Field notes · 16 entries
What the week actually looked like
The weeks between races, written down on Sundays when we did the work, with no training plan behind any of it. If one of these reads like advice, it's the kind you'd get from a friend over dinner, and we aren't coaches.
Themes: 70.3 · bike · brick · consistency · couples · dawn · food · gear · heart rate · heat · honu · hydration · indoor · injury · logistics · marathon · midlife · new year · pacing · race week · recovery · shoes · site · sleep · swim · taper · trainer · training · travel · zone 2 · zwift
- Sep 20, 2026Two days ahead is enoughWe used to fly to the mainland three or four days before a race. For Redding and again for Tri-Cities we landed Friday morning for a Sunday race, and that turned out to be the better way to do it.Field note · 2 min read · 70.3, race week, travel, taper
- Sep 6, 2026Two weeks out from Tri-CitiesThe week after the Roughwater: three bricks, a long run each on Sunday, and IRONMAN 70.3 Washington on the calendar for September 20.Field note · 2 min read · 70.3, training, trainer, swim, race week
- Sep 3, 2026The log restartsWe rebuilt the site at the same address, with the same rules and a lot more of the actual record.Field note · 1 min read · site, consistency
- Jul 12, 2026The Versailles bike course, on the day the race was canceledIRONMAN 70.3 Versailles was supposed to be July 12, 2026. The French authorities canceled it over the heat, so on the morning of the race we rode the bike course anyway, 56 miles of it, and filmed it.Field note · 1 min read · bike, travel, 70.3
- Dec 17, 2023The week after the marathonFor the seven days after 26.2 we walked, swam easy, slept more than usual, and didn't run.Field note · 2 min read · recovery, marathon, sleep, midlife
- Nov 5, 2023The trainers in the room off the bedroomOctober 2023 we tried indoor cycling in a place with perfect weather, and it became the weekday bike, full stop.Field note · 3 min read · bike, indoor, zwift, consistency, logistics
- Sep 17, 2023Zone 2 in a saunaIn humidity my heart rate climbs through a session even when the pace doesn't, from zone 2 at 5:30 a.m. to out of it by 7.Field note · 2 min read · heart rate, heat, training, zone 2
- Sep 3, 2023Food that survived a brickEvery long ride and every brick is an audition, and the stuff that comes home still in the pocket is off the list.Field note · 2 min read · food, hydration, brick, heat
- Aug 20, 2023Bike fit in your fortiesFit first, then the bike. Mine came a year late, and I say so three times.Field note · 2 min read · gear, bike, injury, couples
- Jun 10, 2023Heat is the fourth sportIn Honolulu the humidity decides how hard a session is, whatever the plan says.Field note · 3 min read · heat, hydration, dawn, honu
- May 29, 2023Two paces, one houseHibiscus 2023 was my day, so Jay's job that morning was a 2:12 that belonged to me.Field note · 2 min read · couples, pacing, training
- May 20, 2023The shoe you trained inThe Nimbus 24s did the training weeks in May and the 1080 v12s did the half and Honu, because only the shoe that's already done a long run gets a bib.Field note · 1 min read · gear, shoes, race week
- May 14, 2023Three weekends in a rowWe didn't plan three race weekends in a row, the calendar did, and only the last one was the goal.Field note · 2 min read · race week, recovery, 70.3, couples
- May 7, 2023Fifty miles, then tenFirst week of May 2023: new shoes, a 50-mile ride, and a 10-mile run off the bike.Field note · 2 min read · brick, 70.3, honu, training
- Feb 12, 2023Dawn is a temperatureEvery long session in this house starts in the dark, because dawn is the only hour cool enough to get the work done.Field note · 2 min read · dawn, heat, consistency, logistics
- Jan 8, 2023January: the five pounds and the grooveThe first weekly video was about five holiday pounds and a lost routine, and it was week one of fifty-two on camera.Field note · 2 min read · consistency, recovery, marathon, new year