Catchin' Up

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The picture above of Jen and I was at the Denver Aquarium in Denver. Outside my family and equally important, she has been as much as a supporter as I could have asked for. I have been lucky to have her come out for the past couple of weeks. Not ready for her to go, but she starts work soon. Heck she has probably had enough of my grumpiness anyways…… j/k :)

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Well, let me catch everyone up on the last couple of weeks. Had quite a bit of training and was up in Winter Park for a little altitude training camp 2 weekends ago. We did an IM sim ride to give us a reality check on our current fitness status and race prep.
Winter Park is around 9,000 ft and happen to cross the Continental Divide a few times. The ride was very informative as we were to ride exactly as it would on race day. Something everyone should definitely plan in their training schedules, you can really learn a lot. The ride was 110 miles and I found out that I can take in more calories than I thought previously, only as long as stay within my HR zones. It seems that I can only digest if my HR is under 145’ish, anything else above, it sits in the belly. Then did an hour run after the ride. Well, I would love to say a lot about it, unfortunately, there is nothing to say except…..DEAD! I think I was running over 10 minute miles, perhaps it was the altitude, right?!?!?! Well that will be my excuse.

Jen came into town right after that. Got to run around see Boulder and Denver a little more with her here.
We went to a Colorado Rockies game with Adam, Sara, and Lyndsey, a quick re-group of the the graduated PA's from Wake that are all in Colorado. We went down to Pearl St., which is the “walking” street downtown and quite a bit of entertainment there. The street performances are truly awesome. Fortunately or unfortunately, I was chosen as we were watching one of them to help.
This fella was quite talented, juggling fire, swords, hatchets, etc. I was chosen to come out and help him as used myself and another guys to stand on our arms that were crossed across our chest and then juggle, 1 flaming torch, 1 sword, and 1 hatchet. Yeah, I was a little nervous having all of those deadly objects flying around above me. In any case, he was pretty awesome. We then caught up with this lad called the “Zip Code Man.” Now, this was a site. He created an outline of the United States with a big yellow chain and would ask the crowd to give him your zip code. He would be able to tell you what city you were from and something interesting about it. For instance, if there was a famous statue or something. He then started asking people for zip codes out of the country, anywhere in the world. Jen gave him 27103 and he was able to name W-S.
He was able to tell one person from Germany what city they were from and one guy from Japan. Pretty amazing.

We also got to go and hang at Boulder Creek
which is an awesome water way through town and ride mountain bikes up the steepest paved road here in Boulder. As if things in Boulder aren’t steep, but to climb the steepest paved road is quite a task.
We had hopes of doing a little hiking, but when it takes you about an hour and a half or more to go 3 miles, the plans to hike are quickly dismissed. It was a blast though. Talk about someone who can spin, Jen rocks at it! She was kicking my but up the road, seriously!!!

Yesterday, we went to a fun park and played some putt-putt, go karts, and did a human maze. Talk about feeling like a rat. It was fun and challenging.
I could go on and on about the things we’ve done, but I won’t bore you. I am currently in the 2 biggest training weeks for IM Canada prep. I have almost survived the first week, only have a long run tomorrow until I am done. Will run a trail called Switzerland Trail which is 15 miles, but it is at 8,500 ft. It took me two hours and twenty minutes to do it last time. We’ll see how it goes……should end this week with over 25 hours of training. What I have found here is that the volume is necessarily as high as you would think, but the sessions that we do are very structured. Easy days are still easy days and really almost more important, the harder days just get harder. This is an important concept here to understand. It is easy to bury yourself here.

Day in and day out,
John

The "New" look

Hope everyone is doing well. I see the TRICOWS are holding up. Per the race results in the series, looks like everyone is doing well. I have been here in Boulder for 21 days now. Let me first say that if you ever get a chance to go and hang in the Boulder area, it is well worth it. The scene here is downright awesome. From the backdrop of the mountains, the limitless amount of running trails, the climbs you can easily get to just a short ride a way and just the general feel and attitude here, it is truly a triathletes dream. The scenery is just spectacular, very difficult to put into words.

I am currently training a little over 20 hours a week. This time will gradually get longer. We are just finishing our first of three blocks. When Gordo asked me what my goals were for IM Canada, I told him that I wanted to run the run. My goal is to run 3:29:59. In doing so, my schedule will have me consistently running 6-7days/week. By accident, I have swam almost everyday here. I have only missed one day since I have been here. Talking with the other lads on the team and G, the plan is to make me a swimmer and in G”s words, “convince me not to use it.” This will help me conserve energy for the run. I am currently swimming 20,000 plus meters a week with one set a week over 5K. As for the bike, I haven’t been riding as much as I thought I would be, but I think that will come. What I have found so far is that resting has been the key ingredient to all of this. I have been quite tired but things are starting to come around. I ran 20+ miles yesterday and my recovery from the run has been pretty quick. The volume so far has been tolerable.

