Women Rock

My fiance is a prime example of this. What a wonderful lady! I was listening to a podcast today while running and heard a joke that I have to repeat...

Man comes across a frog in the forest. The frog says hi to him, so the man picks him up and puts him in his pocket.
The frog says, "if you kiss me, I will turn into a beautiful princess."
The man takes the frog from his pocket and smiles at her, then puts her back in his pocket.
The frog then says, "if you kiss me, I will turn into a beautiful princess and brag to all about how wonderful you are!"
The man again takes the frog from his pocket and smiles at her, then puts her back.
The frog then says, "if you kiss me, I will turn into a beautiful princess and will do whatever you want for an entire year!!"
Again the man takes the frog from his pocket, smiles at her and then puts her back into his pocket.
Finally the frog shouts, "Hey, what's your problem? I've told you I would turn into a beautiful princess and be all yours. What's the problem??"

The man once again takes the frog out of his pocket, smiles at her and says, "Look. I'm a friggin triathlete, I don't have time for a girlfriend! But a talking frog is pretty cool!!"

Ha ha!! I loved that. Although triathlon takes up a ton of free time, especially Ironman training, if you surround yourself with the right people anything is possible. Especially with the right partner. I couldn't be luckier.

On a women rock note, I was looking through some old Hawaii results and realized that Paula Newby-Fraser went under 9:10 4 times in her career. That is astounding. What an athlete. Keep in mind, she went a 9:01 in 1988. I can't emphasize how impressive that is considering the bike, nutrition, etc technology and lack of training knowledge. To put this in perspective...Chrissie has only done this once in Hawaii. Unreal. Nicely done PNF!!!

-T

Getting excited

Race season is upon me! This week is marathon week :) Well, half marathon for me. I'm feeling great and ready to race. It will be a tough day as I will not enter with any rest, but still expect to race well. I'm excited to get out there and see what I can do. Despite having a rest/travel week last week, my run felt strong. It was a long winter. It always is. Last year I would say the marathon somewhat snuck up on me. Really it wasn't the marathon, but balancing the marathon training with the bike and run. The marathon went fine, but I wasn't ready to race a quality half Iron 6 weeks later. I will be this year.

This week also really starts to incorporate more interval training to my program. This is super exciting as you can imagine how boring some of my training can get when you can't really alter your effort a ton. Intervals, speed work, etc make you stronger, but can also take a lot out of you. When looking at a peak race for the year of an Ironman in late August, I had to put in a lot of base miles during the winter and spring to be able to build properly into a quality racing season. Now, I get to start having more fun with speed work and most importantly...racing!! Boise is just around the corner. I'm debating on whether to do the Duck Bill as Meghan is actually out of town that weekend so I might just train instead. We'll see. I don't really care about that race. I care about Boise. And then the clock resets for 8 weeks until Penticton.

I have a good friend running Eugene with me. Hopefully we both enter the race injury free and ready to race. It should be a fun day! Thanks for reading,

-T

Travel Time!

It feels like I've been slammed lately, with lots of travel. I'm down in Florida on business right now with limited access to email. Good news on the training front...it appears I'm recovering quite well from my sinus infection! I was able to get in 70 minutes on the dreadmill this morning and felt great. This week will be fairly limited on training, basically just run. This is due to travel and fact this week was a recovery week after last week.

I'm looking forward to the Eugene Half. Despite not being rested I look forward to putting in a decent time. Well, that's all for now. Write more when I'm back in Oregon. Thanks for reading!

-T

Base Training Camp II

Wednesday was a great day. I had a morning 4 hour ride, a run scheduled after lunch and then an afternoon ride with some friends. I had a decent early morning ride, had to push off the run as my lunch with family ran late. I showed up for the afternoon ride and we decided to push 90 minutes in the hills. It was a great day in the saddle, but I could tell something was off. I had a slightly sore throat and was extremely tired. I went to bed hoping for the best and woke up to the bad news. I was sick.

Ironman training, at least for me, is many times conducted with a very small margin of error. We push our bodies to extremes. On a fairly regular basis. With me, I have to balance this fear of over training and injury with some of my consistent issues...Asthma and Sinus Infections. Knowing that I had a sinus infection, my Doc was good enough to call in antibiotics right away and I got started on my Z Pak that same day. I took the rest of the day off. It was extremely tough to do because it's not often that you have the ability to spend an entire week training without having to work. To be able to do that and yet be stuck in bed...well it was miserable. But remember that small margin of error I referenced? Well, I've pushed myself in that position before...the results weren't good. So this time, it was all about rest.

