HTFU and associated stories

The HTFU bracelet story
Some have asked about the HTFU bracelet...where did you get it? ...who thought it up? ...what does it mean? Here's the story behind the bracelet.

Mike Cox in Olympic Trials...HTFU!
Below is an email I sent to some friends back in October:

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As you guys know, I just returned from West Virginia. While I was up there I ran and rode with my old cross country coach, Will, (he's now 67) and another running friend of ours, Sam (he's in his mid 50's) , who lives near the college I attended. When I arrived, Sam had just returned from running 23 miles to another town on the rails to trails...and then got on his mountain bike and rode back. Later that week we did a 5 hour mountain bike ride with a 8 mile off road climb at the end...I was pretty impressed with my old coach hanging on for the whole thing. Both of these guys are pretty "Hard", and I gave a "Hardin the...up" bracelet to both of them to show to anyone who complains to them in the future.

Will's team is getting ready for the Eastern NCAA regional meet, and I received the following from him today...

"We continue to be troubled by nagging injuries that are generally a sign of being wound too tight. We talked about that this afternoon after practice. I have used the "toughen the fuck up" slogan several times... including pre race pep talk and post race ass chewing at the conference meet. One of my coaching colleagues qualified for the Olympic marathon trials at Chicago... so he is racing the trials this Saturday with just about a month between races. I saw him Saturday at the HS state meet and he was having a problem with his hamstring. I showed him the bracelet... he asked me if he could borrow it for the trials... Watch for him... Mikey Cox with a black band on his right wrist."
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Here are some articles about Mike's Olympic Trials qualifying in the severe heat of Chicago:

Chicago Heat

Concorde University story (Where he coaches)

Pictures of Mike Cox during the Olympic Trials
Mike ran a 2:20:12 for 41st place and a new PR.

Long day training

At the end of yesterday's post, I pondered a question about how to space out your long days when training for an Ironman. Below is the excerpt:

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Parting Thoughts About Long Days
I've seen two schools of thought on long days of training for Ironman triathlons:

One method has you doing your long ride and long run days back to back on the weekend. I think the theory is that you can prefatigue your legs on Saturday with a long ride followed by a short run, and then you do your long run on Sunday with tired legs. This would simulate how your legs would feel in an actual Ironman triathlon. (Huddle/Frey)

The other method spreads out your long run, long ride, and long swim with days in between. Like, long run on Wednesday, long swim on Friday, and long ride on Sunday. This way you can have an optimum workout in each activity without a lot of accumulated fatigue (besides the shorter faster stuff done the rest of the week days). (Gordo/Friel)

Which method works best? I've passed this question along to a coaching expert, Shawn Burke at Velocity Multisport. Shawn has done a bunch of Ironman and 1/2 Ironman races, and has done a lot of coaching...so he's one of the main guys I go to for triathlon questions. I'll post what he thinks when I hear back from him.
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After speaking with Shawn, he feels that long ride Saturday (+short run) followed by a long run on Sunday is the way to go. This will prefatigue your legs for Sunday's run, which will more closely simulate what race day will actually be like. He said that he has tried both methods mentioned above, and thinks this works best. He also had some other good workouts that he uses to help his clients achieve their Ironman goals...but I'll let you ask him about those.

Thanks to Shawn Burke at Velocity Multisport for the info.

Sween

Weekend update

Saturday - Mantanzas 5k - St. Augustine, FL
My cold was still in full force on Saturday morning and I woke to a drizzly, overcast, chilly day. But, I decided to do the running race, but bag the cycling race later that day if it was still raining...I was already registered for the run, so what the heck.

I packed all of my running and cycling gear into the car and headed to St. Augustine. It was going to be a nice course right through the oldest city in the U.S., right by Fort Mantanzas. By the time the race had started, the rain had stopped. I reached the first mile in about the time I wanted, 5:45...but, would soon find out it was too fast for how I was feeling! The "monkey jumped on my back" through the second mile with a split of 11:53 (6:08 mile 2nd)...and then he started kicking, screaming and swinging through the finish with a time of 18:43 (6:12 3rd mile pace). Hmmm...it seems being sick has a cumulative effect as the race progresses. It was a good workout and was faster than the 19:20 I did on December 31st...so I can't be too unhappy. It started raining, so I took the rest of the day off to try and recuperate.

