Hey two posts in two days. I will try to be a bit more regular as the race gets closer. At this time of the year we at MarkAllenOnline get two types of emails. One is from a guy who can not wait to get started on his training for Ironman Lake Placid 2007, and the other is from the guy who started training in 2005 and by now he can not stand training but still has his biggest race of the year coming up. He is burned out.
By the time October gets here the weather is getting colder, most of your friends are done and getting ready for winter. No one wants to go for a long ride with you. Last week I went to a master’s swim in Boulder and I was the only one left in the pool completing the session. Every one quit on me. I do not have a problem with this as I do 99% of the training on my own now. But if you are the social type and need lots of company this can get tough.
When I was in my triathlon prime, some of my buddies called me Mr. October. This was a nick name for “Reggie Jackson”. All those old enough to remember Reggie hitting 3 home runs in one game at the baseball World Series raise their hands. I remember. Well Reggie did not do so well all season but come October you could not stop him. I was sort of the same way. It took me all season to get in shape and I had my best races in October. I hope I can have my best race of this year in October as well.
If you are really burned out, maybe take a day off and make a hard effort to just get out the door. Once you are training, you will feel better. Another trick is to vary your route. Do the route backwards, go somewhere else. We all get stuck on the same routes and it can get old. If you manage to keep your head in the game you will do real well. When I was at IBM a challenge was called “An opportunity to excel”. So if you can stay in the game you will excel. This sport is not easy. If it was easy every one will be doing it.
Today I did a really hard bike speed session. It hurt and my legs are sore now. My warm up was going to the top of Berthoud Pass. It was cold so my heart rate was really low. Yes my fitness helped me too. Last year there was no way to do this ride easy. When I got to the top, a pair of German tourist took the picture above. I took one of theirs for them. Berthoud pass is only about 20 miles from my house but all up-hill of course. So I came back down and did the speed session. That was really hard for me. My heart rate did not want to go up unless I found some up-hills. That is a good thing but it sure hurts.
Jan the pro I mentioned yesterday on my post is organizing a big swim for Friday for us. Joanna Lawn who is the Ironman New Zealand winner for the past 3 or 4 years wants to join us. We are thinking 6x1000 but I think I will break that up some. I remember doing 5x1500 when I was about 15 or 16, that was a breeze at the time, but 6x1000 seems hard now. The funny thing about it is that the swim was done with a pesky 14 year old shorter guy. (At the time, I was told he is big now). His name is Carlos Lomba and now he is perhaps Puerto Rico fastest triathlete and a swim coach. I noticed his name is on the start list for Kona. Funny story eh? His mother used to pick me up at my house and give me a ride to swim meets. I hope I can meet him in Kona. I doubt I would recognize him. I coach some people in Puerto Rico and I sent a hello via them so I am sure he knows about me and remembers me but he has never tried to contact me. I think this is his first Hawaii Ironman.