Gary’s Fitness Blog

Here’s a few links to where and what the EndureChallenge was:

1. How it started - Why guys need to find fitness (and life) milestones
2. When I decided what to do - Celebrating 30 years of living well
3. Great Illini Race Report - iron distance race on Sept 6th, 2008
4. Lake City Marathon Race Report - marathon ran on Sept 13th, 2008

I was able to get some data loaded into motionbased, but not all because the Garmin 305 started deleting the oldest data during the week.  I have the totals of the workouts, but not the gps data (and therefore no maps or motionbased links).  Here’s what I have:

1.  Great Illini Marathon - don’t have gps
2.  Effingham, Illinois to Paris, Illinois - don’t have gps
3.  Paris, Illinois to Attica, Indiana - Sept 9th
4. Attica, Indiana to Logansport, Indiana - Sept 10th
5. Logansport, Indiana to Warsaw, Indiana - Sept 11th
6. Lake City Marathon

It’s too bad that I don’t have the gps map from my first day of bike touring, it would be comical to see how much I was backtracking and moving around the Illinois countryside to get away from small gravel roads.  The other thing about the data during the bike touring is that I started the gps when I left the hotel in the morning and stopped it when I got to the next one at night; therefore the charts are a little odd because I stopped to eat at diners, fast food joints, talk to locals, etc.  That’s what I love about touring!

Thoughts on what this taught me about my athletics:

Lesson One: The biggest lesson that I’m taking away from this event is that I don’t need to fear Ironman.  This was my third Iron Distance race in the past three years and up to this point I think that Ironman was still intimidating me in some ways.  The biggest way that it intimidated me was (as I mentioned in the lake city race report) by making me fear a complete collapse during the run that left me immobile.  That fear caused me to develop a race strategy that was possibly too conservative.

Granted, I did have somewhat of a breakdown during the last 10 of the marathon on the 13th, but the next time I do Ironman (Ironman Louisville in 2009) I will remember that it too 2.4 miles of swimming, 435 miles of cycling and 40.2 miles of running before I finally slowed below a 7:30 pace (and I still managed a 7:22/mile pace overall).

Lesson Two: I can ride a bike faster than “touring” pace.  I have been pretty consistent over the last couple years in telling myself, “back off the bike or you won’t be able to run… back off, back off.”  If you read my Ironman Wisconsin Race Report from 2007, that was a pretty consistent theme during that ride.  I wish that I had my heart rate data from the Great Illini because I guarantee that I rode well above 145 - 150bpm, which is what I used as my ceiling (or mostly) during IMMOO last year.

The one little bit of data that I have from the bike is when I turned my Garmin 305 on during the last couple miles of the bike during the Great Illini (to have it ready for the marathon).  During that period I was sitting in the 157 - 161 bpm, which is a time that I was trying to relax and prepare for the run.  The best thing is that I got off the bike and ran well!

Lesson Three: The third thing that I learned (again) will relate to training over the next year - when you find your behavior and emotions changing, it is a good sign of overtraining.  I noticed this during the touring that occurred between the two races.  I remember sitting down in the hotel room after one of the nights of touring and just felt like crying?  No reason, I felt wasted and wanted to cry as I laid there on the bed.  You can probably see some of this if you watch the youtube video updates that I shared.

As I sit here (Wednesday, 4 days after the last marathon) I have been dealing with small levels of depression each day.  Nikki has noticed that I haven’t been in the “best mood” too.  It might be an exaggeration to say “depression”, but it is really hard to find anything to be happy about - even though I know there is a lot to be happy for.  I believe this is just another way that our mind tries to tell our body what to do and not do?  It’s not easy to get out there and exercise when you have lowered moods; therefore I’m going to listen and be very careful over the next few weeks.  I don’t want to get sick (like I did two years ago a few weeks after Ironman).

