As some of you know, Adelaide, Maybellene and I moved to Tucson last week for the upcoming school year. Adelaide landed a 4th grade teaching job back in April when we were here for spring break, so we’ll be in Tucson until June of 2024. It’s a big shift, but not as much as moving to a new city; we’ve owned a place in Tucson since 2020 and have spent most of each winter here hiding from the snow ever since.
So, what have I been up to since my last post, roughly 10 months ago? “Are you still training and racing?” you may ask. “Um, why?” you may also ask. “Aren’t you like 59 by now?” The answer to the first question is yes. The answer to the second question (why) is a little more difficult to answer. I started the year feeling pretty decent, taking things slow with swimming and riding but racking up the miles on the run. But I DNFed Ironman Texas in the spring after getting hypothermic in the non-wetsuit swim. Next, I raced Boulder 70.3 but blew up after the bike. My head simply hadn’t been in a good place since Texas, and I was focused on other things in life, so I decided to not start Ironman CDA in June. Then I took six weeks off from training to travel, finish our kitchen remodel, and pack up and move to Tucson. So the year, at least in terms of race performances, has been a zero. In other areas of life I’ve gotten to do some pretty cool things.
Exercising hard will always be part of my day-to-day, but I need to find a better way to keep it fun and exciting. Racing is just a byproduct of training, and racing hasn’t always been enjoyable. In fact, it’s pretty stressful the way I’ve been going about it—putting nearly two decades of what I view as athletic failures into each race. If I can just do well at one it’ll all be worthwhile. My friend Justin calls it redemption racing, which I think is a perfect description. It puts a lifetime of pressure on each performance, which is super healthy.
As I contemplate what’s next in life (should I become a firefighter, an astronaut, or a ditch-digger?) I’ll continue racing triathlon, but only if I can make it enjoyable. However, I’m already getting excited about other things—maybe taking a surf trip to the Dominican Republic, trail racing, bike packing, and possibly youth coaching. I’m also considering getting an MFA in creative writing to boost my burgeoning (I don’t really know what that word means) novel-writing career, though I realize this is a big gamble and another performance-driven objective, which isn’t necessarily healthy long-term if I’m not able to meet my goal of getting published.
I have to keep my musings shorter than I might otherwise because I have a lot of very important law blogs for personal injury attorneys to catch up on, but I’ll end with the commitment of keeping an online training journal, which is where this blog began. Maybe it will help keep me excited about training. Maybe I’ll bore myself with it and end it in a week.
Reading through my friend Justin Daer’s blog about the training he’s doing for the Otillo swim-run race in Sweden is the inspiration to get back to my blog’s roots. The “training camp” I reference in the title is, of course, I joke. ‘Tucson normal life camp for the next 10 months’ would be a more accurate title. Anyway…
Monday
Easy, enjoyable 1.5 hr ride on the bike path. Not used to the heat down here yet, so the power was very low. Plus I’m in horrible shape. Side note: cicadas are extremely loud! I haven’t seen one yet, so I’m not entirely sure they exist.
40 min strength session with Adelaide. I haven’t lifted in a month so I went real light with Bulgarian split squats, deadlift, and some other random things. I’ll probably get incredibly sore anyway.
Tuesday
2.75 hr Tuesday morning group ride. Pretty happy with how I felt, and that I woke up at 5:20 to get there on time. Normalized power was 342 for 48 minutes, with 638 watts for the final minute during the race up Gate’s pass.
30 min run off the bike (4.6 miles). This turned into a real struggle at the 10 min mark when I realized I had vastly under-fueled during the ride. I stupidly continued on and finally flipped it at 20 minutes. I had to stop and walk in the shade for half a mile to stave off a bonk, but got home alive and ready for a soda by 9:30, at which point it was 95 degrees.
4K (yards) endurance swim. Rode my e-bike to the UofA pool in 112 degree heat. The ride, including stoplight time, takes about 20 minutes each way, so it’s a lot of time in the heat. But the UofA pool is significantly cooler (it’s still too warm) than the closer city pools.
20 min upper body strength session with Adelaide. Light weights.
Wednesday
9.2 mile run workout. 4×1 mile with 90 seconds to 2 min rests. Super hot. Started late at 8:00 (90 degrees) and finished just after 9:00 (95 degrees). It went better than I thought it might though. 5:39, 5:27, 5:47, 5:36.
2.4K easy swim at a nearby pool. 35 min. The water was hot but I’m starting to get acclimated. Or just acclimated to swimming slow.
35 min strength session. Getting close to normal weights. Glute band work, 3×10 Bulgarian split squats at 95 lbs, 5×3 deadlift at 255 to 265 lbs, bent over Ts with 12lbs.
Thursday
5 hour ride up to the tippy top of Mt. Lemmon. Average power 218, normalized power 235. Nothing to write home or a blog about, but I was happy to get the distance in. I drank somewhere between 10 and 12 bottles (5-6 liters) despite being up high in the cool 90 degree mountain air for most of the ride.
4 mile evening walk with Adelaide. We saw one rattle snake and one tarantula hawk (a large red wasp) dragging a dead tarantula across the path. I normally wouldn’t include this as a workout, but when we started at 7pm it was 104 degrees, and still over 100 when we got back in the dark. If I had to guess, I’d say I sweated around five gallons today. THAT’S a lot of SWEAT! THAT’S an overused Kung POW JOKE!
Friday
9.7 mile hilly run route. Average 7:33 pace. Felt tired starting out but not too bad after all the hills were done.
2.8K swim. Main set was two rounds of 10×75 alternating fast and easy. Nothing was fast though since the water temperature was 91 degrees. Combined with the air temperature, that equals 200 degrees. So I was swimming in 200 degree water.
40 min strength. Glutes band exercises, 3×10 Bulgarians at 95, 5×3 deadlift at 275, bent over Ts, Mobo board and Toe Pro for my planter.
Saturday
5 mile hike with Adelaide and Maybellene on Mt. Lemmon.
Sunday
3.25 hr ride. Gate’s pass. Average power 210. NP 233.
30 min upper body strength with Adelaide. Heavier weights this time. Bench, pullups, rows, skull crushers, overhead press. I usually do upper body strength about twice a year or less. So I should be set after this week.
KENNETT PETERSON 