Training with friends

Glenn and Derek at the end of a run

One of the things I love about this sport is the amount of time it allows me to spend with my friends. I get to spend big blocks of time talking family, sport, religion,  etc. It's an easy way to forge a strong bond. Another part of it I enjoy is watching my friends work towards and endurance sport goal. They all do it differently. They do it in a way that best meets the needs of their talents. I have three friends that are racing Ironman Arizona on November 22nd. They have all trained very well. They all have different goals. They are all excited. My friend Glenn Strebe it doing his 4th Ironman. We did our first one together at IM Coeur d'Alene in 2005. I've seen his training for the his 3 and I think this is his best block yet. It hasn't come without some challenges. He had a torn achilles during the training. This has severely hampered his run training. It did get him on the bike a lot more and he has had a TON of success with that. I look for him to have his best IM yet. My buddy Kevin Dessart is an Ironman veteran. He been the first place age grouper twice at IM Arizona with multiple IM Hawaii finishes. He's had some challenges with a new job and 3 young kids in activities. At the end of the day, this guy is a mental rock and look for him to do some damage. He and I trained a lot over the summer and he pushed me to a higher level. Finally, my friend Derek Kirkham is racing his 2nd Ironman. He's a complete stud on the bike and his run has turned into an equally powerful weapon. He is one who is capable of even more than he thinks. He's pretty much the leanest man alive. My point with this is that I've been able to train with these guys over the years and recent months. I've seen their goals of the past and the future and feel lucky to share in it with them. In the process, I've been able to get to know these and many others I never would have if not for the common bond of endurance sports.

How this all started (and where it's taken me) Part 2

I wrote about my start in endurance sports here in a post a couple of months ago. I wanted to write about where this has taken me. What this passion has done for me has had many positive benefits. The obvious are the physical benefits I enjoy. I always feel good. I never get sick. I don't have any aches, pains, etc. that accumulate when one is unhealthy. This lifestyle has been a good example for my kids. They all want to "be like Daddy" and are all active in sports. They run, swim and my oldest bikes. I think it's set a good foundation for their future. This has taken me to a new confidence level. I mentioned in my previous post that I had a parent who consistently told me that I wasn't good at things. Well, the result of this was a lack self esteem that pretty much stayed with me until I started with the endurance sports lifestyle. Not long after I started doing these sports, I started accomplishing things that very few people do. It was probably in the late 90's, early 2000's or so when I started to see some success in the endurance sports world.  I started to develop a self confidence that carried over to my professional life. I don't think it's any coincidence that I started to achieve high levels of success in my job right after achieving high levels of success in sport. This made me a better husband, father and friend because I was reaching goals on a consistent basis. I just felt better about myself. It helped me realized that my lack of self esteem was given to me by someone else. It took 30+ years but I had finally realized that self esteem needs to come from within and I'd let this mean person dictate how I felt about myself. Every day, A new level of success was being reached whether in sports, work or life in general. As a result of all of this, my life today has balance. I don't miss my kids events. I never call into work sick. I spend time with my friends. I train. All of these things are important to me within the balance of my family life. The sport aspect is the outlet that keeps me mentally fresh from the things we all deal with that can knock us down. It's my tool that allows me to get back up.

Ironman World Championship 2009

Whew....what a day! Everything I've ever done in endurance sports was done with an eye on this race. Getting there took a lot of learning, training, sacrifice and support. Now that I was finally there, it was just about racing.

Pre-Race

My race morning was pretty normal. I woke up 3 hours prior to the start and ate, drank, cleared myself out, etc. I went down to body marking early so I could get back to my room to just chill out. My buddy Aaron, who came out to vacation and support my race effort, came down from where he was staying. We left my condo at 6:15 to the race start. After getting through the crowds, I entered the water about 6:50. It was at this point that the enormity of the event hit me. Treading water with the thousands of people lined up on the pier and sea wall had an energy I've never experienced. I took it all in and just went into race mode, blocking out everything.

The Swim

I started out on the right hand side. Being a weak swimmer, I was getting pummeled early and often. I was convinced my nose was bleeding after the 2nd of what I swear was a kick from a breastroke. I just fought through it trying to catch some feet that were going my pace. At about the .8 mile mark, I started to feel nautious from the swells that picked up further out. Around one mile, I actually stopped, pulled off to the side and puked. Kid on a surfboard actually said, "dude, that's nasty". Even as bad as I felt, I found the humor in that comment. This was however, extremely embarassing for someone who spent 4 years in the Navy and lived in Huntington Beach for 20+ years. Yep, my friends have been relentless with the mocking since race day. After my little episode, I eased back into the swimming to make sure I didn't get sick again. I was nervous now knowing I was behind on fluids and calories. I felt just o.k. the rest of the swim and survived in 1:15:19, over 11 minutes slower than when I qualified in Arizona. I was currently in 1180th place and not feeling very good after that trainwreck of a swim.



