login
California(Man), Here I Come!
-
No new posts
 2004-01-17 9:45 PM |
Regular  133   Seattle |  Subject: California(Man), Here I Come!Deep breath, plunge, breath of air! I just signed up for the CaliforniaMan iron-distance triathlon, on 5/22/04. For those who haven't seen my race report on my Great Floridian experience, well, this is my attempt to do swim-bike-run, as opposed to swim-bike-sss-kthud-kthud-kthud-kthud-pant-groan-jog-walk-jog-walk-finish-collapse-puke. Training will be a challenge, for several reasons: 1) it's cold and wet up here in Seattle in the winter 2) my wife is expecting IronBaby 2 in July, which means I am driving IronBaby 1 to daycare more often, which means not biking to work as often 3) did I mention it's cold and wet? 4) did I mention that whole family-thing? Actually my wife is very supportive of my habit (especially since she is more gung-ho than I am when she's not family-ing). And, she's starting to get over the nauseous-and-exhausted-all-the-timestage. So, training time should get better. For my first Iron, I relied on lots and lots of biking - 3x per week commute at 33 miles round trip, plus 50-100 on the weekend. This time around, I'm leaning heavily on Triathlete Magazine's "13 weeks to an IronMan" program, with slight modifications. (For anyone who's interested, I've "slid" the biking forward by one "set", so I'm starting with weeks of 3, 3:30, and 4:00. This gives me 4 weeks at 5+, instead of 1 as in the original plan). On the other hand, I'm also going to do more during the day at work - 5-6 mile runs, or 45-minute swims in a nearby pool. Plus, all workouts have target intensities, with the goal being "good" workouts in place of lots of workouts. We'll see. It's tough to place faith in a program that peaks at 12 hours for the longest single week, but my time limitations mean I need to train smarter (not harder). Anyway, that's one heck of a ramble. On the positive side of the ledger, the course should be easier than GFT, plus I actually have a clue about what I'm doing this time. And the race venue is less than 10 miles from my wife's brother's house. So, really, this is a "family" vacation, with just a simple little 1-day diversion thrown in. Yeah, that's it. Anyone else out there considering CaliforniaMan? Or the 1/2 Cali? I'd love to find some other crazy souls out there to get psyched with. -Rich |
| 2004-01-18 6:05 AM in reply to: #4117 |
Expert 1164 New Port Richey | Subject: RE: California(Man), Here I Come! Rich, I Know that you are going to be sucessful. Good luck on your training and we look forward to another great RR from you. Ps congrats on tribaby 2.  |
| 2004-01-18 8:54 AM in reply to: #4117 |
Champion 13323   Gold member | Subject: RE: California(Man), Here I Come! sounds great...i am already excited to watch your training logs.... congrats on #2 |
| 2004-01-18 4:30 PM in reply to: #4117 |
| 14 | Subject: RE: California(Man), Here I Come! You are coming to my home town. I live in Sacramento, but Folsom is only a 45 min drive. I am not in the iron man league but I will come out to cheer you on. |
| 2004-01-21 5:59 AM in reply to: #4117 |
Expert 713 Rockledge, Fl | Subject: RE: California(Man), Here I Come! Not ready to join you Rich, but I know you will do great! Congrats on the commitment. Let us know how your training goes. How do you get any bike training in Seattle. I lived there 2 years and it never stopped raining! |
| 2004-01-21 12:35 PM in reply to: #4455 |
Regular 133 Seattle | Subject: RE: California(Man), Here I Come! Thanks, everyone, for the support. Ron - training logs implies training, right? Hmm... actually, I rode in today, so that's a start. Cameron - Seattle is a bit rough on winter training, but you've just got to do it. I ride a rain-fitted touring bike to work - lights, fenders, etc, and wear awesome rain tights and rain jacket. I still get wet, but you just learn to deal with it. And keep lots of dry clothes at work. For motivation, I like to laugh at all the poor suckers stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic as I whiz by on my bike. In fact, I got in lots of miles last January and February - once you get used to it, it's not really that bad. (Long weekend rides, however, are another story. Cold and wet for 4 hours is not fun!). The real challenge this year is my wife's pregnancy. I need to do more around the house, and