The Long Road To Kona - Chronicles Of An Ironman

Fastest Way to Lose Unwanted Pounds

2011-01-29T17:16:00.002-07:00

Yes, there was a lapse since my last update...that's because I stumbled across a really fast way to lose weight...food poisening! Yay!

Week 3 was chaotic with 73 hours at the office...don't worry though, I was still able to squeeze nearly 17 hours of triathlon practice, which consisted of 5 runs, 4 swims, 4 bike rides.

Monday was going to be a doozy at work. We had a big project/presentation that needed to be done first thing Tuesday morning. So, I knew from the moment I walked into the office it was going to be "game on" until that project done...even if we had to work through the night. I decided not to swim before work, so I didn't roll into the office knackered. It was, indeed, hectic. We worked through lunch, through the afternoon and into the early evening. We decided to order dinner and work through dinner. It was on the company's dime, so I ordered the blue cheese burger (~$12 burger). Within 30 minutes of finishing my burger, my stomach began to let me know it didn't enjoy the blue cheese burger despite the hefty price tag. We finally finished our project at midnight...not before I had to make some mad donkey dashes to the restroom. I went home, fell into bed, and crossed my fingers that everything would sort itself out by morning. At 2am, I relocated my sleeping position to the base of the toilet...not move until noon the following day...with the exception of vomiting intervals....TMI?
By the following evening, I was able to take in fluids again. The next day I went to work and decided not to workout. By noon, I was taking in solids. That evening I did a light spin on the trainer. All seemed to be well within 24 hours of ingesting the blue cheese burger. 48 hours after getting sick, I weighed myself and was 8 pounds lighter. Now I'm trying to figure out how to keep it off...suggestions?

Week 2

2011-01-17T22:29:00.003-07:00

This was my view during my Sunday ride. Just me, the wind and the buffalos.

The second week of this year is done and I closed it out with 18.5 hours of triathlon practice. I was able to log 4 swims (13,550 yards), 6 bike rides (165 miles), 4 runs (20 miles) and 2 strength sessions. The numbers are a bit soft, but it's still really early. I'm just glad to be back in the swing of things. After 9 rides in the new bike position, it's starting to feel much more comfortable. I actually rode outside Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, I climbed Tramway for the first time in 2011. Tramway is a ~7 mile climb that averages 5%; it's on the north east part of town. I've climbed it, literally, hundreds of times, and it seems almost all rides in Albuquerque end with a climb up Tramway. So, you learn to get used to it. So Saturday I opened my Tramway account, and Sunday I did it three more times doing big gear work. The photo above is from the Tramway climb.

I weigh myself at the beginning of each week, and this week I trimmed off 3 pounds. I can honestly say that's all from training because I ate really poorly. My Coke and chocolate consumption this week was through the roof. There's a positive linear relationship with my work schedule and my chocolate and Coke consumption. These are my two vices. But in the words of Oscar Wilde, "I can resist anything but temptation".

This is a photo I snapped the other morning. I don't know if you've seen these; it's a credit card enabled air pump...the kind you use at gas stations.

This is a fair representation of our economic state of affairs. Businesses are trying to squeeze every last penny out of its customers for every marginal, incremental good or service; and in so doing, they're killing their businesses. What happened to the good 'ol fasion gas service station where the air was free? What about when restaurants charge for refills? I went to McCormick and Schmick and got a Coke with my dinner. I asked for a second, and a third, and so on and so fourth. When I got the bill, they charged me $2 for each refill. That was years ago, and I've never gone back. And, I'll never go back! What about the airline industry charging for baggage? Flying a family of 6 to any destination is an expensive proposition...try paying an additional $600 for luggage. The decision to charge for luggage is so detestable to me, it's completely modified my choice of flying...if it's not Southwest, it's the car. I hope every airline goes out of business and Southwest rules the skies forever! And, finally, have you ever looked through the charges after visiting the doctor? What about the cost of a surgery? It's staggering. If you had to pay out of pocket for your medical bills, the life expectancy in America would drop like the ball on Times Square.

Sorry this is my rant...I'll limit my biases going forward.

Week 1 Finished

2011-01-09T16:57:00.004-07:00

Elise Swimming at My Pool: the Academy Natatorium

I spent the weekend with my oldest daughter at her first swim meet of 2011. It was short course yards (SCY), and her first SCY meet in nearly a year. We were excited to see how she would fair. She's been swimming on a year-round team (Duke City Acquatics) for nearly two years now. She's really starting learn her strokes and get some speed now. What was more exciting was it was being held at the pool my Masters Team meets: The Academy Natatorium. On Saturday, she swam the following: 50yrd backstroke, 100 yard freestyle, 50yrd butterfly, 100 yrd breaststroke, and the 200yrd IM. Of these events, she was able knock off 3-5 seconds and move up 3-4 heats. On Sunday, she swam 200yrd freestyle, 50yrd breaststroke, 50yrd freestyle, and 100yrd IM. What's crazy is her recorded 200 free time was 3:19.56. Today she swam 2:38.11...That's more than a 40 second improvement. That's huge! Her next swim meet is the first week of February in Los Alamos...hopefully she can get nuclear and qualify for the state SCY championships at the end of February.

As for my training, it was an abreviated week because I was on the road all day Monday coming home from Boulder. It was a crazy work week, and I spent Saturday morning and Sunday morning at Elise's swim meet.

That being said, I had 11 hours of training, which consisted of 2 swims, 4 runs, 3 bike rides, and 1 weight lifting session. An ideal week of training would be 4-5 swims, 4-5 runs, and 5 bikes with 2 weight lifting sessions. I knew this week was going to be tough to squeeze in much volume primarily because of work and family related time constraints. My primary focus on the bike is to learn to get comfortable with the new position. Otherwise, I'm really trying to find my speed, which I lost training for iron distance events.

One really tough workout I just finished was a brick. A brick is a double workout (i.e. bike/swim or swim/bike) strung together as one workout. I like to do at least one brick a week, which are generally done Thursday nights in my Speed Lab (future blog entry). Todays brick was the last twenty miles of the Buffalo Springs Half Ironman course on the computrainer immediately followed by a 1:15 tempo run. I was able to hold 22 mph on the Buffalo Springs course and finished just under 1 hour. I immediatly got off my bike and changed into my running clothes and went outside and ran. From my house, I have a running loop that if I start east has lots of climbing. The other way has lots of downhill. I went east into the hills. My legs felt really good and I held my pace under 8 min/mile. I was able to run 9 miles in 1:15. Total elevation gain was just under 1000 feet.

I'm hoping next week the volume will be up again...fingers crossed. We'll it's time for me to go and make the family Sunday traditional dinner: meat loaf and gnocci.

Week 1, 2011 Coming to a Close

2011-01-07T18:47:00.002-07:00

It's the first week of 2011 and I'm still trying to get my bearings in terms of training and racing plans. I'm sort of going through the training motions at the moment until I get a free moment to really plan things out. I have a tentative schedule of events...but nothing set in stone. I really would like to do 4-5 half ironmans this year and ultimately qualify for the 70.3 world championships in Las Vegas. At a high level, that's all I got. I'm sort of going through an identity crisis because I spent the latter part of 2009 and all of 2010 in full iron distance training mode, which, oddly, I really like. However, I'm not signed up for any iron distance races in 2010 and it's killing me. I keep looking at other non-Iron Man (WCS) iron distance races and wondering if I should just roll with my 2010 training level and continue. I've looked at the Rev3 Sandusky, Ohio event on Sept. 11. I've looked at the full-distance Vineman in Sonoma, Ca in July. There's also the Redman full in Oklahoma City in September. The only reservation I have about these events are they wouldn't be Kona qualifyers. The only Ironman events still open are St. George and Louisville, KY. I've done St. George and am not sure that's the best course for me. I hear lots of bad things about Louisville...plus it's a real travel challenge. Arg! Why can't this be like bike racing or a foot race where I can sign up the morning of...and they're local?!?

On another note, I rode the new bike for the first time, and the fitter was right...it's going to take a little time to adapt to the new position. It seems like I have to use more strength in my arms and shoulders to support myself. I'm confident, though, that I'll adapt given time and stick-to-it-ness.

One thing I'm finding about tri training relative to other endurance sports, is it's a very solitary training sport. At least it seems that way for me. The most social training I do is swimming. I generally ride alone because my workouts are very structured and I have the obvious time constraints as any other human does. I run alone too because I like to maintain a targeted pace. I do run with a co-worker, but our schedules often conflict. I try to run with my dog, but she's still a bit young to do really long runs...and, I do most of my running at lunch break at work. With swimming, I swim on a masters team, and our lane is very social. Sometimes we're too social and we don't get the entire swim in. However, as I get close to an event I try to swim alone and do longer sets.

Bike racing is very social. There's group rides to talk about who's doing what. There's teams and clubs that hang out and train together. There a high schoolesque social mentality as well.

I'm just rambling...so I'll end now. I'll post week one's results soon.

2011 and Guess Who's Back!

2011-01-04T20:17:00.004-07:00

2010 is in the books, and guess what I made as one of my new years resolutions?...yep...updating my journey to Kona, which, incidentally still goes on. I'm not going to lament that I pretty much ignored this blog all last year. Instead, I'm going to move forward.

Here's a quick recap of 2010(not necessarily in chronological order):

-Finished Ironman St. George (my second)

-Purchased our new home (just one month before St. George...not a good idea!

-Got a new computer after destroying my other one while moving...including my special indulgance--Bose Speakers

-Bailed on doing Ironman Canada...you have to be a bit mad to try 3 ironmans in 1 year

-Turned 40...wasn't as bad as I thought it would be

-Got a smoker and smoked lots of ribs, salmon, a turkey, and some prime rib...lots of things still to smoke though

-Rode my bike >10,000 miles (98% on my TT bike)

-Ran 1,100 miles

-Swam 473,044 yards

-Finished Ironman Arizon (third Ironman) in 10:20...20 minutes and 6 spots out of qualifying from Kona

-Destroyed my TT bike on the way to Ironman Az

-Took the kids to the beach and Disneyland (a couple of days after IMAZ...wonderful way to recover)

-Bought my new super-duper TT bike.

It was a very eventful year though I only did 3 races...2 ironman distance races and 1 olympic. This year's focus is going to be qualifying for Ironman 70.3 world championships in Las Vegas. It's a bit of detour from trying to qualify for Kona, but it'll improve my speed and give me some time to refresh for 2012. In 2012 I'm thinking of going after 2 more full iron distance events...Lake Placid and one other yet to be decided event.

Currently I'm on a bit of a forced break. After my TT bike got destroyed, I spent some time riding my road bike. I rode a bit too hard, too early and started to develop some IT band issues. I'm about to try to run again (after being off for a week) in a few minutes. Wish me luck.

During the "off-season" I like to spend some time making slight adjustments and trying to find the "Low hanging fruit" that can provide some improvements for the up coming year. Well, I spent last weekend in Boulder getting a bike fit at Retul. See Pictures:

I chose this fitter because he's worked with Lance, Levi, Craig Alexander, Tim O'Donell, and quite a few other heavy hitters. It's a bit difficult going to a bike fit with a whole new, unridden bike and try to improve your position without a referrence point to begin with. My prior bike was destroyed on I-40 near Holbroke, AZ, and it wasn't really possible to duplicate the position. So, this was a ground zero project. It took nearly three hours, and the resultant position will take some adaptation. I'm hopeful that it will yield some speed/time gains both on the bike and the run.

I still have a few other tricks up my sleeve for next year to squeeze every ounce of speed out of this little ol' squaty body of mine.

Here's a closing picture of my sweet little Lilly who's my running partner:

New Addition To The Family

2010-06-07T15:10:00.003-06:00

Friday Night we bought a 5 week old female Weirmaraner puppy. My wife named her Lily. I've kinda been looking for a dog that I can run with. A mastiff is a great dog, and will always be my first choice in breed...sadly, they weren't built to run. So, after discussing various breeds, we came to a comprimise at the Weim. It'll be a while before she can join me for runs, but the kids are really enjoying her in the interim.

St. George: The Set Up and The Swim

2010-06-04T10:34:00.000-06:00

We left Albuquerque Wednesday around noon with the intention of spending the night in Las Vegas. Our plan was to have breakfast the next day in Las Vegas then drive the rest of the way to St. George by noon. Racer check-in was Thursday; this is what happens with you have a Saturday race that is a point-to-point and requires multiple transitions.

We later found out why they say “The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry”

As we were driving between Winslow and Flagstaff, the freeway was shut down because of an extreme windstorm. Semis were being blown over, freeway signs were snapped, and there was zero visibility. We ended up spending the night in lovely Holbrook; Winslow didn’t have electricity, so we had to backtrack to Holbrook.
We woke up the next morning to find it was still just as windy. We threw everything in the car and scrambled to get on the road before they shut down the freeway again. Five miles past Winslow, the freeway was at a dead stop. I got out of the car and saw that there were cars and diesels as far as eye could see. After a nervous one-and-a-half hours of having the car parked on the freeway-turned-parking lot, traffic started moving again. We took off knowing full well the freeway could close at any moment…it was do or die!

Once we got to Flagstaff, the coast was clear and we headed north. Along the way we saw the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, and Zions National Park. Along the way, I realized I wasn’t going to make check-in. I made a few phone calls and found out the race organizers were going to have an additional race check-in Friday morning from 8AM to 10AM.

We finally got into St. George, checked into our hotel, ate dinner and crashed.

Early the next morning, I went to the IronMan St. George race headquarters to check in. There were about 30 of us who were caught in the same storm; each of us had our own tale. There was also another line for athletes to pre-register for the 2011 IronMan St. George; there were only 10 people. That was alarming. All the other events I’ve been to, this line is usually hundreds deep.

As I made my way through race headquarters, there was a universal look of terror on the athletes’ faces. I wondered what I was missing. I overheard some conversations: “The water is 54 degrees”, “There’s too much climbing”, and “It’s windy”. Here’s a little secret: stay away from race headquarters! There’s a negative energy. Some people aren’t confident in their training. For others, it’s their first IronMan distance race. For whatever reason, they seem to congregate at race headquarters and talk doom-and-gloom. It’s not healthy. It’s, basically, a form of forfeit. It’s looking for an excuse to do poorly. I left as quickly as I could.

I went back to my hotel and readied my T1 bag, my T2 bag and my special needs bags. I only packed a bike special-needs bag for the occurrence of a freak winter storm. I got my bike ready too. I went with a friend to the lake to do a brief pre-race swim. We made our way to Sand Hollow Reservoir. St. George was Beautiful. As we arrived, there were a lot of other athletes there too trying the waters. I slipped on my wetsuit and neoprene cap and got in the water. It was so cold! When I put my head under water, my face was really sore. My breathing increased by an additional fifty percent. For a moment, I grew nervous thinking about race day morning. But, after about ten minutes, my face got used to the water (or went numb) and I was able to relax. Swimming was effortless and relaxing. The key was to get the face used to the cold and the wetsuit would do the rest. After the swim, I jumped on the bike and prerode the start of the course. It was strange riding the actual course; I’d trained on virtual reality Computrainer version of the course nearly 100 times. Now it was the real deal.

Afterwards, I dropped my bike off and my T1 bag. I memorized the water and walkways to visualize my water exit and transition on race day.

Next, we drove back to St. George proper and dropped off the T2 bag at the designated transition from bike-to-run location. In a point-to-point race, there are two different locations for T1 and T2. I’m not a big fan of point-to-point races because they make race set up very technical, and they’re usually not spectator friendly. A non-point-to-point race has T1 and T2 at the same location. IronMan Arizona is like this. When you go to drop off your transition stuff the day before the race, you only need to go to one place. You start the race at the same place you finish. Also, the non-point-to-point race provides lots of times your friends and family can see you during the day. When you family has sacrificed a lot for you to do an IronMan, it’s a bit of a let down if they only get to see you a couple of times during the day. IronMan Arizona is perfect in this sense. They can watch you during the majority of the swim, they see you three times on the bike, and multiple times on the run. If you wanted to watch the IronMan St. George swim, you had to catch a shuttle to the location (you couldn’t drive your own car to the location) early in the morning and wait to be shuttle back after all the swimmers were done. Sadly, this made it impossible for Tanya and the kids to watch the swim start.

After setting up T2, I came home and spent the rest of the day relaxing. The girls went and got pedicures. I watched a lot of TV and drank lots of fluids. I tried to spend as much of the day as possible off of my feet and out of the sun. After dinner, I took some Ibuprofen PM and passed out.