Sunday - Penny Farms Brick
I decided to ride our local "long" group ride (about 80 miles). It was pretty chilly when we started, and didn't warm up that much...maybe because it was so windy. This made for a pretty hard ride. I decided to sit in and take it easy so I could do a run afterwards. I don't think I drank enough during the ride, and it showed when I hopped off and went for my run. I try to do all of my "Bricks" with a fast transition (under 5 minutes...usually under 3). Today it took longer getting off all of the clothes I was wearing for the ride, but still under 5 minutes. FYI, "Bricks" are called Bricks because that is the way your legs feel when you start running after having ridden your bike...nice, huh? Anyhow, I ran an hour after the ride...and it hurt. The first 20-30 minutes kind of hurt, but every 10 minutes after that the pain grows exponentially! I was pretty thirsty, and should have strapped on one of those tri-geek belts that hold fluids. I have to remember that everything I do on the bike will have a big effect on the run afterwards (eg. Drink more!)...and put on one of those fluid belts, even if it looks kinda dorky.

Hopefully I'll be over this cold soon, and haven't put myself in too much of a hole.

Parting Thoughts About Long Days
I've seen two schools of thought on long days of training for Ironman triathlons:

One method has you doing your long ride and long run days back to back on the weekend. I think the theory is that you can prefatigue your legs on Saturday with a long ride followed by a short run, and then you do your long run on Sunday with tired legs. This would simulate how your legs would feel in an actual Ironman triathlon. (Huddle/Frey)

The other method spreads out your long run, long ride, and long swim with days in between. Like, long run on Wednesday, long swim on Friday, and long ride on Sunday. This way you can have an optimum workout in each activity without a lot of accumulated fatigue (besides the shorter faster stuff done the rest of the week days). (Gordo/Friel)

Which method works best? I've passed this question along to a coaching expert, Shawn Burke at Velocity Multisport. Shawn has done a bunch of Ironman and 1/2 Ironman races, and has done a lot of coaching...so he's one of the main guys I go to for triathlon questions. I'll post what he thinks when I hear back from him.

Sween

A few workout pictures...

Training after work in the "Pain Lab"...


Aquaman looking very patriotic with the flag in the background...

Doing some swimming at Bolles on a cold day...at least the pool was warm! (Greg "Gills" Carr, Sween, Danny "Aquaman/Double D" Domingo)


Great rewards are not achieved without great sacrifice, so HTFU...

The "balancing act"

Well...I suppose it was bound to happen...I got sick. Everyone I know has been sick, Danny "Double D/Aquaman" Domingo (and all his family, Clair, Emily, Emma, Matty), Greg "Gills" Carr, Jeff "Koppster" Kopp, Curtis "Thigh Master" Long, everyone at work...and finally my wife, Jennifer.

I felt the darkness approaching late Wednesday...and was full on sick Thursday. Now comes the balancing act that all training athletes attempt to perform...train, but not too hard, get over the cold, but not get worse. When younger I would train through and be OK, but I trained through a few years back and ended up with Pneumonia. "Double D" also did the same thing in 2006 training for an Ironman in Germany...he ended up with Pneumonia and wrecked his season.

It is so difficult when your putting in a high volume of training (1 day off every 3 weeks), and then you get sick...mentally it's a HUGE blow. You understand that now you're not progressing forward to become more fit, but you will actually regress.

This next six weeks is a crucial training block...I'm only 12 weeks out from IM Arizona and at least 2 weeks will be taper, so I have 9-10 weeks of solid effort that is IM specific. There will be a few 6-6 1/2 hour training rides followed by an hour run...and a few 2-3 hour runs...and some longer pool/open water swim sessions.

