Ironman Canada
I have been fortunate through the latter half of the winter and early spring to start putting my training together and make solid gains as I build my fitness toward my A race this year, which is Ironman Canada in late August. I have completed Ironman Canada 5 times and have watched the race 3 times in the last 10 years. I have to admit there is no other race that evokes such“specialness” to it, if that is even a word. While Kona is the “macdaddy” big boy race, Ironman Canada and that week in the Okanagan Valley each year is no less than an epic journey. I love that race.
As much as I love IMC, I never have my best races there for some reason. I do well enough, but have never nailed it. This year is going to be different. I want to put in a swim I am proud of, be huge on the bike, and not falter on that run. I usually get my butt kicked on the run, typically climbing back out of the Okanagan Falls after the turnaround and limping home. That isn’t going to happen this year! My goal is to run solid into the Falls and rage coming out. Regardless of my overall time, if I can power back strong all the way to Main Street, I will be more than satisfied! I proved to myself last year in Kona that I can run hard for the last 10 miles.
Living in Boulder
I think some of my life choices over the last year have really set me up nicely to continue to go faster at least through the remainder of my forties, but I am hoping for much longer ;) Obviously, the choice to move to Boulder has been huge. This town is clearly built for folks like T and me. We are very basic people with basic needs and desires. Living in our neighborhood quietly tucked away in the fields of Boulder County is my version of heaven on earth. I even like it that some of my neighbors have the blue tarps over their pickups with the flat tires. It just adds color and texture to that mosaic we refer to as humanity. It would drive me crazy if I ever intended to sell my house, but because I intend to die in my current home, it doesn’t bother me a lick…anyway, I digress.
The ability to cycle and run right out my front door is such a luxury. It is unbelievable what it has done for my consistency. My training crew is absolutely exceptional and I think will be the reason I will someday write in this blog about breaking age group records or winning a race outright. I don’t say that as anything other than that I truly believe that I have so much that I have not done in this sport and even though I am 45, I feel better (literally) than I did when I first gave this sport a go when I was 24. I am really blessed with the ability to train with folks that are perfect for me. For me, my wife is the perfect training partner. I love training with her. Where I am intense (so I am told, I think I’m as chill as they come, but some protest to that characterization) and sometimes all over the map with emotion, she is steady and mellow. It calms me to just be in the same room with her, and it is even more that way when we train. After all, that is how we met. I only knew her about 20 minutes before we were training in the pool together back in 2007. )
The Crew
One of the big surprises to my moving to Boulder is that I have gotten the opportunity to train consistently with Joanna Zeiger. I remember watching her in the 2001 Ironman coverage, which might have been a bit unfair, and thinking, “Wow, this chick is intense!” I got to know her a bit when she would train with Mitch and me in Palm Springs. She was always pretty quiet, but we had decent chats. She and I would go out for a second run every few days right before dinner and we would get to know each other a bit, but still were kind of strangers. This winter, she has been so generous, always extending the offer to train with her. We have put in some time in her basement on the trainer during the really cold months and ride our long Saturday rides outside now that it is warmer. Once you get over the fact that you are training with one of the most accomplished triathletes in our sport and get over the fact that she has a PhD in Genetics from Johns Hopkins and is a de facto Bronze medalist in the 2000 Olympics, you find you are training with a solid, consistent and generous athlete. She made huge contributions to my winter training this year both on the bike and in the weight room. My favorite thing about her is you can count on her. Triathletes can sometimes be flakes, and as a career military dude, that drives me freaking crazy! Joanna is not like that. She is where she says she is going to be and she shows up ready to train. I look forward to hitting the rides hard with her through the rest of the summer.
The other members of the crew are Brandon Del Campo and Billy Edwards. I have written about both in this blog before. I have been training with both for about 5 years and love every session I get in with either. They are both better athletes than me, but it ain’t about that. I have caused BDC to suffer before and he has certainly returned the favor. Billy is the same way. Billy and I were roommates during the earthquake in Kona in 06, as well as numerous races, and I just dig that kid. He has a crusty exterior, but its bullshit. He is as sweet as they come, and I am having a great time watching him make that transition from a young dude in his 20’s with his hair on fire, to becoming the coach/mentor/personal example that he has become for his kids he coaches at the Naval Academy.