Race day morning the alarm went off at 4AM. I was still really groggy from the Ibuprofen PM. I freaked a bit realizing how hard I slept the night before the race. That never happens! I started my pre-race routine. I shaved and showered, got dressed, ate two peanut butter bagels and my mocha cappuccino protein shake, and took some Imodium. I spent a little bit of time stretching, gathered my things, and Tanya took me to the athletes drop off. Because the race was point-to-point and there was limited parking at the reservoir, athletes had to come to a main meeting spot in the city and get bussed to the reservoir. There must have been 50 school buses waiting. The line to get in a bus went quickly. It was still dark outside as we drove to the reservoir. I was worried I’d have to share my seat with someone freaking out. I got lucky and sat next to an older lady who has already done 20 Ironmans. She’s already qualified for Kona and was just doing this for fun. She wasn’t phased by all the rumors and worries; she’d seen it all already. Her confidence was reassuring.
When we got to the reservoir, I jumped in line to use the porta-potty. Talk about a slow line with lots of nervous energy. I blocked out everything I heard while I waited. Thirty minutes later I was able to use the porta-potty and go to the next task. I was able to get things set up at T1. I slipped on my wetsuit and walked over to the water start. I had a cold can of Redbull in my hand. I began to rub it on my face to begin the numbing sensation. It really helped. As I looked into the eyes of many of the athletes, there was a lot of fear. Some people looked as if there were just about to storm the beach of Normandy. While the pros started, my friend and I stretched. We weren’t allowed to get in the water until the pros left. Finally, we made our way into the water. There were so many of us. We were all starting at once. It dawned on me that starting area was a bit too narrow. I got in the water quickly and began putting my face in the water. It wasn’t bad. It only took a couple of minutes this time to feel relaxed. I looked back to see more-and-more athletes making their way into the water. Some were just standing on the beach not wanting to get in. I swam a few hundred yards to get my heart rate up. We were minutes away from the start. I could vaguely hear the announcer shouting. I made my way close to the front of the group. I relaxed and took in the moment. I was so happy. I couldn’t think of anywhere else in the world I wanted to be. I was so thankful to be there at the start line and feel healthy. I felt like I did everything I could have done to be prepared. I was confident I’d do well. I said a little prayer to myself and waited for the start.

Finally, the announcer started to count down. Then, with a loud gun shot, the race started. It was chaos with all those athletes starting at once. I swam over people; people swam over me. I was hitting and kicking people and people were doing the same to me. I started out doing the lifeguard swim with my head up, so I didn’t get my face kicked. This part of the race generally lasts a couple of minutes before there’s enough separation between you and the other swimmers, and you can start your earnest swim. However, the separation didn’t seem to happen. We were all over each other for what must have been 1000 meters. My neck started to get really sore from holding my head up out of the water. Finally, after turning two buoys, I was able to get enough room to swim. I was madly searching for someone I could draft off. I’d find someone, get on their hip, and begin drafting only to find they were too slow. So, I’m move forward to the next person. Still the same story though. Finally, after three-quarters of the swim ended, I found two people that kept an honest pace. We blew through lots of people who went too hard at the beginning and were now fading. On the final left hand turn, there was about 500 meters to the water exit. I decided to pick up the pace. I thought I’d ditched the two swimmers, but they were still on my feet. Every once in a while, they’d hit my feet. They day before, my wife and daughters got a pedicure, now I was getting mine. When I exited the water, I turned to see who the two other swimmers were….they were two girls: Figures!

In November 2008, I did IronMan Arizona and I swam a 1:07. My goal was to break the 1 hour. I spent a year-and-a-half swimming masters and averaging 12,000-15,000 yards a week. Over that time frame, my speed increased dramatically. My form was better. I moved up two lanes to a faster group. I really wanted to see the fruit of my efforts. When I got out of the water, my swim split was 1:07 again! Sure, I was better by a few seconds. I was livid. All those early mornings I got up for Masters and I still got the same time. Sure, it was a different course and the start was so tough. But, it seemed like a slap in the face to get the exact same time.

St. George Race Report - Preface

2010-06-01T16:46:00.003-06:00

As many of you are aware, I haven’t been very diligent in keeping up with my blog the past months. Truth be told, I was just too tired…lame right? Well, I’ve had a few people mention that I have neglected things for too long. So, I’m back.

In November of 2009, I set out a 6-month training program for IronMan St. George. The program progressively increased in volume of training load. My biggest training week was greater than 25 hours, and I consistently averaged 16-22 hours per week over the entire 6 months. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I got up at 4:50 AM to swim with my Masters group. After getting the kids settled at night, I spent numerous hours late in the evenings riding my indoor bike trainer. I ran and lifted weights during my lunches during the weekdays. Saturdays and Sundays were my biggest training days of the week. Add in a full-time demanding job, a full-time student wife, four kids ranging 12-5 years of age, and moving into a new house, and you’ve got a better picture of what my life was like for the last 6 months. It was nuts!

If I were to tell you that every thing went off without a hitch, I’d be a liar. If I were to tell you I didn’t have regrets, again, I’d be a liar. The toll that such an undertaking takes is tremendous. It wasn’t just my commitment; it was my wife’s and my children’s. The whole family gave something for my ironman. If doing an Ironman is something you’re considering, be forewarned, it’s not just you that sacrifices blood, sweat, and tears.

There were times I was so exhausted, it was all I could do to get out of bed. I had an insatiable appetite and I couldn’t stop eating. I was grumpy; I was mean; I was moody. Sometimes I would be at work and I couldn’t get my brain to engage. People, who knew how hard I was training and how exhausted I was, questioned my sanity. People, who knew how much of a sacrifice my wife was making, questioned her sanity. Things around the house were neglected. This, perhaps, was one of the greatest strains our family has faced…and believe me, we’ve had some doozeys!

But, after it’s all said and done, I am extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished these last 6 months as a family unit…and some help from others. My wife finished two semesters of classes with nearly all As. My oldest daughter, Elise, has kept up straight As and has consistently progressed in her year-round swim program. Ethan has continued to do well in school and is really excelling in basketball and football. Grace is doing well at school, and is progressing with her piano lessons. And, little Mia is growing up to be a big girl; she’s just completed kindergarten and has consistently made her school lunches and got herself ready everyday for school.

It was my original intention this year to complete IronMan St. George (Done), IronMan Canada, and IronMan Arizona. Over the last 6 months, it has become abundantly clear to me that this task is impossible for me at this stage of life. So, The ammended 2010 schedule will be IronMan St. George and IronMan Arizona with some smaller stuff thrown in in the interim. Since St. George I've taken some time off to step back and reintegrate myself into reality. It's been nice. I have a canoe trip with my son and extended family scheduled next week in southern Utah (Moab) for 4 days. I've just been doing some maintenance training (<10 hours a week). I start training for IMAZ in earnest July 4th...that will give me 5 months. I'm sure, after everything I've written above, you're thinking I'm nuts for doing again. During St. George it dawned on me...I love doing this stuff. I love the energy I get from the spectators. I love knowing I'm doing something most would never consider attempting. I love pushing myself further than what I previously considered possible. If I could do it full-time, I would. If it paid the bills, I'd quit my job right now. I love being my childrens hero. I hope to do 100 ironman distance races over my life.

YAY! Recovery Week

2010-01-04T15:40:00.000-07:00

My third week is up for this month and I’m in recovery mode…truthfully…mentally I was in recovery mode long before the end of the week. I ended the week with 17 hours. I have some small issues cropping up and I’m not able to run like I want to. I only completed 1 of my scheduled 4 runs this week. I made up the lost time on the bike taking part in extra-curricular rides. It was fun. I rode over 200 miles this week. Friday was the resolution ride…and it was cold. Saturday was another group ride that included a hard pace up Placitas…an 8 mile climb at an average of 5%. I made the final selection in the climb the ended with 4 other headbangers…the rest of the group dropped off along the ascent. When we finally regrouped with the rest of the riders, I was chastised for pushing too hard in January. I don’t mind pushing hard every once in awhile…I generally ride alone and at a very controlled, disciplined pace. And, I wanted to see if the Computrainer was helping my cycling efficiency. All indicators point to an improvement. We won’t really know though until May 1…hopefully, though, I can carry some improvements through beyond December and January. Honestly, I felt like the group ride was way too easy. I kept looking at my HR monitor and seeing sub-120, which is below my aerobic training zone. This, basically, is a recovery ride. The computrainer never lets you get away with such an easy ride. When you ride alone, there’s no draft either. That being said, it’s nice to be able to socialize with something other than an Ipod…training alone may be more effective and efficient…but it’s lonely.

Sunday morning, I had my final swim workout. It consisted of a 400 warm-up with 25X100 at an AT pace. I did these leaving on the 1:50. I completed all the 100s between 1:20 and 1:30 giving myself 30-20 seconds rest between sets. It doesn’t seem like much of a workout, but it’s really a butt-kicker by the end. The goal is to gradually increase the sets until I hit 50X100. I started at 18, did 20, and just moved up to 25. The workout takes a little over an hour, but this one packs a punch. I’ve heard of pros doing 100X100, leaving at a faster time…maybe someday.

Today’s my first day of trying to eat healthy again. I went to the grocery store and bought lots of fruits and healthy things. I need to get my weight back down…hopefully 155lbs by May 1. At that weight, I think I can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. I’m trying to cut out eating soda, chocolate, and fast food and focus my appetite towards better quality. I’ve done it before…I once went a whole year without eating chocolate. But for me, the real challenge comes after a few long weeks of training…then I eat everything in front of me--Regardless of quality. I’ve eaten Oreos, granola, cottage cheese with salt and vinegar chips all in the same meal. It doesn’t matter. Twenty-plus hours of training will give you a veracious appetite. The one indulgence I’m allowing myself is Red Bull. I know it’s not the best for me….But I NEED IT!

Penultimate Week of the Year

2009-12-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

Last weeks triathlon practice ended up being 14 hours with 13500 yards of swimming, 15 miles of running, and 125 miles of bike. When you look at the totals, it doesn’t seem to be much. But, I’m really feeling it. I’m not sure if it’s the combination or the mix of activities, but I’m having a hard time recovering. I sleep more. I eat more. But, I just feel beat up. On Christmas day, I had to do a 2 hour ride with 12 X 1:30 min climbing intervals. Once the all the presents were open and the kids were lost in Christmas La-La land, I bundled up and went outside with my training buddy, Silvio, and finished my prescribed workout. We went to La Luz road, which is a 3-mile climb that averages 8%. The first 4-5 intervals were hard but didn’t seem to affect me. After the 8th, I was feeling it. By the time I hit 12….I was done. It was a hard workout.

Christmas was good. The kids got some good presents. I picked out an Adidas jacket and pants for Elise and had a friend embroider her swim team logo, Duke City, on the front and her last name on the back. I also got her a bag with the same embroidery. She really liked. It’s funny when she wears the jacket and pants; she looks like a little jock-ette. I picked out an historical NFL book for Ethan. He seemed to be excited about that. Tanya took care of the Grace and Mia’s gifts. Mia’s big present was a Easy Bake Oven. We spent the morning making cakes and cookies. She was really excited about that.

This week seems to be just as hard, if not harder, than last week in terms of training schedule. I am planning on doing the Resolution Ride on Friday, which is a 100 mile ride. This is not part of my training schedule. I’ve done this ride for the past 7 years. It’s done regardless of weather conditions. I can remember the second year I did the ride, the wind was so fierce, we would travel 8 MPH into the headwind and not hear anything but the wind howling and travel 35MPH with the tail wind and hardly any effort. It was an epic day! With the ride down and back to where the Resolution Ride starts, it turns out to be a 120 mile day. It’s a fun way to ring in the New Year. I was a bit disappointed though because Masters was cancelled Friday morning. I wanted to do the double—swim/Resolution Ride.

With the New Year, comes New Year’s Resolutions. I haven’t really spent much time thinking about my resolutions. I guess more of the same…train better, eat better, show up ready for my events. It seems all of my time is already spent working towards a goal. I can hardly imagine doing more or adding a new goal. I just want 2010 to be like 2009. It was an alright year. Looking through my training logs, I put in roughly 730 hours of triathlon practice. I would consider myself blessed if I can manage that training load and keep up with all my other obligations. That’s enough for me.

Christmas Message

2009-12-22T21:59:00.003-07:00

As I read through the news and reflect on the last couple of years of my life, certain thoughts come to my mind...thoughts of experiences, both good and bad. I know there are people hurting right now...hurting because they've lost their jobs and can't provide for their loved ones. There are people hurting because they don't know where there next dollar or meal is going to come from. They've been pushed into a corner...they've been dogged by humiliation. It seems this is every day's news story. It's the same story big town or small. I can't help but wince at the news because I was there just a couple years ago. We were on the brink of financial ruin with no where to turn. It was the hardest time in my life. The anguish of not being able to provide for my family was overwhelming.

Fast forward a few years, and, by all appearances, we survived...we turned the corner. But, the rawness of the experience is still tangible. I reflect on the past and can finally discern what was gained and lost by the experience. I learned that I love my family...my wife and my children. As a father and a husband, my greatest pride is being able to provide for them. I want to do everything to help my wife and children reach their fullest potential and live a full life. That is what's most important to me.

While growing up...I was taught many things both in word and deed. Up until this experience, those things seemed to be important. But, during those tough financial years, it all seemed to melt away. Not knowing if you'd be able to make the mortgage or bring home groceries was the priority. Nothing seemed to alleviate the stress and anxiety. Ultimately, all that was left was my desire to adequately provide for my family. What kind of man would I be if I could not do that?

What does this have to do with Christmas? Well, if you see someone or know of someone down on their luck, offer a prayer for them. If you can spare something for them, do so. The reality is everyone is just a razor's edge from being forced to live such a reality...especially in these challenging times. No one's immune. No one's invulnerable. Luck changes. You never know...you just might be the one asking for help some day. Don't look at the person in need as someone being cursed for a bad deed, but, rather, imagine yourself in his or her shoes. Offer a prayer.

Training Blah Blah Blah!

2009-12-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

The first week of my second training block is done and I was able to put in 18.5 hours in the triathlon office. I swam 13,000 yards, rode 150 miles, ran 19 miles and did an hour of core/strength training.

My workout volume, though not as high at last year, seems to be a real challenge because the workouts are very focused and effective. The computrainer really makes my bike workouts much more meaningful than “just riding”. Saturday I had a 4 hour ride scheduled, so I joined a group ride. It was amazing how well I rode. Part of the ride was an extended gradual climb up to the Jemez Dam…I was the first one to the top. Me and a friend left the group and did our own extended ride. At the end of the day, we had 5 hours, and my legs were really strong. Part of the focus emphasized with the Computrainer is cadence work. When I ride, I try to keep my cadence/RPMs at 90 or above at all times. This is done by managing my gears. The focus has really shown a marked efficiency, which translates into a great average speed. One thing bad about the Computrainer was I felt a bit rusty in the peloton, which took a good hour or so to get used to. It’s not too much of a concern though because all my races are non-draft legal. One more point with the Computrainer is that you always have to work…there’s no hiding in a draft as in a group ride. I was very much surprised how little effort is necessary to draft at the back of a big group ride…it’s hardly a productive ride.

In other news, I got my Christmas shopping done. I had some ideas of some gifts not necessarily requested, but things that would be nice. If they don’t work out…there’s always Tanya gifts that followed Santa requests. The downside to balancing the check book in the family is you end up knowing what you’re getting for Christmas…no surprises. I guess the surprises should be for the kids anyways. I’m getting a Garmin Edge 500 GPS for the bike…I’m excited.

Saturday was a pretty eventful day with the kids. I took them grocery shopping with me at Whole Foods. My youngest, Mia, was chasing my son around the store and knocked down a display box of champagne sending eight bottles crashing to the ground. It was very loud and about eleven workers came running straight away to see what happened. Mia was terrified and instantly started crying. I put her in the cart and she didn’t seem to mind. Afterwards, Ethan requested we have crab for dinner…none of the kids have ever had crab. So I bought some pre-cooked Alaskan king crab legs. We came home and had clam chowder with crab legs…the kids tore through the crab in minutes. They had some much fun cracking open the crab and eating it. It was fun and definitely worth doing again soon.

