Week 14 Hitting Hard

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

WEEK 14 – June 6, 2021

Most of my subject matter for these weekly write-ups comes from the long Saturday bike ride. That’s when I do most of my thinking, as I sit on a bike and sweat through 3.5 hours of riding. But when I sit down on Sunday to wrap up the week, I sometimes can’t recall anything about what I was thinking about on the previous days’ ride.

There were a couple of notable things about this week. I added an 8.5 mile run on my off-day Monday because I was traveling last Sunday and decided to push it to Monday, so Week 13 is short one run, and Week 14 added an extra one. Not a big deal, but that meant I would be doing back-to-back run days.

On Thursday, I raced a 5K, which beat me up a little. And also lead to moving a planned ride to Friday, which would precede the long ride on Saturday. So basically, I was messing with the structure of the plan and screwing up built-in recovery between bike and run efforts. On Saturday, I could feel some fatigue in my thighs when I started.

I made a couple of tactical mistakes on Saturday. The ride was to be 3.5 hours long, so I needed to ride out for an hour and 45-minutes, but thankfully the wind was in my face heading out, so I figured I’d add an extra 5-minutes into the wind to compensate for the easier and faster return trip. That was a pretty good estimation, but as I kept hitting 20mph riding back home I thought I would need to add a little more extra time to the return trip. As I got closer to home I could tell that I should have skipped the extra couple of miles. I finished the ride in 3:37 instead of 3:30. Again, not a big deal, but I realized that if I ever need to add on to make time, it’s better to do it nearer to home instead of out in the middle of the ride.

The second mistake was not drinking enough to replace what I was sweating out. It was a hot day, and although I thought I was drinking enough, I really wasn’t. I have to learn this lesson over and over every time I train for an Ironman. When I finished the 61-mile ride, I was suffering and was contemplating skipping the 30-minute run that I was supposed to do. Somehow I found the strength to get it done. Afterward, I wondered and marveled at how I was able to handle the heat at the 2019 Ironman Chattanooga, which was a much longer day in much tougher heat. I guess that is what training, building, and acclimating are for. Live and learn, and drink more!!!

~~~

I have to brag on my son Ben for a minute. He came down for a visit on Friday and mentioned that he thought about running the 5K that I had run but instead, he opted to run a 3K (I know, weird distance) in Rockford because there was a $300 prize for the winner like he was sure that he could win. He won and later said it was an easy win. 5:08 min/mile pace is what he averaged. I wish I had some of that speed! Well done, son!

Swims: 2 – 3000 yards

Bikes: 3 – 92 miles

Runs: 6 – 33 miles

I’m In The Cool Kids Club

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

WEEK 9 – May 2, 2021

This week I received a validation of sorts for my participation in the sport of running. It wasn’t in the form of a medal or seeing my name or picture in the paper, or a job well done from my running peers. No, it came in the form of a laughing emoji. I was Benfer-ed. Jane Benfer-ed.

I belong to a trail-running Facebook page and responded with an answer to a question about running shorts, as the poster was looking for suggestions. When I was mindlessly looking at my notifications later on I was surprised to see this:

Who the heck is Jane Benfer you ask? Well, in the long-distance running world Jane Benfer is somewhat of a troublemaker. She’s a troll. And she trolls by reacting to running posts on Facebook with a laughing emoji. She’ll occasionally rant about some running-related topic as well. She likes to claim that marathons, ultras, and other running-related events are faked. I’m not sure what set her on the path of belittling others, but she has become slightly legendary.

Jane Benfer’s real name is Risa Reid, an ultra runner (or a former one) herself albeit someone with a little notoriety. The running community is somewhat divided over her. There are Facebook pages of devotees and Twitter followers looking for a laugh, but most believe that she is either harmless or has some mental health issues.

I guess there’s no harm about someone doling out laughing emoji’s to posts, but sometimes she will take to stalking someone and follow their page and fill it with her dumb laughing emoji. Some will block her, others will report her, and even I have reservations about even using her name much like that of Harry Potter and “He Who Must Not Be Named.” I’m kind of crossing my fingers that I don’t become a target as I write and post this blog.

I messaged my runner friend Jodi and she reacted as if it was the most awesome thing that could happen to me. She’s been Benfer-ed too. I guess that I can laugh it off and count it as a sort of initiation into the cool kids club, but it kind of made me paranoid, and I will definitely be checking my posts to see who reacted with a laughing emoji from now on. It’s a weird feeling being Benfer-ed.

