TriAl v2008

Ready?

2008-09-05T11:17:00.003-04:00

No time for updates.....time for some overdue sleep.....

IM WI get ready for a butt whoppin'

#612...T-8 hours and 30 minutes for take off....

Give me a go/no go for launch....

2008-09-04T00:27:00.002-04:00

No fires at work....check
Bags all packed....check
Final chat with coach....check
Positive vibes....check
Everything falling in to place....check

Flight Number 6-1-2....you are go for launch....

IM WEEK

2008-09-02T20:03:00.006-04:00

So it's here....Ironman Week....

As I followed my fellow triathletes at IMKY, I started to wonder what my day at IMWI2008 would be like.

My journey to IMWI this time around has been vastly different. And my apologizes to all of you, mostly undocumented on this blog.

Well to recap my training for the last year....

September 2007: Half hearted training for an October marathon.
October 2007: Half hearted effort at the marathon.
Novemeber 2007: Work...ugh
December 2007: Work...ugh
January 2008: Start thinking about training for Ironman
February 2008: Still thinking about training for Ironman
March 2008: Start training for Ironman
April 2008: Crap I have a little du to do already.
May 2008: Ummm....maybe I need to get some training volume.
June 2008: Dang that sprint tri sucked....but hey WIBA was AWESOME!!!
July 2008: What I'm doing a half ironman? In Wisconsin?
August 2008: Where's the volume?
September 2008: Argghhhh....race day is almost here.

So that's how I got to here and now.

Many thoughts have gone through my head...I wish I had another month to train...my bike fit just isn't working for me...I feel slower than 2006...I hope the weather will be all right...when do I need to go back to work...all these little things to worry about...

But having been there/done that, I feel a certain serenity. It feels as if I see a light at the end of a tunnel and my burden will soon be lifted.

I read this today:

http://trierictri.blogspot.com/2008/09/ironman-thoughts.html

When I left IM WI 2006, I felt unsettled...I felt as if there was some unfinished business...Now I know that Ironman will always be a part of me, but as I head home from work and pack...CRAP I'M LEAVING TOMORROW!!!...now it is time to move on with my life....

And Life IS Good...

Racing at Racine

2008-07-18T17:03:00.002-04:00

I'm racing!!!

Holy crap...I've got a half IM in two days....and my brain isn't in it yet....

Let's hope I can get out of work at a decent hour tonight...oh I'm shooting to leave work by 19:30. Then on to Chicago tonight and then to Racine Saturday.

Let's hope my bike is in good shape, because I didn't realize until last night that I had to check it in on Saturday. Let's hope I've packed everything I need. And let's hope my cousin remembers to bring my nutrition with her....(do you know I couldn't find Sustained Energy here in C-bus?)

I'm really not sure what to expect out there...I haven't thought about this race...I'll worry about it Saturday night....

Hope I survive....

What's going on here?

2008-07-09T23:30:00.006-04:00

Two Weeks; Two Posts. What the heck?

Well, I think my training is progress all right and my confidence is growing right along with it. I think I'm still a little fatigued from WIBA, but I've been able to keep making deposits into the IM bank account. Work and a nasty headache wrecked a few days of training, but I came back with 2 miles of swimming, 85 miles on the bike, 15 miles on the run for a nice long recovery weekend. The volume is coming back down just a bit as I get ready for the Spirit of Racine Half IM. Last time I mentioned a few differences between '06 and '08. Well here's one more.

I'm bringing the brick back, baby.

See there's a lot of crap going on at work that doesn't involve the work itself. Well I can't often go out for long workouts during the week so heck let's get in some quality workouts. I've been trying to do bike/run workouts about once a week. Sometimes I'll even throw a swim in the morning. I am working out much less now than in '06 but I have a feeling these work outs will pay off.

I was once told: "There's more than one way to skin a cat." So brick or no brick...I'll still cross that IMWI finish line.

Testing

2008-07-02T22:48:00.002-04:00

Tap...tap...tap...

Test...test....

Hello? Is this thing on?

Ahhem....

Okay so I'm not dead...yet...

Sorry I haven't been around blogland much at all the last, uh, six months. I do still lurk around many peoples blogs to catch up every now and then. But at the end of my day, sitting down here and typing a little ditty just isn't happening.

My journey to Ironman Wisconsin in 2006 was a wonderful journey.

My life now is completely different from 2006.

'06 - xx years old
'08 - xx + 2 years old
'06 - full time student
'08 - full time employment and typically working over 50 hours a week.
'06 - living in Cleveland with parks and trails and hills galore
'08 - living in Columbus with limited training grounds
'06 - training with partners in crime Trina and Cassie
'08 - training mostly solo
'06 - relationship status: single
'08 - relationship status: =)

Okay the three of you who are reading this probably are thinking: "We want training updates!"

WIBA was just this past weekend and yeah the discerning eye will catch me in different photos from some other folks' blogs. (See specifically Wil and Steve) Last year at WIBA I was there for the experience; this year I was there to do some work.

Friday during the day I spent some time gathering information on the next big project at work. Then I got in a good forty mile ride from Middleton to Mt. Horeb and back. (Yes I hit the big hills on the IM course) followed by a 30 minute run. Saturday was a short choppy open water swim, sans wetsuit....brrrrr....stopped to pick up some donuts....then the mental challenge of going 112 miles on the bike. That was my longest bike ride to date by...oh...62 miles. Thanks to the small crew for listening to me mumble obscenities all day. I would have bailed earlier if not for them. Sunday, being short on time, I got up early to run about 20 minutes before meeting the rest of the WIBA crew and running another 1:30 with the cool kids.

So where do I stand? I'm not sure. I know I have not put in the work and am under trained compared to 2006. But you know what...life in 2008 is pretty darn good.

I'm not sure when I'll report back next so....

Stay tuned...

Hydrophobic

2008-01-24T23:19:00.000-05:00

I think I'm afraid of the water.

I purchased a pass with twenty five punches to swim at a pretty darn nice facility. I bought the pass in October and I've got two punches. Ugh. I've got to find some way to just jump in.

Wait, maybe, I know what the problem is right now:

Inconsistency.

I have yet to establish a routine and that is a bit unnerving. So I guess that's my new Ironman resolution for now:

I want to be consistent, at least until September. I think I can do that.

Consistency.

Again.

Consistency.

Again.

Consistency.....

Head

2008-01-14T20:29:00.000-05:00

What's the best way to start off a new year and a new season of training? How about come back from half way around the world with some serious jetlag. Then you top that off with a migraine that decides to shut your body down for days. Sad thing is: I slept for three days, I didn't eat for three days, and I still didn't lose any weight. Sigh...So my Week 1 turned into Week -2.

Restart...

I am back working with my coach from 2006. If you thought what I did in 2006 was, well different, that's because it was. Maybe things will look a little more "traditional" but knowing myself, don't bet on it.

This week is now Week 1. The results are mixed. The engine feels good, but my weekly routine... well I have no routine yet. And that worries me just enough to make me uneasy. As it is still January, there is no need to panic. So tonight after happy hour....yes after happy hour, I hope to dip my feet in the water for the first time since, ehhh, July?

Hope I remember how to swim...

On My Way Back

2008-01-04T22:33:00.000-05:00

As I look back on 2007, my life was filled with changes. My training took a back seat to the everything else. The result was a lackluster and unfulfilled season. But remembering there is more to life than triathlons is a lesson I should learn sooner rather than later.

I might have lost all of you dedicated blog readers due to a long period of inactivity. There's not a lot of flair here, but hopefully I will win you all back.

I am making another attempt at Ironman. I could certainly use the support and camaraderie you gave two years ago. Things will, or rather are different now and the path I take to Madison will certainly be different from the last time.

Right now I am undertrained. Maybe even frustrated and lacking in motivation from my 2007 season. I may not even make it to the Lake Monona in September.

But I promise it will be a ride. Strap yourself in. I'm on my way...

Stage 15: Indians Fever

2007-10-19T14:22:00.000-04:00

Race day is almost here. Thanks for the support and encouragement. I have a pretty good idea why my hip and knees were bothering me and it had something to do with some extracurricular sports. I have been silent for several weeks as I have angonized over continuing to pursue a Boston qualifying time.

I have decided to toe the line and just run however I feel. If I crash and burn at mile 13 then so what. If I decide to start walking at mile 6 so what. And if I somehow manage a PR well, then...I don't know, I guess I'll be really really dumbfounded and I guess elated.

At the start of the year I had a Plan B to get to Boston. That was to run the Rocket City Marathon in December. Well Plan B is no longer in effect as I have to start thinking about Plan A for 2008. A few of you may already know this: shortly after 12 noon on September 10, 2007, I registered for another go around at Ironman Wisconsin. So I was not about to continue my 2007 season into December and get going with 2008 in January. My brain needs to get a little more time away from training. And whether you like it or not, another season of sporadic blogging is in store from yours truly.

So that's some old news and some new news. And in the exciting news, has anyone been watching the Cleveland Indians? Because of them I am going to sleep later than I should, ingesting more bar food than I should, and consuming more rally beers than I should. But WOW what a ride!!! It's Tribe Time Now!!!

Stage 12: DNF, DNS, DNT

2007-09-27T21:00:00.000-04:00

Let's make this short and sour.

Something was not right in my hip and so my Saturday run was cut short. I basically shut it down after five miles, but I still had to stagger another 3 miles to the car. It's Thursday now, and still a little sore.

I can't imagine any realistic scenario where I run a sub 3:10 marathon in a little over three weeks. As I see it now I have three options:

DNF - Did not finish. Go out and race. Give it what I can and if I blow up, so be it. But will I pay the price and be hurting for months?

DNS - Did not start. Shut down the running now. Rest up. Come back when the body and mind are ready to go again.

DNT - Did not try. Run the marathon but force myself to dog it. Ugh not sure if I can have that mindset.

Anyone have anymore options?

I don't know what it is. The marathon gods must really hate me. This is my fifth attempt at a marathon and my fifth time getting hurt within spitting distance of race day.

It's gone from SUCK to BLOW!!!

And I'm out....

Monday: 2.5 mile run easy run
Tuesday: No workouts
Wednesday: 3 x 1 mile, 1 mile warm up 1 mile cool down
Thursday: No workouts
Friday: Sand Volleyball cross training
Saturday: 8 miles
Sunday: No workouts

Weekly Totals:

* Swim: 0 meters
* Bike: 0 miles
* Run: 15.5 miles

Preview of Stage 13: Decision time?

Stage 11: Taking Inventory

2007-09-20T00:15:00.000-04:00

I really don't know what's going to happen on October 21st. I'm lacking in confidence right now. A lot of it is a total lack of structure in my running "plan." I feel as if I am cramming for a final exam. While that might have worked in school, I can't think it will translate well in marathoning.

I ran somewhere close to 20 miles on Sunday. I'm not sure how to rate my run. I had some good miles in the middle of the run. I ran low on fuel at one point. Tried to run through a "side stitch" at another point. Had a bear of a time finding a porta-potty. I must have hit a few wrong buttons on my watch because not many of the numbers made sense. So I have no real idea about pace or even time. So that adds up to more negatives than positives huh.

Okay so a quick inventory of things.

I have another 20 miler planned for a few weeks. Maybe I will bump up the mileage on the long weekend runs in between.

I seriously need to do some tempo work asap. I want to be able to tell what 6:50, 7:00, and 7:10 minute miles feel like.

Maybe I can squeeze in a 10 mile mid week tempo run.

Oh so much to do. So little time.

Monday: 5 mile run up tempo in the am/4 miles easy in the pm
Tuesday: No workouts
Wednesday: 4 mile run easy in the am/5 miles with hills in the pm
Thursday: No workouts
Friday: Volleyball cross training
Saturday: No workouts
Sunday: 20+ mile run

Weekly Totals:

Swim: 0 meters
Bike: 0 miles
Run: 38 miles

Stage 10: Calm Before the Storm

2007-09-13T00:19:00.000-04:00

9/11. I know I'm a day late, but please let us not forget.

IM IW 07. Awesome job out there, athletes, volunteers, support crew. I'm sure it was an amazing day. I am inspired by all your reports.

This is going to be a quick post.

I decided to recover a bit. I remember the last time I was training for a marathon. Right about this time I tried to squeeze in as many training runs as I could and I ended up hurt. During my run on Friday, my legs just did not have it so I bagged the long weekend run and decided I would just gear up for four big weeks. This is what I hope to do the next six weekends:

Easy 20 miler
Solid 12-15, possibly after a ride
Race 20k
20 miler
10 miler
Marathon

Recap of Stage 10:

Tuesday: No workout
Wednesday: 5.5 miles easy on the track
Thursday: No workout
Friday: 6.5 mile run
Saturday: No workout
Sunday: No workout

Weekly Totals:

Swim: 0 meters
Bike: 0 miles
Run: 12 miles

Preview of Stage 11: Let's get it on. Four big weeks till marathon taper. I can do this.

Stage 8 & 9: Conditioning

2007-09-04T02:15:00.001-04:00

Just got back from the SF Bay area and a little R&R. August was a tough month at work and that break was absolutely necessary. So let's recap the workouts from the last two weeks.

Stage 8:

Monday: No workout
Tuesday: 6.5 mile run
Wednesday: 6.5 miles on the track
Thursday: No workout
Friday: No workout
Saturday: 2:45 trail run - 16ish miles
Sunday: 20 minutes on the bike trainer

Weekly Totals:

Swim: 0 meters
Bike: 6 miles
Run: 29 miles

Stage 9:

Monday: 45 minutes on the bike trainer
Tuesday: 45 minute Zone 3 run - 6ish miles
Wednesday: No workout
Thursday: 2 mile easy run
Friday: No workout
Saturday: 8 mile trail/hill run
Sunday: No workout
Monday: 3 hour run trail -18ish miles

Weekly Totals:

Swim: 0 meters
Bike: 15 miles
Run: 34 miles

So there's a lot of things that are keeping the hamsters running in my brain. (By the way, anyone remember the show Herman's Head? Back then I didn't think it was half bad.)

1.) Gawd has it been hot out there. After my last track workout, I took my socks off and wrung them out. While in California, I wanted to run a little more, but when the mercury hits triple digits, you have to respect that heat. I was staying in San Ramon, but one day I went out to Berkley. There must have been a 30 degree difference in temperature. Now I normally don't care too much about the weather - I actually like running in the heat, but I know on my marathon race day in October, I won't have heat. Chances are better for snow and I wish I could train and acclimate to that.

2.) I have thrown out my training plan and now I am pretty much winging it. Call my a heretic, call me nuts. Once again I am off marching to my own drum beat. I'm sort of okay with that. I will admit this improv training is a little nervous, but I need to trust myself.

3.) By the way I have recently turned off my watch. At my last track workout, I was running my quarter splits too fast and got my panties all bunched up. I ended up having a terrible and unproductive workout. So all my runs since, I have not cared about my pace, my distance, and to some degree my time. Yes I will turn the clock back on, but I needed to get a grip.

4.) My legs are in good shape, primarily from a lot of biking. But the rest of the body has not yet been conditioned to running long distances fast. I believe I have the ability to hit my mark, but if I don't it won't be because my legs aren't strong enough. As a matter of fact, I think my brain has been slowing me down. The last two weekends I have bumped up my long runs quite a bit. I've gone from 15 miles a week to 15 miles in one run. And all the little discomfort and fatigue that are associated with running long are sending too many signals to my brain. I need to condition the entire body and the mind. Seems like I do a lot of rewiring upstairs. Sigh... if only I could just flip my brain off for a little while and just run hard.

5.) IM WI 2007 will be here soon. This race obviously has some significance to me. I wish I could be there in person. Next Monday will be interesting. I hope I can break away from work to register online. Part of me is hoping I don't get in. That part of me is worried about the right heart rate zones, about miles per hour, about my run pace, about how many gels to eat, about being anal with the training again. That part doesn't care about the chills of anticipation in the water, about the uneasiness of flying down Garfoot Road, or the euphoria of seeing the golden statue on top of the capitol building. What to do.

So to all the IM WI racers out there (way too many to list here, but they know who they are)
Kick Ass!!!

Stage 10 preview: For this week's workouts, do I gear up for a 20 miler or recover? What about both?

Stage 7: A New Hope?

2007-08-24T00:39:00.000-04:00

First great job to to IM UK folks, like Charlie. Those of you at IM KY or IM Canada, like Mike, kick some butt!

Let me state this now: I do have a passion for my job and my career that I knowingly chose. But I am still adjusting to this new busier, stressful lifestyle of mine. It really has left me with a little less brain power at night, so my blog posts are lacking my creativity. Sorry about that folks. But I do want to continue to be held somewhat accountable for my training and will continue to throw up some ramblings here. This disclaimer is being written because a few days ago while I was watching Star Wars: Episode IV, (yes you read that correctly, I was on the trainer) I had some ideas for a Star-Wars-opening-credits-esque post. But it's Friday morning and I haven't come up with enough material.

So anyway, what did I do last week in terms of my training? Well maybe I am back on track and maybe there is still some hope for me.

Monday: No workouts
Tuesday: No workouts
Wednesday: Run 5 miles - 3 miles of hill intervals
Thursday: Bike 42 miles mostly flat with a good wind. Our group still averaged around 20mph for the entire ride.
Friday: 1.5 mile open water swim
Saturday: 13 mile run. Pace for the first 6 miles were too fast. Ran most of the rest about 30 seconds slower at a more comfortable pace.
Sunday: 30 minute easy trainer ride.

Well I've really followed my marathon plan to a T. HA HA. I'm not even sure I've done any of the recommended workouts on any given day. So here's what I am planning on doing from here on out.

I've basically got about 8 weeks or so. First let's pretty much scrap the speed work. Let's focus on volume and more importantly pace. The weekly run volume will come up, and I'll build up to maybe two or three 20 milers or three hour runs soon. I am going to try to get runs in four times a week. I also want to drill the 7:00 minute pace into my legs, my brain, my lungs. I want that the be almost second nature. My run schedule has changed so that I can have some company on my runs. Thus no more TUE/THU runs. Let's try to run MON/WED/SAT and another day.

So I am still hopeful I can have a successful marathon in October, but it's going to take a lot of focus these next few weeks.

And now, the kicker: I can barely manage training for a marathon and I am strenuously considering IM WI 2008. I have been thinking the last week or so that maybe it is possible to do IM without obscene amounts of volume. Am I out of my mind? It's probably not as far-fetched as I think. I've already got a base, right? Anyone want to join me? Or rather, does anyone want to go to Madison to sign me up? Pretty Please?

Weekly Totals:

Swim: 1.5 miles
Bike: 50 miles
Run: 18 miles

Preview of Stage 8: Back on track?

Stage 6: Crazy

2007-08-15T10:43:00.001-04:00

Great seeing all the CTC peeps at the GCT this past weekend.

As for me, what a crazy week....

Monday: No workouts
Tuesday: No workouts
Wednesday: 4 miles easy
Thursday: no workouts
Friday: no workouts
Saturday: no workouts
Sunday: 7 mile trail run

Weekly Totals

Swim: 0 meters
Bike: 0 miles
Run: 11 miles

Uh oh...Is the plane to Boston getting grounded??? Running less than 20 miles a week and still running a marathon. That's crazy....

Preview of Stage 7: A new hope?

Stage 5: Take It Easy

2007-08-06T22:16:00.000-04:00

First off, one more thing about the Sweet Corn Challenge. Cliff, I also would love to see a profile of this year's ride as well as previous years' rides. Unfortunately I don't have one. But according to Papa Louie, there was just under 5,000 feet of climbing for his ride. So a fair estimate would be to double that for the 100 mile ride and we get about 10,000 feet of elevation gain. For reference, the famous 120 mile Triple Bypass has 10,310 feet of climbing. Hmmm, who would have thought a ride in NE Ohio could have as much climbing as a ride in Colorado.

In Week 5, I once again fell short on my workouts. I feel really bad about missing my run on Sunday, but hopefully it will help me in October. So last week I sent in my registration for this and then my left shin starts complaining. Now I'm worried about full blown shin splints. I am feeling my way through this, trying to balance not going too hard or too long. I think I have the conditioning, but I need to somehow get that running volume up. My current thought is to try to squeeze in as many short 20-30 minute runs as I can throughout the week. My legs need to get used to 26.2 miles of pounding.

Monday: No workouts
Tuesday: No workouts
Wednesday: 3 x 1200 (4:22/4:33/4:43) w/ RI = 400 jog, 1 X 1600 up tempo (7:24) , 6 miles total
Thursday: 40 miles, avg 23+ mph, 30 minute run off the bike
Friday: 3 mile run easy
Saturday 4 mile run easy
Sunday: No workouts

Weekly Totals

Swim: 0 meters
Bike: 40 miles
Run: 16 miles

I do have several things I would like to write about, but quite frankly I don't have the mental energy tonight.

Preview of Stage 6: Life is a box of chocolate...

Stage 4: Sweet Corn Challenge

2007-08-01T13:05:00.000-04:00

One hundred five miles...

Hill after hill...

The sun and the heat...

The humidity...

The rain and the chill after a passing shower...

The flat tire...

Why was I struggling so much?

Maybe it was the endless hills.
Maybe it was from the tubing and camping the day before.
Maybe it was the fatigue from work.
Maybe it was the lack of conditioning.
Maybe it was my poor preparation and attention to nutrition.
Maybe it was my stubbornness to attack every hill.

Yet my faithful companions (IronSis Cas and no-longer-a-century-virgin Marie) and I...

We kept riding.

Maybe it was the constant barrage of f-bombs from my mouth.
Maybe Ironman really has honed my mental toughness.
Maybe I am in better shape than I believe.
Maybe I drew strength from my fellow riders.
Maybe it was the allure of sweet corn and a hearty meal at the end of the ride.

But in the end...

We made it.

I rolled into the parking lot exhausted.
My legs were spent.
My spirit battered, yet somehow unbroken.
That was one of the hardest rides for me...

Ever.

And looking back now, all the maybes are irrelevant.
It doesn't matter how or when or what.
All that matters is:

"I did it."

~

Weekly workout:

Monday: 1600 meter swim
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: 7.5 miles, hill repeats. ~3:30 up and down intervals
Thursday: 7.5 mile trail run
Friday: Off
Saturday: 2 mile run
Sunday: 105 mile bike

Weekly Totals:

Swim: 1600 meters
Bike: 105 miles
Run: 17 miles

Preview of Stage 5: Week 4 was a recovery week of sorts. But going forward, the looming question remains: "Where are the runs?"

Stage 3: CIT OLY

2007-07-23T22:06:00.000-04:00

First off, congrats to all the Lake Placid Ironmen and Ironwomen. Great job - Cliff the inspiration, JenC for an awesome debut, Matt - happy trails - the tri community will definitely miss your experience, your knowledge and sense of humor, Rob R for another sub 12 IM, Dave for a 10:40 IM debut, Paula, and all the CTC tri club foks.

I barely want to write about my race because it pales in comparison to the stories those folks will tell. But I'll give it a shot.

Believe it or not, this past weekend was just my third ever Olympic distance triathlon. I can not really explain it, but I just do not race a lot. Maybe long course racing may suit me better than I thought. Yeah this contradicts what I said a few months back, but the way training works for longer distance races - many smaller races leading up to one big race for the season - maybe I can't totally write off being a long course guy. Or maybe my brain is just too ADD.

Let's start with the numbers from and then I'll break it down for you.

Swim: 32:00
T1: 1:34
Bike: 1:09:10
T2: 1:22
Run: 44:55
Total: 2:29:01

You know I was talking with a friend of mine after the race and I said: "You can't compare apples to oranges" because she was comparing two totally different races with slightly different distances. So now I'm about to sort of do what I just told someone not to do. Ugh. (Sorry Jen)Anyway, Last June was my second OLY tri ever. But it's all I've got to compare with and these two races are actually petty similar in more ways than you think. The first number is this year and the second number is last year.

The swim: 32:00/29:44. I've regressed. Not a shock there considering last year my average weekly swims were more yards than I have done this entire year. But I haven't slipped too much considering we had a pretty long uphill climb from the beach to transition.

The bike: 1:09.10/1:17.48. The good news is that I shaved almost 8 minutes off my bike time. The bad news:"The issue on this race day was that the aero position was not comfortable enough to be sustained for 40 km. This led to wide variances in speed and intensity throughout the day." That is what I wrote last year and, you know, this year, different bike, same comment. I'm not surprised because both my bikes are set up for road and not TT riding. Hmmmm, am I getting another bike?

Run: 44:55 (7:33/7:21/13:56/7:23/8:39)/43:53. This year's time is a little off of what I hoped for and I'm a little bummed about being a minute slower than last year. It is what it is: it means I need to run more.

T1: 1:34/1:10
T2: 1:22/0:58

Okay, I need to hustle it up in transitions. That's almost a minute.

Even though my total time was faster this time, I am a little bummed because I believe I am faster than what my time reflected. And I'll say it again: I need to run more.

I would like to pull a little more from last year's report. All right this is what I wrote last year:

"Sunday was a chance to race with and cheer for other Tri Club members. It was a good day for the club as all the other Club members took home some hardware. Finishing towards the back of the age group was certainly humbling..."