This week is Christmas week and my training plan doesn’t take into account the holidays. I’m going to push through and try and be 100%, but that includes a 2.5 hour ride on Christmas. The weather forecasts call for a high possibility of snow—white Christmas’s are a bugger when you’re trying to train. Wish me luck!

I Thought This Was A Recovery Week!

2009-12-11T09:36:00.002-07:00

This Computrainer is kicking my ass!

We initially bought it for convenience. I could be at home and be able to train while being there for the kids, which would afford my wife the freedom to do school work or attend classes. That the Computrainer was supposed to make you faster wasn't really a factor...everything makes that promise.

Well, Computrainer does make you faster. It's not by magic or some special pill. In my experience, there are no easy improvements, no get-rich-quick realities, no something for nothing. In fact, my personal axiom has always been "If it aint hard, it aint worth having." We'll Computrainer makes you faster the old fasion way: hard, hard work! I can't ride the damn thing without killing myself. If it isn't the pacer, it's the terrrain. If it aint the terrain, it's something else. No matter how I dice it, I've finished each work out and just crawled to bed falling asleep well before my head hits my pillow.

Last night my intent was to ride "easy" and maintain a consistent >90RPM cadence. It was an 1:15 ride. The first 15 minutes were easy. Then the horses inside me wanted to get loose...and by golly, they did! When the 1:15 was over, I met my >90 RPM cadence goal, but "easy" went out the window. My average HR and watts was in zone 3, I beat my pacer, and, once again, I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow. When 4:50 AM rolled around, it was all I could do to wake up, and I was dragging the whole workout. I'm still feeling it...and I've already finished my first RedBull...maybe I need another. Gosh, this better translate into really fast bike splits!

Week 3

2009-12-08T15:25:00.002-07:00

The picture above is from my Saturday morning ride. The weather has been extremely cold here, and rather than fight the elements to get in a marginal workout, I rode my Computrainer and previewed the first 60 miles of the St. George IronMan course. It’s a doozey! There’s one point when I was climbing at an 11% grade for more than a mile. The course appears to be covered with lots of chip seal, and I counted at least four cattle guards up to the top of the climb. I ran out of time before I finished the descent, so I don’t know if there are cattle guards on the way down—very dangerous. One year during the Tour of Gila bike race, someone’s front wheel got caught in the opening between cattle guards and sheered off his front fork while traveling at 30+MPH. He took the total fall on his face and had to be air-lifted by helicopter to the hospital.

For the week, I had 17.5 hours of triathlon practice. I swam 13,600 yards, rode my bike 136 miles—all indoor on the computrainer, ran 24 miles, and spent an hour strength training. I’m enjoying my recovery week now. The big weeks haven’t even come close to starting but my training program seems to be working me over pretty good.

My 2009 BAMF Recommendation

2009-12-03T15:25:00.001-07:00

As it approaches the end of the year, I’ve decided to offer my suggestion for the 2009 BAMF award. The BAMF acronym is Bad Ass Mother F#@$&* and denotes someone who’s very tough and accomplishes something significant in the face of great obstacles.

My recommendation goes for Maria Ladd, a local triathlete I’ve met through my Masters swim team. Maria is a high school English teacher. By all appearances she’s your standard high school teacher. She’s quiet and somewhat soft spoken. But, her personal fortitude seems to speak for itself.

Maria just recently completed Ironman Arizona and in so doing, improved her personal best time by 50 minutes. She raced a full schedule this season that included Boulder 5430 long-course—she ran 5 minutes faster than me--and the Elephant Man triathlon and others races I’m not aware of. Her big goal was to qualify for Kona at IronMan Arizona, which is really challenging because the race occurs the third week of November. Having a full-year of racing that ends toward the end of November is really hard because of mental and physical fatigue and inclement weather. Winter struck hard a month before the race, yet she soldiered through and kept her training program. Two weeks before IronMan Arizona, she was running on a public trail with a group and was attacked by an unharnessed dog. The dog left its mark in the middle of her thigh. For many this may have been the nail in the coffin for the season…not for her. She seemed unphased and trained through. On race day, Maria let her legs do the talking and shaved significant time off her prior personal best time. By last year’s IronMan standards, she would have won her age category and got the golden ticket to Kona. Last year she finished in third place and there are only two Kona slots allocated to her age category. This year, with a dramatically faster time, she ended up seventh. The top three positions were completed in times akin to the 35-39 Male age group category.

Not one to wallow in self-pity, Maria was back swimming at Masters three days after Ironman Arizona. The following weekend, she ran the local Thanksgiving 5k Turkey Trot and was the 2nd place overall female finisher. Now that’s BAMF!

Week 2's Results

2009-11-30T10:04:00.002-07:00

I finished the week with 16.5 hours of triathlon practice...I was scheduled for 11.5 hours. The days off for Thanksgiving holiday and the constant urging of my road racing buddies made me break my schedule and do an extended ride Thursday morning. In total I swam four times for 13,200 yards, I rode four times for 126 miles, and I ran 4 times for 24 miles. The high-light of my training was Sunday morning when my daughter joined me for my swim...we did a 300 warm up, 18x100 leaving on the 1:50, and warmed down with another 300. It was cool swimming with her and seeing how much she's improved this year. She kept up for the most part, then blew me away with a 300 breast-stroke warm down...I'm all about freestyle.

I pre-rode the first 26 miles of the IronMan St. George course on the computrainer...wow! Talk about rolling terrain. I counted two specific climbs with 6 percent grades. This course is going to be all about managing the gears, watts, cadence, and bike positioning. It's going to be a challenge!

We Have The Technology...We Can Rebuild Him...

2009-11-27T20:59:00.003-07:00

This is my training lab

On the computer screen is my computer interfaced training program (Computrainer). I was really excited to get this to help improve my cycling. After a few tests the stark reality set in...I have a long way to go. This program is totally humbling. Ignorance was bliss...I thought I was good...I'm not. I have a long way to go. I plan to spend nights after work and cold winter weekends trying to make my cycling more efficient...and a little stronger. This program tells me which leg is working better (my right...damn skateboarding!), my pedaling efficiency (100 being perfect and 0 being dead, I scored an 80% on the standard road bike, and just under 70% on my tri bike), and my power output over a given distance/time frame (the verdict is still out on these results).

At any rate, I'm up to the challenge, and hopefully the real-time data will help me get faster.

IronMan Arizona 2009

2009-11-24T12:51:00.005-07:00

I went to IronMan Arizona this weekend to both volunteer and register for next year's event. I got to watch the swim start. Check out the photos:

Age Groupers lining up for the start moments before the gun goes off.

During the National Anthem

And they're off!

This person's alarm must not have went off because they started well after the rest of the other 2500 participants...Ooops!

And on another note, this came in the mail for me when I came back. Guess I have to get serious about training this time.

Big Man -- Shane

2009-11-20T09:51:00.008-07:00

This is Shane, our 220 pound English Mastiff. He's 11 years old and the sweetest man you'll ever meet. He may drool a lot or be gassy, but he's truly a gentle giant. A few years ago, my daughter Grace got a black and white bunny for a pet. When we moved into our current house, we let the bunny roam free with Shane. We were a bit nervous that Shane might consume her in one bite. He didn't and was indifferent to her. Over a few months, the bunny grew comfortable with shane. When the cool of winter hit, we'd wake up to find the bunny nestled in between Shane's legs. They kindled a little relationship together. Here's a couple of pictures of the two last spring:

Things stayed the same for the rest of the winter and all spring. We'd wake up every morning and see the two snuggling together. Then in the summer, someone gave us another bunny. The two bunnies hit it off together and ignored Shane altogether. Shane didn't seem to mind...all he really ever does is sleep anyway. Lazy dog!

Now that it's winter time and the cold has been really affecting Shane's hip joints, I've been having Shane sleep inside. And, every night as I turn the lights off, there's the bunny waiting by the door for Shane to snuggle...poor little lonesome bunny. I think she really takes it personal because she hardly spends any time with Shane anymore. Here's picture of the two:

Self Humiliation Via Yoga.

2009-11-16T14:23:00.002-07:00

One of the quickest ways to humiliate myself is to go to a yoga class. I hate yoga! But, it’s one of those necessary evils because it helps me stretch…it’s a preventative maintenance thing. If I let myself to go too long without doing it, I generally pull something. So, I force myself to go once a week. It’s hard, uncomfortable, and humiliating…especially when the class does balance poses. My balance has gone out the window over these last years. I’m the idiot dancing around in the back trying to stand on one leg as everyone seems to be comfortably perched in eagle pose. That’s OK…it’s a small price to pay to keep myself out of the hurt locker.

This morning kicked off the beginning of my 24-week training phase for IronMan St. George. My coach has given me all my workouts until May 1; now it’s up to me to deliver. This morning I swam 3,550 yards at Masters. That was my first workout.

I’m off to Arizona this weekend to volunteer for IronMan Arizona and guarantee myself registration for next year. The event usually sells out before it even goes online, so got to physically be in line to registration. And, preference is given to the event volunteers. Once that is in place, my diabolical 3 full Ironman year will be queued up and ready to usher in my 40th birthday.

This weekend I took the kids to the BYU/UNM game. BYU won. It was a very unexciting game other than the UNM kicker missed three kicks in a row hitting the up-right each time. That’s got to be a record of some kind. Ethan enjoyed the game. Elise and Grace were cold and couldn’t get enough hot cocoa.

I spent the rest of the weekend getting things done for winter, so I can focus on my training. We raked up fifteen 50 gallon bags of leaves, and we’re still not half-way done. There are still a lot of leaves left to fall. For living in the desert our house seems to be rather deciduous. It snowed again Saturday night. I’m thinking this time, it’ll stay cold and the last intervals of warm weather are finally gone. Oh well, that’s winter.

Just Before...

2009-11-11T15:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend I spent a bunch of time getting the house ready for winter. We have some mature mulberry trees the shed lots and lots of leaves, so I had to clean the rain gutters and bag raked leaves. I thought I was really clever by raking the leaves on to the lawn and using the mower to compact and bag the leaves. But, turns out using the lawn mower kicked up just enough dust to give me touch of allergies. Needless to say, I’ve been wiped out these last couple of days with typical allergy issues.

On a brighter note, my work on my running form has really helped a lot so far. I’ve ran three consecutive days at about 45 minutes each time and I’m not really sore. That would not have been possible had I still been using the heel strike running stride I had been using previously. I’d always scratch my head in awe when I’d read about people running consecutively for 100 days; that was never possible for me because I’d get too sore after consecutive runs and sooner or later develop some injury. Now, I think that’s a real possibility for me….knock on wood.

Starting next week, I’m 6 months or 24 weeks out from IronMan St. George. I start my training in earnest starting Monday. I’ll spend the next 12 weeks building my base then the following 12 weeks training specificity. So, soon I’ll take that plunge again into a world of fatigue and exhaustion that I’ve grown so accustomed to over the last years of my life. But, I do love it though.

Just A Little Gift!

2009-11-06T12:48:00.002-07:00

Incompatibility

2009-11-06T12:24:00.006-07:00

After a few weeks of lifting weights and trying to rebuild my running stride, I'm firmly convinced the two activities are incompatible. My whole body is so sore right now. Lunges just kill me. I ran last night for an hour and the soreness really messed with my mind. As I ran, I'm constantly assessing if something hurts or is uncomfortable...last night everything hurt and was uncomfortable so I kept worrying that I was doing something wrong.

This morning I swam and was so slow because I was sore. Weights aren't conducive to maintaining one's self-esteem.

So, here's a photo of my office...notice anything funny?

REDBULL! That's how I drag my butt to work after the early morning swims. My admin has tried to get me to get rid of the cans because they're "unprofessional". We'll I don't care! It smacks of a college fraternity's decorative touch...and that's what I like.

Here's another photo from my run in the hills the other day.

This is probably at 6500 feet above sea level.

Finally, here's Mia (the youngest) waking up in our bed. It drives me nuts because she doesn't make sleeping comfortable. If I didn't love her so, I'd throw her outside with Shane and his bunnies!

Off Season

2009-11-01T12:01:00.007-07:00

Every year for the past 10 years, it's been "off season" and I try to regroup and figure out what I'm going to work on for the next racing season. It always boils down to 1) improve my diet, 2) train harder, and 3) train smarter. Well this year, I'm not going to kid myself anymore...I like to eat, I eat fairly well, I train hard...training smarter seems to be a case of trial and error. So, this year I'm going to do more of the same. I'm adding a few more tools (i.e. computrainer and a power meter), but I think I'll just continue training as I've done this last year...maybe with few less injuries though.

On another note, I've been having fun with my swimsuits during swim team. These are the swim suits I rotate through during the week.

My Personal Favorite.

It brings a bit of comedy at 5AM.

Winter

2009-10-30T09:34:00.001-06:00

It has snowed the last two days here in Albuquerque—the first snow of the year. It’s early this year. It’s also the last working day before Halloween and I dressed up like a nun. Sadly, it appears I’m the only one that dressed up. I guess I should have expected that being an accounting/finance professional.

I’m bidding my time right now in terms of training just keeping it an easy 10-12 hours a week. I don’t want to get out of the gates to hard and early for next year because next year will be such a long year; timing is everything. I’ve been limiting my training to weights with a focus on balance and core strength. I’ve been swimming 3 times a week, running about 4 times and riding once. This scaled back training schedule is hard because I don’t feel like I’m progressing because I’m not pouring it on and hammering myself.

2009 Is Over

2009-10-26T10:22:00.001-06:00

It’s official, the 2009 season is over. I’d hoped to end the season with Ironman Austin 70.3 this last weekend but ran out of steam and injured my calf during a half-marathon “training” race. It’s just as well though because I have a really aggressive 2010 planned and need to get myself ready for the future workload and demands. I’ve signed up for IronMan Ut (St. George) in May, IronMan Canada (Penticton, BC) in August. I’m also going to sign up for IMArizon in November. That’s a brutal schedule and I wouldn’t normally attempt something so crazy, but it’s my 40th birthday year…so why not. I’m also secretly training for PF Chang’s Rock N’ Roll marathon this January…I hope my coach is cool with it. It would be really awesome to break the 3:00 marathon…or at least qualify for Boston.

Life is so complicated at our household. Tanya’s school is much more demanding now that she’s into her higher-level science classes. The kids have their respective activities in addition to school, which keeps up hopping. We decided to invest in a Compu-trainer for me so I can be at home in the evenings and still be able to train on my bike. Elise is still busy with school, swimming, and piano. Ethan is also swimming and doing piano. Grace is swimming, playing tennis, and also in piano. Mia’s holding out for dance, but it doesn’t really fit our family’s schedule…and I’m not sure we can afford another event. Hopefully she’ll come around and swim with her siblings.

Elise is swimming for an exclusive year-round swim team. She swims 3-4 times a week for an hour-and-a-half. She averages about 3500 yards per practice. She’s really starting to get fast. We’re thinking she’s found her niche. She’s a natural.

These next few weeks will be a gradual easing back into the training routine. Currently I’m trying to maintain a 10—12 hour training load until mid-November. Mid-November is when I have 24 weeks until my first event. During this time frame, I’ll lay down my base training and build. My goal is to spend less time in the freezing cold (which tend to be junk training miles) and more time putting in quality efforts. The truth is, I have to train smarter, or I won’t finish three full IronMans. Hopefully I’ll be a bit more diligent in the documentation of this next year’s activities.

Rest Week

2009-09-11T15:24:00.000-06:00

Last week, the last of my 3-week training block, was tough. Late work putting together financial analysis for our board meeting, meant coming home each night after 8:00 PM and using the training and treadmill for punctuated workouts. By Saturday, I was wasted. I got up early and 30 minutes into the swim workout, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I came home slept until 11:00 am then spent another 5 hours in bed watching the Sopranos and indulging in popsicles. It was a classic case of the spirit being willing but the body wasn’t. Something inside of me anguished to finish my scheduled workouts, and something else knew I needed to rest really badly. Fortunately, it was a three-day weekend (Labor Day Weekend), so I decided to take a mulligan on Saturday and use Sunday and Monday as my weekend. That worked out OK. I ran 15 miles Sunday AM and rode 85 miles to Madrid and back on Monday. That helped me finish the week with 17 hours. I’ll take it.

I’m now indulging in my recovery week, which should amount to no more than 10 hours of training. My workout volume has been short, but I’ve increased the intensity a bit. Sunday, I’m doing the Chips N’ Salsa half marathon. My intention is to run it really easy: 8:300 min/mile pace so I don’t blow myself up for the rest of the week. Last time I ran a 10K all out, it took me nearly 4 days to fully recover. I don’t want to be in that state just before the beginning of my next (and last of 2009) 3 week training block.

