Week 6 Ironman Training recap

I still have a bit of Hawaii on the brain. Jumping at 7 pools in Hana with the Cleveland gang.


This week back at training was the first solid week I had at home in the past 3 weeks. I was able to jump back into family, work and yes a good solid week of training. The time seems to be rolling by fast and as we talk about IM CDA it use to seem very far away and now it is close enough that I can see it.
I was nursing a little cold that came back with me from my travels and so I was sleeping more and trying to eat really well. The week’s workouts went really well. Putting the gym in the basement has allowed me to hit each workout for the required time needed with little pain. Even though I have a 24hr gym 2 miles from my home it takes me prep and travel time of nearly 45-1 hour every time I need to get a workout done. I can change and be in the basement in 30 seconds and the kids still have Mom or Dad home and accessible.
I am swimming more than I ever have and it feels good to be in the water so much. This week I finished 11,000 yards between 3 workouts. I was on the trainer for some power bike efforts and then had to do two longer run workouts. I had a 5x1km hill effort at 4% incline. I was not sure what that translated to miles so I did ¾ a mile and by the end of the workout I was toast. I feel really good about the strength phase that I am in as I continue to build my base. I came out of my major travel and vacation feeling good and pleased with the results. I am not sure after 6 weeks with all that I am doing I could be in a better spot. Anne and the kids seem happy, work is going OK and I am pleased with the training efforts.
Simply put…..Positive week 6!
Love you Anne

Recap for weeks 3, 4 & a little bit of 5

When you sit down and try to plan for 15 days in 3 city’s with no return to home base it really felt like I was packing everything and still missing items that I am sure I would need.
I really had 3 main goals for this trip.
1. Get the work done that I needed. The first week was spent in presentation from industries leaders at my home office in Valencia. The second was spent focused on my BFF in Maui and the last part was at my customer’s annual conference.
2. I needed to make really good decisions on eating, sleeping and workouts. This two week block had training last on a short list.
3. I needed to come home not totally trashed and sick where I would then need to take an additional 10 days off to get better.
Right now the tides seem to be on the very stressful side of work. Budgets, goals and changes to make the goals are the main focus of the Deluxe right now and this is taking a huge toll on me. Anne was able to come a few days early and see that I really am going to work and I do have an office with co-workers.
We quickly jumped on a plane to meet our Ohio friends and spend a few days on Maui. We packed about 10 days worth of activities into 5 days. We saw the sunrise from atop a crater at 10,000 feet and then rode bikes down to breakfast. We owned the road to Hana with over 600 180degree turns and several hundred 1 way bridges. We stopped and hiked into every waterfall we could find and swam around. We went whale watching, sea kayaking and snorkeled with the turtles from turtle bay. We took surf lessons and ate fish that was caught that morning. Maui was spectacular, the 4 other couples that we were with are incredible people and to spend one on one time with Anne was priceless. We even were able to go running together several mornings together. I swam in the ocean when the wind was high and felt good about getting into a grove as I went from beach to beach. I swam over a reef that was fun to focus on and made swimming very easy. Maui is a splendid place and I look forward to returning there with my entire family next time.
The Miche Conference in Salt Lake City was my last stop so we took a red eye to stay in Maui as long as possible and as we landed in San Francisco at 4am I kissed Anne and we parted ways. She went home and I went to Salt Lake City. I spent the next 10 hours working in the Conference store helping during the open hours and restocking when it closed. I was very happy to let me head hit the pillow that night. I worked the next few days like that and was pretty tired when I made it to the airport to return home. Anne had to manage a huge storm that dropped over a foot of snow while I was gone. I returned to a winter wonder land tired, sick of eating out and just a little sick. I think that I did really well on my main three goals and look forward to being home for a few weeks.













