biking as the running.  I've never been one to do a lot of running H.I.I.T. because every time I do, I develop some kind of injury.  Way back when I lived in Boston in the 80s I ran with the Boston Track Club and started doing intervals like 440s and 880s. Within a month I had problems. Then when I moved to Pasadena and did track w/os with the Pasadena Triathlon Club, same thing happened.  So maybe its good that I have 6 weeks till my first big race of the season and I can adjust my own training to keep it below the threshold of injury, but above the threshold for stimulating improvements in speed. My plan is to focus on swim speed and hard bike intervals, but avoid more than 10 minutes of high intensity running/week.  Hopefully the intensity with the other sports carries over to running!

USA Triathlon selects ET Batavia Duathlon as 2017 Regional Championship race

Duathlon has always been the illegitimate stepchild of triathlon, which is why I like it so much!  The races aren't that competitive and relative to triathlon, this allows a middle of the packer like me to be competitive.  But with this year's race in Batavia being named a regional qualifier, I have a feeling that people will come out of the woodwork. Guys I haven't seen in years and who I thought had died will probably show up healthier and faster than ever. Oh well... should be fun!   

Sly Fox Half-marathon

4/24/17:  I've been working with my coach Cheryl for 3 weeks now and its' going pretty good.  I did my first official outdoor race of the season on Saturday, the Sly Fox Half-marathon and it went pretty well other than hip.SI joint pain.  My time was 1;28:12 which was the slowest half marathon I've ever run outside of in a triathlon, but I'm happy with it given how hilly the course was and my training to date. But after the race, the pain was excruciating and centered around my left SI joint and hip.  I definitely need to get therapy or at least figure out what is going on in there.  

4/14/17: One week and a few days into training with Coach Cheryl and its going pretty good.  I'm definitely working harder than I would have been training if I was doing this on my own.  I'm not quite sure if that is a good or bad thing. I guess I'll know in a few weeks or months depending on whether my times improve or if I get injured or burned out.  What I'm struggling with is the intensity of the workouts, not so much the total distance.  The swim, bike and run tests were all extremely intense and pushed me over the top and then I immediately started in on a lot of short, high intensity run intervals and that just added to the fatigue.  But then I talked with her and she backed it down for a few days and now I'm feeling better. Today I ran 11 miles pretty easy and am feeling tired but otherwise ok,  I can see that its going to take a little while to adjust to this schedule and the intensity and I'm really hoping that it works out!  

4/9/17: completed threshold heart rate training today. Over the past week I did a swim (1000 yds), run (5K) and bike (30 min) for max distance or fastest time. These turned out about as expected: running is my best discipline, biking intermediate and swimming is worst. But it was very motivating to do the testing and did teach me a lot about how I train and race. First, my max HR is higher than I realized, about 170 bpm. Second, I'm not in as bad of shape as I thought. And third, it's cool to have someone else tell you what to do, rather than feeling like you are randomly working out without a plan!

Just got back from a combination of vacation (last week of March) and soccer tournament (first weekend of April) and was only able to run for that 10 day period. On the positive side, I put in a lot of running miles (maybe 30 miles?), but on the down side, I haven't swum or biked at all.  My glut strain/hip bursitis/SI joint problem (or what ever it is that is bothering my left hip) is really bugging me.  I can still train, but its just very uncomfortable and tight.  Looking forward to officially starting coaching tomorrow and getting back in the pool and on the bike!    

Still trying to figure out the Garmin Vivoactive.  I can't remember to turn on the "record workout" button and then when I do, I can't remember to turn it off!  Eventually I'll get it figured out and hopefully by April when the weather is nice enough to train outdoors.

Tuesday 3/14: After shoveling the driveway, I headed to work and got in a quick 30 minute XC ski workout around campus (Lyman Woods).  The snow was a little sticky, but still really fun to get out early and be the first one on the trails.

3/13/17 Monday AM- awesome swim workout. I discovered that if I ignore all of the things that they teach you about swimming ("reach of a barrel", "have a supple wrist", "roll your hips", etc...) and just focus on swimming like I'm doing a commando crawl on my elbows, I can take 5-10 seconds off my 100s.  It definitely tires me out quicker because I'm working harder,but it is faster. Swam 1650 consisting of: 650 warm up, 6x100 at 1:45/100 on 2 min, stroke drills (100 single arm stroke and 50x catch up) and then 2x 100 at 1:35 and 1;40, respectively, on 2 min.  then easy 50 warm down.