Last night I did a really fun track workout. I did 6X1 kilometer intervals running at a <6 min/mile pace with a 4 minute rest between sets. I wasn’t painful like other track workouts I’ve done in the past that are all out. I can’t wait to do this one again.

This is the first week my 11-year-old daughter has been doing year-round swimming. I picked her up from practice and saw that they swam 3400 yards, which included a 800 IM. Holy Cow! That’s a harder workout than I swim at Masters. I couldn’t swim a 200 yard butterfly. All I have to say is she’s going to be a torpedo after a few years of swimming, and I won’t be able to keep up with her. I’m so excited for her! The deal was…if she swims year-round, she gets a mobile phone. She started swimming year-round this week, so her mom and her picked up her phone last night. That phone better be worth it, because swimming 15000+ yards in a given week is crazy for an 11-year old.

Oh Canada

2009-08-31T17:23:00.001-06:00

Registration Confirmation for:

2010 Subaru Ironman Canada

Dear Justin,

Congratulations! You are now registered for 2010 Subaru Ironman Canada. Please check the event's official website for updates: http://www.ironman.ca

View your complete registration details »
PLEASE NOTE: ENTRIES WILL NOT BE DOWNLOADED UNTIL AFTER THE CLOSE OF REGISTRATION.

IMPORTANT! Make sure you keep your email address up to date with us. Almost all notifications / information are via email. If you change email addresses, make sure you notify IMNA athlete services at admin@ironmanusa.com so you don't miss any important information throughout the year.

THANK YOU.
IRONMAN CANADA STAFF

Perfect Training Week!

2009-08-31T12:20:00.001-06:00

I don’t know if my body is finally adapting to the workload or I’ve got a big exhaustion hiccup waiting to wallop me around the next corner. But this last week was the perfect training week (knock on wood)! Last week I managed 21 hours of real honest training (i.e. no yoga or strength training). Some of my goals have been more time/miles on the bike, and doing one 13 mile run (along with 3 other runs) each week. I was able to do that. This week I managed 24 hours of triathlon practice, which included 15,000 meters of swimming, 240 miles on the bike and 30 miles of running. It seemed this week was one continuous task after another. I also had a non-training productive week too: I mowed the front and back lawns, did other yard work, cleaned the inside of my car, did the laundry, went grocery shopping, and cooked 4 of the dinners last week. Historically, my third week of a 4-week training block is when I start to shut down. I don’t feel too bad yet (knock on wood) though. What is really helping me is I have a finite number of training weeks until my 2009 season is over—8, including this week. Included in those 8 weeks are 2 rest weeks and one taper week. Knowing I have to hold it together for a few more weeks is encouraging as opposed to having an indefinitely long string of hard workout weeks.

Another thing I’m doing differently is really focusing on recovery. Every night I’m icing my legs and wearing compression socks. I’m trying to sleep better too. Sure, my body’s tired, but at least I have the energy to start the workout (which I generally finish) rather than lounging on the couch totally exhausted.

I’ve read that endurance athletes walk a razor’s edge in training volume in that they’ll push the body as far is it possibly can go before it breaks down or gets injured. Sometimes you slip off the razor—it’s a trial and error thing. But, once you’ve walked that razor’s edge, got off and recovered, you’re capable of things, for a brief period of time, you’ve previously considered impossible. I can attest to that reality. It’s amazing.

In other news, my oldest daughter is trying out for one of the city’s year-round swim programs. I’m really pumped for her. It’ll be challenge for her mother and I to meet the rigorous swim practice regiment and meet the financial requirements, but I think she really has some potential. Unfortunately, I’ll have to back off and let her find that potential herself. I’m too much; I know it. My intensity is just too much when it comes to certain things.

I'll Be 40--So What The Hell!

2009-08-27T20:39:00.002-06:00

Next year I'll be forty. Forty tends to be the hump of someone's life expectancy--generally speaking. So, on my hump year, I'm going to do something crazy and say "what the hell"! Does Risky Business come to mind?

So this is it...the year that I turn 40, I plan on doing 3 full distance IronMans.
I'm targeting the following three: IM Utah (already registered), IM Canada (registration is going to be a challenge), and IM Arizona(I'm going to drive out to AZ to register in person).

This next adventure may just kill me but, again, what the hell! I'll keep you posted.

Boulder 5430 Long Course Video

2009-08-27T20:35:00.002-06:00

My Brother put this video together...no comment about the music.

Top 10 - June 27th -August 26th

2009-08-27T13:04:00.000-06:00

Top Ten Highlights During my 2 Month Hiatus:

10) Choking on a boneless buffalo wing and having the doctor remove it after trying to puke it out all night.

9) Taking the kids school shopping

8) Wife finishing another semester and getting one semester closer to being a pharmacist

7) Swimming across Lake Cochiti (3 mile round trip) twice this summer without wetsuit with Masters swim team.

6) Celebrated 16th wedding anniversary with a road trip to Boulder, Colorado and no kids

5) Spending lots of time by the pool and with the kids during the summer!

4) Purchased a new “super” bike (yet to be assembled), which may be revealed in Austin

3) Body is adapting to long runs (knock on wood). This was one of my goals this year—learn how to run long. I’ve done at least one 13 mile run during each of the last 5 weeks injury free (knock on wood) including last night.

2) Oldest daughter, Elise, qualifies for and competes in Sundance (state swimming championships) in the 100 IM.

1) Finishing Bolder 5430 Long Course (half-iron distance) with a new personal best: 4:52!

Apology

2009-08-27T11:24:00.001-06:00

Many people have asked why they haven’t been granted access to my blog; I wasn’t trying to block specific individuals. I just wanted to shut it down for awhile without deleting it all together. I couldn’t bare to just leave it as is; an un-updated blog begs to be updated…kinda like an unmowed lawn or all the other tasks sitting around the house waiting for your time. So, I just “put it out of sight” so I wasn’t reminded that I needed to update it.

Honestly, I needed a break for awhile. I was going through some “stuff” and didn’t want to bare my soul, which inevitably I would have done. Nothing too crazy; and probably much of it was exercise induced. I apologize if anyone felt I targeted them specifically…that wasn’t the case.

A lot has happened in the interim….

Buffalo Springs

2009-06-29T12:05:00.002-06:00

It's the day after Buffalo Springs IronMan 70.3, and I'm back at work. I'm not nearly as sore as previous events, in fact I'm walking around fine...just a bit sore. My time was 14 minutes slower than previous personal best times. My swim improved, which was huge considering how choppy the water was. The weather was rainy and windy. My T1 time went from 5:30 to 1:45. My bike was 3:40, 5 minutes slower than my best, which is also awesome considering how windy and rainy the conditions were. The last 20 miles I was rained on and was drenched. My T2 was 1 minute slower than the past because I took a brief potty break. My run was slow. I'm not disappointed though with the results...if you would have asked me 2 months ago, I didn't even think I would be able to do this race due to injuries. So, results wise, it was respectable. Mentally this was a really tough race. Perhaps I'm just tired from all of my training this year or something, but this race was more difficult than my full distance IranMan. It was such a mental struggle the whole time. I fought the urge to let up all the way until the last mile of the run, then I couldn't anymore. I walk most of the last mile. My legs were tired, my feet hurt from the pounding in wet shoes. The only thing that got me running again was hearing the announcer and crowd up the road...I didn't want to finish softly by walking, so I jogged in the last half-mile.

To be honest, I don't think I'll do Buffalo Springs again or at least in a long long time. I got really lucky that it rained rather than deal with the Lubbock heat during the race. Friday and Saturday were blistering, and it frankly scared me that I'd have to push myself in such temp extremes. I don't want to tempt fate and return when Lubbock is back to the norm: hot and humid. Additionally, I don't think the event was organized nearly as well as what it cost to enter. Transition set up wasn't until the morning of, parking was sparse and traffic was extreme. I left earlier than I have for previous events, yet just barely got to the beach in time for my wave start. Others missed their waves. It was a bit disappointing in that sense.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel, and took a warm bath and relaxed my muscles. That refreshed me enough to be able to drive home.

I'm in a very weird spot right now. I'm tired and an emotional wreck. I can't think about my next event or even my next training session. As soon as I got home, I unpacked the car and went to bed. I slept nearly 12 hours. I think that might have helped, but I still want to put this weekend behind me. I'm not yet sure what that means.

On the drive home, I told my wife I feel like I'm a donkey racing with horses. I may be a fast donkey, but I'm not a horse...and never will be. I'm stubborn like a donkey too! I want to be as fast as the fast horses. I train tirelessly like a donkey pulls a cart. But, a donkey can't really be fast like a horse. I'm also so stubborn. I make up my mind and there's no undoing it. Right now I have my mind made up that I'm a horse; I train like I'm a horse. Yet, perhaps I'd be much happier accepting I'm a donkey. A donkey plods along at its own pace, which it can maintain for a long distance. A donkey can carry large loads. But a donkey doesn't like to do things it doesn't want to. I feel this way not only with my racing but with my personal life (i.e. family, religion, work).

One Week Until Buffalo Springs

2009-06-20T20:02:00.003-06:00

I've been pouring on the training hoping to make up for my injury down time. I've had one solid month of training, and I've finally hit a wall. This morning I did a killer swim workout, and when I was done...I was done. I had scheduled a follow up 4.5 hour bike ride, but that didn't happen. The main set of my swim workout was 20X100 meters leaving at 1:50. Before that set, I did a easy 400 and pulled 1000. Then, I did my intense set. When I was done, I was gasping for energy, my skin was burning, and I was totally wiped out.

Afterwards I went to my kids' Swim Meet, which was in the rain. Elise killed it again. Then I spent the rest of the day trying to recover. If all goes well I'll still hit 20 hours by weeks' end. Then next week it's a fairly easy week and my first event of the year. My longest run yet has been 1 hour at 7 miles. I'm a bit nervouse about that, but it's better than being injured and pulling out after the bike, which was my original plan. Fingers crossed, I'm hopping for a good race and at the least a good measure for where I stand fitness wise.

Week Is Progressing

2009-06-12T10:35:00.002-06:00

Things are going well on the training front. I'm targeting 10K for swimming, 200+ miles on the bike and 15 miles running. I'm really not sure why but I've been really sore while riding and can't seem to pick up any high-end speed. Wednesday, I did three tempo intevals up Tramway, which were 15 minutes each. Yesterday I rode easy and spun my legs for an hour-and-a-half. This morning I got up and rode 30 miles on an extra-extended commute to work. By the time I got to work I was tired and hungry. I don't usually eat before I workout in the mornings, so I was in need of something when I got to my office. During the entire ride this morning, I felt like I was dragging. It was all I could do to hold 20MPH.

On another note, I've decided I'm not going to swim Masters on Friday mornings. Saturday Masters tend to be longer distance swims, and I don't want to show up tired. Because the number of swimmers showing up on Saturday is much less, you generally don't have to swim more than 2 to a lane. So rather than swimming circles, you can split the lane. I'm going to do my own workout tomorrow: 400 warm up, 2000 pull, and 15X100 @ 1:50, 600 warm down. Afterwards, I'm going to ride with a guy that swims in my lane. I'd like to ride 4.5 hours.

2 weeks from this weekend I have my first half-ironman of the season: Buffalo Springs. Because of prior injuries, I'm not at my top end. So, I'm going to train through the race hoping to peak (again) later for Lake Stevens or another event. It would be great to qualify for Clearwater. We'll see.

First Week of Real Training-I've heard that One Before!

2009-06-08T21:49:00.003-06:00

Since I gave myself the green light to start training again, I hit the bike fairly hard this week. I ended the week with 180 miles, and some semblance of the form I had a month or so ago. I swam sans kicking. I only swam twice this week for a total of 7800 meters. But my workout Saturday was quality. I warmed up with a 400 then pulled for 2000 meters straight. Then I finished the workout off with 10X100 meters at 1:50. Had I swam Monday and Friday too, I wouldn't have been able to do the workout. I'm thinking about bailing on my Friday Masters workouts to be rested for my longer Saturday brick workouts. And....drum roll please...I ran a total of 10 miles! I did 3 20 minute runs at a really easy pace without any issues. Sunday I decided to take the show outside on the bike trail. It felt so good to run outside I just kept going. I ended up running for 40 minutes at 4.5 miles. I've been a bit sore since. That probably wasn't very smart.

My body is having a tough time adapting to training again. I've been making it a point to train in the heat to get my body acclimated to the sun. I think that takes a little out of you as well. By Sunday eve, I was worn out and ready to sleep.

Saturday morning was the kids' first swim meet. Elise, Ethan and Grace all swam in 3 events. All of them got 1st place ribbons--other placings too but that's OK too. I really didn't want them to swim in meets this year, but Elise wanted to. So, we let them. They were terrified at first, but after thier first event, they were confident for the rest of the meet. Elise did the 25 free and totally smoked the field. Her form was beautiful and she's shaped like a dart. She just cruised to an easy first place. It was very cool. She's only been on the swim team for 2 weeks and she already has good form.

Tanya had her first test of the summer session this week also, which was in biology. This is going to be a tough semester because the time is so compact and she has challenging classes: biology, chemestry and chemstry lab. She'll have a major test each week. I had to make the dinners this week...nothing exotic though. The kids favor hot dogs, hamburgers, corn dogs and pasta over anything with real substance. I don't mind. One night I did make tuna steaks, jasmine rice, and brocoli. The tuna steaks were pre-marinated by Mr. Trader Joe, so I just had to make sure I didn't burn them. Easy breezy...right?

The kids' summer is packed with events. They have early morning swim team, Day camp during the day, optional evening swim team, and piano on Thursdays. Ethan had cub scout camp last week. He also goes to a sports camp twice a week his basketball coach is putting on. They come home each day, eat dinner and make their lunch for the next day and pass out. Tomorrow their day camp is going to watch the local minor league baseball team: the Isotopes. I'm very excited about all the fun opportunities they'll have this summer. I really want them to experience life and be exposed to many things--hopefully that doesn't include camping though because I hate sleeping outside on the ground. Hopefully they don't get burned out.

Break Through!

2009-06-01T12:19:00.002-06:00

"Break Through" is usually a term used when you hit a new personal best time or your training has hit the next level. For me, the "Break Through" was finally figuring out what's been causing my injury. After a month long detour from running and biking, the culprit is swimming...more specifically, kicking drills. DOH! Saturday morning, I shared a lane with some dude who swam for UofA. He's swam all his life. I stopped him and asked him if he'd seen anything like my ailment. He laughed and send it was the second most common swimming injury next to shoulder related over-use injuries. He, then, showed me a stretch to eliminate it. He told me to lay off kicking for a week or so and it'll go away. I did just that.

After swimming, I jumped on my bike and rode for 3 hours. After 3 weeks of not riding and 4 weeks of not running, my fitness was greatly diminished. Throughout the entire ride, my HR was >155 BPM and I was hardly moving. Last time I rode, I was putting out 5X20 minute intervals fairly effortlessly and a very fast pace. Sure, I'm a bit frustrated, but I'm also glad I can ride again. Sunday, I ran on the treadmill for 20 pain-free minutes. It was at a very slow pace. And, again, last time I ran, I did a 10K in 40 minutes flat, but now I'm plodding along at 5 MPH for 20 minutes. At the end of the day, I'm just glad to be back again doing the things I love. The fitness will come back soon enough. I'm hoping to salvage the rest of this year in terms of racing. I still have Buffalo Springs at the end of this month that I'm registered for. I'm now putting that back on the table as a practice race. I won't even look at my time...I'll just go and take in the event. Why not?

On other news, I met with an individual who teaches at the University of New Mexico's Physical Therapy program who has a side business making orthodics. He assessed my feet, posture, and gait while walking and running, and made me some in-sole for my work, work-out, and running shoes. He had some very interesting insight about my body. He was great. He had the in-soles done the very next day. I ran on them for the first time yesterday. One thing he did say was thay with my current posture and body structure, I have to work a lot harder to run, which can lead to earlier fatigue and potential injury because of gait imbalances. The orthodics are supposed to relax my feet and allow for a more supple gait, which will better absorb shock/impact. I'm hopeful. I'll keep you posted.

