I Wasn't DNF!

The triathlon was yesterday and I wasn't DNF (did not finish).  From about 100 yards into the swim until the start of the run, there was a lot of doubt about whether I would finish or not.  The swim was every bit as bad as I remember them to be.  The water was icy but the wetsuit kept me warm.  However, the wetsuit also constricts breathing and just as with the two other open water swim triathlons I've done, after about 100 yards I felt like I couldn't breathe.  I breast-stroked some, dog-paddled some, actually swam some, and when I was able to swim made good time. 

Then on to the bike, where about 1/4 mile into it there was a nasty uphill that caught everyone off guard.  At the top of that I told myself "I can't do this again."  For the rest of the first lap (there were two, so the climb was coming around again) I tried to think what would be the best way to quit.  After one lap on the bike and do the run?  After two laps on the bike and no run?  On the way down to T2 (or the start of lap 2) they were waving me to the left, thinking I had finished the bike.  Suddenly I moved into the right lane and started lap 2.  This time I geared down before the hill, which made it only slightly more tolerable.  With 2 miles to go, I started enjoying the bike, telling myself that my race was done as soon as I got back.  It was a leisurely ride through Salem on a beautiful spring day.


As I approached T2, ready to quit, the family was there cheering me on.  Brad racked my bike, Melinda took pictures, I got Gatorade and Brad led me onto the run course.  My race wasn't quite over.  About a mile into the run some children had a make-shift aid station where they were handing out water.  We chatted for a few seconds, I thanked them for being there and then went on. There were three people behind me that I could see.  All three were doing versions of a walk-run and soon caught me.  At the only official aid station, they passed me.  The volunteers encouraged me on.  About five minutes later, they passed me in a pickup with the aid station taken down.  I was the last runner.

I kept the other runners/walkers in sight though they pulled steadily ahead of me.  I tried running a bit, but it was no use.  Finally the finish line came into sight and I did run the last 100 yards for the sake of the paperazzi that had waited patiently for me to finish.  It was a brutal two hours and sixteen minutes.  Whether I do another one is an open question.  I would like to overcome my dislike of the swim and do it the way I know I can.  Now that good weather is here, the possibility of actually training is better.  We'll see.

Anyway, I was number 200 out of 200 finishers.  There were 204 starters.  I was not among the four DNFs.  My day was better than theirs.

The Hour of Reckoning is at Hand

June 4 seemed so far away back in December when I foolishly signed up for the Salem Spring triathlon.  I thought there was plenty of time to get in shape for an 800-yard swim, 12-mile bike ride and 5k run.  And there was.  But life got in the way, not to mention the weather.  Strangely enough, I am looking forward to tomorrow.  I have my rented wetsuit, the one that makes me look like a baby seal, all fat and black.  The swim is actually the leg I feel most confident about.  I've swum 900 yards continuous, so I have the distance down.  The only thing that worries me is the wetsuit.  They are tight and constrict your chest, making it feel like you can't get enough air.  Couple that with having your face in the water and being surrounded by a dozen flailing human seals and it makes for a disconcerting experience.  My strategy is to start at the back of the wave I'm in, and take it slow, hoping I don't get overtaken by the elite women who will be starting five minutes after me.

The bike should be my friend, but the weather has kept me indoors most of the spring.  My longest bike ride outside has been about 14 miles, hardly the stuff to inspire confidence on the bike.  My strategy here is a steady, 14 mph pace that will let me finish in about 50 minutes.  Then it's on to the run, or in my case, the brisk walk.

For whatever reason, my VO2 max (the rate at which I can utilize oxygen to burn fuel) is low and I hit it almost as soon as I move from a walk to a jog, or even a shuffle.  My heart rate zooms up near its max, which is an unsustainable pace for anyone for more than a few hundred yards.  So my "run" strategy is a fast walk that keeps my heart rate in the aerobic zone and lets me continue at that pace for the entire 5k.  Overall this will be faster than running at 11:00 min/mile for say two minutes and then walking for 3-4 minutes to recover.