I've mixed some races in this last block to break up the training a bit. I have a 5k, 15k, 1/2 marathon, a few bike races, and a triathlon or two to help with speed and transition work. This weekend kicks it all off with a 5k Saturday morning, followed by a bike race, followed by a few hours on the bike afterwards.

We'll see how my sickness weighs in on my "balancing act"...I'll keep you updated...and post after the weekend.

Thought for the day:
"Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race him, he will win."
- Tom Fleming's Boston Marathon Training Motto

HTFU,
Sween

Update...January 15th, 2008...

I haven't posted in a while, so decided to write something short about what I've been up to lately. I'll try to do better, and update once a week.

Swim, Bike, Run, Repeat...yeah, I know it's pretty "Triathlon Cliche"...but, that's about the extent of it.

Fleischmann
About a week ago I had dinner with Danny "Double D" Domingo, a training partner (more about him in a minute), and Brian Fleischmann. I met Brian some years back, he was 17 or 18 and had just won the Junior Triathlon National Championships. He's good friends with Danny and another one of our training buddies, Greg Carr. Anyhow, Brian lives at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO...and is headed to a training camp in Clermont, FL. Brian is from Jacksonville, so he stops by periodically. He went to FSU and I think did some swimming for them, and then ran cross country. He looks like he has about 2% body fat...and that's in the "off season". He's a neat guy, and an incredible athlete. He was an alternate at the last Olympics, and is trying to make the team for the upcoming Games...here's his website if you want to take a look:

http://www.brianfleischmann.com/

Aquaman & Gills
As I mentioned, I've been training with a couple stud triathletes...Danny Domingo and Greg Carr. Danny has a swimming background, and is very fast in the water (I call him Aquaman)! Oh, and he's fast on the bike and the run! He was the top triathlete in Florida a couple years back, and took some time off...he's makeing a comeback this year, so look out!

Greg Carr also has a swim background (I call him Gills), runs like the wind, and can put you in the "hurt box" on any bike ride over 3 hours (personal experience!). Greg coaches a Master's swim class at Bolles swim facility, and I usually go to that once a week. Greg had a bike wreck last year and tore up his shoulder...he's had a couple surgery's and is working on rehabing his way back this year.

Needless to say, my swimming has gotten better...I swim with Danny 2 times a week, and Greg once a week. I've always been able to "swim"...I've been a life guard and have done some scuba diving...but never trained to swim. Oh brother it is much more involved that I ever thought. Swimming is a skill sport, kind of like golf. You have to practice your swim stroke, body position, body roll, kick, and all kinds of things to become more effecient in the water. I have a LONG way to go, but you can only get better when you start from the bottom!

Epic Training Weekend
This last Saturday Greg, Danny, Dave, and myself went for a "Georgia Ride". As we were headed out, it started to rain...then it became worse. It was that sideways stinging rain due to the high winds. It was kind of funny how bad it was, and since we were doing "non-drafting" training, there wasn't another rider blocking any of the wind or rain. The rain drops were shooting down the holes in my helmet and even stinging my bald head! We were in the middle of nowhere...so when the thunder and lightning started, we really didn't have anywhere to stop for cover...so we just kept going. After a couple hours of that it calmed down, and luckily no one was struck by lightning. We were all really dirty from the road grime on the return trip. I was able to get in about 5:45 on the bike, and then ran 30 minutes to complete a brick. It was a good workout.

On Sunday: Danny & Greg are having some leg & foot problems, so did a short run...but I was scheduled for 2 hours so went out to our local Rails to Trails. This gave me the opportunity to run on the side of the road and on trails for about 80-90% of the run, and would protect my legs from beating the asphalt. It rained pretty hard for most of it, but it was warm rain...so it wasn't bad. I kept it steady and easy with my heart rate low and got in 15 miles.

Here's a picture of Danny and Greg starting the run at Ironman Florida a couple years ago:

Here is a couple picture of me from a 1/2 marathon last month. It was at the finish and I was hurting pretty bad (Greg took me out and hammered me on a 5 hour bike ride the day before), so I don't look that happy:

Until next time...

Sween