Back to Business

I'm back in the groove. Consistent training has again entered my life. After racing in Hawaii last October, I tried to carry over some of that fitness for a bit. I wanted to race the Rock Canyon 1/2 Marathon in Pueblo, Colorado in early December and race it well. Well, my body had other plans and I got sick the week prior. Major bummer as I had held off on taking a proper off season in preparation for this race. That kind of forced me into my off season. I didn't like it initially. The routine of early wake ups was hard to let go of. Eventually, I got used to the extra sleep. Unfortunately, I got used to the lack of discipline with my eating. Let's just say, I wasn't real picky with what I put in my body for those 6 weeks. Between the strength workouts and reduced workout time, I fully planned to put on some weight. I now sit about 10 pounds heavier than my race weight in Kona. The wait gain was by design but not quite that much! The good thing is that it will be easy to get rid of now that I have some consistency back in my workout life.  Even though I was enjoying some down time, I made sure to get at least one 3 hour workout in each week. This was intended to help me to ease into higher volumes down the road. These 3 hours were aerobic in nature but extremely beneficial. I got on the bike for 4 hours this morning. Even thought the weather is the warmest we've seen in months, I was forced to to hit the trainer as I had to get into work. The workout was fantastic. I felt better than expected and I pushed the upper end of my aerobic threshold. Very encouraging.  I'm looking forward to a better season than 2009. I'll touch on my 2010 plans in a future post.

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.