The "Will"

Still trying to get back to the regular Tuesday blog posts but have been really busy at work and have been working straight through lunch lately. For those of you that have no idea what I do at work - I am the Director of Marketing for a commercial roofing contractor in San Diego. We do white reflective roofing systems along with solar panels for commercial/industrial buildings. So I handle all of the press releases, videos, articles, website, social media, trade shows, event planning...etc. Busy job. Tack on the two hours of commuting each day (add to that if I have events), throw in 12-18 hours of training, being a husband and father  - and my schedule is pretty maxed out. It makes the days fly by, but I wouldn't have it any other way...OK, if I could work from home I'd change that!

Often times people with busy schedules that want to train for triathlon use the excuse of not having the time for it. "Yea...me too..." is my favorite response to that. Who ISN'T busy? All of those top guys/girls in your age group? Just as busy as you..maybe even more so. One of the single most beneficial ways to get more out of your day is to cut out the TV. As in cutting it out completely or controlling how much you watch. I wrote a bit about about this in a time management post I did years ago - since then Amy and I actually have TV again but we are so much more disciplined then we were prior to going on the hiatus and watch it more as a "treat" than as a habit.

The saying "if there is a will there is a way" is so true. However, often times that "will" needs to be fed with passion otherwise you'll often fail. When people are looking to workout to lose weight - there has to be a deeper meaning to it then just wanting to lose weight. Because you're going to get up early to workout for a month straight - and see that you didn't lose any (if little) amount of weight. Then you get discouraged, it's not fun and you quit. That's where the "will" comes in. Instead of wanting to lose weight so you look better, maybe it's so you are around for your grandkids or maybe if you're already fit and you want to get on that podium. Just finding that one thing that excites you to get up in the morning and put in the work is what's going to get you that consistency.

For myself, it's just the love of the sport. I've always loved running (except maybe when I was doing 100+ miles/wk) and I've grown to really love getting on my bike and swim (especially open water) which has become something I look forward to everyday. The endorphins feed my mind, the slight soreness reminds me that I'm working hard and the pain I feel in hard workouts reminds me that I'm alive! I love it and I feel so fortunate that I found the sport -it's really changed my life for the better.

Speaking of workouts, I'll highlight the workout of the week for me last week. My coach - who by the way killed it in his first ultra trail race placing 4th! He lined up a fun one for Saturday and it was the second time I did it. Last time was in February which I'll get to later. It went like this:

First of all I started the day with a 1000 meter swim time trial (sans wetsuit). I was very curious to see where I was because I know my swimming has elevated big time in the last few weeks. I ended up swimming 15:45 in a metered pool which comes out to 1:26/100yd, so I was stoked. After that I jumped right into 3 x (20 min tt bike, transition and then one mile race pace effort run) with ~15 minute recover ride in between before starting the next one. I did the same exact course as I did in February so I could compare the fitness I have gained since then...I'm definitely headed in the right direction. I picked a rolling course (~500ft of climbing and the Temecula wind) with a pretty tough hill half way through where I have to throw it in the small chain ring.

Here are my splits from February:

Bike 1: 7.5 bike (~20 mins) averaged 22.6mph
Run 1: 1 mile, 6:01

Bike 2: Averaged 22mph
Run 2: 6:00

Bike 3: Averaged 21.6mph
Run 3: 6:00

Here are my splits from Saturday:

Bike 1: 7.5 mile bike (~20 mins) averaged 22mph
Transition: 25 seconds
Run 1: 1 mile run - 5:28

12 min recovery ride

Bike 2: Averaged 22.5mph
Transition: 20 secs
Run 2: 5:17

13 min recovery ride

Bike 3: Averaged 22.2 mph
Transition: 21 seconds
Run: 5:17

The take away from this workout is that I'm getting more fit on the bike believe it or not. The hard efforts on the bike are allowing me to run harder. You can see my bike splits are almost identical to what they were in February, but I dropped 40 seconds off of my run splits! That is huge. No doubt my run has improved - but no where near 40 seconds/mile. That's all bike fitness. So I'm pleased with where James is leading me in my fitness.

One more thing...Be sure to check out the Wattie Ink Elite Team Fan Page. This team seriously crushed Ironman over the weekend in Boise, Kansas and Eagleman. We are talking #1 Overal amatuers, earning pro cards, and lots of podiums. INSANE!

As always I rewarded myself with some good brew! In this case I paired a great Vanilla Porter with some Ribs I threw on the grill. Cheers! Sorry for the lack of pictures this week.

Try it.