Love you Anne,

T

Week 2 IronMan training recap

Week 2 IM Training recap
This was a build week and so I wanted to try to focus and get everything out of it that I could. I started working on the basement exercise room and was able to get a treadmill to use thanks to Peter Atwater. We set our bikes up as well as weights. It will be interesting to see if we use the room as much as Anne and I think we will. Working from home this week it was pretty easy to get all the workouts done during the week. The workouts seemed really hard this week but I was able to surprise myself when it was time to get going because I could and I did. The swim on Tuesday night was disappointing and I will try to learn from it so the next time I will do better. I hate when I miss judge and run short of the finish line. The strength day really took it out of me and ended up producing soreness for a several days. I did 3 workouts this week in the basement and felt good about being able to get them all done. It takes away the “It does not fit mentality” that I get sometimes when my days are busy. This weekend was the Walton’s winter 48 hours of fun at the YMCA of the Rockies. We rented a cabin and had 28 people come and stay Friday-Monday. We did not ski since the kids just wanted to hang with cousins and do the activities that were onsite. Saturday we went sledding for 2 hours, Ice skating for 1 hour and then swimming for 3 hours. I woke up early and went to the swimming pool and did one of the swim workouts that you asked me to do. On Sunday I had a super fun adventure running on the snow shoe trails that were hard packed so I was able to run with my Yak trax's. I ended up going over the requested workout time and felt great with the event. I am proud that I was able to get these workouts done since in the past I would not do any real training while with the family. The snow sledding, swimming and ice skating had to count for something because the next day I was totally sore!
My attitude this week was pretty positive and I look back at the week and was proud of what I was able to get done. It looks like the best thing that I did this week was planning. Family, work, training, vacation was all done and nothing was really pushed out.
Happy Anne, happy Tyler, happy family.

5 Months, 7 days, 16H:55M:31S until IMCDA

IM training week 1 recap.

I was hoping to jump out of the gate strong this year and take what I learned from the marathon and have it influence me for the first few months of IM training. I know that I need to build a base that will allow me to be active the entire IM race and hitting more workouts and doing better to regulate my HR is another focus.

On my ride last week I had 30BPM swings while riding on a "Easy" ride and kept popping into z4 so I took the second half easier and tried to ride smooth and balanced. I did not get to my Tuesday workout because of such a big travel day and I let it go quicker than normal. I hit the other workouts this week and felt good with the steady effort. On a treadmill I can regulate a low HR better than outside and so I took comfort in having 2 workouts done this way.

I was up early each day this week while traveling and felt good because I was able to get everything done that I needed to. I liked the swim outdoors in Valencia and feel that it will be a treat while I am in California.

Skiing was good and it looks like I am getting some value out of the day. I enjoyed the swim workout today and as I write this recap my arms are starting to become sore and tell me that my efforts to pull better took a toll on me today as well as the 20x50's on the minute.

The run this afternoon I tried 6 times to jog, waddle, bounce or anything but fast walk and after 6 times jumping well over 140 I gave in and walked at a moderate pace and stayed in the 130's for the hour and 10 minutes that I was out. I averaged 15minute miles today and felt good about giving in and getting the base work done.

The next two months theme will be Faith. Faith to be willing to come outside of my norm and get it done. Faith to slow down and walk if I have to, get up when I don't want to and get a workout in that I usually would not. Faith to know that base work at 130BPM for the next bit of time will bring a smile to my face while I am running (maybe very slowly) but running after 18 miles on the run course in CDA.

Getting my long day in the past few weeks was also something that is working out well thanks to Anne giving me this time to train and chase my goal. It is a team effort and being able to focus on getting my long day done and not being worried about the family is a very kind act. Thanks Anne!

The next few months I will have faith.

2011 NYE

New Years Eve 2011
By: Tyler

15 years ago was a very special day
Your mother said yes and committed her life away
We were married forever and our journey started
Then off to Dallas the pathway parted
A year later we moved back to Utah and built a house
Jackson was born and was NOT as quiet as a mouse
We were learning how to be parents and best friends too
Most days Dad did not know what to do
Then to Ohio for a job Rob was kind to give
The house was old and a different style of life we would live
The food was strange and the weather was bad
Josh was born and we both were glad
We bought another house and that lasted a short while
Then off to Colorado we went with a huge smile
We found a home and a Lexi too
Our family was complete, happy and true
Dad worked hard and started to succeed
Mom turned the house into a home and it rocked indeed
We are learning how to be friends and be nice and kind
Some days we do good and some days we are behind
So I wanted to give this bracelet to you
Every time you look at it be kinder be true
Because if you wear it
It will tell us you will try
To be kind to your family and never lie
Wear it proud so all will see
On that day kinder you’re going to be
I also want to invite you to join a special trip
A hotel, good food and a pool to take a dip
Mom and I thought that we would invite you this time
On our anniversary weekend with so much design
So pack a bag with a swimsuit, warm clothes and fancy ones to0
Swimming, dinner, fireworks WOW there is a lot to do
2011 our voices you will hear
2012 as a family we will bring on the New Year!

