Week 19: Podcast Infamous!

 

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid."
John 14:27 (NLT)

    I'm now podcast famous!!  Well, maybe infamous. Ned Nederlander (Martin Short) from The Three Amigos defined infamous as "When you're more than famous".  Now, I'm not really sure about all that (I AM actually sure I'm not even famous!), but my episode did drop on Friday, so that was a fun surprise as I got out of my early morning swim! Here are my weekly stats to kick it off this week...

Weekly Stats:

• Weight: 177.2
• -.6 lbs from last week
• Swim (3x)
• 3.85 miles (6,775 yards)
• 2:16:19
• Bike (3x)
• 80.67 miles
• 5:00:06
• Run (3x)
• 18.31 miles
• 3:24:05
• Strength (2x)
• 38:06
• Yoga (5x)
• 1:54:05
• TOTALS:
• 16 workouts
• 102.83 miles
• 13:12:41

    This feels like an unexpected theme every week, but I really DID have another good week overall.  I'm just taking every day one workout at a time, and even if it's a longer session like a 2-hour bike ride or something similar, I just make sure to focus on what I'm doing right then.  I'm trying to treat each workout as it's own race, and not even think about what's next.  That's how I try and do my races too--focus on the swim and that's it.  Once I'm out of the water, then that's completely behind me and all that's in front of me is the bike.  Don't worry about the run yet.  One thing at a time.  

   

    I'm still getting stronger on my swim.  I did the most distance in a week yet since August.  Of 2021! For my "mixed swim intervals" session on Wednesday, I had to swim five sets of 500-yards with 1 minute rest in between each.  In November, I was averaging 1:56 per 100 yards.  On Wednesday, each of my 500-yard sets were at 1:43 per 100 (except my last--that one was 1:44, what a slacker!).  So I've dropped over 10 seconds per 100 yards.  It's all about just getting into the pool regularly and doing the workouts as ordered!  I know that a few minutes off my swim time won't win a race or anything, but having the extra energy getting out of the water will help greatly.

        

    One misstep this week was on Wednesday when I had a 90-minute bike ride in the morning.  I got up at 4:10 to be on the bike by 4:40.  I couldn't get my bike trainer to connect to the app.  I thought it was a computer issue (I'm starting to use Julie's old MAC), but I couldn't get my normal iPad to work either.  I fought it for about 20 minutes then just gave up.  Went back to bed for another solid hour of sleep.  That was glorious. I should have done my yoga session for the day, but I was just mentally done that early in the morning to switch it up.  So I did my swim right after work as scheduled, then yoga when I got home. And I still did my 90-minute ride starting at 7:45 that evening. Not ideal, but I had the time, so I wasn't going to just give up on it.  Fortunately it was a "Zone 1" ride, so really low HR and and easy ride.  And the reason I couldn't get connected early in the morning?  MY TRAINER WAS UNPLUGGED AT THE TRAINER END OF THE CORD!!!  Zoinks, Scoob!  What an easy fix and I never even thought to try there; I had unplugged and plugged the side of the cord going into the wall several times!  4:45AM brain fog...  The hard part the next morning was I was right back up at 4:10 for another 90-minute ride.

    My runs were better overall this week.  Since I recalculated my HR zones for my run, I've been able to better stay where I should be.  Thursday was a running recovery session where I had to do 40 minutes, keeping my HR under 127.  These runs are still really hard in the sense that I have to go WAY slower than I want to.  I spent right around 40% of this run walking.  I'm pretty sure that if I had power-walked the whole thing, I would've kept my HR in zone.  Sunday I was able to run with Jay Sandbloom again.  Hit up the Tomahawk Trail towards Deanna Rose Farmstead for a 90-minute loop.  These slow runs have been a bit easier since I got the Hoka training shoes and not trying to run slow with fast shoes. I think I might have even convinced Jay to do the duathlon at the KC Tri in May.  Hope he signs up!  And thanks, Jay, for not ONCE mentioning that I had my running sunglasses on my hat while wearing my everyday sunglasses on my face.  The "I wasn't really looking at you" doesn't fly when we ran for 90 minutes plus a half-mile walk at the end.  Oh well, all it means is that we were outside on a perfect running day, and after last night where it was snowing!     

    I got in the usual strength workouts (2 times) and the other 5 days I was able to work in yoga sessions.  I did get a Garmin badge (you earn these for specific workouts/accomplishments through the Garmin app) for the 30 for 30 challenge.  That means I logged 30 straight days of at least one continuous 30-minute workout session (any sport/activity).  Wasn't shooting for that, but I thought that was pretty cool.