T1

My time in the transition tent was actually pretty quick. The problem I had is that my shoes were clipped to my bike rather than in my transition bag. I did this to speed out of T1. I went out of the tent and came up on three people who came out of T1 in their bike shoes. They were running side by side and I couldn't get around them. They weren't moving too fast so it was almost a walk. I ended up with a 3:44 transition.

The Bike

I normally don't take fluids or calories for the first 30 minutes of anything over an olympic distance race. My stomach just doesn't handle anything well if I take anything sooner. After my episode during the swim, I knew I didn't have that luxury. I started sipping water off my aero bottle for the first couple of minutes before taking a gel 5 minutes in. I absorbed it well and started to pick off a ton of people. The first 20 miles or so was either dead calm or had a significant tail wind. There were a ton of drafting marshalls. I was the guy doing the passing so I had no issues but I saw A LOT of penalties being handed out. It was funny watching the packs up ahead of me spread out as soon as that motorcycle would get near and how they would bunch up as soon as it left. I left nothing to chance and just went a little harder near these groups to get clear of any potential problems with the drafting police. Being in 1180th place left a lot of people to chase and chase I did. I had passed hundreds early on. I felt great, my rotation of gels then Accelerade were going down extremely well and I felt pretty cool despite the heat. I was in racing mode, not deferring to anyone I saw on the bike. Once the road tipped up toward Hawi, the heat took a turn. They say it went from mid 80's on that first section to mid 90's and I'm not going to argue it. It was crazy hot. I was just focusing on heat management at this point, not wanting to blow. I didn't pass as many people going up as a result but I wasn't getting passed either. After the turn, I went for my special needs bag....oops, it wasn't there. I had planned on it not being there and what I would do. It only had nutritional item in it, a 32oz bottle of Accelerade. Accelerade is great for me due to it's caloric density and how my gut takes it. Gatorade hits my gut harder but the new plan was to just deal with it. Coming down the hill was quite interesting. It was windy but my Zipp 808 combo did very well. The interesting part was the amount of people up in their bars. I hadn't seen this yet but I'd see a lot more of it the rest of the race. Seeing how I was passing people got me fired up. I had the Ricky Bobby line "Engage" go through my head and I just started hammering past people. This was really fun! Anyway, I went down the hill and back out to the Queen K. To say the conditions were different now would be an understatement. The wind was directly in my face for the final 30+ miles. Pure carnage out there with people in their $10,000 setups sitting up on their bars. I was able to stay aero the entire time so while my speed slowed considerably, I was riding well compared to those around me and that's all I had to go on. I finished the bike with pretty good legs and felt ready to run. My final bike split was 5:14:12. I had passed 677 people and was now in 503rd place.

T2

The final 5 miles of the bike had me knowing I'd need to hit the port a john for a #2 so I took care of that. It was basically a sauna in that thing. Anyway, I got my run stuff and went out after a slow transition due to the stop. T2 time 4:30.

The Run

This is the part I looked forward to the most. I felt my training improved my run discipline more than the others this year and now was the payoff. I went out feeling great. Saying that, I just kept getting passed by tons of people while not passing many. I checked my splits and I was running in the mid 7 minute range so I just stayed with my pace feeling that I was running my race. I finally started passing people after the 5.5 mile checkpoint but not a lot. The trip back through town was into a slight breeze which felt great. I was focused on the heat management piece as I'd never done anything in these kinds of conditions. I continued with water, gel, Gatorade and Salt Stick capsules. I was absorbing everything exceptionally well. Once I made the turn up Palani, I felt really hot. It was like there was some heat trap that wouldn't let it go. Add that to the hill and I stopped and walked through the aid station. After cruising in the mid 7's, this mile was a slow 9:30. I had thoughts in my head that the wheels were starting to fall off but right at that instant, all was good. The next mile was in 7:04 with similar effort which gave me a lot of confidence. After that, I just tried to maintain the same cadence while passing a lot of the folks who were passing me early on. My splits were varying more than I liked but I still felt like I was under control and not in danger of having an explosion down the road. Once inside energy lab, I really started to feel the heat. Previously, 80% of the people ahead of me were running the race. Once inside energy lab, it was down to 50%. I'm proud to say I ran the entire section and ran it well. I had hydrated so well that this section didn't affect me as badly as some. I came out of there feeling confident. I continued to clip off the miles. With 2 miles to go, there were 2 different packs of runners up the road. They looked far up the road but I was gaining quickly. I pushed pretty hard to catch them and ended up passing most of them.

At the turn back into town, Aaron was there cheering me on which was quite motivating. I asked him to call my family to let them know to be watching me as I came through the finish. The final half mile was filled with straglers and I managed to push and pass all but one that I could see. With a final mile of 6:25, I achieved my dream. Ironman World Championship Finisher!! I can't completely explain how it feels. Achievement is obviously one thing but it's something that can never be taken away from me. It's mine, I own it. It was such a priviledge to be able to compete with such a tremendous group of athletes. To finish ahead of the majority of them is just mind boggling to me based on where I came from.

