Know When to Fold Em'

So for me, working out is a way of life. I'm not one of these people who dreads a workout. I never could understand why someone would continue to do something that they clearly did not enjoy. I love swimming, biking, and running. Sure there are days and certain workouts that I whine and complain but overall I'm in this because I really enjoy doing it. In many ways it is my medicine. I do not feel well when I take a day away. I feel sluggish and hungover and completely lacking energy. In an ideal world I would wake up every morning, drink two cups of starbucks, and get right to some kind of work out. The point to all of this...rest does not come easy to me. If I could get away with it I would never ever take a day off. Today my body is telling me I need rest. And I need to listen-I know what can happen when you come to this fork in the road and choose to carry on when your body is screaming for a break. I've had a couple of big weeks and on top of a high mileage week I worked over 48 hours and got very little sleep. Saturday was my 6th night in a row working-I came home and slept for three hours, then ran for 3 hours, then went back to work for my final 4 hour shift at work. It was a cluster of a week-I never work that much but with the kids on break this week and Matt in Boston next week I had to put in some extra time. In two weeks I will be running the New Jersey Marathon and today I struggled with a 6 mile run at an 8:30 pace-not good. The heart rate was low but the quads are not cooperating. So, I bagged the bike this afternoon-despite wanting more than anything to get out and enjoy the sunshine. I will rest if I must and I must. Sigh...jc

Lake Placid 140.6

I have been waivering about Lake Placid for months now. I have to say I was really sad that my three favorite training partners decided not to race LP this year. I was so looking forward to finally racing an Ironman w/my BFF from Maine- Melissa-unfortunately she had a spinal fusion-twice-in recent months so she is a no go. The best part about doing triathlons is getting to share the experience with great friends who totally get it. Cuz let's be honest-most people think this is really crazy. In fact, I remember the first year I did Lake Placid and I would go to the Cavalry Club pool where my kids are on the swim team-the other moms would ask me what I did for training that day and if I rode 90 I would say 30!! Stupid-but I just got sick of trying to explain how I actually enjoyed riding my bike that far. OK-back to Lake Placid-it is my favorite place on earth. I just feel at home there-I could totally move there-and I would LOVE to retire there. I raced my first Ironman there in 2008-that was the year that it poured rain the ENTIRE day. I loved every minute of it. I was having a fantastic day. I had an amazing coach-and I was prepared. Plus-I had that once in a lifetime fire that you get when you do something for the very first time. I was having the race of my life until about mile 93 on the bike when I got my first flat. I had issues with the stem on my race wheel and ended up getting 2 more flats-only had 2 tubes so had to wait for bike tech for 20min in the pouring rain. Three flats from mile 93-108! It was devastating and I need to go back there-I feel like I've got unfinished business there. So now I'm ready. I feel that fire again. When I'm doing my long rides I see myself riding the LP course-I hit a hill and in my mind I'm heading up the three bears. When I'm running the marathon in New Jersey in two weeks I will be running Placid-this is where my heart is. See you there!

Getting Stronger

I've been a total slacker about blogging. This is a really busy time of year in the Chaffin household. Matt and I are both ramping up the mileage for race season and the kids have baseball, lacrosse, swimming, and soccer. This is alittle insane but honestly I function better when I'm crunched for time. It has been interesting for me coaching myself. The best part about it is that I am way more relaxed about my training mentally. When I have a schedule in front of me I tend to get alittle anal retentive and I really freak out if I have to miss a work out-i stress and worry alot about how to fit it in. One of the benefits to going solo is that I find that I listen to my body a whole lot more. I was completely guilty of not being completely honest with my coach about how I was feeling. I was terrified to miss a work out. Now that I am winging it-if I feel like crap I just take it easy that day-no big deal-and when I'm feeling good I can lay down the hammer. For now, it is working. I'm fortunate to still be able to do a large amount of training with Kristen who always pushes me out of my comfort zone. One of the biggest changes I have made thus far is that I have been doubling up on my longish rides. 50+ miles on Monday and then 60+ miles on Friday. I'm alittle panicked that I have yet to do a century (hundy as Adam would say) with Placid less that a hundy days away!! There is time and right now my focus is Eagleman 70.3. On Monday I've just been riding at a relaxed pace-and the past few Sundays I have ran 20 or more miles so the legs are not all there on Monday! On Wednesday Kristen and I did a brick of 25 miles on the bike followed by an hour run. This was a total disaster for me as I was going on less than 3 hours of sleep after working the previous 3 nights in a row. I started the ride out and immediately got a terrible side stitch-the kind you get when you are running really hard-the kind I've never had on the bike! KRoe was hauling up a huge hill and every breath I took was so painful. When we got to the top she said, "You have a bloody nose!" I told her she should just go on cuz i was feeling like crap-the good friend she is she didn't wanna leave me with the nose bleed and all! The run wasn't much better but you know what-I got it done and it is miles in the bank. Some days that is all you can do. I know that it is all making me stronger!

