After that weekend, I was very sleepy. Still am to be honest. I can’t rest though. I’m leaving on Thursday and I’m not close to being packed and don’t even have my passport updated. As exciting as it is, going abroad to race seems like a lot of stress. So much that I even confused my US departure date with my New Zealand arrival date. It has been so hard to focus on everything. This whole experience has been a lot more difficult than I had anticipated, in every way imaginable.

With that being said, the future difficulties include:
Packing my bike. I got a few cardboard bike boxes from the local bike shop. Hopefully I’ll figure a way to pack them for the flight over.

Getting a new passport. This one snuck up and bit me. I knew it expired after my trip was over, but I didn’t know it needed to be valid for at least three months AFTER my trip was over. What’s the point in an expiration date?

Getting to the airport. Oh this one will be tricky. Get two bikes, luggage and two people to the airport in time for an international flight.

Preparation for New Zealand. Thinking of everything possible that we will need for the trip. I should probably concede that I will leave something I need for the trip. I just hope its not something important.

Other than that though, everything seems to be set. I got my race plan from my coach (he’s been a great help). I feel physically prepared for what will happen March 3rd. Mentally, is another matter, but I’m sure by race day I’ll be there. Mostly because I’ll have to be or I’ll be toast.

So here I go. Last three days in the USofA! Bring it on IMNZ. I’m not backing down now! I’ll be there March 3rd and I’m showing up.

I’m three weeks away from the race and issues other than training are becoming priority as well. Issues such as travel, equipment, itenerary, passports, visas and so on.

I have no idea how we are going to pack our bikes. There’s one company where we can buy travel boxes made of cardboard and ship them, but its way less expensive to fly with the bikes on the plane out to New Zealand. We can get a used cardboard box from a local bike shop and pack it ourselves using zip ties and foam. And there are tons of other options too, like travel cases, but they are
way too expensive for a one time use. This is going to be tough.

Just found out that my passport expires in a month. Useful information to know if you are traveling internationally. Some countries won’t let you in if your passport will expire within three months of your travel date, no matter how long you plan on staying. We live and learn, I suppose.

Other than that, its been business as usual. Just bought some new tri shorts in preparation for our long endurance bike session this weekend. Bought the DeSoto ITU Tri Short and Shirt from Tri Sports. They’re pretty cool. They have the 400 mile chamois/pad and its pretty cool. If you’ve never heard of it, I suggest having a peek at their 400 mile shorts and bibs. Very cool stuff.

Well, its “Tunes Tuesday”, so how about a little ditty from Daft Punk called “Derezzed”. It’s from the Tron: Legacy soundtrack and it always gets me pumped up.

Planned Training
It’s power bike as usual today.
Biking – 14 miles
Running – 2.25 miles

Have a great Tuesday!

A week ago, I started feeling quite run down. Physically, Mentally, Spiritually and Emotionally. I plowed through the remainder of our first build phase with a ‘three a day’ workout on Saturday and a big ‘two a day’ workout on Sunday. I ignored all the signs of getting sick and then Monday, my body gave in. I thought the Monday and Tuesday off from training would be enough to recover from an oncoming illness, but my body had already fallen victim to an opportunistic virus (or something). Tuesday and Wednesday I was totally incapacitated. Chills, headache, body aches and congestion kept me confined to my couch most of those days. Yesterday was a catch up day at work and now here I am. Not completely recovered, but a ton better now that I’ve taken antibiotics and other helpful meds.

Physically, I feel amazing though. My body feels like it wants to get going again. I’m a bit short on sleep still, but the weekend should take care of that. With 30 days to go, I feel quite capable and very anxious for my upcoming race. Trying not to be scared, but staying realistic that everything may not go to plan. And if things do not go my way March 3rd, it won’t be for a lack of preparation. It will be due to the nature of the sport and what makes this accomplishment so very special. I do have every intention of going there, racing well, giving it everything I’ve got and ‘finish like a boss’.

Updates will become more frequent as I get into the next build phase in a couple of days.
Let’s finish this week like a boss!

Thursday Thanks
I’m giving thanks for sleep last night. With a little help, I got to sleep and stayed to sleep for quite a while last night. Almost 7 hours! Throughout this whole process, sleep has proven to be invaluable. The strength of my workouts and my performance depends greatly on how well I sleep.

Yesterday I had to skip my Wednesday swim. I hadn’t slept well for 3 nights. My coach told me to listen to my body and adjust my plans accordingly. Well, last night my body was screaming for rest. Not just in the way of soreness or physical fatigue. Mental and emotional fatigue as well as a great need for sleep lead to my decision to skip my swim. I can work through the physical issues but when I’m with down mentally, emotionally and physically, its time to take a rest. I was reassured by my coach that I did the right thing and he adjusted the rest of my training plan accordingly.

Todays Training
Conditioning – 50′s Challenge
*I’ve gotten better at this, but its still grueling!

Let’s finish the week strong!