THE END
BOOO YAAAAAAA


This is a poem that I wrote for the kids to let them know about the New Years Eve party for this year that we are going to have. We have also had our fair share of fighting between the kids and simply put they are not treating each other kind. I picked up a bracelet for each one of them to wear as a reminder and promise to be kinder to everyone. We will see how it goes and hopefully we have a great NYE trip.
We were very blessed in 2011 and hope that we can some of the same experiences in 2012. Last Year on NYE we went downtown with my Parents and watched the fireworks in sub-zero temperatures. This year a hotel stay might make it a little better.

Sacramento Marathon race report

Coming off a tough day at Harvest Moon Triathlon I had every intention to get it right on my first road marathon. We had really about 7 weeks to prepare for this event and so we crammed as much running in as possible. I had to deal with a cold and missed one of the long runs and Anne has a huge bump appear on her knee 10 days before race day.
I have signed up for two prior marathons and due to injury was not able to run them and then I just let it go for a few years. I have personally been scared of this distance and did not think that running hard for hours was something that I would do well. Signing up for IMCDA made the need for a marathon experience important so our group (Beth, John, Keith, Jewles, Nancy, Anne) all signed up together, trained together and come race day some of us even ran together. Beth decided to get a long time injury worked on and did not run. Jewles and Nancy ran the half and Keith ran sick while Anne ran with knee twice the size of the other knee. The road to getting ready defiantly took its toll on us. I did not have a time goal and simply wanted to be able to execute a good game plan and be strong at the end. Very simple and very clean race plan.



Race plan segment #1
Start time was 7am and I was going to run the first 6 miles with Jewles and Anne. We started right near the 4:25 pace group and crossed the start line about 3 minutes after the gun start. My plan for the first 6 miles was to run between 10-11 minute miles and not to worry about heart rate. The course was defiantly bumpy and I had a tough time getting a consistent pace and so my mile splits were all over the place as you can see. Jewles was only running the half marathon and took off after 4 miles. Anne on mile 4-5.5 was running ahead of me and ended up kissing me and taking off. It was very hard to let my partners go but I was committed to executing my race plan and hope for a good finish. It was awesome to be running with thousands of other runners and the miles seem to tick away pretty quickly. Even starting as far back as we did I was getting passed a lot in the first 6 miles as those that I trained with told me to expect.
Mile 1-6 ( 10:24, 10:38, 10:09, 10:47, 10; 33, 10:37)




Race plan segment #2
After 6 miles and now being on my own I settled into just relaxing and trying to enjoy the next few miles. My heart rate would creep up on the hills and recover just a bit on the down hills since I was running the down hills at a quicker pace to make up for the slow effort on the climbs. For the next segment I was to keep my heart rate in high zone 3 to mid zone 4 (150-165 BPM) I set my Garmin to alert me if I went over my desired effort and I would slow down until it would stop alerting me which was my battle for the next several hours. Fun note here is my trusty Garmin 305 crapped out on race week. REI does not sell the 305 anymore so I had to upgrade to the 310XT which rocks. Its waterproof, better HR monitor and a much longer battery and best of all it has a vibrate alert so you don’t have to keep listening to the alarm sound. Bonus…. I was hoping to speed up a lot the second segment but my heart rates told me otherwise so I compromised and went to the highest part of my HR effort and even push that a few times. Miles 7-13 (10:24, 10:14, 10:04, 9:52, 9:51, 9:55, 10:13)
Race plan segment #3
I saw Beth yelling and cheering me on just past the half way mark and that totally lifted my spirits. I settled in for the hardest part of my day. I needed to relax and not go out of zone 4 until mile 20 (Under 175BPM). I adjusted my HR alert to the higher alert and the next 5 miles seemed to have longer climbs and shorter downhills. I had a hip pain creep up and so I stopped, stretched and filled my water bottle up at mile 14. These miles were painful and they seemed to last much longer than the first 13 miles. I was happy because I was now starting to pass people. I was not running by them fast but I was running past them. My alarm kept going off more and it would take FOR EVER for it to come back down and my alert to stop. I really started to hate my watch about this time. My leg acted up again and I had to refuel my bottle by myself at miles 18 and that cost me some time. Miles 14-20 (9:46, 9:56, 9:50, 9:49, 10:59, 9:29, 9:35)
Race plan segment #4 (this will hurt expect it, plan on it and deal with it.- Coach Beth )



