Checkin’ IN!!!
“Being in control of your life and having realistic expectations about your day-to-day challenges are the keys to stress management, which is perhaps the most important ingredient to living a happy, healthy and rewarding life.”
― Marilu Henner
Off Season nutrition thoughts – Solid post!!!
Crushing Iron Podcast 210 – I needed this – worth the listen
So, I have been needing a for me post. I think the one thing that happens is sometimes relativity skews reality. This year has been interesting with many wonderful things. The critical one for me though has been losing sight of ‘lifestyle’. I absolutely love my life, my wife and my children. Learning to juggle it all has been an exercise in humility. However, life happens and I have to be accountable for me.
This year my change, was to get beyond. Get beyond me and my limiters. It has been more mental than physical. It has been brutal with various small mental changes. I once received counsel and I have long neglected it, select two or three things and concentrate my efforts of change and excellence until my improvement in those areas becomes stable. I do not feel I have achieved excellence but I feel I am back en route. I am consistently monitoring myself, and not. Over engaging in non needful things.
The discussions around and about mental and emotional investment has some great gems. I personally have gone through these discussions internally over and over this year. For me, I have both an affinity and an attraction to participating and completing IM 70.3 St. George. Sure the first race/event humbled and crushed me. But the magnitude of being emotionally invested and motivated was transformational for me. Sure I made some HUGE epic failures along the way, but I needed those wrecks and pitfalls to become more meek and humble in the endurance disciplines but also in life. Now the St. George event has become my norm and measurement standard. And many of my adjustments and changes are in line to do well at that ‘A’ race for me. It has become m standard. But circling back to the podcast, kudos and here’s to the great thoughts and words of wisdom, yet again. Thanks gentlemen!
So, I wanted to look back with some context:
SWIM:
My First recorded swim according to my Training peaks logs was in 2015, just months before my 70.3.. I am not finding a way to link to the data, but, my avg 100 yd lap time was between 3:15 and 4:15. It was quite erratic. I didn’t have swim fitness, didn’t know how to really swim, but I swam. To that end, my first 70.3 Ironman swim time at St George was 1h13m49s
I came to the first 70.3 with the attitude of ok, I need to survive the swim, to now the swim is one of my coping mechanisms to flushing life and work stress into the correct space.
So perspectives. I swam an all out 100 yard at 1:28 last week. (initially wrote this on Oct 25) My current avg is 1:42 per 100. I have never received formal coaching nor training – I am self taught, glean what I can from what I consider reliable resources (Crushing iron and other swimmer oriented friends). I swim primarily without my legs (this is my off season goal to overcome this). This last week, I excitedly went out found a YMCA, and for a swim in. All I took with me was jammer and my goggles. I was able to locate and use a pull buoy and just swam. It was comfortable, full of purpose and I have been using my legs more. I swam back to back 100’s about 3/4 of the way through my swim sub 1:30 per 100 yd and sans pull buoy.
So, this brings me to the ability to recognize that I am doing something right with swimming. Yes, I could be coached and perhaps even achieve and progress more. Admittedly, I want to, but I have to be a husband and father first, so coaching isn’t always a need.
I am learning the importance of patience and being kind to me in my efforts and participation in endurance sports. I mean last night on my run in Dover, I had a realization as I saw my 1st mile split, to JUST SLOW DOWN! and STOP IT! I dialed it back. No need to destroy and wreck myself as I am coming back even tho that first mile felt great because mile 3-4 was not difficult but it wasn’t easy-peasy either.
My commitment has been shallow this year, and I had to adapt it to mental strength, durability, focus and allow myself space and freedom to shape myself in a way that would benefit not me, but my wife and my children. It hasn’t been perfect, but it is the best thing I allowed myself to do. Our family is no way perfect as many that watch and wither support us or judge us can tell you. But man, despite the challenges, we have learned man things, witnessed small miracles and endured a few things we would not have liked too.
So, as I get back to more space to have the time for activity, I need to focus on doing it right. This will enable me to later be available especially in May to be mentally and physically ready to have a good day on course in St George. The only goal I am putting on that is that I smile, thank volunteers and have a great day on course within the standard time limit.
Where am I? I think I am in a great space. I’m still moving but in the right direction, destination to be determined, and willing to adapt and adjust along the way. I feel good in the pool, I need to get on the bike and create some faster legs, and I need to be durable enough to withstand the run and not mentally fall apart b/c I fumbled my swim and bike and nutrition (even if the fumble resulted in course PR’s in the Swim and Bike). I think that says where I am at.
So what I want to do is maintain the swim, focus on the bike on the trainer in the near term and rebuild into the run. I need to SLOW DOWN! I need to embrace the volume where appropriate of running and let speed happen. I mean I was dipping sub 7 miles when my volume was high in my initial gear up for the Bear 100 miler.
Event reflections 70.3 IM (Context):
- 2015 – thoughts-from-experience-and-journey (2015)
- 2016 – 2016-may-07-2016-703-ironman-st-george
- 2017 – 2017-may-06-703-ironman-st-george
- 2018 – Family realities came first, did not participate
- 2019 – time to re-focus and Liz says get to work ?
Well, in time I will come back and either say i was spot on or need some changes to be made to calibrate even better. So, here we go!
Activities –
I use the following trackers:
- Garmin Connect (which pushes the files to the following services):
- Training Peaks
- Strava
- and the ones I don’t remember (Map my stuff via Under Armour and things like the Great Bicycle ride initiative stuff)
Honestly, I mainly use Training Peaks as I pay for an annual subscription on it now, and it is the most detailed in data and other helpful information to keep me where I want to go.
Relevant Pics
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