Snow Days

Well, it's 8am on a Friday and I have the day off.....well sort of. I have a 3 hour brick session, Christmas shopping, house cleaning, and a lot of snow shoveling planned (we are getting dumped on with a snow storm as I type). La Crosse Schools got cancelled today, so the little lady and I have a day off together..... I'm going to make her breakfast in bed and then try to coax her into helping me shovel the driveway (take notes guys, you are learning from a smooth operator:) So it won't exactly be a relaxing day off..... but it still beats going to work! The training has been going great so far. I'm still about a month away from getting into the 15-20+ hour training weeks, so it still feels like an active off season right now. Since I started training on a regular schedule again about 3 weeks ago, I've been getting in around 12 hours of training per week.....just enough to keep me happy this time of year!!

Back on the grid!

Well, it’s been about 6 months since my last entry, so needless to say a lot has happened since then! The season went great picking up a couple of big wins and dropping my Olympic distance times by about 3 minutes from last year. Lacey had a great rookie season, winning two sprint distance races and looking forward to trying a couple Olympic distance races next year. We are really looking forward to the '09 season as we are joining the newly created Brone’s Triathlon Team. It’s a small team which will include some of the fastest multi-sport athletes in the region. It will be a great opportunity to train, compete, and share in the camaraderie with others who possess the same dedication to excel in this great sport.
Lacey and I also had our big day about a month ago! Everything went absolutely perfect… the day went by way too fast! But it’s also great to have things back to normal and not have to worry about wedding planning anymore! Yesterday, we decided we were all ready to start a family…….so we adopted a 4 week old kitten. We named him Zipp (Zipp 909 officially:) If he wasn’t so damn cute I would have shot him already as he enjoys pooping in corners and using the leather couch as a scratching post…but pretty cute and cuddly otherwise!

If any one is interested I’ve posted a link to my training log. I've created a simple Excel spreadsheet which covers the basic stuff I like to record. Anyone is welcome to save the spreadsheet to their computer and use it as their own if they’d like. You simply record your data in the blue cells and the rest is tabulated for you (complete with graphs). It’s a work in progress and there still could be some bugs in the program, so just let me know if you have problems or if you have any suggestions. Hope everyone is doing well and I'll do my best to keep this updated!

Time to rest a bit!

Today I closed out a tough 4 week training block with this past week including some pretty intense workouts. My recovery time between workouts is really starting to come around. After yesterday's time trial race I went right back at it today with a track workout this morning and a swim this afternoon. The track workout felt surprisingly great! I completed 2x 1mile repeats in 5:23 and 5:22. I had planned to do 2 more mile repeats but instead opted to do a single 2 mile repeat. I was able finish the 2 mile rep in 10:43 and the legs are feeling great! Tonight was a pretty intense 3000 meter workout in the pool. That puts me over 15 kilometers of swimming for the week!!! This coming week will be reduced volume/intensity and perhaps get a chance to catch up on things around the house! Keep dropping the hammer out there!

Dar's Midwest TT Championship Race Report

Today's race was a 16 mile TT over a fairly hilly course. We had to battle quite a bit of wind, but luckily the rain held off and the temps actually climbed into the 50's. I used this TT as a training race at the end of a hard 4 week training block, so I knew the legs would need to suck it up a bit. I was able to hold onto a 24.4mph average. Considering the hills, wind, and hard training block, I was quite happy with the result..... but I still have a lot work to do on the bike. I still believe I can achieve my goal to average 25+mph in an Olmypic Distance triathlon by mid July.
Lacey did a great job in her first ever bike race!! She's still pretty nervous about clipless shoes (starting/stopping with the shoes are still a challenge). So she started the race a bit tentative, but after a couple women passed her, she got pissed off and started riding hard. She finished with a 18.4mph average and an age-group winner!!

