Sunday started another week in our build phase of the training schedule. I have decided not to look too far ahead by day as it tends to both scare me and depress me. Sunday, we planned our 2 ½ hour bike ride on what we have dubbed the Brea Loop course. It takes us to Diamond Bar, through Phillips Ranch- Pomona and back through Chino Hills to Brea. It is loaded with steep hills that are helping us build a stronger cycling base.
One thing I have learned training with Chris all these years is that there is never an easy path when it comes to deciding where to do our training each day. This day, we found ourselves barreling through the course at incredible speeds. I pushed us up the hills and he lead the way on the down hills and on the flats. What should have taken us 2 ½ hours to complete, we pulled into the parking lot in just under 2 hours, a PR for us on this course. We transitioned into our running shoes and took off for a 30 minute brick. It was starting to get hot. In the back of my mind I was thinking that the dirt trails we were running just might have a rattlesnake or two out sunning themselves. It wasn’t more than a few minutes after that thought passed when we heard the distinctive rattle warning that drove both of us straight up in the air. Chris flung me to the left as we passed this 5 foot, red and yellow rattlesnake hanging out enjoying the day. Once our heart rates returned back to normal, we hurried back to our cars and called it a day.
Monday is our first swim day of the week and clearly is the easiest day we have. One workout of 2,800 yards and we are sipping our morning coffee at 6 AM. That day, we had a date with our amazing Villa Fundamental Intermediate School class that has ‘Adopted’ us! We met the class at 8:10 AM and took them through a goal setting discussion and then spent the remainder of the class time involving the students with everything we could bring related to the cycling portion of the Ironman. It was so cool seeing how engaged these young boys and girls were with everything we had to share. It became a science lesson as we brought in discussions of aerodynamics related to cycling and why our bikes can go faster than the BMX bike we had to compare ours with. Chris and I walked out that day high on life having again the opportunity to share with these great kids our love of triathlon, and feeling a sense of pride that we might be touching their lives in a positive way with our visits.
Tuesday was a 30 minute run followed by a 1:15 minute cycle class. There was nothing outrageous this day.
Wednesday was another 4:30 AM 2,800 yard swim followed by a 1:00 hour run up some very steep hills in Anaheim Hills. This workout tends to take a lot out of us. Besides its difficulty, it is the 3rd day of getting up at 3:30 AM and we are just tired.
Thursday is our long run of the week. This week we added another mile and covered 13 miles. We also included 4 - half mile pick-ups along the way. Chris just couldn’t settle for a normal 13 mile run. We worked very hard through this run and probably overdid the pick-ups in terms of speed but, what else is new?
Friday, it all finally came crashing down as today we struggled through a 2 hour bike ride followed by a 30 minute run. It was tough keeping focus but we made it. At our daily coffee shop this morning, we both knew we were registering zero in the tank. Lucky for me, I am off today so I will be home most of the day napping.
Saturday, Chris is off to Cancun for some R&R with his wife and I will be with my marathon team as they do their 13 mile run/walk. Once they have completed their training, I will finish up the day with a 2,800 yard swim.
So, it has been a great week, a tough week, and a week where we continue to get stronger and stronger. Total workout time for the week was just over 14 hours. We are only in week 11 of a 26 week training program. Stay tuned this coming week for a glimpse into our classroom experience as we should have our videotape ready of the remarkable students at Villa Fundamental School.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Good Days and Bad Days
As a marathon coach, I am always talking to my athletes about how some training days are picture perfect from start to finish. Likewise, some training days you'd be better off hanging out in bed watching I Love Lucy re-runs. Understanding this concept really makes you appreciate the good days and at the same time tolerate the bad ones.
Great advice, you say, to help my athletes be prepared mentally for either situation and to learn to cope. Sure it is, but, secretly to myself, I am thinking, 'that really doesn't apply to me' in my training for this Ironman. All my days will be good ones. So much for that philosophy!
Good Friday was a 3 1/2 hour bike ride for Chris and me and let me say, it was anything but 'good' for me. It started out perfectly with the sun shining a warmth that we hadn't felt since a day in October. We could actually wear our bike shorts without 2 layers on the top. I popped on my new tri shoes and off we went for a hilly route that would test our conditioning.
