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Decision-making time

I know that I really need to be focused on IM Canada, but as the race gets closer I’ve started thinking more and more about what’s ahead and what’s next. This is partly to distract me from the task ahead (23 days now) and partly because it’s always fun to have the “next” thing to be training for. Ever since I started doing triathlons, I’ve had a next race on the calendar, even if that race was months away. I’m worried that without a “next”, I’d feel a pretty big let-down after finishing up my current schedule.

So… what’s next?

I’ve already signed up for Ironman 70.3 California, a half-ironman race on March 27, 2010. I thought about signing up for Ironman St. George, the newest Ironman race, which is next May in St. George, Utah, but I couldn’t commit to it and it’s now closed. Part of my inability to commit was because I’m a little tired of Ironman training. As I’ve said before, I just don’t love being on the bike for the required 5-6 hour training rides. Between preparation, driving and actually riding, they take so much time and they’re a little boring. The other reason is that I think I’m going to make 2010 and (probably) 2011 running years.

I really enjoy running and I have some long-distance running goals that I want to achieve. I really like triathlon, too, and assuming I make it through Canada, I’ll have three Ironmans in three years. That seems like enough of that for now! It’s really difficult to train for long course triathlon and endurance running events at the same time. I’ve managed to work in a marathon and
50 mile ultramarathon during my Ironman training and recovery, but doing both takes a lot out of me and, I think, limits my potential in one or the other.

My plan, for now, at least is to switch to running after I recover from Canada. I’d like to concentrate on trail running and my medium-term goal will be to do a 100 mile ultra during 2010. Right now I think I’ll do Catalina Eco-Marathon on November 14 and the Northface Endurance Challenge 50 Miler in San Francisco on December 5. The Catalina Eco-Marathon is a toughie – mostly on trails, with a lot of climbing.

Last year’s winner finished in 3:22. It’s a relatively small race (250 finishers last year), which sounds nice right now. The course is supposed to be beautiful.

I am fairly confident that I can finish Canada, recover and train for a marathon in the 11 weeks between the two races. (As long as I don’t get injured that is. Knock on wood.) Getting from Canada to a 50 miler in 14 weeks will be tougher. I’ll definitely have the endurance base, mostly it will be a question of whether I can get my quads, calves and feet strong enough to withstand the pounding for that long. In 2007, when I did Lake Placid and JFK, I think I had 17 weeks between races. That was more than enough time, but how key are those extra three weeks?

During the fall I’ll obviously be running a lot, but I’ll also mix in some swimming and a little cycling. For cross training and so I don’t lose all the fitness in those areas. Then, if I survive the fall, I’ll continue with the endurance running training through the winter and bring back in some longer cycling and swimming in preparation for the half-ironman. Once I see how the fall and early winter go, I’ll start making my summer plans, which might include a shorter triathlon or two and will hopefully include some longer runs! Phew!

This all, of course, assumes that my body can put up with the stress from the extra running. But that’s why we do this stuff, to see how far we can push and what our bodies can handle, right?

On another note, here’s a video of Blake’s finish at Badwater. Craig somehow managed to take this while we were all running across the finish line:

And on a final note, today, like most Fridays, I did an ocean swim workout in Santa Monica that’s coached by Gerry Rodrigues. Gerry is a huge stud in the swimming world – a top pool and open water swimmer and a great coach. He wins a lot of swim races and places highly in all the others. Until recently he coached the UCLA masters swim team. Every Friday he coaches a pretty intense open water workout in Santa Monica. He’s done the Pier-to-Pier something like 20 times in a row and last Friday he gave some tips for the swim (but nothing about what to do when you get hypothermic). Today I told him about how cold I got and how slow I swam. He most said that he thought it was a combination of how little body fat I have, the fact I didn’t really eat in the morning before the race and that I didn’t warm up properly. He did say that due to the current and based on the top guys times, he would have expected me to be about 20% slower than my projected time. I guess that made me feel a little better about it. Then he went on to give me an example from his career – he said that during a 30 mile ocean swim, he got freezing cold about 4 hours in and didn’t think he’d be able to finish… Honestly, other than the fact that he ended up swimming another 4 hours and finishing the race, I didn’t hear much else. I have a hard time comparing a 2 mile swim to a 30 mile swim, regardless of how cold I felt. Damn. Thirty miles. Stud.

Swim – August 4
Distance: 4,265 yards (3,900 meters)
Time: 1:16

Run 1 – August 5
Distance: 11.9 miles
Time: 1:30
Average heart rate: 143
Course: West Hollywood, Hollywood, Beverly Hills
Conditions: Sunny and warm (high 70s)

Run 2 – August 5
Distance: 4.25 miles
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 136
Course: West Hollywood
Conditions: Evening, sunset, still high 70s

Bike – August 6
Distance: 63.7
Time: 3:30
Average heart rate: 114
Course: Culver City start, Ballona Creek Bike Path, Palos Verde loop
Conditions: Sunny and warm (70’s) and windy! I almost got knocked over by the cross-winds a couple times!

Ocean Swim – August 7
Distance: 2,700 yards
Time: 1:15
Gerry Rodrigues coached swim