~~~

It’s now May and a couple of friends with pools have already opened their pools. I think that I will do that soon. If I wait too long I will be dealing with a black lagoon again. But I’m resisting opening it because that will just mean that I will start having to do swim workouts.

I’m still dealing with a little bit of a strained calf, although I got through most of my runs this week without too much issue. It flared up again on Tuesday, but it was fine for the 1.5-mile run I did on Wednesday. On Friday, I slowed my usual training pace of 8:45 min/mile to roughly 10 min/mile and I had no problems with it. The long run of 8.5 miles on Sunday also went well, albeit at a nice leisurely pace. I did replace my shoes with a new pair, so that may also help me. The Rincon’s I was running in lack the cushioning that the Clifton’s possess. I hope it heals up and is normal again soon. I want to race some sprints and 5K’s this year.

Shout out to a couple of friends I saw out on the trail Sunday: Hey Karen! I hope you enjoyed that windy Sunday ride with the group. And another big hello to Laura McGivern, who was walking in the forest preserve with a group and gave me an emphatic hello!

And if Jane Benfer wants to deny that I did my Sunday run, I’m sure both Karen and Laura will vouch for me.

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Swims: 0

Bikes: 3 rides, 73.5 miles

Runs: 4 runs, 23 miles

I Can’t Remember

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

WEEK 6 – April 11, 2021

I am fortunate to have supportive family and friends who take an interest in my pursuit of my Ironman goals, but I have one friend in particular that I call my Number 1 Fan – Carl. Carl is the one friend that takes the passing interest to a much higher level. He not only wants to know what workout I did but needs to know the details as well. I’m glad to accommodate him as it allows me to brag about myself for a few minutes, except most of the time I can’t remember.

Carl: What did you do yesterday, Ironman?

Me: umm… a bike ride? Yeah, a bike ride.

Carl: How far did you go?

Me: umm… I rode for an hour.

Carl: How far is that?

Me: umm… let me look it up.

*My Number 1 Fan Carl wondering why I can’t remember the details.*

I don’t mind providing the details, but it’s interesting to me that once I get the workout done I kind of move on from it. It’s not that I don’t want to remember what I did as I train, but during a 30-week build to a race, it just all blends together somewhat. I certainly make an effort to document it. The workouts all get recorded by my Garmin watch and phone app. And I write a summary each week so that I can look back and spark my memory of the journey I am on. But sometimes it’s just a workout, nothing more and nothing less.

I am working on writing a post about all the races I have participated in since I started running in the 1980s. It’s taking me a while to go through my handwritten running log and find the entries. I am finding with that trip through the past that I can recall details about some of the long-ago races pretty clearly. It must be something about racing that makes you remember, something that creates a stored memory. I can also remember certain runs when something out of the ordinary happens, like a fall, or getting chased by a dog, getting caught in a storm, etc. But when the workout is spinning on a stationary bike for 60 minutes and thumbing through Facebook while doing it for the 200th time, it just simply becomes part of the day without creating anything special about it. Maybe that will have a cumulative effect in that I will remember doing those workouts as a whole rather than the details that went into them.

I can remember many of the details of running on the Green Bay Trail in the 1990s: where I began and ended my runs, the street crossings, the portion through Ravinia. But if I looked at my log and saw that I ran 8 miles in 60 minutes that day, I will have to take my word for it. I don’t remember it.

I have logged many miles on the Old Plank Trail, so many in fact that I sometimes say that I know every little dip, bump, and distinctive trait of the trail. I know which houses have a dog that barks at me. I know when to move to the left to avoid the divot in the trail as I head north up the path and over the bridge. Those memories are solid, and I rely on them quite a bit. But I guess our brains can’t store every single detail about each workout. I mean, how much of the mundane can you remember? Do you remember what you had for lunch yesterday? Probably not. Do you remember your 21st birthday? More than likely, because turning 21 is a memorable milestone. But do you remember your 22nd birthday? I don’t.

