Great health and the amazing quality of life that comes with it can be accessible to every American in THIS lifetime. It will require great change. It will push us past our perceived limits more often than not. And that is hard....
But since a RED-iculous effort, when applied to a grand challenge often yields an extraordinary result, it might just be worth it.
For the most part, I'm a gadget guy. iPhone junkie, HUGE fan of the iPad and even though not much of a "gamer", that kinect thing that Microsoft came up with looks pretty unbelievable.
When it comes to my endurance training.....it's no different. At this point, I don't think I could live without my Garmin 305;
I think our remote coaching software (powered by trainingpeaks) could be one of the easiest and most effective training tools around.....but when it comes to gadgets, I think one of the coolest for anyone training for a long bike-ride HAS to be the COMPUTRAINER.
If you haven't used one of these things and you want to see fast gains in your ability......find one to train on. They are definitely not cheap (got it on eBay), but between the spinscan analysis which gives you an incredibly effective way to help you understand your pedaling mechanics to it's courses, the thing is awesome. But it gets better. In my stocking this year was my first "real course video" literally a high quality video of the bike course in St. George which interfaces with the resistance that the trainer puts in place......when I'm riding uphill, it gets harder.....when I speed up, the video moves faster.....the thing ROCKS. The most wild thing on Sunday when I used it for the first time had to be that when looking down I was in the red rocks of Utah and then when I looked up I was looking out the window into a blizzard......really cool. How long is that hill going to last? What gearing should I go with? High cadence vs. mash down?Yeah, you still have to do the work (this weekend 3.5 hour bike + .5 run), and no raceday is the same, but I find that knowing the course is a huge mental advantage.
No this isn't a racermate commercial......but I think it's the real deal and might be worth checking out if you're serious about improvement.
Remember, whereever you are and whatever you're doing, it's only the beginning,
Mike E.
Have you figured out where this edition's cheesy sign-off came from?
So I went into Christmas week with what I thought were pretty reasonable training goals:
1. Eat sensibly 2. Get +/- 10 hours of training. 3. TT on bike 4. Get in 3 "longs" Well.....I got the time-trial done.....
This week was the first (hopefully not of many) rounds of the fight between a body that needs to train and a mind that's elsewhere. R1 goes to the lazy mind. Week of 12/20 in Review: Training: 8.25 hours (+/-.75 swim + 5 bike + 2.5 run). Had to switch my long run and long bike on the fly....which was OK, but then I ran into a total mental-weakness issue on Christmas eve......just over an hour into my scheduled 3hours and I just couldn't stay focused......too much to do, had to get to festivities on time, still had a few presents to buy, etc......then of course last night we had this little snow issue, which pretty much negated my long swim (hoping to make up for tnite). Nutrition: So the mission was to eat sensibly. Not TERRIBLE in this regard, except for the dreaded Christmas cookie platters and Linds' homemade cinnamon roles. Pretty much kryptonite to my resolve. I'm sure I'm not where I want to be, but there is much to do in this regard, so I'm not going to stress about it. Mindset: Busy busy busy. As mentioned above, this was the weakest spot in my training week no doubt. The ultimate "limiter". It was very very hard for me to focus b/c there were so many other last-minute holiday items to nail down. Similar to the nutrition sentiment, I'm not going to stress over this.....but it's important to recognize. Preview Week of 12/27: Training: 11.5 hours planned: 3 swims, 2 bikes, 3 runs, 1 strength/flexibility. I'm not leaving myself any days off this week, due to 2 last week and a couple of weak-efforts......this is a debatable approach....many would say, always get your rest day in. However I need to take advantage of this time of year. I tend to go into more planning-mode in regards to work, so this is an important time to get work done training-wise......the cycles of life I guess. Nutrition: With any luck the holiday treats will be on their way out......and now it's time to get more fruits & veggies in. Also need to keep focused on my hydration. Cold weather makes it tough for me to drink as much water as I probably should. I usually default to brewed tea..... Mindset: Less hectic than last week, but still more than normal (if there is such a thing)......as long as I put the time in to stay organized, I should be OK.
Do what you want, dig what you do, 'cause that's what life is all about (Norman B). Mike E.
