JW's atypical 2015 Season Craziness
I have not been all that active in the Forums for the last ~4 months as I was in "off" mode after my crazy yr. For those of you who don't know who I am, here's a brief recap:
I have done 7 IM's, my first was IMLou in 2011 (11:56:xx) after a yr inside EN. I improved each yr and set a crazy stretch goal of qualifying for Kona. In yr 4 of my "3 yr plan" my wife knew I was obsessed. She basically said, "I will give you all of the support in the world do do whatever you need to do to KQ in 2014, but after that, the window is closed". Like many of you my training time grew and grew over the yrs and I knew I needed a big push to have a shot. So I consulted with many of the WSM's and Coach P and formulated a plan to cram 3 yrs of training into a 1yr window. Then I did ~1.5x what everybody recommended was the maximum amount of work I could sustain. I went "off plan" by doing the Run Durability plan at faster paces and higher volumes than I was "allowed" to do them. I did bike camps in the spring. I did back-to-back 4-6 hr rides almost every single weekend during my IM build. I added evening runs on the nights after my long run mornings. I obsessed over nutrition and recovery and sleep and aerodynamics...
If you want all of the details, I discuss them here:
In the middle of my 3 Ironman's in 3.5 month (IMMT, Kona, Cozumel) I was figuring out how to quit my job with my whole team and not get sued. I prepped my house for sale (after 11 yrs of accumulating stuff in NJ) and interviewed, got a new job and found a new house 1,500 miles away. So after my spectacular physical explosion at IMCoz, my body, my wife, my kids, and my tri life had seen enough. I have no "medium speed" in my life, it's either all "on" or all "off. So after Cozumel, my switch turned "off" for the first time in at least 3.5 yrs. I worked out exactly 2 times in 3 months (if you count the two ~3 mile jogs with my wife). As of today, I still haven't even cleaned my P5 after Cozumel on November 30th. I indulged my inner sweet tooth by eating copious amounts of recreational sugar, and gluten, and alcohol. When I fall off the wagon, it's a long hard fall... I raced IMMT at ~178-180lbs, by Feb 3rd for the start of my new job I was up to ~205lbs.
My wife, Jess, finally got sick of it and had had enough. she told me "I hated it when you were obsessively training and obsessively eating, and obsessively recovering, and obsessively etc., etc., etc. But I hate it even more that you are doing exactly Zero physical activity and are eating like crap every day. You need to get an event on the calendar..." and that is when the gears started turning again. Her ONLY request was that I do something epic, but I do it in moderation. So no long weekend workouts. Family comes first. And moderation. She even came up with the idea for my 2nd event of the yr and is curious to see if I can pull off the first, so here goes.
I want to plant my flag and say that I will train and eat in "moderation" this yr. I will be doing IM Wisconsin and I have charity slots available for this race if you want to join me. I know if I dangle a carrot I will try to push the envelope, so I have purposely forced myself into a box with no carrots. I don't want to have the temptation to "try to get a 9-handle" or to even think about training to "try to KQ". So I will be doing the race on my fat bike. My ONLY goal will be to finish which will mean that I'll have to work to make the bike cutoff. I also want to do 95% of ALL of my training on weekdays before work (I start at 7AM) and a max of 1 weekend day a week (and to be done by 8:30AM on that day). I just want to see if I can do an IM (on a 1x11 fat bike) and concurrently build my SAU bank and simply enjoy our new life on the Lake with my wife and kids... This means I will be running or riding my bike to work a lot (it's 12.7 miles each way) starting at 0-dark-thirty. I will be doing a lot of my longer rides in the dark (luckily there is a completely empty and safe rail-trail 1/4 of a mile from my house). And I will eat the occasional cookie.
8 weeks after IM Wisconsin I'll be doing something that is WAAAY outside my comfort zone for my 2nd "event". I turn 40 on November 8th, 2015 which happens to be a Sunday. Following Coach P's lead I will be running "40 for 40". But not just any 40 miles. I'm going to the Grand Canyon with a handful of friends and will be running the Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim, which is either 41 or 46 miles depending on the route we decide to take. For those of you who don't know me, I was never a runner. And I hate climbing. I'll think about that during the ~11,000' of climbing on my 40th birthday. Which is even harder to train for now that I live in the flat-lands of Minneapolis.
I am fortunate to have my health. And I want to do cool shit with my fitness. And I like to do things that others think are impossible. I went for a 1 hr ride on my fat bike this morning and HAMMERED the whole time on a perfectly flat rail trail. Average speed (and new record for me) was 14.4mph. Looks like I have some work to do...
Comments
All of this said, I am with you on the all on or all off button & expect that you will impress everyone on this and do it with style, grace & a big hammer!
Well I haven't learned yet, but certainly gonna try...
Seriously can't wait to watch the Show through the season ! Two huge challenges ! Love it !
This will most certainly be a great show to spectate!
Have at it JW! We'll all be watching.......
JW, both events sound like fun! I can't imagine the looks you are going to get at IMWI bike check-in!
It will be fun to watch it all go down! Good luck, man!
JW...sounds like a very cool year. Stay healthy and have fun. I'll be at IMWI to cheer for you.
as for the Fatbike IM, I just did my first bike commute to work, it's only 9 miles, but has about 1000' of climbing (all in the first 6.5 miles). I did this on my MTB and have tremendous respect for the audacity you are going to unleash...
