So I Finally Made a Blog

Welcome to Tri-Keokuk Racing.  I thought about a name for a while and this is the best I could come up with.

My plan is to share and document my journey as I attempt to reach as close as I'll ever get to my potential as an endurance athlete.  It's a journey that I'm dragging my loving and supportive wife and 4 year old daughter along.  They didn;t get much of a vote, but being a great partner, she didn;t say no either... probably knows me too well.  But placed some reasonable restrictions to keep me under control.  Here's a few:

1) I will be a part of the family, and Ironman will not... completely... take over my life.
2) I will have something that resembles a budget.  Cost WILL be controlled as best as possible.  This is a 2 year endeavor, so not reason for long term purchases not abosolutely nessesary to reach me goal.
3) I will not drink the "cool-aide" not matter how beneficial it may be, and purchase a power meter.  I don;t really need it.  The best ironmen in history didn;t need them.  Some fo the best age groups atheletes do not have one.  I was a strong cyclist in college without eveen a HRM. 
4) I will take pride in besting my peers in races with inferior equipment (bike, wetsuit), no coach, no team, no regular training partners, and no power meter. (goes with #3 & #2).
5) Evenings are family time.  I will not disappear for workouts between 5-8PM without express permission.  Weekend training will be limited to a reasonable amount. 
6) IF I'm exhausted, I will back off and sleep in.  You cna be consistent without being a slave to a traning plan.  Further, my traning plan will have general goals and targets for the week or training block, but will never be set in stone. 

Sometime in mid July after the Lake Geode Challenge, I went from thinking that I'd never do an Ironman.  Too much time commitment, not a fast enough race to really feel like your "racing".  I had doubts of what I was capable of.  But at some point, a seed was planted, and I decided that I'd make a decision after Pigman Long Course 70.3 in August.  IF I had a good performance against my peers, I'd go for it.   Guess what, other than some bad nutrition decisions hurting my run, I had a great race, swam well, rode faster than my goal pace and despite really suffering on the run, I out ran most of my peers and discovered that in fact, running was my strength, not cycling as I had thought.  I also dicovered that I could dig down, stay the course, HTFU and deliver a solid result under less than ideal conditions.

Below are my current 2014 goals, some background on how I got here, my race schedule and some training plans.

2014 Goals

1	Qualify for Kona at IM Wisconsin or finish with a time of <9:45
2	Finish New Orleans 70.3 under 4:17
3	Finish Kansas 70.3 <4:20
4	Finish Steelhead 70.3 <4:16
5	Win Trizou or finish < 58:00
6	Finish Lake Geode < 2:00
7	Obtain USAT score of over 100 in a race (#5 or 6 might do this, or a 4:12 70.3 or 9:36 at IMWI)
8	Top 5 Amateur Finish in Ironman Event (very lofty goal)
9	Wetsuit swim <28:00
10	Bike Split <2:18
11	Run split <1:24
12	Open ½ Marathon 1:16 (1 month after IMWI)

#7&#8 are probably the most lofty goals.  They likely exceed #2 & #3 time goals.   I think those run goals are a little soft, and if I make the improvements in my run I'm hoping, I'll revise them.  I think I may have a 1:21 70.3 and a 3:10 IM run in me.  A 3:10 IM run woudl be incredible, because that would be a BQ equivalent time for 35-39... in a Ironman.  That's probably insanely optimistic.

Background (life story)

I grew up in Novi, MI in the Detroit suburbs.  My father was a collegiate swimmer in the mid 1960’s and my uncle and cousin are accomplished athletes.  I competed in Cross Country and Swimming for 3 years and Track & Field 4 years in high school.  In college while on an internship in Fort Wayne, IN, on a whim, I start long distance running (there was a hot girl involved of course) and finishing the Chicago Marathon in only 10 weeks of training and later a 50k trail run.  I was then introduced to triathlons by some guys in the tri club there after doing well at an indoor tri.  I later did the Dominos Pizzaman in Ann Arbor, MI that next spring as my first race.  I still race in THAT sleeveless wetsuit I was compelled to purchase that morning at the race.  I later did the Warsaw Balloonfest and a race in Logansport before breaking a collarbone mountain biking.

            I moved on to bicycle racing in college, both road and mountain bike and won a few road races in the college equivalent of CAT 2/3.  My strength was usually climbing and more technical courses or races in poor weather (wet & cold).

            Out of college I bought a motorcycle, quite training and got fat.  In 2004 I moved to Keokuk, Iowa and started doing tris again.  I completed my first 70.3 at Pigman Long Course in 2007.  My wife and I had a daughter in 2009 and I got fat.   I later dropped 45lbs, bought a tri bike and started training more seriously and haven't looked back since.  I’ve made steady improvements going from 2:12 at Lake Geode Challenge in 2011 to a 2:04 this year.

Current PR’s

Lake Geode Challenge 2013 – 2:04:00 (23:43/1:01:31/37:55)

Pigman Long Course 2013 – 4:25:11 (28:47/2:21:17/1:31:26)

Hyvee Triathlon (Age Group Elite Division) 2:06:30 (23:29/1:01:31/38:45)

Open ½ Marathon, October 2012 – 1:21

Open 5k – 17:10

Past Results:

Open Marathon – Chicago Marathon 1997 – 3:38

50k Trail Run -The Huff 1997, Huntington, IN - 4:55

Pigman Long Course 2007 – 5:23

Lake Geode Challenge 2007 – 2:22

History:

High School –PR’s –    Cross Country - 17:15 (flat course), 17:55 (Hilly course)

            Track – 3200M – 10:38

1600M – 4:25

                        800M - 2:07

                        Pole Vault – 9’0”

Swimming (scy)–          100 free – 58:00

                                    100 breast – 1:10

                                    200IM – 2:09

                                    200 free – 2:05

Current Training metrics:

Threshold HR ~165 (need to test this again sometime this winter)

            Running - 10 mile run @ 142BPM, 7:18 pace, 56f, moderately hilly.  This is currently my goal IM pace.

            Swimming – 20x 100scy @ 1:30 coming in on 1:20-1:22

            Bike – No power meter.  Rode 92 miles, HR 131, 20.6mph ride average (tri bike, race wheels, standard helmet, unsupported, mostly flat)

2013 Weekly Training Averages:

8-14 hours per week (average of 10.5)

Running 16-38mpw (average of 25)

Biking (40-180) (average of 90)

Swimming 6-12k scy (average of 9000)

2014 Weekly Training Volume Targets:

12-18 hours per week (average of 15)

Running 35- 55 mpw

Biking – 80-180mpw (average of 120)

Swimming – 8-16k scy (average of 11,000)

Training Priorities:

1)      Run 6 days per week

2)      Bike 3-4x per week

3)      Swim 3-5x per week

Training Schedule:

M-F

1-2 hours 4 mornings a week, sleep- in 1 day

35-45 minutes @ lunch 3-4 days a week

40-60 minutes 2 evenings a week as needed (to meet priority 1)

Sat. Sun

3-6 hours 1 day

1-1.5 hours 2^nd day

There it is in a nutshell.     Enjoy and feel free to ask me any questions you like in comments or by e-mail.