Training Update: Caught the Flu

Here is a quick update on things since I missed my post last week. I’ve been sick since last Tuesday and am still in recovery mode. Hopefully I will be running at full steam by the weekend to get some longer workouts in. I haven’t quite hit my stride since IMLOU, but I’m still chipping away at my 2019 distance goals.

I made it to 1,000 run miles back in Louisville, 200 miles in the lap pool yesterday, and I have 90 miles to go before getting 4,000 on the bike. Here is where I am currently at for this year on distance and hours of pure training.

Quick outlook on what’s next:

11/30/2019: Turkey Trot Half Marathon – Last year I this was my first race returning from injury and I ran my first sub 1:30 (1:26:55). I am excited to be back even though I haven’t been able to properly prepare.

Might be a cop out, but I’ll be happy with a 1:25 and course PR based on where I’m at.

4/25/2020: Illinois Marathon – This was my first ever marathon that I ran on 12 days of training. I won my age group with a 3:13:28, which is STILL my current PR. I came within 2 minutes of that time at Ironman Wisconsin, so hopefully I’m ready to finally break 3 hours.

5/31/202: Ironman Tulsa – With Ironman Tulsa looming a month after the marathon, I will not be focusing on the run. My bike still needs the most work, so that is where my focus will be! With that in mind, I still hope to break 3 hours in the marathon and boost my confidence in running 3:10 or faster at Tulsa.

Bike “Mishap” Explained

My race season is officially over, and I’ve has some time to reflect on the year. Going into Ironman Louisville, I was prepared to do nothing for 2 weeks. But with how poorly I raced, I haven’t been able to sit still and have been busy investigating my bike mishap. In my previous post I tried to blame a mechanical issue on the bike for slowing me down.

Actually stopped to remind myself I should be recovering. Soaking in the views

I took my bike to a local shop, and they didn’t find anything causing friction. This means my power meter was reading high, and my legs were not fully recovered (it felt like I could’ve been pushing that hard). I took my race setup for a ride last week to see what the power would be reading.

Prior to Race: 200 watts ~ 20.5-21.0mph

Race: 230 watts = 20mph

Post Race: 252 watts = 20.5mph

This tells me that the power meter is reading ~40 watts higher than it should be. I know weather plays a large factor in all of this, but I was consistently averaging over 20mph at 200 watts. I plan on recalibrating the Vector 3 pedal this week and making sure my crank arm length wasn’t changed (that’d be an easy fix!).

Alright, rant over. This week I am hoping to catch up with friends and do some housework instead of training all week. I can tell my body needs some time to fully recover, but it is hard knowing that I need to make even more improvements if I plan on getting to Kona.

Oh yeah, and I’m playing around with idea of Ironman Tulsa May 31^st for my next attempt =O We’ll see if 6 months will be enough time to train!

Ironman Louisville: Race Report

There is a lot to unpack here, so I’ll try* to be brief.

Overall, it was a tough day for me as a lot of things did not fall into place. There was the cancelled swim, forgetting my bike nutrition, a headwind in both directions and having an unknown mechanical issue on the bike. I burned out my legs trying to hit the right speed and had nothing left physically or mentally for the run. Once I knew my chance at Kona was gone, I decided to slow up and take some time to thank my family during the marathon.

Love my family: Thanks for sticking with me

Swim: CANCELLED due to algae bloom.

Going into the race, this was a negative for me. As a more well-rounded athlete, not being able to swim puts me at a disadvantage against the stronger cyclist/runners. In most races, I typically build a 5-10 minute gap on the swim that they need to earn back. That aside, I did my best to stay focused on the plan.

Bike: 

If you don’t know how a cancelled swim works, you basically start in T1 with your bike gear on and wait for your rack number to be called. Ours was based on bib number, and I was 1292.

The morning started out at 40 degrees, so I kept my sweats on as long as I possibly could before heading to the start line. It was around this time that I realized I left ALL my bike nutrition at the hotel. There was nothing I could do at that point except plan on getting fuel at every transition. As I was tracking my watt output on the bike, I knew something was very wrong.

Time to get a little technical… In training I average right at 200 watts, and that typically gives me an average speed of 20-21mph. For this race, I held 230 WATTS and only averaged 20mph. Lesson learned? Have a bike mechanic look it over before major races! I promise I will not make this mistake again.

T2: Getting off the bike, I was pretty much ready to walk the marathon. I was in 24^th age group, and had nothing left in my legs from pushing too many watts (should’ve been closer to 210). I couldn’t even do my flying dismount and walked my bike to the volunteer with my cleats still on. I pulled on my shoes and slowly jogged to get my bag. A volunteer handed me the wrong bag, so I needed to go back and get the right one. I took my time and started to jog once I hit the timing mat.