My run time was 3:25:41, an Ironman PR for me. My final time was 10:03:26. I passed 194 more people during the run. I ended up 309th overall and 27th in my age group. While not a great day for me, it was solid and I wouldn't change the way I executed it.

Post Race Thoughts

While I wouldn't change anything I did on this particular day, I would change things in the future. I found I can handle the heat quite well. I held back a bit throughout the day as I had been warned by EVERYONE I know who's completed the race to respect the heat. I had great legs at the end as evidence by a 6:25 finishing mile. My body felt better, by far, after this race than after any of the other 4 iron distance races I've done. That leads me to believe that I had more to give. Don't get me wrong, I was quite tired. I raced smart which allowed me to race the World Championships almost 2 hours faster than my first Ironman in 2005. I hope I have the opportunity to do this race again in the future. What an amazing experience.

Elbert Reflections 10k Race Report 9/26/09

I decided to race this on Thursday after speaking with my friend Glenn. I was either going to swim or do a harder run on Saturday and follow that with my last long ride before Kona. Glenn encouraged me to do the Elbert Reflections 10k that he has been a part of for years. Glenn entered me into the race and I got set to go. It's a small event in rural Colorado. I saw a familiar participant at all races, Gerald Romero, at the start line. He always beats me by one minute or more. I figured I'm fitter than I have ever been so I'd try to stay with him and see what happens. The gun went off and the usual group of people took off way too fast. After 1/4 of a mile, those folks were already hurting and dropping off. The 5k and 10k start at the same time so you don't know who you are racing. There were 3 of us leading out. The first half of the race is just a long uphill section. I was not feeling good for the first 1.5 miles. One of the 3 guys then turned for the 5k so it was just Gerald and I. I was doing everything I could to hang on to Gerald. At that point, I came around and started feeling great. I took the lead and led out to the turnaround on the out and back course. Gerald passed me there but I was able to stay with him. I had not idea of time....I was just trying to race. At about 4.8 miles, he started to pull away. I would surge to pull myself back and then he'd pull away again. This happened all the way to the end. I couldn't reel him back as hard as I tried. He ended up beating me by 6 seconds. I did however get a great time for myself as a result. I ran 36:20 which is my PR at altitude. This time beat the previous course record by over 40 seconds as it's a slow course. Having completed a 3.5 hour workout the day before, I am thrilled with this performance.

Glenn and I rode for 5 hours following the race. It was very hilly which was great! I felt fantastic the entire ride. Ready for Kona!!!!!

Harvest Moon Race Report 1/2 Ironman Distance

Today was my final triathlon before Ironman World Championships in 4 weeks. It couldn't have gone better! My goal was to have a solid swim and a great run. My swimming had improved a little since my last half ironman on 8/9/09 but my running had improved dramatically. Today was the day to put it to the test.

The Swim

The weather was cold but no wind to speak of so it looked like it would be a perfect day. The gun went off and after a few minutes of the usual getting beat up, things settled. I found the feat of 2 people and stayed with them for 75% of the swim. It was a good pace. I eventually dropped off but felt my swim was pretty good while using very little energy. The swim was short, always a good thing with my swim resume, by about 150-200 yards. My swim time was 27:40.

T1

T1 went smoothly. I put on socks which took a few extra seconds but other than that, it was smooth sailing. T1 time 1:31

Bike

The bike stared off pretty cold due to being wet from the swim. After 10 minutes, I was completely warm and passing a TON of people. I was the next to last wave to start so most the participants were up the road. This proved a bit tricky as some folks weren't riding the way they were supposed to. The were riding on the left so I had to do a lot of shouting that I was coming. After about 15 miles, things started to spread out. This allowed me to just lock into my aero position and go. I never pushed real hard. I went hard enough to set a solid pace but not hard enough up and affect my run. This really paid of toward the end. The final 15 mile section of the bike is pretty tough. This is where I passed the stronger cyclists and I was able to pass them hard due to taking the earlier, faster sections at a reasonable pace. I finished the bike in 2:23:01 for the 7th fastest bike split of the day.

T2

I flew through T2. I didn't need much so just threw on the shoes, grabbed my number, visor and gel flask and took off. Looking at the results, only 2 people got out of t2 faster so I made up time here. I got out in 39 seconds.

