The No Goal New Year?

Ok, it is now more than half a month into the New Year. Still I have absolutely no triathlon related performance goal for 2009. Should I be worried? Panicked? OMG, I haven't even signed up for a single race! Why do I feel so relaxed though?
Here is what I have done in the last few weeks:
I have gained about 8 pounds over the holidays
I have enjoyed spending more time with my family (still am)
I have gone to lots of kids playdates and birthday parties instead of running in the freezing cold
I have begun to see the inside of my gym a bit more, having some fun while at it
I have started to look at potential races for 09 that are closeby and fun for the whole family
I have decided that 2009 will be a year where triathlon ranks far beyond family and work
I have promised myself to have more fun while at it
I have not looked at my bike in six weeks
I am fine with all of it.

Happy New Year!

My bike is off to Arizona

This morning I took my bike to Cadence Cycling in Tribeca and sent it off on its way to Tempe AZ. Guess this means its only days before my very first attempt to become an Ironman. Not quite sure how I feel about all this these days. Clearly I have mixed emotions. Am I prepared? Did I train enough? What if its hot and windy? Blah Blah Blah.

On the other hand, my last few workouts were all pretty solid. While I never rode the full 112 mile distance on the bike, my last few bike rides felt good, at times almost effortless and comfortable. My runs are slowly evolving into a slower but steady trot. For the most part I have been injury free, just a slight harmstring pull. With only twelve days to go, this is not the time to worry about my training or any lack of it. Now it is simply time to taper, to start resting up.

Over the past days, I have feverishly read up on race reports from IMAZ veterans. Most of them left me worried, disturbed as they talked about high winds, excessive heat, horrible conditions. Then I try to calm myself down, arguing in my head that the weather in later November should be ok, much cooler than the traditional April race date.

So, in short this is my state of mind right now. For one minute worried, scared, the next, confident and eager to get the race going. What fun the next 12 days will be.

45 and less than a month to go till IMAZ

OK, just two days ago I turned 45. So, I am officially my age group. I don't know what I feel about this, probaly not much at all. True, when I look in the mirror in the morning I see a man clearly in his middle age, but, nothing wrong with that. Life has been very good to me the last few years, no need to wish back the days of youth and unfocused confusion.

So, 45 and only four weeks away from my biggest physical challenge thus far, my first Ironman. The weather in New York is now colder, a headcold is slowing me down, my bike was in repair for some days, and I am not close to training enough. My regimen seems more in line with preparations for an Olympic distance event. Whenever I tell other triathletes about my training volume, I almost sense pity and fear, for my sake. And still I feel an odd sense of confidence creeping up. Hopefully not unfounded. I will try to make this week count one more time with a few mid distance runs and a long bike ride. Lets hope it'll be enough.

Travel, A few Boo Boos and a broken Spoke

With only five weeks to go until Ironman Arizona, this is supposed to be the time to rev it up one last time. But not quite. Frequent, but short business trips keep me a bit off balance regarding my workout schedule. But more importantly, I have had a nagging skin infection on my inner thigh that has really slowed me down last week. I am also a bit hampered by tight hamstrings and on top of it, I broke a spoke on an early morning ride on Friday, keeping me bike less for the planned Saturday long ride. On the plus side, I had a great swim workout Friday night with a solid 4000 yards of hard intervals and an 18 mile long run in Prospect Park on Saturday morning. I am now giving myself two more weeks of solid training before starting my taper.

It is 5 AM and the alarm rings. Are you ready . . .

...to take the call and stumble out of bed, make some coffee, eat some granola and head out for a 75 mile bike ride on a wet Saturday morning? Yesterday, I am glad I was. The last couple of weeks have not been going well as far as my Ironman preparations are concerned. We were all busy with settling into the new home, family commitments, including my mother visiting from Austria, and the last couple of days heading to Atlanta for business. On top of it, I have been weirdly suffering from allergies, leaving me at times listless to train.