I was looking forward to this segment because I was able to turn off my HR alarm and just run. My plan called for a steady effort speeding up my pace each mile and do what I could to make the last few mile the fastest of the day. I had several highs and lows during this last hour and the leg started to hurt more and more. I stopped a few more times try to get the pain to stop and each time I did it would help for a few miles. I was so excited about being able to run on feel that I went straight to fast and did not really do well with a steady slow increase. As I look back it was a surprise how long the lows lasted and how short the highs were. You really have to battle at this point in a race and face your demons and keep going. Having to run hard and then try to run harder at this point was one of the greatest challenges and I now understand what others were trying to explain in their own way about what happens after mile 20 in a marathon. At mile 23 I caught back up to the 4:25 pace group and moved passed them quickly and that was a huge boost for me. I hear the term “dig deep” often yelled at races and I am pretty sure I had already done that and still had 3.2 miles to run. I closed my eyes a few times the last 3 miles telling myself not to stop, just keep running, I will be done soon and I will have won. I heard Beth and Nancy at just before mile 26 and it was so needed. I closed my eyes again and then opened them and on the right side of the road I saw Jesus. He was holding a sign that read “THE END IS NEAR”. I had to smile at that and chew on it for a bit, I even laughed. I am not sure how I did laugh but I did and as soon as I was done I turned the corner to the finish shoot. I had finished the last effort and did the best I possibly could. I had nothing left at 23 and kept going to 26.2 and I finished my first road marathon with a smile on my salt encrusted face.
Mile 21-26.2 (9:11, 9:30, 9:01, 9:59, 8:59, 9:36, 8:35)




I did not like the next few hours because they hurt but a few weeks later as I look back at that race a smile comes to my face just as it did when I crossed the finish line but this time with a little less salt. I finished a race in control and accomplished my goal. I can now look forward to 2012 IMCDA and know that I have a marathon in the bank. A huge thanks to those that helped me get to the finish line, friends, family, Coach Beth and my training partner Anne you all rock.

Marathon Week

Race week has finally arrived and the rest has started to take it's effect. I am feeling stronger every day and I am looking forward to the weekend and the race. Over the last two months we have done a very steady build without any drops in training. After the 20 mile long run I was on a plane headed to LA to work and caught a cold that put me out of the 22 mile long day and several other training days. At the time it was hard to relax and not stress so my body could heal as quick as possible. Anne is suck a rock in these situations and on the phone one night was able to get me to realize stress was making it worse and I needed to relax. The very next day I started to feel better and I was running 2 days later. What a miracle worker she is.
I ended up going only 21 miles on the 24 mile day because my strength was not back to where it needed to be and I did what I needed to do on the day.
Training with Anne each week, doing our weekday workouts together and having the group that we did to do the long runs on the weekend made this Marathon training program a success. I have liked having our date night be date morning and spending time watching Anne grow as a runner. She is awesome and really will do well this weekend. We both are prepared and if the day goes well for both of us she will take the 1st position in our home. So no need to ask, Anne is the better runner!
We leave on Friday afternoon with several other friends and I am really getting excited thinking about what to bring and pack. We have run so many training miles to get ready for the 26.2 marathon. Over 5 years of multi sport activity and the day is finally her to see what a road marathon will do to me.
This is the next step in the Ironman CDA training program and will allow us to end the year with a positive.
The beginning of next year looks crazy with two half Ironmans before June.

Keep you all posted on the progress,

Athlete tracker at www.runcim.org

Love you Anne,

Tyler