Memorial Break

2009-05-26T12:11:00.002-06:00

This weekend was tied up in resolving loose ends and hanging out with friends and family. Since I didn't train other than swim and strength building exercises I tried to use my time taking care of other things.

Our house has a problem with plumbing backing up. Just recently it really backed up bad and after plunging, snaking and using an inordinate amount of chemicals, it wouldn't give. So, we had to call in the big boys: Roto Rooter. Well, they did the job. Thank goodness because every toilet and shower in the house wouldn't drain.

Next I bought a new dryer. Our last one was louder than a lug nut in a hub cap. It's amazing how quiet a new runs!

Then I did a bunch of laundry to get caught up.

Another thing we're doing now that summer is started is having the kids make their lunches for camp rather than charging it to the monthly gym bill for cafe-made lunches. I took Elise, Grace, and Mia to Walmart and went through a detailed shopping list picking easy-to-make items. We decided to make a rather hardy lunch since the first thing the kids will do is swim team every morning, which should knacker them out fairly will. I'm looking forward to tired kids at night so it'll be a bit more quiet around the house.

We also had Tanya's brother and family come into town for Colorado Springs, so we spent a bit of time with them. And, we spent time with friends.

All these things are good distractions so I'll let my leg heal. I'm struggling to stay still and let my leg heal. But, I know it's the best thing to do right now. I feel like my leg is half-way there. Perhaps one more week and I can do my first bike ride. I'm scared now that I'll reaggrevate it so I'm trying to be smart. I have found that the BOSU is a good implement to improving my leg. We'll see. My spirits seem to be a bit better though. Sometimes it helps to thing long-term rather than "right now". On the plus side, my swimming is really improving. I swam 4100 yards on Monday. I was able to really push hard. In fact, I took my own lane and nearly doubled the workout. It's my only outlet at the moment.

Watching the World Go By

2009-05-20T09:50:00.000-06:00

It’s at these times, when I’m sidelined from the events I love, that I really realize how much training means to me. I feel lost and out of sorts. You’d think I’d be soaking up the free time and relaxing in a hammock in the shade fully absorbed in a book. You’d think. But, I’m not. I’m irritable; I’m grumpy; and I’m pensive. I have this nagging feeling that all I’ve trained for these last months is slowly slipping away. I feel like an addict wanting one more fix of a 5 hour ride…just to let me know I still have it in me. Fitness is so fleeting—especially at the higher end of your capabilities. And, sitting around doing nothing can’t be good…right? I don’t know. This trial and error training approach is so tough on the psyche. I’ve always been of the mindset of doing too much is better than doing too little, and that doesn’t seem to work in triathlon training. It just gets you injured.

I’ve sent out a few emails to potential coaches. I’ve received one response so far saying he only coaches 10 athletes at a given time and he’s currently full but will add me to the waiting list. I sent a request to the number one ranked coach in the nation who coaches the best ironman triathletes in the world. It was a long shot. He charges way more than I can afford, so I pleaded with him to take me in as a charity case at a great discounted monthly charge. I haven’t received a response yet. I figure it’s worth trying at least. I’ll send a few more requests for other coaches. I think, generally, when you approach a potential coach, and pay him or her the full amount they ask, there wouldn’t be any hesitation. Sure…let’s get started. But, I can’t afford what they’re asking, so I’m telling them what I can afford, which is still significant for me, but less than what they’re asking. I suspect this is why I’ve been wait-listed on my first response so far. I think coaches would be willing to take a haircut on fees for someone if they knew there were great upside results potential, and I think I have that quality. But, it’s still too early to tell. I don’t have much in the way of results. So, I’m an unknown quantity. From they’re perspective, I could be a bag of hot wind that’ll blow out quickly. I know that’s not the case, but I’ll have to convince them.

I’ll keep you posted on the coach selection process.

Update

2009-05-18T16:00:00.001-06:00

I kind of hit rock bottom this last week with exhaustion and a nagging injury. I’ve tried to push through this one too long and think I need to rest up, cease running and cycling (especially painful) activities for a brief spell, and try to get better. Saturday, the masters team did a 5X1000 meter practice. I did my first three at about 17 minutes each. The next one was 18:30 and the final was >20 minutes. I didn’t realize how much the swim took out of me. I came home, ate breakfast, lounged with literally no motivation, and finally went out on the bike about 9:30AM. After about 5 minutes of riding, I became acutely aware I didn’t have the energy to ride another 4 hours. I turned around and came home. I’ve been training consistently since December at an average of 15-20 hours a week. In that time frame, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends…and it’s finally caught up to me. Our bodies are great at telling us when enough is enough. As an athlete, you learn to ignore the pain and the fatigue because continuing on will make you stronger. This is true with proper rest and recovery. But, without that recovery, you just dig yourself into a hole. I’m in that hole regardless of whether I want to acknowledge it or not. I’ve put off that knowledge hoping for a miracle of sorts. Saturday brought that knowledge home to me. I need rest.

I plan on taking off running and cycling for a couple of weeks…it kills me to do so, but I really don’t have any choice. I’ll continue to swim because it’s non-impact and you lose form quickly. I’ll do some strength training activities in the interim.

One other resolution: I NEED A COACH! I’ve been killing myself training every waking moment available. I need someone to tell me to back off (or pick it up). I’m not objective and often find myself with a “More is Better” approach to training. I need someone who can harvest my potential yet keep me fit/healthy enough to keep going year round. I hate trying to get a coach because they can be expensive. They can cost as much as $500 a month—that’s a car payment for goodness sake. But, something’s got to change or I’ll self-destruct.

Finally, I took the wife to the Tamaya resort Saturday night/Sunday day for a belated Mother’s Day gift without the kids. It was a great get away. I’m amazed at how quickly I get used to a quiet/calm atmosphere. We spent the night at one of the best restaurants I’ve been to in New Mexico, and we spent the day by the pool in the sun lounging. It was truly great.

Don't Read This!

2009-05-12T22:09:00.002-06:00

I've been in the dumps lately. I can't run and am losing all the run fitness I built up. I worked tonight until 8:30PM. My boss keeps insinuating that I need to work more. I feel like it's a battle just to train anymore, and, if I can, I hurt myself. Why can't I just win the lottery and do what I want?

Run Assessment: BAD!

2009-05-06T16:00:00.001-06:00

I got up early and ran for 30 minutes in the morning before work. About a minute into it, my hip flexor started to hurt again. Before I could run without pain but felt a pain for about 2-3 hours after running. Now, I feel pain while I run and after. Basically, the results of the assessment were: Fail! I was very discouraged. I put off taking Ibuprofen as long as possible but the pain was pretty intense. When I got to work, I scheduled an appointment with the ortho just to rule out the worst possible scenario: femoral kneck stress fracture. Though it’s a low probability; the risk is high with runners and I had some symptoms. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

The ortho x-rayed my hip and moved my leg in awkward positions and assessed there wasn’t a stress fracture. She referred me to a PT. I pleaded for a cortisone shot or steroids that would allow me pick up my running where I left off and prevent any future injuries--anything to carry me forward. No such luck.

As I take on the quest for Kona…I’m constantly reminded this may, indeed, be a longer road than I initially hoped. It seems I take 2 steps forward and one step back. I’ve been really frustrated and even considered quitting. I have less than 2 months before my first event and that’s now at risk. One of my goals for this year is to realize my running potential. How can I do so if I’m always on the mend for some running injury?

I scheduled my PT appointment and rode my TT bike after work. I hadn’t ridden for a week and I was rested. I joined a friend and we did a TT effort to the east side of the mountain. It must have been all the frustration from not being able to run, the rest, or work related stress, but I put down an incredible time. I dropped my riding partner on the way out and put some good time into him at the finish. I hit a HR of 185 BPM. It was just what I needed. I felt no pain when I rode.

It looks like the next month or so will be swim/bike/rehab focused. It’s not cool but it’s better than a dull stick in the eye.

Swim Week

2009-05-04T13:53:00.000-06:00

This week I racked up roughly 16,500 yards of swimming. I did one yoga class…did lots of stretching throughout the week, and didn’t run or ride my bike. I’d like to say my leg is 100% and I’ll be training full speed ahead. But, my leg still doesn’t feel 100%...it’s better but not 100%. Sunday, the three older kids did the 5K Run For The Zoo and I toted Mia around on my shoulders for the duration. I was worried I’d be sore afterwards but wasn’t. That’s an improvement. I’ll have my first test run tomorrow. I’ll start with an easy 30 minute run and assess from there.

Otherwise the weekend was good. I watched Ethan’s basketball team demolish another team. Ethan and another player were on fire. By the third quarter, the refs pulled the score and just let the kids play out the time.

Afterwards, the family went and watched the new X-Man/Wolverine movie. It was entertaining and fun to hang out. We smuggled in lots of candy; I had my favorite Peanut Butter M&Ms. Oh yeah!

We just signed the three oldest kids up for the local swim team. I timed Elise while she swam 100 meters for a before-and-after comparison. She swam it in 3:20; She used all sorts of strokes (i.e. dog paddle, back, modified crawl); she rested at the wall. It wasn’t pretty but she got it done. It’ll be interesting to see what her post-summer time will be. I’ve told her the focus this summer is to focus on form/technique and endurance. We don’t need to worry about speed or races—those will come later. Elise has the perfect body and determination to be a great swimmer, if she get’s hooked. Unfortunately, she gets put off of any thing I try to push her into. So, I have to not pressure her. Don’t worry though, I’ve already contacted the swim coach at my alma mater to see what she needs to be able to do for swim camp next year. I’m so bad!

1 Year Away

2009-05-01T12:19:00.004-06:00

One year from today, I will be gutting it out again in the St. George Iron Man hopefully with better results--healthy running split. The times at this event will be less relevant as the placings for the Kona ticket because the bike and run course are horrendously challenging with elevation gains. Check out the course profiles:

No sense in getting worried about the elevation gain...just have to train...specificity...specificity. The bike course picks up upwards of 4,500 feet of elevation and the run picks up another 2,000 feet. I couldn't live in a better place to prepare with high altitude and lots of climbing--no worries!

Leg is slowly getting better and I'm enjoying recovery time. Tomorrow's day starts with a swim with Masters, watching son's basketball game, and relaxing by the pool...oh and maybe catching a movie with the kids. Now that's what I'm looking forward to.

This next year's going to be crazy! I hope to see as many friends and family as possible at the finish line this year.

Getting Better

2009-04-30T14:58:00.001-06:00

It’s been 4 days now since I last rode the bike and 9 days since I last ran. I’ve kept my training to just swimming and have focused on resting this week. I now feel like I’m starting to recover both physically and mentally from the last few months of training. Just a recap…I put myself on a forced recovery week to get over a bit of hip flexor tendonitis. This was probably one of the smarter things I’ve done. My body really needed some rest. I was so exhausted that I was really grumpy at work and wanted to beat my boss up. I’m going to continue to recover for the rest of week and reassess whether I’m able to run again next week. I’ve been icing my leg every night, stretching, and taking some ibuprofen.

This week is the Tour of the Gila, a bike stage race in southern New Mexico. I’ve done this race a few times before. It’s by far my favorite bike race though it’s by far the hardest bike race I’ve ever done. I’m a bit sad I’m not doing it this year because Lance Armstrong, Levi Lepenheimer, Chris Horner and Floyd Landis are racing in the category 1 race. I’m a category 3 racer, so I wouldn’t race with them but it would be fun to see all the hype around these sports figures. My training right now is so different than what’s needed for the Gila. I wouldn’t even dare try…it would be too humiliating. I’ve learned that runners aren’t bike climbers, and this is a bike climbing race. I have a few friends driving down to the race to watch Lance. I’d rather spend the day with the family than in the car driving to and from Silver City.

This week I was able to do something I’ve not been able to do in years: I touched my toes while stretching. It’s silly but I’m so stiff I haven’t been able to touch the toes in years. I’m certain this is the primary reason I get hurt so much while running. My muscles/tendons are too rigid. I never stretch…it takes too much time. When you’re strapped for time and you have to make a choice between running for 45 minutes or running for 35 minutes and stretching for 10, the former generally wins. Bike racing doesn’t require much stretching. But, running necessitates stretching almost daily. I’m learning this lesson, so I’m trying to make a real effort to stretch. Stretching is so painful. Oh well….what ever it takes!

Forced Recovery

2009-04-28T12:06:00.003-06:00

I've recently developed a small case of hip flexor tendonitis. It's nothing major, but, as these things go, you have to get a handle on them early or the minor injury can wreck a big portion of your season. I was scheduled to do a Duathlon in Los Alamos this weekend, but figured it would be smarter to not go. The last time I ran, was a week ago. I bumped my riding to cover my missed running time. I was able to put in the scheduled 18 hours of training I needed. Although on further research of hip flexor tendonitis, the biggest sports causes are running and biking--Doh! So this week I'm on a king of forced recovery week limited to swimming and yoga only. I'm sure this short time off will not affect me fitness-wise I'm already at the point where I'm running so ragged, training begins to be counter-productive.

This last weekend was probably the craziest of my life! Lots of things happened...too many to list. It's amazing how many things one can cram into a weekend. For this reason alone, I need a bit of recovery.

One of the biggest challenges I face is trying to train for these events and trying to juggle work demands. My co-workers and boss don't have the same goals I have. Much of their personal goals are tied to career performance. I envy them for that; my life would be so much more simple if my goals would be centered around my career. Unfortunately, I have too much physical energy. If I put off training for a period of time, I'm impossible to live with. Just ask my kids what I'm like during the off-season. My wife yells at me to go out and ride my bike. The training I do creates a balance that allows me to work (and live) productively. It's a yin and yang thing. I have to have a physical outlet...and why not let it be constructive? I've tried just lifting weights...it seemed so strange to spend countless hours trying build muscle. I tried golf--worst mistake ever! So far, endurance racing brings me the balance I need. Even so, my training hours and/or my working hours tend to get out of balance and I start to get mentally exhausted. Lately, I feel like I'm dealing with that with respect to my work. My boss wants me to work everyday until 7pm--at least. And that's doable...sometimes. But other times, it makes me want to find a new job...maybe puppetry or folk dancing. I, also, know that my attitude towards work if very cyclical, and when I'm on a down cycle (like now) I need to take some time off to recharge the batteries.

One thing I'm really looking forward to is spending the summer by the pool. During the summer, I usually spend the morning training and meet up with the family at the gym's pool for the afternoons every Saturday. We'll get a pizza or some sandwiches and just hang out for hours. Tanya hangs out with her friends. In the previous years, I've had to make sure Mia is OK in the pool and have to swim with her. She can now swim really well. So, I'm going to buy myself some books and spend the summer catching up on my reading. I'm going to spend as much time pool-side this summer as possible. Perhaps I can knock out Victor Hugo's complete works--especially now that the hoopla around Les Miserables has finally died down (a discussion for another day).

I feel like I'm rambling right now, so I'm going to go.

Bring On The Pain

2009-04-21T15:08:00.001-06:00

Sorry about the week's writing hiatus. The last week was hectic at work. We are updating the annual forecast with the first three months (jan-mar) of actual data to create what we call the Q1 Reforecast, in which we reforecast annual earnings.

Each day last week (except Friday) I worked until 8:30 PM. I’d come home and jump on my trainer for an hour-and-a-half, go to bed, and get up at 5:00 AM to swim. There wasn’t any time to update the blog.

A new wrinkle in my training this week is I’m starting to add intensity. The first few months are focused toward building endurance and preparing the body to be able to deal with intensity. As of the last training block, I completed that phase of training. I’m now in the building/intensity phase of training. The training volume decreases a bit and key interval workouts are added. I’ll also start to doing low-priority races (C ranked races) to build speed, get used to the race situation, and simulate race intensity.

This week called for an intense bike interval workout, which I did on the trainer (I had no choice because it was dark when I got home from work), and a 10K running race. This phase of training is psychologically challenging in that you’re supposed to not be concerned with race results. You’re supposed to keep up your regular training load and race. There’s no tapering to prepare for a race. If you’re tired, you still race. The point is to bring yourself to a peak for your “A” ranked races later in the year--my “A” ranked race is in mid-June. What’s so psychologically challenging about this is it’s hard to not care about race results regardless of the intent. I’ve seen people hit this phase of training, do poorly in a race, and alter their entire training schedule as a result. Additionally, racers risk getting into a funk—they lose their mental toughness—as a result of the build race.

