New ride

Well not really. But kind of. The boys at http://www.lifecyclebikeshop.com/ put on my new disc and a new fork (long story!). The machine below is what I'll be rocking this year. Can't wait. My felt is two years old now and I couldn't be happier with it. Solid machine, very responsive, etc. One of my goals this year was to really work on my bike split and I feel like that is coming together well.

This week of training went OK. The week was full of work and lots of travel, so training took a second seat for the most part. I'll end up with about 25 miles of running, one swim session, and 6 hours of cycling. This is a few hours less on the bike than I wanted, but again, just couldn't fit in the training. All that being said, I had a great ride today. We did 4.5 hours with 5700 feet of climbing. I ran 50 minutes off the bike. My legs felt great. I'm very happy with how things are progressing and looking forward to continuing the training push as summer nears. Seeing that bike below reminds me that if I'm going to show up with a ride like that on race day I better perform!! Now is when you put in the work. Thanks for reading!
-T

Finishing the base

Well, I'm about to enter my final base training period. This year has been really cool so far. I structured my training very loosely. If you read this blog, you might remember that one of my lessons learned from Ironman Arizona was to listen to my body more this year. So I set up my year very loosely. Sure, I have weekly and monthly hour and mileage goals, but ultimately I have planned my year around certain periods within my training and racing. Ultimately I will do what it takes to build to this points, but at all turns, I will listen to my body and adjust where necessary.

I was thinking about all this after this past week. It was my first recovery week in a while and came after a tough road race and big training week. My body was telling me that it was over worked so I took one additional day off on Thursday. I was pleasantly surprised to then be able to get in a solid long run the next day and a great 4 hour ride Saturday. I felt strong and powerful on the bike despite not elevating my heart rate. I capped off the week with a great swim on Sunday. We got in 4k in the pool with some great intensity. I was going to run that afternoon, but I was so pretty worn out. I napped instead. Again, it was a recovery week. Not much point in pushing myself when I'm supposed to be helping my body recover.

I have my first open 10k in a few weeks so I'm looking forward to that. I am hoping to drop down to 6:30 pace for that event. I went back and looked up my Shamrock run results and was happy to discover I was the 69th male across the line in the 8k...out of 2100. I was not happy to see that my Garmin was off and my pace was not 6:39, but 6:44 according to the results. I'm confident as my conditioning, and more importantly...intensity, improves so will my running times. I again will not be doing any speed work prior to Race for the Roses as I'm still putting in my base miles, but will then get in some speed work as I build for Eugene Half marathon. Ok, I feel like a I just went on for quite some time on running. I still hate it :)

-T

March Madness

Well, I most say that I haven't really followed any college basketball this year. With my team (GO Ducks!!) out pretty much from the start, I haven't bothered to watch really any games. So instead of watch much basketball today I went riding! It was supposed to be a great day in Oregon, with the high forecasted to reach 70! So I met my buddy Jer and we set out to hit Multnomah Falls. This is a great ride that has a fair amount of climbing, some great descents, and usually some pretty heavy wind!
Getting ready to head out the wind in Portland was amazingly strong for so early in the morning. We pedaled along Marine Drive into a fairly fierce headwind out to Troutdale and the Historic Hwy. As we climbed our way up to Crown Point (pictured above) the wind got more intense. Now, I've probably ridden this course, well I don't know...at least a few dozen times I guess...and today was the windiest I have ever felt it. The wind was so strong near Crown Point that it was blowing us to the side as we climbed. We knew we were going to be in for a crazy descent down to Multnomah Falls so we crossed our fingers!!

The descent down the Multnomah Falls (pictured below) was, in a word, SCARY. Again, I've ridden this road so many damn times I feel like I could do it with my eyes closed, but today was different. I led us down and as I made my way around the first turn I was greeted with a huge gust of wind...30+ mph. I held on to my machine and then made my way around to the second turn. This time barely going 10mph. I came around the corner and the wind was blowing so hard. It was blowing my away from the cliff wall to my right side and towards the cliff drop off to my left side. The wind was so powerful that it blew me past the center line...again towards the edge. It kept blowing me over until I neared the white line on their side of the road!! I was now thinking fast as the drop off below was probably around 1k. I unclipped my right pedal and used it for balance on the ground as the wind continued to push my bike towards the edge. I wasn't too worried because I wasn't moving super fast and I knew I could save the situation. My only concern was oncoming traffic. There was none. I self corrected, let the wind pass and got back on my side of the road.

The rest of the ride was pretty bland compared to the first half! We had a few laughs and made our way back to town. Another great ride in the books! I told Jer the wind would be Epic, but today was a new definition of the word. And no, my camera phone did not take either of these pictures...it still sucks. Thanks for reading,

-T

Recovery Week!!

