May update

May training miles: 7 miles swimming + 140 miles cycling + 33 miles running. For the year, I have traveled 837 miles, which is 10% ahead of my any previous year on this date. Expect a lot more miles in June as I ramp up my Ironman training!

Why I Race

I'm reading a book by Diana Tracy Cohen called "Iron Dads," which will hopefully help me find out how to balance my responsibilities between work, family, and training for an ironman. In Chapter 3, the author covers some reasons why men sign up for an ironman race. It has been 4 months since I signed up, so my decision is not a new one. Plus, I remember wanting to sign up for more than a year before I actually did, so this has been a long-term goal. But why? It's a fair question, and it applies more to just my ironman training. I have frequently wondered why I compete on a masters' swim team. So let's see if Cohen's book will help:

(1) Iron Distance as a Catalyst for Bodily Change: Some men sign up because they want to improve their outward appearance or inner physiology. At 6' 4" and 175 pounds, I have no weight to lose, so that can't be my motivation. Maintaining good physical health is important to me, but I don't obsess over it. So the only aspect of this category that applies to me is my desire to appear more muscular. I do want to work more weight lifting into my training, but that isn't really necessary to be an ironman. So this is a side benefit at best...if I do the extra work.

(2) Being a Role Model: Some dads do it to teach their children the importance of a physical lifestyle. My step-daughters are already athletic, and so is my wife. Besides, I decided to do an ironman before I even got married. So this isn't directly applicable to me, unless I consider other people I want to influence. As a professor of Human Biology, I certainly want to impress upon my students the importance of physical activity. I used the word "impress" on purpose, because I want my students--and others--to be impressed with my status as a triathlete. It would be great if my training and races creates within them a desire to compete as well. However, I think my motivation for being an ironman is not to influence others.

(3) Iron Distance as a Means for Doing the Extraordinary: Men sign up for these events for the experience of doing something they know is going to push them to the limits of possibility. There is a distinct chance of failure, but also a solid chance of accomplishment. I think this explains my own motivations well. I like to work hard at improving myself in all areas of life. I set goals and I work toward them. I keep lists and enjoy crossing things off as I do them.  Maybe becoming an ironman is just another milestone. I am an Eagle Scout. I got my Ph.D. I got a job as a professor and have received tenure. I bought a house. I have a family. I chair important committees at work and church. I want to continually grow and accomplish new things. Becoming an ironman is now on my list. Today as I write this, I admit that I am not sure I can finish the race this September. But I am now certain that that will not stop me. If I DNF this year, I will try again next year. Just saying this out loud makes me proud of myself. I am thriving on this idea. I will keep doing the extraordinary, this year, and next year, and for the rest of my life.

(4) Coming to Iron Distance through Media Influence: Some men sign up for an ironman because they see it on TV and they think they could be like the athletes appearing in the media. I admit this has influenced me. I saw a video of an 81 year-old man completing an ironman and I thought "If he can do it, so can I." I was also so influenced by swimmer Michael Phelps in 2008 that I signed up for swim lessons the next year and have been a swimmer ever since. I thought "that looks fun, so let me try." I have also enjoyed watching the Tour de France. I dream a little of what my life would have been like had I discovered swimming or cycling or triathlon when I was in my teens or twenties.

(5) The Appeal of Proximity: Some men sign up for a race because it is geographically convenient. Well, sure. But there has to be more to it than that.

(6) Something Larger than Me: Some men sign up for an ironman because they are fundraising for a cause, or they are promoting and evangelizing their faith. Faithful as I am, this is not my motivation. My faith is held private unless someone asks about it. As for fundraising for a cause, I actually hate doing that. I have had to raise money for my MS150 bike rides. It makes me uncomfortable because we all have our own interests and charitable causes, and support for that has to come from within. I only give to charities that I have some interest in. I don't see how I can influence the decisions others make.

(7) Exploring the Extremes of Pleasure and Pain: Some me sign up to experience great pleasure and pain, and to share the experience with others. I can see how this works, as it may explain why people form triathlon or marathon relay teams, or why the MS150 would be far more fun with a friend or group (I've always done it with a friend, but am considering a solo ride this year). But this isn't why I signed up for an ironman. I decided to do it solo, though Dan might join me on race day for the Half.

In summary, I think (3) best explains my motiovations for signing up for an ironman. I am driven to live a life of personal growth and fulfillment. Ironman is my next goal. Something will come along after that.

Time to Start Getting Serious

I've got my first ironman triathlon coming up in 17 weeks. I am concerned that I won't have enough time to ramp up my training so I have to start now. I am slowly returning to health after a bad cold, so I don't feel like jumping in with full thrusters today, but I have to do something. I've gotten the Herrick training plan back out and I've printed week 17's workouts. Today is supposed to be a 45-min run and a 40-min swim. I can't do a swim due to an eye infection, so maybe I'll get to the run this afternoon. Yes, yes, I will. I am worried about overdoing it while being ill, but I am well enough to run and it might be helpful. In place of the swim, I will do some lifting for 40 min.