For me intensity is very painful…I’m sure that’s a commonly expressed sentiment. I sometimes get lazy when it comes to intensity because it’s much less mentally demanding to punch out a longer less intense workout than to focus and push yourself harder during intervals. This is perhaps one of my biggest weaknesses. I sometimes fail to embrace the pain intensity brings and just do a long ride/run/swim instead. This is partially why I shifted my focus from road bike racing (very intense) to Iron Distance triathlons because Iron Distance triathlons require more endurance and much less intensity. None the less, intensity is crucial to get fast: no pain…no gain.

One other difficulty with the shift to intensity is the decrease of volume. This may seem counter intuitive. In the base period of training, it’s cool to put up the big numbers. It’s a quantifiable measure of your effort. You get a real sense of accomplishment. You have something to brag about. When you shift to intensity, your time decreases and there’s more time necessary for recovery both in training and resting. There’s a twofold decrease in your quantity. Your weekly totals in time and distance diminish significantly. Your overall workload may have increased, but there’s really no way to quantify that change and you’re left with less miles/hours at week’s end.
The weekdays were a blur of training and working. There’s not much to recount. Saturday and Sunday were eventful days packed with activities both training and family related.

My Saturday started with at 6AM with an hour Masters swim. I took it easy because after swimming, I had to rush across town to enter a 10K running race. I swam 2000 meters and didn’t use my legs. I jumped out the pool and changed into my running gear. I hurried across town trying to cram a little food down to have some energy for the race. I don’t eat before I swim—swimming with a full stomach is terrible. I ate a muffin and an Odwalla smoothie.

When I got to the race, I signed up and had 15 minutes to warm up. It had rained the night before and was a bit sloppy at the start line. 85 people signed up for the 10K. They started us in a narrow alley that was blocked by a large muddy puddle with about 5 feet on one side that wasn’t muddy. I had my new shoes and didn’t want to go running through the puddle, so I resolved to sprint for the hole shot. The organizer blew the whistle and I took off as fast as I could to keep the new shoes clean. I held the pace for a few minutes and realized I was leading the race. I turned around and the nearest person was 100 yards behind. I decided to roll with my pace. Every so often I’d check my HR and saw numbers anywhere from 181-176 BPM. Mile after mile ticked off and I was running paranoid that someone would pass me at any moment. Finally at mile marker 4, I was passed by the first person. I hung on to his pace as long as I could. I started to fade by mile marker 5 and was hanging on for life. I was passed 3 more times. The race finally ended and I posted a time of 40:06. My average HR was 176 BPM for the entire event. I was trashed.

I hurried to the car and went to my son’s basketball game. It was a great game and my son’s team lost by a single point that was almost overcome by Ethan’s half court shot. After the game, I came home and jumped on my bike for a recovery ride. There was nothing left after the running race; I just wanted to ensure the quickest recovery by spinning the legs. I rode for 1.5 hours. I then came home and took an ice bath, which really seems to help. It was my first ice bath ever. I’m certain there will be more.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around the house senselessly.

Sunday I got up and rode my TT bike for 4.5 hours. It was a waste of time though because I couldn’t even get my HR above 140 BPM. I probably would have been better served sleeping the entire day. After my ride, I met my wife at church. We then walked through our dream house—they were asking $700K—Doh! The rest of the evening was spent hanging out with friends and family.

I finished the week with 17 hours of training, a new 10K PR, some quality intensity, and a near comatose state of mind. Hopefully next week will be a bit better.

Last Week's Kids Triathlon

2009-04-20T22:12:00.014-06:00

Two Saturdays ago, the three oldest kids participated in their first triathlon. The distances for the two oldest were as follows: run 1 mile, bike 3 miles, swim 200 yards. For Grace, it was a 100 yard run, 500 bike and 50 yard swim. I thought it would be a good idea to let the kids do their very first triathlon so they could get inspired to join the local swim team. Of course Ethan was already pumped. Elise was more nervous and tentative. Grace was oblivious. I didn't sign my youngest up because I wasn't sure whether she could swim the 50 yards alone.

Conceptually, having the kids do the triathlon seemed like such a fun idea. Little did I know how stressful it was going to be. Friday night was comprised of dashing across town to register the kids, picking up bike tubes to fix bike tires that hadn't been used much over the winter, and getting the kids' transition bags packed with swim suits, goggles, helmets, running shoes, and everything else they'd need to complete their first triathlon. I had to spend a lot of time assuring my oldest she'd be fine. She's very much a perfectionist and worried all night that she wouldn't finish. In the weeks leading up to the race, she wouldn't commit to doing the race. I lied and told her I already signed her up. She was partially mad and partially happy.

When we woke in the morning, it was raining. It had been raining since the wee hours of the morning and was quite cold. The kids were intimidated by the cold. I thought for sure, they'd either call the race or at least leave out the bike portion. We ate breakfast and loaded the bikes in the car. Mia (the youngest) kept crying because she wanted to do the triathlon like her older brother and sisters.

We got to the triathlon and I helped the kids set their bikes up in transition. They hung their transition backpacks from their bike handlebars. I carefully instructed them that they had to put their helmet on before they left transitions or they'd be DQed--not really but I want to instill the rules early.

Then we went to the race office where they got body marked. I pinned their numbers on their chests. Each kid had their swim suits under their sweats for a quick transition. We huddled and talked about race strategy in terms what they needed to do after each race segment. This was a run/bike/swim format triathlon. I assured them the most important thing was to finish. I told them to not think of it as a race. "Just finish and don't give up!"

While going through all the pre-race activities, it kept raining. Inside I hoped that they'd eliminate the bike portion of the race. I was very much stressed trying to make this a positive experience for them and managing each of their individual concerns. The race organizers called the pre-race meeting for the parents and announced that they were going to continue with the kids triathlon in spite of the rain...and, they were still going to have the bike portion. I watched my children's faces, and they seemed fine with the news.

The younger age group (Grace's group) started first. The kids lined up for the run and the organizers blew their whistle. Off they went. Both the run and the bike portion were in the parking lot. Grace ran with the lead group and had a smooth bike transition.

Grace During The Run

The parents were able to help and I helped her get her helmet on. She jumped on her bike and rode through the bike course. What was really amazing about Grace's event was she has only been riding a bike without training wheels for a month or so. What's more, she was riding the bike she purchased with money she saved.

Grace Off On Her Bike

As the younger kids were finishing the bike portion, the older group (Elise and Ethan) lined up to start their event. Tanya peeled off to usher Grace through the rest of her bike and swim segments of her event while I helped Elise and Ethan.

Grace During The Swim

Grace And Her Hardware

Shortly after Elise and Ethan lined up, the organizers blew the starting whistle. They were off for their 1 mile run. They headed off on bike trails away from the facility and out of site. I, along with other parents, waited with anxiety for our children to reappear for their next event. For what seemed like an hour (but was only 10 minutes), we waited. One by one each kid came into site over the hillside from their trail run. Ethan came running and I could tell he was giving every thing he had to the race. He's really funny because he smiles while he's physically exerting himself, so it looks like he's just messing around.

About 100 yard behind Ethan, Elise came following. Her cheeks were bright red. I helped both of them get their helmets on and sent them on to their respective bike sections. This time they were gone even longer and the level of anxiety was much greater. By this time, all the kids were much more spread out.

First Ethan came in from the bike leg, and I helped him rack his bike. He pulled off his sweats while it rained, jammed them in his backpack grabbed his goggles and ran to the pool.

Just as Ethan finished, Elise pulled into transition. I could tell she was winded but was pushing through. I racked her bike and helped her get her clothes in her backpack.

When Ethan started the swim, he started with a full-on sprint. He tried to use his freestyle stroke. By the time he finished the first length of the pool, he was exhausted. He finished the rest of the swim a better pace using a modified dog/breast stroke. As soon as he finished and climbed out of the pool, the race organizers put a metal around his neck. He was very happy and wanted to know how many people he passed.

Ethan With His Hardware

Elise took a much more conservative approach during the swim portion. She swam with her head above water and just focused on finishing. When she finished, she climbed out of the pool, got her metal, and collapsed on the ground to catch her breath.

Elise With Her Hardware

Elise was really tough and hung in there. The three girls that finished before her climbed out of the pool and started to cry because it was so hard. She took some time to catch her breath and was ready for the rest of the day.

Afterwards we went to Zios-a local Italian restaurant and celebrated the kids first triathlon. This was one of the first meals out we've had where the kids weren't going nuts. All of them were still wearing the metals and were excited to explain where the metals came from when asked. Ethan kept telling people he did his first IronMan.

When we got home, I was so tired I took an hour long nap. The day's event was stressful. I wanted everything to go just right. I wanted the kids to have an experience that they could remember for a long time--something they could build on. I think the event met that standard, but it just wiped me out mentally--more so than a full day of training. I'm glad we did it; and the kids keep asking when the next one is--next year please!

Rest Week Activity

2009-04-10T12:43:00.004-06:00

It's been fairly low key this week. It's amazing how much better I swim with a little rest. I guess I've officially taken the title of "lane leader". Some people just got tired of me swimming up on their legs. I figure now that I'm getting closer to my races, I need to start pushing the intensity. So, leading the lane will help with that.

I did the fingers with the team on Wednesday and really suffered. I can't climb worth beans right now. Running and bike climbing don't go together. It was good to ride with people though rather than going solo. Sometimes I need that human interaction.

Last night I ran 8.5 miles on the treadmill in 1:15. I felt pretty good. Based on the run training program I'm following, that's my "easy" pace. This is the longest run I've done this year. I'm trying to give myself plenty of build time. Ideally, I'd like to be able to do a 1.5 hour run each week.

Tomorrow I'm entering the three oldest kids in a mini-kid triathlon. They've been fairly excited aboout it. Elise has been fickle. When I first told her about it, she said she didn't want to do it. Now that it's the day before, she wants to do it.

Next week I have my first scheduled race; it's a duathlon that's a 10k run, 40k bike, and a 5k run. It's in Los Alamos, which is high attitude. The bike portion has lots of climbing. I've never done a duathlon and don't have any expectations. I figure it'll be a good building race for June.

Taco Contest

2009-04-06T18:21:00.003-06:00

When Tanya left out of town, the kids and I renewed a competition we have every year: The Taco Eating Contest!

We headed to our local Taco Bell. This time it would a team contest; Elise/Ethan vs. Daddy/Grace/Mia. I ordered 20 of the $1 tacos. Ethan told the manager we were having a taco eating contest, and he got really excited. He told us he'd throw in an order of Cinnimon Twists for the winning team. I guess he figured we would be too full to take him up on his offer--wishul thinking!

When the order was filled, I put 10 tacos on 1 tray and gave it to Team Ethan/Elise. The remaining 10 tacos were on another tray for Team Daddy/Grace/Mia. Each team sat together at their respective fiberglass table with swiveling leg-less chair. The only rule was that if one team finished all 10 of their tacos, they could grab a taco from the other team; thereby, claiming victory. That is after the complete taco is consumed, of course.

Once the rules were in place and understood by all, I set my timer, and said, "mark, set, go!" The entire Taco Bell staff were watching in amusement.

Right off the bat, Ethan, grace, and I knocked our first off in less than a minute. This pace was a bit too much for Grace, and she puked a little. Living up to her name, she quietly rolled what came up in the taco wrapping and carried on to her next one. I'm glad no one from the opposing team noticed so this wouldn't become a point of contention during the final stretch. One-after-one Ethan and I inhaled our tacos. I started to worry that I didn't buy enough tacos. The Taco Bell staff were coming closer to our table to see how the competition wrapped up. After three tacos, Grace started to shut down. Elise hit three tacos and started yelling at Ethan to eat more. After 5 tacos, both Ethan and I were starting to slow down. Mia was finishing her second. I grabbed number 6 and Ethan followed my pace. This finished all of Team Daddy/Grace/Mia's 10 tacos and left one taco on Team Ethan/Elise's tray. Ethan and I were staring eye-to-eye chewing at the same pace. The tension was thick. I didn't know if I could finish and out grab from Ethan the last taco from Team Ethan/Elise's tray. And, just when Ethan and I were 3/4s through with our tacos and getting ready to reach, Mia grabbed the last taco from Team Ethan/Elise's tray. Ethan and Elise shouted in horror as Mia snatched victory right off their taco tray. She quietly opened the wrapping, and ate the taco bite-by-bite as Grace started to celebrate. The final taco was consumed precisely at 10:50. The Taco Bell staff clapped and handed a bag of cinnomon twists to our team. Grace snatched them up and shared them with Mia. Ethan and Elise pleaded for a few cinnomon twists, but Grace wouldn't have any of it. I'm not sure if the Taco Bell staff will encourage another taco eating contest based on mess we left.

One interesting note: as we were driving home, Mia asked what was for dinner.

Laundry List For Recovery Week

2009-04-06T17:45:00.006-06:00

Over the stressful building training weeks, I make a mental note of all the things that need to get done around the house, and vow to get them done on my recovery week. During those three weeks, I pray nothing will be pressing enough that I can't defer it until recovery week. During this last three-week duration our washer started to die, I lost my wallet (i.e. drivers license, debit cards, other personal data), sprinklers needing to be started up again, and few other jobs reared their heads. I did my best to patch up the washer to get it to limp along until recovery week. Well, today's the first day of my recovery week, and I had to take the day off because Tanya's out of town for a distant family member's funeral. Today, I was able to knock out a few of my items. I pulled apart the washer and found a bunch of coins, rocks, a handful of lint, hair pins, stickers, and buttons clogging the water pump's flow. Afterwards, I got a new driver's license, and fired up the sprinklers. I "spring" cleaned the office. When the two oldest kids got home from school, I had them "spring" clean the kitchen. This included sweeping, mopping, reorganizing the cabinets, cleaning the hinder spaces on the counter (i.e. under the microwave and toaster), and finishing the dishes.

The two youngest got early by cleaning their room.

I'm now catching up on a few weeks of laundry. We're hoping to have the whole house done by the time Tanya gets home, which should be late-late tonight.

One of the things I was taking stock of today are all things that need to be replaced in our house. As mentioned in a previous post, we need a new dryer. We need a new vacuum cleaner--Tanya insists it has to be a Dyson. Our house phone just died this weekend. Our dishes, pots, and pans are, virtually, the same dishes we got for our wedding (15 years ago). My mobile phone is dying. The problem with all this stuff...there's nothing sexy about buying household goods! It's not like a new wheelset or even a pair of running shoes. The cost of all these items could easily buy a great little family vacation. Yet without fully functioning household goods, everything gets out of sync. Some things I refuse to buy with young kids, they'll just get trashed (i.e. nice dining flatware). It just seems like such a waste. Oh well...these are the perils of your average household.

Hopefully, I can spend the rest of the week "recovering" and anticipating anything that could possibly derail my next training block.

Saturday's Redemption

2009-04-04T14:19:00.004-06:00

Still upset about my swimming workout, I decided to make Saturday a high-quality mega brick workout.

The alarm went off at 6:15AM, I was already up and ready to swim. I got to the pool and the lanes were switched from yards to meters. There were two workouts posted on the board: mid-distance and 5K, you pick. You guessed it, I picked the 5K. The sets were 800 meters pull/800 meters descending by 100. The next was 2 sets of 600 with the same instructions and continued with a double set of 400s and 200s. The final set was 10X100 meters.

I jumped in and tried to get as much of the workout done in the 1:15 allotted. When the time was up, I'd finished 4000 meters. I wasn't too disappointed about not getting the last 10X100s in because my arms were already tired.

I came home, ate my breakfast and changed into my riding clothes. I'd spent last night getting everything ready for a smoothe transition. This included updated the music on the Ipod. Last night, I downloaded the complete Prodigy library. So, that's what kind of workout I was planning. The weather was miserable:

Current conditions as of 1:53 pm MDT

Partly Cloudy/Windy
Feels Like:50°
Barometer:29.75 in and falling
Humidity:21%
Visibility:10 mi
Dewpoint:11°
Wind:WSW 25 mph
Sunrise:6:48 am
Sunset:7:29 pm
50°High: 47° Low: 23°

I copied these conditions from Yahoo Weather. The winds were fierce. I had a side wind the entire ride. There were a few times I felt like I was riding with my bike at a 45 degree angle just to stay upright. Wind is great for building mental toughness, and today was no exception. I covered 75 miles in 4:15.

As soon as I got home, I quickly changed into running clothes and fired up the treadmill. I ran for 20 minutes as fast as I could. I started at 8 MPH and pushed it up 10 MPH--that's as fast as my treadmill goes. The running legs felt really nice!