Run

I started off easy. I wanted to build into my run. There was no one behind me but one person was ahead of me. He was setting a great pace so I planned to use him at my carrot. I came through the first mile in 6:44. I hadn't gained on the guy in front of me but hadn't lost time either. My second mile was 6:40. Mile 3 was 6:18 and I had gained enough on the guy to realize it was Gordo Byrn. This is a guy who has an 8:30 Ironman with a 2:46 Ironman Marathon on his resume. I was feeling pretty good knowing I was keeping pace with him. Well, that was short lived. I was still running a strong pace, between 6:25-6:35, yet he continued to pull away. I just went inside myself and ran my race. I felt strong the entire way. I dug deep to have a really strong finish. My last mile was 6:10 for a total run time of 1:25:47 good for the 8th fastest run of the day. This was a half ironman run PR of over 4 minutes.

Overall

My final race time was 4:18:36 which was a 5 minute PR for me. I ended up 7th overall and 2nd in my age group (behind Gordo). There isn't anything I would change about how I rode this race. It was just a good day and I accomplished exactly what I set out to do with my bike and run. I'm feeling pretty good about my buildup to Kona. Can't wait to get there!!

A good local Ironman article

There was an article published in today's Gazette that touched on a couple of small things as it relates to training. You can see it here.

How this all started part I

When I started this blog, I stated that I got into running for all the wrong reasons. Here's the story on that. I'll follow up on this with where this has taken me over the past 12 years.

I was always a racquetball player. My Dad got me into it at a young age and I just loved the competition. After moving from California to Colorado in 1995, I took up the sport again after a bit of a hiatus. I was on the court 5 days a week, 2-3 hours at a time. In 1997, my company had a group of people doing the Race For The Cure. I entered with the group with no expectations as I was not a runner. Race day came, it kicked my butt and I finished in 22:20. I was really pleased with this since my sole source of fitness was racquetball, not endurance running. Shortly after finishing the race, a guy from work who I barely knew was bragging about his time. He asked what my time was and after finding out he had ran faster than me said "what a loser" in front of a group of my co-workers. Having grown up with a parent who made a point of telling me all the things I wasn't good at, this hit me where it hurt. I started running at that point with the sole purpose of kicking this guys butt the next time around. Well, the next time around didn't come until the following years Race For The Cure. During this time, I got hooked on racing. I completed my first marathon and did a lot of trail races. When the time came for the 1998 Race For The Cure, I was ready to lay it all out there. I ended up beating this guy by a lot. I finished 4 minutes faster than the year before. When he came across the finish line, I was laying on a massage table near the finish and made a point to tell him good job. I took a lot of pride in that at the time. Now I just feel foolish. I have too much respect for every person who laces them up to race for whatever their personal goals might be. As I said, I got into this sport for all the wrong reasons. It did, however, open my eyes to a different lifestyle that gives my life balance. It's allowed me to do things I never thought I could do. I'll get into that in a later post.

5430 Long Course Triathlon Race Report

On August 9th, I raced my first "official" triathlon of the season. I did an off road triathlon in July but didn't take it too seriously and just tried not to get hurt. This was a race I was taking seriously and was using to gauge my fitness level. I did a mini taper for it only backing off my normal training regimen 6 days out. The distances are the traditional half ironman distances of 1.2 miles swimming, 56 miles biking and 13.1 miles running.

The Swim

I was really excited about this part. I'm not a good swimmer but I have been consistent in the pool of late so was hoping for a result that was better than my usual one. I felt like I was moving well through the water although I never really found a drafting partner so I raced all by myself the entire 1.2 miles. I hit the beach in 32:40 so I was fine with that. Not great but good for me. The actual swim time includes the run up the hill from the beach so my official time was 32:21.

T1

The best laid plans...all to be foiled by my wetsuit. I had everything lined up ready to go. I had mentally gone through the exact order of what was going where for the trek out on the bike to hopefully gain some precious seconds on my competitors. That all came to a halt when I couldn't get my left wetsuit leg pulled over my timing chip band. This cost me valuable time and sent me to a sub par 1:47 transition.

The Bike

Despite the sub par transition, I was very relaxed going into the bike. I know the bike is where I am most comfortable and where I pass the most people. This started immediately. On the one plus mile section leaving Boulder Reservoir to the main bike course, I was passing packs of riders. My only concern was to not get taken out by another rider that was coming outside their line to pass someone in front of them. The packs were big enough that I made the decision to just go hard and pass them all rather than settle in behind the next pack. This worked well and I must have overtaken 30+ people in this section. More importantly, I passed what would be the biggest group of people I would see all day with no crashing. Once on the main bike course, it was smooth sailing. My friend and training partner, Kevin Dessart, had given me some basic but great advice. The night before the race, he said "don't think, just go fast". That rang through my head early and that's exactly what I did. I continued to pass people. I had cleared my head of most thoughts and was just going hard. I knew I was passing a lot of men in my age group early which would bode well for my overall place. I came through the first loop in 1:09:30. It was just feeling really easy. I wanted to negative split it but at this point I was in no mans land so I was getting a bit complacent. Around mile 32, some 19 year old kid passed me like I was standing still. I was excited about that as now I had someone to chase. That didn't last long as I couldn't go that fast without going completely into the red zone. Having him pass me like that jump started me and I was riding harder now than I had at any part of the ride. I was really going well but still wasn't sure where I stood in my age group. About mile 48, I came up on someone I figured to be one of my main competitors and made a hard pass. I really gunned it for the next 8 miles to the finish so I could gain some valuable time on him. I know we are comparable runners so I wanted to make sure that he would have to run well out of his comfort zone to catch me. I finished the second loop on 1:08:08 for a total bike time of 2:17:38.

