Brain Surgery to Ironman

 Another solid week of training in the books.  All green in TrainingPeaks means no missed workouts again which is something that I’ve always taken great pride in.  I’ve always believed that having a coach is having an accountability partner, yes it’s one that you pay, but that makes it all more important to me to do every single workout he gives me.   This week’s big win for me was not the endurance training aspect, but rather the gains in the gym.  Ever since I started my triathlon career my coaches have stressed the importance of not only lifting, but lifting heavy.  In 2018 while training for Maine 70.3 I looked back and realized that one of the reasons I didn’t get hurt, not even a niggle in 10 months of training was likely due to the strength training.  I am very aware that as a “older” athlete the need to strength train and lift heavy is paramount to staying injury free. So, I did 2 heavy strength workouts this week, my go to is the simple tried ...

 So, I’m now back being officially coached for almost a full month and to say it has been a learning experience would be an understatement.  My body has already done 140.6 miles and even with almost 6 weeks off the expectation was that muscle memory would take over relatively quickly and I’d jump right back into a 6 day a week training schedule.  What we didn’t expect was the changes to my training and nutrition that are a result of the cluster headaches. For the last month I have been doing all of my running at a very low heart rate with no focus on pace.  A friend told me that the pace would get faster at the lower heart rate as long as I was patient and trusted the process which I have so far.  This past Thursday was Thanksgiving and with it came the annual turkey trot races.  I decided that this would be as good a time as any to do an early season test of my new training on a fairly hilly 5k course.  I spoke to my coach prior and we decided that I ...

 Another full week of training in the books.  This phase that will last for a fair amount of time is known as the base building phase.  Ironman training is not all that different than building a house or a business, you have to start with a strong and solid foundation or base.  After not really exercising at all for all of September and half of October  because of the cluster headaches it feels good to be headache free and in a groove.   Last year while training for my first Ironman I got in the habit of writing down all of my workouts on a calendar.  I’m not a pen and paper guy by any stretch of the imagination and my workouts are all in an app on my phone called TrainingPeaks, but I got in the habit last year of writing them down as well.  Something about seeing them in my handwriting every day and subsequently checking the box every day was even more satisfying than turning the “boxes” green on the app.  It has become my Sunday evening rit...

 I just realized that I completely dropped the ball on keeping this blog updated.  On August 21 of this year I along with two of my close friends completed the first and likely only Ironhorseman 140.6 mile triathlon.  Canada never opened their border so our back up plan became the primary plan.  It truly was an incredible experience that I got to share with family and friends and had the most incredible surprise waiting for me at the finish.  After running down the street in the rain and embracing Lori and Jordan at the end of a long day I had one more thing waiting……a video message that Lori had arranged from Mike Reilly, the voice of Ironman.  He uttered the words I had worked so hard to hear, Jonathan Schwartz, You are an Ironman!!!! The only thing that can possibly top that will be to hear those words on July 24, 2022 on the 5 year anniversary of my second brain surgery live and in person in Lake Placid.  That’s right, I’m going to do this again, b...

 Hard to believe that January is behind us.  Less than 200 days until Ironman Mont Tremblant or the first annual Bergen County 140.6.  This first week of February also marked my biggest week of training volume since starting training in November.  The cool thing about these bigger weeks is that they not only push me, but they give me a good indication of how I’m progressing.  Last week was my first real test, it was my FTP, functional threshold test, on the bike.  I went in with no real expectations, after all I hadn’t “tested” in a long time.  I also started working with a group of like minded athletes focusing on mindset, just another layer of accountability.  They made me realize that whatever the number was on the test is right where I’m supposed to be now!  This way of thinking definitely helped and I was pleasantly surprised with the results.  More importantly, the first week of workouts with my new FTP was challenging, but not imp...

 December 11, 2012-December 11, 2020..........8 years and it seems like a lifetime ago.  When I went to sleep last night I said to Lori that I couldn’t believe it had been 8 years since my first surgery.  I remember being in the hospital watching the news and seeing the stories about Superstorm Sandy and the benefit concert that was taking place or the horrific news out of Connecticut about the senseless shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Eight years later and it’s a pandemic the world hasn’t seen in a century, it’s a child in the White House who can’t accept defeat, but one of the things i’ve learned over the years is to not to watch the news because it’s negativity that I don’t need in my life. While the world has changed and stayed the same in a lot of ways, my life has certainly changed and only for the better. My surgery awoke a new passion and drive that had long dissipated, that drive to challenge myself and become a better man, a better husband and a ...

 As I write this it is the end of November and Thanksgiving weekend, the official start to the holiday season.  Obviously this Thanksgiving was different than years past given this alternate universe we seem to be living in, but different doesn’t mean bad.  As a matter of fact there was a lot of good to come out of this weekend and November in general.  Fortunately the weather has been unseasonably warm thus far which I love, I am not now and never was a fan of the cold weather.  Remember, I was a golfer growing up! I had made Jordan a promise this summer that I would continue taking him to the driving range and getting him lessons through the winter so he could develop the skills and fundamentals necessary to make him a better golfer.  We are at the stage now where most 11 year olds, and Jordan is no different, tend to get bored and annoyed because his lessons and range time mainly consist of “building”.  We start with a good position at address and a...