So, when the alarm did ring far too early for a Saturday, I was more then tempted to hit the snooze button and head back into sleepy land. But I did not and was rewarded with one of the most spectacular, only in New York kinda ride experiences. Crossing the Brooklyn bridge the fog and clouds remaining from the heavy rains the night before still enveloped Manhattan. Minutes later I rode along the West Side bike way and watched up close the early morning arrival of a cruise ship to the left while, to the right, the Empire State building looked spooky and awesome. And on it went one picturesque moment after another. I regretted not to bring along a camera, plus I had to make decent time to meet my friends from the Brooklyn Tri Club across the George Washington Bridge for the ride to Nyack.

The Ultimate NYC Run - Park to Park

Today's long run (15.5 miles) was easily on of the most beautiful city runs imaginable. I started off at my home heading into Prospect Park for an easy 3 mile loop, then downhill towards the Brooklyn Bridge. In my head I timed this portion of the run so I could catch up with some of my friends from Frontrunners New York who at this stage were in the middle of their long run that started on the Upper West Side. Sure enough, as soon as I went onto the bridge I saw the first one of them. Taking a brief break in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge (about mile 7) I then enjoyed the great company of my friend Michael O. while we ran up the Eastside of Manhattan and Park Avenue. Today was the last Saturday of the New York Summer Streets project, so what is usually bumper to bumper traffic was just one big run and bike party all the way up to Central Park. Hitting both Prospect Park and Central Park in one run is sure something to remember.

Putting on some miles - finally

This was a good week, at least as far as my workout progress is concerned. Yesterday I was able to log my longest bike ride so far this year, with a solid 88 miles, about 55 of those with a small group from the Brooklyn Triathlon Club at a solid pace, the rest solo at a more relaxed pace going to and from the George Washington Bridge. Can't say it was all eas, but overall I feel very good about the ride. The rest of the week included a couple of solid mid-distance runs, a fast-paced interval bike ride and my weekly swim workout with Team New York Aquatics. Total: 11+ hours, finally this is starting to look like a real training schedule.

Back On Track Again - Sorta

OK, vacation is over. Been a stressful week though, Monday we sold our home while the new place still is not ready for move in. So, we have three weeks now to close on the new place, let's hope it all comes together last minute now. And I am also realizing that it is now high time to up my training volume, especially my bike and running distances. So, for the most part, this week was a pretty solid effort. I managed to run three times, covering a little over 20 miles. And on the bike I joined my first larger group ride in ages, riding 43 miles at a good solid pace with the Brooklyn Triathlon Club. All together, the last week I worked out almost 9 hours, half of it on the bike. I am pleased with the week but the distances need to still go up alot.

A Full Workout Week and A Big Toothache

Last week was a week of firsts. My first 10+ hours training week and my first root canal. Let's begin with the training. No swimming last week, but instead I figured it is high time to start increasing my running and bike mileage. So I actually managed to go out four times on a run, logging 27 miles and to ride twice, for a total of 67 miles. Add to that a couple of short strength workouts and I finally achieved my first solid 10+ hour training week. For work reasons I have to dial it back quite a bit this week and next, practically a forced taper before the New York Triathlon in July 20, my second and last Olympic distance race for the season.

Oh, and now for the fun part. Pretty bad tooth pain had bugged me for a couple of weeks now. And it had gotten worse. My very first root canal was the answer. While the procedure itself was far less painful than I had feared, the weekend did include some pretty rough moments of discomfort and pain before things finally settled down. Just a minor health issue, but sure something that can slow you down.

Training at the Emperors Gardens

Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the former summer residence of the imperial family, is considered one of the most beautiful baroque palaces in Europe. The Habsburgs resided here the better part of the year in numerous rooms for the large imperial family in addition to representational rooms. Emperor Franz Joseph, who later married the enchanting Sisi and reigned from 1848 to 1916, was born here in 1830. Around 1838, the Schönbrunnerbad was first mentioned in a letter from Franz Josef to his brother Maximilian. Today, it is quite likely one of the most stunning settings for a public pool featuring a splendid 50m sized pool. For those not used to working out in a 50 meter pool, this comes close to an open water swim :)

It was not the first time that I was able to swim at this amazing pool last week while on business in Vienna, but it always fascinates me to walk up the stairs from the amazing gardens to the pool setting in the baroque gardens. While in Vienna, there is just no better spot to swim, or run in fact, as the garden is also one of the cities most favorite running spots.