With a crew like my wife, Joanna, BDC and Billy, I have no excuses. It all comes down to getting it done. I see this year at IMC as a test to see if I can do exactly that- get it done.
Will I ever really learn to swim?
One of my frustrations this year is something has happened to my swimming. I cannot figure it out, but when I first started this sport; my swimming was my weapon, with my cycling being solid and my run being slightly better than terrible. Both in Kona and last week in St Croix (a separate blog on its own) my swimming is now my worst of the three with my cycling becoming a legitimate weapon and my run being more than respectable (for long distance triathlon). I really have no excuse- I swim Dave Scott’s swims, Wolfgang Dietrich is hugely generous with his time, as is Simon Lessing. One of my hopes (fully recognizing that hope is not a strategy) is I unscrew this part of my racing and get my swims back down where they belong and not having to spend the first part of my bike catching back up to the leaders. I’ll continue to work on it.
Coaching…it matters!
Lastly, as I don’t want to make these blogs too long, is my coaching-as in who has coached me- not who I coach. I would have to say, I have been tremendously fortunate with coaches throughout my last 8 years in the sport.
My first tri coach was a guy named Peter Sleight. Peter really taught me a lot about balancing my weeks, training with a good attitude and letting my cycling develop through a focus on technique and being efficient.
My coach after that was Gordo Byrn. Back when Gordo wasn’t such a big deal, but every bit as smart and friendly, he used to coach guys by just answering their questions via email for $100 bones a month. In only about 4 months of swapping emails and a few calls with Gordo, along with reading his old school blogs, and his old forum, I learned a ton. I went from a 10:07 guy to breaking 10 and going to Kona in under 6 months. That was a sweet deal I had with Gordo, and it is unfortunate that he went off to do other things, because there were a few of us that hit the jackpot with that set up.
My next coach was 1988 Ironman Champion Scott Molina. Scott coached me during the summer of 2006 and man did that guy help me go to the next level! Living Molina protocols, while coaching Camps with CpC, put most of the stats in my racing bio that I list on my website. The reality is, some of these coaches like Molina charge a lot of money (because they are worth it) and I just couldn’t afford it.
After Molina, I found Bob Korock, a former pro and a phenomenal coach from Modesto, California. The tragedy with Bob is I signed on with him during a time that I didn’t have the time to really put in the sport for a few years. For the age grouper out there that is really looking for a guy to take him to the limit of his ability, I can’t say enough about Bob.
Last summer, after the navy selected me to represent them in Kona, I took Teresa’s advice and started working with a coach out of Queensland, Australia. His name is Kristian Manietta. Coaches are a personal thing and you can have two coaches tell you the same thing, but when a coach and an athlete just connect on another subliminal level, that training session becomes unbelievably productive. That is how it is with Kristian. He has a way of communicating with me that just make my training better than it has ever been before. My goal now is to take that wisdom and those sessions from Kristian and take my training and racing to a level that I can’t even yet know exists.
Yesterday is so… yesterday!
One thing I love about our sport is that in most circles guys my age are talking about how good they used to be or what their life used to be like. In triathlon we are all about what life is like now and how much better we are going to be in the coming days, weeks, and months.
Just thinking about how I am going to hit that next swim, bike or run gets me pumped. I don’t just limit that mindset to my sport. I use it in my flying, my coaching, and as a teacher/mentor/leader in the navy.
I think the primary take-away for me out of this post is that life is about today, while prepping for tomorrow. Yesterday is so…yesterday! Who in the hell cares about yesterday? I’m all about today. My former brother in law used to say something all the time that I thought was a great statement. He would say, “some folks look at the glass as half empty, and some look at the glass as half full. I look at the glass as half full, but it is only half full because I drank the other half and it was great!”
I dig it.
Work harder on yourself than you do your job- the late Jim Rohn.
Train with joy…
Jonser