It wasn't long into the ride when I noticed no matter how hard I tried to keep up with Chris, it just wasn't happening, and we hadn't even hit the hills yet. The first hill I was spinning my way to the top right with Chris, and maybe even slightly ahead of him. Needless to say, that was the last time I saw him the rest of the morning. I soon found myself struggling with those demons inside telling me that 14 miles per hour was my top speed for the day so I had better get used to it. I felt so bad making Chris wait for me and couldn't understand why this was happening.
Of course, to top off this nightmarish ride, I ended up crashing into Chris while he was patiently waiting for me on Santiago Canyon Road (please don't ask how that actually happened). Let me say, I crashed but he remained upright. When I finally scraped myself off the road, I had what cyclists call road rash all around my left knee. Unfortunately, I've done this so many times, there isn't much skin left on the knee so the repair time is extensive.
I finally finished up the ride, threw my bike in the truck and headed home. I was dejected, not feeling much like an athlete training for an Ironman, and dreading the cleaning of the asphalt from my knee. But then it hit me; maybe this was exactly what I have been preaching for all those years. For all the good days, you are bound to have a few bad ones. That somehow put things back into perspective. Instead of selling my tri bike on eBay, I went home, took a long hot shower and set out my workout clothes for the next day's training.
Great advice, you say, to help my athletes be prepared mentally for either situation and to learn to cope. Sure it is, but, secretly to myself, I am thinking, 'that really doesn't apply to me' in my training for this Ironman. All my days will be good ones. So much for that philosophy!
Good Friday was a 3 1/2 hour bike ride for Chris and me and let me say, it was anything but 'good' for me. It started out perfectly with the sun shining a warmth that we hadn't felt since a day in October. We could actually wear our bike shorts without 2 layers on the top. I popped on my new tri shoes and off we went for a hilly route that would test our conditioning.
It wasn't long into the ride when I noticed no matter how hard I tried to keep up with Chris, it just wasn't happening, and we hadn't even hit the hills yet. The first hill I was spinning my way to the top right with Chris, and maybe even slightly ahead of him. Needless to say, that was the last time I saw him the rest of the morning. I soon found myself struggling with those demons inside telling me that 14 miles per hour was my top speed for the day so I had better get used to it. I felt so bad making Chris wait for me and couldn't understand why this was happening.
Of course, to top off this nightmarish ride, I ended up crashing into Chris while he was patiently waiting for me on Santiago Canyon Road (please don't ask how that actually happened). Let me say, I crashed but he remained upright. When I finally scraped myself off the road, I had what cyclists call road rash all around my left knee. Unfortunately, I've done this so many times, there isn't much skin left on the knee so the repair time is extensive.
I finally finished up the ride, threw my bike in the truck and headed home. I was dejected, not feeling much like an athlete training for an Ironman, and dreading the cleaning of the asphalt from my knee. But then it hit me; maybe this was exactly what I have been preaching for all those years. For all the good days, you are bound to have a few bad ones. That somehow put things back into perspective. Instead of selling my tri bike on eBay, I went home, took a long hot shower and set out my workout clothes for the next day's training.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Meet the Miller Support Team
It is a given that Mario Andretti has his pit crew, Bill Clinton had his cabinet, Wilt Chamberlain had 1,000 plus girlfriends, and, I, have Team Miller. Without this support team, I would never be able to take on the challenge of training for an Ironman.
It all starts with my soulmate. Imagine reading this advertisement for the position:
Incredibly good looking guy for his age (what guy doesn’t think that way about himself) looking for a soulmate. He is financially secure, has a great job, and resides in Yorba Linda, CA. He rises every morning, rain or shine, at 3:30 AM to train. You will not see him from 2 to 8 hours depending on his daily training schedule. He eats constantly and likes to think he eats somewhat healthy foods. He takes vitamins, voodoo supplements to keep colds away, and has huge canisters of powder all over the kitchen for his fluid fuel used for his workouts. He is extremely quiet around the house after 8 PM as that is almost always his bedtime. Parties like a rock star until 10 PM on the weekends and has been known to fall asleep in the middle of a conversation at a party.