The more I learn about ultraendurance training and specifically about ultradistance-triathlon, the more I realize this is a game of slow and steady. This seems like an easy concept right? Consistency and volume trumps intensity.......but what it lacks in pain it makes up for in patience and focus. It's very difficult to stay focused for hours and hours regardless of the task at hand.....
Yesterday I biked for 3 hours (2 hours in AM and 1 hour in afternoon) and today I swam for just over an hour. The good news is that this is a solid base to work from. The physical aspects were tiring, but not unbearable, but maintaining good form during the sessions was challenging. As the little muscles get tired and the motions are harder to stabilize, we lose movement efficiency.....I didn't lose much on the bike session, probably because I broke it into 2 sessions. The swim however, was a different story. I'd say I made it about 80% of session before I was working much harder at concentration than I was at physical workload. This is an important part of the game and I need to keep working at it......
Week of 12/13 in Review:
Training: 6 hours (1.75 swim + 3 bike + 1.25 run). Admittedly, this is a pretty light week; a little rest/recovery before the start of formal training.
Nutrition: I typically strive for a 80-90% plant-based diet. No, I'm not against meat per se, and I certainly don't shy away from junk-food, but I try to stay away from the various toxic-foods that are so prevalent....I'll try to temper my opinions here (for a little while anyway). Current weight +/- 165. Race weight +/- 155.
Mindset: Refreshing week. Taking a few days off can be such a recharge. Looking forward to the training-challenge that lies ahead.
Preview Week of 12/20:
Training: 9.75 hours planned. Missing 2 days b/c of misc holiday stuff. Need to do a TT on the bike and the obligatory 3 "longs" (Swim, bike, run) and with any luck will get some more technical sessions in in all 3.
Nutrition: Holiday festivities....goal is sensible, but not miserable. Steady weight is a win.
Mindset: It's going to be a hectic week so it's important for me to roll with whatever presents itself.
Sometime in the summer of 2009 I decided I'd take this little endeavor on, and after gaining some much needed wisdom of patience (more on that lesson later) I've been slowly building both my physiological "engine" as well as my equipment base......and since speed in the saddle seems to matter most, I've been studying and building.
My first conclusion? Triathlon has a VERY high equipment ceiling and a relatively steep initial ascent if you want a solid ride......quality Tri-bike? Oh, you want good wheels with that? Wait you wanted pedals too? A helmet? Something to carry water bottles in? Shoes that are easy on/off? The right gear for race day? And on it goes.
And that's not even the "next level gear"; you know the stuff that manufactures speed:
ZIPPS for $2000
a power-meter for another $1500-ish,
super-fast wetsuit for another $500
some new SIDI T2s +/- $200
and some additional gear to be named later.....
I guess it's a good thing I don't really have any "traditional" hobbies (golf, bars, etc) and with 3 kids not yet in double digits, certainly don't have a social life......the problem is, I'm almost as much a cheapskate as I am a total data-geek; It's probably why I'm hooked on endurance sports....I love the constant strategy and tweaking to gain an edge....so, since my kids are walking to school up hill both ways, in 6 feet of snow with holes in their shoes (I know, they're pretty tough little suckers) another $4500 is out of the question at this point......maybe some rentals this go around.
In the mean time, I'll just keep slowly toiling away here on my Q-36 space modulator.
At some point growing up I realized that names, like all words had meaning......that, when translated from their native language, were labels that "meant something".....I learned that my surname "Eisenhart" was a German expression that meant "as hard as iron".....which I suppose not quite as cool as "as hard as osmium" (the hardest element on earth), and certainly leaving the door open to any number of jokes (hard-headed only scratching the surface)......yet always seemed cool enough to me.......eventually, no doubt through the misguided (often testosterone driven) thought processes of male adolescence, it became my self-label, the proverbial chip (on my shoulder), a strong driver for me to work harder (bordering the level of "a-holism" at times, which of course is totally different than "a-hole-ism", something WE ALL occasionally suffer from), to prove, mostly to myself, that I could be tougher and go bigger in whatever endeavor I chose.