Friday I got out for about 90 minutes of easy spin on the bike, caught a great nap, and then finished the day with an easy 8 mile run. By Saturday I was feeling a little better. I was able to get in an 85 mile ride with decent intensity and some hills. Sunday had a 14 mile long run scheduled with a fair amount of half marathon pace work included. Coach advised me the night before that I had to back off. I cut the run to 12 miles and kept a close watch on my heart rate. I managed to keep my HR below 150 for the run and felt reasonably well. All in all, the training camp was a good success despite the illness. I had to cut out 4 workouts total due to the sinus infection. My overall totals included 285 bike miles, 25 run miles, and 4k in the pool. These totals were below my goal, but considering what I had to deal with...I'm happy.

I now have two more weeks until the Eugene Half Marathon. After EUG, I will really pick up the intensity and workload prior to tapering for Boise 70.3 I'm hoping I'll recover just fine from this infection and look forward to putting up a good time at Eugene. Thanks for reading!

-T

Base Training Camp II

Just a quick update on how my second training camp is going. After competiting in Race for the Roses on Sunday, I caught up on some sleep and Meg time. Monday came quick enough and I was able to knock out 4k in the pool. This day was scheduled to be the lighest day of my 9 day camp. Yesterday, Tuesday, I was able to get in a solid 4.5 hour bike ride and a 40 minute run off. Both felt good. Good focus on recovery and even got a nap in. Today I got in 4 hours on the bike in the morning and am about to leave for another 1.5 hours of climbing. I'm very happy with how my body is holding up and will remain focused on recovery so I can properly absorb all this training. Thanks for reading and I'll update the camp as I continue through.

-T

Race for the Roses

My second race of the young season was the 10k version of the Race for the Roses. This marks my 2nd of three consecutive running races to start the season before I transition into Triathlon. My objective going into this race was slightly different than heading into the Shamrock run last month. I was more concerned with having a solid race this morning, running at the pace that I want to do the Eugene Half, and closing strong. 10k is never a fun distance, pretty damn close to red line the entire race, so it would be a lie if I would have told you this morning that I was excited to get up at 5:30am to race it :)

To add insult to injury, I put in a very challenging 4.5 hour ride yesterday...full of wind and lots of hills. That being said, I was still looking forward to a good day out there. I got there a little early and was pleased to be able to see some old friends inside. I ducked out to warm up and then made it to the start line. The first mile to 1.5 is uneventful before the course climbs up Naito to Barbur. The hill this morning seemed to go on forever. To make it more challenging, the event coordinator had the half marathon start 20 minutes before the 10k. No problem right? Well, until the half guys make a two mile loop to start and then we are suddenly trying to race at 6:30 pace while passing literally hundreds of slower half marathoners. It was a complete mess. I was moving from one side of the street to the other to pick my way through the crowds. Suggestion for AA Sports if you continue to offer the 10k to R4R, please alter your start times. It wasn't good for the 10k or the half marathoners.

Anyways, we FINALLY made it up to the turn to head back down and then we had to make another loop back uphill about 1/4 mile later. That little hill was tough. I collected my breathing, focused on a steady stride and kept pace with the little pack I was racing with. We turned back down to Naito and after looking at my watch, I knew I was going to be far off from my goal today...in terms of time. The hills were just too much on the tired legs. But, I was still focused on finishing strong. I brought in the final mile fairly well before we had to go up and over the Steele bridge. Damn that sucked. I made it up and ran down 2 people in front of me within the last quarter mile (except the results are showing one of the people still ahead of me! WTF?!?). I was stoked with that nevertheless! I was not happy with my time, but I figure I easily added 20+ seconds running around people and know that today was not about racing fast. It was about racing tough. And I did that.

Overall, it appeared to be a tough day for times out there. I finished in 43:27 which was good for 4th in my age group and 24th overall out of 865 competitors. And I definitely got "chicked" out there as 3 of the top 5 overall were females :) Good on you ladies!! Anyways, time for some more rest. I have Training Camp II next week!!

-T

This could be interesting...