*Follow up note on that 19 year old kid. I ended up passing him back about 20 miles later. It turns out, he is Ironman legend, Dave Scott's son, Drew. He had a 2:14 bike split. Crazy fast.

T2

I came into transition feeling really good. I hadn't gone at what I felt was a real hard pace and I was really looking forward to the run. When I got in, I noticed that I had the only bike in the racks for my wave. I was thinking that I was in first in my age group unless someone had mis- racked their bike. I had a smooth transition and got out in 1:00.

Run

I started out at what felt like an easy pace with a goal of trying to build into the run. My first 3 miles average 6:55 pace. Near mile 3, there is an out and back section that runs approximately 4/10ths of a mile. It's the only place on the course you can see the competition behind you. Well, that guy I passed at mile 48 of the bike was over 3 minutes behind me at this point so I was feeling pretty good about that development. He was the only person from my age group that I even saw. I was feeling confident in holding my place as I felt like I was just starting to run well. My nutrition on the bike had gone well (Accelerade, gels, water and SaltStick capsules) and was allowing me to play with my pace. I was just having fun while going pretty fast, for me. Around the 9 mile mark, I came up on that same out and back. This time, I saw another competitor from my age group who was only 1:15 behind. He is a better runner than me so it shocked me into a different mode. Where I had been just ticking off miles in the 6:55 to 7:00 minute range, I was now sure I had to step up my game or lose my placing. I ran the quick math in my head and figured he had to run 15 seconds or so per mile faster than me to catch up. I was determined to not let that happen. I went through mile 10 in 6:45, 11 in 6:43, and 12 in 6:49. At the start of mile 13, I just went and went hard. I treated it like the track and went a half mile at the fastest pace I could go at the time knowing that if he was close behind me, I was going to put some distance on him and hopefully break his will. I settled into my regular pace that last half mile and finished that 13th mile in 6:16, my fastest of the day. My final run time was 1:29:59. My total time was 4:23:43 which was good for 1st in my age group. I only won by 1:00. The last 4 miles was the most fun I had all day because it was the first time I felt I was racing someone. I was in no mans land all day and it felt good to be challenged. He had a much better run time than me. Thanks goodness that a bike ride is involved.

My friend Kevin had told me some time ago, "don't stop on the run for anything. If you have to, pee while you're running but don't give away any time ". I came into the run having to pee REALLY bad. I thought about his words at that moment. While I didn't pee on myself, I ended up being so focused that I forgot. Good thing too because had I stopped, I would have lost my place in my age group.

I feel very fortunate to have won my age group at this great race. Looking back on the race, I didn't have any part of it where I felt great. At the same time, I never felt bad and lost time to that. I just felt consistently good for all 3 disciplines and that won out over one discipline of great. I can't wait until my next race!!!

Mt. Evans

Mike, Jim, Kevin, Me and Todd at the top

Last week, a group of five of us went to ride up Mt. Evans. Mike Hagen, Jim Webber, Kevin Dessart, Todd Murray and Ic all drove up together from the Springs for the ride. Mt. Evans is the highest paved road in North America. I was a little unsure about it because I only own a triathlon bike rather than a traditional road bike that is much better suited for climbing. My goal was to not get dropped. We started in Evergreen. This put us 18 miles away from the base of the climb up the mountain. The trek from Evergreen to Mt. Evans climbs the entire way. There were some occasional pulls by the group that spiked the old heart rate throughout that section but it was something we could all deal with. Most importantly, I was never close to getting dropped. We arrived at the base of the mountain which is 14.5 miles from the top. At this point, each mile seemed like it was taking forever. It was just a relentless climb that never ended. One of the guys got a flat on the way up so we stopped. At that time, I realized I had lost a front brake pad. Uh oh.....this was not going to be good on the way down! We kept plugging away and I was just waiting for treeline at about 12000 feet. The reason is I've always had trouble at high altitude so I expected a dropoff in performance. This time, I actually felt great so gave some good pulls and went off. I never got dropped and had a huge snap is my pedaling up high so it was a great ride. We hung out at the top a while but it was starting to get cold and extremely windy. We took a few pictures of the mountain goats and headed down.

I had moved one of my rear brakes to the front to help out. I was VERY cautious coming down with only one brake. I just let everyone take off. At the bottom, the guys were waiting for me. From that point on, we were all just bombing the downhill section into Evergreen. This was the most fun I've ever had on a bike ride and can't wait to do it again. This time with ALL my brake pads so I can bomb the top section on the way down.