What women out there wouldn’t sign up quickly for this amazing life partner? Well, enter my wife Dawn, a highly successful school administrator. She has become Team Miller Captain. She is the most supportive and understanding wife an Ironman triathlete could ever hope to find. She rarely complains about the training, takes care of me emotionally and physically and come race day, she is my biggest cheerleader for all 13 ½ hours. How lucky am I to have found her?
Training for an IM is something I could never have attempted while trying to raise my family. Sorry guys with young families but there is no sport more selfish than this one when it comes to training time. So I waited until my kids were grown to even attempt this. But, I am blessed with an incredible immediate family that motivates me out of bed every morning when the alarm goes off. My daughter, Linsey, and son in law Manny are the oldest. Linsey is a successful special education high school teacher and Manny is just a month away from his MBA from USC and has a terrific management position in pharmaceutical sales. Linsey has completed 2 marathons (I know to make her dad proud) and together they offer encouragement and support in everything I do. Their biggest accomplishment as a couple to date was providing me with the most adorable and precious granddaughter a “papa’ could ever ask for. Her picture is with me always on every ride tucked into my bento box and when I hit one of those bad patches on my bike, I open up my box and I see Makenzie and everything bad, turns good.
Next in age is my son Adam. Adam is a recent law school graduate and is working in Costa Mesa for a prestigious law firm as an associate. As a former high school and collegiate runner, he is my role model when it comes to that sport. Someday, I’d like the pleasure of crossing a finish line with him just like we did when he ran his first 5K.
Ali is my youngest daughter and she has a half marathon under her belt. A sophomore at CSU- Fullerton, she helps keep her mother occupied so that my time away training doesn’t seem so outrageous. As a psychology major, she also analyzes me constantly and now that she is studying abnormal behavior has me pegged for at least three of the more extreme illnesses.
Last, but not least is Grams, my mom. She has been my biggest supporter all my life and has stopped looking at me with those strange facial contortions when she hears about my latest venture. She instilled the quest for excellence in everything I do and a sense of pride and accomplishment that has centered me all my life. Now, at age 85, she supports me at events whenever the date doesn’t interfere with her busy social calendar.
.
So if becoming an Ironman is on your list of things to do… my first piece of advice; either become single or surround yourself with a pit crew just like I have described in Team Miller.
It all starts with my soulmate. Imagine reading this advertisement for the position:
Incredibly good looking guy for his age (what guy doesn’t think that way about himself) looking for a soulmate. He is financially secure, has a great job, and resides in Yorba Linda, CA. He rises every morning, rain or shine, at 3:30 AM to train. You will not see him from 2 to 8 hours depending on his daily training schedule. He eats constantly and likes to think he eats somewhat healthy foods. He takes vitamins, voodoo supplements to keep colds away, and has huge canisters of powder all over the kitchen for his fluid fuel used for his workouts. He is extremely quiet around the house after 8 PM as that is almost always his bedtime. Parties like a rock star until 10 PM on the weekends and has been known to fall asleep in the middle of a conversation at a party.
What women out there wouldn’t sign up quickly for this amazing life partner? Well, enter my wife Dawn, a highly successful school administrator. She has become Team Miller Captain. She is the most supportive and understanding wife an Ironman triathlete could ever hope to find. She rarely complains about the training, takes care of me emotionally and physically and come race day, she is my biggest cheerleader for all 13 ½ hours. How lucky am I to have found her?
Training for an IM is something I could never have attempted while trying to raise my family. Sorry guys with young families but there is no sport more selfish than this one when it comes to training time. So I waited until my kids were grown to even attempt this. But, I am blessed with an incredible immediate family that motivates me out of bed every morning when the alarm goes off. My daughter, Linsey, and son in law Manny are the oldest. Linsey is a successful special education high school teacher and Manny is just a month away from his MBA from USC and has a terrific management position in pharmaceutical sales. Linsey has completed 2 marathons (I know to make her dad proud) and together they offer encouragement and support in everything I do. Their biggest accomplishment as a couple to date was providing me with the most adorable and precious granddaughter a “papa’ could ever ask for. Her picture is with me always on every ride tucked into my bento box and when I hit one of those bad patches on my bike, I open up my box and I see Makenzie and everything bad, turns good.