Well, another week of base training is almost in the books. This will be another one of those weeks were I mix it up a little bit with a running race. The title of this post is This could be interesting because I had another decent week of training that included a pretty tough 4.5 hour ride today. I was supposed to swim this afternoon, but decided a nap was a better idea due to how tired I was after the week of work, travel, and training. We did a fair amount of climbing today, over 4k, but it wasn't just the climbing. The wind was pretty sustained at 20mph throughout the ride. Wind can really increase your energy output quickly as you have to work so much harder to maintain proper pedal stroke, form, position, speed, etc. All without getting blown around right!!

So anyways, it was a good day in the saddle. I felt really strong and am happy with how my base training has prepared me. Our final climb of the day occurred around 3 hours in. As I lead our group around a switchback, I saw a guy coming up from a side road that was joining the road we were on. He looked pretty fit so I pushed up the pace enough to pull away from my group and inform the new guy that he wasn't going to take the hill. Well, he responded. Half way up the hill and I'm working fairly hard...I haven't seen him yet, but I can sense him. I'm in my 53 as I continue to work on power on my climbs, and to be honest, have grown to like climbing in my 53 unless the grade is just too intense. Anyways, all of a sudden I felt the guy on my wheel. I could hear him breathing really hard. We had another 3/4 mile or so to the top.

10 seconds later we rounded a turn and the grade increased slightly. I thought "now or never" and dropped to a bigger gear and started to pumping. The labored breathing became more and more faint and I could tell I was putting distance on him. I crested the hill and looped around to go back to my group and ride the last part again with them. I saw the stranger as I went back, I had gaped him by a good 20 meters or so. We waved at each other and there was a competitor type of smile from him...as in, you got me today :) I actually ran into him later and we chatted for a while. Seemed like a good dude. All in all though, that final push up that climb...well, I'll feel it tomorrow in my running race! We'll see how it goes. My goal is to even split it, if not negative split. My goal, although it might have changed after going too hard today :), is to confidently run what I want to do for my half marathon race in Eugene in a few weeks. That would be 6:45 pace. Let's get it on!!

-T

On the road again

My job requires a lot of travel. Some of it is not always planned. This all makes for an interesting training schedule for an Ironman athlete. My swimming has been somewhat limited as of late due to some unplanned trips, but I'm looking forward to getting in some quality meters over the next two weeks. My bike and run have felt great lately though. I got in a solid hour on the dreadmill tonight after arriving to my hotel fairly late. Some food, talk with my beautiful bride, and I'll be off to bed to do it all again tomorrow. Travel makes training challenging, but definitely not impossible.

There are times during my training where I really wonder why I'm doing this. Why am I running on a treadmill at 7:30 at night after driving throughout the state of Oregon for most of the day? And that's when I think back to the past. I reflect on where I was...an overweight, unhealthy, former athlete that would get winded going up stairs. This gives me some added motivation. Helps me push through those tough times. My ideal Saturday used to be a day spent on the couch, eating pizza and watching some type of sporting event...maybe with a nap thrown in. Now I look forward to 5 hour bike rides, followed by a run, and then maybe I still get that nap in!! Of course the pizza is still there :)

It's funny, but my whole point of writing this blog was to keep family and friends updated with my training and racing, but it's become much more. I look forward to writing new posts each week. It helps keep me motivated, and who knows, maybe somewhere along the line...it will help inspire someone to take on their own challenge in life. Who knows. I hope you are all happy and healthy,

-T

Update

Well, this was one heck of an interesting weekend. I got to spend a lot of time with Meg and her family (including her bro who flew across the country), but it was due to a family member being in the hospital. That being said, our guy is starting to feel much better and should be released from the hospital later this week. It was definitely a scary weekend at times, but again...everything should be OK. I will be happy to not be back in a hospital anytime soon!!

As far as training, this past weekend did not end up where I wanted it. But that's alright. Life is like that. I was able to take an extra day off which I think was actually a good idea. I did get in a solid 2 hour run Sunday morning. I made it out before the weather truly moved in. It was one of those runs where you just felt like you could go forever. It was extremely difficult, just relaxed. I averaged 8min miles which is perfect...I'm just accumulating base miles at this point so runs like these are more about developing that aerobic engine than pushing any certain pace.