In addition to the volume of running, we are also participating in a run camp once a week with Bobby McGee (www.bobbymcgee.com) who is an internationally recognized run coach as one of the best in the sport. These 1.5 hour sessions every week are vital. He is the type of guy that can make you faster on your current fitness through form. Totally awesome guy and so much to learn from.

I’ll leave you with my latest adventure.....my haircut.

Just another day....

I woke up this morning as usual at 5:30A to get some breakfast and coffee. Hit the road at 7:00A for my usual hour or so run. I have been running this route, which is called the “Frank Shorter Route.” Jeff calls it this b/c of the statue at the half-way point. It is a nice and flat run that runs along Boulder Creak with some trails.
It is a great benchmark run as I am acclimatizing. So the ritual is, to run to the Frank Shorter statue, give it a fist bump, and head back.
He is the half way point. The nostalgia behind this run and the fist bump is Frank Shorter won gold medal in the marathon at the 1972 Olympics and took 2nd in the ’76 Olympics. He not only was the marathon champion, but also a 10K national champion, which is quite impressive considering the distances are very different. He is one of the most decorated runners of all time. For me, I need all the help I can get, so good ole Frank gets the “bump” every time.

Today was the first time I swam with the group. Our coach is Jane Scott, who is Dave Scott’s sister. For those who don’t know who Dave Scott is, short and simple, he won IM Hawaii six times and was the first inductee into the Ironman Hall of Fame. He nickname is the “The Man” and he is and IM legend. So back to Jane. As they say, the fruit doesn’t fall from the tree, and it is true. Much like her brothers work ethic, she works us in the pool. Long story short, I swam 5,200 meters, the 2nd longest I have ever swam in a set, but by far the hardest swim I have ever done. To put things in perspective, I typically swam 3-5 days a week and at most 3,000m in a day. The fellas say that we at least swim 5,000m once a week. I have never been so beat in my life.

After a large rest period, Jeff and I headed out on an easy 30 mile ride to finish up the day. On our way out on the ride, we happen to converge with some pro cyclist from the Navigator Squad.
One of the cool things here in Boulder is the amount of world class athletes. I guess it never gets old, I am always start struck every time. I guess its the kid in me!

I took a picture of this sign b/c I thought it was interesting, I wish we had these signs up in W-S, especially the bottom part.


Well, that’s about it for today. Feeling much better everyday with the altitude. Won’t probably be doing any big workouts for a few more days. When those start are when the stories come. My last pic is of the award that Gordo won at Ironman Brazil...SAHHHH-WEET!!


Keepin it moving,
J

Progress

The pic above is of Jeff and I at the top of our run at Chautauqua Park. Quite an awesome trail
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“You can only work with what you have been given. If you are progressing, then you should be happy. The only time that you are unhappy is when you are comparing yourself to someone else.”

This quote is from Justin Daerr. Very smart guy with a lot of insight. I was talking to him about my running and how I unsatisfied I was with it and that I never seemed to get better. This was his quote to me. Basically if we are progressing forward, then we should always be satisfied with that. It is only when we go backwards that we should “raise a brow.” Our unsatisfied feeling comes when we compare ourselves to others. In any case, just thought I would share because I think it can apply in all facets of life, not just running or training.

Well, the past couple of days have definitely gone a lot better with altitude. I still continue to struggle with the run, but the swim and bike are definitely improving. I think my run is a two-fold problem, one we are at altitude, but it is compounded by the fact that I came here in poor running shape. I will be doing a benchmark running test soon to see where I am at and then will do it again a few weeks later to see how much I have improved.

If you are interested in what I am doing day to day, I am logging my workouts on www.athleticcore.com. You have to create a logon, but once you do, you can click on my name to the left and it should bring up my calendar. In any case, I have sort of funny story. I guess it is not necessarily a story, but just a quick lesson about the ways of the people here in Boulder. I was out on an easy ride for about an hour and half. I was keeping my heart low, just kind of spinning. About 20 miles into the ride, I see a rider up the way, but not much to think of it. Eventually, I catch up to him cruising along and pass him pretty briskly. About 5 minutes later, I had this funny feeling that someone was behind me. So I turned around and it was this older fella riding on my wheel. He pulls up next to me, breathing pretty hard, and we have a short conversation of 30 seconds and he pulls back behind me. Now mind you, when I went by this guy, I was going quite a bit faster, so for him to catch up took some work for him. Well, not thinking much of it, cruising along there was another fella up the road. I roll by him much like the first guy and the same situation occurred. I went by him with my new buddy in tow and before I knew, I had two new friends. That guy road up next to me, “Nice bike, blah blah blah,” and then back to the back. The story really ends here, but I guess what was quite comical to me was people here in Boulder are quite competitive....at all ages. These guys were about to cough up a lung riding in tow and I am not for sure why, but hey, it gave me a good laugh for ride. I told the story to Gordo and Monica (G’s wife) and they chuckled. G said, “You think that is funny, try being a girl riding by, they would almost die before they would let that happen.”

Well, that is all I have for now. Tomorrow we are heading out to a place called Carter Lake, should be about an 4 hour ride.

Hope everyone is doing well and good luck to those fellow classmates that haven’t taken PANCE and a congrats to those that have finished.