This year I'm with a different club, but I still had a blast. That is just one of the many reasons I tri. Feeling the vibe with other friends before the race, giving and getting high fives on the bike and run, comparing post race notes with each other, these are a few of my favorite things. I am even luckier to get to see friends from both my former and current tri clubs. I spoke with a few friends yesterday about racing and they echoed a similar refrain. This feeling of commraderie is really hard to describe to those who have never experienced it. Just look at WIBA '07. One amazing women's solo ride to IM becomes a weekend party for 70 in just one year.

So as I straighten my neck tie and return to work, I think about the next time I am out there racing and training with some new friends, or tri brothers and sisters I've known for years, and in a moment of zen ask myself: "What more would I want?"

Weekly totals:

Swim: 2400 meters
Bike: 70 miles
Run: 17 miles

Preview of Stage 4: I gotta have more runs. And maybe there will be some changes...

Stage 2: Feeling...

2007-07-18T10:05:00.001-04:00

WIBA was such a nice retreat. I got away from my everyday life for a while. It was not easy coming back. I really don't know what to write about so I'll just recap last week's workouts.

Monday: I was a still little tired from WIBA, but I got in a nice, easy 1.2 mile open water swim. I followed that up with a pretty good 4 mile run.

Tuesday: I was still a little tired from WIBA. I really didn't have much in my legs and contemplated bagging the speed work for an easy run. But... I sucked it up and did them.

11:06.03 warmup
3:17.61/Rest Interval = 4:06.26
3:22.46/RI = 4:10.16
3:00.31/RI = 4:53.74
3:00.72/RI = 4:43.44
8:26:84 Cool down.
TOTAL: 50.07.57

Those first two, I ran more than a mile without realizing it. (The "track" is about 1.0534 miles, I think)

Wednesday: I was still a little tired from WIBA. I rode a few miles. My intention was to ride a ten mile loop that had a few rollers. I was good, except for one descent at the end - a curvy hill, not closed to traffic, and it ends right into a busy straight. A few miles of warmup and cool down plus two loops.
TOTAL: 25 miles.

Thursday: I was still a little tired from WIBA. Honestly I don't remember what I did.

Friday: I was still a little tired from WIBA. So I rested.

Saturday: Trail run. I ran about an hour and 45 with a friend at a Zone 2 effort. I finished my run with her and tacked on a few one mile pushes. I can't totally trust the mile markers at the parks, but I think I saw a leading 5 on my watch after those pushes.
TOTAL: 15 miles

Sunday: I hammered over 32 miles with my former coach. We are probably both in better shape than we will admit. There were a few short stretches where we were pulling each other at 25-27 mph. Not bad for a few out of shape fellas. I wanted to tack on an hour run, but I went in to work instead. Bummer.
TOTAL: 32 miles

Overall Totals for Week 2:

Swim: 2000 meters
Bike: 57 miles
Run: 23 miles

Preview of Stage 3: This will be a no intensity week as I plan to race in an Olympic Tri on Sunday.

Anyone watching Le Tour? Anyone? Bueller?

Stage 1: WIBA

2007-07-10T01:06:00.000-04:00

I am back from WIBA. MOOO - YAH!!!

Our hostess, Iron Wil, definitely knows how to throw a shindig. I didn't get to meet everyone, or chat with old friends as much as I had hoped to, but it was Fun with a capital F.

Well I'm not really going to to a play-by-play of the whole weekend for you because every other blogger who was there will be writing about WIBA. I spent a good chunk of time with Steve-I'm-wearing-nothing-at-all. So go there for some hilarity.

I'll give you a few snipets from my brain:

Okay maybe Bubba and I were separated at birth. We were being mistaken for each other all weekend. I had several people remark about my leg so my calling card is on the right.
History repeats itself. Driving to Madison, Ferrah played in the rain again. Not unlike the last time I was in Madison. Once on the course, for whatever reason, my brake pads were rubbing against the rim. Not unlike the last time I rode the course.
People can be really cool.
I was at the back of the pack and was fortunate enough to get motorcycle support, by another rider's husband. How cool was that.
I went dashing off to catch Wil who missed a turn. Two drivers heard me screaming, pulled up next to Wil at the bottom of the hill and got her attention.
I was glad to finally meet Triteacher and Serra. All the best to you two and I'll hope to see you the next time I am in Dairyland.
Okay C-Town peeps, Bolder does exist. But for whatever reason, he is good at eluding the camera lens.
Thanks to the locals who made a lot of this happen. Stu, RobbyB, Thomps, and Heather Haviland for stopping by and riding with us.
And everyone else at WIBA: Pharmie, The brothers Andy and Chris, Snickers girl Tricia, John, Erin, Gavin, Leslie, Jaret, Sherry, Howard, Marty, Coach Mike, Jennifer, I know there's more.., but best of luck at IM WI and beyond.
All right this isn't an awards ceremony, so no thank you mom, dad, the Good Lord Above...

So let's put out some numbers from my first week of marathon training.

Monday: This was my recovery day coming off a long ride on Sunday.
Tuesday: Missed workout. Athena once again demanded attention so I had a 12 hour work day, which had nothing to do with the fact that I wanted to leave things in order before a six and a half day hiatus from work.
Wednesday: Mini tri. I went for an easy open water swim of maybe 1100 meters. That was the longest swim of the year for me at that time. Following a really long T1, I went for a 12 mile bike at Zone 2 cruise tempo. I came back in for a quick T2 followed by an high zone 3 up tempo 6 mile run. The day ended with a 15 minute cool down run.
Thursday: 2.6 miles of a zone 2 run.
Friday: Swim stroke analysis. I was in the pool for an hour. Total distance was probably about 1000 meters. I hit Lake Monona a few hours later for a quick 30 minute swim. That distance was probably 1200 meters. Next up was a 30 minute run. I threw in a 5 minute push. I covered about 1500 meters during that push. I will estimate my run total distance as four miles.
Saturday: 10 minute open water swim. 72 plus miles on the bike.
Sunday: 13 mile run. My legs did not quite have it, but I went out with the lead dogs. We checked out some of the old IM WI run course. I really don't know my total distance as I ran extra because of the historical detour, but I stayed in the shade of the bike path on my way back from Inspiration Point, ran through State Street and then around the Capital and then down to the Terrace. Gosh those sights are something else as I reminisced about last September.

Totals for week 1:

Swim: 3300 meters
Bike: 85 miles
Run: 27 miles.

Preview of Stage 2: I've got some 800 repeats on Tuesday, a mid distance tempo run on Thursday, and a long run of 15 miles, probably on Saturday. I'll try to throw in a swim and a few bikes rides.

Whew, I'm pooped. So who's in for WIBA '08?!!

Prologue: Roots

2007-07-03T22:37:00.000-04:00

My dad told me this proverb: When you drink water, think about where it's from. No it's not a warning about drinking tap water, rather it was a reminder to think back to where you came from.

So what did I do before my first week of marathon training? I went back to (Akron) Ohio...

Saturday I went back to some old trails for about a seven mile run. I've run the Towpath ever since I started running in high school. The first half was way faster than I should have ran. The mile markers were off, but I'm guessing, or rather I'm hoping I was hitting sub 7 minute miles. On my way back I met up with my Iron Sis Cas for an easy run back. I was a little timid with this run; I had not run for 10 days because of my knee. I could tell it still needs a bit of strength work, but I'm not terribly worried about it.

Sunday I checked in with a 50 mile ride. My legs were a little tired from the up tempo part of my Saturday run. This ride started with two people. We picked up another rider on our way to meet another rider. Surprisingly we picked up two more riders at the parking lot then we set out to pick up yet another rider. After a few miles we picked up still another rider. We all wanted to get something different out of our ride, but for about half an hour we had a great little impromptu group ride. That was fun randomly meeting folks from my old riding group. I stayed out a little longer than everyone else. I wasn't going to miss out on climbing a few hills. Toward the end of my ride, I went by the familiar Hale Farm and up Oak Hill. There are some locals that will not climb that hill because it is so steep. It's probably about a 20% grade, but it is short. The tough part comes in the form of a false flat that continues on for maybe one and a half to two miles more. It hurt, but I had to do it for old times sake.

What else reminded me of my "roots." I stopped in to my sponsors from the last several seasons.

I stopped into Ritchie's Sporting Goods to reload on some tech shirts and shorts. I think every pair of running shoes I've ever purchased was from there.

I also stopped in to Eddy's bike shop for a look at some new Treks. This is where I bought my first road bike.

Okay now it's time for some announcements.

Congratulations to my Iron Sis TP who got married this past Saturday. And good luck in Colorado.

Congratulations to Josh on his new baby girl. I'll bet she's already running six minute miles.

Happy Birthday to TriSaraTops!!!

Preview of Stage 1:

The three key workouts of Week 1 of the FIRST plan are a couple of mile repeats, a six mile run with two miles up tempo, and a long 13 mile run. Well I will squeeze these in some where but the highlight will definitely be WIBA. That's a lot of volume for me, so let's hope I can make it through in good shape.

Start Me Up

2007-06-25T01:35:00.000-04:00

Okay folks, my Boston training is trying to get off the ground. Unfortunately I haven't had much consistency in my training. Some weeks I can get out and train regularly, others, not so much. Regardless, I have decided to use the FIRST training plan for my marathon. Let me rephrase: I have decided to create my marathon plan based on the FIRST training plan. That should formally start July 1. I do not have every workout on every day planned. I am pretty sure I will need to adjust my training days on the fly.

There are a few things to note.

1 - I chose that plan because it gives you the three key run workouts and everything else you can fill in on your own. What I do not really like is that there does not seem to be any distinct recovery periods. That is why I am using their framework and making it my own.

2 - I am not much of a morning runner. I'd much rather have my workouts at 19:00, than 7:00. But this month I have been setting my alarm clock way earlier than I need to get up. I am trying to get my body awake earlier in the morning and even squeeze in some short morning runs before work. I feel so much more comfortable running and working out at night that I am going through some adjustments, like not sleeping enough. We'll see if I can make this experiment a success.

3 - With the early workouts, I will probably do some two-a-days. Hopefully this will get my running volume up a little. I think I will also do some bricks this year - maybe.

4 - I think the key to this plan is proper intensity. Now this is where it gets tricky. Get this: recent 5k PR is around 20 minutes. Recent 30k PR is around 2:10. Ummm, those paces are not too far off of each other. If I base my training off my 5k times, my expected marathon pace will be way too slow. So what I intend to do is base my training off my EXPECTED marathon time and back calculate. So this has me running some pretty fast intervals and tempo runs. Can I handle this? I don't know. But I figure I'll give it my best.

All right, so now some other news: I got through a sprint tri a few weeks ago. I'm hoping I can write a short report sometime. This past weekend was a DNS. After what I thought was a good week of training - 8 mile run, 30 mile bike than 45 mile bike on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday respectively, my old nemesis is back. That's right the trick knee is aching again. I can't seem to figure out what caused it. But what is worrisome is 1 - the biking seemed to aggravate it and 2 - it does not seem to want to get knocked out by a little anti-inflammatories. I am going give it a few more days; I'm keeping all my fingers and toes crossed.

Lastly: WIBA - I'll be there and hopefully I can be more than just a cheerleader.

By the way, does anyone think I can go and do Steelhead half IM just on a whim? Yes I may be that crazy.

PS - Great job to all the Ironmen and Ironwomen this weekend.

It's About Time

2007-06-02T16:53:00.001-04:00

It's been about a month since I mentioned anything about training here in my corner of blogland. So what have I been up to?

Earlier this year, the plan was "race to get in shape." I got in a 3 mile run as part of a biathlon relay, a bike-run biathlon, and then a 10k run on three consecutive weekends. Those three "races" were good workouts that got my brain thinking about racing again. I also realized that I need to properly warm up before the gun goes off. In these shorter races, my engine really seems to need about twenty or thirty minutes of solid work before it gets into a good rhythm. So let's hope I can stick to that in my upcoming races.

I've got my first tri of the season next weekend. It's a sprint tri. I have ignored the swim all year. Let's hope I can survive the water to get to the bike and run. This week I wanted to get in a little speed. I got home from work stepped in the shower and contemplated bailing on my run. However running has always been good therapy for me. I thought about hitting the trails, but that would have been a bit of a drive. Instead I drove ten minutes to Beekman Park - one of my new favorite places to run. I will be planning my own workouts this year and I got some inspiration from E-speed and her 800s. Here's what I did:

10 minute warmup
Run 800, jog 400, Run 400, Rest X4 with negative run intervals.

Here are my numbers:

3:18/2:04/1:30/3:00
3:11/209/1:28/3:00
3:05/2:37/1:23/2:59
2:54/2:41/1:13 ---

I would have liked to have kept those last two jog intervals closer to 2:00, but I had some loose shoe strings.

If you try this set out, I would love to know what you think about it.

Wednesday night I wanted to get in an up tempo bike ride in. I am trying to find some good places to ride so I posted my route on my club forum. I got no takers. I even promised to have a couple extra bottles of Gatorade Endurance. Oh well - just Ferrah and me, 33 miles, with the computer saying 19+ mph average. I planned my route so near the end of the ride I would have about five or six miles without stop signs, traffic, or turns. Here I could get in the aerobars, put it in the big ring, have a slight tailwind, and crank...I think Ferrah liked it.

Work has been extremely frustrating of late and it has negatively impacted my training - long days at work and sleepless nights. Well the rest of this past week of training went the hell as my allergies blindsided me Thursday. Miserable was an understatement. I tried to get to sleep early, but I had the Cavs game on in the background. Every few minutes I would wake up to hear LeBron scoring another basket. After midnight and two overtime periods, I was now wired as LeBron carried the Cavs to within one game of the finals. I was so tired, I woke up an hour after I was supposed to be at work. Luckily I have some flexibility at work.

WIBA 2007, who's in? I'll be making the pilgrimage.

Was it me or was this post Faulkner -esque? Okay last thought for today. I have yet to sign up for my "A" race, but this upcoming week will mark twenty weeks from race day.

Time to get formal.

And Go Cavs!!!

Infidelity

2007-05-15T01:13:00.000-04:00

Dear Ferrah,

I don't think there is any easy way to tell you what I'm about to say. I haven't been spending much time with you recently. I know last year when we entered into our union, we laid out grand plans of racing crits, time trials, and even spending long weekends on rides out into the hills and countryside.

But things have changed quickly in my life. My job has taken me away from my, no our, favorite training grounds. And I've had to adjust to a new lifestyle. But there is another thing, and I don't know any we to make it sound any better. There is another woman in my life.

She came around just a couple of weeks after I started my new job. We started out as coworkers. I tried to keep as much distance between us as possible. But unfortunately my boss paired us together. I was responsible for getting her up and ready to work in the hospital. It started innocently - checking out her curves, finding out which of her buttons to push. One thing led to another and next thing you know...

That trip to Vegas, was all about her. All those nights working late, yes, they were with her. And unless I leave my job, much of my time at work will be with her. We had our big debut last week. But there is still so much that I need to know about her. In a few months, she'll be ready for even bigger challenges and yes I am in charge
of her development.

So Ferrah, I still love you. Last week when you and I drove an hour to Granville for some hills, I came to the realization that you are still my passion. I no longer have any feelings for her and I know it will take time to regain the trust that I have broken, but I am willing to do whatever it takes. Long weekend rides, races more often, I'll even try to put on those new Speedplay pedals for you. Please accept my sincerest apologizes.

I was wrong and I am sorry.

----

Athena,

I am taking my life back. I'm escaping your Siren spell. In a few more weeks, you're going to be on your own. See you later, bitch.

----

For Immediate Release -

9:00 EDT Thursday, April 26, 2007

Columbus, Ohio - A goddess has descended upon the radiation oncology department at RMH. At a ribbon cutting ceremony earlier in the week, revelers caught a glimpse of the future of cancer treatment in central Ohio. New equipment, appropriately nicknamed Athena, will be in clinical use in less than two weeks. A Varian Trilogy linear accelerator (linac) was outfitted with on-board imaging (OBI), cone-beam CT (CBCT), and respiratory gating equipment. In addition, ExacTrac, image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) equipment from BrainLAB places Athena in a pantheon above other linacs. Radiation therapy patients will benefit from the goddess of wisdom and war, which will give the radiation oncology staff a plethora of options in the fight against cancer. According to one of the medical physicists in charge of "appeasing" Athena: "The new equipment will be able to allow us to deliver radiation more accurately and more precisely. We will be able to plan and deliver radiation with tighter margins. This reduces excess radiation dose to normal tissues and ultimately allows us to provide better care for our patients. I can not wait to see all that Athena can do." Many cancer patients in central Ohio are thinking the same way and are eager to catch a glimpse of the new goddess in town.

Wired

2007-05-02T00:11:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was a filled with social races. Saturday morning was my alma mater's commemorative Hudson Relays. I wanted a good long warm up on this windy and drizzly morning, so I ran a five mile lap before running four different legs. Each leg was about half a mile and those legs really tightened up afterwards. By the way, my team - the alumni - lost yet again. We did not get lapped which seems to be our battle cry. Sunday morning I joined up with a former tri teammate and we entered a biathlon relay. We both knew we were out of shape so I ran the three mile leg and he rode fifteen. But I wanted to be at the Hinckley Du, to see some old CTC and Team ER friends. So if you haven't read them yet, check out the race reports from TriEric and DaisyDuc. They are seriously at the top of their games.

The weekend was topped off by catching Wired to Win. Pretty good show. And it fits in very well with my current mindset.

I'm wired a certain way. And I've known that for a long time. I don't know how to run 5k/10ks. I am not a time trialist on my bike. I am not even really a long course kind of guy. Go figure.

Somehow I am perceived to be "fast." So I can run quarters on the track pretty "fast." Or my Ironman or marathon times were "fast." But in races that are like standards for "fast" (ie 5k run) I'm really not that fast. I haven't been wired to deal with that kind of intensity for that kind of duration. I'll bet you would have never guessed my career 5k PR is only a 19:01, which I ran at my second to last 5k race in high school.

I'd like to get faster and I believe much of that has to do with rewiring my brain. I know how to run as fast as I can. I just spent a whole season running as far as I could. Now I need to find the threshold right before the pain sets in. A few years ago, a friend of mine said something that makes more sense to me now: "To get better at racing, get out and race more." By golly, I think I've found a little experiment for myself. I need to go out and race more.

Well I have a framework for my Boston Marathon plan (yeah I did say I would talk about my marathon plan, but it has not been meshed with my schedule. I've got some great ideas nonetheless.) and from the looks of it, I probably won't start on that plan until June sometime. So until then I'm going to try to step out of my box and try to get in some races in the next few weeks.

Fire up the neurons. It's time to rewire again.

A Brick?

2007-04-24T22:57:00.000-04:00

Okay, things got busy at work as we were trying to prepare to showcase some new equipment and technology in our department. I'll still be busy the next few weeks as we move towards using everything clinically.

All right, quick training recap:

April 12 - Z2 60 minute trail run on the southern edge of Lake Mead national park.

April 13 - 20 mile ride with my team. It was supposed to be at a social pace, but we rode at a good Z3 effort.

April 14 - Brick. 16 mile Z2 ride followed by 70 minute Z3 run with TriEric and an IM WI sister.

April 16 - 3 hours of volleyball. You should have seen the sprained thumb I got. One week later and I still have trouble gripping a pen.

April 17 - 35 mile Z3 ride around Hoover Dam. No not the one in Nevada, but the one in C-Bus.

April 18 - 8 mile run; 2 mile warm up, 5 x 1 mile repeats, 1 mile cool down. I was not quite ready to hit the track so I ran around an intramural ballpark at The OSU. Unfortunately the coeds playing sand volleyball threw me off my plan and my mile splits kept dropping each time.

April 19 - 35 mile Z2-Z3 ride with some folks from my tri club.

April 21 - 45 minute Z3 trail run at Highbanks, my new favorite park. Followed by a 2 hour birding hike with a friend.

April 22 - 2 hour Z2 trail run back at Highbanks. Plus I got in an 20 minute open water swim later in the day.

Did anyone notice anything?

Yes I did a brick for the first time since, ohhh, maybe 2004? Why is this significant? Well I'm thinking of bringing the brick back this year. I am going to run a fall marathon and am gathering some training programs. I was talking with a teammate of mine a few weeks ago. She mentioned how well the bricks seemed to help her runs especially around mile 20 of the marathon.

So the fire is lit. I am really eager to get out and train. And with the weather being so perfect for Ohio, I am doubly eager to train. I am training more now than I have been since last summer. It's also becoming consistent as I am finally settling into some routines. But let's hope I can continue to check myself; I still have about six months till my race and there's no need to over do it. Next time, I think I'll discuss my thoughts on my marathon training.

Vegas Recap

2007-04-16T00:19:00.000-04:00

I am back from Sin City. Yes I did spend some time in a few casinos and I did win a few bucks at the blackjack tables. But here are a few pictures of some of the other things I did. You'll have to excuse some of the poor photography of some of the images below. A little handheld digital camera can only capture so much.

Cleveland covered in snow.
This was taken in February 2007.

The near no-hitter.
I have some other pictures stuck on my camera phone.

Red Rock Canyon.

Sunset over the Red Rock Canyon area.

Venus over the Red Rocks.

Climax.
I am a physicist and a geek so it's not much of a surprise
that I went to the Atomic Testing Museum.

The museum included a gallery of atomic bomb explosions.
This image is from AtomicArchive.com.

Hoover Dam.
There are public restrooms on top of the dam itself.
Where does the water go when you flush?

Hoover Dam intake towers.

Hoover Dam Spillway

Hoover Dam Generator.

A bridge is currently being constructed just south of the Dam.
It should alleviate traffic problems, but the view of Hoover Dam will not be the same.

After touring Hoover Dam, I drove over to the Lake Mead area. I was disappointed that I needed to pay to drive around the lake, and refused to pay the toll. It made me realize how fortunate NE Ohioans are to have a free national park in their backyard. Luckily I found a trail to run before entering the park. It was an old rail line. You can see one of the tunnels in the left of this picture. By the way, the ankle felt fine. So you are spared the gore; unless you want to see this again.

Boulder Basin.
Part of Lake Mead.

Las Vegas City Lights from Red Rock Canyon.

The trip was a much needed break from work. But now I'm back and ready to go again. I'll try to post my thoughts on this past weekend. And as a teaser, it involves me and a brick workout!!!

On the Move

2007-04-10T03:04:00.000-04:00

This post will be a bit scatter-brained - just like I am feeling right now. Training took another back seat last week. I got in a total of, er, 2 hours of workouts last week. Why so little training? Well I wanted to make up some time at work so I could go to the Jake for what was supposed to be a baseball game. I can't believe I was one strike away from seeing a no-hitter (not the nine-inning version, but an official game nonetheless.) I can't believe I sat through three snow delays. Yes snow delays. I guess that's what I get for going to a ball game on Good Friday.

Just an aside, I'm not sure why I like watching baseball at a ballpark. I've never picked up a bat and faced a pitch. So maybe it's the statistics of the game. Or maybe it's just the belief that something special will happen on a warm summer night under the lights. Whatever the reason, I like it.

So I went from the blustery cold snow of C-town to spending a few days in Vegas. Anyone have any suggestions as to where to go and what to see while in sin city?

This evening I drove out to Red Rock Canyon. Beautiful. One parking lot was open till 21:00. So I sat out there tilted my head back and looked overhead at all the stars I haven't seen in a while. Boy was Venus shining bright tonight. I'll try to put some pictures up after I get home.

Unfortunately, there was a little damper on the evening. I tweaked my ankle while jogging along the trail. It feels like I stretched that peroneal tendon again. I got some ice on it tonight and I'm really hoping it will be fine tomorrow. I guess I ought to take it easy nonetheless, but I've got some training this upcoming weekend with my new team. I've also got a little 5k race to run on Sunday. One of these days I'll start on my way to Boston.

Hmm, I'm out of thoughts right now. Thank you. Please come again.

Hammer

2007-03-29T23:16:00.000-04:00

I think my legs may still be quaking. What was supposed to be a casual thirty mile ride turned into much more than that.

Last Thursday was the day for Ferrah to make her C-bus debut. I brought my bike into work as a reminder to my coworkers that I was leaving earlier than I normally would. I did not think anyone cared as I was at work earlier than normal to compensate. The ride was the first official Thursday Night Ride for COTT. This would be a ride with entirely new faces for me. Well some faces I had seen before at races and social gatherings. And surprisingly I was recognized as well from previous races.

The plan was to leave promptly at 18:00 for 30 miles or so. A few of us were ready to roll, but at 17:59, our leader was no where to be found. A quick call and, oops, we were at the wrong parking lot. So we busted our butts for 2 miles to meet up with everyone else.

Now with a crew of about fifteen intrepid riders, we set out. As is common in group rides, the packs started forming early. Having my share of testosterone, I went with the leaders. I had nary a clue where we were or where we were going. I did remember to stuff a cue sheet in my back pocket just in case. Unbeknown to our seven man breakaway, the lead rider was using an inappropriate triptik. About 19:15, the sun was sitting low in the sky. We were about 24 miles or so into the ride and we were still traveling away from our starting point. I knew something was wrong and had to say something.