Am I supposed to make each run, bike or swim a memorable one? I’m not sure if that is even possible. Frankly, I think trying to concentrate and remember every detail would most likely wear me out mentally. But I am glad to have pretty clear memories of those workouts that do have something memorable happen.

I guess that I am lucky to have my Number 1 Fan pry those little details from me. Maybe I will remember more of them thanks to Carl. But I can promise you this – although I may not remember every little detail a day, a week or a years later, I will always remember my Number 1 Fan asking me about my workouts. Thanks, Carl.

Swims: 0

Bikes: 3 rides – 63 miles

Runs: 5 runs – 30 miles

*Week 6 is in the books. 1/5th of the way done.*

Three Plastic Bags and a Popped Balloon

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

WEEK 5 – April 4, 2021

Last week I talked about needing some motivation to get through some biking and running workouts. This week I had the motivation, but when it came to doing the Saturday long ride what I lacked was the desire.

My family had planned a trip to Nashville for the Easter weekend to visit our freshman daughter Rebecca, who attends Vanderbilt University, and some family who lives in the area. I have always been of the mindset that if you are going to miss some workouts, it’s probably best to at least try to get the long weekend training stuff done. At this stage of training, a long ride isn’t all that long; the plan called for an hour and 45-minutes. So I moved the ride to Thursday and April Fool’s played an unappreciated trick on me – it was cold. When I got home midday my car was telling me it was 32°F. The wind wasn’t too bad, and I had the motivation to do the ride, now I lacked the desire!

After taking the dog for a quick walk, I decided to toughen up and act like an Ironman and just go do it. I put on some extra layers and wore a set of gloves under a pair of large mittens and got my bike ready to roll. While in the garage I decided to put on a couple of plastic newspaper bags over my socks before putting on my cycling shoes. I’m glad I did because my very cold ride last week ended with some very numb toes.

Normally I would put them under my layered socks, but I was too lazy to do that now.

As I headed south I realized that this ride was not going to be fun. My rides always head south and return because where I live it is urban to the immediate north and rural to the immediate south. I count my blessings with that. The wind was pushing me along and I was easily riding in the upper teens and 20 mph speeds. I got to the point where I could choose to head either east or west and I chose east because I thought I would take advantage of the heavily wooded trail to head home on and keep the wind from being too much of a burden.

As soon as I turned to head back north I could feel that this ride was going to be a struggle. I stopped at a spot where I will sometimes take a nature break and ate a gel. I was sweating and starting to feel the cold, and knowing when I got back on the bike I would be suffering even more.

I started to ride again and my eyes were watering and I was getting a headache from the cold wind blowing on my wet head. I crossed Monee/Manhattan Road and started looking for something I could use to help me out, and there was an empty plastic shopping bag stuck to some brush just blowing in the wind. I got off my bike and looked it over to make sure it wasn’t dirty and then I took off my helmet and cap and put the bag on my head and covered it back up. I hopped on the bike and within a hundred feet or so I saw a popped mylar ballon laying in the ditch. I stopped and inspected that and then shoved that under my cycling jersey. As I started riding again it was almost like instant relief. My headache went away and I started getting comfortable riding in the wind again.

The ride took me almost two hours, but it could have been much longer and much more miserable. And in the end, I felt a sense of accomplishment, overcoming the lack of desire to ride on a cold day and being resourceful enough to not having to cash in my chips and call for my kid to come get me.

Wiped out after fighting the cold windy day.

Swims: 0

Bikes: 2 – 42 miles

Runs: 3 – 11 miles

Inspiring Motivation

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

WEEK 4 – March 28, 2021

This past week was a kind of a week that lacked motivation for me. I’m not sure if the oft-changing rainy and windy spring weather had something to do with it, but I just wasn’t motivated to put in the effort.