Coulee Du Race Report

Uff da... I thought North Dakota was cold and windy. Today was the Coulee Du Sprint Duathlon. Race temp was a balmy 34 F with winds at 25 mph and gusting to 35mph. Lacey opted to do the smart thing and not race in the crazy conditions. I started out the day on the wrong note as the wind shut the car trunk on my head as I was getting my bike ready (I pranced around and a yelled a bit, but refrained from swearing due to kids in the parking lot). So now I was cold, bleeding, AND had a headache before the race even started.
The race started out great. The first run was a 5K out and back. I held back a bit and still had a good lead going into T1. Unfortunately, I gave all that time back when I was fumbling with the 5 or 6 handwarmers I had in my gloves. So now I was going to have to out bike some solid cyclists and have enough legs to finish another strong 5K. Jeff Fleig was two weeks removed from IM Arizona. He had averaged a scorching 22+ mph through 112 miles of hot Arizona desert and today the cold wasn't going to slow him down either. We all zig zagged through the windy bike course just trying to keep the bikes on the road. At the end of the bike leg, Jeff had built a huge 3 minute lead on me and I had about a 15 second lead on two guys from the Twin Cities. I was able to reel back a little over minute on Jeff for the second 5K run, but his great bike effort proved to be the difference today. He really did a nice job of muscling through the wind and getting the job done.
I heard a bunch of people mention that the bike course was actually 18 miles instead 17. This made me feel little better as my average would have matched my bike odometer (22.5 mph) instead of what was reported on the results (20.8 mph). Either way, I was a little frustrated as last weekend I was doing 5 mile TT repeats on this same course and I was nailing 25-26 mph averages (but without the wind and cold conditions). I guess you have to be ready for anything on race day! So long story short..... overall a good day with a 2nd place finish..... gonna keep hammering away at the bike with more TT sessions.... I'm happy with how the run is going right now, but I'm going to keep chiseling away those times. OK, nap time.

Steaks and Beer

I finally figured out how to grill a good steak. Apparently I don't need to have the heat cranked up to sub-nuclear level. My parent's, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew came over today to help get Lacey moved into my place....and I finally managed to grill a perfect batch of steaks for them (thanks Koobs for the cooking tips).
I had been feeling a little under the weather the past couple days (it seems like everyone has been dealing with a bug the past couple weeks). I didn't have any bad symtoms, but just felt really tired and achy. I felt fine today, but was a little hesitant about doing the workout I had planned for today (5 x 1 mile repeats at my 5K race pace with 3 minutes of slow jogging between each rep). I thought about doing one more easy day to make sure I was back to 100%.....but my conscience got the best of me and I was at the track by 10 AM. I was pretty happy when I nailed all the mile reps right on pace (5:25, 5:24, 5:26, 5:25, 5:25). I also got a good upper body lifting session in afterwards and am feel pretty good tonight (I'm full of steak and beer:)

Fool's Five Race Report

Well, Lacey and I did the Fool's Five in Lewiston this past weekend to jump start the running a bit. It's a pretty good sized event with about 800 participants in the 8K race. As I was heading to the start I saw a runner pushing his kid in one of those fancy running strollers and I got a horrible flash back from a 10K race I did last year.
(que flashback music)
For those of who don't already know, last fall I took second place in a 10K race losing to a dude pushing his kid in a stroller. I watched in horror as this guy picked up the pace in the final mile and slowly pulled away from me like he was out for a leisurely Sunday cruise. It was like one of those bad dreams where you wake up in a cold sweat and you have to convince yourself you really didn't run the triathlon national championships in a bra and jock-strap (I'm pretty glad that one was just a bad dream). This race, however, was very real as I felt like my lungs were going to explode trying to run this guy down. I'm not sure what was more demoralizing, listening to that kid in the stroller laughing (probably at me) as his dad mowed me down or the half laughing-half cheering of the crowd when we rounded the final corner. I won $50 and a lifetime supply of humble pie for my 2nd place efforts (my dad thoughtfully pointed out that I technically finished third overall). OK before any of you make too much fun of me keep in mind that he ran this 10K in just over 34 minutes..... so a lot of good runners got beat by a 1 year old kid and his dad that day. But we all learned a very valuable lesson..... never underestimate an opponite and always remember to bring a hand full of thumb tacks (oh, take it easy I'm kidding:) (que flash forward music)
OK back to the Fool's Five race report. As it turns out, no strollers were to be seen at the starting line, so all was clear to have a good race. Luckily, the rain had stopped just in time for the race. The wind combined with the chilly temps was pretty brutal for the first 2.5 miles, but it was clear sailing on the way back home with the wind at our backs. I finished 8th overall in 28:14. This was Lacey's first time racing a distance greater than 5K, but she did great finishing in 34:30 which was good enough for 5th Female Overall!!! We finished the day at my parent's house with homeade pizza and a couple of cold brews (the real breakfast of champions)!!
Its back to the grind stone getting ready for the upcoming season. I got a solid 9 miles running in this morning, 3400 meters of swimming over lunch, and a tough weight lifting session after work. Got another tough swim workout bright and early tomorrow morning, so I'm going to hit the sack. Hope everyone is doing well and working hard!

