He also won’t clear me to race until he sees me again which isn’t going to be until September 13th. Our last race of the year is September 19th – The Devil’s Challenge, my other “A” race of the year.

So that means that my racing season is definitely over for this year.

But I’m okay with that, or at least as good as I can be any way.

The way I see; I haven’t even been back on the bike yet since the crash. I had high hopes to get on it this weekend, but that didn’t happen. In the interest of full disclosure and to keep myself honest when I look back at this post; I lost my job on Friday, so Saturday was a bunch of running around to do, hitting up some of my contacts for potential leads and working on the resume and Sunday was a recovery day from drowning my sorrows on Saturday night.

But back to the bike – I only have 3 weeks of training before the race and I only barely started working hills before the crash, so there is no way that I could be ready for Devil’s Challenge in that short of time.

Also, the idea of flying down those hills at the speeds we can hit is a bit intimidating right now as well. I figure that will take a little time to get rid of that, but I’m not that worried since I’m a speed junky and once I feel the rush again it won’t take me long to build up my nerves.

Now add in the fact that I can’t even work on my swim until the Monday before the race and that pretty much takes care of things for the year.

But, I’m going to stay focused during the off season and make sure that I’m ready to hit it hard starting with the first race of next year.

And to keep on my Ironman time schedule, I have to do my half next as well. So, even more incentive to keep training.

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

So my training and racing season were going along quite nicely until the 3rd of this month when everything came to a screeching halt.

I crashed my bike while I was out on a training ride and I took the brunt of all the damage.

All summer long I was making most of my training and racing goals with the exception of running, but then I think that will always be my Achilles heel. But more on all of that in a future post.

On the 3rd my goal for that training ride was to hit 32 miles per hour on a flat. Previously I managed to top 30, so I was pretty confident that I would be able to that night… and I did.

I know that I hit that mark both from my cycle computer and the fact that one of my riding companions told me he was doing 30 and I was pulling away from him.

The problem with that; is that as I was cruising along at 32, down in the aero bars, something caused me to veer to the right a bit and I ended in the gravel on the shoulder of the road. I tried twice to get back on the blacktop, but the lip between the gravel and blacktop was too big for me to get the bike over it.

As I was contemplating what my next move would be my front tire dug in and I flipped.

The next thing I remember was lying alongside the road being asked if I was okay and having my legs completely covered with mosquitoes; this happened on River Road in Brookfield, if you aren’t familiar with that area it is all swamp and wetlands around there.

A huge thanks and shout out by the way to the 2 guys that stopped to help me; Chad Weber who I train with all the time and Brent Emery whose group we were riding with. Chad and his wife Renee along with my beautiful bride Shelly helped me from that point on.

So the bike made it out with only a small ding in the front rim and Wheel and Sprocket (where I got the bike and have all my work done) was able to true up the wheel within less than a millimeter of perfect. They figure I should be good for a little while on it. Good thing since I want to upgrade those down the road.

As for me, I didn’t make it out of that incident quiet as good. I ended up with a level 3 separated shoulder, 3 broken ribs, numerous bruised ribs, road rash on my legs, arms and face, and just to make things annoying a sprained thumb on the good arm side making both hands useless for a few days.

I also busted up my helmet to the point where it won’t even fit right anymore, but after a CT scan there was absolutely no head trauma.

And due to that, I can honestly say that the helmet saved my life!

And one more shout out to everyone else (Ray, Julie, Chad, Renee, Leah, Dave and Andy) that I train and race with for all chipping in together to get me a snazzy new helmet so that my noggin is continued to be protected!

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

Things have been a bit hectic lately and as a result some things have been suffering. That includes my time to write any posts.

And, of course, time to train.

While I have been getting some training in and also doing the Tri-Fit classes, I haven’t been doing anywhere near as much as I should be.

Unless one of my Tri-Fit coaches are reading this; in which case I didn’t mean any of that, I’ve actually been training like crazy. Yeah, that’s what I really meant to say!

But that has all started to change this weekend. Along with my usual long walks with the girls, I got a run as well.

I also picked up some more running clothes to help get me a little more motivated.

And tomorrow night I will get the bike hooked back up to the trainer and log a few quality miles on that bad boy as well.