Last weekend was our first endurance weekend which meant 3 workouts on both Saturday and Sunday. The workouts lasted anywhere from 20 min to 3 hours. I had time to rest in between workouts, but really it was not enough. I haven’t slept so much in years. I was constantly sleepy. Between the workouts and the sleep, I feel like there was no weekend. I didn’t add it all up yet, but I put in some incredible mileage this weekend.

I love my new bike set up. The fit is just about perfect! The nose of the seat can get a bit irritating, but I think I’ll just adjust it down a bit. I’m very encouraged about how long I can stay in aero position now (and how fast I am while in aero). I’m starting to feel very strong on the bike. Like my good fried Stu told me, “It’s all about comfort”. Seems to be very accurate!

There was no Motivational Monday, so I would like to post a bit of motivation today. It’s quite timely as we just lost another legendary coach to cancer yesterday. I watch Jim Valvano’s ESPY Speech often to remind me that there are people fighting tougher battles than what I’m pursuing. Great perspective and great words to live by, “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”.

Click the quote to go to the speech.

Todays Training
Bike – 40min strength
Run -20min cooldown after the bike

For the tunes today, here’s a little Norwegian Recycling – Miracles
A friend of mine sent this to me last year and its become my go to song for long runs. Enjoy!

I want to congratulate my friend Chris Flores over at FLO Fitness. His fitness blog just hit 5,000 views! If you haven’t stopped over to read his stuff, check him out! FLO Fitness Blog here!
He is a pioneer and a welcomed leader in the fitness community. We are lucky to have him and his crew over at FLO.

Have a great Tuesday! Let’s give it everything!

I’ve said, for a while now, it takes an amount of “mental investment” in your activity to get out if it what you want. Well, maybe I should add “emotional content” (see Bruce Lee in ‘Enter the Dragon’) to the list as well. It’s obvious now, from the increased difficulty I’ve been having due to these depressing times, that its necessary for me to find the appropriate mood for tackling my training. How I should go about that remains a mystery, but part of my Friday Focus is finding the mood appropriate for adding an increased emotional content to my workouts. If I couple that with the mental investment I have in my training, I have no doubt that I will reach my goal.

Yesterdays Training
Conditioning – 50′s Challenge, 50 reps of 6 different exercises without stopping. It’s tough!

Todays Training
Bike – Endurance Intervals 55min
*did it this morning and it was tough. 15 miles and my HR was averaging around 155 bpm, which is pretty high.

Tomorrow starts our first “Endurance Weekend” and from what I read in the email Coach Woody just sent me, it looks INTENSE!
I will posting tomorrow if I’m not in a coma =)

It’s Friday! Let’s finish strong! LIKE A BOSS!

I’m also learning how important environment is for Ironman training. I’m very lucky to work in the Fitness Industry with an understanding boss and coworkers. I get to train at work when the opportunity presents itself and the hours are somewhat flexible. BUT!!! (You had to know it was coming) Living in the Bronx is not conducive to training. This morning I tried to get to work early so I could fit in a workout before work actually began. Well, that didn’t go as planned because I’m so dependent on public transportation actually being on time. I’m so jealous of people who get to roll out of bed and start training once they are ready. I have to wait an hour (or more) to get to work and then pounce once I get the chance to train during the day. It feels like there’s a great degree of luck involved at times, which creates a very uneasy feeling when I think about it. If you ever take on a challenge such as this, make sure you have a schedule and environment that allows for a greater degree of consistency. If not, the challenge may include finding the opportunity to train, not just the training itself.

Yesterday I got some solid training in though. 14 mile power bike intervals and then a 2.5 mile run immediately after. I am definitely getting stronger and faster. My hip pain is almost completely gone and besides the expected aches, I’m feeling “tip top”!

Yesterday’s Training
Bike – 14 mile power intervals
Run – 20 min 2.5 mile cooldown after biking

Planned Training Today
Run – 4 mile run plus speed intervals at the end. Really tough!
Swim – 3200yd paddle and pull bouy workout.

Today is going to be fun! Let’s give it everything! Not much week left to work with.

Saturday and Sunday were great learning and training experiences for me. Saturday, I learned that my hands need some SERIOUS protection from the cold! Running at 5am at 26 degrees (feels like 13 with wind chill), in the Bronx with no sunlight, is officially a BAD IDEA! As if I had to try it to realize that. Some people just need to learn, THE HARD WAY. Unfortunately, that’s what is necessary to get two workouts done in a day. I ran 11.74 miles Saturday morning, but I couldn’t find a pool Saturday afternoon for my 40 min swim. Very frustrating.

Sunday was an adventure! Timing is everything, like previous stated. Sunday, I did not wake up early to do my first bike. I waited until 2pm to do my long ride. BAD IDEA! The long bike was 3 hours, totalling approximately 45 miles. I was done around 5pm, but I had to wait 4-5 hours between my first and second workout. I didn’t start the second workout, which was a 90 minute ride, until 10pm. Made for a very long night. And a particularly short sleep because I had to wake up Monday morning and swim!

