Tag Archives: Fleet Feet Sports Des Moines

Funny How Things Change…

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It’s funny how life changes before you.  Sometimes it’s gradual, where you don’t even notice it until someone else points it out to you.  Other times it changes so quickly that you hardly have time to react.  In the past few years I’ve experenced both of these types during my lifestyle change, and noticed how my life has went from one thing to another, a nd what sometimes looked impossible was actually rather easy after all.

From late night TV binging to early morning rises to get a long run in; from seeing how much ice cream would fit in a bowl to how much protein was in my energy bar; from struggling to cross the line at my first sprint triathlon to training for my first 70.3; it has been an amazing change and quite an incredible journey.  There has been worry that I wasn’t good enough, struggles to get through, self-doubts, and sometimes even pain, but in the end there was always satisfaction, happiness, pride that I could do it, and that I didn’t give up on myself.

The other day I was looking at my workout schedule that my coach sent for the following week. On Saturday I had a 30 run that said “off the bike” but no bike scheduled.  On Sunday, I had a 3 hour bike scheduled and then an 11 mile run.  I wondered if it was a mistake, so I emailed my coach to ask.  But what surprised me wasn’t that I caught it, it was the following line I wrote with relative ease:

 “I’m game if you are, just wanted to clarify.”

Wow.  I looked at that line after I wrote it.  Did I really mean that? Was I really up to riding for three hours, only to jump off the bike and run for eleven miles?!?  There was only one thought that came to me:

“You can do it”

It’s funny, I would have never considered that a few short years ago.  I still feel like that overweight guy on the sidelines of the triathlon, watching my friend cross the finish and wishing I could do that.  Now, suddenly, I am beyond that.  With every new day brings new uncharted territory in my fitness journey, and I am the only person that can blaze the trail.

I have a running mentor who I love dearly.  She started to focus more on yoga, as I continued to run.  One day we ran together and she was asking questions.  Then she smiled and said “The student has become the master.”  I felt happy that I had learned so much, but saddened that I had grown beyond my mentor and was somewhat on my own.  She is still there cheering me on and supporting me, but she wanted me to know that I am no longer a “beginner” runner.  

Now I have been given a great opportunity. I am coaching a half marathon program at Fleet Feet Sports in Des Moines.  I set up the running schedule, workouts, map the runs, answer questions the runners have, pace the distance runs as well as lead the way for the Wednesday hill/speed workouts.  I have a lot of help from Andy, Claire, and the pacers, but it’s quite an honor to be asked to ‘coach’ the group.  That is something I would have never dreamed of.

Another way you change, sometimes without noticing, is your appearance.  The other day, I ran into a friend of mine that I have not seen for months.  He looked at me and exclaimed “How much weight have you lost?” I told him that actually I haven’t lost any weight recently.  He looked me over and said “Then you have added a lot of muscle because you have really leaned out”.  After he said that, I looked in the mirror.  It was true, I had leaned out a bit.  I hadn’t noticed it until he pointed it out to me.

Today we are running in the Des Moines Leprechaun 10k. It’s a fun run, and it’s my third year of running in it.  However, it should take me 50-55 minutes to finish the race, but my coach has me scheduled to run for 1:50 today.  So it looks like I’ll be pausing my Garmin long enough to cheer for my wife and my friends, and then running off again.  I would have never guessed that would be possible a few years ago. 

 Funny how things change…

Live healthy, be happy!

Travis

Christmas Gifts and the Year Ahead

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Merry Christmas!  It has been rather warm in the Midwest this winter, however we received the gift of a white Christmas with a dusting of snow.  I got to enjoy the beauty of it without having to shovel it…yet another gift.  I actually took Christmas Day off from training, since I have not had a true rest day for several weeks.  But, the time is getting short for training, so every day counts.  More on that in a bit.

I Received another gift that was unexpected; I was sponsored by Honey Stinger!  You will now see the Honey Stinger banner on my blog pages, as I feel that it’s the least I could do for then since they accepted me into their group.  I am also the in-store ambassador for Altra shoes at Fleet Feet Sports in Des Moines, so their logo will also appear on my blog pages.  Please check out both of these fine companies.  Altra makes awesome Zero-Drop running shoes with a very comfortable and wide toe box.  Honey Stingers make some of the best fuel replacement chews, gels, waffles, and protein bars on the market. I have relied on Honey Stingers for both of my marathons and my triathlons, and I love the fact that they are also organic.

So when you see #HShive and #HoneyStinger, you’ll know that I’m including them in on my updates.  