Well, as suspected I was pretty tired after last week and racing Sunday. I was happy to look at my plan Monday night during dinner and realize that I had scheduled myself off for Tuesday as well!! Two days off in a row...haven't done that in quite some time. So today was really nice. I'm feeling pretty good and happy to be entering into a recovery week. My only goal this week is to get to the pool twice and keep my run base up. Everything is easy this week, well except the swim which is always pretty hard. Even then I will back off slightly in the pool as well.

It's nice to see the sun coming out here in Oregon. We should have a decent week of weather and the weekend is looking to be really nice. I'm really hoping for a decent spring! I have another camp in a month and would really not like to repeat last week of rain, snow, and cold! It was pretty tough to get in the 13 hours on the bike I did...next camp is even more...so keep your fingers crossed for me! I'm really trying to concentrate on health right now. Proper sleep, listening to my body, eating healthy, alcohol to a minimum, etc. This will help me absorb the large base volume I'm putting in and prepare my body for a strong build up to Boise.

Thanks to those of you who reached out to me on the Shamrock race. Much appreciated. It means a lot to me to have friends and family that take the time to pay attention to my obsession with triathlon! Help makes the training go a little easier, and definitely is a motivator on the course!! Hope everyone is having a great week. Thanks for reading,

-T

Shamrock Run 2010

Well, the first race of the season has come and gone. For the second year in a row I jumped into the 8k Shamrock run in Portland today. It was much different than last year! First off, the weather was much better. Last year's race was run during miserable weather conditions while this year the sun was out! I even wore my shades :) As was the case last year, Meg ran the early race which was the 5k while I watched the bags and then raced the 8k an hour later. I entered this race today after the heaviest week of training I have done since build up to Ironman last year so I was unsure how I would perform. The 20 hours of training had pretty much zapped me, but I was excited to race for the first time in a while!

I watched Meg and her friends finish which was great. She did great considering all the shin trouble she has had lately. I am really proud of how she has weathered her injury set back and is now back and running!!! Great job honey! I then warmed up for a little bit and hit the start line. My goal going in was to run around 6:30 pace. I have done no speed work since last fall so everything has been run at low heart rates so far this year. This was going to be interesting! The gun went off and I with it. My legs were pretty heavy, but I clicked through the first mile somewhere around 6:20. I struggled a little bit on the climb up Broadway and Barber but was still averaging between 6:30 and 7. A few people that probably shouldn't have been passing me where, I was just too tired and sore to respond! I hate getting passed.

We made the turn on to Front and headed down towards the finish. The last mile was painful. I knew I was going to PR and was happy to be finishing soon. Last year I ran 35:40 something. This year I stopped my watch at 33:25. A 2min plus PR was great! I was proud of my effort. My pace ended up at 6:39 so I was very close to my goal of 6:30s. I'm still a little bummed that I don't have the speed yet. However, I know I need to look at the big picture and realize that I was 30seconds per mile faster than last year after a monster week of training including a fairly tough 4 hour ride yesterday. The speed will continue to come. Last year I ran a 3:33 marathon 7 weeks later. I was sick as a dog and probably could have ran 3:20ish. Knowing all this makes me feel great about today as well as where my fitness is. I'm excited for the upcoming season and look forward to running a fast half marathon in a little less than 2 months.

We finished off the morning with some food, beer and Irish dancing at the Thirsty Lion! Great fun. Hope everyone is well. Thanks for reading!

-T

That's what I get!

For trying to schedule a week of training in Oregon during the first part of March! The picture below is towards the top of one of my climbs yesterday. Yes, that is snow all over the side of the road! Once again it was very cold out. The sun did come out for part of the ride, so that helped. Despite that I was still freezing, especially coming down some of the descents. Coming back into the town the last half an hour or so was hell. My legs were really burning! I just slowed it down and concentrated on keeping a positive attitude. Not much else you can do at that point. I got home just fine and then shoveled a ton of food in my face!! It was another 3 hours in the saddle for me.

I met Meghan at the gym later in the afternoon and hit up the dreadmill. It was now warm enough I could have run outside just fine, but I wanted to see Meg and despite it's boredom....the dreadmill is quite good for my joints. I put in an easy hour and surprisingly...my legs were fine! I have 5 hours scheduled on the bike today, but am staring out my window at rain, that is only supposed to increase throughout the day. I'll be setting up the trainer in a bit and throwing a movie in. Again, that's what I get for scheduling training camp this week! But hey, it beats working :) I'm really happy with where my fitness is currently. I have another 5 to 6 weeks left of base training with one final training "camp/week" at the end of the base period. I will exit that training block ready to absorb some quality intensity and build for Boise. Can't wait!!

"Don't expect more when you put in less work than all them" -Nas

-T

Snow?

