Crunch Time is Upon Us!

So, its been a while.
Its crunch time now, less than 50 days before the big one!

Training has ramped up 14-16 hours per week, distances totaling over 150 miles, which only has room to grow in the coming weeks.  I am waking up at 5:00am quite a few days a week in order to fit it all in with life...I am going to bed by 10:00pm most nights and you know what...It is all worth it.  As much as I am bitching and moaning, I am in the best shape of my life (wasn't that hard) and I am really accomplishing something I feel is truly difficult.

So far this year I have done a 50 mile race (0.8/40.4/8.8), the NJ Devilman, and the Black Bear half iron distance 70.3.  The Devilman was on May 4 and I completed it in 3:59:41.  The breakdown is as follows, with rank in parathesis:
Swim, 0.8 miles: 20:23 (60)
Bike, 40.3 miles: 2:13:31 (113)
Run, 8.8 miles: 1:20:47 (90)

The swim was an uneventful double loop of the 0.4mile "sprint" loop.  I killed it, I felt great, thats the fastest swim I have ever done!  To put into perspective my swim time for this, 2 years ago I did the "sprint" and finished that distance (0.4miles) in 18:37.  That is correct...I did 2x the distance this year in less that 2 minutes longer...2 Minutes!

2012 Swim Time

2014 Swim Time

Moving onto the bike...well I rode, rode a bit more, got passed by a bunch of "older" racers and then passed like 1 person...haha.  It was a pancake flat ride with a nice tailwind going out and a headwind coming back on each loop. That headwind on the return trip of each lap kind of killed me on the bike...not sure what was going on but I finished with an average speed of ~18.2mph, which is about 1mph slower than what I was going for.  You can see my speeds on the return trips were a bit slower than the trips out on each loop...ohh well.

Off the bike and onto the run, time to make up some time!  I did the run at an average of ~9:00min/mile.  I felt good, literally 0ft of elevation gain, flattest course you will ever see...I will admit I started fading a bit around mile 6, though I had a "friend" start talking to me around there and that picked me up a bit and kept on going.  In the end we raced for the finish line and I edged her out by a few seconds (she had a faster time since she started after me) but it was all in good fun.

Me running down the finishing chute with my running "friend" not far behind

Overall there were 193 participants in the "Half lite," and I ranked 91.  I can't say I was mad with this performance.  I went in there hoping for sub 4 hours and I got it... I would have liked to be a bit faster on the bike, as I said, and I know I am  faster now but this was the last race I did on my road bike, my Cannondale Caad 10. Since then, my #1 workout partner and supporter has given me my dream bike.  Laurie got me a Cervelo P2 for my birthday. She says I deserve it, but I still think she spoiled me rotten (she did).  I got my fitting the day before the race, so it was so hard waking up the next morning and leaving for the race with this brand new incredible machine sitting in the basement, neglected...

2012 Cannondale Caad 10 105

2014 Cervelo P2 105
Moving up a month of training and bonding with my new P2...and we get to June.

The second race, Black Bear, I have less optimistic things to say about.  This race was nearly a month later on June 1 and was half iron distance, or 70.3 miles.  The breakdown for those races is 1.2/56/13.1.  I have never ever ever wanted to quit mid race more than I did during this one.  The run was torture for me, plain and simple.  Ever single step I took was more uncomfortable than I thought I wanted to bare.  There was an on going battle in my mind, which would hurt me more, another step or not finishing this race.  In the end, not finishing the race was going to be the more painful outcome and something I could not deal with, so I finished, begrudgingly. I admit now, though I would have been hard pressed to admit this during the race, that I finished because of Laurie's cheering and my Dad and Peggy came up too.  She ran nearly 2 miles (AFTER HER OWN RACE) to meet me at a junction point to cheer for me on a couple of the out and backs from that location. I was miserable...MISERABLE

I guess I can pick it up here with the swim, which for the most part was uneventful.  The lake was calm, much calmer than it was the day before when Laurie and I got out there for our practice swims.  The day before we swam a few hundred yards out and back in the lake, just to get used to it and see what the conditions were going to be...luckily for us, they calmed down before the next morning.  For me it was a fairly easy "out and back."  I say "out and back" because it was out for like 3/4 the distance then back a bit and turn into shore, we start and finish at different locations for the swim.  Anyway, we ended in transition...my time was about 1 minute faster than the swim I did in at the Pocono 70.3 in Sept. 2012, not bad, I'll take it, nothing like the Devilman swim though.

By the way, this is my first race on my new bike!!!