Late Race Report

As mentioned in my last post, I raced my first off road triathlon last week. It was an awesome event that included a lot of mud, sand and crashes for us all. The event was small in a gorgeous area of Colorado. The community where is was held is called Westcreek. It sits right in the middle of one of the places hit hardest by 2002's Hayman fire, the largest fire in Colorado's history. It's very sad to see all this beautiful forest destroyed. The swim is on a private lake with the bike and run held on forest service roads and trails.

Race morning started with me getting to the staging area with my gear and getting set up. There had been some rain that week so the lake was on the brown side but still beautiful. I got everything set up and ready to go. I hadn't done an open water swim since last November's Ironman Arizona so the feel of the wetsuit was a little foreign to me. The swim got under way with it's typical frantic start. It settled down after the first 150 yards. I held a steady pace and passed people throughout the swim, never being passed which was nice. The swim was approximately 950 yards according to the folks that were there. I ended up 6th out of the water.

After a smooth swim, I took it easy in transition making sure I got what I needed. I headed out onto the bike feeling great. The out section is all flat or uphill. I really enjoyed this section as I could stay in control on the bike. My biggest concern leading into the race was my lack of mountain biking skills which really show up on descents. Those would come later. I passed a few people on the way out and was still feeling great. At the middle section, there is a steep, sandy climb. The climb itself was no problem. The sand, however, was a huge problem. I came unclipped about halfway up. It was too steep in that section for me to clip in and get going with any momentum so I had to walk it for about 50 yards which really slowed me down. Once I got going again, I continued to climb well. All that climbing on the way out meant the descents were coming. I handled the first roller coaster section of downhill pretty well. Toward the end, there is a really steep downhill section. It's only 200 yards or so but enough to scare the heck out of me. I was riding my rear brake the entire time. I eventually went over the handlebars. I tore my hands up pretty good but didn't get injured. Whew! I would have been so upset with myself if I been hurt during something like this, ruining my chances to compete in Hawaii this October. After I got myself together and got the chain back on the bike, I was off and running. This cost me a few minutes.

I wasn't in a hurry to make it up on the downhill section of the forest service roads so I went fast but didn't push hard enough to have something bad happen. I got back into transition having posted the 3rd fastest bike split but considerably slower than the two guys ahead of me.

Not long before my crash

Having not pushed real hard on the 2nd half of the bike, I felt great going into the run. I went out pretty easy and just built into a nice cadence. I saw the guys ahead of me were too far to catch. I had one woman, a local pro, who was ahead of me and I passed her and after that, I just kind of cruised in. I was going more of a tempo pace than a race pace as I was in no mans land with no one ahead of me and no one behind me. I ended up with the fastest run split of the day and came in 3rd overall. I had an absolute blast and got in a good workout in the process. I'd like to do it again but not until I've gained some mountain bike skills.

Off Road for the first time

Tomorrow, I'll be participating in my first off road tri. It's a low key event put on by the Pikes Peak Triathlon Club. I don't even own a mountain bike. I'm borrowing my friend Glenn's. The promise was to have it cleaner upon returning it than when I borrowed it. I rode the course 2 weeks ago. Not very technical. One steep technical downhill. The goal there will to take it easy and not crash. The swim is approx. 700 yards. The run is 3+ miles (subject to change I'm told) on gravel, sand, trail and water crossings. I'm just going to go hard from gun (except for the steep technical downhill) and see what happens. I'll update with a mini report once I complete it.

A Couple of CRAZY Weeks

What a crazy couple of weeks here in our world. Last time I checked in, I was busy fulfilling obligation of shaving my legs. FYI...I'm still not that inot it. People told me I'd get used to it and would want to keep it. That's not going to happen. On that same day, I celebrated my 40th birthday. Unlike most people, I was really looking forward to it. This meant I would finally get out of that brutal 35-39 year old age group. Moving up meant the fields would still be fast on race day, just not as deep. The plan was to go to dinner, get a good nights sleep, and race my first race as a 40 year old the next morning. Well, that got thrown out the window when I was given a surprise birthday party. Best birthday present I ever received. Great friends were all there and I loved every minute of it. I feel so blessed to have such great people in my life.

1st pic, Terri, Glenn and I

2nd pic Aaron and I

The next morning, I was supposed to meet up with my teammates from Team Bear Naked in Denver. This was to be our first meet and greet of 2009. After the meet and greet, some of us were going to run the Girls on the Run 5k. Before I left that morning, I was advised that my son (39 weeks pregnant) wasn't cooperating but to go ahead and go to Denver. Well, I got up there, spent 10 minutes with my team and got the call. Get your rear end home...contractions are every 6-7 minutes. It was the longest 60 minute drive of my life.