Depending on whether all my stars align tomorrow or not, I may finish under two hours.  That's my goal, a sub-2 hour sprint triathlon.

Tune in tomorrow for results.

Training? We don't need no stinking training

So this blog has not quite lived up to expectations about training for the upcoming (3 weeks!) Salem Spring triathlon.  I remember now why training is so hard.  Something called life gets in the way.

For starters, as you all know, I had pneumonia in January.  So in February I started training.  I followed the periodization system, where you start out with endurance training at relatively low (65%-70% MHR) levels.  That went well for about 8 weeks until the end of March, when my father died unexpectedly.  Training got derailed in dealing with all that entails.  Then there was the weather.  A wet, cold spring that lingers to today has kept me off the roads for cycling or running except for exactly twice.  I did ride my bike to work last Friday, the first really nice spring day.  The pull up 6200 South almost did me in.  My heart rate was pushing 150+, very near my max.  It might have hit my max of 162; I didn't stop to count heartbeats.

I have been running on a treadmill and cycling on the stationary bike, but that isn't the same.  I've tried to incorporate some interval training, where you up the intensity for brief periods, raising your heart rate, then back off for a few minutes to recover, and then do it again. 

What I'm really hoping for, in terms of the Salem tri, is a couple of good weeks riding to work to get my cycling legs really working better.  The swim is the only thing coming on schedule.  As for the run, well, the run and I have never been friends, so I might take the run's ugly stepsister, the walk, to the triathlon.

Training Has Begun!

I'm only a month behind schedule, but I actually started training for the Salem Spring Tri.  It's pretty weak training, since I'm still recovering from pneumonia, but I did start last week on the treadmill.

My training is following a periodization training schedule.  This is a training schedule that breaks the year into various periods.  There are typically four or five such periods.  Each goes by various names, the first commonly being called the base phase or the endurance phase.  This is where workouts are long and of low intensity, the idea being to train the body's aerobic system and the muscles for long, sustained periods of exercise.  There are different ways of measuring the intensity of the workout.  Many people follow a maximum heart rate (MHR) plan, where a workout is performed at different percentages of MHR.  That, of course, presents the problem of measuring MHR.  A very simple way of calculating MHR is 220- (your age).  For me, this puts my MHR at 161 (220-59).  You can spend money and go to an exercise lab and be hooked up to various machines that measure your true MHR and other things like your VO2-max (more on this later) as well as body composition.  That is expensive.  There are even self-tests that involve swimming, biking or running to get a MHR.  For now, I'm going with 220-(my age).  A few years ago I did one of the self tests and found my MHR measured that way to be very close to 220-(my age).

In this base phase, my workouts are supposed to be in the range of 65%-72% of MHR.  Thus, I need to keep my heart rate between about 104 and 113 beats per minute (BPM).  Once again, how to measure BPM?  A lot of the treadmills and exercise bikes at gyms have handles that claim to measure BPM.  Some work; some don't.  I've had a heart rate monitor for years, but it has finally given up the ghost.  So I've resorted to the old fashioned way:  I put my fingers alongside my neck and count my pulse for six seconds, then multiply by 10.  If I get 11 pulses in six seconds, my heart rate is 110, right in the range it should be.  I do this every 3-5 minutes to make sure I'm staying in the range.

Most people find that exercising at 65%-70% MHR is very light exercise.  It is. After a 30 minute workout at this level, I'm not even sweating.  But this is a most important phase of training.  It builds the foundation for everything that comes later.  Most people skip this phase, or short-change it because they don't feel like they are working hard enough.  The foundation or base phase should last from 6-16 weeks, depending on your level of fitness when you begin.  For me, coming off pneumonia, I can tell this phase will last a long time.