   
I have to find the right hashtag for Altra Running Shoes, but here is their logo: 

 
So now on to the need to keep training and not miss a workout…I have 22 weeks until my first 70.3 Ironman.  I can’t believe I actually signed up!  I was scared half to death, hitting the ‘commit’ button.  But I talked to my coach, Jenni (who is awesome, by the way) and she said I would be ready and actually gave me four options to look at.  So my wife and I chose Raleigh, North Carolina on June 5.  While that sounds a long way away, it is only 22 weeks.  We have to get bike carriers, airline tickets, hotel rooms, and prep for the trip.  Plus keep up and ramp up the training!  I am really nervous, but really excited about competing and completing my first half-Ironman.  It is amazing what the last five years have brought on, and how wonderful a healthy lifestyle has enriched my life.

To top it off, I was offered the chance to lead a group that will be training for a half-marathon.  It will be at Fleet Feet Sports in Des Moines, and we will be getting people ready to run the Hy Vee Road Races half marathon at the Drake Relays. This should be a great opportunity to pass along my love for the sport, and will hopefully help me ramp up my running training for Raleigh.

If you ever think about training for an event such as a 70.3, please consider getting a coach to help you along the way.  I am so glad I did!  Coach Jenni structures my workouts, so I am sure I am working on everything I need to (even core, which I will not do on my own).  She is always a text or phone call away, and is watching even when I don’t think she is.  One night after a rough workout on the bike, I posted on Facebook that I had a long and frustrating workout.  I didn’t even leave the gym yet when Coach Jenni texted me, wanting to know what happened.  She reassured me that I will be ok, and that we all have good and not so good workouts.  It was nice to know that she was right there to support me when I needed it.  You cannot get that on your own, so please consider hiring a coach.

It’s time to relax for just a bit and enjoy the Christmas holiday.  Tomorrow will be here before I know it, and with it comes a lot of training.  I hope your Christmas, and your upcoming year, is filled with joy and happiness, and good health.
Live healthy, be happy!

Travis

Training, Training, and More training

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I haven’t posted since I completed the Des Moines Triathlon, and I guess the reason why is that there hasn’t been much going on.  Just training, training, and more training.  Here’s a quick update of what has happened, what’s to come, and what the future holds.

My wife and I completed the Capital Striders Running Group’s “Capital Pursuit” 10 mile road race.  It is my wife’s longest run to date, and I was proud to run beside her all the way from beginning to end!  We completed the race in 1:46:53, which is an awesome time for a ten-mile run.

  
Here is a before and after picture of the Fleet Feet Sports Des Moines gang at the Capital Pursuit.  Looking at the top photo, there’s Heidi, Tom, Julie, Me, and Claire.  We had a great time, and we plan on doing it again next year.

So, what to do after a 10-mile run? Why, go on a 15 mile bike ride of course!  Our friends Karen and Mel met up with us, and we rode to lunch and then back.  It was a great day of working out and being with friends!

  
I have decided to drop out of the IMT Des Moines marathon, and change my entry to the half marathon.  There are two reasons why.  First, even though I could make the 26.2, I feel that I didn’t get enough long runs in to make a decent run of it.  I’d rather play it safe than to risk injury.  The second reason?  My wife has decided to run her first half marathon!  This from a person who said she’d never run THAT far!  She has amazed me.  In one year she has completed her first 5k, 10k, 10 mile run, sprint triathlon, olympic distance triathlon (open water), and now she’s going to run her first half marathon!  So very proud of her.

After the half marathon, we hit training mode once again.  We want to increase our swimming distance so that swimming a mile is easier than it is now.  We want to increase our biking distance, which means with winter coming, we need to get a second trainer.  We use “Sufferfest” videos for our indoor training.  If you haven’t seen these videos, look them up at http://www.thesufferfest.com.  They are awesome, advanced cycling videos that will really give you a hard workout.  The last one we did was called “ISLAGIATT”.  It was a two-hour hill training lesson in brutality that left me panting, sweating, and starving.  Only towards the end of the video did I realize what “ISLAGIATT” stood for.  It flashed on the screen just I wondered what the hell I got myself into… “It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time”.  As I wiped the sweat off of me and the bike, I knew it was a good idea, although after the first hour I would have doubted that. 🙂

We will also increase our running distances, so it becomes easier when we do our brick workouts.  As the temps in Iowa fall with the leaves on the trees, our open water swim time is growing short.  Soon we will be forced back to the shelter of the indoor pools at the YMCA, but that will make it easier for us to do our swim/bike or swim/run bricks.  It will also make being able to do a test triathlon easier, since we won’t be lugging all our equipment to the park.

I’ll end this post with some photos we took while on a bike ride the other day.  Be sure to look around as you exercise outside.  You never know what you’ll find, like a carousel!  This one is at Union Park in Des Moines.

   
    
   
Live healthy, be happy!

Travis