2009 Team Bear Naked Colorado

Ryan Oseland was born 5/30/09. He rules. He just chills out. Such the mellow baby. The following week wasn't mellow. I was home at night with my girls while Momma was in the hospital. Tons of driving getting girls places while getting to the hospital. I'd get an indoor ride in when I could. The second week got better. A routine was established and it's worked for everyone. I'm back up to speed with my training. Life is so full right now but in a very positive way. Ryan just completes everything.

Ryan....future Ironman?

I'm not the man I used to be

This is wrong. Plain wrong. I'm not the man I was 24 hours ago.

Backstory: Sometime a couple of years ago, I was running with a group of friends on our weekly long run. We had been talking goals and someone made the comment "Oh, you'll qualify for Hawaii" as I was training for an Ironman qualifier. This particular group of friends all do the shaved leg thing. Not my cup of tea. I like my hair on my legs. Anyway, after that comment was made, I just absent mindelely said something like "If I qualify for Hawaii, I'll shave my legs". No thought put into it. Just a random statement to keep the conversation going. Fast forward to November 2008. I raced Ironman Arizona and qualified for Hawaii. Almost immediately after the race, my friend Glenn Strebe sent me a text that read "Congratulations, what kind of razor do you like?". I should have known better than to think good ol' Glenn would forget such a nonchalant comment. You don't get to be a CEO of a financial institution in your mid 30's without a good memory.

Present day: I got Glenn to let me off the hook for the leg shaving until late spring. Last night was the time. It was horrible. I started out with clippers to get the long stuff off. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I slowly watched a piece of my manhood disappear. After that, it was the razor to the legs. I gained a whole new appreciation for what women go through everyday. What a pain in the rear.

Future:I'm now counting down the time (less than 19 weeks) until I get to have my leg hair back. Once I compete in Hawaii, I can start growing some of the manhood I lost yesterday back and become complete once again.

2009 BolderBoulder

Over the past 2 weeks, I’ve started to implement some speedwork into my run training. Not enough to have me running very fast but hopefully enough to run this years BolderBoulder faster than last year. I’ve ran 2 track workouts and a hilly 5k the past 2 weeks. I ran 37:35 last year so 37:34 or faster was the goal. I figured it was a 50/50 shot based on my current level of speed. I just wanted to hang tough during those harder middle miles where I struggled last year.

I’m always amazed by the names that I see in the “A” wave that I started in. I was lined up directly next to the two-time defending Ironman World Champion, Chrissie Wellington. I also saw some state high school champions, 2008 Olympian Triathlon Matt Reed, and a bunch of other names that are so fast. It’s real humbling to be running amongst so many great athletes.

The gun went off at 7:00. I pretty much felt like crap from my first step. I just stuck with it hoping I would come around. I had put in a lot of hours the previous week so I was thinking that maybe this is why I was so flat. I went through the first mile 10 seconds slower that the year before yet I felt like I worked harder to do it. This being the easiest mile on the course, I didn’t know what to think. I did a good job of clearing my mind at that point and just doing what I do and run. I knew the tougher part of the course, miles 2 and 3, was coming and would decide how well I did. I hit the foot of the first hill and I started to come around. I found another gear, felt good at that pace, and just went with it. I was real relaxed throughout the rest of the race and just ran within my current level of speed. I just stayed focused and ended up finishing in 37:20. The final 5 miles are kind of a blur. I had cleared my head like I do in an Ironman run as negative thoughts had crept in during that first mile and I knew that could be my downfall. That worked out for me. Now if I could just figure out the reason for feeling so bad during that first mile. I didn’t do a very good warm up so I think that may be the culprit. That’s something I’ll change for my next race. I’m happy with the way I executed the race.

Mile Splits

1. 5:57
2. 6:01
3. 6:08
4. 6:02
5. 5:53
6. 6:04
1:15 final .2
Total 37:20

While the leg turnover isn’t where it needs to be for future races, it was encouraging to know that I’m faster than last year at this point with very little speedwork.

Colorado Marathon

2008 was a good year of sport for me. I PR’d at a lot of different distances at the age of 39. I felt I could succeed at anything in endurance sports. After completing Ironman Arizona at the end of 2008, I thought I’d use that fitness and train for the Colorado Marathon in Fort Collins on May 3rd, 2009. I’ve never ran a marathon I was capable of for a variety of reasons so this would be the time. Well, the offseason came, I gained some pounds and forgot to do a marathon training program. I thought of pulling out but my friend Jim Webber talked me into it. He’s an experienced guy who can run a sub 3 marathon in his sleep so his advice to run using my base fitness (I had been spending a LOT of time on the bike) got me to the starting line.

Pre-Race Goal

I did not have any time goals. I knew that my muscular fitness wasn’t in the same league with my aerobic fitness at this point in the season. With that in mind, I wanted to take it easier on the early downhill miles to save my legs. If I executed this plan, I would consider this race a success.