drive our son to daycare, etc, which really cuts down the days I can bike to work. But that seems to be easing up (2nd trimester's the easiest), so we'll see. One other cool thing about winter riding - my touring bike fits like a road bike, but is heavier and slower - 17 mph is like 20 mph on a good bike. For my 2004 races, I get to ride my wife's road racing bike, which fits me perfectly for tri's - who-hoo! So, I'll do my "daily" rides on a heavy bike, and then do my long rides and races on a fast bike, and it'll seem like a party. (at least, that's what I tell myself) I'm going with a modified version of the "13 weeks to Ironman" plan, and that starts for real on Feb 23. In the meantime, I'm trying to get in as much base work as I can. (Except swimming, where I'm doing drills for technique.) We'll see how it goes! -r |
| 2004-01-22 6:03 AM in reply to: #4117 |
Expert 713 Rockledge, Fl | Subject: RE: California(Man), Here I Come! Now that would be a site. I remember that traffic. I actually lived in Renton and drove over th Bremerton, so didn't fight that every day! But it was something to see 6 lanes of traffic stopped. Great job with your commitment in all the rain. |
| 2004-01-23 2:11 AM in reply to: #4117 |
Extreme Veteran 406 Boise Idaho | Subject: RE: California(Man), Here I Come! Nice Rich! I don’t think I will be ready to join you for a while but I am still a crazy soul none the less! Good luck with lots of safe training! Jack |
| 2004-01-23 9:03 PM in reply to: #4659 |
| , Alabama | Subject: RE: California(Man), Here I Come! |
| 2004-01-24 1:20 PM in reply to: #4117 |
Expert 1049 Jacksonville, FL | Subject: RE: California(Man), Here I Come! I thought I had it tough. Keep doing your best, it will help you keep your sanity with all the other stuff going on in your life. Just remember, the family comes first so you need to balance it all. Imagine how tough we would be without our kids. With the Great Floridian under your belt it should be a piece of cake. |
| 2004-01-24 7:53 PM in reply to: #4117 |
Veteran 202 St. Catharines, Ontario | Subject: RE: California(Man), Here I Come! It takes guts to try to be in top form for that early in the season. I wish I could go to but I need to save money and vacation days to go to Ironman Germany in July. It's like my home course even though it is a different country. My sister, brother in law and nephew live in Frankfurt. I can't wait until the snow and deep freeze stop so I can ride my bike. Those long rides on the weekend are the most important thing for Ironman training. It doesn't matter how well you run if you aren't a good biker the 180 km will kill you but you probably know that. Some guys I know around here were talking about doing the Great Floridian, I'll have to read your report. When I did Quelle Challenge Roth in Germany two years ago, I didn't do as well as I did in my first Ironman distance race. I was fitter but being more confident burnt me. The swim was hard, strong current in the canal that day. I was also kind of exhausted from following the Tour De France around the week before and then rushing back to Germany for the race. I went way too hard on the hilly bike course, the 100, 000 fans got me excited. I blew up after two hours. I recovered enough for the run and was moving along pretty well. I did the first 24 km in 2 hours. Fans where looking up my name in the program and yelling Owen Zupa, Zupa. Then I blew up again and started having back spasms. I walked for three hours and did a 5 hour marathon. I cryed a little to during that long walk. As I was walking this big fat guy passes me. He stopped and walked for a while with me. He told me, "I have a system. When I hit the kilometer marker I run for four minutes and then I walk for the rest of the kilometer. This way I do 6 minute kilometers." Then said come on let's run together. I couldn't do it. I'd killed myself. 6 minute km pace isn't bad for an Ironman. It was a variation of the tortouse and the hare story. It is important to have a good race plan and to be conservative in Ironman. Some people would say take it is a learning experience but I took it as one of the best days in sports. Just finishing an Ironman is a huge sucess and it feels amazing, even if you blow it and go an hour and a half slower than you tought you should have. |
|
|
|
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK