Transforming the Anaerobic to the Aerobic

My strength has probably always been short bursts of speed, utilizing the anaerobic systems by relying on pure power and strength.  This most likely being a result of the activities I chose to participate in as a kid and the general philosophy I’ve carried with me in athletics.  I had childhood asthma which was classified as “exercise induced” and really deterred me from doing anything that got my heart rate up for very long.  I used inhalers regularly and wheezed significantly, but looking back on it now, I would classify it as a mild case.  In a lot of ways, I would say it became a crutch.  When my HR was jacked (i.e. an unreasonably hard few shifts in a row with little rest or 10 minutes of all-out ‘Herbies’ at the end of practice) I would sometimes back off the pain by blaming my condition.

I hated running.  It hurt every time.  Now that I enjoy running and have become adept at the sport, I only really hated it because I didn’t know how to pace or what I was doing at all.  This concept still remains to some, degree...poor pacing…go out too hard and get gassed early due to relying on anaerobic pathways to produce the energy needed to perform, which we all now know only lasts a few minutes.  This is all I knew how to do.  Go hard for as long as possible, but little did I know that hurt everyone.  I just thought I was out of shape or not athletic enough to perform like the rest.  Hockey, however, nurtured me to be that type of machine; short distance ‘sprint-type’ athlete relying on power and muscular strength.  I’m sure the dozen or so years of heavy weight-lifting completely compounded this effect.  Basically, my training from age 10 through 22 (all through the formative years of development) were focused on short distance, anaerobic efficiency focusing on perceived strengths of power and strength.  If I wasn’t going to be the fastest or have the most breath, I was going to be the strongest.

It wasn’t until I was in late college that I stopped playing hockey, really started gaining the wrong weight and knew that something had to change.  Living in Florida at the time was a bittersweet condition as I chose running as the most ‘bang for your buck’ in weight management exercises.  It was always nice out, but it was always hot out.  I was forced to learn how to pace better and this process took several months to learn and, to this day, still has not been mastered.  Around this time (2001ish), I had watched the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon on TV and was utterly amazed at the event.  Coincidentally, but not surprising, I was hurt from running so much.  It was then and there that I decided I would do a triathlon one day.  It took several years (like 4) and a few moves to the West to finally commit to buying a bike and pursuing that goal.

My time in the gym became less and less and my desire to explore and be outside with my bike or running shoes became more and more appealing.  Living in Southern California created a perfect playground for what I was attempting.  Not to mention, this area is probably, outside of Colorado, the Mecca for triathletes.  I began meeting people and taking my fitness up several levels, constantly trying to keep stride with endurance-type athletes, I was forced to learn to ‘hold back’ a little so that I could last.  This didn’t change my body’s desire to ‘run hot’.  A high heart rate came with the territory, and still does today, but somewhere along the lines, I made friends with the pain.  It was different than when I was a kid playing hockey or running the gym class loop (0.75 miles).  I craved it to some extent and wanted to feel that again and again.  Maybe it was when my maturity and knowledge of what was happening, physiologically, grew up or the gravity and responsibility of the adult world and being on my own.  Whatever the cause it displayed itself in physical, emotional and mental output.  I became an endurance athlete in Los Angeles.

Still to this day, my body likes to operate with high heart rates.  It wants me to take deep and quick breaths, almost irrespective of pace, pouring air into the system – as much and as often as possible.  As we progress in distance and age, the goal is to begin shifting to a more aerobic pace.  For many years, I’ve sat right in that uncomfortable comfort zone of Sub and Super threshold, basically trashing myself as much as possible.  I’ve been able to get away with that on shorter-distance efforts, but Ironman is going to be a very different story and will require me to be smarter about my strategy.  The anaerobic monster must transform into a fat-burning, oxygen-thriving, never-say-stop endurance beast.  This is the goal of 2012 and the trip to Florida in November.  My goal is to maximize and optimize that threshold where I can race as fast as possible, but have the discipline to stay within my means, so that I can last 10-12 hours – a whole day in the Florida sun and heat.  

I’m glad I’ve taught myself to suffer, because IronMan will be suffering…a lot of suffering.  Having that strength of top-end power and capacity, combined with a happy place in pain, will be beneficial as I now transition into focusing on aerobic thresholds instead of blasting right through that spot well into and above the lactate threshold.  I’m looking forward to the process and finding out how this translates into performance at both the half and full distance races.  This year, the anaerobic becomes aerobic!