On May 1, 2012,
in Well despite posting a month ago saying that I would be posting more soon, I didn’t keep to my promise very well! However, it’s been an action packed month these last few weeks:
> I set a new PR for the half marathon at the beginning of April (1:19:24). I’m quite pleased by that time. Now that I’ve finally broken 1:20, it really puts the relative difficulty of that into perspective and makes me realize how much I was talking out of my ass here and here as well as a host of other places in the past (I’m sure). I’ve come to realize just how fast running a 1:14 is – it’s truly frightening. Let’s not even talk about the fact that the world record is well under an hour.
Between the adoption, J-hawk and the half marathon PR, I’m very much looking forward to the next few months of training, racing, and parenthood.
As I mentioned last time, I’ve got a lot of topics on the burner: Specific Prep, some product reviews (SpeedConcept 9 series vs. Cervel Dual, Zipp 808 FC,… Read the rest
It’s been an exceptionally long hiatus for me from posting on my blog. I have several topics that have been boiling in the background. One of the foremost is the post on specific prep, and then some other meanderings. I don’t have to much more to say at the moment, I’m alive, generating some content (but not finishing it :/) so I’ll wrap this post up with a promise that some things should come out soon!
Thanks to the gang at Emery’s for putting up with my indecision on this purchase for the last year! I ran 8 miles on it last night to see how it works, and I’m pretty darn happy!
Here is a direct link to my race report, since it’s only been floated around indirectly.
A special thanks go out to Inside Out Sports and Ironman Wheel Rentals.
Further appreciation goes out to Emery’s for their support this year and going forward, along with Gear-Grinder!
It’s time for my annual year in review post. I sit down, think back about my year from a triathlon perspective, slice it, dice it, and otherwise think about what I did and than write about it and share it. It’s as much for my benefit as your reading enjoyment. You can read previous write-ups here.
Typically – the way this works is I make a bunch of pretty graphs comparing the volume, TSS, IF, kJ, etc for this year against previous years, both on a month by month basis and a year as a whole basis. Than I spend a bunch of time talking about things I did good and things I did bad – and what I need to do to continue to improve.
This years format will be a little different. Why? In the end, the details of the training are meaningless. I believe there are three reasons for this:
First, a season/year is simply an artificial construct we as humans pin ourselves into. Success in triathlon (or life), contrary to what the corporate world tells us, is not defined by years, quarters, months or weeks. Yes, milestone dates are critical for us to determine if we are moving in the right direction along the path of success, but we must be careful to remember that improving ourselves is a constant process and allowing ourselves to slip into predefined time constraints can limit our progress (more on that in a future post).
Second, how much or how… Read the rest
Excellence should be demanded by our peers. Labeling those that demand excellence as haters, bashers, etc only promotes mediocrity. -Paulo Sousa
Paulo laid this gem on twitter a few days ago, interestingly enough mediocrity was referenced again when I checked google reader this morning by Coach Troy - “…Someone, somewhere, is training more and harder than you are… in the sunshine, and you know it. Actually, the naysayers are nuts for living a life of mediocrity and without any physical suffering…”
In fact google reader has been full of posts about goals, targets, plans and missions that last few days. It always seems to me that the things I need to hear in life always seem to show up in the blogs I follow – just when I need to hear them most. Perhaps it’s some coincidental twist of fate, that those I find worth reading know what I need to hear, or perhaps it’s just me assigning value to random words, by random people. Regardless – the topic of Excellence has been looming large in my mind these last few weeks since Kona.
Many years ago as an age-group swimmer, I had a goal of qualifying to swim in the Olympics – I went so far as to tape a sheet of paper to my bathroom mirror with goal times. My goal time for the 200 meter freestyle (LCM) was something ridiculous like 1:50 - mind you this was in 1994 and I wanted to go in 1996. For some reason my young… Read the rest
Even though it is only October 17th, and many of us have one or more races on the books for 2011, the 2012 triathlon season is upon us.
The work done starting now and over the next few months is crucial to how you will be able to prepare for your A race next summer, and ultimately how you will be able to perform at that race (and beyond). Check out my page on training thoughts to help guide you through the process of planning out your next season and a “guide” to help you with the training. Is my approach the best way? No, I’m sure folks out there like Joel Filliol or Paulo Sousa have a better system of planning and methodology to training (not to mention more experience) – but the fact is unless you sit down and make a plan – you will not reach your goals. The act of planning (and sticking to that plan) in and of itself will greatly increase the likelihood of you achieving your goals.
If you want to improve your game, but don’t have the time (or don’t want to spend the time) to do the proper planning, if you find yourself stuck banging your head against a wall, or you aren’t sure which way the road should lead you – you should think about hiring a coach. Some members of my short-list at listed to the left of this page – I would encourage you to contact them. You may be surprised to… Read the rest
Tomorrow when I enter the waters of Kailua Bay in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – I go to war.
It is not me against them. It is not me against you. It is me against me.
There will be moments of glory, moments of pain.
There will be moments where I will feel invincible, moments where I want to quit.
This is normal, for what I will be doing is not normal.
I will remember the work that I have done, the frustrations I have conquered – all to get to this day.
No quarter will be asked, none will be given.
I will drive forward remembering the high points and the low points of this journey – both will fuel my passion and desire.
I will cross the finish line – victorious, but remember that it was not easy, and not without sacrifice.
War never is.