Now I'm doing what I can to recover for tomorrow's workout--the final workout of the week/month and recovery week starts.

Missed Work Out - Arg!

2009-04-03T11:47:00.002-06:00

This is my big training week of the month, and everything was going as planned...that is until this morning. I use my cell phone for an alarm, and the cell phone is on the fritz. Needless to say, I missed my Masters Swim because I didn't wake up. That's annoying! I don't know if I should kill myself trying to make it up. I have a swim tomorrow morning. Do I try to make up the swim tonight with another lengthy swim 12 hours later or do I try to make it up Sunday on a day that's already full of events (2.5 hour bike/1 hour run)? Or do I just blow it off? In the grand scheme of things one missed swim workout is not a big deal, but I really want to go into my recovery week finishing all that I planned.

It's really interesting the emotional status one finds themself in after training between 18-26 hours a week for three months straight (excluding 3 recovery weeks of 10 hours each). The first two months, I'd find myself exhausted by my peak week. This peak week, I can best describe myself as being very punk rock (i.e. easily annoyyed, abrasive, confrontational, and reckless). It's actualy very liberating. I feel like a teenager again. At work, I've holed myself to my computer with my door shut, and music blaring; I don't answer the phone--let it roll to voice mail. I might call you back...and I might not. I logged on to my wife's FaceBook account and graffitied a bunch of people's wall. I've already responded adversley to 3 mass emails--and I replyed to all! Don't mess with me...I'm punk rock!

That co-worker that I put in the stretcher on Tuesday after our run, bailed on our Thursay run. That's right...you got schooled by someone ten years your senior. Next time you show up to the run, don't bring your ballet slippers!

A couple of days ago, my bike training buddy and I did a little team TT training on Tramway. We were able to hold a 31-32 MPH average for 5 miles. We did it twice. It was really fun trading pulls at such a fast speed. As we were humming along, little kids in the back of their mommy's hybrid Suburbans watched us keep up. They'd wave and giggle. We were slobbering like mud horses just trying to pull through. Afterwards, we were both exhausted and excited by the workout.

Whoops!

2009-03-31T21:45:00.002-06:00

Today, a co-worker joined me for my run at lunch. This is the first time I've run with him. The run started and he said he'd follow my pace. I went at my base pace and we ran for 45 minutes or 5.5 miles. The pace seemed light. We were able to hold a conversation the entire run. No problem...Right?

As I was leaving work, his co-worker started to berate me saying I pushed this individual too hard. I was surprised. I found out he had to go home early because he was too exhausted from his run. What!!!!???? I told his co-workers we ran easy. Here's the response: "Ya right, Iron Man!"

I'm still a bit surprised. Whoops...I guess. We'll see if he runs with me on Thursday.

Hung Over

2009-03-30T12:33:00.002-06:00

I missed my target training hours by a dissapointing 2 hours this week. The goal was for 20, I ended up with 18. It didn't help that 2 of our swim practices got cancelled without any prior knowledge. I got up early and got to the pool only to find an empty parking lot. There's 3 hours gone right there. Friday, I was going to commute, but that didn't work out so well with getting a root canal, so I took the conservative route and just ran at lunch instead. It doesn't much matter though, I'm so tired today (Monday) from the weekend's activities. I'm utterly useless! I feel like I have a training weekend hang over.

One thing that's really affected my ability to train is the sudden cool shift in the weather. The prior weekend was in the 70's; I was riding in shorts. Friday morning, I woke up to snow. I knew this would happen...Albuquerque is notorious for throwing the spring curve ball, but still. It's so hard to bundle up again after you've experienced the good life.

Saturday was a 4.5 hour ride doing muscular endurance intervals of 6X20 minutes--just like last week with an additional 20 minute set thrown in for good measure. I got done and was very tired...much more tired that I thought I'd be. Yesterday I rode for 2.5 hours in the small chain ring; it was an endurance ride and I didn't want to burn my hamstrings up too much for the pending speed running workout.

After church, I jumped on the treadmill and ran 6X1000 meter intervals at 4:24min (8.6MPH) with a one minute rest interval in between. The total run was 6.5 miles--relatively short in distance--but the intensity is the killer. This is the weekly workout I dread. This workout takes a lot of mental toughness to finish.

Afterwards I took the kids to the park and hung out with them for awhile. It's amazing how much energy they have--especially my youngest. As she runs around the park, she goes back and forth between running and skipping and running and skipping. I don't even think she knows she does it. I couldn't help but think how lucky I am for having such good, healthy children. They may be a handful (and expensive to feed) but they're much better kids than I deserve. I was a terror as a child. These kids are very kind and happy.

Root Canal

2009-03-26T13:41:00.003-06:00

Tomorrow will be a first for me...I get to have my first (hopefully my last) root canal. The filing on one my molars cracked providing an opening for all the filing was trying to protect against. Eventually, the bacteria eroded the enamal all the way to the root and the tooth is more/or less dead. It's been very painful for the last 6 months, but I hate dentists and avoided going. The toothe ache would come and go...it's only a little pain now and again. Well, these last couple of weeks the pain has elevated to a full on ice cream headache all over the side of my face. It's happend twice, so I knew it was time to suck it up and go to the dentist. After a few X-rays, the dentist referred me to a specialist. Tomorrow, I'll go through the procedure.

Why do I hate dentists? Well, I'm not exactly dissuaded by the pain. What I really don't like is the constant feeling of chocking as the dentist works in my mouth. I feel like I'm suffocating the entire time. After a while of this, I get a really high level of anxiety and start getting hostile. It's weird...I know. But, I don't like dentists. Thoughts of spending time at the dentist evokes small anxiety attacks for fear of suffocation. Actually being at the dentist is much worse. The whole thing is weird...I sleep with a pillow covering my face, I'm not afraid of small spaces, I don't mind bugs (but I don't like snakes too much), I have a love/hate (exhileration) relationship with heights, I'm not afraid of clowns or public speaking, but take me to the dentist and my body starts to act out. It's a really strange phenomonon.

Date With Destiny

2009-03-24T09:42:00.003-06:00

Last night at midnight, I pulled the trigger. On May 1st, 2010, I will be in Santo Jorge, Utah, trying to get my golden ticket to Kona.

This decision wasn't made lightly. As many of you may know, I'm superstitios and don't like to pay for events early--especially more than a year in advance and at such a high cost: $575. But, this is the price of admission to chase a dream. Kona will never happen unless I start at point A.

Still, the decision to take on such a task is sobering. The time commitment is tremendous. The sacrifice on my part as well as my family's is tremendous. I put off pulling the trigger until mid-night when it was finally time to go to bed.

Some of the thoughts that weighed heavily on my mind were the following: our dryer is on the fritz right now and we'd finally paid off our credit card and had the money to buy the dryer (not using the credit card); with the entrance fee, we'll have to wait another month to buy a dryer. Because St. George takes place on May 1st, a majority of my training will take place in the winter and spring. That's not such a problem for swimming or running, but that means long rides bundled up in winter garb by myself freezing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very excited about this opportunity. But, I don't take the challenge lightly and I know there will be a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. My training will start specifically for St. George the first day of November. Until then, I'll focus on half distance Ironmans.

March Madness

2009-03-23T10:28:00.003-06:00

I finished the week with 17.5 hours of triathlon practice. My running is starting to come around with my first foothills long run, which was only 50 minutes (estimated to grow by 5/10 minutes per week). I ran with my sister-in-law. She's quite the talker. She's the kind of person that has a really long, drawn-out explantion for everything. Well, during the run, she talked the whole time. I must not have ran hard enough. We'd be running, and shes talking away (she ran behind me) and I would ask her what her heart rate was. She'd shout up to me, "170!" Then she'd pick up where she left off. What's the magic HR number to get her to stop talking?

At any rate, I threw in a speed run on Sunday. So now I'm finally covering all my running basis. Now is the ever important quest to find my optimal weekly running mileage. I'll have to play around with my times until I find it.

Saturday I did a 4.5 hour TT ride that included 5X20 minute LT level efforts giving myself 10 minutes of recovery between. During the interval, I'd switch between the big and small chain ring every 5 minutes to mix up the cadence. By the time I finished the last interval, I was exhausted and that left me at the foot of Tramway. I crawled up Tramway but kept myself in the TT position during the climb.

Thursday morning, I took 5 minutes and filled out the NCAA brackets online. I have some cousins that are really into sports (e.g. Fantasy football, NBA, NFL...yatta yatta). They started an online bracket pool and asked me to join. So, I spent a few minutes doing it. Turns out, I'm killing the bracket. I'm winning the group because I was nearly at 100% after the first 2 days. I predicted all but 1 of the sweet 16 teams. Well my cousins are greatly dismayed. They'd be really dissappointed if they knew I hadn't watched a single college basketball game all year. I couldn't tell you what teams are good and what teams are not. I just picked teams based prior year's perfomance--back whey I was in college and I cared about college hoops. It's been a fun distraction.

The weather this weekend was perfect. It was in the 70s. I rode both on Saturday and Sunday in shorts and a short sleve jersey. I hope it stays like this forever.

I'm now 95% sure I'm going to do St. George full IronMan in 2010 rather than CDA. It makes more sense econimically and logistically. I just have to plunk down the dough, which it quite expensive.

Strangeness Afoot

2009-03-19T12:04:00.002-06:00

Completely unrelated to swim, bike, and running practice, something very strange happened at work this week. A co-worker of ours, a former Chinese National, went on vacation to China three weeks ago with her 2 kids and husband to visit family. She's been with our company for nearly a year-and-a-half. She's a Wharton MBA grad and just recently became a US citizen just missing her chance to vote in the presidential elections by one week.

Well, Wednesday we got an email from her saying she won't be coming back...not just to the job but not coming back at all. She said she's not coming back to America. I know that her and her husband both have cars and personal possessions in their apartment. On a follow email, our boss asked where he should send her W2...her response: shred them.

We've sent emails trying to understand what's going on. She responds immediately. Her responses betray that she's really sad about not coming back. Yet, there's not a lot of other information. We have no idea what's going on with her. We've been speculating like mad. What's more, our department, Financial Analysis and Planning, is chalk full of individuals that are very analytical and speculative in nature--myself included. So, in the absence of any definative information, we've spent the last few days by the water cooler speculating what happened to our former co-worker. Maybe she's being held against her will by the Chinese government as punishment for revoking her Chinese citizenship. Maybe she's just found another job and can't come clean that she's moved on. We don't know and it's driving us nuts. We keep going over the details of our last interactions with her before she left trying to find something...some clue. We cross reference our ideas and impressions with each other. Still there's no finality. Perhaps this is the cruelest way to give notice--no information at all.

Well Tong...I hope all is well and your safe!

Testing Done

2009-03-16T12:19:00.003-06:00

Along with rest week is fitness testing to see how the fitness is coming along. This rest week I did a bike TT on the same course I did last month and trimmed nearly a minute off my time. I brought my average speed from 22.85 to 23.7 MPH over a 12.3 mile course. Last time I had a brisk tail wind on my way out and a stiff headwind on the way back. This time I had a light tailwind on the way out and a growing headwind on the way back. I was happy with the result because I'm riding my thorn resistant tires and heavy training wheels, so when I break out the tubbies and Zipps for the real race, I should see a good time. This next month I plan on making a few changes to my TT/Tri bike to, hopefully, improve my results. I'm going to get a more comfortable saddle, a more aero arm extensions for my TT bars, upgrade from Ultegra to Dura-Ace, and add some Rotor Rings (Oblong chain rings). These factors should provide a bit of improvement. I'm also going to spend a bit more time on the Tri bike this season--I figure if I'm not racing then there's really no use in me riding a lot on my road bike. I already missed the first road race of the season.

Yesterday, I did the local 2009 Shamrock Shuffle 10K run. My sister-in-law joined me on the run. It was in a newer development in Rio Rancho that we had our run. I haven't raced at this distance and was a bit worried about re-injuring myself. I decided I'd give it a go but if anything started to act up, I'd back off or pull the plug. Anyways, There was about 60 of us at the start line. It was fairly informal. I told my sister-in-law to follow my pace and draft off of me. The organizer sent us off, and we started out with a .5 mile downhill. The serious ex-collegiate runners made their way to the front setting a blistering pace. I told my sis at the start to be weary of a fast start and try to find your rhythm as quickly as possible. This wasn't an understatement. The first mile was done in 5:45. About half-way through the first mile, my sis told me to go ahead. She was well past the rivet and would blow up if she tried to keep the same pace. So I took off trying to catch the collegiate runners. After the first half-mile the race went up-hill for quite a bit. I started to drop the people around me and bridge to the lead pack. I was within 50 yards when we crested the top of the hill. Then we started to head downhill for a spell, which was the worst part of the race for me. I'm a terrible down hill runner. I started getting passed by the people I'd previously dropped. I didn't want to take too long of strides because I didn't want to hurt myself again with the harder impacts. Finally, at the bottom of the hill, the course undulated for the rest of the race and I was able to find my rhythm again. I didn't pass anyone, nor was I passed; I was able to maintain my position for the rest of the race. I finished in 42:44, which is faster than I was expecting (45ish). I've included the race info below. The course picked up nearly 1000 feet.
I'm a bit sore today, but I'm fairly certain I'm not injured. It was a fun but challenging workout. My next event will most likely be a month from now in Los Alamos. It's a duathlon with a 10K run/40K bike/5K run. I've never done one of these, so it should be interesting.

Rest Week--AHHH!

2009-03-10T17:25:00.002-06:00

Last week I wrapped up with 21 hours of triathlon practice. Now it's recovery week--YAYYYY!
I took Monday off to join my oldest daughter for her class field trip, which was a hiking trip on the east side of the Sandias. The morning of the hike, it was raining at our house, which means it was snowing in the mountains. Sadly, the field trip was cancelled. Elise wasn't very happy especially after spending so much time packing our lunches and following her teacher's packing instructions to a tee (including plastic bags under your socks to keep your feet from getting wet).

I decided to stay home and look for my lost wallet, clean the house, and do the laundry. I was really mellow and hanging around the house sounded a lot better than going to work. After the house was clean, all the laundry was washed and folded, I still couldn't find my wallet and started getting worried. I kept checking online to see that no one was running rampant with my bank card. Finally, I decided it was hopeless and called the bank and cancelled my card. This really sucks because now I have to get a new drivers license. What's more, I had nearly 15 completed Dos Hermonos cards I was saving to get a Dos Hermonos T-shirt (20 completed cards was all I needed). Does anyone realize what a tremendous investment that was???? ARG!

On a different note, I'm heavily thinking about doing Boise again this year. I wasn't planning to do it...especially 2 weeks before Buffalo Springs. But, the organization putting on Boise just announced that participants could sign up for IronMan Coerde Lane 2010. This is the earliest IronMan in the US (Late June), which would give me plenty of time to recover for Kona and help me avoid doing IronMan Brazil or China. At any rate, I'm crunching the numbers and it's a real possibility. Tanya's already told me she really really really wants to go. We wouldn't bring the kids this time though. Last time it was too much of a hassle trying to make a vacation out of it for everyone and visit all our friends. We'll see.

Stellar Ride

2009-03-07T15:42:00.002-07:00

I'm sitting at the computer sipping a Coke eating some Cup 'O Noodles--ahhh!

Swim practice was cancelled today; it's good because I stayed up too late watching 7 Pounds with my wife. Yes it's not released yet...she got her hands on some bootleg movies. These were premo though...Jerry Seinfeld wasn't manning the video camera this time.

At any rate, I joined the team for the usual team ride. The weather was in the 60's but the wind was gusty. We're talking 20-30 MPH by mid-afternoon. It was really sketchy. We basically did the same ride we did last week, without all the pros and other teams. I was curious to see how I'd ride sans Masters swimming warm-up. On the way out, we rode fairly briskly toward our first sprint. I kept getting gapped, because triathletes don't accelerate well. I'd motor back to the group and there would be another surge, and I'd be gapped again. I wasn't tired...I just can't go with the surges. I had no problem getting back on. By the time we finally got to the sprint, the group was already broken up, so there wasn't much of a sprint. We made our way to Placitas and started the long ascent. At first, the legs felt really heavy and I fell off the lead group. About half way up, my legs started to feel really good. I switched to a bigger gear and started to motor. In a few mintues, I was back to the main group. That was strange; the lead group contained some respectable climbers, and I just closed a quarter mile gap. Hmmm! We kept motoring up the hill and I finished just behind the leaders. That was a vast improvement from last week when I was shelled and left for dead near the beginning of the ride. We began our long death march back to Albuquerque into a wicked headwind. My this point, my legs felt really good. We started a pace line, and I kept taking extra pulls when a gap would open up. We finally made it back to Albuquerque at the foot of the dreaded Tramway ascent.