Until next time,
J

"Cast Members"

The following are the team members and their links if they have one. Check out their blogs, they are pretty insightful. These are the guys that we mostly train with. As Justin likes to call us, Here is "Team Good Guys."

Gordo Byrn - aka "G"
http://www.gordoworld.com/

















Justin Daerr - aka "JD"
http://www.justindaerr.com/

















Brandon Del Campo - aka "BDC"
http://www.brandondelcampo.com/













Dennis Meeker- aka "Denny"
Dennis doesn't have a blog to my knowledge. To give you a little insight to his strength, he won the 5430 Iron distance race here in Boulder back in 2001 going 9:14:48. Since then, he has posted some impressive results going top 15 in Ironman Wisconsin and Coeur d'Alene. He can ride a bike like a V12.












Billy Edwards -
Billy doesn't have a blog or website neigther. So here is a little about him. He is a Marine Billy had a PR at IM Coeur d'Alene this past weekend along with his first top 10 finish as a pro going 09:16:09. SOLID!!! He was also has been top 20 at IM Arizona.
NO PIC OF BILLY YET!

Jeff Shilt - aka my brother.
http://mdotdoc.blogspot.com/











Mat Steinmetz -
http://msteinmetz.blogspot.com/











Keepin' it rollin',
John

Rollin' to Boulder (BOCO)

The next few post are catching up on the new site.
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Well, my friends, arriving to Boulder has been great so far. The scenery is spectacular, difficult to put into words. So here goes my first update, hopefully I will send more as the time passes.

The trip to Boulder was long. Adam and I drove 17 hours to KC and then stayed at my brothers house for a few hours, some dinner, and then back on the road again for 10 hours. While in KC, got to meet up with one of my long time friends, Courtney. She is like a sister to me.
In any case, we arrived safely. Let me tell you, Adam is an uber-driver. I think out of the whole trip, I drove for like 2 hours. He drove the rest!! We arrived on a Thursday morning, slept a little at Sara's(Adam's GF) and her sister was home from work. Well, did we get lucky. She just happens to be a chef on a yacht, so that means she can cook.....and she did. After some awesome lunch and dinner, I made it to Boulder that evening to Gordo's house.

My first day of training was on Friday. WOW!!! Thats all I have to say. I went out for an hour run easy pace. Gordo has put a limit on my HR for the first 2 weeks. I started out on flat terrain running ridiculously slow thanks to the altitude. I made it to a park and ran on a pathway, that was freakin awesome. Nothing like running up into the mountains next to a running stream. I guess that is one nice perk of running slow, you get to enjoy the scenery. I will say, I am in for a good couple of weeks on the run. Just to give you perspective, a 2 hour nap followed that run.

I wanted to ride later that afternoon, so Gordo sent me out on a "flat" 2 hour ride. It truly was flat, but I must say once again, altitude definitely is real. We are at 5,430 ft here in Boulder. I think we are like 950 ft in W-S. About an hour and thirty minutes into the ride, I was gasping for air and this was supposed to be an easy ride. Finally made it back and was pretty tired.

On to today(Sat). G made the schedule for today and it was pretty tame for the most part, but for us who just arrived, it would be a good/challenging day. Another guy Mat just moved here from Indiana and is working for Gordo. So the plan was that Mat and I workout today together since we are both just arriving and would be training rather slowly.

Morning started with an 1:30 swim. Swam pretty well and with another fella named Justin Daerr. He is an up and coming guy, I expect to hear his name on the top of podiums in a couple of years. We then were to leave about an hour later on a 3 hour ride with a 16 mile climb up to Ward. Holy SHIT!!! Ward is at 9,200 ft, did I mention I just arrived and 5,430 ft was kicking my ass. After about 1:30 of climbing up, we made it to the general store and hammered the way back down to finish with a "3 hour intro ride," as G put it. Ate a snack and ended the day with a 30 minute SLOW run.

This "trip" is gonna be a blast. It is going to be a great opportunity to learn from the best in the sport. Already have learned a ton just listening to G and Justin so far. Attached are a few pic from the trip. The horizon pics are driving through Kansas.



Hope everyone is doing well. Until next time,

John

Givin' Boulder a TRI.....

I have been "playing" around in triathlons for about 6 years now. It all started when I was 19 and living with my brother Jeff in Nashville. He coerced me into running, almost literally starting with a mile. His ability to convince me to run to this day is still a mystery. We had some melt downs that summer running, but by the end, I ran my first 5K. At the same time, we started swimming at the local pool. Those were the days when 25 meters was breath taking. He gave me my first bike, a Fuji, and the rest is history. 5 Ironman's later, I was once again given the opportunity by my brother to move with him and his family for a few months to Boulder to train. I just graduated from the Physician Assistant program at Wake Forest University, but I guess that will be on hold temporally. In the meantime, I will try to keep track of this journey, not only about Ironman, but the little life lessons from those around me.

Livin' the Dream,
John

P.S. The pic above is of my mother and I, one of my best friends/supporter/biggest believer in me.