At the next turn, we stopped and examined the situation. We were indeed off course. The lead rider had been using a 45 mile route as opposed to 30. The cell phones came flying out of the back pockets. Calls were made. Rumbling and grumbling arose. One cyclist whipped out his gps hoping to plot a route to our destination. Several motorists were stopped in hopes of getting directions. I pulled out the cue sheet and believed we could get back on course. No one had a headlight. Darkness was quickly coming. And on a cloudless night, the cold would arrive soon as well. After a quick consensus, we had to set the wheels in motion again. Since I had the best guide to safety, that meant I was now at the front and pulling the train.

Time to bring out the hammer.

For about the next hour, it was the steady buzz of six cranks with the occasional click of gear shifting. We were fortunate to have a nearly full moon shining down upon us, as if to say, "I've got your back." I had given my arm warmers up to a young lady, so I was a tad chilly, but I've been cold before. Finally we made the last turn and caught sight of the first park entrance. Now it was just three of us who had to cover the remaining two miles to the other parking lot. So when we pulled in, the park ranger gently reminded us to remember to get back before the sun went down. We were truly grateful for her patience with us.

What a ride.

I know that I should be trying to keep my workouts in a steady zone 2 or zone 3; after all I am in pre-base right now. But it is nice to know that my cycling is evolving and I am becoming a stronger rider. That night I was keeping steady cadences around 100 rpm. And I was moving at 20+ miles per hour. By golly I might have some hamstrings, or at least I've built some neuromuscular connections.

In spite of everything, is there anything else or anywhere I would want to be? Probably not. I can't wait to do it again...

2007-03-21T23:53:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned last time, things around here are changing. I wish I could devote some time to producing quality posts here, but quite frankly right now I ought to write what I can when I can. So guess what I have for you tonight? Recent workouts!!! That's right!!! I'm slowly getting back in shape.

Saturday indoor cycling:

10 minute warmup
12 minute high cadence 120, 125, 130...160, 130, 125, 120 rpms; 39/23.
14 minute lactate ladder 50 secs off-10 on, 45 sec off-15 secs on...0 secs off-60 secs on, 5 secs off-55 secs on, 10 secs off-50 secs on, 15 sec off-45 secs on; Off = 100 rpms, On =120 rpms; 53/19
20 minute time trial - high Zone 3 to zone 4 effort; 100 rpms, big ring
12 minute seated climb, zone 3 effort 85-90 rpms; 53/19
With climbing block, 3 minute thresholds: 1 minute 100 rpms, 53/18, 1 minute 100 rpms, 53/17, 1 minute 100+ rpms, 53/16, 5 minute recovery - Repeat this set 5 times
5 minute cool down.

I may be out of shape and carrying some extra weight in the wrong places, but I got through that workout all right.

Sunday:
This was a swim clinic with a local tri coach with some racers from my tri team. I swam more at this clinic than I had since the Super Bowl. Yes it was my first time in the pool in, oh, six weeks? Angela used to be on deck for some swims that I went to four years ago. It was quite a boost to hear her say how much my stroke has improved since those days.

Sunday night, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday:
I got my forty hour work week in with two days to spare. Oh wait, I still have to go in to work tomorrow? Ugh.

Wednesday:
I left work around 18:30 and then I found a 1.054 mile path around some OSU ball fields on my way home. These numbers are hot of the presses, er, wristwatch.

7:35
1:00
1:49
1:48
1:49
1:46
1:00
1:47
1:48
1:47
1:44
1:00
1:49
1:46
1:37
1:38
1:00
2:04
2:06
2:18
2:14

These are quarter mile intervals. The 1:00 minutes represent the approximate time I took to cover 0.054 miles as a slight recovery. The last four splits were cool downs.

All right the last thing I'm going to do tonight is jot down my possible schedule for the season. I figure if I make my schedule semi public, then someone will hold me to it.

April 15 - Hinckley Buzzard du or bi
April 28 - Hudson Relays
April 29 - Presque Isle Time Trial??
May 6 - Flying Pig half marathon pacer??
June 10 - Wendy's International Sprint Tri
July - WIBA part deux??
August 5 - Huntington Sprint Tri
August 12 - Greater Cleveland Tri
September 16 - Portage Lakes Tri
September 22 - 200 mile challenge
October - Columbus Marathon
December - Huntsville Marathon

I've left off the random 5k runs and road races, crits, and TTs. Oddly enough only two races are local. That may change. Okay you've seen the list what else do I need?

All right time for bed.

Return

2007-03-13T22:03:00.000-04:00

I'm back!!! Anyone miss me? I definitely missed all you lovely folks in blogland.

So what has been happening here? Over the past few weeks I certainly could have thrown up a post about the new job, new city, new nephew, new computer, pictures of some new places to run, new tri team, new tri club, the Arnold Classic, organic foods, how my boobs are flat from not being in the weight room, running 4 miles then next time out running almost 8, or the post you requested that I failed to complete.

But not a whole lot of settling down for me, that's for sure. I am not in any kind of groove. No regular workouts. No regular schedule at work. No blogging time. And plenty of unpacked boxes. Am I to believe this is the new status quo? Maybe. But nonetheless some sort of adaptation is necessary

Right now I don't have a plan, I don't have a coach, and I don't really have too much time to train either. What I do have is a little fire inside of me. Today brought temps above 70 degrees (Fahrenheit.) And now the pilot light has been lit. It is time for a return, not just to this little blog, but to that which I truly have a passion for:

Running

And so on this quasi public forum, I will make a declaration of intent for my 2007 season:

I will qualify for the Boston Marathon.

Tag

2007-02-07T18:25:00.000-05:00

Sorry folks, I just have not been able to dedicate the time to blogland especially since I currently only have net access from work. But I've been tagged, and so I'll play along this time.

1. Describe a memory from your first triathlon ever

I could list several from the 1999 National City Bank Triathlon:
-Meeting a bunch of pros the night before.
-Not really knowing what to wear, so I raced in nothing but a speedo.
-Thinking I was going to drown while treading water for what seemed to be an eternity.
-Not having tinted googles and staring right into the sun every breath during the swim.
-Scrapping up my knee pretty badly climbing a cargo net out of the water.
-Tyring to absolutely hammer the bike.
-Getting caught for drafting somewhere.
-Trying to run and then dying on the first hill coming out of transition.
-Vowing to come back and doing better on the next one.

2. Describe a memory from your most recent triathlon

My most recent triathlon was actually a sprint tri one week after IM WI 2006. I remember not feeling ready to race until 10 miles into the bike course. But we all like to talk about the big events in our life. My IM WI 2006 recap was pretty thorough, so go ahead and check that out, again. I won't go over that since I'm short on time.

3. What's the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you in a tri?

Leaving T2 with my bike helmet on. That was caputered on film digitally too.

4. What's the most thrilling thing that's happened to you in a tri?

I would say spending a cold, rainy, September Sunday in Madison and then being able to enjoy my last two hours of the run with so many friends out on the course.

5. What is something you discovered about yourself by doing triathlons?

Life is better when you are in pursuit of things you are passionate about.

6. What is The Big Goal that you're working towards?

http://theabr.org/RP_Cert.htm

Oh, wait you mean something like running a Boston Qualifying time. Yeah I hope I can get that in this fall.

I am going to take my little break from posting. Sorry tri-geeks, I wasn't able to finish my post on spandex, technical tees, and shopping yet. But hopefully it will be worth the wait. In some other news, I will not be able to call C-town my home for much longer. I realized this past weekend that there are some things and places that I may not do or visit again. But I've got enough memories to last me a lifetime.

Yeah, Cleveland Rocks!!!

Hiya!!!

2007-01-30T09:59:00.000-05:00

No I am not dead, yet. No I am not abandoning the blogging either. And no I am not wallowing in sorrow over a lousy football game. And all this new blogger crap is driving me nuts. I was perfectly content with what I had. Well I'm trying not to be assimilated, but I'll bet resistance is futile. When I mentioned the thought of discontinuing to blog, it was not the whim of a madman. Rather I foresaw the lack of time and resources to put into a quality blog. I can blog from work, but big brother is watching. I would have to limit my posts on bike porn. I have not settled into a regular work routine, and I probably never will. On the flip side, I can eventually settle into a workout and training routine; and I am trying to do that. A new laptop is budgeted and an order will be placed this week. I try to celebrate new year's more than once too, so I am just warning everyone that I intend to take some time away from blogland until maybe a week after the Chinese new year. Let's let the dust clear. But you know this stuff is addicting, and I'm hooked. So maybe...

But...I do have some immediate news to share that offers preliminary excitement. I took a full day away from work on Monday. It really wasn't vacation because I had to see a number of medical professionals.

News from the cardiologist: you competed in an Ironman. I even looked you up on the website; I don't think I need to test you anymore. See me or another doc maybe once a year.

News from the physical therapist: ankle is stable and strong. It is still stiff with scar tissue from October. If you can tolerate the pain, work through it. Fire up the running.

MMMmm...Do I smell...Bacon....

Anyways, when considering whether or not to move out of my corner of blogland, I often wondered if people came to my corner because of the subjects that I wrote about. But I think there are enough people who stop here regardless of what I write about. Or maybe I've just got delusions of granduer. So I have a few posts that are snapshots of the last few weeks of my world. The posts are in the works but I fear I will only have time to finish one or two of them before they are no longer fresh and before I take my hiatus. So people, rock the vote and Choose your own Adventure:

1 - To read about The Scioto & Olentangy, RPAC, and Graeter's, reply in the comments with: I'm an Ohio-phile; tell me more!!!

2 - To read about tandem & ovoids, EDW, and ultrasound probes, reply in the comments with: I'm a science geek; tell me more!!!

3 - To read about spandex & technical tees, S/M/L, and shopping, reply in the comments with: I'm a tri-geek; tell me more!!!

Football

2007-01-07T13:24:00.000-05:00

O-H!!!

First order of business: Click here for today's musical selection.

Next item: Football. I really love football. From watching last week's Boise State win over Oklahoma in overtime to watching my favorite pro team lose to my brother-in-law's team when the QB botched the hold on a field goal attempt. So I am absolutely tickled to be moving to an awesome football town. C-bus may only have a collegiate team, but damn are they fun to watch. And they could probably beat a few pro teams too. So Monday night, after nine hours of new employee orientation, I am going to plop down somewhere with a few friends, a few beers, and watch the Buckeyes bring another national championship in football back to my state and to my new hometown.

Business that has been pigeonholed: My appointment with the cardiac doc in December was pushed back yet again. Why does he tease me by setting up a date and then avoid me by canceling? My next date with him is at the end of January. And, damn it, we have got to have a serious heart-to-heart talk soon.

Old business: We were just talking about my love of football. So remember this? (Warning: image may be graphic in nature.) Three months later it looks like this.

Anyone want to make a diagnosis?

Okay, I'll clue you in.

The good news: everything is intact - no structural damage, no subluxation of the tendons, no ligament tears. The bad news: the scar tissue is still clinging to my ligaments like a good bacon-wrapped appetizer. MMMmmm. Those carrot and celery sticks look a little out of place in that picture.

So more home exercises. And I'm still waiting for my foot massage. Most of us like happy endings, so yes, a timetable for a return to running is being established. The running will be coming soon. Can not. Hold out. Much. Longer.

In case you haven't had your fill of TBDBITL yet, here's another clip (and some of their other stuff).

GO BUCKEYES!!!
I-O!!!

Moving

2007-01-04T02:00:00.000-05:00

If you haven't noticed the full title of this blog, take a look:

TriAl v2006.

Pretty easy to recognize that this blog has an expiration date. There was a lot of thought that went into that title. I intended to blog for one year - for my first journey to Ironman.

Now that the calendar is rolling over to 2007, what should be done with this blog? The zeal for posting to this blog has not been there. The creativity hasn't been there either. Honestly I have not convinced myself that I want to continue to consistently blog.

But regardless, I am starting anew.

I'm moving out.

Or at least I thought I was. I even set up another blog elsewhere. But there were some things I was not able to do at the other site. And besides, I would feel bad if I made you all change your links, bookmarks, bloglines, et cetera. Therefore I am staying put here in my corner of blogland.

But this place may get a bit dusty as I will probably do some remodeling. And yes I will need to change the title of my blog. So if there are things you liked or did not like about my corner of blogland, speak now or forever hold your peace.

To all: Have a great 2007!!!

Moving, Part 2

2007-01-04T01:28:00.000-05:00

I have already confirmed this rumor to a few folks.

But I am moving.

I mean I will be picking up my stuff and moving down the freeway, oh, about 120 miles to C-Bus. And, holy crap, I am going to be gone by next week?! I begin a new job, a new career, and a new life in four days. I am not quite sure what should be going through my brain as I will be meeting new people and new challenges while leaving good friends and family. The magnitude of the situation has not sunk in, especially since my stuff will remain in my current abode for a few more weeks. (I will be living the life of a nomad for a while and I will not have my own computer either.) So I guess right now I am going to be publicly stoic.

Wow. This (or this, or this) was a great way to start the year. But moving certainly is another way to start the year with a bang.

Tag

2007-01-02T01:40:00.000-05:00

Triteacher tagged me, so I'm IT. Silly Ms. Triteacher. You know not what you have done.

Anyway, here's how it goes:

1. Find the nearest book.
2. Name the book & the author.
3. Turn to page 123.
4. Go to the fifth sentence on the page. Copy out the next three sentences and post to your blog.
5. Tag three more folks.

Shielding Techniques for Radiation Oncology Facilities, 2nd Edition. By Patton H. McGinley

Excerpt from Page 122. (Page 123 consists of Figure 8-2)
"The value of Kux is used with figure 8-2 to determine the thickness of lead required for the primary barrier. Figure 8-2 is based on 125 kV x-rays, which is a typical operating voltage for a radiotherapy simulator. Note that the transmission curve cannot be described by a single half value layer (HVL), and the thickness of lead needed must be determined graphically."

Okay, time to share the love.

TriSaraTops: She may not be unpacked yet, but I'm hoping she has some book from or about Hawaii.
Jodi: I'm guessing the recent birthday girl is in the lab, but taking a break from thesis writing. So let's see if we can get some more over-our-heads science stuff.
Rachel: Maybe I can get even more snippets of scientific research.

By the way, ever try to track one of these "chain" posts? I traced this back to Dr. Stephanie and then lost the trail. I am also curious to see where this little bugger goes after it leaves my corner of blogland. Bon voyage.

2006-12-21T02:43:00.000-05:00

There's a lot of little things I want to get to tonight.

Beta Blogger:

First off Beta Blogger sucks donkey balls. I've still been reading other fine folks' blogs, but the ability to make comments has sucked. So I'll probably be a little sporadic with them.

Ankle Update:

I had another visit to my physical therapist last Friday. Things are progressing, slowly. The flexibility and stability are there in most directions. The strength is okay, but still a little imbalanced between the right and left legs. But the scar tissue is still there. I was assessed on the treadmill. I looked okay, but the running just did not feel right. There's some discomfort in places where discomfort should not be. We believe I may have stretched a few key ligaments in addition to my tendon strain. I may need to go back to the doctor for a more accurate diagnosis (read MRI) if things do not contiune to progress. So I'm still restricted from running. Ugh hopefully by mid January I'll be able to run. I've got to get ready to play in the big football game with my buddies on Super Bowl Sunday. (Hope my new tri team manager doesn't throw any clauses into my contract.)

Computer Names:

I received a few comments about my naming of my hard drives. Well this stems from my college days on campus. Thousands of computers were all networked together. So if my friend was in his lab on the quad, he could access my computer sitting in my dorm room and get a copy of our lab report. But it's hard to look for a computer named "03BE-F14C". Everyone had a name for their computer. Hence the tradition of naming my computer. I like traditions and so it has continued even to this day. And I think I have a name picked out for my next computer.

Speedplay Pedals:

Over the last few years I have been using Look CX7 pedals. They work well as I can make micro adjustments. I have heard Look is trying to switch over to the keo style cleats and away from the larger delta cleats. So I made the switch to Speedplays Zeros. I felt the increased degree of float would really help out the knees too. I purchased them with my new bike, but was not about to go 112 miles on brand new pedals. So I have been trying to them out on the trainer. And let me tell you I felt like I did when I first went clipless. If I was on the road, I would be on the ground at every stoplight. Also when I clip out I have to twist my foot outwards; that's not the best thing for a weak ankle. I got in my first long workout with the Speedplay pedals tonight and I've got some adjustments to make. 140 rpms is not fun, but even less fun when things are slightly out of alignment.

Cardiologist:

This Friday I finally return to my cardiologist. (It feels so weird to type that - "my cardiologist." I'm a thirty year old Ironman with a cardiologist. Wow.) Anyways, I just want a definitive resolution to any heart conidition I may or may not have. More so, I want to be able to run hard with no fear. Call me crazy but I miss Zone 5 workouts.

Up Next:

I had a chat with my coach about a week ago. I asked him flat out what he thought about this past season. He gave it B-/C+ range. Why? It wasn't performance. I performed well at IM WI, but because my training was cautious and restricted I never got the chance to really see what I could do.

So what is next? I saw one of my IM WI brothers tonight for the first time since September. We started talking a little about what's next. We both smirked when we flashed a big fat zero - as in absolutely nothing planned for 2007. He is restricted with work and family. I've got a lot of things to sort out as well. I know I can post a better IM time, but I know I'm not really made for Ironman. My coach believes I can do some serious damage in the Olympic and half-IM distances. I definitely have the speed for the OLY, but with the length of the swim between an OLY and a HIM so small, I could really make it up on the bike and run in a HIM. Honestly right now I really just want to run. And that's my resolution for the new year.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes:

There will be some changes coming soon in my corner of blogland. Strap yourself in; it's going to be a fun ride.

Holidays:

Right now I don't have any deep Christmas thoughts that wouldn't sound cliche. So, give a listen to Cheech and Chong and click on the flash player above (if you haven't done so already).

Photo from AP

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Geminids

2006-12-14T04:42:00.000-05:00

I am just coming back from a stargazing session. The Geminids were expected to peak right about now. My little digital camera can't handle astronomy photography, but I did shoot the moon rising in the east. It was a decent show tonight. We were out for about an hour and saw about 30 shooting stars. It was pretty awesome. I would recommend watching a meteor shower at least once in your life.

Does stargazing have anything to do with triathlons or training? Well I guess if I really dug deep I could make some connection.

Trifrog posted this a little while ago. I haven't done many triathlon type workouts since, ohh, September. Mentally I'm not quite the same as I was in the summertime when I was hopped up on endorphins and my brain was focused 24/7 on Ironman. Sitting out in the middle of a field in December at 3 am with a few dozen whitetail deer and hundreds of points of light is far from the world of triathlon. It made me realize that I really don't want a life that consists of eating, sleeping, breathing triathlon year round. I pretty much went twelve straight months of preparing for Ironman. That's the longest span of training that I've gone without a break. And I think my brain lost interest in triathlons, at least a little bit. Heresy? Maybe. But I've never went by the book anyways. I posted a list of a few things I wanted to do after I finished Ironman. Well I've done a few of those things and I have a few that I still want to cross off that list.

So as some of you are waking up to hit the pool or go out for a quick jog, I'm about to head off to bed. I won't be dreaming of swimming, biking, or running. My brain wants to wander off into the starry night sky and I'm totally all right with that...

RIP Achilles

2006-12-12T11:00:00.000-05:00

Ugh, my Achilles is hosed.

He He. It's probably not what you think.

I don't have another physical ailment.

My laptop is named Achilles. Or was. Or well more accurately, Achilles was the name I dubbed the hard drive. And the hard drive is actually intact and capable of functioning. I believe somewhere on the motherboard something is physically shot and therefore rendering the whole computer comatose. I did some exploratory surgery but could not find the problem. I have deemed it a waste of money to have it professionally serviced. Although losing its usefulness a little earlier than hoped, Achilles has served me well for almost four years. It's spirit is in stasis and will be revived in the future. A new laptop was planned but not until around February/March. I will probably have to move that time frame up a bit.

So I dusted off my backup computer - an old Windows NT box named Kublai. And by old, I mean I assembled that thing in 1999; and the monitor is twelve years old. I even found a couple dust bunnies making their home inside the case. After finding some drivers and installing some other pieces of software and hardware, Kublai is set to roll again. He checks emails quite well, but the internet has morphed considerable since his heyday. I've got some blog reading to catch up on, but no more fancy schmancy video games; no more lightening fast internet browsing either.

I guess that means I need to get off my butt and train.

Foot Fetish

2006-12-01T10:58:00.000-05:00

Thank you everyone for the the thoughts, concerns, and comments; they were very much appreciated.

I am on my way back.

I had another physical therapy appointment earlier this week. The ankle is stable and strong. Obviously there is some disparity between the strength of my left and right legs. I can visual see the difference in calf and quad girth. In addition, there is still a good deal of scar tissue around the joint. My ankle doesn't look like a cantaloupe anymore, but maybe a big red delicious.

What's next? I've got some new/old exercises (old in the sense that I've done many of the same things for previous injuries) and of course I need to build back my leg strength. I've been given free reign to pump iron with the legs. Yeah!!! Swimming and biking are allowed too. Double Yeah!!! No impact sports though, which includes running. Boo!!!

But I also have to get rid of that scar tissue. How? Massage it!!!

So if anyone out there has a thing for feet, I'll have some oils, maybe a few scented candles, some soft music, and a foot that needs a serious rub down.

And I'm not afraid of a little pain.

Void

2006-11-21T09:42:00.000-05:00

Here's my Haiku of the day:

Triathlete I am
Peroneal tendon strain
Void is hard to fill

It's been three weeks since my last post and five weeks since I sprained my ankle. I have been on the shelf ever since; this is one tenacious injury. I have had some discomfort around my ankle joint, and have had some soreness in my calf and the top of my foot too - the anchor points of the peroneal tendons. There is still some swelling and scar tissue, but at least it's not blue anymore. I have been to the physical therapists so often over the years, that they'll probably dedicate a new exam table in my name or something. Anyways, I have been doing some basic flexibility, balance and coordination, and some strengthening exercises. No running and no weight lifting for a few more weeks.

So with no training, no race goals, and basically a whole lot of nothing, I have not been able to overcome the high activation energy necessary to produce something to post about. I won't lie; it's been tough watching and hearing folks toe the line at a local race or anticipating their next big race in 2007, all the while being uncertain of my own future.

But slowly, I am on the road back. I am happy to report my first workout since September. This past Saturday before the epic Ohio State/Michigan football game, I pulled the bike shorts out of the drawer and went outside for a ride. The last time I was out the trees still had their full compliment of green leaves, but this time the landscape was drab and gray.

I took this picture about five years ago. I don't know why I have this shot in my bathroom, but I spied it again tonight. I could write a few cliche lines about how I am traveling down a path that I have traveled before. Or maybe how seasons change and how it applies to my situation.

Naw.

The stark reality is that I need to train. I need to be active. That is central to my being. And in its absence things are not quite the same. That realization will not immediately restore order to my universe, but it cetrainly helps to hold things together in the interim.

I am an athlete.

Ferrah Felt

2006-10-31T15:54:00.000-05:00

Here's a story of a lovely lady named: Ferrah Felt.

Here was a story of her conception. She is one of a kind. She was not spotted in a store. No one said: "That's the one." Or even: "LBS guy, order this for me." She did not exist before someone started messing around, looking for components. And then like a Weird Science experiment, she came to be. For the truly geeky, keep reading and you'll evenutally hit a component list.

What about the name? This bike came about specifically for IM WI. Someone did not have the confidence that another ride would be able to withstand the rigors of a 112 mile race up and down the hills around Madison. So although she is loaded with carbon, her name had to tie into Ironman.

At the time of conception, the name was to be Ferros. Why Ferros? The chemical symbol for iron is Fe, which is derived from the Latin word Ferrum. Ferrous refers to an iron ion. In addition, Ferros also sounds like a recent Ironman winner. So Ferros ties in to Ironman not once, but twice. Nice.

But Ferros just sounded too masculine. It also sounds like the name of this guy:

After she was born, the name Ferros just did not fully exude her sexiness. So she went unnamed for a while. Then the eureka moment came. The inspiration: Charlie's Angels.

Not these three,

but the original trio.

Which included perhaps the most famous Farrah.

Then change an "a" to an "e" to stick with the Fe motif, and voila: Ferrah. It was also a coincidence that the bike was a Felt, which fits nicely with Ferrah. Good Morning, Angels!

And for the truly geeky:

Frame: Felt F1C
Fork: Ritchey Carbon Pro
Crank: Campy Chorus Carbon Fiber Crank 53/39.
Shifters: Campy Chorus Carbon Ergopower shifters.
Derailers, Brakes, and Chain: Campy Chorus group
Cassette: Wheels Manufacturing, Inc. Campy to Shimano cassette 11/23
Stem: Ritchey Pro Stem
Handlebar: Richey WCS
Seatpost: Ritchey Carbon Pro Seatpost
Saddle: Specialized Toupe
Pedals: Look Cx7 (to be replaced by Speedplay Zero Ti)
Aero bars: Profile Design T2+
Wheels: Bontrager Race X Lite
Tires: Vittoria Corsa EVO CX
Wheels: Bontrager Race X Lite Carbon Aero
Tires: Tufo CS3
Computer: Cateye Astrale 8

Is that the end of the story? Not at all. Remember the name:

Ferrah Felt

Blue

2006-10-18T23:58:00.000-04:00

Here are the top 10 things I will try to do now that Ironman Wisconsin has come and gone. Or you could call this the 10 things I put on the back burner while I was going after Iron.