Sports was the obvious outlet for this kind of energy, and by age 11, I realized the joys of mind-jarring and limb-bending athletic pursuits....football and wrestling seemed a natural fit and after a lifetime affair with baseball was replaced by the speed and intensity of lacrosse life was in balance.....a balance that was thrown off as I made my way to UCONN......thankfully, the internal dialog was short:
"What, no wrestling team?.......Not to worry, they have RUGBY"
...and there was nothing quite like this "hooligans game played by gentleman" to keep the chip ground down and life in balance.......but shortly after graduation, despite the occasional summer tourneys with the old boys, there was the real-world: a new business venture to put heart and soul into, a new family to chase and plenty of other things to compete for time.........unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it, the little chip started growing back, the scales tipped and a voice questioning whether this was truly the life of a person "as hard as Iron" was back and loud....and then the "everybody wins" situation presented itself.....
"why not do a marathon"
....despite my total distaste for this "sport" (after all, isn't running just punishment?)......a marathon held special allure, most certainly from childhood. Watching my Dad complete the (now ING) Orange Bowl marathon a couple of times in the days of warrior runners (before the days of GU, good hydration products, dry-fit clothing or even "good" shoes) was family legend.....from the bitter defeat of a body shutting down and the ensuing DNF to the glory of a personal best and a "sub" finish.....it made total sense to challenge the family to take part in just one more.....and what better time than Dad's birthday dinner.....the old "if you do it, I'll do it" announcement and a healthy dose of I'm not going to back down bravado (this was my first race of any distance, ever) and the stage was set. A great way to grind down that chip and what turned out to be a great way to restore balance.....what it lacked in contact, it made up for in learning.....I did not meet my goal that day and I continue to learn.....
"Ready to give up yet stupid?.....nope, not just yet"
Sometime in there at Pro-Activity, we were creating our first version of an endurance club, Pro-Activity Conditioning and Endurance Racing (PACER) where bigger achievements deserved bigger recognition (stolen right from the world of martial arts)....Sure I had achieved my "PACER Black" for completing the marathons, but there were still bronze (which I missed, quite literally, by seconds in Philly) and silver (doable, but a stretch) as well as gold and platinum.....both of which seemed out of reach....and then there was the ultimate achievement.....the RED (short for, you guessed it, RED-iculous).....a very simple statement of what it would take for someone to achieve it......basically a world-class performance......perfect timing indeed, why not bake the marathon right into an even bigger goal......to live up to the name.....to be, even for a moment, "Eisenhart"......why not go after the only endurance event that claimed to be exactly that, as hard as iron. 140.6 miles of grueling effort....the IRONMAN......oh, but an IRONMAN completion achieves merely a platinum on the PACER wall.....so if you're going to go, why not go big? Why not shoot for aKONA Slot. Now THAT would require a RED-iculous effort.
And so, what's in a name? I felt it only appropriate, to give this blog a title befitting of the chip that got me here......a question that I'll no doubt wrestle with for the next 20 weeks......one that I will answer sometime after May 7, 2011 but only for myself....you're welcome to answer it as often as you like....I love encouragement and I've proven myself too dumb to be discouraged very long....so have at it.
I make only 1 promise.....I will make this part of my training effort as often as I can. I will capture my thoughts before, during and after the training sessions that are sure to either make or break this effort.....so if you ever wanted to be a fly on the mind of someone chasing something that is likely out of reach from the start.....but never out of reach entirely.....follow this....I hope you enjoy the ride.
If you haven't used one of these things and you want to see fast gains in your ability......find one to train on. They are definitely not cheap (got it on eBay), but between the spinscan analysis which gives you an incredibly effective way to help you understand your pedaling mechanics to it's courses, the thing is awesome. But it gets better. In my stocking this year was my first "real course video" literally a high quality video of the bike course in St. George which interfaces with the resistance that the trainer puts in place......when I'm riding uphill, it gets harder.....when I speed up, the video moves faster.....the thing ROCKS. The most wild thing on Sunday when I used it for the first time had to be that when looking down I was in the red rocks of Utah and then when I looked up I was looking out the window into a blizzard......really cool. How long is that hill going to last? What gearing should I go with? High cadence vs. mash down? Yeah, you still have to do the work (this weekend 3.5 hour bike + .5 run), and no raceday is the same, but I find that knowing the course is a huge mental advantage.