From there is where the real fun began.  I went into this race knowing, and expecting a hilly bike course. What I got was a VERY VERY hilly bike course. All the better to train for IMLP, my pretty.  According to my watch there was over 4.1k feet of elevation gain across those 56 miles, more gain per mile than I will see in IMLP...YAY!  Aside from the hills, which I was aware of and tolerated, there were a few things that annoyed me but overall...it went well and I finished in 3:28:50.  That time, while it may seem pretty slow (16.1mph) was actually faster than average in both my age group and in general, so I was happy!

The hills, Ohhh the hills!

Once I got off that long hilly ride, its now time to run a half marathon...a good ol' 13.1 miles.  I want to say I was ready for it, I want to say I was trained for what they "advertised," but what I got was not what I was ready for or advertised.  What I got was 13.1 miles of gravel, hills, and gravel hills. What I got was a nightmare to me.  The advertised course was paved and packed trails...that's it.  No mention of the lose, large stone gravel, lava field mountain climbs I did.  While climbing up this mountain, another runner and I decided we would both rather be doing a tough mudder course than this one, and we were only 4 miles in. At this point I had not seen Laurie yet (at that station 2 miles into the run), but was making my way back to where she was.  When I first saw Laurie I was quite excited...I would have someone to walk back to the start line with to tell them I was done. However, anyone that knows Laurie (and maybe me) knows that neither of us would let the other quit mid-race.  Guess I am going to be out here for a while...

In the end I finished that loop, did another loop, whined more (like I am doing here), then I finished!  I finished! I finished in 6:49:04...a good hour longer than I wanted to take...F-word.  Its fine, its done, I finished and I learned a lot.  I bonked bad on the run, I was dehydrated, hot, and undernourished.  My bottles came out of my rear-seat holder, need to work that out.  I did figure out where the noise on my aero bottle was coming from...had a long time to figure that out.

Statistics of the day for the Black Bear 70.3:

Coming to the finish...finally!

Bib # 2017
Overall Place 108 (of 188)
Age Group Place 7
Age Group Male 25 to 29
Final Time 6:49:04.2
Swim Rank 100
Swim Time 37:49.3
Swim Pace 31:31/M
T1 Rank 162
T1 Time 6:13.8
Bike Rank 81
Bike Time 3:28:50.6
Bike Pace 16.1MPH
T2 Rank 77
T2 Time 3:12.0
Run Rank 151  (UGHHHH)
Run Time 2:32:58.3
Run Pace 11:41/M



With ALL of that said...I am not just less than 5.5 weeks away from Ironman Lake Placid!!!

I am really starting to get nervous now, and on top of that...work is talking about sending me to France for week or 2, which I really can't afford to do right now!


NEXT UP, IMLP 2014!!!!!

Its that time of year again...

This one will be very very short.

Only 206 more days to train and get ready for the hardest thing I've done to date.

GAME ON

That little voice inside...

I was talking to a friend today about mental barriers and breaking them.  She was explaining that once she got past the mental part...the mental you...that little part saying that's it, that's far enough, that's enough "pain", she was able to over double her distance.
     This is her original quote, "I remember a long while back i was saying i was physically unable to run more than 2 miles my whole life and you convinced me it was a mental block and I believed you and you were right! I am up to running 5 miles with not being tired after."

I've been in that exact situation so many times, on so many different things, and it still bugs me a lot...that's why if you know me, you know I will start a lot of projects and follow through with very few of them.  I remember back when I first started exercising,  I would go out and try and run a mile...then 2, then 3.  I never got beyond 3.  I thought my limit was 3 miles and I would be doomed to running 3 miles in about 30 minutes.  I limited my runs to 3 miles for over a year.  Coming from my background, I was happy about that progress though.

One day I went out and tried to do 4...the next time was 5...then 6 (that was about as far as I could go at the time), but I felt great and more importantly IT felt great.  I got over that "wall," that mental block...that little voice saying, "ok we're done here."
With that said, I had to get over it again this past weekend and will again next weekend.  Last weekend I ran 17 miles in about 3:00.  That is my longest run by just about 3.5 miles and it was hard.  It hurt, I wanted to stop, and it was amazing.  Next weekend I want to step it up a bit and go for 20...and we'll see how it goes.

Here's a little motivation I like to use...
Edit: That message was originally from the TCU Baseball campaign, I just liked that video better...

Moving forward...Looking to 2014.

So as this year wraps up and the race season is just starting to warm up for me, I look forward to next year, 2014.

Next year will be the biggest year for me in terms of athletics in my life.  I am signed up for IRONMAN Lake Placid.  Next July 27, starting at 7AM, I will be participating in IM Lake Placid with a little over 2000 of my closest competitors.  This is going to be the biggest challenge I have ever taken on.  While I admit academics were difficult, I find the training for this type of event even more mentally draining, along with the physical requirements.  You are out there for 12+ hours of constant exertion, the only breaks you get are the ones you allow yourself.  I signed up for the race ready package which was a nice chunk of my "bonus" (read all of it) but it included the IM Syracuse 70.3 and IM Lake Placid and guaranteed entry to Lake Placid. Here we go...

