Easter Sunday

The celebration of Easter is one of, if not my favorite holiday.  I remember fondly going to the sunrise church service (outside) with my family as a young boy.  I love the traditional fanfare and celebratory music complete with trumpets...And, being a morning person I looked forward to the sunrise on Easter morning!
As Easter approaches I mourn Christ's death on the cross and yet I'm joy-filled for the renewal and grace we receive through His resurrection on Easter morning...what a blessing!

Training has been solid this week, I've been careful yet steady in what is a fairly ramped-up schedule.  I'll run some 22 miles, spend nearly 4 hours on the bike and swim 2 hours!  The good news is that I'm without injury and feeling balanced and fit despite a bit of a backward slide in my eating habits.

I had lunch today with Ginger Palm, CEO of Kenya Children's Fund.  I continue to learn more about the wonderful impact KCF has upon the children of Kinyago Dandora, Kenya.  I hope to post a video for you next week that will show some of their good work!

I am thankful for you, your encouragement and support in this long journey of mine!
Blessings to you and your family...He is Risen!

Lee

 

Pushing It!

Not going to lie…I’m beat!

• I knocked off an easy-paced 9-mile run on Saturday morning and felt great, although on Saturday evening I felt the onset of fatigue.
• On Sunday I did a solid 2.5 hour bike trainer workout (a DVD that simulates Ironman Wisconsin) and immediately followed the ride with a 3-mile run. 
• Sunday night I was spent!  I was intentional about recovery and mindful to stretch, use a foam roller and iced my legs. 
• This morning I hit the pool and swam for an hour.  Feeling fortunate that it wasn’t  a Masters swim day cause I was kind of lazy.  I stuck to the plan for the morning but barely! 

As Coach Troy of Spinervals says…”Train safe and train smart!”

Veggie Dinner

A buddy asked me today what my eating habits are like post-cleanse. 

(For those of you that don't know, I recently did a 21-day nutrition cleanse that consisted vegetables, fruit and protein supplement.  I finished the program two weeks ago...see my March 5th posting)     

My response was...

"Still lots of veggies…very little meat, bread or dairy.  And no caffeine, can you believe it I’ve had 4 half cups of coffee in the last month and no soda at all.  It’s unreal how good I feel!"

I also said in an e-mail or two later...

What’s a bit of a bummer though is that I have no desire to eat other foods…it doesn’t taste all that good! What’s up with that?   I really don’t want to become a high maintenance eater, although at this point I prefer this to most other meals!

A typical dinner is mixed vegetables with olive oil, hot sauce, turmeric, cumin,
occasional sunflower seeds and occasional shrimp or chicken

Workout Schedule

A couple people have asked about my training specifics.  Here is a screen shot of my schedule for the next four weeks leading up to the San Diego triathlon.

• First, you can see in pink this is an easy (things being relative) week due to post recovery from the half marathon last Saturday. 
• Column B represents my run schedule
• Column C represents my bike and D is my swim requirement
• Columns G&H represent additional strength and core workouts
• The sum total for the week can be seen in purple in row 96, for example
• When there are two entries in a given day as is the case of most Tuesdays that means that I bike for 45-minutes and then immediately run three miles…brick workout.  I blogged on this technique in my February 6th posting if you care to see a bit more info.  

Check out the 22 day stretch starting on Saturday (row 95) it’s brutal! 

• Saturday, 9 mile run
• Sunday 2.5 hour bike followed by a 3 mile run
• Monday 60-minute swim followed by a core workout
• Tuesday 45-minute bike, 3 mile run…etc. etc.  

 Some fun behind the scenes tidbits…   

USA Triathlon has requested and will post my story and involvement with Kenya Children's Fund on their website…I’ll provide a link once posted.

KCF is in the process of updating their website to include specific info on our partnership and a direct link to sponsor this initiative by posting “ironman” in the sponsorship form

Keep in touch…
And remember, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!  Phil-4:13
Lee

I Got Lucky!

My Get Luck half marathon performance on Saturday was solid! 

My desire was to enjoy a (supported) long training run and not to come away injured or have significant post race fatigue.  Mission accomplished...although I forget how sore I can be the day after a half marathon!  I ran with the 1:50 / 8:24 pacers...turns out, a really fun group.  Race temp was in the low 20's and despite the forecast of 1-3 inches of snow, we only had a trace of it.  That said, there were many areas that were slick with ice and I had to be quite careful.   The pace I chose was very perfect for me and allowed me to enjoy the entire event.  The Get Lucky race has tons of spectator support, SWAG and is very well organized making it a fun early season half! 