I will try to turn a screen pass into a touchdown. Then I will try to stop my friend on the other side of the ball from running past me for a touchdown.
I will try to make my friend run around the raquetball court. Then I will try to hit a kill shot on the game winning point.
I will try to make the tough dig on a well struck volleyball. Then I will try to hit a three ball down the line, from the weakside.
I will try to head down the black diamonds under control. Then I will try to do the same at Tahoe, or Vail, or Whistler.
I will try to play Mozart on the piano again. Then I will try Chopin.
I will try to utilize my kitchen on a weeknight. Then I will try to cook again the next week.
I will try to get my humidor in order. Then I will try not to smoke too many cigars.
I will try to watch some TV. Then I will try not to watch every night.
I will try to sleep in on Saturdays. Then I will try to get to sleep earlier on weeknights.
I will try to enjoy my time with family and friends, new and old, near and far. Then I will smile at the thoughts of where I have been and where I am going.

2006-10-18T23:55:00.000-04:00

I have been dying to get my endorphin fix, but I guess I'll have to wait a little longer. So yeah a few of those things on that list will not get knocked off soon. My self diagnosis on my ankle is a grade 2 ankle sprain. Unfortunately I was not too diligent with the RICE prescription so my foot looks like a smurf attached to my leg. It really does not hurt, but it looks nasty. I am walking around gingerly on it, but as soon as the edema goes down, I should be walking with a normal gait. After that, a few weeks in the weight room and hopefully I should be good to go. Time to pick up more athletic tape. Someone mentioned that they love gross pictures so here's one more. Maybe I'll post some bike porn next time. And maybe get a pedi too.

Love Hurts

2006-10-16T18:30:00.000-04:00

Hope your weekend was an excellent one. Great job to all the racers out there this past weekend, especially to DaisyDuc and Papa Louie at the C-bus marathon and TriEric and his wife at the B-more marathon. Happy Birthday to E-Speed, too.

Me? I had to get my football fix in. Well here are some of the results.

The result of someone's cleats meeting my chest.

The result of trying to cut on an uneven patch of ground.
Then continuing to play for another hour until the adrenaline wore off.

In a game where size does matter, it doesn't bother me that I am the smallest guy out there. I'm not even the best runner. But despite the many bumps, bruises, sprains, and tears I have sustained through the years from playing football I still love being out on the field. I don't know why. I want to make that catch, or shake off the tackle for a few more yards, or break up the pass, or make the solid tackle. So my ankle will heal up and I'll probably be out there again in a few weeks. Maybe I'll tape up my ankle next time. Maybe I'll be even smarter and get an ankle brace. Maybe I'll score a couple touchdowns next time. Then Monday morning the hurt won't feel as bad.

Coach

2006-10-11T22:20:00.000-04:00

I have been asked by several people about my coaching. Maybe I can help a few folks out by telling you why I got a coach and in the process, give some due credit to my coach. So today's musical selection and post is dedicated to my coach, Pete.

Back in his racing days, he was an exceptional cyclist and athlete. Please click here to see some of the things he has accomplished. As some of the local athletes know, he leads some serious workouts. Although he no longer races, he could probably still kick most of our butts in any race.

I met Pete at one of his coached outdoor cycling workouts in 2004. By the end of the season, the results of those once-a-week workouts were undeniable. Having built a good relationship with him, I knew I could work well with him.

A few thoughts:

Do you have a good rapport with your coach?

I think this is the first question to ask. I believe you need to have a good working relationship with your coach. If you don't, it won't work. We actually had some minor disagreements here and there, but for the most part we were on the same page. Here's a short anecdote over one disagreement.

As we were putting together the season, I told him I did not want to do any half IMs. He wanted me to do two. We discussed a bit, but he ultimately told me that if I did not do at least one, he would not coach me. So I said okay, I'll do one. Well as you may know I ended up doing two half IMs leading up to IM WI and have since told him that he was absolutely right.

Do you need someone to provide you with workouts?

Some people do, some people don't. If I had to do it on my own I could have pieced something together from a collection of free plans, my own experience, and the wisdom of other training partners. So I was looking for someone who was going to do more than give me weekly workouts. With my input, Pete developed a training plan from scratch tailored to me. We were flexible to the point that I was able to add a half IM and some long workouts at the end of the season without the fear of deviating from a plan. Through working with him, I learned a ton about planning. Everything from establishing a macrocycle for the season to modifying my workouts. We both went in to this with the same approach: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

On a side note, I actually started an analysis of my race and training. As some of you may have seen, I tend to buck conventional wisdom. So I am not surprised at some of my findings. I doubt I will publish these notes, but I will leave you with this tidbit: Number of brick workouts - 0.

What is your coach's background?

I am a novice cyclist so I wanted to work on that area. For a coach, I wanted someone who had a strong cycling background. I actually rode with Pete a few times during the summer just to focus on cycling form and technique. Pete also has a background in strength training which was also a good fit for me, as I was not afraid of the weight room. So did the results of being in the weight room four times a week pay off?

What are some other benefits you hope to get out of your coach?

Let's take a quick look back at a few seasons.

2003 - "A" race was a marathon in May. Six weeks prior to the race, my knee and ITB decided to flare up. Pulled out of the race, rehabbed all summer and did not run again till August. Probable cause of injury - poor base training.

2004 - "A" race was a marathon in October. The majority of the season went well. After an awesome 30k race, I stacked on a speed workout on Tuesday and tried to do another long run the following weekend before tapering. My legs revolted and I ended up with fasciitis in the calves. Just several days before the race, I decided to suck up the pain and race anyways. Probable cause of injury - overuse.

2005 - "A" race was a fall marathon. I never got on track. I was trying to adjust to orthotics and actually suffered through some shin splints. On top of that my immune system seemed to be overwhelmed by my allergies. I was constantly sick or dealing with minor leg discomfort. Canceled any thought of an A race and just trained and raced for the sake of it. But being fat and out of shape took all the fun out of it. Probable cause of injury - dumb luck.

2006 - "A" race was IM Wisconsin. Well we know how that went. But let's see: sprint tri a week after an IM leads to foot pain. And is it any coincidence that I am sick right now. Probable cause of injury - lack of common sense.

So you see I tend to get myself onto the DL some how and that was a big reason I wanted a coach this year. That was an underlying theme the whole year: Keep me healthy so that I could toe the line in Madison. By the way, Pete disapproved of my race the week after IM and once again he was right.

Could I have done Ironman this year without Pete? Honestly, probably not. I probably would have done too much somewhere and limped into the race, or perhaps even worse.

My coach will be going on this adventure on Saturday. I have a previous engagement or else I would join him for some of this fun.

But I will have a Foster's oil can in honor of my coach. Pete, thanks for a great season.

Tempted

2006-10-10T00:21:00.000-04:00

I will not lie.

I am tempted.

I think I want it, again.

It's all around.

It's in my system.

And I can't ignore it.

It's on TV.

It's about to happen at Kona.

It is

Ironman...

Registration for IM Louisville opens up in a few weeks.

IM Florida takes place next month.

Even IM Canada and IM Wisconsin have opened up a lottery for additional entries.

I caught the Radical Reels Tour this past weekend with some friends. There was most definitely some Ironman talk and it stoked the fire.

Will I IM again? I think that has already been decided.

"Can I do it?" is no longer the question.

That was asked a few hours after crossing the line at one triathlon and I found my way to another triathlon in the shadows of a capitol a year later. Along the way, I experienced highs and lows. New friends were made. Old friends became better friends. And by loosening my grip ever so slightly, I found out how far I could really go.

And the answer:

I did it.

So the new question is:

"What will I experience on the next journey?"

...

Still somewhere....

2006-10-06T23:47:00.000-04:00

I have been lurking around blogland, but have been absent from my own blogging for about two weeks, somewhat on purpose. I haven't done any training since IM WI and so I don't have much to write about. I think I worked out five times in the last three weeks.

But I also want to box up this IM experience a la triteacher and move on. So just like any breakup, I needed a little time and space.

Anyways, I've got some random thoughts tonight and most aren't triathlon or training related, except the first item.

With the breaking news of 2007 IM Lube, it got me thinking a little. The Type A persona in me believes I can complete an Ironman faster than what I did at 2006 IM WI. Will I do an IM in 2007? Maybe. If I was going to do another IM, I was hoping to go back to IM WI. At some point in the near future I will need to study for a series board examinations and I purposely did not apply for the test in 2007. Just in case...

My nemesis struck again. Every year I seem to get some form of sinus infection with all sorts of symptoms to go with it. Nasal congestion, sore throat and cough. That leads to lack of sleep etc. Last year it literally caused me to give up on training for an A race. Well it decided to throw an added twist this time. Hiccups. These were some serious watch-for-whiplash like convulsions; and they stuck with me on and off all day. At least it waited till after IM. So this evening I quarantined myself, cooked, and ate. I had been watching my food intake for the last few weeks to prevent weight gain, but I believe when you are sick, you must eat. So some soup, and a lot of steamed veggies, pork, and chicken. I will be going to sleep with a full belly tonight. The only question I had was: do I wash it down with hot tea and honey or the top shelf cognac.

Last week I took a little trip to Seattle and picked up another brother-in-law. (Congrats sis.)

Seattle traffic is downright awful.

Does it rain in Seattle? Or just tease us by being cloudy? I have never opened an umbrella in that town. By the way, most of the days I spent there last week were near perfect weather - sunny with one or two clouds and about 74 degrees. If I had time and money I would have picked up something to ride from the Performance Bike Shop I passed several times every single day. Riding up and down those hills would have been soooo much fun.

Why do weddings become such big productions? If/when I make it to the altar, is there anyway I can reduce the "destructive stress"? My mom has a big family which can makes things even more exciting. We had 6 minivans and 2 cars. Oh and that's only about half of the family.

Just curious. When was the last time you got carded for an alcoholic drink? When was the last time you got carded at your sister's wedding? Being a designated driver, all I wanted was one drink. Good grief.

I love football season, so I was disappointed to miss the big college game last weekend. I watched some of the UWisc-Indiana game with my cousins in the morning, but couldn't catch the OSU-Iowa game becaue of the wedding reception. There wasn't a TV available, but at least the conciegre at the reception hall was kind enough to look up the score on the net.

By the way, I had a discussion with my brother-in-law, a UWashington grad about college football. I believe, that there is a slight bias in favor of college teams from the South and West (warm climates.) Those teams tend to have more speed and finesse that can benefit them in a bowl game. Midwest and East coast teams need to be more physical because the weather can definitely factor into the regular season games that they play. So if you take a team like USC and have them travel to Ohio for their bowl game in January, they probably would not have as much success. As a supporting statement, look at the NFL. Teams like the Colts struggle in New England come playoff time. Why? They are a finesse team whose strengths are nullified by something out of their control - weather.

Sorry to be such a snob, but I am not quite used to flying economy class. Airplanes in general are like flying cesspools. And maybe that's where I caught my sickness. Anyways, with my luck, I got stuck in front of a kid that kicked my seat the entire trip to Seattle. And all the dad did was say in a very loud voice: "Marcus, stop that. Marcus....sit still.....MARCUS." That gets old on a four hour flight. The kid on the way back home was a little more calm, but I actually traded my window seat for a middle seat on the other side of the plane just to get away from that kid.

I believe you have a better chance of having a good conversation with people in economy class, especially if you wear an M-dot t-shirt. What is more exciting: Ironman or biking around the world? I don't know, but I would love to do the latter.

Anyone watching the current season of The Amazing Race? If you haven't caught it yet, there is a duo that consists of Ironmen - one being Sarah Reinertsen. In my humble opinion, this season has been pretty lackluster.

Well, I have a few more posts in the pipeline, but I'll save them for next week. Thanks for putting up with my off topic rants.

Have a splendid weekend.

IM WI - Photos

2006-09-21T23:30:00.000-04:00

Monona Terrace on a gorgeous Thursday morning.
By the way the lady in the green top on the path is Andrea Fisher.

Bags Bags Bags

Ferrah all ready for a slumber party at the Monona Terrace.
Note to athlete #476, please rack your bike according to instructions.

Some of the bike transition zone. I didn't see another Felt F1C.

Mass swim start. Can you see me amongst the 2400 plus swimmers? I was just to the right of the black buoy to the right of the ski ramp to the right of the other black buoy to the right of the orange start buoy.

Nice view. Excellent product placement Ford.
(From Through th3 wall.)

Coming out of the water.

Enjoying my brunch.

One of the crazy bike spectators.
(from IronmanLive.)

Note to self: get aero.

Give me a helmet and some pads.

Not quite singin' in the rain.

If my race number looked like this, I wonder what I looked like at the finish.

'nuff said.

IM WI - Post Race and Beyond

2006-09-21T22:10:00.000-04:00

After crossing the finish line, I was caught by Mickey. I gave him a hug and thanked him for all he had done for me on my journey. I was presented a medal and a mylar blanket was wrapped around me like I was king for a day or something. I saw Josh and we recounted how miserable it felt out there. By the tone in his voice I knew he had a rough day. But anyone who can run a sub 3:10 IM marathon, had to be doing something right. He'll be back.

My next thoughts were focused on getting out of my wet clothes. Since I wasn't running anymore, I was getting cold fast. I waited to get my picture taken and then met my Aunt and cousins. I knew if I finished any later, my cousin from Chicago would have missed my finish.

I dragged myself into the Terrace to grab my gear. I ran into Chris again and was elated to hear he had PRed today. Well done, my friend. We parted ways, but I have a feeling I'll be seeing him again.

I had my cousin take my gear back the the house and then went out to see more of the finishers. I was hoping to grab some brats and beer, but settled for some of cold pizza. I wasn't that hungry and actually felt a little bloated. As I have heard discussed, this probably had something to do with the damaged muscles retaining the water that would normally have been removed as sweat. After seeing Cassie finish, we headed back into the Terrace. I got a pretty long massage, which probably didn't do me any good. I felt bad I didn't have a couple of bucks to tip the masseur. Finally we picked up Cassie and Trina's gear and headed back to my Aunt and Uncle's.

On the drive home, I remember thinking about my finish. As is typical for me, I actually ran faster through the tape. This time maybe I ran too fast. I did not recall hearing the voice of Ironman annouce my name. Maybe I was too close to the guy in front of me. Maybe my race number was just unreadable. But on that evening it did not matter. I knew what I had done to cross that line; no extra validation needed. Grin.

Back at our bivouac, we were greeted by a sign that my Aunt and cousin's made that congratulated our accomplishment. We got online and checked out some of the results and watched some of the Ironman Live feed. I checked on almost everyone I knew that raced and was glad to see the results from everyone. I wished I could have continued watching, but we were all wiped out. For the first time in a long while, that night I slept well.

Race Total: 1:21:40/09:45/6:34:13/05:28/4:24:31 = 12:35:37

--

Has Ironman taught me anything? I have read some introspectives from some of my fellow racers, (here, here, here, and here) I can't really put my finger on all of it, but I have in some way changed. But this is not like some step function where everything suddenly changes once you cross some line drawn across a street. For some, Ironman was a catalyst for some amazing transformations. For me, change is usually slow and subtle. The effects stemming from Ironman on my life are still revealing themselves to me today. The process of change has been happening since I clicked "submit" last year, since I jumped in to the lake at my first triathlon, since I crossed the stage to recieve my diploma, since I came into this world.

The most striking revelation came during the last two hours of my race. I had "that feeling". The culmination of months and years of training, the positive and negative emotions coming to balance, but it wasn't until I let go of the numbers and all the distractions around me that things seemed to align. The body and mind were almost on another plane where everything felt easy and "anything was possible."

I have already played the numbers game, because that is an old habit. Goal: 11:43. Actual: 12:35. Could I have finished faster? Certainly. Would I have done things differently? Sure little things here and there like not get off my bike to urinate. Am I happy with my time? The answer in my mind is not as simple as a yes or no. For most of my running and triathlon career, numbers have driven me; they are a goal to strive for and to attain. But looking at the big picture, 12:35 is only a number.

I am proud of the fact that on a cold and rainy Sunday, I finished an Ironman; and I can not define myself by numbers. If for some reason I need a number from this race, I should pull this number out of my head: 13. That is the negative split between my first and second halves of the run. And that will hopefully spark my memory of "that feeling." We were standing in line the Monday after a race to claim a little DVD from the race. A gentleman was talking about the race, and he reaffirmed my conclusion that Ironman goes beyond the numbers. Will I attempt Ironman again? I don't know. I probably will, but at this moment I can walk away from Ironman and hold my head high.

--

So what's next?

Throughout my life, somehow I came up with some pretty random goals. I threw out "catching the game winning TD pass in the Super Bowl" a long time ago. But here are three that have stuck around:

Complete an Ironman with a finish to be proud of.
Qualify for and run in the Boston Marathon
Run a sub 2 half - that is sub 2 minutes for a half mile.

Cross off #1. I know # 2 is within reach. #3, I believe the older I get, the harder it will be to achieve. I'm okay if I don't complete #3.

If you look at #2 and #3 notice that they are associated with numbers. So as I go after goal #2, I am back to chasing numbers like 26.2, 3:10, and 07:14. I know that is unavoidable. But chasing numbers had consumed me. I hope Ironman has taught me enough so that the next time I run, bike, or swim, I can find the balance between the numbers and "that feeling."

One week after an Ironman, I competed in a sprint tri. (Here's the short report.) I wanted to run the 5k under 22 minutes, but finished just seconds slower. The ankle/foot pain I felt during the early part of my Ironman run was a precursor to something more. Something hurt after the Ironman and it hurt when I pushed the pace at the sprint tri. I will take some time off and hope I just have some inflammation, not a stress fracture. Perhaps I will run a marathon in several months, maybe in December or January, but I will only do so when I am ready.

My stop in Madison was AWESOME. I'm glad I had so many people along for the ride.

Next stop Boston. Coming along?

Portage Lakes Tri

2006-09-21T21:19:00.000-04:00

One week after an Ironman, I raced. This wasn't the smartest move. But I figured if I was going to wake my butt up to be present at the race, might as well do it. The goal was to see how easy the 5k run would be in preparation for a marathon.

The race was delayed over an hour due to fog. They actually altered the swim route to get it going as soon as possible.

Swim.

I was surprised to see how many people were wearing wetsuits in a sprint tri. This was not a good sign for me as I am an anchor in the water. Half way through the swim I found myself headed towards a kayak, instead of a buoy. I even got caught between some slow swimmers as we funneled towards the swim exit. Ugh. Not a good swim. This probably cost me an age group medal too.

Bike.

My T1 was slower than I expected. Once on the bike, it took me a while to get going. Like 9 miles. By the time my legs were ready to push a big gear, it was time to get off the bike. Sigh.

Run.

I was slow in T2 as I was almost out of the zone, before I realized I did not have my race number. So I ran back to get it. The first mile was okay as I settled into a pace I felt I could hold for 3 miles. The second mile was a gradual uphill, and I felt like crap. As I came back towards the finish, my foot was starting to bother me. So I just cruised as there was no need for me to sprint home.

The results are here:

Swim Time and overall rank: 11:07.65 - 116/248
T1: 01:09.24
Bike Time and overall rank: 37:09.91 - 34/248
T2: 01:12.23
Run Time and overall rank: 22:16.92 - 23/248

Total Time and overall rank: 1:12:55.94 - 30/248

The run pace was not as fast as I would want for my marathon. When I get back to it, I would want at least two months of consistent speed and tempo work before doing a marathon. So now it is time to rest.

The tri season of 2006 is now closed.

IM WI Race Day - T2 and Run

2006-09-19T12:58:00.000-04:00

T2

Back in the bag room in the Terrace, I was again able to easily spot my bag and trotted through that first room. Once in the get naked room I could tell that folks were struggling in there, but I stayed focused on my own game. I found a clear spot and plopped my bag on the ground. I opted against changing into dry clothes. All I had in my transition bag was loose clothing and I would rather have tight wet clothing than loose wet clothing. I don't bike with socks, so I struggled to dry my numb feet on the carpet. I slipped on a pair of warm, dry socks. AAaaaaahhhhhh. Note for next time: throw a towel into both transition bags. Slipped the running shoes on, threw the helmet and glasses into the bag, popped a gel with some water, shoved some gels into my shorts and jersey pocket, then deposited my bag, and out the door I went.

I went into a port-o-potty and took a really long break in there. Once back in the open air, I was mentally ready to run. The thought of a 3:30 marathon crept into my head.

T2 - 05:28

My energy levels felt pretty high. But I had planned to run the first three miles at an easy effort, ignoring my time, and was going to stick to it. I had also planned to pop a gel every 30 minutes or so, and pass through the aid stations very leisurely, and probably walk them all.

Well, I started moving and my positive attitude was turning negative once again. My legs just were not cooperating as I thought they would. The muscles of my legs were incredibly tight and something that I never expected, my right ankle was throbbing. I reached the Pedestrian Path and was hoping somehow that my legs would cooperate at some point in the day; I knew that if something did not change, I would have a cold, long death march. I watched the lead runners coming back in the other direction and it felt like I was crawling compared to them.

I trudged up into the stadium. As I hit the turf, it felt like a graveyard as there were no fans, no music, and barely any signs of life, just us wannabe Ironmen marching on. I walked through the next aid station. A young volunteer offered a sponge. I grabbed it and asked if this was the first sponge she had given out. I wiped some crap off my body with the sponge then grabbed a drink and pushed on.

I'm not sure why I did not just take splits every mile, but my first three miles were just under 30 minutes. I guess I was ready to pop another gel now. Since I had already tossed my overall time goal out several hours ago, it was much easier for me to drop any run time goal I may have had. I was reduced to jogging, and walking, and walking some more. Somewhere along the Lakeshore Path I saw Chris and Rob heading the other way. I did not want to disappoint them so I tried to pick it up a bit. They offered me encouragement, but I wondered if I would see them again.

Most of the first loop of the "run" was pretty blurry. I was cold, hungry, and tired. I heard cheers of encouragement from the sidelines all along the route, "Good job!!!", "Go Alan!!!", "Keep it up!!!" But my mind was probably trying to conserve its own energy as all the faces and voices faded out like background noise. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Back on the Lakeshore Path, I wanted to stay on the crushed dirt trail to save the pounding on the legs, but it was way too muddy. I hit the tail portion of the course; it was lined with homemade signs offering encouragement. The Ford Inspiration point was there also, and if anyone entered any messages for me, well, sorry I did not look up at the display. Ironically at the "Inspiration Point" my day was quickly deteriorating.

By mile 10, I was now walking a lot. My brain seemed to be shutting itself down and the body with it. I had popped a gel a few minutes earlier, but it seemed to do nothing for me. I was getting light headed and doubts were clouding over. At the next aid station I grabbed a GU (I use Carb-Boom gel), a cup of Coke, and broth - three things I had never tried all season - and washed it down. I kept jogging and walking forward.

As I hit the Pedestrian Path again, I was sinking. The doubts were flooding in from all sides as I questioned myself. Why didn't I eat another Clif bar on the bike? When was the sun going to come out? Had I seen any medical tents along the course? What would happen if I stopped at an aid station? What if I did not finish? Or worse yet, what if I could not finish? My eyelids felt as if I had pulled three straight all-nighters as I struggled to stay awake, mentally and physically. I came off the Pedestrian Path and I walked into the tunnel.

Than at that moment, I no longer wanted to move forward. The desire and will to finish was no longer in me. I wanted it all to disappear: the rain, the cold, the hunger, the aching muscles and bones. I was defeated. The eyes closed shut.

And then...

I stopped...

...

...

...

I don't know how long I was in that tunnel, but the wind howled at me once again. It struck the cross I was carrying on my back and I was urged to take my next step. Standing there was colder than moving forward.

I emerged from the dank tunnel as if I was busting out of my cocoon.

One step, another step...

shuffle, shuffle...

jog, jog, jog...

Run!!!

I rationalized that even if I walked the next 13 miles, I probably built up enough of a time buffer to finish before midnight. But for whatever reason, I was ready to run - after a 126 mile warmup. And in an instant, gone were all the fears and doubts. I was keeping the celebration under control, but I knew I would be an Ironman that day.

On that last stretch back to downtown, I made a promise to myself that regardless of what happened over the next several hours, I would have the time of my life. No longer was I concerned about pace or how many gels I had in my pocket. No longer was I saddled with racing towards a goal time. No longer was I chasing after things beyond my control. I was in a powerful moment and I would live in it. I certainly did not know when or if I would ever be back at a time or place like this again and so I was going to savor the next 13 plus miles.

I hit the special needs bag on a high. I reloaded my pocket with gels and even threw my dry socks into my pocket. I grabbed a plastic bag and tried to slip it over my torso. A kind volunteer helped me with it. I told him I was feeling awesome and that I probably would strip the bag off later. He said no problem and wished me well. I thanked him in turn. As I turned around I saw John coming out for his first loop. I jogged along with him and we chatted a bit. After a few moments I suggested he take the broth at the aid stations, since that provided both nutrition and warmth. I offered some parting words of encouragement and pressed forward. I shed the baggie moments later and remarked to the spectator next to me that Ironmen don't wear plastic, just lycra.