In addition to what I felt was a worthless 30-minute bike ride that I barely broke a sweat with, I was dreading an easy-paced 30-minute run for some reason. I had been watching the weather and I was anticipating the rain to start right when I usually begin my workout. I am lucky to have access to a treadmill at work and also at home, but I loathe running on them so much that I only do it when I can’t run outside. But the rain hadn’t started yet, so I told myself to get out there. This run didn’t start out so well. First, I wasn’t in the mood to run, but I decided to run from my office to the local trail, which seemed like an uphill climb. My heart rate climbed to the point that I felt like it was reminding me how out of shape I am and how much work there is yet to do. But as I got to the flat trail I settled into a slow rhythm and found a suitable pace.

About a mile into the run I passed three walkers heading in the opposite direction from me, what appeared to be an older couple walking with their adult daughter having a lively conversation, but what she was wearing on her head instantly caught my eye – an Ironman finisher hat. Knowing what it takes to earn a hat like that was enough to make me forget about the self-loathing that had been in my head. I have four of those hats myself, and I am looking for a fifth. They aren’t easy to earn. But earn them I did. And earning them sometimes means doing a workout when you aren’t really wanting to.

I picked up my pace a little, ran with a little more strut, and added a short weightlifting workout after the run that I had no desire to do beforehand.

Sometimes something simple can be a great motivator.

Swims: 0

Bikes: 3 – 39 miles

Runs: 5 – 20 miles

Gunners-2-1

Continue reading “Inspiring Motivation”

I’M SHOCKED!

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

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WEEK 2 – March 14, 2021

Occasionally at work, we will get treated to a lunch and on Wednesday we were told there would be pizza. Yay, pizza! I work until 11 am, so I did my bike spin/treadmill run brick workout (that’s a mouthful) in the weight room at work and then headed upstairs to enjoy some pizza. I barely had loaded my plate and sat down when I heard my genuinely shocked coworker say “YOU EAT JUNK?!?!”

I shook my head and chuckled at his comment because I have heard this question before, once from another coworker who I was currently sitting next to, and others too. For some reason, my coworker thinks that by virtue of doing stupid-long distance swim/bike/run events that I am somehow forced to eat like a rabbit. Well, this might come as a shock to everyone that thinks that being a triathlete also means that we are also nutritionally sound, unfortunately, that just isn’t the case for most of us. Look at the below picture – Ironman Chattanooga is literally sponsored by LITTLE DEBBIE!

Nutty Buddies, aka Nutty Bars, are my nemesis. Yay, Nutty Bars!

I really didn’t know whether to feel ashamed or to feel proud of the fact that I do enough exercise to allow me to enjoy a plate full of pizza without guilt. As a triathlete you develop a thick skin pretty quickly and modesty kind of goes out the window. The first time you stuff yourself in a tri suit will definitely either make you quit the sport immediately or just accept the fact that you look like an overstuffed sausage in a bright-colored nylon uniform. And eating what you want is a nice perk. But for Pete’s sake, I’m not even eating as much as you non-exercising coworkers are! I’ve seen you guys eat, and I’m not even in your league!

Me eating pizza shocks you, huh? Do you want to hear some more shocking things triathletes do? Well, I practically fuel my long rides and runs with – brace yourself – gels that are basically just sugar. 100 calories of sugar every 30 minutes! Some athletes will eat a sleeve of gummy-type gel blocks every hour. Imagine the cavities that are building after doing that for 30-weeks. I also bring along these little sugar-pressed waffle things called “stroopwafels” for an added sugar bonus. Yay, sugar!

I buy these things by the box. An additional 150 calories per hour or so on top of the gels I slurp down. Ridiculously good.

Oh, and wait until the later weeks in this training program hits. I will be eating everything that isn’t nailed down, and I will still be losing weight.

I guess I need to step back from my surprise at the shock that others express when they see me scarfing down some pizza, cookies, or the other junk that comes into our office. They see the Ironman banners hanging in my office and must think it takes a monumental amount of self-discipline to do an Ironman. Well, I guess that is a little bit true, but the work generally results in a reward, whether it be getting across the finish line, or not feeling guilty about eating some pizza.