Run: 

My plan for the run was simple. Run 30 minutes before I take my first walk. I was expecting to take 4-4.5 hours to get through it and just didn’t care at that point. I had a rough first lap but was still holding around an 8 min/mi. Walking past my family was probably the hardest part of the day. I stopped to give my dad a hug and just walked for a bit. Once I got going again, I must have caught my 2^nd wind. Lap 2 was actually faster than my first, and I kept skipping my “walk breaks” at each aid station. With a shot at still hitting a 3:30 marathon, I used that as motivation to push it home.

I can’t thank my family and Ty enough for being there and sticking out a rough day with me. Without them there, I would have been much more miserable and out on course a lot longer.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" - Philippians 4:13

Except for a half marathon this fall, my race season is at an end. My posts may be less frequent/shorter, but I will continue to write updates on how my training is progressing. I will be finalizing my race calendar for next year to determine where I will make my next qualifying attempt. As always, thank you for your support and following me on the Road to Kona.

Final Taper into IMLOU

As I am midway through my final taper into Ironman Louisville, I wanted to share some of my thoughts leading into my A race. I just finished my last speed workout (John Deere 5K) taking 2^nd, and I’m ready to switch to all easy workouts. I am also battling a cold, so please send some thoughts/prayers my way with less than 5 days to go.

Was made fun of for wearing my compression socks in public

At this point, it’s been 18 months since I made the decision to go all in and attempt qualifying for Kona. I lose sight of how long it’s been and forget to reflect on everything I have been through so far. After my thoughts, I’ve included a detailed recap for anyone wanting to know some specifics =)

There have been quite a few ups and downs in the last 18 months as you will see below. It’s hard to believe that at this time last year, I was going to physical therapy twice a week for my knee through December. My heart pounds every time I think about this race, and I worry the past 18 months will be for nothing. I don’t know what to expect for conditions, how fast my competition will be or if I can perform the way I did at Madison. Madison was meant to be a set-up race for the main event, and that adds even more pressure.

I know I will do well if I can simply push it as hard as Madison. I remember the pain and dark places that race took me, so simply “repeating the effort” isn’t so simple. This week I plan on trying to keep myself busy and keeping my mind from going there. At this point, I am relying on friends and family as they encourage and amp me up. I already have a lot to be proud of for coming this far. My body is physically ready to take it on, and it’s time to focus my mind.

I hate doing this, but here are my goals for Ironman Louisville:

Top 5 AG

Aggressive 9:30 finish time

Swim - 0:57, Bike – 5:15, Run - 3:05, T1&T2 – 0:10

My finish at Ironman Louisville 2017 (10:39) - expecting to drop over an hour

Detailed Recap

Fall 2017: Completed first Ironman in Wisconsin - 11:38. Ironman Louisville 5 weeks later in 10:39 (Thanks Garrett for the push!) I was meant to be a 1 (or 2 in this case) and done, so I completely dropped training.

March of 2018: I met my buddy Craig, and he got me back in the pool. And after training with him I decided I would do another Ironman that fall. I signed up for Madison again with 6 months to train. I learned more about the Ironman World Championships held in Kona Hawaii and started looking into how I could qualify. Each Ironman offers 40 slots to the age group athletes, and each age group receives slots based on their size. My age group of 25-29 typically gets 2 slots, so I’d be looking to place 1^st or 2^nd. My plan at this point was to use IMWI 2018 as a stepping stone to see my improvements from last year and to see what I needed to work on for 2019.

August 2018: 3 Week before Wisconsin, I was picked up during a century ride due to excruciating knee pain. I was off the bike for 3 weeks leading up to the race, and I almost didn’t go. I decided it would at least be worth completing the swim to see my improvement, and I would bike as far as I could expecting a DNF.

September 2018: To my great surprise, I survived the bike and finished in 11:10. Unfortunately, this race was meant to bring me closer to the podium and gauge where I was at. Instead, I left with 22^nd place and unable to start training for 2019.

After the race I started Physical Therapy. I couldn’t bike or run until mid-November and stuck to swimming for fitness. Once I was cleared to bike again, I had to slowly work my way back up to riding for just an hour.

April 2019: My running pm the other hand progressed quickly, and I dropped a huge half marathon PR of 1:21:29 in April. This was a huge confidence boost as I continued training towards the Muncie 70.3.

May 2019: Along the way, I thought I could easily drop a sub 3 hr marathon and punch my ticket to Boston. The marathon dominated me, and I didn’t come close with a 3:16.

July 2019: My first real test of speed and fitness to see how I stack up to the competition was Muncie 70.3. I managed 5^th AG with a time of 4:30:31 and was very satisfied with the performance. I still wasn’t where I needed to be to take a shot at Kona, but I was moving in the right direction.