Lesson Four: I have talked about this a little bit in the race reports from both races (Great Illini and Lake City Marathon) - but when racing in endurance events, getting the mind out of the way is a major part of the race.  The body must be trained and fine tuned, but the mind must also get out of the way and allow the body to work.

Chris McDonald just did an interview over on Endurance Corner Radio where he talks about his 2nd Place finish at Ironman Louisville and 1st Place finish (and course record) at Ironman Wisconsin a week later.  It’s a great interview and he does talk about the mental challenge during Ironman Wisconsin and how it played a role in his race.  They spend a couple moments talking about the mental aspect of fatigue.

The last thing that I’m excited about is that I’ve learned about barriers that I’ve built over the years and how those barriers are abstract constraints that I’ve placed on myself more than they are real physical and physiological limiters.  That is a lesson worth its weight in gold.

So how was I going to approach the marathon at the end of my EndureChallenge journey?  It would have been easy to go into the race thinking that all I wanted to do was finish the race, but other than celebrating the transition from my 20’s to my 30’s, I wanted to try and break through some psychological barriers that I’ve developed around racing over the years.  (I’ll write more on that in some upcoming posts).

So here is how I approached the race:

1.  Even though I wore my Garmin 305 and the heart rate monitor (thanks Saori and Paul), I told myself that I would not look at the heart rate data at all during the race.  I also decided that I would only look at the watch at mile 10, 13.1, 20 and the finish.

2.  Without the feedback from the Garmin, stopwatch or race clocks (this race didn’t have clocks or timers along the course), I decided to run a pace/effort that felt doable - But an effort that was “hard”.

3.  I also told myself before the race that I didn’t want any excuses for not “meeting expectations”.  I knew that there would be periods where I would try and use the Great Illini race the week before or the bike touring during the week as reasons that I wasn’t running well - I decided before hand that those excuses wouldn’t be acceptable.  (Easier said than done.)

Race Start:

There were tornado warnings in the area and it was raining pretty hard on and off during the night, so the race was pushed back a half hour.  At one point I was nervous that they would decide to cancel the race, which would have meant that my week would have come to an anticlimatic ending.  But after some sitting around and with the race director trying to get the course remarked with chalk, the race got started.

First 10 miles:

Before the race, I heard two girls discussing how they had planned on running just under 3 hours.  I thought that if I was going to see what was possible, why not latch onto them and keep them in sight as long as possible.  And hope that they don’t go out in 2:50 pace, because I wouldn’t have any way of knowing.

As we took off, it felt pretty comfortable to run with the small group of 4 or 5 that chose to run that pace.  I knew it was harder than I’d run in some time, but not unthinkable.  The race consisted of 3 loops (1,2,3) then you ran over a bike path to another division around a lake and ran 5 more loops (a,b,c,d,e).  I ended up running just behind one of the girls through loop d (when she started to pull away a little).

I crossed the 10 mile marker at 69:xx minutes.  “Holy Crap,” I thought, “I can’t believe that I’m actually running this fast still.”  It felt good at that point and around mile 12 the second girl started to run next to me.  As we ran back through the bike trail towards the half way point she said that she’d hurt her knee and that she was going to fall out at the half.  I was a little bummed that I wouldn’t have anyone to run around, but also knew that with all the loops there would be ways to see others and pace myself.

As we ran through the half, my watch said 1:31:xx.  Still going pretty well, I thought, but wondered how long it would last.

After running loop 1 and 2 of the second half, I knew that I was going to be in trouble - so I decided to take a conservative approach to my walking breaks.  I decided to walk 30 seconds at every other aid station,  I had been doing 30 seconds every 3 to 4 miles.

It seemed to help as I was able to run strong during the run portions of my race.  The a and b loops went pretty well, even the c and d loops were steady (although I could feel the pace slowing quite a bit).  I ran through the 20 mile marker at 2:24:xx, pretty good I thought.  10k to go.