A good week and a beautiful bike ride

With the bike leg clearly my weakest link in a triathlon, I long ago made a committment to train more on the bike and to get more long rides in. Thus far, this year, none of it had happened. Finally this week I followed through. After a regular week, I headed out thos morning from Brooklyn to Piermont and back.. Unfortunately my friend Eric who set out to ride with me was forced to turn around just 16 miles into the ride, at the foot of the George Washington Bridge, with a broken bike chain. But the stretch from the GW to Piermont is pretty much a cycling highway with hundreds of riders heading out each weekend day.

The ride turned out great, the weather fantastic and the views on this ride spectacular, especially while crossing two of the countries most beautiful bridges, the Brooklyn Bridge and the George Washington Bridge. With over 4 hours of cycling covering about 64 miles, this was by far my longest ride all year. Obviously I will need a lot more like this one to get in shape for IM Arizona, but for the early summer Olympic distance races this was a good start.

A Semblence of Routine

Once I returned back to New York a few days ago, both Roy and Kiera were sick with a cold, but spring finally arrived in the city. So out of the basement the bike finally came, and we circled Prospect Park twice last week, added my usual once-a-week masters swim workout and put in a good run and short weight session as well. Since one of those bike rides was actually my first early morning workout this season, last week was almost like a routine early season .training week

A bit unfocused, often cold and still a bit too heavy!

I've kinda been all over the place the last few weeks. Work is going well, but obviously has plenty of time" demands, the sale of our current home and purchase of our new place has been on top of my mind a lot, and our little one recently turned two and is just a blast to spend lots of time with. Though I try to ramp up my training just a bit now, I am still very much in a cross-training, "let's not yet get too serious" mood.

Looking at a graph of my last three months of training, it is a nice, almost even split between running, swimming and cross-training (strength and pilates mainly) at a low level of less than four hours a week on average. It continues to be rather cold so far here in New York, thus my bike continues to rest comfortably in the basement (yeah, I am a wimp when it comes to riding in the cold). Both training volume and intensity certainly seem fairly low, but overall I feel good coming out of the winter. I am still carrying about 10lbs too much of body weight, typical and, while annoying, not too much of a concern for me.

With just over two months left until my first Olympic distance race this season, it is time now to warm up and thus ramp up the volume and intensity a bit.

Back On Track

Life Happens, that pretty much sums up the last few weeks. While my plan was all along to take it easy during January, the unexpected news that we signed a contract to buy a new place here in Brooklyn, the fact that we have put our current home on the market, a bit of a cold, as well as a business trip back to Austria, all contributed to a less than rigorous workout regime during the last few weeks.

Now this week I am beginning to settle into a routine, adding some more training without stressing too much about it. After I experienced a fun, but very sluggish masters swim training mid-week, I decided to add another one two days later. Both workouts where nice, mid-distance interval trainings incorporating all four strokes.

Today, I headed out to Prospect Park for an 8 mile run, a little over 8 mins/mile pace. I definitely felt that I have not been running much lately, but my heart rate felt comfy the whole time, pretty much a Zone 2 run all around. If time permits, I will finish off the week with a half hour weight training and a pilates mat class tomorrow.

That's all I trained?

Well, the year is almost over and I am looking back at some of my chatrs and training stats.
Here are the numbers for 2007:

769 miles on the bike (not including winter spinning workouts)
483 miles running (including running races)
122 km swim training
197 miles of multi-sport racing
4.3 weekly hours/average (including other cross training)

The pie chart looks pretty much as expected, npt enough time on the bike, clearly my weakness.