This week will involve a lot of travel time during the week for work, but it's still pretty packed with volume. This is my final build up prior to my big Spring camp next week. These next two weeks will conclude my base training and help take me into a build period for Boise in June. My priorities are really centered on big bike volume and run toughness. I have some big goals for later in the year at Ironman Canada...the biggest of which is knocking some time off of my IMAZ time. Actually about 54 minutes is what I'm looking for :) 75% of this time will come from the run. So why am I working so much on my bike? Because you MUST be bike fit in order to run a solid marathon at the end of an Ironman. I was bike fit last year, but not like I'll be this year. I felt like I was ready to run sub 3:45 marathon after the bike last year, but I wasn't. 112 miles is a long time to race after a 2.4 mile swim. So anyways, keep your fingers crossed for good weather for me next week as I'll be in the saddle a lot!! Thanks for reading,

-T

Sometimes

Life just kicks you in the balls. We were enjoying a nice Friday evening together. I was getting ready to hit the sack as I had a big day of training set for today. Then the phone rang. A family member was being taken to the hospital. We were there until early hours of the morning and then back a few hours later to see him before he was off to surgery. Everything will be ok. Fairly routine procedure. Just goes to prove once again that there is much more to life then training and racing, not to mention work, stress, etc. Too often I find myself getting worked up with all the stress of life and forget to enjoy it. Triathlon is one of my escapes. Training and racing is definitely one area of my life where I do get away from these stresses and enjoy being, well me. Hope everyone is happy and healthy.

-T

April fools!

I'm not much of a prank type guy so today really doesn't mean much to me. And it just so happens that I had a corporate visitor in town this week so it's been a little hectic without worrying about who to pull a fast one on today. Anyways, today the joke was it was the first decent weather day in a little while around here. We have been having some terrible weather of late. Sideways rain, cold temps, etc. I was able to run tonight for the first time in a few days without getting soaked which was awesome! I'm really looking forward to some warmer weather however. Rain and cold weather makes for a less motivated Trevor.


Tonight's run was good though. I got to listen to a recent Dave Scott interview. I'm a huge Dave fan, so being able to listen to an interview with him while working out was great fun. More importantly, my base is coming along real nice and I felt like I had a great rhythm and stride going out there despite limiting my heart rate and effort. I only have a few more weeks of base stuff...thank god! Not that the volume will change much, just a change in intensity is nice. It's tough to put in 30+ miles a week running for example and have basically zero intensity involved. The whole point of course is when you start to include that intensity, the engine is so well built with all that base work that it absorbs the efforts well.


So I'm usually very good about sticking with my training plan. For instance, since I'm doing mostly lower heart rate work right now, I don't allow myself to push pace on the bike or run. Swimming sure, but not the other two. So I'm out with a buddy the other day for a 4.5 hour ride. It was a ride I've done a few times, mostly by myself. Tons of hills. Almost 6k of climbing in 70 miles or so. I'm feeling so good on the bike lately that I'm able to do most of the big climbs, and all the longer ones, in my 53. This way I concentrate on a lower cadence and build my power. So we are getting near the end of the ride and finishing the last of our roller hills and 3 dudes go flying past us. The one leading was on a TT and flying, and two dudes on his wheel with matching kits. I looked back at my buddy who was in no position to chase and thought oh well, I'm not supposed to push anyways. I watched them continue to put distance between us until they were about 400 to 500 yards up the road. That's when I said fuck it.


I never deviate from my plan, but I'd been such a good boy this winter and so wanted to tear some guys legs apart. I was in my 53 still so I just shifted quickly to a bigger gear (15 I think?) and hammered after the pack. I don't know how long it took me to catch them. 1/4 mile? Maybe a little longer. They clearly didn't think there was any chance of anyone catching them as they were rolling along nicely on the slight uphill (19+mph) because I pulled up right next to the two guys in the matching kits and said, "Hey boys, those are some great looking kits" and the guy closest to me almost fell flat off his bike he was so surprised to see me! I asked them where they had been riding today and then they asked me. "Oh, we went out to that climb as well and then went another 15 miles or so past before turning around." We chit chatted for another few minutes before I commented again on their cool looking jerseys before peeling back to check on my friend. I could hear them talking and laughing as I turned around about how I had reeled them back in despite doing twice the ride they had done that day. It was great! So long story short, I did deviate from my plan this past weekend. But it was so worth it!! Thanks for reading,

-T