Monday morning I overslept and couldn’t swim because I had to drive 3.5 hours to PA for a bike fitting. See, this is why timing is so important. Every minute and hour must be accounted for. I missed my Monday swim all because I waited until 2pm for my first Sunday bike. Ugh!

The bike fitting was AWESOME though! World Cup Ski & Cycle in Mechanicsburg, PA is incredible. Lee is an outstanding bike fitter, more like a wizard. He got me and my wife completely dialed in and extremely comfy on our bikes. It was hard work though, it took 6.5 hours. I was hoping to squeeze in some family time while in PA but I had to do an “about face” if I was going to get home in time to get some sleep. The bike fit was very important though. Lee was able to point out and correct some fundamental errors in my bike setup. Seat height, handlebar height, aero bar position, seat fore/aft position, and so on. He even pointed out some manufacturing problems with the bike itself. One the folks at Fuji weren’t even aware of! Apparently the bikes made with the aero seat post pointed “off center”. We thought it was only my bike, but Lee had another bike (same year, make, model and components as mine) and it had the same EXACT “off center” problem! It looked almost deliberate, but of course Fuji had no idea of this being a problem and no one has ever reported this problem in the past.  I’ve uploaded a picture in this post. This is the value of going to get your bike fit though! You get to learn all of the intricacies of your bike and how it interacts with you. Definitely worth $80 for the fitting at World Cup!

Quick training recap of the long weekend.
Saturday: 11.74 mile run – almost froze my fingers off
Sunday: 45+ mile bike around 2pm and then a 25 mile bike that evening
Monday: No Swim because I overslept. Ugh!

Today, I’ve got a 60 min bike in the morning.

Here’s the tunes for Tuesday! Listened to this on the drive out to the bike fitting. Great song that makes me think of my dad!

Herb Alpert – Rise (1979)

Let’s have a great week! It’s a short one!

Last year, my 2011 resolution was to find the positive in all things, including the negative. Trying to keep a positive frame of mind was instrumental in all of my accomplishments last year. My 2012 addition is a resolution to try harder today than I did yesterday. It has less to do with actual physical effort (or accomplishment) and more to do with a level of commitment. There will always be fatigue (both mental and physical), obstacles, injuries and the frustration that comes from dealing with all that. We all know the easiest thing to do is quit and next easiest is “trying” (or giving the illusion of trying). I feel like if I said I tried harder today than I did yesterday, I will make it past all things that get in my way.

Today was tough to say the least. A 55 minute bike. It was a 15 mile endurance interval workout. My hip was still sore, but a lot better. Actually waking up and getting to the bike trainer was the hard part. Once I was on the bike, I did quite well. I lowered my seat a bit in effort to take some pressure off my hip and it worked. I felt so strong and my hip didn’t hurt much. I’m so pleased with the forward position my tri bike is giving me. I feel like I’m positioned where I should’ve been the whole time! Ah, the curse of having long legs and a short torso! Ironman won’t come easy. I will have to try hard everyday, but I’m resolved to try harder.

Yesterdays Training
Conditioning – 6 exercises, 50 reps each without stopping. Incredible workout!

Todays Training
Bike (a.m.) – 15 miles, 55 min endurance intervals.

It’s tough to stay strong all the way through the end. Fridays aren’t easy. We’re tired from the rest of the week and looking forward to two days of rest (in this weeks case, three days). Let’s dig down deep and finish like a boss!

“The more we sweat in training, the less we bleed in battle.” – U.S. Navy Seals

I would like to recognize the many clients and Fitness Center members I’m blessed to know and work with. Particularly those who consistently try to raise their game, no matter how little.

It was recently proposed that I only identify with the hardcore athlete and exercisers because of how hard I’m training these days. I can’t describe how angered I was by this misrepresentation. It was being assumed that I could not identify with the struggles of those who’s best efforts were minimal compared to mine. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. I celebrate and give thanks for all who’s best efforts are more today than they were yesterday. No matter what the form those efforts take. Those are the people who inspire me and push me. They give me the confidence of knowing that no matter what I’m currently doing, I can always do more or do better. No matter how bad I want to quit or not try, there’s someone out there who went farther or pushed harder than they thought they could. Whether it be a mile, 20 minutes, 100 miles or a race PR. It was truly the best they could do on that day and they tried to do better than they did yesterday.

So, all of you taking it to THAT level, THANK YOU!

Yesterday, despite my hip pain, I ran my 8.5mi endurance and interval run. It was tough. I did not think it would be wise to do my swim though. So, I saved the swim for later today.

Yesterdays Training
Run – Treadmill 8.5 mile endurance interval run. 65 minutes

Todays Planned Training
Conditioning – kettlebell and body weight challenge
Swim – Wednesdays 3200 yd sprint and pull workout

Only about 52 days left!