Balancing Act

Solid weekend of training…

Saturday:  11 mile run, relaxed pace

Sunday: 2.5 hour bike followed by 4 mile run

Monday: 60 minute swim

Tuesday: 45 minute bike followed by 7 mile run

Wednesday: 90 minute bike

Thursday: 4 mile run followed by a 60 minute swim

Friday: 45 minute bike

Saturday: 3 mile run

Sunday: Lake Minnetonka half marathon followed by a 1 hour bike!

KEEPING THE BALANCE

Triathlon requires vast amounts of time to train which often means sacrifices made by my family.  Together, we’re working through a few issues related to my training.  In order to keep my time away from the family to a minimum I regularly get up at 4:20 am…seemingly a good thing.  The negative result can be that by 9:00 pm I’m falling asleep in a chair rather than interacting with others.  Add to this, fatigue is apparently causing me to be on edge and short-tempered and, my schedule occasionally causes me to miss church or family gatherings.  Understandably so, it can get a little complicated...   

With so much focus and dedication being directed inward, I must be careful about losing perspective and placing an unhealthy emphasis on my athletic pursuit. I must remind myself that triathlon is a sport, a form of recreation, and a hobby.  Sure, participating in triathlon reaps significant benefits, but keeping a healthy balance of life along the way is essential to my overall success.

Thank you Liz, Will and Sarah for the sacrifice you make allowing me to train for this adventure!

Will and Sarah are in the process of raising mallard ducks for their 4H project.
1-dozen eggs went into the incubator yesterday!  I'll keep you posted.  

I trust that you are healthy and doing well...
Regards,
Lee

Gear West / Valeo Health & Wellness

Shout Out to the crew at Gear West and Valeo Health and Wellness

Gear West

The crew at Gear West is good to work with! Over the years I’ve had many experiences with them in store and participating in their events and I’ve always been pleased with the result. 

Recently they accommodated me as I prepared for the ITU race.  They disassembled, boxed and shipped my bike to the site and are helping in my effort to purchase a new wetsuit.  I struggled to find the exact wetsuit so they offered to rent / try one for the race.  A great solution until the one I think is right arrives from the manufacturer.       

Valeo Health and Wellness

Several years ago I was referred to Dr. Aaron and Valeo Health and Wellness.  It was obvious from the first visit that Valeo was different than my past chiropractic experiences.  The Valeo team demonstrates outstanding patient care and the wellness-care philosophy is a great match for my lifestyle. My visits are based largely on my training regime so, during each visit Dr. Aaron seeks to understand the particular situation I’m experiencing and will adapt the treatment (maintenance, injury or recovery) based on each unique circumstance. I’m grateful for his ability to diagnose the problem and restore proper body function and balance. In addition to the physical care Dr. Aaron provides, the spiritual care of prayer at the conclusion of the visit is uplifting and a blessing for sure.  As an aside, Dr. Aaron recommended the nutrition cleanse that I tried and enjoyed!

Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon

Right back at it!  Next up for me is a half marathon on May 5th.  This will be my fourth time running this  event.  I look forward to the familiar run course, all the wonderful volunteers and spectators and seeing my good friend Bill looking for me out of his living room window as I pass by!  Details soon. 

   

ITU San Diego

I'm sitting in the San Diego airport waiting to depart on my return flight to Minneapolis, having just experienced my first destination race.  I now know why they call it the World Triathlon series; it's truly a world-class venue and event!

• Day 1
• All logistics unfolded as planned with the exception of a delayed flight out of Minneapolis that  caused me to miss my appointment with Triathlete magazine, a bit of a bummer  
• My hotel room was on the ground level literally 75-yards from the transition area and the race start line
• My bike was on site, assembled and ready for me within 2 hours of my arrival, check-in and packet pickup was fun and easy  
• I eased my nerves a bit with an open water swim practice at the race swim site, first since July!  Also took a spin my bike to make sure all was right with the assembly
• Had dinner with my brother-in-law Jeff who came in from the LA area.  We had a great seared-tuna dinner at a nearby fish market! 
• Day 2
• Woke up at 3:00 am pacific time, 5:00 am central (home) which is actually sleeping in for me! I forced myself to sleep until 5:00 local.
• I ate a good breakfast and then rode one loop of the bike course, super fun...I'm loving the 75 degree temps.  Home report; they received 9+ inches of snow!
• Jeff and a friend of his met up with me to watch the Pro / Olympic Women's team race!
• Staged all my gear for my race the next day and racked my bike in the pre-assigned transition spot. 
• My sister Lynn arrived from LA. We had a wonderful salmon dinner with their local, long- time family friends.
  
• Race Day
• Awoke at 4:15
• Prepared my bike and race spot with my gear
• Breakfast; 6-inch flatbread egg sandwich, fluids, energy jell
• Ran 1 mile warm up, swam 10 minutes
• Wave 4, 6:45 swim start!  Swam wide and zig-zagged a couple times due to tide current and not having done open water swimming since July.  29+ minutes.  Comparatively, not a strong swim but I felt orientated and balanced coming out of the water and ran through transition to my bike.  Fun to see Lynn and Jeff coming out of T1. 
  