3/7/17- Rode bike to work today and then ran 30 minutes for a 1:10 min workout. Then home for an additional 30 minutes.  Windy and cool.

Monday 3/6/17- great swim this AM- 1,700 yds: warm up x 600 moderate pace; 5 x 100 yds on 2 min with all < 1:40; Easy 200 yds of mixed breast and back; 200 in on 3:25 and then 4 x 50s on 60 sec and easy warm down.

Final MITCS race didn't go so well. I swam the same distance and ran about the same distance, but didn't adjust the bike seat and didn't realize until 5 minutes into it that I couldn't efficiently spin.  I was a full mile slower on the bike!  But no biggie: its just training.  Always fun to see my triathlon friends at these races.  

Good Valentine's day swim this AM (2/14): 1,750 yds. Missed more than a week of swimming, but felt good to get back in the water.

2/8/17: Monday swam 1 mile in 29 minutes straight and that felt good. Tuesday biked 40 minutes and ran 30 minutes. Today I rode the stationary bike and warmed up for 15 minutes at moderate-easy pace, then did two 5-min hard sets with 10 minutes in between and an easy warm down. Heading for FL tomorrow so likely won't get much of a w/o in this weekend, but maybe a run outside.

2/2/17- The first MITCS race went well. I swam 24 lengths (12 laps or about 600 yds) in 10 minutes, biked 9.1 miles and ran close to 2.5 (2.4 something) for a total distance of 11.8 miles.  I typically like to take it easy for the first 3 days after a hard race so I haven't done much until today.  This AM I swam 2K yds consisting of 1K warm up (in ~18 minutes), then a set of 3 200 yds coming in on 3:30 with 30 seconds rest. Then did some stroke drills (100 yds) followed by 3 hard 100s on 1:40 with 20 seconds rest with the last one the hardest (3:33).  Then I lifted for 25 minutes. Great start to the day!

Yesterday was the first of the Midwest Indoor Tri Championship Series races at Wheaton Sports Center.  I had a good race and completed a little over 11.5 miles.  As usual, it was a very fun race and I saw many familiar faces, from the Race Director, Nancy, to competitors who I've known for more than 20 years.  Even though this is a very low key event, it is still an extremely hard workout.  The bike (20 minutes on a stationary ergometer) is killer and the 5 minute transition between the bike and run, while more rest that in outdoor races, doesn't really help much. My heart rate maxed out at 174 beats/min on the bike. Given I'm 58, that puts my max heart rate about 12 beats/min higher than my predicted max (220-58=162)!

I am a physical therapist and teacher by profession, but my real passion in life is racing! I live for those rare moments in races when you feel you are really putting all the training and planning together with an all-out effort and total commitment to achieve a goal! That goal can be to win your age group, to finish in the top 10 or just to know that you are finishing strong and leaving nothing out there on the course.  

     I wasn't much of an athlete growing up, but even as a 10 year old I would make my sister race me in complicated multi-sport events. We had a swimming pool and these races often involved swimming across the pool, doing a certain number of pull-ups on the clothesline pole, riding our bikes to the neighbors and back and then running around the house. Even then I loved the idea of one race to test every aspect of one's athletic abilities! It's cool I ended up as a triathlete.  

    Well, here I am almost 50 years later and I've done a whole lot of races. One of my tricks for reducing disappointment is to sandbag.  If you're not familiar with this term, it means to "build a wall".  For me, that means lowering my own expectations (and those of my competitors and anyone else who knows me).  That way, no matter how I do, short of a DNF, I can feel like the race was a positive experience!  But really, I'm so lucky to have been able to race all these years and to have benefited from this lifestyle as a triathlete. 

     One thing I do regret though, is that over the years many of my friends in this sport haven't continued and have dropped out for various reasons. This has had two effects: first, I miss those people and I feel like I'm in this alone for the first time, and second, its depressing because I wonder if that's what's next for me. That is what has brought me to create this blog.  I'm hoping that I can rekindle my love for the sport of triathlon and stay connected with fellow triathletes and other multi-sport bloggers. 

Favorite quote: "...at so many stages along the way, the limits that I thought I could see in the distance dissolved as I approached them. They turned out not to be real at all, but mere assumptions. And that has been the most exciting revelation of all" 
Chrissie Wellington, A Life Without Limits, 2013