Along with these races, I just finished the Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon in Philly this past weekend.  It was a rough race for me.  I don't think I am in the shape I needed to be...I was slow.  I ran a 2:06:59...over 10 minutes slower than the Philly half last year.  I will note I did roll my ankle a week before this race so that may have contributed...but still, no excuse.  Now all my training has to move to the Philly Marathon. I need a full under my belt before really looking toward the IM.

Training for this full will be tough as between now and the race I have a few other events going on.  I have the MS bike ride, City to the Shore.  That ride is 75 miles on both Saturday and Sunday, September 28, and 29.  Those 2 days also happen to be the 2 days prior to Laurie and I leaving for Italy for 2 weeks.  That is going to be one hell of a trip!  I can't wait, even if its terrible for our training!

With that, I need to start working out my training for the rest of this year and then the start of IM training.  I need to get my distances up, times down, and overall fitness to Ironman levels.

Here's to Mike Reilly saying, "Kevin Johnson, you are an Ironman!", hopefully sometime before midnight!

2012, the year of quite a few milestones. (Part 1)

As 2012 comes to a close and race season ends, I reflect on the progress I have made this year.  It has been a big year for me as it was also my first year as a triathlete.  I competed in 3 triathlons this year, throughout the year,  one in May, and 2 in September.  I also competed in the aforementioned AC half marathon, a tough mudder, another broad st run, and the Philadelphia Half Marathon.

Lets look at this chronologically...I will keep these fairly short as there are a few to address.

Start 2012, we already addressed the April 1, 2012 AC April Fools Half Marathon that I ran with my girl friend, who has been great with dealing with all of this and has even participated a number of these events with me!

Next on the agenda was the 8 day stretch with 3 races.  May 5, 6 and 12 all had races, and it was going to be a great 8 days!

May 5th, my first Triathlon.  The Devilman sprint in Cumberland County, New Jersey.  It consisted of a 0.4 mile swim in a ceder lake, followed by a 20.5 mile ride, and then a 4 mile run.  Anyone of these events is enough for most people's daily workout so doing all 3 was a nice challenge.  Prior to this my swimming was lacking and I had only had my road bike for 2 months to train on (I didn't even get my water bottle holder on my bike before the race!!!).  Let's start with the swim.  It was cold, it was dirty, and the ground was slimy...all in all it was a long 18:37 of flailing my arms about in what was supposed to be a freestyle motion to propel me through the water... It was not a pretty swim at all.  Follow that up with my 1:11:10, 20.5 mile bike ride, I was well behind that of the average triathlete.  Finally the 4 mile run, something I was most familiar with, I finished that in a nice 36:48, my best rank of the day at 131.  In the end I finished in 166/234, with me looking like this running down the final stretch.

Though I will say, as my first tri, it was amazing.  Everyone there was very supportive, answering my questions, reassuring me that I will be fine.  Jeff, Laurie's brother, was also there doing the 50 lite in preparation for his 2012 goals and was also fielding my questions along with his friend and triathlete Chris.  They were great with helping me set up my transition area, remarking on what I need to remember when moving from event to the next and overall very supportive in my endeavors as a triathlete.

Moving on to the next day...the 2012 Broad St Run in Philadelphia.  Laurie was doing this with some of her Co-workers and I had signed up for this because I figured it was a nice 10miler (Even though I am not that big of a fan) to use a training run.  I started the race with Laurie, after feeling a little sluggish from the day before, but as I got going to loosened up a bit and was able to push it.  I ran, if I recall correctly, the first 6 miles with Laurie at a nice 10ish min/mile pace and then pushed a little harder for the last 4 miles, finishing in 1:33:40.  That is nearly 40 minutes less than the year before on a 10 mile course.  Needless to say, I was ecstatic!

Fast forward 6 days now to May 12, and the Pocono Tough Mudder at Pocono Manor.  This event was strictly fun.  For those who don't know, the Tough Mudder is a 10-14 mile obstacle course with "military grade" obstacles that you must navigate in order to get to the finish.  This event was great!  I loved it.  At this point in time I was getting fairly strong from rock climbing a few times a week so the climbing aspects of that were "easy" for me and then the running I was in shape from all the previous events.  It was so much fun!  And here is a picture of one of the obstacles...me carrying a nice big log.

For now I think that is enough as the rest of the race season all happened in September and November... But that is also where I finished some awesome starting goals and where it really gets going...