  
  
  
• The bike course was technical with five 90 and 180-degree hairpin turns, some with no passing zones.  Somewhat confusing. 
• I was laughing and praising God for a beautiful day and wonderful experience!  I was having fun and enjoying every minute of the two lap 25 mile bike course where I averaged 21 mph. 
• My T2 bike / run transition was quick.  Again, I saw Lynn and Jeff...Jeff did an excellent job shooting photos during the entire race.
  
   
• Taking advise from my coach who wanted me to "finish strong" I was cautious for the first 3 miles. Feeling good, I made a surge for the final 3.2 finishing with a 7:38 pace.

 

• This was the earliest in the year by almost 60 days that I've raced a triathlon.  And while I did not come close to a personal best, it was a wonderful experience and a great confidence builder.  Thank you Lord for an injury free winter of training and a solid, healthy, balanced performance! 
• Following the race we had lunch with local friends and then I returned as a swim start volunteer for the Men's Pro race!  I was beat that evening! 

Kenya Children's Fund Web Page

Kenya Children's Fund posted a bit of my Ironman Adventure story on their website.  For those of you that do not know what I'm trying to accomplish please visit the KCF website, it will give you a quick recap!


I am celebrating my fifth race season this year. I confess I’ve become a little obsessed with the triathlon lifestyle. Triathlon, obviously, is an excellent way to stay fit and is why I originally took up the sport.
During the intense training process of the next five months, I will make the focus of my individual race performance secondary.  Instead I will focus my efforts on benefiting the Kenya Children’s Fund, a group dear to our family. Kenya Children’s Fund is a mission dedicated to curbing acute poverty in Kinyago Dandora, one of the poorest slums in Nairobi, Kenya.
So, as part of my process, I am looking for sponsors. All of the funds from each sponsored mile of the 140.6 mile race will provide food, clothing, and education for a KCF student.

...KEEPING THE BALANCE
Triathlon requires vast amounts of time to train, which often means sacrifices made by my family, friends, and employer. With so much focus and dedication being directed inward, I must be careful about losing perspective and placing an unhealthy emphasis on my athletic pursuit. I must remind myself that triathlon is a sport, a form of recreation, and a hobby. Sure, participating in triathlon reaps significant benefits, but keeping a healthy balance of life along the way is essential to my overall success. I must remember that it does not pay my bills (actually just the opposite), my family misses my time and attention as I train, and it can become a distraction to my career.
Realizing that balance is critical. I admire those who take emphasis away from their individual effort and dedicate it to a higher cause. Professional triathlete Chris Leito, for example, founded More Than Sport that “seeks to set a pace to help those the world forgets. …More than Sport is committed to making a positive impact in every community where they race. They want to see lasting change and improvement in the lives of children and families and they know that small efforts can go far.”
Please join me in support and prayer as I compete in more than a race for the precious Children of Dandora.

ITU San Diego Preview

I'm feeling ready for my San Diego olympic distance tri on Saturday!  A .9 mile swim followed by a 25 mile bike course and a 6.2 mile run. My personal best olympic time occured last year; 2:23:38. 
I'm nervous about not having seen, ridden or run the course...I'm nervous about a new wetsuit that I have not yet swam in and I'm nervous about my lack of outside bike training...other than that I feel strong and ready to race! Thought you might enjoy an excerpt from Triathlete.com on the race.       



Photo: Rich Cruse/Triathlon.org

USA Triathlon’s national events director, Jeff Dyrek, who had a hand in bringing the ITU race to San Diego and designing the course, shares some insider advice for tackling the Olympic distance race, which 3,000 age-groupers are expected to race on April 20.

1. Bring a wetsuit. “People probably anticipate Southern California to have warm water and great weather,” says Dyrek. But the water temperature in the protected Ventura Cove swim at last year’s race was a brisk 64 degrees.

2. Prepare for a fast but technical bike. The two-lap Olympic bike course features five 180-degree turns as well as a few long straightaways. A mile and a half into the bike course, there’s a U-turn, followed by a 3-mile stretch where athletes can “get down on their bars and really hammer it out” until the turnaround on East Mission Bay Drive. On Fiesta Island, athletes can build up speed before a U-turn near transition and the second lap. If it happens to be a rainy day, Dyrek says the course will still be safe for fast racing since none of the sharp turns follow steep descents.

3. Remember the sunscreen. For the run, Dyrek predicts ideal racing temperatures, but at the time of day, there will be little protection from the sun. He estimates 80 percent of the run course is along the water, so while it’s extremely flat, there’s little to no shade from trees or buildings.

5. Soak it in. The two-lap Olympic run course follows the bay around Bonita Cove, Mariners Basin and onto the Mission Beach boardwalk, with water views almost the whole way. “Take advantage of the scenery!” he says.