Hammer down!

Well, spring was almost here and then we got another 6" of snow this past weekend.... but the forecast looks promising!!

This is the 3rd week of my vo2 training block and my body is starting to feel it! Tonight's ride was very tough, plus my legs felt a little flat due to some of the challenging workouts on Monday and Tuesday with some tough morning swim sessions sprinkled into the mix. I've layed a pretty basic overview of what I've been doing this week (which is pretty similar to what I've been building off over the winter).

Monday was a 2 hour ride (on the trainer of course) with 6x5 minute climbing reps at Zone 5 with 5 minutes rest between reps. I would start out of the saddle as if I were starting an attack for about 20 seconds and then sit down and hammer away for the next 4:40. My heart rate would be screaming at around 180 bpm for a good chunk of the climb. Normally my Monday rides have been 2+ hours of tempo work on the trainer, but in this past block I've switched over to some hard core hill climbing (with my front wheel on a 5" block to simulate a hill).
Tuesday was a 12 mile run with 6x4 minute reps at 5:20 min/mile pace. I would jog easy for 5 minutes between the reps. The rest of the run was done at a zone 2-3 pace followed by a leg lifting session at the Y. Great workout!
Wednesday (tonight) was an epic trainer session with the first hour filled with a fifteen minute lactate thresh hold set (basically a TT effort)...15 minutes of overgear (low cadence/ extremely hard gear).....and an 11 minute spin-up set involving 4 minutes of spinning at 140-165 rpm. The final 65 minutes was a grueling climb involving long challenging reps in zone 4 and some "attack" or sprint reps in the zone 5 range. Due the morning swim workouts and the hard bike/run workouts on Monday and Tuesday, my legs were pretty shot by the end of this one. In fact, my heart rate is still elevated and I can't sleep.....which is why I'm writing this at midnight!!!!! My fitness is really coming along though. I'm anxious to get out on the road and do some real suffering (plus I need a scenery change after being stuck in my basement on a trainer for the past 5 months). Well, I gotta swim this morning and I'm feeling tired enough to sleep....so adios for now!

Beat Down Those Winter Blues!!!

Living up here in the arctic circle can make training and staying motivated a daunting task this time of year. Most if not all of the cycling workouts will be done on a trainer indoors and swimming is obviously done in a pool (unless you are part polar bear and can hold your breath between holes in the ice). Running can be done outside, but basically all of my speed work is done on a treadmill or indoor track when it's available.

All this lonely indoor training can really beat down even the most motivated athletes. A friend starting to get into racing asked me how I stay motivated through the winter. I guess you have to remember why you are doing this crazy stuff to begin with. I keep my goals written down and I look at them often. For example, Sunday was the end of a hard 4 week training block. I was feeling pretty sluggish and unmotivated for my last hard training swim to say the least. But after a slow warmup in which I was contemplating cutting the workout short, I started thinking about my goals and the split times I should be nailing to reach these goals. I'll also think about my competition and I like to pretend they are in the lane next to me or right on my heels. Suddenly instead of hoping for the end of the workout, I'm fired up and pushing harder....before long I had completed a solid 4000 yard workout.