I could feel the pace slowing more and more, along with my legs beginning to hurt significantly.  Many times during a run/race when I feel the pain and hurt begin to set in, I have confidence that my legs won’t give out (like on the run during the Great Illini last week).  This week it didn’t happen.  The last 10k was pretty rough.  I never stopped moving, but at times I really, really wanted to.

Finish: 3:17:xx (results not up yet)

Final Conclusions and Thoughts:

Most people say that I should be incredibly happy with how the marathon turned out.  To be honest, I don’t think that I’m ever fully excited about a race result.  Even at the Great Illini I wasn’t too happy and I set an Iron Distance Triathlon personal best by 12 minutes.  There is always something to improve when I look back.

But, that wasn’t the point of the week or the marathon.  It was to celebrate and I feel like that is exactly what I did for a week.  How lucky am I that I have the ability to get out there every day and push my body to the limit, without my body caving in?  How lucky am I that I have the health that allows me to be active and mobile everyday?  How lucky am I that I have so many friends and family that were supportive and interested in my crazy-little-mess-of-a-week?  How lucky am I that I have a wife that loves me, puts up with this craziness and supports me and even encourages me?

At one point early in my collegiate career I sat down and wrote out a sketch of goals in most of the major areas of my life.  The areas included:  education, financial, career, athletic and personal development/spiritual.  As I look back, many of those goals are starting to become a reality or have already been realized.  I remember after running my second marathon in 4:00, I thought that qualifying for the Boston Marathon may never be possible.  I sit here today a little dissappointed that I didn’t run under 3:10 a week after an iron-distance triathlon and 323 miles of bike touring - YES, I am a very lucky guy.

Athletic Conclusion to Marathon:

I am almost always very conservative when I develop a race strategy for triathlons and marathons.  I rather be conservative and finish well then go out and limp my way home - is my normal line of thinking.  While this often proves itself well in triathlons and marathons, I also realize that by always being too conservative we may never realize our full potential.

Fear of Failure is often the biggest limiter we face in endurance athletics

As I mentioned above, I did not want any excuses or reasons for not giving this marathon everything I had.  This meant I had to be ok with walking, stumbling or crawling across the finish line.  So I gave it a shot during this marathon and I feel very good about the opportunity my mind allowed my body have.

So was it realistic to run under 3 hours or even 3:10 at this race, with this training or in this situation?  Probably not, but it sure felt good to at least try!

I spent yesterday working at the finish line of Ironman Louisville again this year.  Again, it was motivating to see people accomplish this athletic feat.  But it also left me thinking, “Why do I find this fun again?”  When you see people collapsing, vomiting, delirious and unable to walk - it requires some inner-searching.

But I’ll say that I was more motivated than deterred.  So, Nikki and I signed up for the race next year.  I’m excited because it was a lot of fun to train side-by-side for Ironman Wisconsin last year.

The other thought I kept having yesterday - What in the world have I got myself into?  Saturday will start my “Living Well, Challenge“.

It will be interesting to see what I have to say Saturday night after finishing the Iron-distance triathlon (Great Illini) and realize I still have 260ish miles to ride and another marathon to run in the next 7 days.  If you want to keep track of what’s going on here are a few ways:

youtube.com/endurancebasecamp –> I plan on uploading video updates each day

twitter.com/ditschfitness –> I’ll be txt tweets all the time, follow me and receive the txt’s

facebook.com (my profile) –>  check in with friends on blackberry fairly often on my page

I’m also looking at setting up a gps tracking site, which will track my blackberry as I travel along the highways of Illinois and Indiana.  When I get that finalized I’ll share here.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog using the links in the right sidebar –>

I want to give a little shout out here to Nikki, Lake City Marathon and my parents.  All three have helped me out to financially leave my clients for a week and do this adventure.  I also want to thank all of my clients (coaching and personal training) who are willing to put up with my craziness and let me be absent from the studio for a week.

In my last post, Why guys need to find fitness (and life) milestones., I wrote:

What do I have in mind for my “milestone” event?