Ok, so first day of training camp was today. I woke up to sub freezing temperatures and some...yes, snow!! Nothing around the house too much, but as I climbed up to the the high point on my ride in the morning I sure found it. I woke up early to get some food in me and check teh weather forecast. The temperature read 32 degrees. Not nice. My plan was to get in 5 hours on the bike and then I had a swim scheduled for the afternoon.



I geared up and finally took off. I made it 90 minutes out and had to stop, eat and eventually turn around. I was just too darn cold. Snow was falling from the trees, temperature on my bike computer read 31. So I managed to get in 3 hours. Not bad considering the day. I got in a great nap after and then nailed 4k in the pool to close out the day. I feel good about the first day of this "training camp." I will get in another 3 to 4 hours on the bike tomorrow and have a run scheduled as well. I tried to post a few pics from the ride, but my computer is being lame tonight. So with that I'm off to bed. Thanks for taking the time to read,

-T

Sunshine

This weekend was great. Saturday morning I woke up to my alarm pretty early...at least for March that is. The plan for attack on Saturday was to get in 3 to 4 hours on the bike. As I prepared breakfast and coffee, I was so excited to see how nice and sunny it was outside. Really felt like Spring out there! I was excited to get in a long, solo ride so after plenty of coffee and some food I set off. I rode one of my favorite rides. It takes me out the McKenzie river. Beautiful country. The picture above is at the end of McKenzie view rd. After this point there is a 10 mile loop I do that meanders a little bit along the river and past the Springfield Country Club. In my last big ride before Ironman Arizona I did this 10 mile loop 8 times. Today was only a couple times and at a much more relaxed pace!

The ride was fairly uneventful except for the beautiful scenery. I had a nice time just putting in some quality miles at a reduced effort...really enjoying riding. It was just one of those days that one could take for granted. Instead I savored every moment of riding along in the brilliant sunshine. One of the highlights of the ride was spotting the fawn below. She was even nice enough to allow me to pull over and get out my camera to take a quick picture! After the ride I went out for a relaxed 35 to 40 minute run with Meg. It was great. Nice to run together again.

I slept a solid 10 hours Saturday night. After getting some coffee and food in me, I updated my Ipod and took off for a 2 hour run. It was great. My fitness is really coming along. I was able to maintain just over 8 min pace for the length of the run without exceeding 150 for my hr. Which is basically my goal right now. Running between 135 and 150 hr on these long runs while concentrating on stride and posture. I would have to say today was a great success and I was pleased with the ease I was able to run decent pace without elevating my heart rate. So the rest of the day is now about domestic items...Below you can see my infamous cat Teton trying to help Meg with some laundry! I need to get a new phone...this camera phone sucks! That's it for now. Big volume week this next week. I'll try and stay connected and keep the posts coming. I looking forward to banging out some quality miles! Thanks for reading!

-T

Big week

So my first volume camp is coming up next week. I'm stoked for it. I feel like I'm entering it in a good position...ready to take on the mileage and come out feeling super fit and ready to continue the base build up. I had a great 8 mile run today. Didn't wear a Heart Rate monitor. Hell, I didn't even wear a watch. It was awesome. I just ran. And ran slow. I'm really trying to work on my stride and make sure I'm effecient as possible. Every little bit helps in a marathon!

That's my cat below, Teton. He's pretty cool. It's a bad pic, but he is wrestling with the sheets on the bed. I sometimes wonder what he thinks about me. I ride my bike indoors, sometimes for hours on end and he'll just kind of watch me...then get bored, then come back and make sure I haven't taken off. When I come back from a run, especially the long 2 to 3+ hour runs, he wants nothing more than to follow me all around the house meowing to me about how much he missed me. The best is when I'm doing core work. I guess his attitude is, "Oh, cool. So you are going to hang out on the floor with me! Great, you are going to lay down?!? Hold on let me rub all up against you, purring like crazy!"

Anyways, cool cat even though I have never really liked cats! First "race" is next weekend...Shamrock 8k. Looking forward to it, but it will be at the tail end of a long week so I'm not expecting more than a tough training run. Should be fun!! Hope everyone is well. Thanks for reading...especially my sis! About time yo!

-T

And it's final...

So pops and I sat down this weekend and ironed out my next 6 months!! I am so excited!! I'm just over 6 months away from the end of my season, competing in my second Ironman, and getting married! As you can see from my race schedule, I have a fair amount of races scheduled. I have two volume camps scheduled during the next 60 days which is going to be awesome! Basically I was so excited talking with my Dad that sometimes I need to relax and well, as Rob would say, breathe. That's what the picture above is about. Relaxing.

I have some huge goals for this season, but even if I miss every single one of those goals...I still get married at the end of the season! So guess what?? I win regardless!! Anyways, as you can tell...I'm stoked for this season. Weekend training went well, 4 hour ride on Saturday and a good 11 mile run on Sunday. Hours will ramp up this week and next week will be huge with my first volume camp...finished off with the Shamrock run. Should be fun! Thanks for reading,

-T