The other thing that really helps is to not try to "swallow" the whole workout at once. On an indoor trainer workout for example, you can't be dreading the ball busting sprint sets at the end of a 2 hour workout when you are just getting warmed up. It can actually be enjoyable if you learn to live in the moment and let the future take care of itself. The same mentality applies to racing. So many people get nervous before a triathlon because they are thinking about how much things are going to hurt for the next couple hours or how many things could go wrong through the swim, bike, and run.
If you are up against something that seems unbeatable or impossible....you must first reduce it in your mind to something that is beatable. I had an experience with this last fall while I was getting ready for my first half marathon. My coach had me doing 75 miles of running per week with a weekly speed workout consisting of 5 x 2 mile repeats on 5:45 pace with 4 minutesof slow jogging between reps. At first I thought he was nuts, but then he once again proved his genius. It hurt, but I found that if I just concentrated on each rep individually and formed mini goals during each rep (such as holding pace during each quarter mile split) the reps went by easier. If I would have tried swallowing the whole workout at once and picturing it as a 10 mile race pace workout, then I would have been mentally beaten in the first lap!! The same goes for a race. At the beginning of a triathlon, think about swimming hard to that first big buoy....once you get there concentrate on turning the corner and swimming to the next big buoy. When you get out of the water don't think about the bike right away, instead think about flying through that transition.... one thing at a time makes everything bearable...if not enjoyable (afterall, that's why we are doing this stuff)!

I guess these are just little motivational tricks I've found work for me. It's also important to make sure you do a very easy training week at least once a month to recharge the batteries/motivation a bit (it's especially important to be human once in a while during these long winter months)! That ground hog can kiss my ass for predicting a long winter this year, but we've survived and the spring thaw is near!!!!! Happy training.

Done With Base Training and on to Build Phase I

Finally, I get a chance to do some writing! This week is a recovery week which marks the end of my third and final base block of the season. The workouts from here on out will still have plenty of volume, but will incorporate more and more speed. I was hoping most of the snow would be gone, but unfortunately it could be another 3 or 4 weeks before I'll get to do some solid riding outdoors. I still think I've put a solid effort in on the trainer down in the dungeon and hope to see improvements on my cycling this season.

Back To Work

Well, things are getting back to normal after getting sick last week. I got four hours of training in today. Two solid hours on the bike trainer, followed by an hour in the pool, and an hour in the weight room. Feeling good, so I hope the rest of the week goes this smooth. Got a couple questions on spin-ups (high cadence sets) on the bike which I promise I'll answer soon, but right now I got to get my butt to bed. Good night y'all!!!

Trying to find a rythm....

Well, I'm fresh off a recovery week and this week started pretty good. But then Tuesday rolled around and I couldn't get out of bed to make my morning swim because my throat hurt and I felt a bit drained....I wouldn't admit it yet but I was sick. I did a race pace interval workout that night which consisted of a 30 minute warm up followed by 3x10 minute efforts at my current 10K race race with 4 minutes of slow jogging between efforts. I felt a little dogged during the workout, but I got through it OK. Afterward, however, I felt aboslutely terrible. I was down for the count all day Wednesday (came home from work early and slept the rest of the day). After feeling a bit better today, I was finally able to muster a decent workout on the trainer tonight. I'm still a little groggy, but I'm definitely better than I was earlier in the week. It's weird that two weeks ago I was running in sub 0 degree weather and I was fine, but coming off of a cozy recovery week I get sick!?!?!? I'm going to really monitor the intensity for the rest of this week in hopes that everything is back to 100% next week (winter and winter illnesses suck soooo bad). Moral of the story, save yourself some grief, listen to your body when it's sick!!!!!! Hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy!

Global Warming??