I crossed through the tunnel and remembered what had happened there moments before. I was unfazed this time. As I popped onto the Pedestrian Path, I heard Pharmie yell out at me as she went the other direction. I was hoping to meet up with her again later on the run. Moments later, Mark, a fellow tri club member, caught sight of me and said hello. I ran with him for a little while and hoped to get his spirits up. He mentioned his legs were cramping quite a bit. I tried to encourage him the best I could and wished him well as I went off to try to catch Pharmie.

I knew I was blazing away now. But Pharmie must have been cruising too since it took me awhile before I caught up to her. We chatted a bit about how the day had been going for us. She was moving strong and steadily and I knew that she would be an Ironman by the end of the day. I wished her the best and ran on ahead.

Even though I was feeling awesome, I made it a point to walk through the aid stations. I tried to thank the volunteers as best I could and they deserved more appreciation than I could offer them on the course. Oh and I wasn't about to stop refueling, so I would grab a sip of Coke, some munchies, than a cup of broth at each stop. I also tried to acknowledge the spectators as best I could. I'm pretty sure I saw Zeke out there bundled up on State Street. And how could I not give out high fives to the kids cheering on the side of the street. I heard "Go Allah" several times which made me feel strangely like a god, but made me smile nonetheless. Actually the second time I heard that, I looked at my race number and noticed a few letters were truncated from my name.

Just past another aid station, I spied Dennis cheering from the streets. He mentioned that Trina was just up ahead. He encouraged me to catch her and keep her company on the run. I spotted a free port-o-potty and couldn't pass up that opportunity. I emptied the bowels and came out feeling ten pounds lighter. Aaahhh. I immediately bolted up the hill on Observatory Drive and was running even faster and easier than ever before. I flew down the other side, onto Park Street, and then onto State Street. I saw Trina coming the other way so I picked up my pace, hit the turnaround, and caught her moments later. We ran together for a bit and I knew we were both going to make it to the finish line strong. She pushes me a lot in training and racing and I am better because of her. I am proud of her race day. She had struggled to get past a lot of obstacles this whole season and it was a joy to see her have such an incredible race. Heck she was ahead of me for over 130 miles on this day, having averaged 18.0 mph on the bike.

Once onto Park Street again, I was off and running. Just over a 10k to go. I was really getting excited. I was flying down the Lakeshore Path and wished I could run like this forever. I got back to the point with all the signs and this time I looked for as many names and numbers as I could. I saw a few for my friends and a few for Iron Wil. I had hoped to see Wil on race day and was envious of those who did. She took many of us on an amazing ride this summer and for as much inspiration she has given, I wanted to return the favor. I can't wait to be inspired by her again next year.

I past the Inspiration Point once again and the thoughts I had 13 miles ago were no where to be found. I was flying back towards downtown and near the Stadium I ran into TriSaraTops. We had a pretty goofy conversation, but after 12 hours of racing in the cold and rain, how could you not be a little slap happy? We knew we were both going to be Ironmen today, but she had to point out the fact that I was going to be one just a little sooner. It was a blast for me to be a part of her IM adventure throughout the summer, but to catch her smile on race day was even an bigger thrill.

All along the way I saw many of my friends, racing and battling through the day. I could not wait to hear the stories from them. We were about to enter into a fraternity, each member with a different view, but all forged from that same cold, rainy, September Sunday.

Now I began preparing for the unexpected that waited for me ahead. I adjusted my race number and tried to straighten out my hair. In all honesty, I was on an all time high and did not want what I was feeling for the last two hours to end. But the end of my journey was near. One last turn past the Capitol...a push down toward the finish line...

Euphoria...

Run splits: 2:18:42/2:05:49
Run total: 4:24:31

IM WI Race Day - T1 and Bike

2006-09-16T02:01:00.000-04:00

T1

I jogged and walked my way up the helix. It was awesome seeing and hearing the crowds cheering us on. Wow that was fun. I heard Jeff out there telling me I had a good swim. I entered into the first transition room, yelled out my number to the volunteers, but got to my bag before they did. I thanked them anyways and moved to the get naked room.

When I got into the changing room, it was packed full of people. There wasn't as much nakedness as I expected, but that's okay. I wasn't in that room for the scenery. I decided to just plop my stuff down by the water cooler. I pulled out my towel and wiped my torso dry. I slipped on my tri jersey and slid my arm warmers over my wrists. Clipped my race belt and number around my waist. Helmet strapped on, glasses on, stuffed my sandwich, pretzels, and cookies into my jersey pocket, downed a glass of water. I bent over to strap my shoes on. Then I threw the wetsuit and towel back in my bag, and dumped it in a pile next to a volunteer. And out the door I went.

As I exited The Terrace, the misty rain and cold hit me again. I fumbled a bit trying to zip up my jersey and jog at the same time. I opted not to wear a shell nor an Under Armour base layer. So I had to roll up the arm warmers just a little higher. I was anxious to see Ferrah again, but had to run pretty much the length of the transition zone. It was nice to see that the racks were not all empty when I jogged through.

I heard the beep as I crossed the mat exiting T1. I made a quick glance of the watch that flashed something in the 9 minute range. SWEET!!! I was once again right on target. I eased down the helix and onto the streets feeling good, but little did I know that that feeling would soon fade.

T1: 09:46

Bike

I tried to ease myself into a good rhythm, but with 2000 other riders out there I couldn't get comfortable. My left foot was driving me nuts and would do so for a few miles. I was getting hungry and wanted to start eating my ham sandwich too. So I stayed out of the aero position for the first few miles while I munched on my lunch. I quickly noticed that Ferrah was not all right.

Shhooo Shhooo Shhhooo....no.... it couldn't be. Shhooo, Shhooo, Shhooo....Arrgh. My brake pads were rubbing against my wheel. Noooo...All right just jiggle the calipers and....easy....okay....good it stopped. Let's hope this won't be like this all day.

Once I got past the Alliant Energy Center, things changed quickly. The confidence that I had leaving the Terrace seemed to be washing away. I got frustrated early and often. When I wanted to pass, it seemed like someone was already on my left. When I finally got to the left, I would have to sprint and pass packs of bikers all at once. Damn drafting rules. So if you saw a crazy sprinter out there between downtown and Whalen Road, that was probably me. Boy was I frustrated.

I almost always race with minimal external feedback. No average speed, no heart rate monitors, no power numbers. Just keep it simple and race how you feel. About 5 miles out, I took a quick glance at the numbers from the bike computer and I heard the familiar sound of my brake pads rubbing on the wheel. I looked up at the sky raining down on me, breathed in the cold air lashing at my face, and looked down at the goosebumps on my legs. The discomfort in my foot had not subsided yet either. I knew my body was not accustomed to these kind of conditions. I am a sprinter and I wanted the sun and heat.

I sighed and made what was the toughest decision of the day: I wasn't even ten miles into this race and I threw out my goal time out the window, a goal that I had set more than a year ago.

At that point, it was as if I already been beaten by Ironman. This race was longer than anything I had ever done before. The environmental conditions were very unfavorable to me. My bike was not performing well. I remembered what happened at my first half IM race and knew that this race today would present challenges that I had never encountered before; as a matter of fact, it already had in the swim.

Spirit crushed, I continued to grind on. Over the next few miles, I knew that I could not continue on this way.

Frustrated and resigned I finally reached the loop. I wanted to open things up a little. The bike traffic was driving me insane. As I was pulling out some cookies from my back pocket, a motorcycle drives by and snaps my picture. At this point, I thought, WTF, an official? Did I just get penalized? And for what? There was no effing way I could stay behind anyone for four lengths. Arghh. When it rains it pours, huh?

Now I was totally cursing my decision to ever attempt this race. Not only was my mind betraying me, I was fighting mother nature, fighting my own bike, and now race officials? All I could remember was telling myself to just keep pedaling.

I pushed up the hills with a vengeful spirit. As I passed the second water stop, I pitched my Gatorade bottle. Little did I know that I had just made a bad trade as this stop only had water. Just another drop in on ocean of misery. I pulled up to County Hwy G and saw the penalty tent. I wheeled in and talked to the folks in the tent. They had no clue and sent me on my way. Sigh.....

As I got back on the bike, I had to reexamine my situation right then, right there. County Hwy G was a long stretch with no turns where I was able to search into my soul. I allowed myself the right to complain about the weather, but would never ever let any doubts about my ability to finish this race enter my mind. I reached back to massage my hamstring a bit and realized I had tucked a rosary into my shorts. I remembered that my mom and sister wanted to be here on race day, but I knew that they were thinking and praying for me all day. Today I would have to set a new goal: survive the day.

With the hills still ahead of me, I got back to the grind as the cyclists around me started to frustrate me again. I turned onto Route 92 and sprinted up the short climb to avoid the crowd of amateurs stuck in the wrong gear struggling to stay upright.

I continued to slug through the course, battling the wind and persistent rain. I constantly adjusted my brakes to reduce the rubbing. As much as I tried, I could not resist the urge to power up the hills. Up and out of the saddle, I pushed up the climb to Mt. Horeb as the rain-soaked spectators cheered.

The status quo remained: the hordes of riders, the cold, the rain, the rubbing brake pads. I occasionally popped my feet out of the shoes and wiggled the toes to keep the blood flowing through them. I flew down Garfoot Road and warned the folks of my presence on their left. I had taken this hill on wet roads before in June and despite my issues on the bike today, yes, I trusted my ride. A few minutes past the hill I saw a car coming the other way towards the descent I had just flew down and thought, "thank goodness I wasn't a few minutes slower." Things were still going so so as I got to the Cross Plains aid station. I remember the crowd of hockey fans cheering; this cold probably did not bother them a bit.

Next up was the climb up Old Sauk. Once again I got caught up in the crowd support and powered up the hill. That was awesome blowing by everyone like they were standing still and I hoped the second time around would be just as easy. I was expecting the UW tri team in their skivvies somewhere, but I don't blame them for fearing shrinkage. I do remember the drag queens, especially the one with a sign stating: "First come, first serve." Same thing on the climb up Midtown Road. I made sure that after these uphill sprints I brought my heart rate back in line by taking a bite or two of my Clif bars and taking in some fluids.

Next up was Verona where I flew by the crowds and heard my name shouted out in encouragement. It was hard trying to pick out faces in the crowd while going 20 mph and trying to avoid the other cyclists. I was expecting to get blared at by Dennis and his police-grade bull horn, but a simple cheer was enough as I was ready for another sandwich.

As I turned off Verona Avenue and onto Old County Hwy PB, I cycled through the numbers on my computer and saw that my average speed was 18.5. I thought: "What? No way." My mind was a mess that whole first half and yet here I was just off my goal pace. I hit the special needs stop and was greeted by an awesome volunteer while the rain poured down on us. I reached into my bag, swapped bottles of Accelerade, grabbed my PBJ sandwich, and a few Clif bars, offered the volunteer one of my oatmeal cream pie cookies, thanked him, and went on my way. I was feeling all right.

Ironman was a long day and always ebbed and flowed. Well today things seemed to be flowing more than usual. I knew I had to consume a little more food than I had practiced because my body was burning more to try to stay warm. I also knew that I was right on the edge of hypothermia. My toes were cold and I could see the goosebumps on my quads. "Just survive," I told myself. My initial plan was to take in more fluids than usual, and I succeeded. However, on my second lap I was really struggling with diuresis. I kept thinking WTF? I wanted to stay hydrated, but I didn't want to pee that often. Throughout my training, I would urinate once in three or four hours. Now I needed to pee once every half hour. I hopped off my bike found the bushes and did my business, several times...several times too many.

I knew my average speed had come waaayyy down as I was out there just trying to survive the second loop. The constant dismounting on the bike to pee, the constant frustration with my brake pads, the cold, the wind, and the rain, they all added up to a pretty miserable lap. The chain suck on Marsh View Road really tested my mental stability, but I got back on and just kept pedaling. Just survive. I remembered turning onto County Hwy J and how I almost had a mental breakdown here in June. Knowing that I was stronger today than I was in June lifted my spirits for a while. I was flying down the hills, with a bit of recklessness (my max speed was 42.2 mph), and arrogantly muscled up the hills at the urging of the wonderful crowd support.

After I flew up Midtown Road hill, I once again had to pee. I had wasted too much time off my bike and decided not to dismount anymore. So I slowed down and let it rip. I just made sure my bottle of Accelerade was off the frame at the time. A few minutes later I was finally fed up with the brake pads and directed a very audible "You Bitch" at my bike. I yanked on the brake cable and adjusted the calipers. It is never right to berate a lady, so I quickly apologized to Ferrah and the brakes never seemed to be a problem from then on.

I was relieved as I went through Verona. I had avoided the carnage and flat tires that befell many riders out there, including Cassie, Josh, and Jim, another local triathlete. (It wasn't until later that I found out he completed over 130 miles of this race with a broken clavicle.) But then the wind smacked me right in the face as I headed back to downtown. All I could do was keep pedaling. The long stretch on Whalen Road was torture. But then came the Alliant Energy Center parking lot and I knew I would be off the bike soon. I was counting down the miles, trying to avoid the potholes, and then there it was: Lake Monona, The Capitol and the Terrace. I let out a sigh of relief. I knew I was slow on the bike, but now I had to prepare my mind and body to crush the run.

Finally, I was up out of the saddle, and up the helix. I dismounted with one shoe still on. So I paused to remove my other shoe, passed it to the volunteer, handed Ferrah over to the lovely volunteer, and thanked her as I jogged in to the warmth of the Terrace....

Bike: 6:34:13

IM WI Race Day - Pre Race and Swim

2006-09-16T01:40:00.000-04:00

Pre Race and Swim

Sunday morning, 3:30. Again, I did not sleep as much as I would have liked, maybe three and a half hours, but I was awake. I was ready.

I grabbed another sandwich for breakfast. Trina, Cassie, and I were chillin' in the kitchen. We all were getting ourselves ready in our own individual way. I had some more mellow stuff on my mp3 player like some Otis Redding, John Coltrane. Trina was getting herself amped up with some Eminem. Cassie had her quintuple espresso shot coffee. I went through my usually Shit, Shower, Shave routine, grabbed my special needs bags, and we were out the door around 4:45.

Trina's boyfriend, Dennis, was our driver and support for the day. Our first stop was to drop off the special needs bags. The place was crawling with athletes and spectators. We dumped our bags and headed over to The Terrace. I dropped off my food into my transition bags and then went to check on Ferrah. I grabbed the grocery bags off of her and got her ready to ride. I walked a bit through transition to familiarize myself with the whole zone. Ferrah would be on the far right by the last light pole.

I finally met Chris. He had been a source of inspiration for me all summer long and I knew I would be following his lead all day. We chatted a bit as we walked back towards the warmth of the Terrace. We wished each other well and parted ways for the day.

I took the two grocery bags from the bike stuffed them so they hung out of my transition bags so I would spot them immediately upon entering the room. I now realized I had forgotten a few things this morning: taking my multivitamin, taking my allergy medication, and my body glide. The first two omissions did not bother me. But no body glide...That might be a problem. So now I was separated from Cassie, Trina, and Dennis for quite some time and was hoping to find them to borrow some body glide from them. No luck. So I headed over to body marking and then down towards the water.

As I am squeezing myself into my wetsuit, I notice the guy next to me pulling on his wetsuit as well.

"Excuse me sir, mind if I get a squirt of your Chamois Butt'r?" He obliged. So I guess this sharing of another guy's chamois butt'r is becoming a habit of mine.

I saw Josh as he was preparing for his start. We wished each other well as I moved over to dump off my dry clothing bag and strolled a little bit closer to the water. I was relieved when I finally saw Trina and Cassie again. We BSed for a few moments and inched closer towards the water. Josh and the pros were off and swimming already. Trina moved into the water first while Cassie and I hung back just an extra minute. We shouted over a caught Mickey's attention and got a picture taken just a few feet before the water's edge.

"One minute.....WHO WANTS TO BE AN IRONMAN TODAY?" blared the announcer.

I doggie paddled out into the water, took a breathe, and then....

BOOOOMMM!!!!

Clicked the watch, breathed in deep, dove forward, stroked, go...

Okay people, the horror stories about an Ironman swim are mostly true. At over 2400 athletes, the 2006 IM WI was the largest field to ever start a race. It was definitely a contact sport out there.

I started waaayy to the right, but I eventually merged into the mess. I was kicked and groped pretty much the entire first half mile. As I approached the first buoy, I was about 10 meters away from the buoy and came to a complete stand still. I pretty much treaded water towards the next buoy while trying to navigate through the masses.

As we made the turn at the next buoy, we were greeted by the wind and chop.

Holy Crap!!! Where's my dramamine...

So now most of my thoughts turned to survival. My plans had to be changed from swimming strong and trying to race to avoid getting the snot beat out of me or drowning under the waves.

After a few strokes I was able to synchronize my stroke and breathing to the waves. That lasted, oh, all of five seconds as I had to slow up yet again as the mass of bodies collected in front of me. About 3/4 of a mile into the swim...thump. I had gotten kicked in the face and my goggles came sliding down. Ugh. So I breaststroke kick a bit while trying to secure the goggles back on my face. Meanwhile waves kept crashing over me and the sharks were still thrashing around. Fun...

Folks just remember these two simple pieces of advice: Don't freak out in the water and breathe, normally.

So I encountered more kicking, more groping, and not enough open swimming lanes. I tried several times to "follow my lead blocker" and draft behind someone, but they seemed to want to swim in a direction that I did not want to go.

For most of the swim, I swam passively. I would take a few strokes then let up. I allowed the aggressive swimmers to pass by me while I let the blind swimmers cut in front of me. Only once did I get upset. That happened when my ankle was physically grabbed. I switched from my weak flutter kick to my mortal-kombat-fatality breaststroke kick. I grazed him with my foot as a warning shot, but then slowed up to let him go by. Have a nice day buddy!!!

The second loop was not as bad. To keep my mind from getting too frustrated about the swimming conditions, I tried to calculate the amount of extra distance I covered. Let me tell you the square root of 68 was not easy to calculate during that swim. So by the end of the swim I estimated I swam an extra 90 meters or so. That would equate to roughly an extra 2 minutes. So as I exited the water I glanced at my watch which read just over 1:21. AWESOME!!! I was pretty much right on target.

The wetsuit peeling zone was a bit slippery as I almost wiped out. Luckily I landed safely on my butt, let the strippers do their job, thanked them, asked if I could tip them, then went on my way, full of confidence...

Swim: 1:21:40

Pre IM WI - Friday/Saturday

2006-09-15T00:09:00.000-04:00

Friday morning rolls around and we are all ready for some more fun. Josh headed out to ride the loop, while Cassie, Trina, and I headed downtown. Trina got another ART massage while Cassie and I headed over to Machinery Row to get a few minor bike adjustments - new brake pads for me and shift cable adjustments for Cassie. Cassie found out there were some bigger issues with her bike, but there was nothing she could do at this point. Afterwards we headed into The Terrace for a little IM mechandise shopping. Next we hustled away from the crowds and grabbed a quick lunch from Jimmy John's before meeting Bruce for a drive on the bike course.

The radio was playing Ironman, by Black Sabbath and it really got us going. After driving the course, Cassie and I rode for about 45 minutes to make sure our bikes were functioning well. A quick shower, another drive back to The Terrace, and we were at the dinner hall buzzing with wannabe IM athletes. A whole crowd of us from C-Town were there trying to soak it all in. I wished I could have met some of the other bloggers at dinner at Stu's abode that night. It sounded like loads of fun. But no biggie, since I would meet many of them on Sunday.

Later that evening, Trina, Cassie, Josh, and I grabbed some ice cream. As we sat outside it became apparent that we were in for some nasty weather. The wind picked up and the air started to bite. We knew that this was the inclement weather that was in the forecast. We all hoped it would blow over before Sunday, but I knew better.

When we finally got back to my aunt and uncle's, I went out to the garage to spend some quality time with Ferrah, my bike. (By the way, my Felt F1C has been named Ferrah. If anyone wants an explanation leave me a comment and I'll tell you the inspiration of that name.) I pre-glued my spares and gave my bike a good cleaning. I had a bit too much energy and did not sleep much again; I was ready for Sunday but would have one more day to wait.

Saturday morning I got up again with less sleep than I had hoped. After some breakfast, I went out to the garage to get my spare tires ready. And for the first time all week, I become frustrated. I could not find a good way to secure my two spare tires. Holy crap was I getting pissed off. And I wanted to get in a quick run in the morning as well too. Well Cassie finally told me to get a hold of myself. Breathe...okay so I decided to shove a spare with some tools into a bike bag and throw the other tire into the special needs bag. I was rolling the dice that I would not need that second tire before mile 58. But crap that did episode take me out of my game.

The damage was done as I had lost my cool; it threw me off all day. But things were about to get a bit more interesting. We rolled downtown to drop off our bikes. When we got there we felt something was just not right. I racked my bike, covered up the saddle and aerobars with some bags (forgot about TriEric's tip to bring extra swimming caps) and then regrouped with my IM sisters. We ran into a few other C-Town athletes and then we realized we had messed up - our transition bags had yet to be packed.

Oh my...shit... shit... All right, all right. Breathe...BREATHE!!!! Okay, no time for lunch. The plan...Let's get those bags packed and hustle back here. We'll be fine...Calm down....Breathe...

Luckily the three of us knew what we were doing and what we needed. We threw all our gear into the bags, double checked with each other and hopped back into the car. I was still a bit frazzled as my driving certainly wasn't the safest at that time.

I hadn't worn my racing flats in a month so I slipped my orthotics into those shoes and wore those on my way back downtown. We got back into The Terrace and scoped out the scene. We walked through the hordes of people and dropped off our bags. We also tried to figure out our route through the maze of rooms that we would need to go through during transition. Swim to bike bags here, the get naked room, enter bike to run room over there, back into the get naked room, out to the bikes. Check. I ran into Iron Wil again and we exchanged pleasantries; she was floating on air and seemed ready to go.

We headed back to the Great Dane for a really late lunch or really early dinner. Either way we were fortunate that it worked out quite well, timing wise. We wrapped up our hearty meal around 16:00. I attended Mass that evening and all the misadventures from the day seemed to ease away.

Now back at the house, it was time to get my picnic lunch ready for Sunday. Ham sandwich...check. Peanut butter jelly...check. Pretzels...check. Cookies...check. Three bottles of Accelerade...check. A couple of Clif bars...check. Eight Carb Boom gels...check. Everything else I would want would be grabbed at the aid stations. I threw a few things into my special needs bags -spare tire for the bike and socks in a Ziploc for the run - and let out a sigh of relief. Everything was pretty much prepared and ready to go.

I had never been out on the run course, so Cassie and I watched some of the podcasts from Stu. Now time to kick back and watch some football. OSU v Texas. What a game for the Buckeyes!!! I stayed up until it was over. My relatives were just getting back from dinner and so I said goodnight to them. I turned the lights out, laid my head back, and waited for the next morning to arrive...

Pre IM WI - Wednesday/Thursday

2006-09-15T00:05:00.000-04:00

I started this blog to track my Ironman journey. I hope someday years from now I can reread what I wrote and realize what an incredible journey I had in the summer of 2006. This recap will be long and filled with perhaps too much detail as I try to recount as much as I can, for my own sake. So grab a pumpkin spice latte or two and read away.

In actuality, this Ironman story started in September 2005. I knew that if I was ever going to do an Ironman, it would be IM WI and it would have to be 2006. After a race in September 2005, Trina and Cassie, my IM WI sisters, and I decided to sign up. A quick call to my aunt and uncle to ask for some lodging at their house and it was a go. Monday morning the "submit" button was clicked, the credit card was billed, and the journey was on.

Fast forward to IM race week. Tuesday night before the race, I did not sleep much. I was trying to finish some laundry and pack it for the trip. The weather forecast was calling for a high in the 60s and rain in Madison on Sunday and I wanted to be prepared for everything from 95 degrees and scorching sun to 40 degrees and snow. In addition, I was preparing for a tough decision that I would have to make in the morning.

Wednesday morning rolled around and at 8:00 I got a call from Trina. She had gotten sick from a virus over the weekend and sounded dreadful during our phone conversations on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday morning she sounded great, 100% miraculously better, and was ready to go. We had planned to take two cars between four people (My two IM WI sisters, Josh - the favorite local pro, and me) but I had to make the tough call of "quarantining" Trina and asked her to drive in her own car. Believe me, it was not an easy decision, but I did what I thought was best for all of us. In hindsight it was probably a good decision as my car was jam packed with just Cassie's and my gear. We left about an hour and a half later than expected, but we were not in too much of a hurry. It was all good.

Nothing real noteworthy occurred during our drive, which was a good thing. We did see a pet shop that had a sign for "Exotic Monkeys" for sale. The store was closed though. We rolled into my aunt and uncle's place in the evening, unpacked and unwound. Bruce, another CTC member, had already arrived in WI and he came over to talk about the next few days. After chatting a bit, we were all ready for some sleep.

