James Gilliard – Page 12 – No Crappy Excuses

2nd Indoor Tri – 1.10.16

Having done the first Indoor Tri a week prior, I had a better idea of what to expect. And knowing what bumps could come up, I tried to put proactive preventative measures in place so they didn’t happen this week.

Early in the preceding week, I was concerned that I’d have to do this on my own since I didn’t have a guide. However, Coach Joe was able to help find one for me. And with the additional help of another volunteer in the pool, everything went great.

I was able to go further in the pool and on the treadmill than I had the previous week. TI did not go as far on the bike, as I lost time when my feet came out of the cages twice. The first time, I took the couple of minutes to let them fix it. The second time, I just kept pedaling because time was almost up on the bike.

I will be doing another ET Indoor Tri in March, and will look to improve on these numbers then!

Snow Run – 1.9.16

With the Half Marathon only 2 weeks away, we needed to get in a long 10 mile training run. And even though it was supposed to snow, we still headed out. The first 5 miles wasn’t too bad, and I believe we kept on pace until the turnaround. However, after 5 miles the pace decreased. And by 7, I really couldn’t run because of my IT band (right side).

By that point, it was dark already and the ground was slick with new snow, so I doubt I could have run too much if the IT band issues hasn’t been there. So we walked the last 3+ miles of the training program back. The most difficult part for me was the last 3/4 of a mile where we had to go in complete darkness. We were using a tether, and I trust Terri completely, so it all worked out.

When I made it back, it took about 90 minutes of hot showers and layers to get my body back to normal after being out in the cold for 3+ hours. And the stretching afterwards was painful to say the least…

A Busy Week in the Pool – 1.4 – 1.8.16

This week marked a month since I had started the indoor swim sessions. No, it hasn’t been fun to get up at 3:30AM to make it there in time or to be waiting out in the cold for 15 – 20 minutes until the center opens. However, it’s all been worth it!

With all the work that Terri and I did during the spring and summer, I had a decent base going into the classes. But Coach Seay has continually pushed me further and further from that point since December. There have been some struggles, but in general things are coming together.

This week was one of the most challenging between all of the drills and endurance training. Especially the breathing drills to the weak side (to develop bilateral breathing), and adding backstroke in. Not being able to have the normal visual cues from the bottom of the pool made it a very interesting set of laps.

I know that it will continue to get easier and all come together. It just takes time.

Dare2Tri Development Team – 1.4.16

In November, I was presented with the opportunity to apply for the Dare2Tri Development and Elite teams. Being on one of these teams gives you additional support and opportunities to push towards your PT goals.

On January 4th, it was made official that I will be part of the 2016 Development Team! I am extremely grateful for this opportunity, and am looking forward to an AMAZING 2016 season!

While this is an opportunity for me, I realize that I would not have gotten it (or the opportunity to apply for it) without the help and support of everyone to this point. A HUGE thank you to Terri Hayes (owner of Artistic Creations Salon) and the Dare2Tri family for everything in 2015 that helped me to get to this point.

This is the next step forward towards many short, medium and long term goals. I will share more about all of that when it’s appropriate!

1st Indoor Tri – 1.3.16

As part of my 2016 Triathlon training, I decided to add the Indoor season. For me, this will consist of 6 total races from 3 different race presenters. The first of these was the Life Time Indoor Tri.

Having never done an Indoor Tri, I went into this event not 100% sure of what to expect. I did look at the YouTube videos prior so I did have some idea of what was in store.

There were some bumps – including us not getting called for our wave and the bike clock resetting itself, but I made it through. The staff and volunteers were all very helpful and we were able to make the necessary adjustments to get everything back on track. While I finished in the bottom 3rd, it was a good place to start, and I appreciated Todd’s help as my guide for the event!

1 down, 5 to go….

Year in Review – 2015

I know going outside of your comfort zone is a scary thing to do. Within it, you know what to expect, what’s going to happen, and feel like you can contro things. But if you’re willing to take the chances, take calculated risks and be uncomfortable, you’ll get far more than you could ever expect.

In a nutshell, my 2015 exploded and was amazing because I went out of the comfort zone. This is what my entire 2015 was supposed to be
:
Shamrock Shuffle, BTN Big 10K, Naperville Sprint Triathlon
Trips to WI and MI

This is what my 2015 ended up being:
Run As One, Shamrock Shuffle, Celebrate Differences 5K, Sly Fox 10K, Dare2Tri Tri It Tri, Naperville Sprint Triathlon, Batavia Half Marathon, ITU World Triathlon Grand Finale, Fraidy Cat 10K, Team RWB San Diego 5K, Team RWB KC 5K

Rock climbing for the first time

Trips to WI, MI, NY (including a drive back west) & KC

Introduction to the VI community, Team RWB and Dare2Tri

Volunteer opportunities with Reverb (which I had to decline due to great aunt’s passing)

Dare2Tri PT Camp

Swim classes as part of Tri training

Oh, and all of the media coverage, which started with a simple interview and grew into a huge snowball. Please see the link above for all of the links.