Holy freezing pointy nipples has it been cold here. This week has been a recovery week for me, but the outside runs have been challenging to say the least. Yesterday the temps plunged a record 54 degrees F (the temp dropped from +45F to -9F in under 24 hours)!! When I started my run at 6PM the air temp was -5F (-32F with bone chilling 20mph winds). The first couple miles were fine and I thought my 9 mile loop would be a piece of cake…. but then I headed directly into the open wind for a 2.5 mile stretch. Fittingly about that time, Rob Zombie’s “Feel So Numb” came on my mp3 player and I was fired up to tackle the wind. At first it didn’t seem too bad and I tried thinking about something other than the cold. I had heard a story earlier this week about a group of Tibetan monks who would go high into the mountains to meditate wearing only their regular robes. They supposedly had the power to go into a state of meditation and actually sweat as they sat in the arctic conditions. So in my mind I figured if some skinny dudes wearing nothing but robes and sandals can handle it, I could handle it. I can’t say for certain if the story is true or not……but after about 1 mile into the wind I realized I’d make for a really shitty Tibetan monk. I hammered through the run, but I’m not gonna lie……I definitely got a little chilly. UFF DA!!!

Solid Block

Well, I got a solid 4 week block of training in which culminated in 20+ hours of training this past week. I'm definitely happy to be uninjured and healthy going into this recovery week. Next week will be the beginning of the final 4 week base training block which includes a lot of volume and increasing intensity. I think the toughest part about these winter blocks are the mental hurdles you must overcome. The long, boring, suffering workouts done on the bike trainer or the cold, windy runs in the dark are physically and mentally draining. Keeping a positive attitude in these conditions day in and day out gives an athlete a mental edge. Late in a race when everything hurts, it's the person that learned how suffer back in January and February that's going to win in July and August. Go for it!!!!!!!

2008 Goals

2008 is going to be an interesting (and busy) year. First of all, I'm getting married in October, so balancing the training, wedding planning, and racing is going to be challenging. I've also opted to not go with a coach this season in an effort to save a little money for the wedding and honeymoon. I'll definitely miss the great weekly conversations with Pete and am so grateful for the wealth of knowledge and confidence the man has given me over the past two years. I believe he has equipped me with the skills to set up a solid 08' macrocycle on my own. As far as my 2008 goals are concerned, here is what I got:

Overall Goals for 2008
1. Break 2:07 at Lifetime Fitness Triathlon
Keys to success---
a. Must be out of the water in 23 minutes or less!!!!
b. Solid, flawless bike

2. Break 4:20 in a Half IM and qualify for IM 70.3 Worlds in Clearwater, FL
Keys to success---
a. Must be out of the water in 30 minutes
b. Need to average around 24 mph on the bike
c. No stomach problems on the run!
d. No training injuries

3. Break 59 minutes in a 40 km time trial.
Keys to success---
a. Hits the weights hard this winter
b. Lactate thresh hold training
c. Be patient in the first 20km and suffer like a motherfucker over the final 20 km!!!!

Good Day

Well, I got a solid day of training in today despite the cold weather. I did a 3 hour brick workout (2 hours on the bike trainer and 1 hour of running). The bike workout was pretty brutal consisting of a number of lactate threshold sets and ending with 20 minutes of sprints. My legs were a little wobbly after biking, but I threw on a bunch of warm gear and headed out for a nice steady pace run. The legs felt fine on the run, but I'm definitely going to opt for some thicker running pants next time (the wind really goes right through ya when the wind chill is -22F.....talk about a case of blue balls:)

Why Tri?

This week I was asked a question about why I spend most of my spare time training for triathlons. I think we get addicted to this sport for different reasons. Some need a comepetitive outlet after high school or college sports. Many use a race as a motivator to get in shape. And then there are those that feel they have something to prove to themselves or to others. Personnally, I believe I'm a mixture of all those motivators. I race because I love to compete. I love the atmoshere of a race and the comraderie among other triathletes.

Training however is a different story because many training hours are done alone. Something extra besides a 'love to compete' is needed to really push yourself in a workout especially during the long winter months. I believe past failures can keep a person on the road to success when motivation runs thin. Isn't it funny that as humans we don't always recollect much about our successes in sports or in life in general....but we can recall with great detail the few times when we fall flat on our face. These memories are like ghosts that dance in the back of our minds as reminders of what it feels like to fail. The times in my life where I fell short are what keep me sharp during my training. An old Chinese proverb states "A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trial." My trials in the sport of wrestling so many years ago were motivational stepping stones to becoming a mentally tough, well rounded athlete and person today.