I have to wrap this post up for the week. I need fuel for training and I’m having sloppy joe’s for dinner! I earned it, I promise. Yay, sloppy joe’s!

Swims: 0

Bikes: 3 – 41 miles

Runs: 4 – 21 miles

PUMP IT UP!

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

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WEEK 1 – March 7, 2021

Lou is dead. Long live Choo!

2020 Ironman Louisville got killed by a lethal combination of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as social upheaval going on in Louisville and it was not only enough to postpone the race, but to kill it totally off. Ironman Louisville (aka Kentucky) is no more. I was offered a deferral to a handful of other 2020 races which I felt had no chance of occurring, so I opted for the deferral to 2021 Ironman Chattanooga. A year into a pandemic, and I’m still somewhat pessimistic about whether we will race or not. But 2021 is here, people (including myself) are getting vaccinated, and real in-person events are starting to take shape and look like a possibility of actually happening. The CEO of Ironman came out recently with a video regarding how they expect the racing season to play out, which made most of us scratch our heads. What I get out of the video is that they truly want to race, but if they can’t they will tell us at the last possible second and keep our money anyway. But no matter his message, I’m signed up and will have to train to be ready if it does happen.

After completing Choo in 2019, my buddies and I all kind of agreed that we didn’t care to come back to it. I guess maybe that was the ungodly heat that helped with that mindset, but yes, it seemed to wow us less than Wisconsin, Lake Placid, and Louisville had done in prior years. But when Choo became my only real option, heck I will take it. It’s really not that bad of a course – the swim is almost effortless and the bike is the easiest of the four I have done. The run is the devil at this race, and add the heat like we had in 2019, and well, it was enough for us to say we’d never want to do the race again.

Seeing that I got through about 16 weeks of training for Louisville when it got axed, I have somewhat just drifted through my usual training, knowing that racing in 2020 was a longshot. With the exception of enjoying some brief, mild winter trail running, my desire to sign up for races or even do any significant training has waned. I had lost my mojo. The time to start training is here, but I’m still looking for some motivation.

I was spinning on the stationary bike this week and listening to some shuffled songs on Spotify when I heard Elvis Costello’s Pump It Up. That’s what I kind of need right now, something to pump me up. The weather is getting better, the snow is starting to melt, and soon I will take my training outdoors. Time to pump myself up.

I’ll be following the Competitive Plan from the book Be Iron Fit by Don Fink once again. It has never let me down. I have made some alterations to it in order to make it more personal to my needs, but I stick to it pretty closely.

I swapped out my old saddle for a new ISM PR1.0 split-nose model. I’m hoping that the saddle is more comfortable than the old one. I will have to find another way to mount my bottle cages to it, but there is time for that.

Swimming won’t happen until I get my pool open in May sometime. I have added some light weightlifting workouts for now, but I tend to get bored with that real quickly.

Here’s to training with my Gunner teammates and some of the locals I know who are also doing the race. Ironman Chattanooga, here I come! PUMP IT UP!

Swims: 0

Bikes: 4 – 57.5 miles

Runs: 4 – 15 miles

Gunners-2-1

Riding and Thinking

IRONMAN LOUISVILLE 2020 TRAINING

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WEEK 13 – June 8 > June 14, 2020

IRONMAN TRAINING IN THE TIME OF PANDEMIC – PART XIII

Most of my inspiration for the topics for this post comes from the time I am in the saddle riding my long Saturday rides and trust me, I’m doing a lot of thinking on those three-hour-long or more rides. This week is no different. Here some thoughts and things that happened this week.

I should have kept the Ironman-O-Meter from last week turned on this week and asked it if I was I going to keep riding the same old route out west of home to Elwood because I was getting a little tired of doing that route, and sure enough I changed it up this week and rode east on the bike trail to head south toward Peotone and then west from there. I usually ride the Elwood route on training days of less than 3 hours as it takes less than 1.5 hours to get there. I can ride much farther on the other route. I’m sure I will get sick of that pretty soon in the seventeen weeks that are left too. But it was a nice change of pace that refreshed my mind.