Next in age is my son Adam. Adam is a recent law school graduate and is working in Costa Mesa for a prestigious law firm as an associate. As a former high school and collegiate runner, he is my role model when it comes to that sport. Someday, I’d like the pleasure of crossing a finish line with him just like we did when he ran his first 5K.
Ali is my youngest daughter and she has a half marathon under her belt. A sophomore at CSU- Fullerton, she helps keep her mother occupied so that my time away training doesn’t seem so outrageous. As a psychology major, she also analyzes me constantly and now that she is studying abnormal behavior has me pegged for at least three of the more extreme illnesses.
Last, but not least is Grams, my mom. She has been my biggest supporter all my life and has stopped looking at me with those strange facial contortions when she hears about my latest venture. She instilled the quest for excellence in everything I do and a sense of pride and accomplishment that has centered me all my life. Now, at age 85, she supports me at events whenever the date doesn’t interfere with her busy social calendar.
.
So if becoming an Ironman is on your list of things to do… my first piece of advice; either become single or surround yourself with a pit crew just like I have described in Team Miller.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Weekly Review
I am sitting at the computer half asleep and half energized about my bike ride today. I had to venture off without Chris today due to our weekend scheduling conflicts. I took the day off from work. Today's ride was 3 1/2 hours and like an idiot, I went straight for the hills around our area. I haven't done much outdoor riding for the past few weeks. I figured it was time to make myself work hard. I did just that.. doing our Brea loop ride with various hill repeats thrown in to make me suffer even more. Self inflicted suffering... what was I thinking?
I covered 47 miles and didn't quite get in 3 1/2 hours. It was more like 3:10. It was slow going up these rather steep hills. I kept telling myself this was a good thing. But, in the end, my legs were shot. Could the day before have something to do with that? Thursday, we ran 11 miles. Of course, it was supposed to be the slow long run for the week. But somehow we managed to push the pace to 9:14 per mile. OK, stop mocking us, I know that's a pedestrian pace for some of you but plenty fast enough for us.
Maybe the workout on Wednesday could have also contributed to my fatique today. Wednesday, we did our 2800 yards in the pool which for me is like a root canal without novacaine. If that weren't enough, we followed the swim immediately with a 5 mile hill run. It took us 43 minutes and we knocked this all out before 6:30 AM.
Tuesday was a bit more civilized with only a 25 minute run followed by a 1 hour spin class. We push ourselves hard in the class though. In fact, we take the bikes in the very back of the class so the instructor won't be able to see that we aren't doing one routine she is barking out. I bet spin instructors really hate people like us. Oh well....
Monday, the start of the week was the easiest of them all. Only 1 hour in the pool covering 3200 yards. The only hard part about this workout was the call time. My alarm clock went off at 3:45 AM and I begin to drink clorinated pool water at 4:30 am. There are lots of open lanes in the pool if anyone out there would like to join us.
So, in the end, this weekend will end the last week of another 'build' phase of our training. What that means exactly is anyone's guess but it sure makes me sound smart using the term. Thankfully, next week is our recovery week and we will have 3 days off. You gotta love recovery weeks.
Some things to look for this coming week: Monday, we will be doing our first VO2 Max test conducted by Pepper Erlinger and her fine company. Chris and I had this done six months ago but we wanted to re-evaluate our base line before too far into the training. Tuesday, we will be dunked into a tub for our body fat evaluation. Again, not new for us, but something we wanted to benchmark early into the training cycle. Chris would be actually writing his own blog today but I understand he has retreated to some fitness spa for the weekend trying to rid himself of those final fat pockets. We will be filming both of these sessions so stay tuned for what might NOT be a pleasant site. You might want to restrict young children from viewing these videos.
Lastly, I'd like to report about our first class encounter with Ms. Kato's amazing 7th and 8th graders from Villa Fundamental Intermediate School. They have 'Adopted' us as their athletes for the semester. We have some really great plans for our visits to the classroom. This time, we played a short Ironman video to show them what it is we do. In addition, we introduced ourselves, gave them a course outline for the semester and all our fun activities planned, shared with them our IMLP goals and some of the steps needed along the way to ensure we are successful.