We all tried to sleep as much as we could, but we wanted to get down to the Gatorade swim before 10:00. Being the light sleeper that I am, I probably managed about 6 hours of sleep, but woke up feeling pretty good. We grabbed some breakfast and were at Monona Terrace before 10:00. We got marked, gave our gear to the bag check folks, and jumped in the water. Our spirits were high as we swam an easy mile. We all had a sense of calm as everything seemed to be aligning for us. The sun was out, the water was at a perfect wetsuit temperature, no waves, and we all felt strong during our swim. We then eased ourselves back into The Terrace for registration.

Josh had the perks of being a pro and was in and out before we were even into the registration room. The line wasn't too bad, though. When I finally sat down to go over the packet with the registration lady, a chill ran down my spine as I realized months of training were about to end with the race of my life. I received my all-important wristband and timing chip. Wow, I was really here.

After registration, we headed over to The Great Dane restaurant/brewery for lunch. Fish tacos, chicken pot pie, and beer. MMMmmmm. Lunch did not last long as we had a mission for the afternoon. Cassie decided to use one of my wheelsets, but she needed to find a 12-25 cassette with Campy spacing that would fit on Shimano splines. Who in the world would have one of these in stock? Well back at The Terrace, we met up with Mickey, who is absolutely The Man. One of his Madison buddies made a few calls and found one at the Yellow Jersey Bike Shop a few blocks away. Mickey decided to make the walk with us. All day he had been pointing out and introducing us to different folks.

Hey, that guy there is the president of Ironman... there's Paul Huddle and Paula Newby Fraser... I want you to meet the guy who owns Inside Out Sports... This guy runs Ironman live; can you take a picture of us... Oh, we have to stop by and talk to the Baker's cookie guy. It was like that all day and all weekend and was that fun. I can honestly say that without Mickey in Madison, my race weekend would not have been as awesome as it was.

The bike shop was trippy. The owner wore a light purple shirt with black slacks, had a black tie tucked into his shirt, and his hair clipped back with a women's clip. He was probably in the middle of a case of the munchies, but he certainly knew his stuff regarding bicycles; we got what we needed too.

Trina, Cassie, and Josh then headed back, but I stayed downtown to meet up with some more celebrities. I met RunBubbaRun, IronWil, Mr. Wil, and TriSaraTops before we headed over to a power presentation hosted by Stu. There I met Thomps and RobbyB as well. So after the presentation, TriSaraTops and I head back across town and we munched on some pizza with Trina, Cassie, and Josh. Soon it was lights out in preparation for another fine day.

Home

2006-09-13T00:31:00.000-04:00

I have finally returned home. And after twelve and a half hours of racing on Sunday, I have returned home an Ironman. Sit tight as I will begin the recap soon.

Wish You Were Here

2006-09-09T19:47:00.000-04:00

Cleveland Triathlon Club Members at the IM WI athlete dinner.

Thanks everyone for their support.

From: IM WI 2006 #477.

Ambien

2006-09-06T02:23:00.000-04:00

So yes it is almost 2:30 in the morning and I am still awake. I depart for Wisconsin in seven hours. Just a reminder that if you are going to pack for a trip to a race, make sure the socks you want are clean. Oh, I think the dryer just stopped. Safe travels.

Dedications

2006-09-05T00:07:00.000-04:00

Ironman Wisconsin 2006 is almost here. Along the way, I have been fortunate to hear about the experiences of some folks making the same journey to Madison. I've thrown together a few songs here in their honor.

RunBubbaRun:

Unwritten, by Natasha Bedingfield.
He's upgrading his Man Card to an IronMan Card.

TriTeacher:

Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen.
Anyone who likes mile repeats was born to run.

xt4:

Right Now, by Van Halen.
He has broken down and analyzed this race so thoroughly. He's more than ready for the things he can't control that Ironman will be throwing at him.

Pharmie:

Seven Nation Army, by The White Stripes.
She's listed The White Stripes as one of her favorite musical artists. Nothing's going to hold her back on race day.

Rob:

Mama Said Knock You Out, by LL Cool J.
He's an Ironman veteran who had a rough day at IMCdA in June, but is coming back this year to race at IM WI. He's going to TKO that race in a few days.

Chris:

Beautiful Day, by U2.
The past two years he has braved the elements to finish strong at IM WI. This year, I have no doubt he's got a PR.

Iron Wil:

Time of Your Life, by Greenday.
Wil has been a source of inspiration for me all year long. I don't know how she does the things she does.

TriSaraTops:

The Adventure, by Angels and Airwaves.
I've enjoyed following her amazing adventure. It has been a privilege for me to be a part of it.

Me (aka qcmier):

Crazy Train, by Ozzy Osbourne
I've been riding a crazy train.

I know there will be more than 2000 other folks who will be making the journey to IM WI. Everyone has a story to tell. They're all heroes.

And for all those who have been walking with me.

Thank You.

Failure, Fear, and Expectations

2006-08-31T00:45:00.000-04:00

I remember when Iron Wil wrote this: "But with never failing, comes never growing, and a false sense of immortality that sets you up for disaster the moment you enter into a realm of things that are beyond your control."

I used to be afraid of failure. I was scared of the unknown consequences that would come if the outcome was not what I expected. But I didn't always meet my goals. Sometimes I stumbled. And maybe that happened more often than I like to admit. But what I am learning along the way is that I can manage my expectations to control my fear.

So even though I stated my IM "A" goal time to everyone in the free world, I am not afraid of missing that mark. I think it was better this way. I am usually harder on myself than everyone else. As opposed to my own dark secret, 11:43 has become an inside joke with the some of the people I train with. So if I finish with an 11:45 or even 16:45, what are the consequences? I'll just have to endure a little more good natured ribbing.

It's been mentioned by some folks here and herethat Ironman is a totally different animal. You can only do so much with that beast. While I have my "A" standard I have my B and C standards too. That is how I manage my expectations. After all I really don't know what to expect on race day. And even if you cross the line 5 minutes from midnight they will still call out your name and say you are an Ironman,

Some fear and doubt may creep into my head before September 10th, but on that day I'll give it all I've got. There is one thing I do know I am not afraid of: I am not afraid of giving my best.

Sacrfice

2006-08-30T12:00:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, Papa Louie posted a few demotivators here. For the most part I find them funny, yet realize there are some truths behind them. I checked out a few others and this one hit home.

For the most part, I had filed my heart problems into the subbasement of my brain. I was put through a battery of tests and passed all of them. I have had no symptoms the last few months. And of course I have been swimming, biking, and running... a lot. My family physician is okay with my participation in Ironman, but my cardiologist has never given the green light for me to race; I've been training and racing under yellow all year.

So when this story about the baseball player David Ortiz came out, some doubts resurfaced in me. Here is a baseball player who swings a bat 4 or 5 times a night; he is sitting in a hospital room tonight as a precaution. I, on the other hand, will be swimming, biking, and running all day.

No one really believes that I have Brugada Syndrome. My dad thinks I'm fine, I think I'm fine, and my cardiologist probably doesn't want to tell me that he doesn't think I have it. But until I am tested, there will be a small degree of uncertainty.

I've prepared myself the best I can within certain parameters. If there are family and friends out there who are still concerned, please don't be. Just give me some positive thoughts and prayers next Sunday. The hearts of Ironmen and Ironwomen are strong physically and figuratively and I intend to hear the words: "You are an Ironman."

Statement of Intentions

2006-08-29T02:14:00.000-04:00

11:43.

That is my goal time for IM WI.

I know, I know. Don't set a time goal, especially on your first IM. Blah, blah, blah. There's a lot of good backstory to how this number came about, but let's just say it involved an intrepid past president of our tri club and my foot in my mouth. Believe it or not that was the mark I put in my brain two years ago and I'm sticking to it.

To break this down a little more,

Swim: 1:20
Bike: 6:00
Run: 4:00
Transitions: 0:20.

Yes those are razor thin margins, but that's how I need to break it down if I am going to hit my mark. And to be honest with you and myself each one of those are absolutely within reach.

If your going to set a goal, set it high. Don't make it impossible, but just past the edge of your comfort zone. This world would be so much different if all we ever did was try to meet the minimum standards. I don't think Chris Columbus ever said: "Oh, let's sail for a few days and see how far we get."

You will never know how far you can go if you never take that next step.

Last Run

2006-08-28T00:59:00.000-04:00

I was not about to let rain dampen my last workout before taper. I was hoping for a little break in the rain, but at 12:30 I decided to just run through it. So I laced up the trail shoes and hit the Towpath. I ran for about an hour in a steady rain before it let up and eventually it stopped raining.

The plan was 20 miles at 9:00 minutes per mile. I surprised even myself as I looked at my watch during my run.

13:19.61 - I started between mile markers. The first marker was actually about a mile and a half away. Looking at my watch on the way back though, this was pretty close to 9:00 minute pace.

11:59.95 - I stopped short of the mile marker and turned back.

18:00.54
18:00.55
9:00.55
9:00.44
18:00.65 - That's one hell of a groove.

8:27.54
8:23.95 - This was another turnaround point. Pretty sure this mile was short.

16:58.98 - I think the last two splits threw me off my game.
8:31.39 - I tried finding the 9:00 again, but at least I held the 8:30.
8:47.99 - I purposely walked to get that pace slower.
8:41.20 - To heck with it, I'm almost done.
7:26.30 - I had only one mile marker left before my car, so why not push it.
5:58.73 - Cool down.

Total Time
2:50.38

The total distance was probably under 19.5, but at this point who cares? I am in taper and I declare that I am ready for Ironman. No doubts, no fears.

Let's roll.

By the Numbers, August 26, 2006

2006-08-26T23:59:00.000-04:00

6:00.26
- Ride time in hours

106.33
- Ride distance in miles

17.7
- Average miles per hour

43.7
- Max speed on the ride

6
- Number of awesome folks that rode with me for most of the day

2
- Transition run distance in miles

8:37.38 and 8:57.49
- Run splits in minutes

86
- High temperature in degrees Farenheit

69%
- Humidity

14
- Number of water bottles of fluids consumed during the workout

2
- Clif bars consumed

1
- Gel consumed

2
- Endurolyte capsules consumed

1
- Picnic lunch consisting of Ham sandwich, PBJ sandwich, peanut butter cookies, banana, and pretzels

1
- Number of days till taper

14
- Number of days till the big show

None
- Doubts in my mind

Miscellaneous

2006-08-25T01:17:00.000-04:00

Well my creative writing juices haven't been flowing recently, so I'll just give you a few random thoughts.

I've gotten a few comments about my photogenic legs. I'm flattered. Two more words: Weight Room.
Tuesday night I went back to Virigina Kendall for my run. These are some hilly trails with plenty of steps, roots, and rocks. But I felt compelled to run there for some inspiration. (Thanks to RootsRunner) I swear this will be my last trail run until after IM WI. Okay maybe one run on the Towpath.
I've been having some problems with my race wheels. Apparently there is not enough space on the hub. So when the chain is in the smallest gear it hits the spokes. I've had these wheels for several years now and this problem just surfaced in July. I dropped the wheels off to the LBS to see what they can come up with. Hopefully I'll have them back in time for IM WI, but if not, my other wheel set ain't that shabby.
It had to happen sometime. I got to the gym locker room tonight and immediately realized I did not have any goggles. The guard didn't have any in the lost & found, but I decided to swim anyways since this pool doesn't overdo it on the chlorine. Needless to say, I cut my swim down from 4800 to 2200 yds and I scrapped the 100s for 50s. It was pretty interesting swimming with your eyes mostly closed. I can do an okay job of swimming straight, I just need to line myself up in the right direction. Unfortunately my eyes are just a bit red now. I'll have to run the spellchecker a second time.
I'll have some company on my long ride Saturday as a few of my Wednesday Night Ride crew will be riding too. My coach has set a date for the 2nd annual 200 mile ride. So a few folks will be ramping up for that. Just hope the weather cooperates.
There was a pretty big chronological gap in my posts. I never posted my race recap from Musselman half IM. Even though the race did not go well for me, it was still an awesome trip. Hence the Frazz comic below. And this guy may remain an unsolved mystery.
Okay last thing for today. I need some help filling up an iPod. So what are some tunes you folks jam to before a race? If I was really ambitious, I would compile a bunch of songs from you out there in blogland and burn a bunch of CDs for you. And the lurkers can play along too.
Time for bed....

Off Center

2006-08-22T00:15:00.000-04:00

I don't know why but I tend to do things just a hair different from conventional wisdom. Example: I signed up for an Ironman with only one Olympic distance tri and no half ironman races under my belt. Some people thought I was nuts, but I felt sound in my decision. So that's the reason for today's song selection.

Here's another example: take a look at my training schedule for this week. It estimates out to about 24 hours of workout time. This will be the largest training week for me all year. Everyone else doing IM WI seems to be in taper already. Me? not quite. Go ahead and ask: "But you're less than three weeks from your Ironman and you're not tapering? Are you crazy?" Well, yes I probably am a little crazy, but no I'm not too worried.

Almost one year ago, I swore I would take a four week taper. Even as late as early July I was planning a four week taper. But then Musselman. Ever since then it seems as though I have been seeking redemption and a validation of my training and abilities. So much happened in July that in early August I was wishing for a few more weeks to get back on track. Well my coach has given me what I want.

So yes Monday I got in about 50 miles on the bike (had to cut the ride short) before getting in 3600 yds in the water. And yes this coming Saturday I intend to ride somewhere between six and seven hours, rain or shine. And yes Sunday I intend to run about three hours or about 20 miles. If the peanut gallery needs an explanation, well let me enumerate.

I want another crack at the nutrition thing
I need more bonding time with my bike
I need to dial in to my race pace
My body seems to really like this low intensity, high volume stuff. Right now I do not feel beat up. (Although I am trying to stave off some more knee problems.)
Last week was a recovery from a half IM, so I feel pretty fresh. If you take that into consideration, you could probably say my taper started last week - four weeks out.

So it's all good. No worries. I don't know much about tapering, but it sounds as though the key to a good taper is in your mental state. And maybe if I trick myself into a two week taper period, I can keep the pessimism some where other than in my brain.

You'll probably see an increase in the number of pictures and posts from me in the next few weeks as I reflect on the journey I have taken. Let's roll...

See below for the most unphotogenic athlete.
I may have the dorkiest expression on my face
but at least I don't look like the walking dead this time.

Rewiring

2006-08-18T14:44:00.000-04:00

Thanks everyone for kind words about my half IM, but unfortunately I am usually my own worst critic. Don't get me wrong, I pretty much accomplished what I wanted to on Sunday. I am content with my performance, but I know I still have some things to take care of before September 10th. I won't say I have my race day nutrition down to the exact number of calories, but I will have a plan in place.

What worries me a bit now is my mental interconnections. You see I am not really wired as an endurance athlete. I began my competitive running career doing 100 and 200 meter dashes. I was actually best at distances even shorter than that. The races were pretty simple: hear gun, explode to maximum speed, lean across the line, done. My first ever cross-country race in high school, I went out at a "conservative" 3:05 for my first 1km and died as I finished the 5k in like 22:00. On the final few miles on Sunday there were stretches where my legs just stopped running. Why? Because I was blitzing through some of those miles in the middle of the race at maybe 7:30-7:40ish. If Sunday was like a dress rehearsal for Ironman, well I certainly didn't follow the script.

So it's a little ironic that I can do brain (radio)surgery but don't know how to run a race. I know I am terrible with pace and "negative splits" is not in my vocabulary. When I did my marathon two years ago, every week I would have one run when the entire time I forced myself to keep my pace right near 7:00 mile so I could get a feel for it. My dress rehearsal that year was a 30k and I was hitting every mile pretty close to that mark. What happened during the marathon? My mile splits were like a yoyo and I missed my goal time by 10 minutes. (My nutrition plan wasn't the smartest that day either.)

So fast forward to now. Immediately after the race on Sunday I knew what I had to do: GO RUN SOME SLOOOOOOWW MILES!!! I need to know how they feel. I need to hardwire that sensation into my brain and into my legs. I will have to come up with some think-slow mantra and stick with it in the face of thousands of spectators and racers cheering me on to go faster. I'll want to back off almost 1 mph on the bike too. Wow that is going to be a real challenge to keep the blinders on and sticking to my plan the whole day. But no one makes the journey to Ironman without facing some challenges.

And that is one reason why I took this Ironman journey: to take on your weaknesses and not let them hold you back from the finish line. Time for me to rewire.

Greater Cleveland Triathlon

2006-08-15T11:25:00.000-04:00

Today's music selection of may be odd, but read my race recap to get the scoop. On with the story.

Episode 1 - Saturday Pre Race

My recap could actually start Friday, but let's just say I didn't get to bed till the middle of Saturday morning. I decided to sleep until my body wanted to wake up, which happened to be about 10:30. Rolled out of bed, munched on some food and did some high cadence spinning for about half an hour. I left to run a ton of pre-race errands about 12:30 and ended up traversing all across town. I didn't return home until about 19:30 when I threw together some tuna fish pasta for dinner.

About 21:00 I started getting the baby ready for her race debut. I was able to grab some aero bars, extra bottle cages, and a bento box. Yes I was trying a lot of new things on race day. I was going to be in a new geometry with those S-bend aerobars. I wasn't planning on using my race wheels, but that afternoon the LBS called and said my new cassette was in; they already put it on the wheel. Well here it is 21:00 Saturday night, I'm on the trainer with a brand spanking new bike that's been pimped out, and then to my surprise my shifting is just terrible as the chain is skipping or not changing gears when I shift. Well you know what? I looked down and saw that I had a 9-speed cassette to go with my 10-speed shifters. Nice job bike shop. The bike was still rideable, so I decided that I would have my buddy, who was wrenching at the race, check it out on site in the morning. But just in case, I needed a backup plan so I put on some new tires on my other set of wheels so I could run at a higher PSI. So here she is ready to go.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

Now it's close to midnight when my bike was finally all ready to go and I had yet to pack any other gear or prepare my picnic. That finally all got done about 1:30. I had loads of nervous energy so probably didn't fall asleep till 2:15. ZZZZzzzzzz

Episode 2 - Race Day Morning - Pre Race

Luckily everything was laid out before I went to bed. Around 4:15, I crawled out of bed, brushed my teeth, and started munching on my pre race PBJ sandwhich. Sh!t, shower, shave and about 5:15 I was on the road. I get to the site and pulled in to the wrong side of the park. So I double back around to the proper parking lot, where I find my reserved parking space. Transition was supposed to close in 45 minutes and I needed to get my bike looked at too. I was a bit rushed but I knew what I needed to do. I was treated to some Puccini over the loudspeakers while in transition and that settled me down a little. I was probably one of a handful of athletes who recognized and appreciated hearing "Nessun Dorma," but that's way better than "Who Let the Dogs Out."

I ran into e-speed doing some body marking and got some lovely artwork from Paula.
And no I don't shave my legs.

Usually before a race I have some time to chat and catch up with friends, but it was as if the entire tri community was out there on Sunday. So I didn't catch as many people as I wanted to, especially the athletes doing the sprint.

Episode 3 - Swim

Well the race was delayed a bit as another buoy was getting placed out in the water, but no worries. So we had to swim directly east and parallel to shore for about half a mile, then make a turn and head back. It was a bit tough to actually see the buoys through the sunlight and that far out. Luckily I am a slower swimmer and was able to navigate by watching the bobbing heads of the other swimmers. No worries as I swam out. I did have to slow up a bit to let out a little stream; I apologize to the folks behind me. On the way back I was expecting to see more red buoys, but I guess they changed the colors up and we had to swim towards a few green buoys. That led me a little of course. Then towards the end the buoys went back to red, but apparently I was swimming towards to wrong buoy. That lead to a little extra distance, but no worries. So as I made the last turn and headed towards shore, I saw a lot of swimmers. I thought: "Wow there must have been a lot of swimmers just a bit faster than me." Ten seconds later I notcied the swimmers were getting closer and it was as if a school of pirranha was headed right for me, their slow moving dinner. They were the sprinters coming right at me. So a quick course correction and I avoided them. Whew. I safely climb out of the water, quickly glance at the time on my watch. Hmm, a bit slow, but I swam a little off course; no worries.

Episode 4 - T1

Nothing exciting here. Helmet on, check, sunglasses, check, picnic lunch into my jersey, check, let's roll. I had a pretty quick transition, maybe in the top ten or fifteen out of all the half IM participants. It wasn't until the run when I realized I never put on any sunscreen this morning. Luckily I did not get sunburnt again.

Episode 5 - Bike

Many folks have commented that this is one of the toughest courses they have every raced on. Since I have done a number of training rides on it, I had no worries. I actually enjoy a good climb or ten. I tried to settle in on the first mile or two, but my hamstrings were just downright tight. I believe this is a combination of the compression on them from the wetsuit, not being entirely comfortable on my bike, and just plain having weak hamstrings.

When I say not being comfortable on my bike, I mean two things specifically: 1. I am trying to spin more than mash and 2. I am trying to sit further back on the saddle. I am pretty much going from a 90 RPM kind of guy to a 100 RPMs; going 10 RPMs faster from one year to the next is tough. I believe my hamstrings are still trying to get used to being recruited. As for sitting back on the saddle that should use my hamstrings more, but it will help the knees out.

I also started munching on my ham sandwich. I cut it into little pieces the night before, so every few minutes I reached back and grabbed a bite. I wanted to consume all of this by mile 10 and I think I ate all but one or two bites. By the way I chose a maple honey ham on white bread and no condiments.

I had also packed two bottles of Accelerade, a bottle of water, and a bottle of endurance gatorade. The plan was to take a fresh bottle of gatorade or water at each stop. So I drank about 3/4 of the bottle of gatorade and replaced it with a fresh bottle at the first aid station. I nailed the handoff, but dropped it ten seconds later as I tried to put it into the cage. Bummer. By the way, I had new cages behind my saddle. They were more straight up as opposed to what I had before, which was angled down a bit. Maybe I'll tinker with that angle a bit.

Around mile 10, the fun started. Rob pulled up besides me before the killer hill. He is an extraordinarily fast swimmer and biker, so it was no surprise he caught me so soon. I cruised up the steep section of the hill, but five minutes later we were still climbing on false flats and he caught up to me. I wanted to keep riding with him, but I had to tell myself that he was doing the aquabike and that I was here to prep for IM WI, not race a half IM.

I was trying to settle in, but I wanted to keep eating too. Besides my sandwich, I packed a Little Debbie oatmeal cream pie (370 calories in this cookie!!!) and was hoping to snag some fruit somewhere to complete my picnic too. For the rest of the ride I went with Clif bars and was ripping off chunks every 10 to 15 minutes. I would chase it down with water or gatorade, but in hindsight I needed to take in larger and more sips of water. It was pretty uneventful, but it was nice to see Brooks out at an aid station and Lloyd and Eric and his SBR team at another aid station. Thanks for the encouraging "Good Nutrition" mantra Eric.

Well the hills kept on coming and I tried to get into the aero postion as often as possible. Well about mile 35 or so I realized I would need to adjust my position before my next ride. My back started to ache like crazy and I believe it was because I was reaching too far in my new aero geometry. So needless to say, I wasn't in the aero position too much between miles 40 and 58.

Episode 6 - T2

About 3 hours later I returned to the transition area. My flying dismount wasn't too fast nor too pretty but it did the job. I took my time in T2 as I wanted to settle myself down for the run. There were a bunch of the sprint racers there cheering me on which was a very welcoming sight and sound. I was really slow as the announcer was about to charge me a night's rent.

Episode 7 - Run

Well in two miles I would find out if I had learned anything over the last four weeks. The course was an out and back and out and back. The first mile was pretty slow as I was trying to find my running legs. I actually decided to take a pit stop in the bushes too. I saw a lot of tri club folks cheering or working the aid stations; kudos to you all. The third mile rolled around and turned out to be a couple of rollers, but this is where things started to fall apart for me last time. This time, it felt good. I pushed up the hill and hit the turnaround. All systems still good and functioning fine. I put it into cruise and started picking people off. For some reason I decided not to take splits at every mile, I had figured I was doing this race based on how I was feeling anyways. I wish I had. My first two miles I hit were at 16:40 which included my T2.5. The first 6.55 miles ended up around 50-51 minutes.

It was really nice seeing so many of the racers, volunteers, and spectators several times. E-speed was there again energetic as ever at the 1/2 way point. I stayed stronger for ten miles, but after I hit that last hill, I knew I was going to struggle the last 3 miles. I had built up too much lactic acid in the legs and they were feeling absolutely spent. But I had no worries. My energy level was still high, so I dragged myself through the last few miles. I certainly could have pushed through and emptied my tank, but I wasn't about to put myself in a world of hurt over a "nutritional training race."

I ran with just Carb-boom gel, water, and endurance gatorade. I think it worked okay, but I should have popped a few salt tablet either in T2 or early on the run.

Summary:

Swim - 43:00
T1 - 1:17
Bike - 2:58.09
T2 - 1:17
Run - 1:51.05

Total - 5:34:46

It turns out the swim was maybe 350 yards long. And yes the bike course was listed at 58.2 miles instead of the standard 56 miles. That should be about 13 minutes? If you deduct that, I finished 70.3 in 5:21 on a tough bike course with no taper. But I will try to ignore that extrapolation and simply state that I shaved 20 minutes off of my run split. So yeah that's a pretty good improvement. I think the nutrition went well, as my energy was pretty good all day.
But as I will explore later this week, I still have some work to do. I was about to declare myself in taper, but no, not yet. A short recovery period and then I will try to get in a swim/bike brick this weekend. Time to get back to work.