As I was riding the Old Plank Trail that heads east I quickly became perturbed at the amount of inconsiderate users that were starting to dominate the trail. They walk three or more wide, they ride in groups and pass with oncoming riders, and that’s just a few complaints. It used to be dominated by the regulars like me who put fear into those who came out on the trail, but how the tables have turned. When I first started triathlons and began riding a lot I was very glad to have the trail available to me, but soon realized that it wasn’t very safe for me to be on it. Too many people not following the few simple trail rules so that we can all get by without impacting each other. I soon realized that I felt safer riding on the roads than I was on the trail. I’m fortunate to live in an area of Chicagoland where north of me has everything the city can offer, and immediately south of me is pretty much a farmer’s paradise. I just need to find a quiet set of streets to get me to where I need to go without using the OPT. Sad that a cyclist doesn’t want to bike on a bike trail.

I was very fortunate to be about 1/10th of a mile from home when my rear tire started going down. I heard a pop and some hissing just as I was getting to my road and was able to coast it easy back home. Inspection of the tire revealed a small rock to have punctured the sidewall all the way through to the tube. I guess it’s time to switch to the new Continental 5000’s that I have been avoiding.

abYQ+wjgQYW%nK3fMJpYoA — Thought about taking a little break on the ride, but something told me not to.

Thursday was an interesting day. I work as a non-sworn employee in a police department and we did the Torch Run as a group. Several of us had done it already virtually, as was suggested by the event organization, so for me, this was just to join the gang and be part of the team. Or to please the chief.

My virtual Torch Run picture. I raised $130 for the Illinois Special Olympics.

It was a bike day so I decided to bike to work, change into running shoes and then run and ride back home. We all did the required two miles, but I decided to add a third time trial mile just to see where my short distance speed stands since all I ever do is easy paced distance running. I turned a 6:35 mile and was pleasantly surprised. I think if I just focused on speed I could probably get under 6 minutes for a mile if I pushed hard. But that is not my goal right now, and I shouldn’t do dumb things.

Swimming is going well and I feel like I am getting more comfortable and stronger in the water, but I am thinking of maybe doing an hour-long swim on my Monday rest day instead of doing the Tu-Thu 30-minute swims. Monday seems like it needs something, and having to swim after a bike or run always gives me leg and foot cramps. I will consider it. Sixty minutes is a long time to be bored to death swimming back and forth in the pool. Swimming sucks.

My Sunday long run ended the week with a nice conversation with a couple other runners I met along the way. Mary and her husband Chris were both wearing Ironman visors as was I and we quickly started talking about Ironman and what races we were doing and what we thought was going to happen. I was surprised she knew of my son and it was a nice change to have someone to run at my pace and talk with. Super nice people. We ran for about 2-3 miles together and then went our separate ways.

One last thought that I have been thinking about this week is my commitment to training for Ironman Louisville in October as I have been doing this past thirteen weeks and what will I do if it gets canceled. I have said since the Covid-19 thing started that I will train like it is going to happen, and that hasn’t changed. Ironman has not yet been told by the City of Louisville to cancel the race. However, I drew a line in the sand this week. If the race does get canceled before the midway point of Week 15, then I will stop following the plan for Ironman and just spend my week swimming, biking, and running as I see fit. I will probably shift my focus to more long-distance running and restart my training for the elimination ultra-marathon that got moved from April to October. However, if the race is still on after I pass Week 15, I will continue to train for it. If the event then does get canceled for 2020 before race day, then I will try to do it on my own at home or up at the lake house in Minocqua sometime around Week 27 or 28 in the training plan. I would hate to see twenty or more weeks of training be for nothing, so that is the plan. Maybe I can talk my Gunner buddies into doing it with me. The Gunner Ironman! I’ve already got the t-shirt theme for it:

TOTALS FOR WEEK 13:

Swim: 2 / 3000 yards
Bike: 5 rides / 90 miles
Run: 6 runs / 29 miles

Gunners-2-1 — The Gunners will get it done!