In May, I made a post titled “Help me find my new challenge“. At the time I wasn’t looking forward to my birthday, but I think that as I come up with ideas, I will. The idea of riding across Nebraska is probably out at this point - but what I have on my mind right now would actually be more challenging physically - and pretty cool (IMO).

Stayed Tuned.

I think that I’ve been hesitating on telling people what my exact plans are because I am scared of - failing to accomplish the journey, I don’t feel fit enough, etc. etc. The whole idea is to take on a challenge that feels somewhat impossible and to celebrate living.

Nikki is 100% into supporting this event, so I don’t have any reason not to try. I figure if I put it out there, it may push me out the door some of these summer days that I don’t want to get out there.

Here are the things that I want to try and accomplish:

1. On September 6th, 2008 - complete the Great Illini Full Distance triathlon
2. Take the next week and ride my bike to Winona Lake, IN (from the GIllini location)
3. On September 13, 2008 (my 30th birthday) run the Lake City Marathon

We’ll see how the planning goes for this? Right now I can honestly say that riding that much would not be possible, no matter what the intensity would be. I also need to find some locals along the route from Illiniois to Indiana to give suggestions on routes and roads to ride.

Here’s the gmap … any suggestions? [edit note: the map below is a different route than gmap show in the full frame? The full frame map does not go through Indy..]

View Larger Map

The important part of writing my blog posts is being a part of a community that reads and interacts, especially with similar interests and questions. For awhile now, I have been writing my blog posts using the blogger platform and publishing to my site, then syndicating that post to Sweat365.com

To simplify this process, I’m going to be changing things a little bit:

1. My personal blogging will all be at garyd.sweat365.com, if you currently subscribe to my feed through feedburner I will update it so you won’t have to change your subscription.

2. The new feed will contain all of my blogging along with my training log posts. Since there are probably a group of you that want just the articles and none of the training information, the main “article” posts will be on the Endurance Base Camp feed.

3. Nikki and I have a new home on the web - Endurance Base Camp

4. Ditsch Fitness will stick around for now.

Thanks for joining us on this journey of endurance.

There was a thought provoking post today on the blog “Hanging in BOCO” (written by John Shilt). The post brought up the following questions, for me:

- What is fitness?
- What is endurance?
- What is the difference?
- How does that difference apply to Ironman?

I have all kinds of thoughts on the subject, but go read his blog, it seems to be presented in a clear way. Here’s a link: Learning, Understanding, and Believing

The one quote I want to highlight from the post is this one:

Endurance (in IM) is being able to race for 8 to 11hrs with efforts at AeT to AeT+10 without your pace and power declining.

I believe that if an Ironman athlete can fully understand that concept and then allow that principle to influence their training (opposed to training partners, daily speeds, etc), then they are on the narrow path to reaching their Ironman potential.

This season I have tried my best to manage my fears, doubts and anxieties while training what appears “sub-optimal” and feel that I have succeeded 85% of the time. That discipline alone gives me confidence heading into Ironman Wisconsin. That along with the fitness tests and other fitness markers that seem to be improving as I head into the final weeks.

Example: Yesterday’s workout - 4.5 hour bike, managed my effort on the bike to be under AeT (135bpm) for almost the entire ride (hit 150bpm 2x on climbs), saw pace increase as ride continued despite temps reaching 92 degrees and heat index reaching 100. Got home and went out for a 30 minute transition run.

Nikki warned me to be careful due to the heat (she had just finished her workout earlier). I took off and ran at AeT for the first mile, then ran the rest at AeT + 5 bpm. My average pace was 7:58!

Not fast you say - I know. But when you consider that I have run very few miles under 8 mins pace all year, this workout came at the end of a 9 day “on” cycle, the heat was keeping heart rates high and I had just finished a 70+ mile ride, I feel pretty happy with what occurred.

The other positive is that some of my best 3 mile fitness tests this year have been around the 8 min/mile pace.

To put all this into the context of John’s post, I hope that I am witnessing a good amount of fitness being transferred into a great level of endurance.