September 2019: Ironman Wisconsin was not my A race for the year. Instead, I chose it as a set-up race to make a my “true” qualifying attempt in Louisville 5 weeks later. I finished in 10:00:32 and snagged 5^th AG! I didn’t think I had a shot at the podium, yet there I was at the awards ceremony waiting for the Kona slots allocation. As you may know from my previous post, the 2nd slot rolled down to 3^rd place (who beat me by 36 seconds).

I always have a fear of the unknown, and what will come out of Ironman Louisville has my stomach in knots. But as Ty always reminds me, “Being nervous is good! It reveals how important this is to you”. So with that perspective, I eagerly await to toe that starting line and can’t wait to be in the mix with my competition.

Fastest Employee at the John Deere 5K (2nd Overall!)

Quad Cities Marathon Pacer

For the 3^rd year in a row, I had the privilege of pacing the 3:40 (8:23/mi) group at the Quad Cities Marathon. With the race being 2 weeks after Ironman Wisconsin, I had a rough time closing out those final 6 miles in past years. As a precaution, I worked with the pacing director to have someone take over at mile 20 this year.

Attempting to spew wisdom on my fellow athletes at the expo =)

The weather was looking pretty rough with a 100% chance of rain from 3AM-6PM. As we were driving to the start, there wasn’t any rain. As everyone lined up in the starting corral, still NO RAIN! It wasn’t until 6 miles in that any rain fell, and at that point it was perfect for cooling us off.

Using that pacer sign as a prop for photographer

For me, this was one of those days that I didn’t internalize I was running a marathon until the Anthem was being sung. I found myself lost in conversation with my pace group, and after a few introductions the cannon went off. The first few miles are always a little tense as I focus on hitting the pace, but once we settled in, we were on target. This year, my group had TONS of energy and positive vibes. We learned everyone’s name, where they’re from and who had the most interesting job (hypnotist and poison control were the top 2). We even talked about how most of our conversation will probably be forgotten (as I now struggle to remember what else we talked about). The rain came heavy at mile 8 and everyone’s shoes were soaked, but I just kept hearing how good everyone was feeling. I have never had a group so positive.

Leading my tribe through the rain

I always try to do a little coaching and encouraging as we are running, giving advice on breathing, run cadence or staying on the tangents. Every mile I’d update the group on our previous split and where we stood on pace. Up until mile 17, I had 3 guys, 1 girl and a relay runner going strong. At that point the group started to get a little quiet and I was doing most of the talking. We had 1 slowly drop off at 17 and another around mile 20. I always struggle seeing someone fall off knowing I can’t slow up for them. Up until this point, I was feeling strong, but some GI issues had been nagging since mile 15. Once I got to mile 20 and handed the pacer sign off, I took care of business. I caught back up to my last 2 runners with 5 to go. At mile 25 I told them to leave the nest and to soak in their finish.  Within a minute, they were fading off in the distance

Jay ran a 3:43 last year and wanted to PR by
running under 3:40. Way to crush it!

Why I love being a pacer.

The opportunity to help others reach a goal

Getting to know fellow athletes that I wouldn’t normally meet

Supporting the local community (go QC!)

FREE supported training run!

Not sure why I'm grimacing so much at the finish 

At the end of the day, we couldn’t have asked for better conditions considering the forecast. This was my 3^rd year pacing the marathon within 2 weeks of an Ironman, and I felt so much stronger than the previous years. I think this is an indication of how much stronger I am and how much harder I’ve been training this year. Louisville is in less than 2 weeks now, and I’m ready to being my final taper.

Giving Credit

A lot of my posts have been about me and what I’ve accomplished so far. I reach my goals through hard work and sacrifice, but I’m not alone in this. There are many people chasing this dream alongside me, and that’s what this post is all about. Here are a few special shout outs.

God

I thank God for giving me both the body and mind to do what I love. 95% of my training is done alone, and I spend a lot of that time with Him. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” Without getting too preachy, it is my prayer that my training and goal setting inspires others to become the best possible version of themselves, however that looks for them.

Ty - Girlfriend

My girlfriend of almost 2 years has been my rock on this rollercoaster of training. I have my good days and bad days, but her support and encouragement remain the same. Most days she has more confidence than I do. She rides with me on long runs to provide nutrition, music and moral support. She even knows when to let me be pissed about a poor workout or to shake it off. I have remained mostly* injury free this season with her fixing me up every week.