The Ironman-O-Meter

IRONMAN LOUISVILLE 2020 TRAINING

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WEEK 12 – June 1 > June 7, 2020

IRONMAN TRAINING IN THE TIME OF PANDEMIC and SOCIAL UNREST!– PART XII

Lots of questions have been going through my mind lately, so I thought I would break out the old “Ironman-O-Meter” (patent pending) and see if it can provide some insight to what the heck is happening.

ironman ometer-yellow

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Question Number 1: Will this race be held in October as expected?

Ironman-O-Meter says: About a 15% chance. I was at a 10% chance of it happening about a month or so ago, but I am just a little more optimistic about it than before mainly because of what Ironman Corp. is doing planning-wise. Although they have canceled or postponed many of the spring races, they have moved several to the fall. I take that as a good sign, mainly because they want the races to occur as long as they can be done in a safe fashion for everyone. A lot of the cancelations come as directives from the host cities that are sticking to state guidelines for dealing with Covid-19. USA Triathlon and Ironman have both come out with safe practice policies recently that will allow us to race more cautiously, so that is a little more promising. There are plans to eliminate a lot of the social event things that Ironman does for a race, as well as making the race more athlete self-supported. I may be forced to carry my own nutrition on the bike and run instead of having well-stocked aid stations which is not a big deal. I train that way all the time. The City of Louisville, where the race will be held has had some social unrest due to a shooting recently, but I hope the crisis will settle down by fall. I would think that with the losing out on summer and fall sports, Louisville might welcome us dopes on spokes.

Question Number 2: What chance is there of me joining a group ride with the local bike group?

Ironman-O-Meter says: About a 25% chance. A group ride opportunity popped up on Facebook for Saturday that almost looked perfect for me, but I took a pass on it. This is the same group of great people that I accidentally came upon riding last week and joined in, and I enjoyed some company for a change. I feel a little safer on some rides in a group because groups tend to be more visible to traffic. But very few of these riders are training for Ironman and the couple that may be training probably aren’t following the same plan that I am. What happens when I join the group is that my prescribed ride usually goes out the window. First to go is the tempo, which is almost always faster than the Z2 zone ride that I should be doing. And secondly, the distance usually ends up being farther than what my plan called for. Lastly, the ride can sometimes turn into a testosterone-fueled ride, with someone trying to be the big dog. That someone is usually me. It’s probably better that I skip the extra tempo, distance, and one-upmanship and stick to my solo ride. The first rule of the Be Iron Fit training plan is to follow the plan. The second rule is to FOLLOW THE TRAINING PLAN.

Question Number 3: Will all dog owners say that their dog is friendly while it’s growling and baring its teeth at me?

Ironman-O-Meter says: 100% of the time, every time. While doing my Tuesday run I came upon a guy and his two little kids walking his dog off-leash in the nature preserve where the posted sign says pets aren’t allowed. This dog did exactly what off-leash dogs do in public, he approached me very aggressively, with snarling and barking and got close enough where I took my pepper spray off the safety and was ready to unload it on him. Now, I don’t want to spray the dog. He’s just doing what dogs do. But I also don’t want to get bit either! The owner quickly yelled at the dog “What’s the matter with you?” like it was the dog’s fault he was off-leash in public. A sorry was tossed my way as the guy retrieved the leash from his 6-year-old and I turned and finished climbing the hill. On the way back down a few minutes later I encountered him again and although still not leashed, he was being held by the owner. That’s when the guy says “Sorry, he’s really a friendly dog.” Yeah, sure looked friendly to me. Every damn time.

That’s enough questions for the Ironman-O-Meter for now. I don’t want to blow any circuits. Thanks to Rebecca and Emily helping me design the Ironman-O-Meter. It may need some tweaking, but it did the job.

TOTALS FOR WEEK 12:

Swim: 2 / 3000 yards
Bike: 4 rides / 93 miles
Run: 5 runs / 23.5 miles

Reliving Previous Week 10’s

IRONMAN LOUISVILLE 2020 TRAINING

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WEEK 10 – May 18 > May 24, 2020

IRONMAN TRAINING IN THE TIME OF PANDEMIC – PART X

As I wrap up this tenth week of a 30-week training plan, I was thinking about what was I feeling in my previous four Ironman training Week 10’s. So I thought it might be interesting to look back at what I wrote about in those weeks.