I don't race with the tri club colors, but it was like a club outing on Sunday. Just check out the pictures snapped by e-speed. Thanks to everyone involved in any capacity.

Funk

2006-08-09T01:42:00.000-04:00

Today's music selection:

So I've been in da funk ever since my half IM about a month ago. Things didn't go the way I expected. I can't go so far as to call it a failure, but the outcome of that race was tough to swallow. I did not expect to be stumbling across the finish line like this.

Anyways the last few weeks have been consumed with completing school so the training has suffered, not to mention my lack of proper sleep and nutrition. I can't say I remember the last time I slept more than six hours straight except last night. The muscles, in reality, are fine since they have not been over worked, but the brain is screaming no mas. Thankfully it will all be over by week's end.

But I can't shake this funk. I bonked and to remedy this I need to work on my race day nutrition. Well that only comes with trial and error and frankly I do not have a large enough sample size to know what works and what doesn't. Sure I have been out on the bike for many hours the last few weeks, but a 9 hour and roughly 108 mile ride isn't quite the same as 112 miles at 6 hours.

When I signed up for Ironman last September I did not fear the 140.6 miles nor did I fear the possibility of 90 degree heat nor the hills. The one thing that I feared was that my nutrition would fail me and I would have an absolutely terrible day. Well, my fear was realized during my dress rehearsal. So yes that fear is real, and I really don't know if I have solved my problems yet.

Well today I did 1:45 minute run back at some on my old high school cross country trails. I could not resist running by Kendall Lake, Octagon, the Ledges, Ice Box Cave, and nipple hill. And after my run I was greeted with a call from a good friend of mine/former college running buddy. Since she was on an 80 mile commute back home (I don't know how those Cali folks do that) we had some time to talk and it ceratinly picked me up. As we were talking about nutrition during race day we came to this conclusion: when it comes to race day anything, and I mean anything can happen. It's really all a crapshoot so do what you can and don't stress over it.

So here's the plan. Give that nutrition thing another test this Sunday at another half IM. And I think my plan my actually include a ham sandwich. The one goal for this half will be to finish feeling pretty good. Sounds simple right? But I'm sure it's easier said than done. Stress out? Well that's something I know I can control and right now, I'm not squeezing as hard as I was before. As Wil said: Trust yourself...Just let go.

Organic

2006-08-01T00:34:00.000-04:00

Sorry, I had some problems last night with blogger and my computer, but here are a few bike pictures.

The road bike I had been riding for the last seven years.

The bike I have ridden my last 180 miles the past week.
Didn't want to change the cassette to put on the carbon wheels,
but they are similar to the ones shown here.
There's a lot of carbon on the bike already.
If anyone really wants a component list, just speak up.
Go ahead on click on the pics to get a bigger view.

Just for a quick comparison, check out the difference in the size of the two bike frames.

And finally, my first bike that I have been slowly trying restore.
Almost done just need to trim and adjust the cables.

I won't have much time to post till next week. Have a great week everyone.

I Posted Again!!!

2006-07-28T23:20:00.000-04:00

Well I'm back, and boy did a lot happen the last few weeks. So I'll try to keep the review short.

Musselman Half IM - July 16. Well it took me a bit of time to get over my disappointment. 5:44 is nothing to be ashamed of, but frankly I was expecting and know I can do better. What happened? Poor nutrition led to a bonk on the run that I could not recover from.

S: 39:55
T1: 2:14
B: 2:49.33
T2: 1:42
R: 2:10.55
Total: 5:44:19

I actually wrote a recap, but choose not to post it. One of the reasons I decided to blog is to keep track of my own thoughts. I wrote my first post to serve as a reminder when I hit the highs and lows. I don't really doubt my physical ability, but boy do I need some work on that nutrition thing. And probably tweak my attitude.

Wedding in San Diego - July 22. Thursday night I called my buddy who was getting married that weekend. Cashed in some frequent flyer miles and Friday morning was on a plane to SAN. Travel wasn't that fun, but the weekend in So Cal was worth it. My original flight to EWR was canceled so I had long layover at MSP instead. I think the Ms. Pacman machine is probably the same one that almost caused me to miss flights on many occasions. Was able to get into first class on the way back and must admit there are times when it pays off. Instead of the mile long line at the security checkpoint, I was able to get through in under five minutes. On the way to IAH, an overhead announcement in the plane was made that there were only two working lavatories and for security reasons, the one at the front of the plane was reserved for first class passengers. So, 1 toilet for 180 people and the other for 14. Yikes. By the way I think IAH is probably one of my least favorite airports. Oh sorry for the airport code speak. Old habit from back in the days when I was on too many planes and in too many hotel rooms. EWR=Newark/Liberty, MSP = Minneapolis/St Paul, IAH = George Bush/Houston Intercontinenal, SAN = San Diego, and my home airprot = CLE.

Papers and Projects - Ongoing. The biggest reason for my absence is the fact that I am trying to finish school. I finished five projects and papers the last two weeks and have three more to go by this Friday.

Cardiologist visit - July 14. Well I don't have a definitive yes or no on Ironman. I will be tested for Brugada Syndrome, someday. But since I haven't had anything come up out of the ordinary in months, my doc is warming up to the thought of me competing in an Ironman. And since I've trained so much already, I don't think I could pull the plug on this.

Training - So the training has been pretty screwed up mostly because of the school work. The trip to San Diego forced me to move around some workouts and cut short some others. I actually went over two weeks without swimming. And I haven't been in the weight room since who knows when; my boobs are sagging. In addition, the mental fatigue and sleep deprevation are catching up.

But this weekend saw a few decent training days. Two hour run through the humidity Friday, 2k swim, 45 mile bike, 5 mile run on Saturday, and a century plus ride today. I really wasn't concerned about speed at all and on Saturday and Sunday; I just wanted time and volume and I devoted almost 15 hours to my workouts. (On the flip side I have only slept 12 hours the past three nights.)

I don't really want to say much about my century ride today as it started pretty poorly. Jodi, TriSaraTops, and DaisyDuc may have something to say about it though. But to be out in the heat six hours yesterday and for nine hours today and not crumble has to count for something.

Future Training - Well priority one is nutrition. I hope I took a step forward this weekend as I was out there a long time. I know I need to keep sucking down water, but there were some issues with water supply today. Actually I will mention that I forgot my bottles of Accelerade and that really irritated me most of the first half of the ride. So because of what happened at my half IM, I tentatively have another half IM planned for August 13 assuming the flood waters recede and the bacteria count stays low. The purpose of that race will be to see if I actually learned and can apply anything about my nutritional needs during a race.

New Ride - July 26. So yes the new bike is here and some of you have already caught a glimpse. I have been asked why I choose a road bike instead of a tri bike. So 1.) I have never been too comfortable in an aeroposition. Why tinker with it now. 2.) Most of my miles are road riding, not tri racing and not in time trials. 3.) I was replacing a road bike, not getting a new bike. 4.) I am a decent climber, but a pretty poor time trialist. So I wanted a bike to climb not for time trials, although I think I will get a tri bike soon.

The new bike hasn't been pimped out yet, but it has 180 miles on it already. I promise I will post pictures on Monday.

No Name Yet

2006-07-28T07:13:00.000-04:00

Born on July 26, 2006 at 16:37. 52 cm. 14.7 pounds. And ready to climb. Pics to come.

Charity

2006-07-14T07:45:00.000-04:00

A friend and fellow IM rookie is about to make a big splash at IM Lake Placid. He has put in some incredible training and when he toes the line, he won't be racing just for himself. As an additional challenge in his Ironman race, he is raising money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Head on over to this corner of blogland and look for the Janus Charity Challenge link on his sidebar. Best of luck to this secret superman. All your hard work and sacrifices are about to pay off as you become an Ironman. Great Job and Good Luck, TriEric!!!

Perfect Power

2006-07-14T01:10:00.000-04:00

The recap of WIBA from some folks (Wil, TriSaraTops, Elizabeth, SLS, RBR, and others) has got me all excited. Hard to belive 58 days till my race. It's kind of late and there's a lot on my mind, so this post might be not flow too well.

anyways, I'm in a mini taper for my first ever half IM. I have mixed feelings about this. I am confident, but am still afraid of the results. What if they are worse than expected? What if I do extremely well now and set the bar too high for Wisconsin? Will my knee feel all right? Will my bike hold together?

Regarding my training for Wisconsin? Will I have enough time to squeeze out some high volume training days? Will my knee cooperate enough for me to put in the training? Will I be able to get enough sleep?

And for some more doubts, the cardiologist I had been seeing finally called me back in. I had assumed no news was good news; the last time I saw him was in May. I've come this far already and if it's not what I want to hear, do I have the gaul to race IM anyways?

This week I have been thinking about a passage I heard at church. "A thorn in my flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan to beat me, to keep me from being too proud. Three times I asked the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me: ' My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.'" (2 Corinithians 12:7-9) I should try to do what the apostle Paul did and be content with the irony of our weakness becoming our strength.

Our lives are filled with ironies as is our training. We spin at a higher cadence to save the legs for later in the race, or we take time off so that we can come back and train harder, or the old "run slow to get faster." Wil came to this conclusion recently: "So, what have I learned? That I’m human. That it’s all right to not be perfect all the time. That perfection is being imperfect."

So now what have I learned: Sometimes we stumble across a paradox. Without accepting the ironic truths, we can not continue to grow. So by having to deal with a physical weakness, I have gained mental and spiritual strength. That is how power is made perfect.

Conception

2006-07-09T23:45:00.000-04:00

I believe it has finally been conceived and now in its early stage of development. Let's hope it works out.

I initially thought about this

And then this

And this

I decided on this

But the manufacturer upgraded me to this

So now add these

And some pieces from here

And a pair of these

Maybe with a pair of these

Or for special occasions, I can use what I already have too.

So put those together and imagine. Coming soon to a road near you.

Tag

2006-07-07T01:29:00.000-04:00

I've been going nuts with my school projects lately and trying to squeeze in my training. My computer is not cooperating either. But I've been tagged by DaisyDuc, so I'll play along.

four jobs I have had in my life:
0. Currently retired
1. Tax records say I was an independent consultant
2. Radiotherapy Support Engineer
3. Dorm coordinator for an English language program for non-US folks
4. Kitchen help at the Italian restaurant at Sea World.

four movies I watch over and over:
1. Star Wars, Epsiode IV, V, and VI
2. Major League
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. Any James Bond movie

four places I have lived:
Spent the majority of my life in NE Ohio
1. Born and raised in Stow, Ohio
2. Several years of living in residence halls at Case on the east side of Cleveland
3. Several years on the southwest side of Cleveland
4. I literally stayed at a Hilton hotel for a few years when I was traveling for work. And I've got several hundred thousand hotel points to show for it.

four TV shows I love to watch:
I don't own a fully functional TV, let alone cable, but...
1. The Simpsons
2. The Amazing Race
3. Iron Chef (the Japanese version)
4. Hmm, I'll go with the cheap answer and say Sportscenter

four places I have been on vacation:
I've been through more airports than I care to remember.
1. Last vacation was - Guam, then Cairns and Melbourne Australia, with a stop in Hawaii (Did New Zealand and Syndey on a previous trip.)
2. Dublin, Ireland followed by work in Munchen then free time in Wien, Austria, and Bratislava, Slovakia. (Praha, Czech Republic was a previous trip.)
3. Hong Kong
4. Madison, Wisconsin

four websites I visit daily:
1. News: ohio.com and anywhere that gets AP wire reports
2. Sports: si.com and my fantasy league home pages
3. Comics: foxtrot.com, comics.com/comics/frazz/ and some others
4. Blogland

four of my favorite foods:
1. A big thick piece of NY strip steak, medium rare
2. White rice
3. Ice cream (I tried Graeter's Ice cream for the first time a few weeks ago. Mmmm!!! But I have to give mention to Strickland's frozen custard too.)
4. Swenson's (Beats In 'n Out every day of the week.)
5. Beer

four places I would rather be right now:
1. Out on a run
2. Having dinner with some family or friends
3. I would love to go in to Space
4. In bed (although once I catch up on my sleep that will change.)

four favorite bands/singers:
1. Led Zepplin
2. Sarah McLachlan
3. Miles Davis
4. W. A. Mozart

four bloggers I’ll Tag
I'm breaking the chain. If any bloggers who regularly read my rants wants to be tagged that hasn't already been tagged, you're more than welcome to play along.

Good night now.

Bay Days 5 miler

2006-07-05T02:31:00.000-04:00

Well even though it was purely for training, I did enter a race on July 4th so I might as well whip up a quick race report from the Bay Days 5 miler.

Woke up at 6:15, a few minutes before my alarm. I take that as a good sign that my internal clock is still well programmed. Brushed my teeth, drank a cup of water and decided to climb back into bed. Bad move as didn't wake up again until 7:25 - 65 minutes before the race was supposed to start. Luckily I had laid out my gear the night before. So I threw on some clothes, grabbed a bottle of Gatorade, and out the door I went.

As I pull into the parking lot, the rain started to come down in buckets. Said hi to Jodi safely nestled in her vehicle. Then I jogged over to where registration was, gave them a few bucks, and then hit the little boys room. My urine was telling me what I already figured out - I was dehydrated. So now it's about 8:20, I ran back to my car, strapped on my shoes and race number, took a few gulps of Gatorade and then meandered over to the starting line. I snaked my way through and said hi to a few familiar faces. I was talking with one of my former swim buddies and next thing you know a siren goes off and people were running already.

And off I go. I wanted to start out slow since my legs were tucked in bed a little over an hour ago. I started weaving through the masses as I picked up a little steam and crossed the 1 mile mark at 7:18. Crap, that was slow.

So I pick it up into mile two. I'm passing people at a pretty steady rate now as I moved through in 6:33. By now the sun was beating down on the wet pavement and making our lives uncomfortable.

At the start of mile three, I was getting pretty hot. I thought about Rob who pulled out of IM CdA a few weeks ago. I had to shed my technical tee and fumbled a bit trying to tuck it into my shorts. This slowed me down as I clocked in at 6:48, but I was really struggling to control the body temp with the tee on.

Having started the race dehydrated and then cruising through the heat and humidity, I thought to myself at what point does the body start shutting things down to save itself? I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I backed it off a notch as I remembered I was going biking afterwards. Mile four clocked in at 6:55.

So one more mile to go. This is where I can typically make up some serious ground. I know I can kick from at least 3/4 of a mile out, but kept it conservative. I cruised for a while, kicked it in when I got to the track with 300 meters left and finished with a 6:25.

The posted results said 34:01.07, 5th in AG/74th overall. Decent. I'll take it.

What do I need to do in the future?

Hydrate. Take a crap before racing. Hydrate. Get some more sleep. And Hydrate.

Congrats to Jodi for taking home a pretty sweet looking age group award!!!

The Break Up

2006-07-03T00:18:00.000-04:00

To my Baby:

This is so hard for me to say, but I think we need some time apart. Right now I need something more, something that I don't think you can give me. I need to know that I can get through 112 miles without any problems.

I was enamored with you from the first time I saw you in the LBS. Your unique skin color certainly stood out from all the others. We have certainly had our uphill climbs and some beautiful long weekend rides together. Remember the time we took a trip to Texas? We took a nasty spill and your front wheel was tacoed. I came back home, got a pair of carbon race wheels and we were both beaming. The new carbon fork, the shorter crank arms, and the ergonomic pedals were all to make you - make us - better. I know we tried to make our relationship work, but early on I knew we were not a good fit. It was hard for me to admit that and even harder for me to do something about it.

We have been together for over seven years and you were there right from the start. But what I will be doing in a few months is so much bigger than either of us could ever have forseen. I have one chance at this and must do what I can to succeed. So it is with a heavy heart that I must say that I am looking for someone else.

Soon I will need to spend a lot of time with someone new. I promise that you will not be totally forgotten. And I swear you will have much of my attention when the weather turns cold. I know the next few weeks will be hard for both of us, but I hope you understand. You will always be my Baby.

Love
QCM_IER

Alum Creek Multisport Weekend

2006-06-28T02:04:00.000-04:00

Introduction and Objective:

The Alum Creek Multisport Weekend provided several opportunities to vary the current IM training regimen. Saturday morning was a series of open water swims followed by sprint and olympic distance duathlons and triathlons and an aquabike.

The objectives for the open water swim were to:

Practice swimming in a wetsuit.
Practice open water swimming.
Establish a benchmark time for a long open water swim.

The objectives for the Olympic Triathlon were to:

Practice race day mental tactics
Practice transitions
Train with a slightly higher intensity

The results from this past weekends races were:

3km open water swim = 61:03.
Olympic Triathlon = 2:33:31

The results were fair and in line with expected values. However, the objectives were easily satisfied and therefore the weekend was deemed successful.

Background:

Of the three disciplines, swimming was considered the weakest. In order improve in this area, a wetsuit was recently purchased. Prior to Saturday morning it had only been used once. Therefore getting in and out of the wetsuit was one action that needed to be performed and practiced over and over. In addition, an adjustment needed to be made to the sensation of swimming with the added buoyancy stemming from the wetsuit. Racing with this wetsuit would provide knowledge of the unique nuances of this particular wetsuit. The additional swimming techniques of open water swimming needed to be practiced as well. Techniques such as judging current, dealing with wind and waves, and proper navigation of distances are effectively and ideal practiced in open water swimming. Finally, no long open water swim had been previously attempted or timed. The results of this open water swim would provide a guide to establishing proper workouts for the crucial upcoming months.

The objectives for the Olympic Triathlon were very straight forward. Like the open water swims, the training was invaluable as many factors of a race could not be easily duplicated. The purpose of entering this race was not to establish a PR, but to do a more intense workout than usual.

This was the last weekend of a three week build period. Due to a schedule that was not routine, the legs had not been given a rest day for over a week and were fatigued. Friday was planned as a much needed rest day. However due to some other commitments including a social function at Dave & Buster's on Friday evening, travel was delayed and did not begin until 22:15 and ended about two hours later.

Experimental Methods:

The races were staged at an inland reservoir. The 3 km swim consisted of four laps on a 750 meter triangular course. Beginning at the beach swimmers, had to swim southeast, then turn and swim north, then west back towards the beach. The sun was out and shining brightly. The ambient temperature was comfortable. The water temperature was also very comfortable. There was a slight breeze and some waves that were probably less than a foot.

The Olympic Triathlon also used the same swim course, but only two laps were necessary for the triathlon. The transition area was set up in a grassy area just past the beach and roughly 100 meters from the water. The bike portion was a 40 km loop was fairly flat; there were no climbs. The course was adequately marked in most sections.

The run course consisted of two loops. There was about a 0.5 mile portion of the course that was on grass. There were some small divots that warranted caution while racing through this portion of the course. A gradual uphill climb made the second mile tough, but after the turnaround this uphill became a welcome downhill. The last mile was a flat stretch that went back into the park and towards the spectators and the finish.

Results:

The total time for the 3 km open water swim was 61:03. No splits were obtained for the 3km open water swim.

The results from the Olympic Triathlon are listed below. The paces for the swim, bike, and run are listed in parentheses.

Swim 29:44 (31.58)
T1 1:10
Bike 1:17:48 (20.8)
T2 0:58
Run 43:53 (7:05)
Total: 2:33.31

Discussion:

Many of the 16 competitors in the open water swim were pure swimmers or swimmers turned triathletes. About half of the racers wore wetsuits. The intent was to give a solid effort but not the proverbial 110%. A few minutes into the race, most of the racers were already fading into the distance. A few unexpected waves led to some excessive consumption of lake water; that moment of panic was quickly squashed. The thought of 138.2 more miles led to the establishment of a steady pace that was maintained for the duration of the race. Upon exiting the water there was a sense of contentment knowing that the 2.4 mile swim in September was achievable at an effort that would allow the completion of the next 138.2 miles.

One negative aspect of the race was that sighting the buoys was somewhat difficult since contact lenses were not worn. In addition, wind and waves were conditions that had not been encountered this season until this race. Real time race adjustments need to be made quicker and more effectively. This includes selecting and swimming in straighter line.

The triathlon swim was much more crowded - 16 racers to about 300 racers. However it seemed to make sighting easier as swim caps could be used to sight as opposed to the large buoys. Compared to previous triathlons, the swim today was not an epic struggle that elevated the heart rate or led to exhaustion. In T1, the sleeveless wetsuit surprisingly came off efficiently. After a quick gulp of water from a bottle, the attack on the bike course was about to commence.

The knee was not an issue on the bike today. However, minor bike adjustments have been made between each of the last several rides. The issue on this race day was that the aero position was not comfortable enough to be sustained for 40 km. This led to wide variances in speed and intensity throughout the day.

The bike course had not been previewed prior to the race so some doubts existed throughout the whole ride. One wrong turn led to an additional minute or so being added to the total time.

Exiting T2 is always difficult. Today was no different as the legs were sluggish. After leaving the grassy portion and hitting the pavement, many athletes seemed to appear out of nowhere and the race was on. The gradual uphill required physical effort and mental focus to keep moving forward. At the turn around the downhill acted like a springboard as the mile splits actually kept on getting faster for the duration of the race.

The mental intensity throughout the race was certainly higher than a normal training day, but the physical intensity was certainly not an all out effort. There was plenty of juice remaining in the tank as evidenced by the negative run splits. This leads to the belief that a longer race could have been completed with a similar type of effort.

Conclusions:

Triathlons are all about the people. Saturday involved a conversation with a veteran of Ironman Wisconsin who came from Milwaukee to race in the open water swim. The banter was insightful and certainly fun.

Sunday was a chance to race with and cheer for other Tri Club members. It was a good day for the club as all the other Club members took home some hardware. Finishing towards the back of the age group was certainly humbling, but solace was found in the fact that deposits were made into the Ironman Bank account.

Bottom line is that the complete weekend was a success. Next test will be the Musselman half IM. Let's roll.

Fool in the Rain

2006-06-22T18:27:00.000-04:00

I bowed to Mother Nature and all the other forces around me today. I was supposed to get in a five hour ride today and really wanted to squeeze it into everything else.

World Cup match? Okay I can squeeze that in and ride in the afternoon.
Two papers due tomorrow? One paper I can finish during futbol and the other is very straight forward. Well all was going according to plan including the not so surprising US loss. So grab a quick snack, check the weather forecast and ohhhh that rain is going to hit me in a few hours. Better move.

So I'm clicking along with my dead legs at a decent clip and get out about 25 miles or so then a drizzle. All right this isn't bad. Toss in a few angry motorists, no sweat I've dealt with this before. At 30 miles I'm getting slapshed by the all the cars as the rain gets heavier. No problem, I can deal with this. Boom!!! Crack!!! Time for some thunder and lightening. So what are the chances of getting struck by lightening? To heck with that. At 35 miles, well now I literally can't see a darned thing its raining so hard. This will pass right? Besides I'm almost at my preplanned stop at my apartment. I'll reload my food and fluids and head back out when it gets a little better. POP!!! Damnit!!! Have I ever mentioned how I hate the developer who decided to stick a Lowe's in front of my apartment complex!!!! So I walk back half a mile to my apartment getting splashed by the traffic getting dumped on by mother nature. And still I was planning on heading back out after I change that Fin flat.

Well I climb two flights of stairs, cold and wet, unlock the door and then like the Sirens' my familiar abode was calling to me. "Stay here and it will all be better." The temptation was great as I changed my tire, but no, Iron must be earned. After topping off the fluids I rolled back out the door. Twenty seconds later I am back indoors. I succumbed to the pressure. I couldn't ride through this monsoon and I think most sensible humans would have done the same. But still trying to reach for Iron, I set the trainer up and got in another ninety minutes or so for a total of about three and half hours of saddle time. So as I type this now, Mother Nature's fury has passed and I'm sure there's a rainbow somewhere out there. Sigh...well it is what it is.

And yes there is photographic evidence of a trainer ride in June. By the way, I couldn't find any code for Fool in the Rain, so you get to listen to Over the Hills and Far Away instead.

"I'm hungry; let's get a taco."

Good luck to all the racers out there especially Su and Rob and others at Ironman this weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Short and Sweet

2006-06-21T00:05:00.000-04:00

My training has been anything but short and sweet. As a matter of fact my workouts have been long and salty. This is my second week where I am scheduled for about twenty hours of workout time, which means closer to thirty hours devoted to training. Some crazy volume out there folks and my legs are feeling it. I am pretty sure I eclipsed the 20 mile mark somewhere on my weekend trail run. By the way, doing mile repeats has to be a creation of the devil; I was scheduled for 10 x 1 mile and somehow got through them. (And no my coach is not the devil; just some tough love from him.)

Since I have already signed up for an open water swim "race" and an Olympic Tri this weekend, my coach wants me to get in a 5 hour ride on Thursday or Friday. Uh, well he understands I have two papers due Friday at 17:00. So his advice is do as much as you can.