I have re-checked my hotel reservations for the IM. I reserved a room with 2 queen sized beds, so that would be enough for either Dan or Shannan and Kendra if one or more of them decides to go with me. However, we can't all stay together, so Dan might have to be on his own.

I should let Karen and Jim know the date so they might come see me.

I am promising myself better nutrition from now on, too. I have bought a multivitamin and will start taking it tonight.

I have some new running buddies on campus and a new riding group near my neighborhood. I must join them consistently to keep this fun. Plus, weekends or evenings with Dan if we can work it out.

Now that I have a weekly plan, I need to look for opportunities to do smaller races and/or long bike rides. This will help keep me enthused for all those long hours I'm about to dedicate to this.

For now, let's assume my weekly schedule will go something like this:
MON run and swim
TUES run and bike (maybe with evening group?)
WED swim and weights
THURS long run (maybe with campus friends?)
FRI swim and bike
SAT weights
SUN long bike and weights

I will still have to play this by ear, given family commitments.

April mileage

It's 19 weeks until my ironman triathlon. My April mileages represent a good start for my preparation which shall begin in earnest in May: 10 miles swimming + 132 miles cycling + 40 miles running + 9 miles walking = 191 miles.

Pittsburgh Marathon Relay

Race: Pittsburgh Marathon Relay segment #3 (6.3 miles)
Date: May 1, 2016
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Time: 55:26
Overall Rank: X out of XX
Age Group Rank: X out of X
Results: http:
I felt good throughout. The big hill wasn't much of a challenge. In fact, I sped up during the ascent to catch up with someone wearing a SVC jacket. I wondered if I would know who it was. It ended up being some older guy I didn't know.

AMYMSA Champs

Race: Masters swim season championship
Date: April 9-10, 2016
Location: Spire Institute, Geneva, OH
Results: http:

As usual, I headed into champs with some dark feelings: I haven't been training like I wanted to, I haven't been setting nearly as many personal bests this year as in past years, and so why should I be excited for championships? Should I swim hard, or, knowing that I will inevitably disappoint myself, maybe I should just swim for fun and to heck with trying to be faster? I had all these thought before I jumped in the pool to warm up. My mood turned a little more positive when I felt the embrace of the smooth water (the pools at Spire are of a world-class design that dampens waves). Plus, I was wearing a brand new racing suit that felt like I was wearing absolutely nothing (mmm, feels good!).

My first event was the 100-yard breaststroke. I figured I'd give it a shot. With the help of world-class diving blocks, I rocketed into the water and glided pretty far before doing a dolphin kick. In the breaststroke you are only allowed one dolphin kick, and I almost did second one before I surfaced, but I caught myself and quickly converted it to a rather decorative breaststroke kick which may or may not have been legal. I slowed down briefly as I thought through that series of strokes, but then I took it all out as I realized I was getting distracted. I was in Lane 4 and it seemed like I was keeping the lead. I finished in 1:19.86, which was 0.92 seconds faster than my seed time and a new personal best. What a relief! This swimming thing is fun after all.

My second event was the 50-yard freestyle. Now having some motivation to do well, I visualized how I would swim this race. I would breath 3 times and have a fast flip turn. I jumped in the water and swam it in 28.38, which lowered my personal best by 0.34 seconds.

Wow, so now I started to get nervous. I had one more swim today, and I felt pressured to set another personal best to keep my streak going. The problem was, my next event was the 200-yard Individual Medley. I remember saying to Shannan that there is plenty of opportunity for mistakes in that event because there are so many different kinds of turns. "What kind of attitude is that?" she chided. I set about gathering more motivation and mentally planned all those turns.

The starting blocks have a ramp at the rear for placing one of your feet. The ramp is adjustable, and since I am tall, I always had to move it from the 3 position to 4 before my swim. This gave me some confidence because I knew I was setting things up just right for me and no one else. This was my race. I was here for me. Let's do it!

With the buzzer I leaped in and started the butterfly segment. I concentrated on keeping a faster stroke rate than normal, trying to duplicate the technique from a video Shannan had played for me a few days before. At the start of the backstroke, I wasn't tired yet. During my backstroke, all I could think of was my upcoming turns. Backstroke turns are difficult for me because I either start them too early or too late. I think I did great at the far wall, and I came up just a bit short at the starting wall. I kept my momentum through the breaststroke, which seemed faster and stronger than normal, and then the freestyle was easy because I knew I was almost done. I wasn't out of breath yet, so I stopped breathing entirely on the last 20 yards, just to finish fast. My time was 2:48.62, which was 2:33 seconds faster than ever before. I was 3 for 3!