Sure! As of now we have 4 DEFINITELY confirmed and about 4-5 other guys who are "probably". We also have 4-5 that might go and turnaround at Phantom Ranch which will be about ~25 miles or so for the day.
From a "hiking blogger" who does the R2R2R hike every year over 2 days:
Sounds AWESOME to me. Lots of good videos on youtube and many "event reports" from people who have done it can be found with a simple google search.
If we get enough people, we're likely to break into two R2R2R groups:
I pretty much stuck to my original plan of doing most of my training around my commute and 1 weekend early morning. Until just a few weeks ago, I was home by 9AM on Saturday every week and did no workouts on Sunday. This made for a ton of SAU accrual. The last few weeks I have stretched my Saturday ride a bit, but still home by 10:00 or 10:30AM.
Commuter training: Earlier in the year, I would drive in one morning with my bike in the car and either ride or drive home. This allowed me to run in the next morning and then have a bike ride or car ride home. I eventually started running both ways ~1x per week. And I started riding my bike to and from work 2-3 days a week. A couple of the times I took the long way home. On the bike commute days, I could actually sleep in (until ~5:40AM) and still make it to work on time. Sneakily, I was able to get in a lot of bike work as this added up to ~3-5 hours of "during the week" bike workouts which is almost 2x as much as I rode during the week last yr. This allowed me to do just a single ~3-4hr bike ride on Saturday morning and still build a decent bike fitness. Actually got some confidence in running "long" as well, even on tired legs, but my actual run speed is definitely NOT where it was last yr (but I'm also ~10lbs heavier).
I really went minimalist on swimming. Like zero swimming until like 4 or 5 weeks ago. Then it's been 1 or 2x per week in the lake in my back yard. Most of them were alone, in the pitch black dark before anyone else is up and about. It's creepy, but also peaceful. Please don't lecture me. I know it is completely unsafe, but I made the executive decision as an adult to get do what I had to do to make it work.
What I learned:
1) Living ~12.6 miles from work is almost the perfect distance to get in a ton of work and not change my normal work/family schedule.
2) Riding a fat bike HARD in bite sized increments is actually a good way to build bike fitness
3) Training hard one yr (or many years) carries over into future years with less incremental work to get close to where you were the previous year.
4) Running 12.6 miles home from work in the heat after sitting at a desk all day is a lot harder than the 12.6 miles running to work that morning.
5) A reasonably strong dude on a Fat Bike (who's really stubborn) can actually keep up with a fairly fast group of roadies in a group ride.
6) Consistent run frequency is more important than 1 day of ~25miles of running once a week. Do as I say, not as I do...
7) Massive swim volume/fitness in the last 8 weeks before an IM is super important. Do as I say, not as I do...
8) Being 10lbs lighter is almost always better/faster. Do as I say, not as I do...
One day a couple of weeks ago on a whim on my commute home I did an impromptu FTP test. It was ~45 mins home so I basically did a 20'-2'-20', but the 2 mins was spread out around a couple downhills where I spun out (I do that quickly) and it was probably closer to ~3' of coasting. NP for the 42 mins was 337W which is my highest EVER tested FTP number. This gave me a 3.92W/Kg (*sigh* if only I wasn't 10 lbs heavier than last yr I might have cracked 4.0). However, I've only done 2 rides the whole yr longer than 100 miles and one of them was just cruising with the Iron Cowboy. So my "5-hour" power number is definitely below where I was last yr. Not to mention, my Fat Bike is definitely not intended to be ridden for 6+ hours. I find that I get sore after like 3 hrs. It's also not intended to be ridden fast for long periods. I swapped out the 28t chainring for a 32t one, but that's the biggest chainring that'll fit on my frame in my 1x11 setup. So anything north of like 23mph and I spin out. And it's a parachute in the wind. So shockingly it's not the uphills that are my biggest disadvantage, but the gradual downhills or if there is ANY wind. And I have to throw my "EN Ninja" bike execution out the window because I literally need to rock my bike back and forth to create enough momentum to move my heavy wheels up the hills. So I'm hoping for a VI of like 1.08-1.10 at IM Wisconsin. This should effectively cook my legs and if all goes well I'll be clocking ~25-30% MORE TSS points in my ride than the Red Zone on the EN execution charts. I get it. I know it ahead of time. Let's hope I can actually run a marathon afterwards. We'll see...
6 months ago time expectations for IMWis on my Fat Bike:
Swim: ~1:20
Bike: ~7:30
Run: ~4:45 +/- 15mins
Current time expectations for IMWis on my Fat Bike:
Swim: 1:15 +/- 5 mins
Bike: 6:15 +/- 20 mins
Run: 4:15 +/- 10 mins
Goal: Be in the top 50% OA
Super crazy stretch goal with cool temps and Zero Wind: Beat my 1st IM (LOU 2011) time of 11:56:xx
There, I said it. Get your popcorn ready!!!
That's all I have to say.
Have fun in Madison!
Done! I'm racing for Team ReserveAid already, so I know where you'll be sending the money. Any other takers?
I think JW and I could write the e-book on SAU Accrual at this point... :-)
I think bike check in is going to be really fun for you. Would think a video of you walking in would be fun just to see all the looks you get.