2013 Ironman Wisconsin Training Week 10 – I was blogging my journey for my first Ironman on a triathlon blogging site that is no longer around, but my son Ben was able to recapture those posts. It looks like I was actually looking forward to the next third of the training plan. Hmm… imagine that. I would never look forward to what was coming now! Since I can’t share a link to the post, I will copy it below:

WEEK 10 – April 22, 2013Week 10 is in the books! I can’t believe I am 1/3 done with the training. Week 10 ends the Base Phase of the training program and now I am heading into the dreaded Build Phase! The next 10 weeks looks challenging, with an extra swim added per week, along with some intervals added to the bike and run training. I look forward to getting out of Heart Rate Zone 1 and 2 and into zones 3 & 4.
This week took a hit, with heavy rain flooding many parts of the Chicagoland area. We were spared here in Mokena for the most part, but getting outside was not in my plans. As a matter of fact, even the Will County Forest Preserve District closed the two local preserves because of flooding, and those are my running and now cycling haunts. But I did well inside, missing only my Sunday long run due to my daughter’s confirmation and party. Sacrifices are a two-way street.
My butt is continually sore and uncomfortable in the saddle on long rides. My Saturday 3 hour ride took that to a new level of soreness, and I am wondering if a better saddle may alleviate some of my issues. I also think I just need to ride more. I’ll get there.
The swim this week wasn’t the best. Tuesday’s swim was after a run, which caused me to cramp up in my lower legs and feet. I just couldn’t swap them that day. It is readily apparent to me why the swim is the first event.
I joined a Facebook group for the 2013 Wisconsin Ironman. Good group of people and they have shared tons of valuable information. I’ve been quietly respectful of them, but I will come out of my shell soon and interact with them more. They are having tons of fun.
WEEK 10 TOTALS:
SWIM – 4400 yards, 2 swims
BIKE – 77 miles, 3 rides
RUN – 17.5 miles, 3 runs (skipped a long run again this week due to family responsibilities)

2016 Ironman Lake Placid Training Week 10 – Another upbeat post in 2016 for Ironman Lake Placid. There was a three-year gap between Wisconsin and Lake Placid, so it seemed like it was still kind of new to me. Since this race is a mid-summer race, it seemed to be much colder than my other Week 10’s. The best part of this week was the 3-hour ride with fellow Gunner John.

John and I seemed like we were enjoying ourselves on a cold April 3-hour ride. Probably not.

Read the actual post here: 2016 IMLP Training – WEEK 10

2017 Ironman Louisville Training Week 10 – Since I am training for Louisville again this year it isn’t a surprise Week 10 falls on Memorial Day weekend again. It seems like I did a lot of assessing myself in 2017. I see that I was starting to realize that all of that crazy swim training wasn’t worth it and I was happy to just do enough. It worked well for me then as I ended up setting a swim personal best in the race. Here is the post: Memorial Day Reminders

2019 Ironman Chattanooga Training Week 10 – It seemed by this point I was doing more writing about the week’s experiences than what the ten weeks meant. It looks like I hadn’t done any swimming yet, which is not surprising. I learned a lot in 2017. The post was about getting the crap scared out of me apparently: Week 10 Wrap Up: Fear… Parts I & II

2020 Ironman Louisville Training Week 10 – Half of this week was split between home and the lake home in northern Wisconsin. Glad to get away from the self-isolation and quarantining in Illinois to the beauty of the Northwoods, where apparently the State of Wisconsin doesn’t care if you go about your regular routine.

So here I am again, wrapping up another ten weeks of training and glad to be done with it. As usual, I am hoping for better weather, for my butt to get acclimated to the seat soon, and for the coronavirus to not kill me or my race. I’ll keep training like the race is on until it isn’t.

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TOTALS FOR WEEK 10:

Swim: 0 / 0 yards
Bike: 3 rides / 75 miles
Run: 5 runs / 34 miles