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……..