Pre-Race

As usual, I ate pasta the night before and the morning of the race. I ate my meal about 3 hours prior to the 6:15 start time. I had a banana about 1 hour prior to start time, sipping G2 the whole time. I had slept well the night before so I was ready.

The Race

It was 37 degrees at the start line but no wind and no precipitation. PERFECT! The gun went off with the typical pushing and shoving. I stayed to the outside of those folks and things mellowed out at the ½ mile mark. I started taking the tangents due to the curvy roads. At that point, I was focused on staying relaxed and not being in racing mode. I came through the first mile in 6:55. Felt easy and I was on my way. The next 3 miles were just stupid. There was a downhill that just triggered my “don’t give away free speed” mantra. I would pay for this later. I didn’t bomb the downhill but I could tell by the effort I was giving that I would be paying for this later. My best laid plans, ruined by a rookie mistake in the first 25 minutes of the race. Ugggggg……. At mile 6, I realized that you don’t need to drink quite as much on a cold day. I stopped and relieved myself. This actually helped. By stopping, it calmed me down and the next couple of miles were smooth and relaxed. I knew I was in trouble at mile 8. My left quad started to get sore. Already??!! You have got to be kidding me. It didn’t get any worse right away so at least it wasn’t something that would stop me. At mile 11, I was stopping again to do some business. Note to self…check the weather report for temperature the day before and drink accordingly. I came through the ½ marathon point in 1:30:42. About then, my right calf starting to get sore. Then my right quad, left calf, butt….etc. My lower half was just hurting. Stopped to pee again at mile 16. From miles 14 to about 22, I had slowed down by over 20 seconds a mile. My legs would barely bend at mile 22. Fortunately, a couple of people were ahead of me that I could chase so I focused on form and held it together. I finished the 2nd half of the marathon in 1:37:18 for an overall finishing time of 3:08:00.

Mile Splits

1. 6:55 7. 6:50 12. 6:52 17. 7:12 22. 7:23 last .2-1:21
2. 6:37 8. 6:47 13. 7:03 18. 7:12 23. 7:24
3. 6:42 9. 6:41 14. 6:59 19. 7:47 24. 7:39

4. 6:38 10. 6:53 15. 7:03 20. 7:25 25. 7:45
5. 6:47 11. 7:24-pee 16. 7:51-pee 21. 7:15 26: 7:49
6. 7:55-pee stop

Summary

Overall, the race was a big disappointment. I’m fine with the time since I didn’t have a goal and I didn’t train specifically for this event. I’m just disappointed in my execution of the race. I didn’t do what I intended early on by slowing my of my pace and it did EXACTLY what I knew it would. I won’t let this one go for a while. The anger will fuel me so I guess that’s the only good thing to come from it. It sure wasn’t the sore legs!!

I was a man on a mission. The mission was to qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. I had watched the old coverage of triathlon on Wide World of Sports in the late 80's and was fascinated by the struggle and joy I saw. I knew this was something I wanted to do yet I wasn't even sure what a triathlon really was all about. I thought it would be just a matter of entering a random race, qualifying, and going to Hawaii. Through this journey, I found that is the exact opposite of what it takes to get there. In the mid 90's I moved from Southern California to Colorado Springs, Colorado. There just weren't as many things to do here so I ended up taking up running (for all the wrong reasons...I'll talk about that some other day). I got hooked, did the marathon thing and decided to finally try this triathlon thing in 2000. I absolutely loved it. Forget that I couldn't swim. Forget that my bike weighed way too much for someone of my size. I was hooked on the competitive nature of it. I did a few that season before realizing it was way too expensive for my lifestyle. I backed off from it for the next 4 years. In 2004, I made the decision to sign up for Ironman Coeur d'Alene in 2005. I did some triathlons along the way, completed Ironman Coeur d'Alene and was now committed. The cost piece of triathlon prevented me from doing another one in 2006 but that just gave me an extra year to work on what needed work to qualify for Hawaii. I again entered Ironman Coeur d’Alene 2007. I did well, finishing in 10:31, but didn’t qualify. I did Silverman, an iron distance triathlon, just outside of Las Vegas in the fall of 2007. I did well overall. More importantly, I did well mentally which gave me the belief that I could do anything. I went into 2008 with an attitude. Not an attitude of cockiness but extreme confidence. 2008 would be my year. I did a couple of half Ironman races in 2008 that showed I could be in the running for that elusive qualifying spot. Ironman Arizona was where I would make the attempt. This would be the last one for a while due some upcoming life changing events so I had to get it done now. The race went perfect. I executed everything exactly as planned, went 9:31, and qualified for the World Championships. That’s where I am today. Now I’m training to be competitive with the best in the world in my age group. It’s a huge challenge but one that I relish. Stay tuned for that journey and beyond……..