For you runners...if you have never run with a pace group, try it, it's wonderful! Each pacer is assigned a specific time (pace) and makes sure to stay on track and finish the race in that amount of time.  For example my time above, 8 minute 24 second pace will take 1 hour and 50 minutes to complete the 13.1 mile race.  With a GPS watch, the pacer makes certain to keep the group at that pace the entire way.  In my experience, they typically finish within a minute of the set pace.  My actual time - 1:49:17. 

If you're striving for a PR (personal record) and really trying to push it, you don't have to worry about doing the math or even look at your watch!  You can concentrate entirely on racing.  I've PR'd twice by using a pacer!  The 8:24 pace is well below my race pace so I actually helped the two pacers lead the group and held the pace sign much of the way, really fun experience!    

Liz continues to recover and is making great progress!  Her casts came off last week and PT started!  She may argue that it's taking too long, but we have to remember that it's only been three weeks of what is sure to be a many month recovery period. Thanks for all of your support, it's very appreciated. 

Regards, 

Lee            

ITU San Diego Triathlon

I've had a comment or two on the ITU San Diego event I'm doing on April 20th.
Here's a link to the event website.  http://sandiego.triathlon.org/athlete_info/age_group/ 
If you scroll to the bottom there's a pretty cool video with footage from last years event.  And too, if you click on the Olympic distance icon you can see specifics on the race that I'll be in. 

More details coming soon! 

Season Opener - Saturday

My season opener half marathon is this weekend in St. Paul.  I’m feeling pretty strong and ready for a solid effort.  I’ve developed a twinge in my right hamstring and calf, hopefully only an annoyance, but it does concern me.  The plan is to enjoy the event and overall experience and I’ll run a little faster than a training session but will not race it! 

As mentioned earlier, my first triathlon is April 20^th in San Diego.  I’ve signed up for the ITU Olympic distance triathlon (.9 swim / 25 mile bike / 6-mile run) on Fiesta Island, Mission Bay California the birthplace of triathlon!  What’s more, after our age group race there’s a pro elite race.  I’ve volunteered to help at the swim start/finish so I’ll be in the thick of that action!

I’ve scheduled two “field trips” while in California!  I’ve made my career in magazine publishing for 20-years and for the last few, I’ve admired Triathlete magazine.  I’ve arranged to stop by their office to say hello!  Also, I’ve connected with the guys of Felt Bike (my bike of choice) and plan to visit their shop as well.  How cool is that!         

The biggest travel hurdle I’ve encountered planning-wise is how to efficiently ship my bike to the site.  It’s a little involved due to disassembling the bike, packaging it, shipping it and reassembling it at the race site…and then doing it all again to get it home!  After numerous phone calls and a trip to my local Tri shop, I’m well on my way to figuring it out.

Solid Training

Last week was a solid training week.  I ran 17 miles, biked 3.5 hours and swam 2 hours.  This week’s schedule calls for a small taper due to my Get Lucky half marathon on Saturday…I’ll run 27 miles (includes the half), bike 3 hours and swim 1 hour.  Last Saturday I met up with the gang from Gear West and did a comfortable 8 mile run…fun! 

Lifetime Fitness held their CyclePalooza 2-hour spin event yesterday…great experience!  There were some 300 athletes on spin bikes led by 5 different instructors including Troy Jacobson of Spinervals bike workouts.  The energy was unreal, the ride left me spent for the rest of the day and the overall event was awesome!    

I've been thinking a lot about my mid-April season opener ITU triathlon in San Diego…I'll blog details on this event shortly.  It's been fun to learn about destination racing and the planning that goes into it. 

Kenya Children’s Fund received a little snippet on MNTri News yesterday http://minnesotatrinews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1588:a-cool-letter-from-lee&catid=40:latest-features&Itemid=53   Thank you Jerry MacNeil!  Welcome to the blog if you were referred here from that site.   

 

I hope this finds you healthy and injury free!

Tri Community

Do you ever finish a workout and think…wow that was awesome?!

For me, my swim workouts have been killer for the last few weeks.  Two years ago, I swam with a group at the Chaska Community Center…one person clocked the fastest age-group time at Ironman Wisconsin last year!  I could never keep up with Heidi, or for that matter the rest of the group, but they pushed me and my swim time benefited.  Last year however, circumstances prevented me from joining them.  Swimming mainly on my own, my average time increased by minutes!  As mentioned in previous posts, I’m now swimming with the masters group; “masters” is a deceiving name…we’re marginal swimmers.  Our on-deck taskmaster is great and the group pushes me to a level I do not achieve swimming alone – it feels wonderful! 

As I become more experienced in triathlon (entering my 5^th season) I’ve found it beneficial to seek “community training groups.”  For example, last year I hooked up with an open water swim group on Lake Waconia…very helpful.  In the off season I’ve found spin classes to be very motivating.  A group invited me to join them out of Gear West for weekend runs.  For sure, Triathlon is an individual sport though when appropriate and with a properly matched group or partner, I believe our individual performance and overall enjoyment of training is enhanced by finding the right community!  How fortunate are we to have a thriving tri community here in the metro; take advantage of it and I believe you will see significant and measurable benefit!                   