My little Man

This is my little man and his buds-in the yellow tie-Ian Scott, age 8. As a second grader-this was his first official spring concert up on the big stage at the middle school. Trust me-there will be many more to come!!

Partying w/Stanley...in the rain!

I worked last night 11pm - 7:30am. I only work 2 nights a week-and they are always in a row, never on the weekend, and never on a holiday. It is a sweet set up and I love my job. My first night is always rough because I'm lucky if I get 2 hours sleep going into it. Usually I get none. I came home this morning and was asleep by 8:30. Then awake at 10, then 11, then 12. I finally got up at 12:15-not enough sleep and I'll be feeling the pain at 3am tonite! Anyway-I got up and got right on my bike despite the fact that it was already drizzling outside. We had beautiful weather here in Central NY last week and once I get out on my bike-it is REALLY hard to ride inside on the trainer. So out the door I went-ready for a hill workout. Hills are not hard to come by in these parts. In fact-we live at the highest point in Manlius-so high we are the only neighborhood on a well-cuz they couldn't get the city water up to us! Anyway, I was feeling good and getting bored of doing hill repeats close to home (I didn't wanna get too far away cuz it looked like the skies would open up at any moment and 49degrees in the pouring rain is not fun). So I decided to head over to the infamous Stanley Road-the biggest climb around-and up until today I had managed to avoid meeting up w/Mr. Stanley. So I'm riding along, there were some pretty big hills and then suddenly I am at the top of the steepest freakn hill I've ever seen. Now it is really raining and the road is quite sandy. I realize that this is it-THE WALL-as I have now named it. The problem-I was going to have to ride down it before I could ride up it. I had my ass hanging off the back of my seat because it was so steep I seriously thought i may do an endo (go over the handlebars-for you non-cyclists). I had no idea you could ride up a hill going that slow and not fall over!!! Not to mention that my back tire was spinning in the wet sand. Stanley was everything I imagined and more. We will meet again soon...

Swimming Woes

Today I was reminded of why I stopped swimming at the y and started swimming at Cazenovia College. At the YMCA they have a water aerobics class(es) every morning between the hours of 8:30 and 10-11:30. This in itself is an issue-because this is my Prime swimming time and it doesn't seem fair to me that they would fill this time w/water aerobics M-F-but they do and they aren't gonna change it. During these class times they close up to 4 out of 6 lanes down for the class. Today they closed down 4 lanes and I was in the lane closest to where the aerobics class was happening in the rest of the pool. As I came to wall for a quick rest, one of aerobics queens tapped me on the shoulder and this is what she said, "Excuse me, I know you are lap swimming, but every time you swim by us you are splashing us. Is there anyway you can not do that??" OMG. Are you Effing kidding me? My response, "Uh, no-there isn't a way I cannot do that-this is a swimming pool!!!" Unbelievable. Back to Caz college I go!

“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” Jack London.

“There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.” Jack London.

"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well." Jack London.

You may notice a theme. My friend and running partner Ben Clardy inspired me to read The Call of the Wild last winter. This led to me reading most of Jack London's works. Somehow during my undergraduate reading I had escaped this great American author. After having watched Bruce Mackey win another Iditarod, I had a desire to get out in the wild winter and run a race. The Yukon 300, Susitna and Arrowhead all came to mind, but recently here in my neck of the woods the Beast of Burden came into being. I decided that this would be my fouray into winter racing.

This is the first winter that I have run outside all winter long. In winters past I have run outside intermittently on a sunny day when the roads were well plowed, but this winter I have gone outside every day and night to run, in lake effect snow, frigid wind chill and by the bright cold light of full moon. It has been quite humbling. Running on a snowy trail is significantly more work than anything else I have ever done. Muscles I didnt know that I have have been sore and stiff. The longer one runs the more this seems to set in, and its exponentially effected by the "feels like" temperature. You quickly learn in winter the "feels like" temperature is all that matters. It may say 20 degrees on the thermometer but if the weather channel says it "feels like" 5 or -5, believe it and be ready to freeze your @$% off.

So finally it comes down to the time for the race and although I feel that I have prepared as best as I can I know that anything can happen and that is what I must be prepared for. Let it snow.
Matt

"Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." - William Faulkner