    One change I'm having to start incorporating in now is my training fuel and nutrition.  With most of my workouts going between 45 minutes to 2-1/2 hours at a shot (that's only going to go up once I hit the full Ironman plan after the first week of June), I'm having to make sure I get some electrolytes and carbs while doing my session.  I'm mainly doing a liquid-based fuel (Tailwind) and supplementing with some gels and electrolyte tablets.  I'm testing several flavors and options to see which I like the best.  They're no good if they're too gross to get down (hard pass on the mocha flavor!!) The large bag is my powder I mix with water and carry with me on a run or on the bike and is a cola flavor.  But very subtle.  Love it.   The salted watermelon gel is the bomb!  It has double the sodium as a regular gel, and you can taste the salt, but it was perfect with the watermelon flavor.  Might be a top contender for my go-to flavor.  The Cola gel...not so much.   

    So, some kinks in the road this week, but nothing that derailed me.  I'll call that a win for week 5!

Training Reflections:

    It really was a fun thing to see my podcast recording get released on Friday.  I knew it was coming soon, but thought it was going to be coming out next week.  I'm honored to be in the top 200 guests that the Everyday Ironman Podcast has had on the show!  I mean, I was number 204, and numerous episodes haven't had a guest, but I still am so happy to have been a part of it at this point.  When we recorded back in the first week of February, I wasn't sure what to expect of the final product.  When I was recording, it felt like I wasn't sure what my overall "story" would be, and was worried my episode wouldn't flow.  But Mike Bosch and Ashley Raines did a great job making it work!  We started with a few minutes of "get to know you" chit-chat before hitting the record button, and I was kind of intimidated, as I'd been listening to these two for a couple months now and surely didn't fell like I'd meet some probably-not-really-there standard. But I had a blast, and walked away feeling pretty good about it, but I honestly couldn't remember everything we talked about.  The big parts of my story (spoiler alert if you haven't listened in yet) were my stolen bike form 2016, my training and balance of training and life/work, and that I was re-watching the show "Lost".  There's obviously way for in there than those three things, but you'll have to listen in. 

    I was able to brag on the Public Safety Academy at Olathe West a little bit and give a

shout out to the OW Triathlon Elite club that I'm excited to be a co-sponsor for at the school.  Should be fun to be with these students that are already into this sport.  The link for my podcast episode is at the top of this section.  Here is the teaser for the episode. I am thankful that Mike edited out the Super Bowl prediction part--still too soon to be as wrong as Ashley and I were about that game!!  It was strange listening to myself as my voice sure sounded different out of my head than on the inside.  But if I just forgot that it was me, I thought that the guest had GREAT things to say!  Hope to maybe do a race recap down the road, but so glad that I stumbled across a great group of folks that are as passionate about this as much as I am.  I can't wait to meet some of them in person down the road at races or maybe just passing through their area (or mine)!

Life Applications:

    As I was thinking about this week, and the verse that was presented in my weekly devotional times, I kept coming back to "peace".  It's easy to be troubled by what's going on around me.  It could be work, it could be family, it could just be life circumstances (I really don't have any pressing things going on so I'm doing pretty well in that regard right now..).  I know how a simple thing can give me anxiety even though I may well know that it's completely out of my control.  This is where the peace of God plays into my life. Believing that as long as I'm following THE Course (NOT mine), things will turn out the way they are supposed to.  Even if it might be hard in the moment.  It think about Julie and her job as an admissions counselor.  The pressure that often comes from trying to get everything accomplished each day and making sure it's done right as what she does affects those that are applying to college.  I think about Matthew and his upcoming wedding.  That's a huge life commitment and I remember that even though I was extremely excited about marrying Julie, there was a level of anxiousness as it started to become real. I think about Rylan and him still working through his training with the fire department.  Doing the best he can, and him possibly wondering how he'll do when the tones go off for real and he's the first one at the front door of a house fire.  I think of Ethan and graduating high school and preparing for college and what lies ahead in beginning to fly free on his own. And I think of my niece Emma, as she wrapped up a stellar high school basketball (and volleyball) career and is now looking towards her DII college career.  And along with all of those "kids", I think about Julie and me and my sister and brother-in law, Cat and Rick, as we allow our children to grow up and release our control. I pray my family has peace in all their decisions, and that I also am at peace daily.

    If I sit and think too hard about my Ironman in November, something that has always been WAY beyond what I think possible for me, I could easily get anxious about what I can't control.  Weather, waves, flat tires, broken shoe laces.  But I'm at peace, knowing that I'm on the path that is going to lead me to success.  It might not be the time I am shooting for, and it might look completely different than I play out in my mind daily during my workouts, but every day I am working towards something great ahead.  And I am at peace with that-in my heart AND mind.  The world can't give me that, but God does.  And that's good enough for me. I just have to trust Him and keep moving forward.  

 That's it and there ain't no more....for this week.  Another solid week down, and 12 to go to Ironman 70.3 Eagleman.  As always, if you're reading this--thank you.  Even if it's something that is a sleep aid.  I'm OK with that.  I get paid by the views.  (Only kidding, but is that a possibility? I could use some extra change for my triathlon needs!)

Keep Fit, Stay THE Course, and Keep Moving Forward

19 million, 831 thousand, and 650 seconds until Ironman Florida.