The Karagoo Sanctuary. Alice Springs, Australia

In March 2020, the last episode of The Bachelor aired when Pilot Pete took his final two bachelorettes to Alice Springs, Australia. Fiona and I had been waiting for this episode all season because this small town of 27,000 in the middle of the Australian Outback was the place we called home for more than 6 years. It’s the place where we met, fell in love, and achieved some of our athletic highlights such as Qualifying for Kona and running marathon PB’s. It was nearly 5 years ago that I ran my PB starting outside the very same hotel featured in the airing of our favorite show.

2015 was a great year for us. Note only had Fiona and I both set marathon PB’s (3:02 and 3:09 respectively), but we also set out IRONMAN PBs of (9:22 and 9:59) respectively netting Fiona a spot at the 2016 IRONMAN World Championship. What led us to these accomplishments was a dedicated training plan and a mostly vegan diet. It was the same concept that helped me qualify for my 2^nd Boston in 2010.

I was really excited for 2020. We were going to be doing the legendary IRONMAN St George after it’s long departured return, we’d go to IRONMAN Ireland to my ancestral roots, run with my mom in her first ever marathon, and have 2 shots at setting a Boston Marathon Qualifying time. (3:00-3:03). Like many athletes, I have faced cancelled, rescheduling, and deferments. In terms of IRONMAN I requested the race be cancelled while living 8 hours south in the middle of the Epicenter of contagion in Arizona, USA; instead I received a deferment to the 2021 IRONMAN Coeur d’Alene in June 2021. For IRONMAN Ireland, we got a rescheduled date of August 2021. We are still waiting on 70.3 Arizona to be deferred to 2021 and an outside chance the Tucson Marathon actually happens in 18 weeks. That leaves the Wineglass Marathon. Fiona has cancelled, but I have accepted the Virtual Marathon which is 10 weeks from now on October 4^th, 2020.

I am now establishing my goals for this virtual race that I will be running on our Bowflex 216 Treadmill.

1. 2:59:59, anything below 3hrs. [6:52/mile]
2. 3:02:34, official marathon PB [6:58/mile]
3. 3:08:47, my 2009 Wineglass Marathon 4^th M25-29, 41/795 Overall result [7:12/mile]

After a Barrio Brewery Growler fill and Five Guys Burger last Friday, I’m going to allow one more Friday of unhealthy food and then, I am back on it. I’m up 3 pounds since March because of the booze and flexible diet but now my goals are defined, and I want to achieve them.

Buying a treadmill and creating our 2^nd training room was one of the best investments into our athletic adventures. Not only does it allow me to perform highly specific training and establish my fitness levels in terms of pace and HR, but it has also helped me work on my cadence. Over the last year, my cadence has improved from 170 on easy runs (experiencing a 175 cadence on 5K’s), to running a half marathon today in 1:50 at a 175 cadence. I also learn a lot about my body and cooling effects. During todays run my HR was holding steady on 122BPM but after 1 hour my WattieInk singlet was saturated and the cooling effect reduced by HR by 5BPM to 117. The mill also demands that you focus and push yourself and allowed me to run a mile PB this week of a 5:57 during a 3x1Mile Interval workout.

This year, I am on pace to finish the year logging nearly 2,500 miles which I will make a goal during Q4. At the current pace I will surpass my biggest ever year (2009, 1,881miles) by 31% and a 38% increase over last year. The main injury I face right now is a very intense pain in my rhombus that I’m seeing Sam Rachwarter and Dr. Minor for. These are the very same PT/Doctor that are used by many of the local Professional Triathletes and featured on Lionel Sanders YouTube videos. I’ve been in pain everyday for the last 2-3 months and have weekly PT and have already had one Dextrose injection into my deltoid/latissimus dorsi to no avail. So with 48 weeks till IRONMAN Couer d’Alene, I’m looking forward to healing this injury. It is going to absolutely suck losing my cycling fitness and some of the best power outputs I’ve ever out-put, but it is not needed at this time.

My run plan currently comes from the Hansons Marathon Training book. I love the book because the plan is clearly laid out with specific pacing and using a lower Long Run (max’s out at 16miles) but increases volume (up to 63miles per week). I’ve always done well with volume. In fact, my 3:02 PB came at the end of a 30hour training week.

I am going to have to harness my mindset to run 2:59-3:08 by myself, inside, on a treadmill. And I hope that it allows me to finally break 3 hours, in December at the Tucson Marathon in an official race.

I will continue to stick to the training plan. Please follow me on Strava. If you got this far and have a recommended video/song to add to my YouTube playlist for the marathon, please comment below so I can add it and run with you in mind.

Other comments:

• I plan on doing 1-2 days of full carbo-loading
• I plan on setting the A/C to 60F
• I will be waking up at 5AM for a 7AM start

My entire running career I have said “I don’t love running, I love what it does to my body.” But what I do love about running, besides the place it can take you, is the ability for you to challenge yourself with a challenge that you can respect but pursue with passion. For me, that’s this marathon.

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