Throughout the year, my coaches have pushed me, not just to get to what I need for the race(s), but to continue going further. I am truly grateful to all of them, although I’m sometimes uncomfortable during the workouts. But no pain, no gain — and you don’t get better by being comfortable.

Through the introductions to Team RWB (which started because of my reading of rules), I’ve had the opportunity to meet some amazing people – both former service members and civilians. And the introduction to Dare2Tri (which started because it’s Executive Director was the Shamrock Shuffle AWD coordinator), gave me opportunities that I didn’t even know existed. Not just from the raining or race aspects, but more from the human aspect. Getting to meet, interact with, and spend the weekend with the group changed my thinking on many things. For more on that, please see the Dare2Tri Camp blog here

While 2015 was an amazing year, I’m looking forward to 2016! I’ve got 22 events planned, along with several personal trips. I will share the event schedule once everything’s finalized. The first race with be the Life Time Indoor Tri this coming Sunday in Romeoville.

The rest of the month – December 2015

Between work, training and 5A swim classes, I fell behind on blog entries after December 12th. I considered doing individual entries for each, but I then decided one long entry would be easier to deal with than 19 short ones. So here goes…

The weekend of December 12th, I joined a local gym. I know the Chicago winter hasn’t gotten bad. BUT I knew it would at some point soon. I also needed the ability to get bike workouts in before the spring. The first weekend there, I succeeded in getting about 6 hours on the bike in. I also had an issue with the treadmills which taught me that I need to stay away from them unless I’m with someone else.

The following week consited of 3 swim workouts (including a double dip thanks to a friend letting me be a guest at their club), 3 hours on the bike and a very long day of running on that Saturday.

The following week started off with the normal swim sessions, along with an extra one (guest of my parents at their club). Then I had to pay for Christmas Eve on the bike. Every year, one of my aunts throws an amazing party and I typically ingest 2 days worth of calories (or more) in less than 6 hours.

So to pay for all of that, I spent a total of 9 1/2 hours on a stationary bike from December 25th – 27th. Let’s just leave it at that I found out very quickly that I need to invest in a nice pair of bike shorts before I try to do the planned Century in September 2016.

The final week of December started out with a normal set of swim workouts, and ended with a very hard run session. The swim session in the morning was the longest one I’ve done, and I didn’t realize how tight my body was. So needless to say, the run was a real challenge as my body kept getting tight. The post-session stretching was more painful than it has been in the past — there were a couple of times that I saw spots from the pain. But nothing’s torn, broken or hurt.

Because of that issue Wednesday night, I decided to make NYE a rest day. I had originally planned to go to the gym and ride the bike for a few hours after work. Instead, I spent the night with a good beer and relaxing.

An Uncomfortable Week – 12.7.15 – 12.12.15

As part of my training program for the 2016 season, I signed up for a swim class. The summer pool sessions helped me to get going, but knowing that I still need to get better, I added this to the program. Even knowing that this meant 3:30AM wake up calls, I still added it — no pain, no gain, right?

I’m not going to go into a class by class or blow by blow. The three main bullet points from the week are:

1) While there were challenges throughout the week, I kept pushing through them. Coach Seay was in the headset and provided not only helpful correction but also encouragement during the drills/classes.

2) It seems that one of my biggest hurdles at this point is breathing. Every time I’ve been swimming (from swim team in childhood forward), at most it’s been a breath every two stroke. That’s now getting changed to a breath every four strokes, and my body doesn’t like it. But that’s what I need to be doing to keep moving forward, so that’s what it’ll be.

3) That even though there were challenges, and my body wants to fight me on the breathing, there was progress forward.I know that it’ll all come together – it’s just going to take time.

I’m looking forward to Monday and the start of another fun week of class!

Puppies on Parade – 12.6.15

Another Sunday – another run with the group. This was a 5 mile run, and the next step towards the half marathon in January. With it being unseasonably warm, dogs were out in full force enjoying it. This meant a few extra breaks to say ‘hello’ to them. We also ran into the ‘walking’ group (puppies on parade), as we were at the end of the run. One of the small guys was so tired that he was being carried.

We all ended up at Starbucks again to sit and talk.

December Speech – 12.2.15

As I had mentioned earlier, the last piece of the media snowball that started in July was being invited to speak at a local Chamber of Commerce.

You can view the speech on YouTUbe, and the rest of the 2015 media coverage is available here.

And no, that stumble truly wasn’t planned. The longest speech I had ever given in the past was somewhere in the 7-8 minute range. I just lost my train of thought at about that point. Perfect timing though.

Thanks to my parents, coaches and Senator Connelly for all coming out to hear me speak!