I think wrestling has a lot to do with why I chose a tough sport like triathlon. I grew up on a wrestling mat. I remember going to matchs with my dad when I was 3 or 4 years old. I remember always walking into St. Charles High School on cold Friday nights in January and being welcomed with the smell of popcorn mixed with the distinct smell of the wrestling mat. As we walked around the corner into the gym there was the sound of a ref's whistle, the crowd, the cheerleaders pounding on the mat, and the deafening buzzer at the end of a period. My heroes were not pro football players or basketball players, my heroes were the hard nosed wrestlers on that high school wrestling team. I remember all the big wins and defeats.....like when I was 10 years old and seeing my all-time favorite St. Charles wrestler Joel Thoreson win the Regional Championships qualifying him for the State Tournament (this was big news in my little town). A week later, Joel would become St. Charles's first state champion. I remember hearing about that good news at the dinner table and I told my dad I was going be like Joel, I was going to win a state championship!

As the years rolled on I had a lot of success in the sport. After my freshman year on varsity, a State Championship looked very promising. During that freshman year I remember wrestling with my coach Chuck Koestler after practice one night. When we were done wrestling we were just sitting there talking about a couple matches coming up. As he got up to leave he stopped, looked me square in the eye and said 'Sinner some day you are going to be the best'. Now Mr. Koestler is a great coach and a great man, but compliments weren't his style. So to hear him say that must mean a state championship was almost certain. I was honored and motivated as ever. But the end of my sophomore year and most of my junior year was injury plagued although I still qualified for the state tournament my junior year. Mentally I was frustrated and depleted. My shoulder had become so unstable, my wrestling style changed.....I was wrestling scared, wrestling not to lose. At the elite level of any sport, that is a recipe for failure. I entered my senior year fairly healthy, but I'm not sure if my mind was fully in it. That year proved no different as it ended with injured ribs at the state tournament. All of a sudden the sport I had leaned on my whole life seemed over. People would tell me "oh, you'll win it next year"...pretty soon there was no next year. I felt like I had let down my family, coaches, friends, and the little town of St. Charles. They had believed in me probably more than I did. And just like that it was all over.

I didn't know it at the time, but this let down was a blessing in diguise. I learned what is was like to have a long term goal slip away. I didn't believe in myself. Now, when those doubts try to creep back into my head I think about what it felt like to leave unfinished business on the mat. During the 2006 Duathlon World Championships in Corner Brook, Canada I started thinking that maybe I didn't belong there. Afterall, these athletes didn't fly from all over the world to lose...these were seasoned athletes with years of success under their belts. Those old feelings of inadequacey started festering in my mind. I was losing the race before I had even started. But then I began thinking about how excited my family was back home for this race. I thought about what it felt like to lose for all the wrong reasons as a wrestler. I had earned this spot on the Team USA and god damn it I'm going prove I belong here! I walked up to the line pissed off and fire up....I placed 9th in the world that day. My past failures had driven me to succeed. I've made a promise to myself to always leave it out on the course...drop the hammer no matter how bad it hurts (there will be plenty air to catch your breath at the finish line). Today I still hate losing (who doesn't?) but I'm not afraid of losing, I am just afraid of regret.....win or lose give it everything you've got and there will be no regrets!

We are all attracted to this sport for different reasons. We all have a unique story to tell and are motivated by different things, pushing or daring us to find that finish line. I may never bring a crowd to its feet again or hear the dull roar echo through my headgear at the end of a big match, but that's just fine with me. My wrestling memories (good and bad) will always be motivators to make me push a little harder in racing and in life.

Welcome!!

Welcome to my webpage! I plan to keep this updated with my training, racing, and thoughts about life in general (hopefully I don't put anyone to sleep)!