Liz continues to heal and recover…

Our visit to the surgeon on Monday was encouraging.  They replaced her post-surgery soft casts with hard casts.  Hopefully next week they’ll replace the hard casts with removable casts.  Liz’s spirit and confidence is much better and her mobility is increasing as well.  She still requires assistance to do many tasks although each day brings more independence.  The outpouring of encouragement and help has been humbling for sure.  Thank you one and all! 

Remember...the image below is times two, she fractured both wrists!

Until next time, blessings to you my friends.

Lee        

Nutrition Cleanse

I’ve not posted on the nutrition cleanse as of late; here are a few program highlights.    

You may recall that I’m restricted to vegetables, fruit, limited lentils & brown rice, oil and a protein supplement.  Days 1-5 were filled with a bit of anxiety due to a new menu and trying to figure out what to eat and how to prepare it.  I found my rhythm during days 6-12 and they ended up being fairly uneventful; except for the persistent craving of bread!  Interestingly though, I’ve not had significant cravings of sweets or caffeine which I anticipated.  Now in the final week (day 18 of 21) the challenge is to finish strong.  The temptation to reintroduce foods that are not allowed is strong.    

Program reflections:

My apprehension of missing caffeine and deserts never become a huge issue 

The craving for bread was persistent during the entire process – I love bread! 

I’ve had great energy throughout the entire process

The meal prep was much more involved than I anticipated and kind of a hassle    

I’ve not missed meat at all.  On day 11 I was able to reintroduce lean meat and fish; I’ve done so less than half of the time. I will admit that I like vegetables so to make them the main component of my diet was not a huge hurdle for me 

I’m pleased to report that I’m more apt to eat organic food moving forward; I can pronounce every ingredient on the label!

I’m more apt to continue eating meatless meals and hope to do so 2x per week   

A goal of mine was to experience a wake up call nutritionally, I succeeded.  My hope is that my son and daughter will appreciate the example 

A goal of mine was to get closer to my ideal racing weight, I succeeded here as well.  I dropped 10-12 lbs. and I'm within 3-4 pounds of where I hope to race    

This week’s training schedule:

Monday - 1 hour bike trainer

Tuesday – 45-minute spin class followed by a 3 mile run

Wednesday – 1 hour swim followed by core & strength

Thursday - 1 hour swim followed by 6 mile run  

Friday - 1 hour spin class followed by core and strength
Saturday - 8 mile run

Sunday - 2.5 hour spin class

Lots to report

Not having a good sense of who reads this blog, it can be difficult to know what events to write about.  My guideline will be to reflect on the celebrations and challenges I face as I prepare for the big event in September.  

Liz is making steady progress with stamina, arm and finger usage and general mobility.  Each day we see incremental progress.  She is able to do most rudimentary things at least partially by herself.  Tomorrow will be a big day as we see the surgeon and receive our first post-op exam with x-rays.  I'm told the x-rays will determine the next step as relates to the arm casts.  If enough healing has occurred she will qualify for a removable cast, if not, hard casts will be required. 

Long story short...On Saturday, Sarah's 4-H horse bowl team placed second in the regional competition and qualified for the state competition in April!  Funny how things work out...they lost their first match and ended up in the losers bracket.  But then, they won 4 losers bracket matches and qualified for the regional championship!  Ironically the team they played for the championship was the same team they played (and lost) earlier that morning that sent them to the losers bracket.  Sarah's team lost again but placed second overall!  As you can imagine travel with Liz was difficult but, she wanted to see the action so I made it happen!

My training and fitness is going really well.  Despite the accident I had strong efforts in swim, bike and run this week.  The accident forced me to use my home bike trainer...it's good to be back in the saddle! My bike fits me like a glove and it's like reuniting with a long lost friend.  Masters swim class was great this week; I left feeling strong and invigorated!  My run continues to improve; I managed to get in a 3, 5 and 10 miler this week.  The 10 was outside this morning and unlike earlier runs where I felt like I had "concrete feet," today I could have run all day!  Yea for me!  My season opener half marathon is in two weeks. 

Had an epiphany this morning.  I felt much anxiety yesterday trying to figure out how to accomplish all my training amidst my new responsibilities as a full-time care giver.  My priority is the well being of my wife Liz and yet I'm finding it's my training that allows me to be fresh and energized in order to care for her.  When I ran this morning I felt the stress and anxiety leave my body, it was replaced with a renewed sense of love, gratitude and care for my wife!  Thank you Lord, Thank you.

Several have indicated support and encouragement regarding the blog...I appreciate the kind words.