The weather is starting to warn up so it’s time to get serious about this stuff!

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

One of the tougher decisions, that I believe I’m getting closer to making, is how hard do I want to push myself in doing a half-marathon. I found one that I could do at the end of March, or one of two that I could do in the middle on May.

While I don’t mind pushing hard, I’m just not certain I can be ready to go by the end of March. So from that perspective alone I’m pretty sure which way I’ll go, but for now I’m keeping my options open.

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

Ergo, if you stop training you can lose that technique very quickly. And I just discovered that the hard way this past Saturday when I got in the pool for the first time in over 2 months.

The lack of training hurt my running a bit, but overall I didn’t lose that much time and what little that I did lose I was able to get back pretty quickly. If anything suffered with my running it would be stamina. And I could pretty much same the same thing about the bike now that I’ve gotten back on it a few times.

But the swim! That’s a whole other story.
I really felt the lack of training right from the first few strokes and it never got any better from there.

On both my easy 100 and my fast 100; I was slower by over 15 seconds. That may not sound like a lot at first, but multiply that out to either a half or full mile and the number becomes significant.

And while I’ve never been the prettiest swimmer out there when I’m going all out for time, I could feel that even my slow pace was sloppy, ugly and anything but smooth.

Oh yeah, and I could really feel it in the muscles both right then and there as well as the next day.

Next time (hopefully I won’t, but you never know) I lose my motivation I need to make sure that it isn’t for as long of a period as it was this time.

I think the better thing to do is to just take some planned time off with a set schedule as to when training will start back up. That way I can let myself slack off for a little bit, but there is a fixed end to it rather than just flailing around aimlessly which is definitely what I did.

At least I’m back at it now, now the only trick is finding the time to get to the gym and get in the pool.

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

I only mentioned one of them last week, but I had two that I really wanted to accomplish.

The first was to not walk any of the hills. It wasn’t easy, especially since Shelly and I didn’t train on hills as much as we wanted to this past year. But, with sheer determination as my driving force, I was able to climb each one of them with out getting off the bike and walking.

Although, when I got to the top of that first hill I wasn’t to sure why that was such an important goal. In case you aren’t aware of it, the first hill is only about 2 tenths of a mile out of the transition area and is a full mile long.

I still hadn’t caught my breath from the swim.

The second goal was to beat last years time of 2:01 with at least a time of 1:50 or less.

My official time was 1:49:09, I’m pretty happy with that.

Nutrient, as mentioned last week, was still an issue though. I plan for enough calories during the race (I burned 1749), but the hard part was getting it in while still trying to catch my breath. More training is obviously needed.

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

Not that I always remember to listen to my own advice or knowledge, but I try.

But proper nutrient is important whether you are talking about a race or training, without you are sure to hit the wall and crash and burn.

And once again I managed to do just that.

As my last big workout before taper week, I did a brick consisting of a long bike ride and a run. Prior to heading out I had a big breakfast and then did a few things around the house to at least let it settle down so I wouldn’t cramp up.

I still felt a little full as I headed out on the bike, but nothing terrible. As I was headed back home I took a look at my watch and had only burned 600+ calories. Nothing too drastic and since I was feeling okay, I opted to not eat anything that I brought with me.

I got back and headed out on my run, still not eating anything during my transition.

I finished the first mile of the 3 mile run (it turned out that my 15k training plan gave me a 3 mile run today which play into my brick quite nicely) and things started to take a turn for the worse.

The remaining 2 miles where totally brutal; I was able to complete each mile within the training plans time limit, but it involved a lot of walking and wasn’t very pretty.

I got back home and bonked big time. A look at my watch showed that I ended up burning over 2,000 calories in the end.

I was light headed, starving and couldn’t seem to get my feet back under me. I finally ended up crashing on the couch for at least an hour before I was able to start feeling normal again.

A quick intake of a couple hundred calories would have prevented all that from happening.

I learned that lesson during a race and now I’ve learned it during training. Hopefully I can remember those lessons and not have that happen again.

So, as I mentioned earlier; it’s now taper week for the Devil’s Challenge. I’m not as ready as I would like to be, but I’m feeling like I should be able to at least better last year’s time, especially since I have the new bike.

