Workout Motivations

What is your motivation for working out? If you don't have any motivation/drive to get your exercise, it will be an uphill battle and chances are you will fall off your plan. Here are my motivations - tomorrow I'll touch on the physiological/psychological basis behind these drivers:
- stay healthy
- be prepared for races
- improve on my weak areas of fitness
- escape from the everyday grind
- alleviate stress
- get more energy
- feel a sense of accomplishment
- re-discover the balance between mind and body
- better sleep at night
- general feeling of good health
What are your motivations? What is holding you back from exercise? What are your deterrents?

Off Season Training Plan

As promised, here's my workout schedule for the next 4 weeks. In week 5 I will have a recovery week in which I will decrease both volume and intensity. I have incorporated weight training 4 days a week, core plyometrics(speed, strength exercises) 2 days a week and 2 swims, bikes, and runs a week. Essentially, it is two workouts a day, one morning and one afternoon/evening. This is a lot of training, but I've built a strong enough base (foundation of fitness) that I shouldn't have any issues completing this program. It will be important that I continue to focus on stretching, a good nutrition plan, and listening to my body for any potential warning signs.

Monday - Weights (shoulders, legs) - swim (tempo workout)

Tuesday - Weights (chest, triceps, back) - run (interval-hills)

Wednesday - core, plyometrics - bike (spin class)

Thursday - Weights (shoulders, legs) - swim (intervals)

Friday - Weights (chest, triceps, back) - run (tempo)

Saturday - core, plyometrics - bike (tempo)

Sunday - OFF!

I'd like to hear your feedback and advice

2009 Goals

This is the time of year where I begin to set goals for next year and structure my off-season workout. For the past two years my goals have been more around finishing my races and improving without much structure around SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely). Having specific goals for training is motivation to continue to work hard duing the off-season and stay focused on what you want to gain during the next season. I'm not going to post all my goals for next season, but I will post my main goal - reach a tiime of 12 hours 30 minutes in Ironman Wisconsin next year. My first Ironman time was 15 hours, so my goals is to improve my time by 2 1/2 hours. I believe I can reach this goal by focusing my off-season on improving strength, speed, and aerobic threshold (faster speeds while maintaining aerobic energy system). Tomorrow I will lay out my workout plan.

IM Wisconsin Volunteering

On Sunday morning I arrived at my volunteer spot at a place called Cross Plains, which was one of the bike aid stations at mile 40 and mile 80 on the course. The day started off w/ us(30 people) removing the plastic caps and protective seal on about 1000+ gatorade bottles and then taking off the plastic caps on 2000+ water bottles. I'm not going to lie, this part is not fun at all. There were 2 gatorade stations, 3 water stations, and 1 food station(bananas, gels, bars). We heard from the lead volunteer director that the first racer was 5 miles out so we quickly got our respective aid stations and got ready. It is pretty nerve racking to hand a water bottle to a guy going 25-30 mph on a bike. After a little practice it became easier. After a while the amatuers began coming through the aid station. It is really inspiring to see all these athletes, young and old, large and small, pouring all their energy into this race and fighting through the pain and fatigue to finish. Volunteering this year made me realize how crucial it is to have volunteers in the race, and Ironman wouldn't be possible without them. It also made me realize how grateful the athletes are for the work volunteers put in - they were very gracious with many thank yous and appreciative comments.

I also enjoyed being able to sign-up for the '09 race in less than 1.5 hours the next day. Can't wait until next year!

Ironman Wisconsin '08

This weekend I am heading up to Madison, Wisconsin for 3 reasons:
1) Cheer on athletes competing in Ironman Wisconsin
2) Volunteer on race day to do my part in helping this great race
3) Sign up for Ironman Wisconsin 2009.
Ironman has become so big in the past few years that for most of the corporate sponsored Ironmans, you need to be on site to get in. If you volunteer, you will get first dibs for next year. I was lucky enough to get registered for Ironman FL online for '07, but I doubt I could do it again. This will be my first time actually watching a race vs participating but I'm excited because the atmosphere and energy in Madison is a feeling you can't describe. Whether you want to race or volunteer, I would recommend participating/volunteering in any race to get a sense of the incredible amount of work by the race coordinators, amount of training an athlete does for an event, and the opportunity to feel the energy these races create.
Thanks for reading.

Finding Balance

One of the hardest things that I face everyday is how to find balance in my life. If I'm focused on my family, my my web development/business, work, coaching and training lose their focus, and vice versa. I can always find some way to justify myself that where I am at is right. My focus is usually driven by motivation, not necessarily what is the right decision at the time. Obviously my priorities are family, coaching/business, training, and work. Yep, work is last, though very much needed to support my family. Often I justify that if I can get the business/coaching off the ground now, I will have more time for family. Suffer now and reap the awards later - not necessarily the case, but I certainly hope so. My logic is I want to put 100% into everything I do an dedicate myself to it 100%, but in reality, I can put 100% into it 30% of the time. Wouldn't change what I have for the world - I love the challenge and the fulfillment I have going to bed completely spent. How do you find balance?

Steelhead 70.3 Race Report

Woke up at 5:00 AM, loaded up my Perpetuem and aero drink, and ate my PB and J before making the 1/2 mile trek down to the transistion area. I had an hour and a half before the transition closed so I had plenty of time. I stepped out into the cool morning breeze and walked down to the race site. I heard some rumors that the lake was pretty choppy, but I put those thoughts in the back of my mind as I set up my area and sipped on my Gatorade. As the sun came up I headed down to the lake. WOW, they weren't kidding, there were 2-3 foot swells and the boats were having a hard time moving through the water. Oh well I thought, it is what it is and it should be a good challenge as I began the 1 mile walk down the beach to the start line. Just as I reached to race start the race director had decided to cancel the swim and replace it with a 2.1 mile run. I was a little disappointed because the swim was going to be challenging, but relieved for those who have little open water experience.

2.1 mile run - After an hour delay, the run was on. I was in wave 12 and there were 4 minutes between wave starts. The run was a hilly run and I decided to take it easy and not go all out, especially because I had about 69 miles ahead of me. I did see a lot of people going all out which I didn't understand at all. Toward the end of the run we had to run through about 50-100 yards of sand which makes things much more difficult. Time - 16:35

Bike - I was impressed with the bike course overall, a few of the roads were a little rough, but had great scenery. I felt really solid through the bike course and kept the effort at a 5-6 RPE and focused on a smooth pedal stroke and kept the nutrition and hydration plan. I do thing the course was short by about 2 miles, but beat my previous time by about 15 minutes - time - 2:52

Run - I think I may have pushed too hard on the bike or wasn't in the condition I wanted to be for the run because I really struggled here. I started running for the first mile then walked/ran for the next 12 trying to get my bearings. The legs were really tight and aching at this point. After running the first loop I decided to suck it up and cranked out 4 miles at a 9:00 minute pace - after that I knew I only had 3-4 miles left. The last few miles were a combination of a walk/run and a battle to get to the finish line. The last 100 yards of running in the sand was brutal, but on the horizon was the finish line. As I crossed the finish line I felt relieved. The course was hillier than expected. Time - 2:35.

Overall - 5:50, PR'd by 45 minutes!! (of course there was no swim so that would factor into this)

Much improvement from last year, but still more to go. Overall it was a great race and one I will consider doing in the future.