So thanks for all your thoughts about my bike and my knee issues steming from my biking. I think my knee pain was coming from my saddle tilt. But it only flared up twice on rides longer than 50 miles. I feel fine on my shorter rides. I got through 60 miles okay on Sunday. We'll see what happens on my next long ride.

As for the bike components, I have drafted a few posts about my bike. By the way, while democracy is a great thing, this corner of blogland is a monarchy. And I already have a nice older set of wheels that I use for racing.

And I finally got myself a tri specific wetsuit. I tried it out last night; I still don't feel fast, but the swimming did feel easier. Now if only I can get out of that damn thing without losing too much time or worse yet falling on my face in T1.

Time to start thinking about TG-51. (The link is a pdf file. Go there if technical reading helps your insomnia)

By the way, I got a kick out of the frozen furby. I was throwing some ice in my aunt's freezer and what do I see: a furby snickering back at me. Later my aunt told me that she thought that thing was too noisy so she put it in the freezer.

Have a happy hump day!!!

Dad's day

2006-06-18T00:38:00.000-04:00

Happy Father's Day, Dad!!!

(and to all the other dads out there)

Got Pictures?

2006-06-17T22:54:00.000-04:00

The road to Ironman.

Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin'. Come on.

Sometimes you don't realize how far you have come. ( Go ahead and click to get a larger view.)

Mooo...

Spectators.

Close to home.

This house was for sale; I should have got more of the view of the breath taking valley behind it.

Need a refreshing drink? (I've never had root beer out of a keg till now!!!)

When in Wisconsin, do as Wisconsin-ers do.

Frozen furby.

My apartment building got flooded this week when somebody decided to set the sprinkler system off.

My god child and me.

Always fun taking in a baseball game on a nice summer night.

By the way I slipped a picture into my recap of my infamous April duathlon.

Debate

2006-06-15T09:41:00.000-04:00

Help me out; what bike component group should I get:

a. Campagnolo Record
b. Campagnolo Chorus
c. Shimano Dura Ace
d. Shimano Ultegra

Reconnaissance

2006-06-13T10:00:00.000-04:00

I am finally back from my WI recon trip. I probably added 10 pounds (literally) to my frame from all the food I ate and my liver is still working overtime from the drinks. As the expats will tell you, Madison is quite a town. I think I can find Riley's Wines of the World in my sleep now, but I'll need to check out the breakfast/porn place sometime. Oh by the way getting a suite at a graduation ceremony is the way to go.

I will not go into the course in depth here. I am a polka dot jersey kind of guy so my opinions are skewed from the norm. If you want my opinion, email me and I can be more specific with you. But in addition to a recap of my own training, I will add a few of my observations that anyone can use. If I get some time I'll post some pictures this week.

The Background:

The IM WI course starts in downtown Madison and heads towards Verona. Then you do two 40 mile loops. I started from Veteran's Park in "downtown" Verona just a few meters off the course and did the Loop twice.

The Goods:

The course itself - I really like it. It keeps you thinking ahead; I was never bored. The miles seemed to fly by.

80 miles? No problem. My legs felt so good I even got in a 20 minute run afterwards. Yes I said run.

My nutrition strategy was okay. It was a cool, overcast day with a few sprinkles. That really helped me today as I tend to not drink enough. I made it through with a few Clif bars, a few gels, my Accelerade, and some endurance Gatorade. I wasn't craving meat until after I finished. My post training meal included a 24 oz steak off the grill. Mmm...

I "negative split" my second lap. The first lap I took it easy since I was just trying to find my way. I went back and took a few sections over and took a few snapshots along the way. I ran into two folks riding the course around mile 20. The were UW students preparing to do IM WI again and in this small world they actually raced with my cousin. I tagged along, but they were going slower than I would have gone on my own. That was okay because I was getting tired of pullling out a map every 5 minutes. The second lap I started out cruising right around 20 mph. As my knee started bothering me and the hills got harded to climb, that pace just started to fall. I the finished the second loop somewhere just under 18 mph -ish.

I didn't have a flat tire!!!

The Bads:

I could not get out of downtown Verona without missing some turn. I missed something both times around and probably tacked on an extra 5 or 6 miles. I know the course will be less ambiguous in three months, so no worries.

For those who ride in urban jungles, I would spend some time at the zoo or a farm sometime before racing IM WI. Get to know the Eau de Cow since the IM WI course covers a lot of farmland.

The roads were a bit bumpy at times. No, we're not talking about NE Ohio sized potholes. It's just that the concrete used for the country roads were composed of more coarse aggregates.

Hills? No worries. I have a new enemy. I don't know where she comes from but damn does she suck. Well actually she blows. I you can't really prepare for her, but I expect her to show up in September. Believe it or not, beware the Winds of Wisconsin. Don't let me scare you since it is nothing that will blow you over, but just enough to piss the hell out of you for much of the day.

The Ugly:

I figured I would need to stop in to the bike shop when I got back. My 56 mile ride a few weeks ago left with my a sore knee the day after. So I actually already scheduled another look at my bike fit for this week. Well, by mile 42 today, my knee was killing me so much that I almost turned around. Between miles 40 and 70, I could not find a position that was not aggravating my knee. It probably felt best when I stood up out of the saddle, but I knew better than to ride that way for 40 miles. Between mile 50 and 70, I was praying for some relief somewhere somehow. It nearly broke me. I'm not sure what happened the last ten miles or so, but I was able crank it up a notch a cruise home. Was even going 24-25 mph for some stretches. I don't know maybe it was the thought of getting done. Maybe it was the fact that I was out of the hills or even riding downhill. All I know is I better get this bike fit/knee issue taken care of ASAP. By the way, my knee feels fine when I run. I got in a nice 90 minute run the day after and felt pretty darn good.

Miscellaneous:

I stopped at the Trek store because it was on my way to the course. There are better places to blow your money.

I could really use a new bike.

The Bottom line:

I needed to do this and I needed to do this on my own. In three months I will need to be able to work through any obstacle on my own. It's fun to train in a group and it's easy to do the physical training, but you don't get many chances to train your brain. I got a sniff of the mental games that must be played out on IM race day. Because of my struggles with my knee, I did not push the way I wanted to push. I was always holding back to prevent something more serious, but I was able to get through the day. I know that will serve me well in Septemeber.

The clock is still ticking down. Three months to go. Let's roll.

2 in 2 days

2006-06-08T02:49:00.000-04:00

Lots of thoughts, little time. Excuse me if I write in sentence fragments. It's 3 am, I must be lonely, er, no I'm just waiting for my socks to dry. Need to sleep soon though because I have a long drive ahead of me with my parents and three little nieces.

Okay, so I was born on the 31st anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Thanks for your thoughts. And yes I tend to downplay my birthday. So did I live it up yesterday? Not really. Actually my shorts are in a bunch from one event yesterday.

As Papa Louie mentioned, things are flying in air. My eyes are itchy, I have extra snot, and worst of all, my airways tend to constrict. I have the high powered drugs and hope they keep me going.

Yesterday dropped my car off at the auto shop at the early hour of 8 am (early for me). Shop is only 3 miles away, but I did 6 mile repeats on my way home. Felt pretty darn good. And the splits showed it.

Chilled till 13:00 when I hopped on my bike to pick up my car. I hate Lowes. A new store is being constructed right outside my apartment complex, 100 meters away from a Wal-mart and 200 meters away from a Home Depot. Getting in and out of my apartment complex is a pain, the road is ripped up, and they tend to kill the electricity and water every now and then. Forgot my regular wheels in my car so had to use my race wheels. A mile away from my apartment and two minutes past the construction zone, front wheel goes flat. Ughh, they're tubulars, so you either patch them up (which I deem impossible) or get a whole new tire. $100 down the drain.

My fun and excitement for my birthday was heading down to Jacob's Field for a ball game. My classmate went to high school with one of the ballplayers. He was pretty preoccupied since his family came up to watch him play, no dugout passes, but fun nonetheless.

Today was hectic trying to get everything done including a trip to the bike shop to get a replacement tire. Got in a pretty good ride today. Went about 24 mph for a ten mile TT followed by about 20 mph for an 8 mile TT with a 3 mile climb. Coming back down the hill, I hit a pot hole and blew out another tire. Well at least this one was a clincher and tubes are cheap.

So 2 day, 2 wheels, 2 flats....

Not sure if I will report while I am in Wisconsin, so have a great week everyone.

Incriminating

2006-06-04T09:58:00.000-04:00

I am a little late posting this. Besides Blogger sucking yestersday, I spent a number of hours Sunday night and Monday trying to finish writing a 30 page paper. Half of those pages were filled with numbers and calculations. That paper was such a piece of crap, I missed a typo on the cover page. Doh!!!! There goes my A.

The buzz around C-Town this past weekend was Curly Su's move. Send her some positive vibes as she transitions to life in Jersey. Su, you're going to have many more great performances and unbelievable accomplishments. All the best to you!!!

Like any grand occasion, there were cameras all around and the "Wait! One more with my camera!" for the umpteenth time.

So another pic of the hawt tri ladies.

Can the goggles make this geek look any better? (Image borrowed from TriSaraTops) I don't think the team sponsors had this kind of exposure in mind. And at least it's not a picture of somebody running out of T2 with a bike helmet on.

Since Elizabeth was ready to run, we had to hop to another bar.

Every other picture of me must include food or drink.

Saturday included a long trail run, not sure how long I ran or how many miles I covered. I brought my camera along, but I'll save those photos for another rainy day. It wrapped up with some beer, some grilling, cake and ice cream, and relaxing with some good friends from college.

Sunday was a quick ride with Jodi, Elizabeth, and some new faces. I was supposed to get in some easy Zone 2, but that went out the window as I crushed a few hills. Then a few more hills.

Monday was a pretty good swim. Probably got in around 2500 yds or so of open water swimming. I have got to get me one of those wetsuits though. Since the park was closing in about 30 minutes, a few of us went for a fast 20 minute run.

I'll be busy tomorrow as I try to get everything in before heading to Wisconsin for a long weekend.

So does anyone know how to be a Godparent? I have a few days to figure it out before my niece's baptism. For that matter does anyone know how to be an uncle? What was my sister thinking, asking me to be a Godfather?! Doesn't she know the date of my birth?

lambda = c/f

2006-06-01T01:10:00.000-04:00

Here are some quick notes from the last few days.

Seven years after I did my first tri, today I finally became a member of USA Triathlon. Yeah!!!

Got in some hill repeats on the bike today too. 6x4:00 minute climbs. I did an okay job of keeping my butt planted in the saddle while I climbed, but need to keep working on that. Out of the six climbs, I could only stay in the saddle for the full 4:00 minutes on two of them.

Yesterday I was able to jump in an inland lake for some open water swimming. And I didn't even need a wetsuit. Took a few strokes to get used to not swimming with a straight black line below me. Too bad we are restricted to swimming in a 100 yard strip. Hopefully they can get some more guards and open up more of the lake.

Really fried my shoulders on Saturday, literally. They are peeling like crazy now.

So the meat of tonight's post is my conversation with my coach. Last week I had a good talk with him, did some homework (i.e. look at my schedule), and reported back to him tonight. We are on the same wavelength on a lot of things. For the most part, as long as I can give a logical and rational explanation for deviating from his plan, he is okay to go along with it. Unfortunately I am still under a yellow flag from my cardiologist, but I am continuing to train for this little race in September. I'm not going too far into Zone 4 and should avoid Zone 5 heart rates for precautionary measures. This is hard to do, especially on hill climbs. This certainly is not an ideal situation, but I can still get prepared. So what's on tap for me the next few weeks?

- Bike, bike, and bike some more. Four hours at the gym, ppffff. I will be ramping up to seven or eight hours on the bike.
- Riding the IM WI course next Friday!!! My coach is encouraging me to put in a good Zone 3 effort. I won't do the whole 112, but probably 70 plus miles. Maybe there will be some good photo opportunites along the way. Can't wait to see how over hyped the hills are.
- Since I have never done a half IM, got to get one of those in too.
- Try a few open water races. There are some swims appropriately named COWS that I can do.
- Squeeze in some races to mentally train for the morning of September 10. Don't want to be too jittery.
- Just run - and stay healthy on those runs.

I'll be signing up for some races soon so look for the subtle changes on my sidebars in the near future.

PS - The science geek in me trumped the tri geek and came up with the title today.

Memorial Day Weekend Recap

2006-05-29T00:46:00.000-04:00

Saturday morning was a training ride on the Greater Cleveland Triathlon half Ironman course. I met Jodi, another NEO tri blogger. She was riding the sprint course because she had a long ride on Sunday. I must say that I am fortunate to have such an awesome triclub with so many wonderful people. I started my ride with TriSaraTops and a few other friends and met a few new ones on the way. One of my IM WI sisters started the ride with us, but unfortunately mangled her rear derailleur on the first major climb. Luckily we were able to call for someone to pick her up. I think I will start carrying a chain tool now, so if that ever happened to me, I could pop off a few links and turn my bike into a fixed gear so I could make it home.

For a post training day pic, stop over to TriSaraTops and give her some good vibes. Good thing you can't see my sunburnt shoulders in that picture.

Below on the left is the profile of the GCT course broken up into four sections. On the right is the IM WI profile. Is the IM WI course hilly? Sure but nothing I will not have seen beforehand. If I keep hitting the hills, me and my 12-23 cassette will be fine with the climbing. Just need to work on the bike handling a bit more.

Saturday night I saw United 93. In my opinion it was well done. No political slant, no cheesey lines, no emphasis on big Hollywood special effects, and from what I read, very well researched. Take some dramamine if you get motion sickness though.

Sunday was a long run with TriEric. I was able to convince him to run a little bit later than most normal people run. We started around 10:30; time to feel the heat. We labored through 16 miles together and I tacked on another 2 on my own. Clock time was around 2:40 with two water breaks in there. We were looking to average sub 8:00/mile, but we checked ourselves and kept our heart rates in control. So we averaged around 8:30/mile. I'm pretty sure the profile below is not the exact the route we ran, but it is pretty close.

I moved my rest day this week from Friday to Monday so I could spend a little time at my parents. For the rest of my weekend, a couple of picnics where I could play with fire, catching up with friends, a few beers, and that made for a pretty good weekend.

Against my wishes, my coach has ordered a recovery week for me. So I guess I'll take it easy this week.

Have a great week and happy training everyone!!!

In Memoriam

2006-05-28T09:31:00.000-04:00

Please take a moment to remember those who have sacrificed for the greater good of all of us.

Vent

2006-05-24T23:50:00.000-04:00

Okay, I'll keep this short. A rider had a nasty spill tonight at our bike workout; she's a tough veteran roadie, so she should be fine. Our group usually splits off and the roadies ride in a group and the tri folks ride separately. I got really frustrated with my fellow triathletes tonight. If I yell "on the left" it doesn't mean move to your left into me. If I yell "on the right" at you, you're probably too far into the road. When I yell "car back", it doesn't mean you should stay in the middle of the road. If I yell "car up" it doesn't mean continue blindly through the intersection. After trying to pass a pack of triathletes three, sometimes four across, most in aerobars, I said to hell with this. Do none of you have any common sense? Did anyone not remember what just happened five minutes ago? And so for the rest of the intervals, I let them get about 30 seconds ahead of me and went at my own pace. I'm probably preaching to the choir, but damn it I hate it when people lose their common sense. Grrr.... And you wonder why people in cars get upset at cyclists. Use your head people. I need a beer and maybe some ice cream.

By the Numbers, May 22, 2006

2006-05-22T23:59:00.000-04:00

10
- number of days since my last swim workout

9
- number of dollars for a one day guest pass at the local gym

25
- meters that one length of the pool measured (although rare, I did find a local 25 meter pool)

6000
- number of meters swam today

8, 8, 8, 8
- intended number of 100s in the main set

2
- number of extra 100s swam due to accounting error (the shorter pool threw me off a number of times tonight)

2:20, 2:15, 2:10, 2:05
- send off times for the main set

1:47, 1:56, 1:51
- fastest 100, slowest 100, target 100 time

1000
- number of meters for a pseudo pull buoy time trial

20:26
- time of pseudo time trial

6
- approximate number of times I told myself to swim faster during the pseudo time trial

6
- approximate number of times I told myself not to get my shorts in a bunch

4800
- number of reasons, er meters, swam prior to time trial

3, 2, 10
- number of people in the pool at the start of my swim, at the end of my swim, and number that came and went during my swim, respectively

4
- number of people encountered during my last swim at the other pool

1
- number of lifeguards on deck

2
- number of of total lifeguards during my swim (always fun to outlast the guards)

2:30
- total amount of real time in the pool

2:00
- total amount of real time before my stomach was yelling at me to eat something

6:30
- time between when I last ingested solid food to when my stomach started yelling

0
- number of gels consumed prior to or during the workout

0
- amount of liquid other than water (pool or fresh) consumed during the workout

17
- minutes of transition time between pool and weight room

2:47
- real time since beginning my workout till I finally popped a gel or consumed a sport drink

0
- minutes after consuming a gel that I waited to begin weight lifting

10
- approximate number minutes I should have waited for the gel to get into the system

7
- number of exercises done in the weight rooms (Squats, dead lifts, calf raises, lunges, hanging leg lifts, back extensions, inclined situps)

60
- number of minutes spent on above exercises

155
- lbs I weighed 10 days ago

146
- lbs that I weighed today after my workouts

4
- number of hours at the gym

Priceless
- deposit into the IM bank account

Spectacle

2006-05-21T23:57:00.000-04:00

After my internal system reboot, I lost about six or seven pounds over those few days. I am still feeling a little fatigued, but I feel fine otherwise. At the begining of the year, my coach and I were looking at racing a half marathon this weekend. Despite my weak week, my coach left it up to me whether or not to race. Well, I don't care if my finisher medal spins, vibrates, or does my taxes, I'm not paying $70 to run 13.1 miles. So I went out on a 40 mile/3 mile brick on Saturday. So below are some pictures from my ride. Nothing too exciting.

Sunday I had loads of fun as I spectated a marathon with elizabeth, who is a master at this. She has way more energy and enthusiasm than I do. For us, everything fell into place as we were able to catch tons of people all over the course. We met up right around mile 10 as the lead wheelchair athletes were flying by. We waited a bit until the lead runners came cruising through.

My fun story of the day came early in the day. Elizabeth and I were camped out right before a water stop. As the leaders were coming by we saw and cheered them on. We noted the lead woman and saw she was openly distraught. She looked over and cried something like: "I can't get my gel open." So I took off after her and finally caught up to her. She passed me her gel. I was trying to keep pace with her and haven't practiced opening gels on the dead run in a while. So I fumbled a bit, but after a few paces I was able to rip the top off her vanilla Clif Shot. We were coming up on GLBC, so I offered her a shot of Jameson too. (Just kidding) She thanked me and went speeding off. Talk about a fan friendly event!!! How fun!!!

Then it was waves and waves of people. I tried scanning the crowds for people I knew; sometimes I found them, while some folks I just missed. I ran a quarter to half mile with a few folks, but at mile ten most folks were just settling in a groove. I should have packed a few gels with me, since I had a few folks ask for one. I'll know for next time.

Elizabeth was now way out there having followed a bunch of other runners, while I made my way back to mile 10 and then back to my car. I was able to navigate around the traffic and closed streets and just happened to be driving right by where she ended up. I pull over to pick her up and we decide to try to get as close to mile 20 as we could. As we were driving there we caught glimpses of the 3:10 folks. When we get to a parking lot just off the course, we see the 3:20 pace group go by. We could still catch a bunch of folks going by. Sweet.

We would run with some folks for about a quarter to half mile and try to cheer them up. The discouraging note here was this damned spot where the road met the sidewalk, producing a nice little bump. I probably saw 8 to 10 people get tripped up and just spill right there. I couldn't imagine how tough that was physically and mentally. I hope those runners were able to get their game back on. Since I could not just keep saying "Mind the gap," I repositioned the cones a little. Hopefully by actually seeing a barrier in their way they would be more careful of their step.

For the runners out there, they went through four seasons in 26 miles as they encountered cold, rain, wind, and even, gasp, sunshine. I know marathons suck, but that gradual uphill stretch around mile 20 along the lake right into a 20+ mph steady wind was cruel and unusual punishment. They earned their stripes. Congrats to CurlySu and BuckeyeRunner for their awesome efforts. Great job to PapaLouie for an incredible half marathon. I wasn't the only with a non racer's perspective; great job with the pacing TriSaraTops. Check out their tales. Congrats to my non-blogging running buddies too!!! One of my IM WI sisters stacked 200 miles of biking last weekend with a tough marathon this week. Awesome Awesome job. And if you folks reading this ever get a chance, go out and volunteer or spectate at a race. It's worth it.

Witness

2006-05-18T23:54:00.000-04:00

I rarely get headaches. Unfortunately I was struck with a migraine headache that started Sunday and climaxed Monday during the day. I think this was maybe my fourth one ever. But when they happen, my entire system crashes. The headache itself lasted several hours but calmed down after the drugs kicked in. I was still getting hit with aftershocks even last night. Everything else went haywire too. My stomach was in knots and I was not able to keep in much food or liquids the last few days. I looked at my arms this morning and I know I lost some hard earned fat and muscle. But I know I can rebuild it. My BIOS was flashed and now I am feeling much better. My last workout was a killer run on Sunday. Four days off but I'm not stressing out over it. Do you know why? By missing yesterday's bike workout I was able to catch last night's awesome basketball game won by an amazing team with an amazing 21 year old kid. LeBron is only 21!!! I am not a big basketball fan, but I am absolutely pumped to hear everyone talking about C-Town, the Cavs, and LeBron. "Witness" may be a cheesey Nike slogan, but I am in awe of his physical AND mental game. I can't wait for the next game on Friday night.

Why am I not stressing out over missing so many workouts? Sometimes when you are traveling down a highway you see a sign for a scenic overlook. So you pull off and stop for 20 minutes to check out the view. Sometimes it's worth it sometimes it's not. Well fortunately I was able to stop and check out the scenery and what I saw was pretty awesome. I am a witness.

Today Was Not/Was (part 2)

2006-05-15T01:23:00.000-04:00

Today was definitely not about me.

Happy mother's day to my mom.

(and to all the other moms out there.)

Today Was Not/Was

2006-05-15T01:11:00.000-04:00

Today was not about me.

Today was not about sitting back and relaxing.

Today was about finding my limits.

Today was not about sulking over medical conditions, whether they manifested themselves recently or are the ones that I have had my whole life.

Today was about awareness, management, and control of my body.

Today was not about the serenity of an hour long trail run.

Today was about getting in a long warmup.

Today was not about mile repeats.

Today was about catching glimpses of speed I haven't seen in a while.

Today was not about pushing till I hit the wall.

Today was about meeting the face of the Death March and telling him: "I will not see you in September."

Today was not about stressing over the next several months of grueling school ahead.

Today was about making plans to ride the IM WI course on your own birthday weekend.

Today was not about reading blogs and throwing another post into my corner of blogland.

Today was about finding and sharing with others who are making similar discoveries and journeys.

Today was not about me.

Today was all about Ironman....

Closing Time

2006-05-12T03:10:00.000-04:00

Tonight was the end of a chapter in my IM WI book. I was fortunate to be able to swim in a sweet, wide open, and fast 50 meter poo l for several months in the fall and spring. (It was in the 25 yd configuration during the winter.) But some bright university official decided to close the pool for the second straight summer. Last year was some repair work to the pool area and to make some connections to a brand spanking new addition. This summer the pool is closed to paint the ceiling. They certainly couldn't have taken care of that last year.

Anyways my swim workouts were mostly in the evening when very few people were around. But those who showed up usually swam orders of magnitude faster than me, the human anchor. I have made some pretty big gains with my swimming not only because I have put in the time, but because I have learned many tips from these sharks.

One of these sharks, Dale, has helped me out quite a bit. He won a local 1 mile open water swim meet last summer and is preparing for the master's world championship meet in August. His specialty is actually the breaststroke, like myself. For my main set tonight I was scheduled to do 28 x 100 with the sendoffs decreasing by 5 seconds after 10, 8, 6, and 4 of the 100s. Dale looked at my workout and challenged me by recommending I do 8, 8, 8, and 8 while holding each one at right about the same pace. So what the heck. Well you know what, I got through 28 of them and then my pace just slipped. Those last four hurt and my times crept up about 7 seconds. But I got through them without having to bump up my sendoff times. I'll take the 4 2:02s to go along with the 28 1:55s, because I know how just a little extra push goes a long way.

Tonights damage, 1200 warmup, 32 x 100, 4 x 200 kick, 500 pull, 300 cool down. 6000 meters total. I met TriEric, several years ago at some coached swim sessions. We weren't the fastest ones there. Heck I was usually in the lane of shame. But now we can say that long swim workouts are no longer daunting.

So now I am considering finding a new pool for the summer even though the cesspool, err side pool will still be open. But as I move forward I am sneaking a peek back. I gratefully remember those who have helped me with my swim upstream these last few months. As if I were receiving a grammy or something, I will limit my thanks. Dale who I already mentioned. Henry who has given me plenty of pointers. And Deanna for guarding over me and always sticking around those extra few minutes for me to squeeze in a few more laps.

I'm going to miss my pool, but it's time to turn the page and write another chapter. How warm is the Lake?