A quick look at last year’s results had me finishing at 2:01. I’m hoping to cross the line with a time of 1:50 or less. We’ll see what happens.

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

It is our nemesis and yet at the same time the race we look forward to every year now as well.

I’m of course talking about the Devil’s Challenge Triathlon. The one race that everyone in the Triathlon community knows about whether they done it or.

For me; it’s my last race of the season, for Shelly, she will have one more left.

And as of tonight Shelly and I are now registered and ready to take on the challenge.

When it comes to this race there only seems to be two schools of thought when it comes to this race; you either hate it and you never want to do it again or you love it (in a strange love / hate sort of way) and can’t wait for the challenge each year.

The biggest reason for the first school of thought is the hills on the bike course. And by hills, I mean all the hills that are on the course! It’s not uphill all the way, but at times it feels that way. In reality there are some killer downhill runs that let you get up some serious (and I do mean serious) speed.

Last year on the old Grocery Getter I believe I topped 40 MPH. This year with the new speed machine (I’m still working on the name) I have no idea what speed I could reach, but I’ll let you know.

The other reason people tend to hate this race is the weather. Late September in northern Wisconsin can mean only one thing, cold harsh and unpredictable. And that is exactly what it has been the last two years that we’ve been going to this race.

Now the reasons why people love this race (in a weird triathlete sort of way) is for exactly the same reasons that I just gave you.

The hills challenge you to always have them in mind no matter what other race you are training for because they are there just waiting. And the weather forces you to be prepared no matter what.

The biggest thing someone needs to keep in mind when it comes to this race is that you are NOT racing against the other triathletes, you are racing against yourself!

If it is your first year doing the race then all you are really doing is establishing your baseline. If you’ve already run the race, then you are trying to beat that baseline and create a new PR that year.

That’s all, nothing more, nothing less. If you get more out of it, like winning your division, then that’s great. But if you don’t, then no big deal.

I believe this is the one race that can really keep you grounded and remind you that the sport of triathlon is not about winning, but about improving yourself.

And that, more than anything else, is what makes this race a great one to participate in.

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

But what you don’t see (at all as far as I can recall) is any bumper stickers about cyclists following the rules of the road.

And there needs to be!

I can’t tell you how many times, whether I’m in my car or on my bike, that I see people on bikes completely ignoring the rules of the road and just doing there own thing.

This list in my opinion is endless, but the big ones that I see all time are; riding on the wrong side of the road, riding on the sidewalk, blowing through stop lights and stop signs like they aren’t even there and getting off traffic as if it was obligated to stop for you.

Physics is hard to deny or fight; when it is car versus bike, the car will almost always win. And the losing side can be very, very ugly and painful!

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a perfect saint when it comes to this stuff, I stumble once in a while myself. When I’m riding through my neighborhood which has stop signs every other block, I don’t necessarily come to a full and complete stop at each one (it’s just too hard getting all this mass moving again). I do, however, always slow way down at each one of them (see previous comment about physics) and I do come to a complete stop if there is a car coming.

I can even do the stop and go (as long as it’s not for a long time) without unclipping. So at 4 way stops I can come to a stop and let the car (who has the right away) proceed first.

That never happens!

The driver (being so conditions by other cyclists) is convinced that I should go first and will sit there and either stare at me, or will way me through.

I’ve also gotten yelled by at least one person on a bike for “cutting them off” when I started to do that same thing in my car. Bad idea on their half; I yelled backed and they didn’t like what they heard I assure you of that.

Bottom line of all this rambling; let’s all just follow the rules of the road (and watch out for each other as well) and the road will be a much safer place overall.

I now step down from the soapbox.

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training

This race is now right up there with our all time favorites and we will definitely be going back there next year to do it again.

It was very well organized with what seemed like more volunteers than there were triathletes. And every single one of them was friendly and willing to help. And all the volunteers made it easy to know where you where going at all times while on the course. Something that was extremely helpful since we never got a chance to check out the course ahead of time.

We even got a great announcement as we crossed the finish line (hand in hand, because how else would we finish) about the fact that we were there celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary. Very cool.

I can’t say enough great things about the race, so I’ll just post a great big Thank You to everyone up there that was involved and we’ll see you next year. 13 | 2

Later,
John W.
A Clydesdale in training