Training While Sick

It might seem strange to start this training blog with a post about training while sick, but it's a timely topic given that, just three days after I picked up the gauntlet thrown down by my sons and entered the Salem Triathlon, I came down with pneumonia.  I haven't even started training yet.  I figure that, at this point, I'm at least six weeks behind, what with the actual time off from training plus the time it will take to get back to where I was before I got sick.

Illness can throw a monkey wrench into the best training plans.  How do you deal with it?  Do you just power through the illness?  Or do you sit morosely at home, wrapped in blankets, watching your triathlon year slowly circle the drain?  There's a rule of thumb called the neck rule.  This says that if your symptoms are confined to your neck and above (sniffles, sneezing, stuffy nose, maybe a mild sore throat) you probably just have a head cold and can exercise if you feel like it.  If your symptoms are below the neck (body aches, cough, fever) you should take time off.  In all cases, let your body be your guide.  If you have sniffles and generally feel less than 100%, but your training schedule has a hard set of intervals today, scrap the schedule and relax.

But what about the time off training, the setback in our plans?  For those of us over 55, realize that it isn't a setback.  For us, the goal isn't to win.  It isn't even to finish.  We're using triathlon (or cycling or running or whatever) as motivation to exercise, because exercise helps us live longer, more enjoyable lives.  As if I needed to be reminded of that, today I got a text from Brad, who is finishing med school.  He wrote "keep exercising, dad.  I'm seeing a patient who is 55, on 16 medications and has to use an electric wheelchair."  When you get sick, it's just a temporary pause in your life.  Don't stress that you're not on target with your training plan.

The Gauntlet has been Thrown Down

And I'm stupid enough to pick it up.  My three sons have all entered a triathlon in June, the Salem Spring Triathlon.  You can read the oldest's, Steven's, motivation here:  I Triple Dog Dare You at

http://chamberssteve.com/2010/12/31/i-triple-dog-dare-you/.  Well, no one triple-dog-dared me (one of the advantages to being the dad -- there is a certain amount of respect).  But peer pressure is a bear, especially the self-imposed kind.  I've done triathlons for many years, going back to 1983 or so when they were a lunatic fringe sport.  The last one I did was the Salem Spring triathlon in 2008, the year we started the swim in the snow (seriously), the year they cancelled the bike because of slippery roads.  The year I finished 3rd in my age group because of the 14 entrants, 10 were smart enough not to start and one didn't finish.  With our annual July 4 reunion at Bear Lake coming only a month after the triathlon, I wasn't about to be left out of the story-telling.  So, on December 31, just before the price increased by $15, I sat with my pointer hovering over the "Submit" button, my palms a bit sweaty, my heart racing.  I closed my eyes and clicked.

So now, like son Steven, this blog has a purpose.  I entered in the 60-64 age group, because, well, because by June 4, 2011, I will be 60 years and 13 days old.  I could have entered the Clydesdale category (over 200 lbs.), but in my mind I will be a svelte, fleet of foot and light of step triathlete by June 4 and that would be cheating.  Besides, in the 60-64 age group, maybe there will only be 3 competitors and I'll get a ribbon again.  Anyway, back to the point:  There are virtually NO training guides for people over 60.  I found a few for over-40, but give me a break.  I have half a lifetime on a 40-year old.  So while Steven will document a first-time triathlete's training, I'll attempt to document a senior citizen's training.

Merry Christmas

It's been two months.  Time for another post.

The annual performance of the Messiah by the Cottonwood Community Choir and Orchestra was Sunday.  For 14 of their 16 performances, I've played clarinet in the orchestra.  Playing the Hallelujah chorus is truly a spiritual experience.  That is by far the greatest piece of Christmas music for choir ever written.  Sometimes in the middle of the music, with the choir singing, the trumpet (what a magnificent part it has) playing, the audience standing, I can hardly believe I am a part of this incredible paean to the Lord.

Have a wonderful Christmas and remember why we celebrate it.