Let me start off with
saying this was an absolute blast. I will get into the story, timeline and
details, but overall, I don't think I can adequately put into words how much
fun I had through this season.
This year was a spinoff of
a successful 2013 season. In 2013, I dove right in. I tackled my first
(technically 2nd) triathlon in the form of a 70.3. One year later,
three 70.3’s, multiple Sprints and Olympics, and a couple near misses on the
podium I was signing up for my first Ironman. Even though all the advice
pointed toward a much more gradual approach to triathlon, I couldn’t help
myself. My enthusiasm and motivation was too high coming off 2013.
Getting into Ironman
Chattanooga was a tough challenge in itself. The race sold out in less than 5
minutes. By some magical power, my Active.com login was faster than the other
1000’s who were logging in at the same time.
I had decided that
Chattanooga was going to be the race for me because it was the inaugural year,
it was within driving distance from the east coast, and it was later in the
year. I wanted to pick a race that was later in the year, so I still had the
opportunity to race other races. In the end, I didn’t race as much as I could
have and it was also hard to stay motivated for a consistent 9-10 months. The
upside was that I had an opportunity to fine-tune my training build up and more
than one opportunity to complete my key workouts.
The basic premise of my
year consisted of blocks aimed at each specific sport during the off-season. I
never avoided any one sport (other than avoiding the pool like the plague
during certain blocks). My first two blocks consisted of swimming followed by
cycling. I tend to enjoy getting on the trainer during the winter. I can wake
up and get straight on the bike, I don’t have to worry about packing all my
nutrition, and I can prescribe much more specific interval workouts under the
controlled environments. My coach, Daniel Ballin, was great at setting out my
weekly trainer plan throughout the winter. I joined a Master’s swim group,
during the winter, which pushed me to close to 15Km/week. That’s about 6-7Km
higher than what I would typically pull off.
Once I got a few months of
cycling under my belt, I was itching to get back to making progress on my run.
I had been running during these early months, but it was hard to emphasis
quality miles with all of that time in the saddle. I decided to sign up for the
Washington DC Rock-N-Roll Marathon as a goal to work towards. This was a tough
task to balance. My running came along beautifully, but my cycling time had to
remain static as the running miles increased. I’ve now realized that this is
the constant battle of being a triathlete --- there is never enough time!
The marathon was in March,
so after I was recovered from that race it was time to enter into a very
structured 6 month Ironman plan. I sprinkled a few 70.3’s early in the plan to
help push the motivation, then turned my attention to Ironman.
My training typically
consisted of 3-4 bikes/week, 4 runs (2 bricks), and 3 swims. I kept strength
training in the mix until about 3 months out. In June, Daniel and I were able to travel out to Chattanooga for a weekend of recon. Our first impressions left us with a lot of concern for the rollers on the bike course and hills on the run course. But as our training progressed, our confidence was building with our fitness. My last month of intense training
kept me above 16hrs/week for 4 weeks. These were intense, mind numbing weeks. I
was executing the plan physically, but mentally it was hard to stay in the
game. About 2 months out, we took a family vacation down to the Outerbanks, NC.
I decided I would make this a bike heavy week and pushed my mileage up to 425
miles for that week. Prior to that and for most of my final months, I was
closer to 250 miles.
Overall, my 5-month build
up to Chattanooga was perfect. I didn’t execute every workout as planned, but
had enough time to modify or repeat these workouts until I nailed them. I can’t
thank Daniel Ballin, my coach and training partner, enough for a flawless
training and race plan. His motivation was definitely invaluable. I also had
the privilege of being part of Trisports.com
Champions Team. They provided me my training kit and discounts on all of my
training necessities throughout the year. Most of all, many thank you’s to my
wife. She provided unwavering support this entire year. She logged over 17
miles of walking on race day as she followed me around the course snapping pictures.
I wouldn’t be able to stay motivated and compete at the level I desire without
her.
Stay tuned for my race
report…..
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