Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Balance and the Boys

Just finished reading a blog that Scott Molina wrote regarding the recent completion of the 30th anniversary edition of Ironman New Zealand.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the little time that I’ve spent with Scott.  He is incredibly engaging and direct…the kind of guy that pushes your buttons because of his no nonsense approach to training and life.

 But honestly, I’m left with conflicting thoughts and feelings.  On one hand, I love that he shares the pain and suffering experienced to continue to race, train, and compete.  I’ve always been in awe of those folks that I’ve had the privilege to train with that seem to be able to bury themselves to depths that I can only imagine.  Scott, Sam McGlone, and Gordo are a few retired pros that come to mind.  They seem to be able channel some deep place that produce performances disconnected from their already superior talent and fitness.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve drawn upon that to push myself to new personal heights. 

But Scott’s desire to "… Burn Out than to Fade Away" seems a bit dismal.  I can’t help but draw parallels to actors (Heath Ledger and Phillip Seymour Hoffman come to mind) we see that party themselves into oblivion and death, leaving everyone around them discussing how tragic that loss of talent is.  Isn’t there some middle ground?  I’ve never met Dr. John Hellemans, but Gordo has shared his philosophy of focused training intermittently to maintain that balance of health and athletic achievement. 

I don’t want to misinterpret or dramatize Scott’s intention.  But I do hope that I continue to personally define the fine balance between the same enviable traits that produce performance with the restraint necessary to prevent tragic self-destruction.  In my world, this is less about world-class achievement and more about simple diet and fitness choices that prolong optimal health.


In any regard, it is nice to quickly jot down some thoughts this morning to pass onto these guys.  Hopefully my future choices will buy me a little more quality time.  Good luck in finding your balance. 


Thursday, October 10, 2013

My Current Basic Week

It was fun to read Gordo’s basic week examples this week. He started me on a basic week several years ago, and I’ve used that concept since then to prepare for races and different periods of just keeping fit. The structure, especially when not pressured for a specific event, is a nice way to maintain a decent baseline of fitness.

My goal event this year is a trip down to Perth with Kate Bevilauqa to race her home race, IM WA and watch her regain the crown she first took in 2010. Of course, I have a little side bet with Guy Crawford as well on the spread of our finish times. Should be a great trip and I’m excited to see Kate’s hometown and beautiful Western Australia.

I thought some might find it interesting to see a Basic Week in context to real life performances. So here it goes. I have attempted to keep the workouts in context (x * pace) so one could “plug and play” their paces. For example, all the swims are on 1:25-130 yd base time, which corresponds to my IM base time.

Mon: 
am 3k swim IM base, 30 min run*
pm 90 min bike IM watts

Tues: 
am 2.5 hr bike@
noon: +/- swim
pm 30 min run*

Wed: 
am 3k swim IM base, 30 min ez run
pm 1 hr bike IM watts

Thurs: 
am 1hr run in foothill trails, steady effort
pm 1:30 run on the flats* on Boise river greenbelt

Fri:
am 3k swim IM base, 30 min run*
pm 1 hr bike ez

Sat:
am 4.5 k swim IM base, 4-5 hr bike%, 30 min run# 

Sun: 
Unstructured run/bike with Erin or nothing

 LEGEND: 
*30 sec/mile faster than my PR IM run split

 #1 mile ez, 1 mile on track very solid effort sub 6 min pace, ez recovery 15 min

@warm up, 4-6 20 min sessions with 4 min hard hill effort followed by 16 min recovery, cool down

% 4-5 sets of 45 min IM PR +5 watts power with 15 min ez.

IM Discipline PR’s 
Swim: 1:27/100 yds pace Louisville 2011
Bike: 2.9 watts/kg Kona 2011
Run: 7:42 min/mi Canada 2007

 Good Luck with your basic week. Dr. J