After that, we introduced the SMART goal setting concept. Our purpose was to have each student develop one health or fitness goal they would like to accomplish by the end of the semester. Next time we meet, we will help them finalize their goal, identify their personal obstacles that might get in their way, and give them individual action steps needed to get them to their desired result. Each time we come back, we will review with them our progress on our IMLP goal and do the same with theirs. At the end of the semester in June, we will celebrate their successes with a huge class party. We are so excited that Ms. Kato and the principal, Mrs. Miller, gave us this opportunity to interact with these outstanding students. What better way to share our love of triathlon with young students and to hopefully, touch their lives in a positive way. We can't wait to share our next visit results with you.
I've had it... my eyes are closing and it is only 4 PM. Take care and thank you for following our journey and for supporting our cause.
I covered 47 miles and didn't quite get in 3 1/2 hours. It was more like 3:10. It was slow going up these rather steep hills. I kept telling myself this was a good thing. But, in the end, my legs were shot. Could the day before have something to do with that? Thursday, we ran 11 miles. Of course, it was supposed to be the slow long run for the week. But somehow we managed to push the pace to 9:14 per mile. OK, stop mocking us, I know that's a pedestrian pace for some of you but plenty fast enough for us.
Maybe the workout on Wednesday could have also contributed to my fatique today. Wednesday, we did our 2800 yards in the pool which for me is like a root canal without novacaine. If that weren't enough, we followed the swim immediately with a 5 mile hill run. It took us 43 minutes and we knocked this all out before 6:30 AM.
Tuesday was a bit more civilized with only a 25 minute run followed by a 1 hour spin class. We push ourselves hard in the class though. In fact, we take the bikes in the very back of the class so the instructor won't be able to see that we aren't doing one routine she is barking out. I bet spin instructors really hate people like us. Oh well....
Monday, the start of the week was the easiest of them all. Only 1 hour in the pool covering 3200 yards. The only hard part about this workout was the call time. My alarm clock went off at 3:45 AM and I begin to drink clorinated pool water at 4:30 am. There are lots of open lanes in the pool if anyone out there would like to join us.
So, in the end, this weekend will end the last week of another 'build' phase of our training. What that means exactly is anyone's guess but it sure makes me sound smart using the term. Thankfully, next week is our recovery week and we will have 3 days off. You gotta love recovery weeks.
Some things to look for this coming week: Monday, we will be doing our first VO2 Max test conducted by Pepper Erlinger and her fine company. Chris and I had this done six months ago but we wanted to re-evaluate our base line before too far into the training. Tuesday, we will be dunked into a tub for our body fat evaluation. Again, not new for us, but something we wanted to benchmark early into the training cycle. Chris would be actually writing his own blog today but I understand he has retreated to some fitness spa for the weekend trying to rid himself of those final fat pockets. We will be filming both of these sessions so stay tuned for what might NOT be a pleasant site. You might want to restrict young children from viewing these videos.
Lastly, I'd like to report about our first class encounter with Ms. Kato's amazing 7th and 8th graders from Villa Fundamental Intermediate School. They have 'Adopted' us as their athletes for the semester. We have some really great plans for our visits to the classroom. This time, we played a short Ironman video to show them what it is we do. In addition, we introduced ourselves, gave them a course outline for the semester and all our fun activities planned, shared with them our IMLP goals and some of the steps needed along the way to ensure we are successful.
After that, we introduced the SMART goal setting concept. Our purpose was to have each student develop one health or fitness goal they would like to accomplish by the end of the semester. Next time we meet, we will help them finalize their goal, identify their personal obstacles that might get in their way, and give them individual action steps needed to get them to their desired result. Each time we come back, we will review with them our progress on our IMLP goal and do the same with theirs. At the end of the semester in June, we will celebrate their successes with a huge class party. We are so excited that Ms. Kato and the principal, Mrs. Miller, gave us this opportunity to interact with these outstanding students. What better way to share our love of triathlon with young students and to hopefully, touch their lives in a positive way. We can't wait to share our next visit results with you.
I've had it... my eyes are closing and it is only 4 PM. Take care and thank you for following our journey and for supporting our cause.
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