Life of an Age-Grouper

As an endurance athlete you can expect to deal with some level of fatigue throughout your career. The level of fatigue can bring your dreams crashing down or simply sideline you for a few days. Hopefully it's the later. I'm currently dealing with an episode of fatigue. Yes, once again in my triathlon career I'm dealing with fatigue. Fatigue, a result of over training, prematurely ended my season last year. That event has embarrassingly traumatized me. I have now become hyper sensitive to my body and the feelings associated with fatigue. After last year's episode with fatigue I vowed NEVER to go to that place again yet, here I am. So what went wrong? In order to ensure that I never went into the fatigue zone I hired a coach, Matt Wontz, head coach of Organic Endurance. He has laid down a training plan that would ensure that the correct steps were taken to improve my fitness and help me achieve my goals in a healthy and efficient manner. I have kept a pretty r...

"Holy Hell" Every triathlon that I race I have a game plan for.  Initially my plans were just to finish.  Then they began to evolve as my passion for this sport grew.  No longer would just finishing be my top priority, my goals became specific and were related to time/splits.  Meeting these benchmarks gave validity to my efforts and fitness levels. Leading into this season I have the loftiest goals to date.  I know that I can be a sub 5:30 athlete.  I fully expect to complete the swim in 35 minutes if not faster, complete the bike under 3 hours and complete the run under 1:50.  I'm not sure how many athletes would actually disclose their goals like I just did, and I can't believe I just did but, I feel that it will hold me more accountable for my actions.  Do I expect to achieve this time at every race, no, but I will when I reach peak condition. Leading into Harriman 70.3 I had written down specific times/splits for the race and had a game ...

The last couple of days have been spent on Shelter Island with my wife celebrating our 2 year anniversary. To be honest, when planning our anniversary weekend I had a little anxiety about not being able to train the weekend prior to my race. However, the only reason I am able to dedicate so much time and pursue my passion is because of her so, taking a couple of days off means nothing. In addition the timing couldn't have been more perfect since I was feeling a low level of fatigue. Three days rest and relaxation was exactly what I needed. I could write an entirely new blog entry about my anniversary on Shelter Island but let me just say it was extremely relaxing and I had an amazing time with my wife. Oh, and we biked around Shelter island for 2.5 hrs. (she biked for 2.5 hours on rolling hills . . . hmmmmm. . . .are you thinking what I'm thinking?) On our way home I began to slip back into reality and think of the week ahead. Four days of work and light training was a...

For nearly 7 months I have been pushing as well as redefining both my physical and mental boundaries in the name of becoming a better triathlete. Along the way I have had small victories as well as defeats but no matter the outcome I remained focused on my goals vowing to learn from my mistakes and to capitalize on my successes. It wasn't until very recently however that I have felt the culmination of these efforts, true strength. Without any hesitation I can finally say that my aerobic foundation is rock solid. I'm a firm believer and preach Matt's philosophy of building a solid aerobic foundation. It is this foundation that one can build speed, strength, power, quickness and endurance upon. Without this solid foundation my body would have surely broken down resulting in injury, prolonged fatigue or enduring diminishing returns. My feelings of strength are laid upon this platform. Physically, my body has been absorbing the training amazingly. The body gets to a point o...