2013- What's on my plate?

For many triathletes, race planning begins well before the big ball drops.  I had about 70% of my season planned before Christmas primarily based two things- one I am a Type A guy and if you want to race in an IM race- you need a quick trigger finger as these things sell out fast!  My plan for 2013 is based on peaking for Ironman Lake Placid on July 28, 2013.  To do that I have mapped out a race and training schedule that should have me ready to go long and fast.

My season has started- I have been training significantly starting on 12/1/2012 doing the Spinervals 32 Day challenge.  During the challenge I biked over 860 miles and ran about 50.  Very little swimming, but I did a lot of core and shoulder workouts.  Proof of the effectiveness of the program- my power numbers jumped 23 watts from Early December to Early January.  I have begun now a pre IM training program- which means I am training 10-14 hrs a week including swimming several times.  My formal training build will begin roughly 20 weeks out (early March).  So most of my work between now and then will include a lot of Base building workouts. technique focus, strength training- especially around my core.  I am also slowly getting to race weight- I am about 173 pounds and 10.8% body fat.  I want to get to about 165-168 and about 7% body fat.  I am using a Tanita scale to measure and track- wow it is so freakin cool.  I am also spending time on my skis- with the kids which has been a great diversion from traditional training!

In addition to my IM build I have scheduled a series of races leading to IMLP that are designed to test my fitness, gear changes and nutrition (both of which are tested in training too), provide real race day experiences (nothing beats race day) & have fun (did I mention nothing beats race day).

My first races are Duathlons- primarily since you can du in colder weather since there is no swim. But they are hard! And then before any traditional tris, I am doing an Xterra again this year.

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3/16/13	Prospect park Duathlon
4/6/13	DelValley Duathon
4/28/13	JerseyDevil
5/5/13	DevilMan
5/18/13	JerseyMan
6/2/13	IM Raleigh 70.3
6/20/13	Spinervals LP Camp
7/28/13	IM Lake Placid

I may add 1 or 2 TT's and some 10 milers as well but the schedule above is designed to let me race, but not go so deep into the tank since I only have one 70.3 pre IMLP (the last two years I have schedule several 70.3s as lead in races so this is a bit of a departure).  In addition this year only Raleigh and IMLP are travel races.

More to come in the next week or so on gear changes and nutrition.

What has David been doing since IM NYC???

It has been too long since I updated my Blog and I really don’t have a good reason- sure I have been busy working, being a husband and dad, training and racing, but I should have written at least a couple or more of posts.  I am hoping in 2013 to be a bit (a lot) more attentive to the blog and not just write race reports.  Here is the quick catch up post IM NYC:

In September I raced the Toughman Half for the 3^rd year in a row.  I really love this race although this year there was a new bike course.  While racing on a closed highway is Awesome, it was very much like IM NYC- 2 loops, hilly and boring.  And I was not mentally “in” the race.  Sure I raced well, but my mindset was just not 100%.  I did PR, but I think that was on the back of a great swim and jut an okay bike and run.  Following the race I decided that I needed a break from Triathlons for a while and decided to bag IM Pocono Mtn 70.3 which was in 3 weeks.  However my September was not over since I had committed to run with my awesome IronSherpa sister in the NH Reach the Beach relay.

RtB quite simply rocked.  I got to run 3 times over 24 hours from the white mountains to Hampton Beach- so 3 activities (appeals the triathlon brain) but only running.  Sherpa’s team – the WIMPS are very cool folks and spending 24 hours in a van with 5 other runners is an experience I am glad I have completed- and will again.  RtB was definitely one of my 2012 highlights- plus we saw a porcupine…

Following RtB and celebrating my 40^th with a very cool 80’s night including rocking the late ‘80s preppy look my Toughman mental funk was clearing, but I stayed true to my decision not to race PM 70.3.  And I am sooo glad.  Since the race is only 45 minutes from my home, I did however decide to go to the expo on the Saturday before and get my race bag and check out the expo, after all it is an IM expo and I love expos & I really wanted to get a headsweats PM 70.3 visor since last year there were no finisher hats (I race the initial one in 2011).  Well this one Sucked!  I mean Sucked.  There was only a couple of vendors , a very crappy race bag and almost no IM gear for purchase.  Sure I was not racing, but part of the IM experience is the gear and expo experience (you pay a lot of money to race an IM full or 70.3 and this was very substandard).  So seeing the expo I guess validated my decision that I was not racing and I left with a clear head- and no visor either.

At this point my IM Sherpa and I decided (well she strongly suggested) that I should run a standalone marathon to help with my IM racing so I picked the Bucks Country Marathon for Late November.  In addition with my head back on tight I entered a local and short Duathlon for late October.  So following a couple of weeks of moderate training intensity I raced in the Walpack Wilderness Challenge- and crushed it finishing 3^rd overall and winning $75.00!  And I was looking forward to running the Marathon…

As most of you know we had a bit of a storm hit the east coast- superstorm Sandy.  She thankfully spared my house and cars, but had the temerity to knock out power- a power loss that lasted for 13 days.  Not having power for that long sucked, but I did train- sorta.  Every day I would run 4-8 miles around the downed trees, power lines and assorted debris.  I was not really thinking about the marathon- my goal when I signed up was not to train deliberately but get a sense of how fast I could go just on my normal IM level of fitness- but running around so much devastation was mind boggling.  When race day came I had 3 main goals- finish (every race this is my first goal- every single race and I yet to not achieve this one). Finish Sub 3:30 and my stretch was finish with a BQ- 3:15.  I finished with a 3:22 and change- went out too hard, but very happy since I know I can run a 3:45-3:50 in the IM run- which would rock.

Now that my race season was officially over it was time to start the Spinverals 32 day challenge for December.  Last year the challenge was a new and exciting opportunity to leverage Spinervals cycling videos with a formalized plan to get a jumpstart for the New Year.  Along the way I met a bunch of crazy likeminded cyclists and triathletes.   And these great folks cheered, consoled and provided advice through 2012- so I was looking forward to the challenge since we all share so much training doing the same workouts.  The 2012 plan was significantly harder and longer in duration compared to 2011.  And given the crazy time demands that the month of December has on non-training related stuff- the holidays.  But I was determined and wanted to complete the challenge- and 868 bike miles and over 55 hrs of training I am leaner, stronger and ready for 2013.

Tomorrow- Thursday 1/10 I take my Functional Threshold Power test using Spinervals 27.0  I am looking forward to seeing the impact of the last 6 weeks has had on my fitness.  And on that I will close for now.