April Showers

One of the benefits of early morning training is that I never fight snowstorm traffic!  I arrived at the pool this morning at 5:30am well before traffic developed as the result of this most recent snowstorm.   

I did a timed distance swim this morning in masters class...I tried to pace myself and kept a nice relaxed stroke.  Despite feeling slower I was actually a minute faster than the last timed effort.  Some of you are thinking, oooh a whole minute - really?!  Triathlon is measured in minutes.  It's very common for several athletes in my age group to finish within a minute or two of each other! Last year I missed a podium position by :38 seconds!  And more than this...I've had many races both tri's and runs where my overall time year over year is within a couple minutes.  Think of that...I race for 2-1/2 hours and my time is within a couple minutes of last years time - unreal!    

Frustrating Ride

Yesterday's bike ride was frustrating to say the least. Not sure if you've experienced the unavoidable headwind but it happens occasionally to me.  No matter which direction I turn I encounter a headwind. 

Yesterday I rode a 38 mile loop out to Waconia, around the north side of the lake and back. I rode nearly all points of the compass and fought the wind in every direction!  The low point of the ride was having to ride through a snow drift on the bike path on the north side of Waconia.  Being cautious, I unclipped my left foot from the pedal and slowed down.  So what happens?  I lose it and tip over to my right side still clipped on to the pedal with my right foot.  Eating humble pie, wet with slush and water I got up and shook off. 
I seem to do this once a year! 
Now tired, wet and cold I rode to Starbucks and laid-up with hot coffee.  On the ride home I cursed the wind wondering how in the heck I could have a headwind in every direction I went!    

This morning I swam for 30 minutes sort of simulating the olympic distance swim I'll have in just two weeks.  I immediately followed the swim with a 3 mile treadmill run...no headwind!           

Self-doubt is creeping into my mind as I think about all the people that will race in San Diego that have been able to train outside most, if not all winter...I've been able to run outside many times but yesterday was only my second bike ride outside this spring!    

I'm tired from training, tired emotionally and I'm tired of this God-forsaken, never-ending winter!   OK, I got that off my chest!

This will seem a little out of context to some of you, others not so much.  Another passion of mine is hunting and fishing!  Seeing the spring turkey gobblers in full strut for the last week has caused me to really miss my spring turkey hunt!  I'm not able to make my annual trip to South Dakota due to the San Diego race!

  

Custom Tri Kit

• Despite being off my game emotionally I've maintained a decent training schedule this week!
• Tuesday:  45 minute spin bike followed by a 3 mile interval run
• Wednesday:  5 mile pace run
• Thursday:  4 mile moderate run followed by 1 hour masters swim session
• Friday: 70 minute bike trainer
• Saturday: 8 mile outside easy run
• Sunday 2 hour outside bike ride   

Just approved the final version of my custom tri kit...Can't wait to race in it! 



The impact of suddenly losing our friend and co-worker this week has been difficult for sure.  I was fortunate to work with Mike some 19 years and together we enjoyed numerous travel adventures over the years.  One such adventure comes to mind often...a bowhunt for Caribou in Quebec.  One of my favorite memories of the hunt actually occurred in a trout stream.  Mike was a very accomplished flyfisherman.  One morning atop a mountain ridge I looked down on the river below and saw Mike flyfishing, looking like a  scene from the movie A River Runs Through It!  A few hours later and no caribou sighting I joined him on rivers edge.  Mike had brought his fly rod and necessary flys in his backpack determined to catch the trophy brook trout we'd heard about back in camp.  Meanwhile, my guide asked me if I wanted to fish for trout...I said sure. He too brought gear; an old spinning rod and a treble hook.  On the hook he placed what appeared to be meat and in fact it was; caribou meat!  Long story short, I proceeded to catch trophy sized brook trout and lake trout to my hearts content.  Mike on the other hand struggled with his traditional tackle and technique but was very amused with my redneck approach! 

I'll miss ya my friend!

                

Emotional Stress

I’m sorry for not being able to post for the last week, I’ve been involved with several difficult and sensitive issues that have prevented me from getting to this. 

...Most significant is the passing of a co-worker who unexpectedly died while on vacation in the Philippines.  He was swimming and seemingly struggled with an undercurrent and was overcome by a heart attack, details remain vague.  As a senior member of our management team I’m responsible for industry communication; as you can imagine it’s  been a bit hectic. 

There’s no doubt that my training has been affected by outside factors occurring in my life right now.  I’m putting in the time based on my schedule but I’m not as mentally focused as I would like to be.  Likely related, I allowed poor eating habits to creep into my diet and I've felt the effects of this...I’m mostly back on track now as evidenced by a good weigh-in this morning but the week of Easter was brutal. 

Hopefully only temporary but, I’ve developed a hiccup in my calf.  It has yet to slow me down much but has been nagging me while running! 

I’m nearly set on final arrangements for the San Diego ITU triathlon…only 15 days out! 

• Bike shipping arrangements - check
• Flight arrangements - check
• Hotel accommodations - check
• Rental car - check
• Gear checklist - check