Mom and Dad

I am beyond fortunate to have an incredible relationship with my parents. When I visit they alter schedules, Sherpa my long rides/runs and give up valuable time with me so I can train. They are truly my biggest fans and are fully committed to seeing me achieve success. Whether it’s booking the hotel room, driving the bike course, or wearing a ridiculous inflatable costume, they will do whatever it takes to get me to Kona. 

 

This message from my mom sums it all up and reminds me that I’m still their baby.

Family and Friends

The biggest group by far. I have two older brothers that remind me how proud they are. My friends and extended family send encouragement before a big race, and so many others follow every split while I compete. To say it means the world is an understatement. I push that much harder knowing so many believe in me and are out there watching. 

And finally, to everyone reading this, YOU keep the dream alive by letting me ramble on and on and on. I hope to one day have sponsors that believe in me the same way you do.

Thank you so so much <3

Ironman Wisconsin: Race Report

There is a lot to unpack from my race this past weekend, so get ready for a long read!

Finish time: 10:00:33    /    5^th place age group    /   51^st overall (including Pros)

Overall, I cannot believe my own performance. I hit every goal except for improved swim time, but I’ll dig into that later. The weather was perfect and favored some very fast times. I didn’t think I would be in contention for a Kona slot this race. It turned out that 3^rd place got a rolldown, and I was 36s behind him. A tough one for me to swallow, but it's additional motivation going into Ironman Louisville this October.

Race morning:

I learned from my race last year that I needed to get to the start sooner to self-seed for the swim. I arrived with plenty of time, but the gates opened up on the opposite side. I was boxed out from the faster swim groups and ended up starting with athletes closer to a 1:30 projected swim time instead of 1:05. With a few hundred slower swimmers seeded in front of me, I knew my swim was going to be affected.

Swim: 1:06:17 (115^th overall)

As I mentioned earlier, my swim time was affected by the poorly designed self-seeding. Aside from that, I thought I had a great swim under tough water conditions. With 2ft waves and slower swimmers in front of me, sighting was extremely difficult, and I accidentally swam to an orange kayak at one point.  Overall, I’m happy with that swim and know I can do better when properly seeded.

T1: 5:44

First transition is always long at IMWI with the parking garage helix. Looking through other T1 times, I was one of the fastest athletes through transition. Unfortunately, my bike was on the first rack in a 200 meter long transition area, so I had a long way to run with it. Last year, I opted to carry my shoes to my bike and put them on there. This year, I ran with my shoes and bike until I was closer to the mount line, leaned the bike against a garbage can and slipped my shoes on. This was a huge time savings since IMWI doesn’t allow flying mounts unless you are a pro.

Bike: 5:30:14 (83^rd overall)

This was where I put most of my focus all summer.  I interval trained to simulate hills and did everything I could to get my strength up and hit higher speeds. I went out a little strong at the start, but even by mile 40 I was still feeling fresh. It was also at that time that I discovered I was 5^th in my division! With that boost, I kept pushing and wouldn’t back off. Around 70 miles the hills started taxing my legs and started to become a concern for the run. I backed off slightly and just tried to maintain my goal of 20mph. The last 5 miles I backed off even more to prepare for the run and was very satisfied with almost breaking the 5:30 mark.

T2: 2:48

Once again, the flying dismount came in handy running barefoot and not removing shoes in transition. Something I hadn’t experienced before was lower back tightness and I couldn’t run. I did an awkward speed walk to the changing tent, got my shoes on and speed walked out until my back loosened.

Run: 3:15:30 (51^st overall)

Usually my time to shine is the run, but I had struggled the past 2 years running a 3:47 both times. Despite knowing not to go out too fast, I clocked back to back 6:45 min/miles out of the gate. I ran the first 8 miles around a 7:00 avg and knew I needed to back off to avoid walking. Once I calmed myself down, I tried to hold 7:45. Several times my legs started to lock up and I thought I was done. Each time, I pushed through and focused on form until they loosened. I finished the first half in 1:35 and knew I was well ahead of pace. As everything was starting to shutdown on me, I looked to Red bull and bananas at the aid stations. I also focused on getting to my family and other high energy places on course. My parents did not disappoint wearing an inflatable ostrich costume as well as my brother in his batman footy pajamas. Even though they barely got a smirk from me, it pulled me away from those dark places.  My last focus was to get within 5k of the finish and push it from there. It wasn’t until 1.5 miles out that I boosted my pace, and my last mile was around a 6:40.

Finish: 10:00:33

It’s amazing how much pain we are willing to put ourselves through. It’s even more amazing how all the pain melts away as that finish line comes into view. After the race I saw my final time and 5^th place age group. As friends and family surrounded me, I just broke down at the accomplishment and being with those who supported me through the entire journey. I wasn’t expecting to qualify for Kona at this race, but to come that close makes me that much more hungry for Ironman Louisville.