DAY#2
On the second day of our championship meet I had a personal winning streak to defend. I set 3 personal bests on Saturday—out of three events. How long could this streak last? Thinking back to previous champs, I don’t think I ever had more than three personal bests in a weekend. This was certainly an unusual and unexpected situation. So how could I best prepare for my swims today? I decided to do an abbreviated warm up of 300 yards. This seemed to go well until I did a length of butterfly, and then I realized my arms were not at 100%. This didn’t concern me. I didn’t feel weak on the freestyle, and today’s events would only feature about 150 yards of butterfly.

My first event was the 500-yard Freestyle. In past years I have not even warmed up for this, so now you can see how serious I was about doing well. Off the blocks I swam easy and fast. It was a pace faster than comfortable, but I felt I could sustain it for 500 yards. Lap after lap, I saw that the two competitors on either side of me were well behind, but there were swimmers at the far side that were keeping up and challenging my speed. I felt really good through the first 300 yards. I could hear Joanne and Shannan and maybe others cheering for me at the opposite wall. They sounded excited, so that kept me excited, too. I had some early turns where I barely hit the wall, but this didn’t diminish my drive. My legs began to fatigue in the last 150 yards. I kept my effort up, but I started to wonder if I would have anything left for the end. I finished as strong as I could, and ended up 5th in my heat (out of 8). I was out of breath, my legs were spent, and I even felt the nausea that comes with anaerobic energy expenditure. I really had given it all I had, and it made a difference. I finished in 7:04.36, which was 5.46 seconds faster than ever before. I was 4 for 4. My streak of personal bests was still secure!

My second event of the day was the 100-yard Individual Medley. I remember mentioning to Shannan that I had not lowered my time in this event all year. Alas, that remains true. I swam as fast as I could and I even had good turns. I had good rhythm in the butterfly and I pushed hard with my arms during the backstroke. Gary, a fellow swimmer in my age group, had complimented me on my breaststroke the day before, so I tried to show my skill during that segment today. I again minimized my breaths on the freestyle segment as I surged my hand forward to touch the timing pad. Still, I finished 0.14 seconds slower than my personal best. My streak had ended, but who could complain? Being a tenth of a second off was still close enough to be happy and content.

My third event was the 50-yard butterfly. My legs were starting to feel fatigued now, and my arms were already tired from yesterday’s swims. Shannan said I looked good and I felt fast. I finished in 32.22, which was 0.64 seconds slower than my personal best. I did the best I could. There wasn’t anything more I could give, and that felt good.

I also felt really hungry now. I have perfected my food intake during swim meets over the years, and I tend to stick with a mix of salty pretzels, fruit snacks, and the occasional bagel (water and Gatorade, too). On day 2 of such a diet, I think I was deficient in calories and protein. I still had one more event to swim, but I consumed a banana and promised myself more after I got done.

The 50-yard backstroke was three events after the butterfly, so I had some time to eat that banana. I also had time to get into the warm-up pool and practice my backstroke start. I had planned to do that because my start needs practice, and the starting blocks were different from what I was used to. But I now I didn’t feel like doing any more practicing. I was tired and wanted to be done. When it came time to do my event, I didn’t consciously decide to swim slow, but that’s how it turned out. After a good flip turn at the far wall, I finished with a poor one at the end; I misjudged and struck the touchpad with my elbow. I finished in 38.09 seconds, 2.07 seconds slower than my personal best. That’s not good at all, but I was too tired to care!

I had a superb championship meet, and Shannan had done really well, too. I feel energized for more swimming work this spring and summer, which is good, because my next big swim event is the 2.4 mile swim associated with the Ironman I have in September. A long-distance swim of 4,224 yards is an entirely different sport compared to what I did this weekend (<500 again="" be="" but="" can="" fall.="" i="" in="" ll="" masters="" meets="" my="" next="" see="" shape="" span="" start="" swim="" t="" to="" up="" wait="" what="" when="" yards="">

Wilmerding Indoor Triathlon

Race: Wilmerding YMCA Indoor Tri
Date: April 3, 2016
Location: Wilmerding, PA
Time:
Overall Rank: X out of XX
Age Group Rank: X out of X
Results: http:

The race started with the time it took on the treadmill to go 1.5 miles. I ran it in 11:09: Bumped the treadmill up to 8.3 mph. I don't think I've gone that fast before. Whoa, maybe I should get out more!!

Then I jumped on the exercise bike and went 5 miles in 14:09: I'm not sure I like those fancy bikes at the YMCA....I found it a lot different from my road bike, and even my indoor trainer.

Then I ended with a swim of 200 yards in 2:31: I went really fast at the start and then by the last lap I was really struggling. Fortunately, I was in the first heat and no one else had gotten to the pool yet, so no one saw me struggle. But now YOU know!