We had a tail wind going up, which was a welcome change. One of the riders, started his timer. I asked him what he was doing and he responded that he wanted to see how long it would take to climb Tramway with a tailwind. I joked that maybe would could do it in 15 minutes. He said he once did it when he was peaking and there was an even stronger tailwind. We all decided to see how quickly we could do it in. I was feeling really good--4 hours and 75 miles into the ride! I put it in a big gear and started to push really hard. I quickly found a rythym and just put my headdown and worked. Soon, I was all alone. I looked back and I had a 200 yard gap on the nearest person and some of the others were no longer visible. I just kept going. Finally I reached the top and noted I finished in 14:40. The next rider came rolling up a minute later. This rider is probably the best climber on our team. I had just told him before Tramway I wasn't climbing well because of all the running I'm doing. When he caught up to me he scolded me for saying I wasn't climbing well. I just shrugged. All I can figure is I didn't swim this morning. We rode home and I tried to act non-chalant about my climb.

Now I'm going to take my daughter bike shopping. She saved $48 from her birthday and she really wants a bike. $48 won't buy carbon or TI. She's going to need a little more money!

Retro

2009-03-04T12:47:00.003-07:00

I'm not sure why but these last few months I've really been digging Echo & The Bunnymen. I have been accused of listening too much to 80s music; I can't help it! 80's music is what I listened to in high school. No when I say 80's music, I don't mean Hair Bands (i.e. Scorpions, Motley Crue, Ratt, Iron Maiden, or Metallica) or early rap (i.e. RUN DMC, NWA, Young MC, Eric B. & Rakim, BDP or Public Enemy), although I've spent my fair share of time listenings to these genres. When I say 80's music, I mean the early roots of alternative music. I'm talking Echo & The Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, The Fixx, The Clash, Duran Duran (Arcadia), The Descendants, The English Beat, etc. The only reason I can figure I like this music is it was what I listened to as a young adolescent when I first felt the exciting strains of independence. This was my music when I drove for the first time, had my first girlfriend, broke up with my first girlfriend, got dumped, got suspended from school, got in fist fights, worried about image/appearance, tried out for the swim team, got cut from the swim team, served in-house detention, served Saturday tardy school, spent the night at friends, stayed up way too late doing things my parents ought not know about, and, ultimately, learned what it was to be an adult.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a relic. I don't spend my weekends watching The Breakfast Club, 16 Candles, and everything Molly Ringwald. But the elements of this time frame have a special place in my heart. Just like Gomer Pyle, The Lone Ranger, and The Andy Griffeth show does for my parents--puke!

Who Doesn't Love Cup 'O Noodles?

2009-03-02T10:15:00.002-07:00

This week is finally over, and, at last tally, I shared 4 individual packages of Cup O' Noodles with my kids. After a workout, Elise, my oldest, would make me a cup of Cup 'O Noodles (CON) and we'd hang out and talk. I remember as a kid liking the CON, but somewhere along the way I forgot about the CON. I'm really liking them now. It's also fun sitting around with the kids shooting the breeze. Yesterday, we went to the park, played a little catch and swung on the swings. My oldest daughter kept calling her baseball mit and mitten. I was just tired enough that it struck me really funny. She's really prim and proper. She spends 90% of her time reading, so she's very literal. In her mind, calling a baseball mit a mitten was perfectly logical. Everytime she'd say it, I'd laugh my head off. This would vex her to no end.

The other thing that made me laugh was teaching her how to throw a ball. She has the hardest time throwing a ball. Whenever I tell her not to think about it and just throw it, she throws great. When she thinks about the right way to throw a ball, the ball ends up where it shouldn't be. She's so intellegent, which in the case of a basic throw, is detrimental. I can see her mind thinking as she's trying to figure out why she's not throwing the ball far or accuratley, and the throw ends up worse and worse. It's a strange slippery slope.

Finally, when the week's training clock came to an end, I logged 22 hours. That amounts to a lot of swimming (14K yards), biking (225 miles), and and improving amount of running (13.5 miles). That said, I'm exhausted. I don't know how I'm going to make it through this last week. Maybe I'll just curl up under a rock and call it a season.

I'm just rambling!

Way Too Deep

2009-02-28T18:33:00.003-07:00

Today I went too deep in my training. I've never really hit a wall like I did. Last night I finally went to bed at midnight. I woke up at 6AM and headed to the pool. The workout was long (4000 yards) with lots of sprinting. Afterwards I hurried home to join the team for a ride put on by our sponsors. I had 30 minutes to eat and get dressed and get out the door. I crammed a cream cheese/almond butter bagel and a Naked Juice puree down and hurried off to the ride. An hour later we were at the Embassy Suite meeting Saul Raisin, Mike Creed, and the riders of the Johan Bruyneel Development Team for a big group ride. The ride started out tame enough with upwards of 50-60 riders taking up the asphault thoroghfares of Albuquerque. We headed north. Once we got outside Albuquerque, the freidly parade ended and the pace picked up. Soon we were in Algodones. The pace then picked up even more and riders started dropping off. We then headed uphill to Placitas. The pace stayed hard and fast. My legs started to feel soft. I slowly drifted off the back. I began to feel just how tired my swim made me. I continued on knowing the group would double back once they reached the top giving me the opportunity to catch back on.

The group finally did come and I caught on. We hurried down hill and headed back to Albuquerque. The pace was now fairly brisk, and I was starting to hit The wall. I'd been eating and drinking but this was a bit different. I was just empty. We turned uphill again making our way up Tramway. This is where I finally blew up. By this point, I'd been riding for 4:45 and 75 miles. I was 10 miles and more than 1000 feet of elevation gain from home. I let the group go and put it in the smallest gear I had and just took my time getting home. All I wanted to do was go home, eat, take a shower, and go to bed.

The whole way home I kept trying to figure out why I was so flat...so empty. I hardly ate 500 calories for breakfast. I only got 6 hours of sleep following a night that I couldn't sleep because of work related stress. I killed myself swimming. I'm trying too hard to keep up with riders with a completely different focus/skill set. I'm sure all of these factors contribute to me crumbling.

I finally got home, had an Odwalla Protien shake, which marginally tasted good--that's bad when you're desperately hungry. I drank nearly a half gallon of water, then I took a nice warm shower.

After the shower I met the family for my son's end of season basketball party. I crammed down a bunch of Little Ceaser's Pizza and cake (no comment). And now, I'm at home with the kids (and 4 of their friends), cleaning and washing and folding laundry while my wife goes grocery shopping for the week. This is pretty much our Saturday routine.

Will To Live

2009-02-27T11:32:00.003-07:00

I recently read a quote from Jack London, author of White Fang. He said he once swam out to sea starting at the opening of the San Francisco Bay (currently known as Ocean Beach). He said he swam out so far he could no longer see land. When asked why he did this, he said he wanted to test his will to live. His design was to swim so far out that he couldn't concevably have enough strength to swim back. By doing so, he could find out just how much he wanted to live. He said when he finally reached the shore, he was so exhausted he could hardly move.

When I was younger, I surfed at Ocean Beach a couple of times. I wore a wetsuit and it was still freezing. Ocean Beach seems to have a few too many great whites. And, it's always overcast there. I'm guessing Jack London didn't have a wetsuit. I don't know weather write this guy off as a nut job or be in awe of his feat. But, oddly, it seems the nut jobs, who do unfathomable tasks, leave some sort of legacy.

These days, bucking convention is a hard thing to do--there's so many people doing it. It would be nice to do something that my great-great-great-great grandkids would hear about and say, "Whoa!" What is it though that would do that? Someone's walked on the moon. Many people have swam the English Channel. Someone has circumnavigated the globe in an helium ballooon. Many people have summitted Mt. Everest. Many people have rode their bikes accross the Untited States. Shoot, people have ran accross the United States. What's left to do anymore?

It Shouldn't Be This Warm

2009-02-26T14:00:00.003-07:00

Yesterday on my bike ride home from work, it was nearly 70 degrees outside. It was the first time I rode with just shorts and a jersey. I didn't have to suit up with shoe covers, leg warmers, arm warmers, jacket, hat, or gloves. It was great. It was also the first time my legs got to see the sun in 2009. Gosh are they white!

Oddly, it's still February and, based on Weather.Com, the average temparature for February is 55 degrees. It's unseasonably warm now, and the forecast call for more of the same for the next week.

Now many may be suprised at Albuquerque's cooler average historical temps because they think were part of the Southwest (i.e. Phoenix, Tucson, or San Diego). But, we're at 5,700 feet above sea level. We're as high up as Denver. So why is it so warm right now. I don't know, but I'll take it. I also know warmer winters mean hot and dry summers. At any rate, I can't complain about the warmer temps. It's great to be able to train year round at altitude.

Coming Around

2009-02-24T09:21:00.003-07:00

After the double ear ache/infection set back, I was able to get it back a little bit. I wrangled up 14 hours of training; all bike and running. I'm now getting back to the running pace I was at, which feels great. I really have to listen to my body though and not over do it. Other wise, I'll be back to square one.

The ear infections are nearly gone. I still have a bit of ringing in my ears and my hearing is at 70%. I can't hear wispers or low tones and high frequency noises turn into a single irritating vibration. This should go away in a couple of weeks.

I did swim yesterday morning. We swam 3,500 yards. They turned the heater off in the pool and the temp was in the low 70s. Everyone was reluctant to get in. I jumped in and it felt really good. I don't know if its the infection that making my body temp a bit higher but the cooler water temp felt really good. I've also noticed that when I'm on the bike, and it's cold outside, it feels really good.

Yesterday after swimming, I rode my bike to work. When I checked the outside temp, it was already 48 degrees at 7AM. When I rode home, it was almost 70 degrees. Is it possible winter is nearly over? Day light savings is in two weeks. Have I weathered another winter? Albuquerque is a big tease. It will generally warm up for a bit...just like it's doing now. Then, just when you get used to it, a really cold front comes in and makes you think it's going to be a long winter. At any rate, I'll take all the good weather I can get.

A right and a left...and I'm down for the count!

2009-02-20T15:18:00.002-07:00

Tuesday night I rode my trainer for an hour and a half doing a specific workout. It was the first time doing the workout and I felt alot of stress...in my head. I got off the bike and realized what the pressure was. I had a building pressure in my right ear...an impending ear ache! I've had ear aches/infections all my life. As a child they were a regular occurance, so I know when I'm going to get one. Right away, I had Tanya give me an ear candle. This sometimes staves off the ache. I went to bed. At 1:00AM, the ear ache reached its peak and my eardrum blew. I frantically took some Ibuprofen and sought the heating pad. After about 30 mintues of not finding the heating pad, I decided to go to bed. My ear sounded like someone was beating a metal garbage can outside our window. Slowly but surely, the Ibuprofen began to kick in and the pain abaited. In the interim, I remembered all the ear infections I'd had as a child. This should be old hat now. There were times when I had puss and blood oozing from my ears. As a child we didn't have healthcare, and so my only recourse was asprin and a heating pad. I'd lay on the heating pad hearing the cracklings, which incidentally was my eardrum (tampanic membrane) rupturing. I as a really young child I had tubes put in my ears; maybe that helped for a while. But I still had lots of ear infections growing up.

I lay in bed cursing my estachian tubes and their inability to drain properly. Then it dawned on me that there were some pretty good side effects to being prone to ear infections. I think, through my ear infections, I've built up a high pain tolerance. I probably wouldn't be the endurance athelete I am without the ear infections. Running, biking and swimming over long periods at high intensities is painful. You ignore the pain, much like an ear ache, and carry on.

Because of my common ear infections as a child, I learned to read lips. I was always near-deaf, so I learned to watch people's mouths when they spoke to me. That's a habit I have even now. I also really learn to listen when people spoke to me to fully understand what they were saying because I couldn't hear them. I'd follow non-verbal cues, facial expressions, emotions, and situations to fully grasp what was being said. If I didn't catch the full gist of what was said to me, I'd synthesize in my mind the few words I did hear until I did understand. To this day, I can say I'm a great listener because of having to accomodate frequent ear infections.

When I woke up in the morning, I felt the very same pressure building on my left side. A double ear infection. I went to the doctor, who after looking at both, gave a perscription for an anti-biotic and some steriod drops. She told me to stay out of the pool for a while too.

I filled the perscription and took the day off at work and watched a bunch of movies I rented. The volume was turned way up though.

So much for hitting 20 hours of training this week. Oh well, it's still only February.

Rest Week's Over and Week 1 Begins

2009-02-16T15:59:00.002-07:00

Rest week is over and all that I wanted to accomplish during the week, I did. I slept a lot, I rested a lot, I hung out with the family a lot, and I did my bike TT. Saturday morning, I did my base line TT effort, which ended up with a 12.1 mile course being covered in 31:40, which is an average of just under 23 MPH. I was pleasantly suprised with this time considering I've only done base and speed drills. I started the TT with a brisk tailwind. I was zooming along at 27 MPH. I focused on holding my position and maintaining a fast cadence. The course I chose is a relatively flat out-and-back ride. So, when I turned around it was directly into the headwind. I put my head down and tried to maintain a consistant effort. The average speed back was 20 MPH. Towards the end, the headwind got really stiff. This is when I noticed my longer crankarms really giving me the ability maintain a strong pace. After the TT, I warmed down for an hour.

This morning, the first workout of my block was a 3,800 yard swim. Welcome back! At lunch, I ran for 30 minutes at 6.5MPH. This was a good workout because I'm moving closer to where I need to be. I just increased my run times by five minutes per run. I'm increasing every two weeks. I'm hopeful this will give me plenty of time to build up.

It's offical: I signed up for Buffalo Springs for June 28th. I figured I'd sign up in advance so I don't lose out when the event ultimately fills up.

What A Difference Rest Week Makes

2009-02-13T09:17:00.003-07:00

This week I've spent alot of time catching up with sleep and doing fun family activities. Monday, I took my oldest daughter shopping for clothes. I gave her a few options of places we could go...she chose Target. That's not what I would have picked but whatever. She was excited. She picked out a couple pair of pants and a couple of shirts. I also grabbed some socks and underwear for her. When folding the laundry a few days ago, I realized my oldest didn't have much in terms of clothes. She never complains and is always reliable around the house. She's really a good kid. During the big party we had at the house a couple of weeks ago, she did so much to help. She needed some type of reward. So, I decided to take her clothes shopping. Incidentally, the very next day, her mother took her to the Optomotrist and got her some contacts--something she'd been asking for for weeks.

I caught a little bug a couple of days ago...nothing to really fret about. But it made me sleep a lot more, which is good. The timing couldn't have been better--recovery week. This morning, I went to my Masters swim and was just killing it. I swam 3,500 yards and didn't feel tired at all. A couple of people in my lane kept complaining about how hard the workout was (one ultimately packed it in early); I didn't feel like it was overly hard. Then it dawned on me. Wow, I'm rested. No wonder I feel so good. Usually I go to my swim workouts with a lot of accumulated activity and not enough hours of sleep and spend the first half-hour just getting my body up to speed. It was a pleasant change.

I have a TT on Saturday to establish my fitness baseline as a standard to measure against for the rest of the year. Every month, I'll go back to the same TT course and compare my times to see how I'm improving. It's not an absolute in terms of fitness standard. Many things could come into play. For example, this time of year is windy and cold. I will be bundled up and knocked around by the wind. Those factors can definitely slow me down. Come July when the wind is gone and it's warm, I may have to offset my time improvements for these factors. At any rate, it has been a low key week (10 hours of training), which is just what I've needed. The next three weeks will be significantly more challenging (20hours, 24hours, and 26hours).

We got our tax return today, so I'm going to register for Buffalo Springs.

Have a good one!

Final Week of Block 1

2009-02-09T10:15:00.002-07:00

This week didn't go as planned. I worked three nights until 8PM and worked Saturday. Needless to say, I was well under my targeted training hours. I ended the week with 16.5 hours. The good news is I broke into the double digits for running miles. The running is starting to progress.

It's now recovery week and I really fired up about it. I've been missing spending good time with the kids. Last night I took the kids swimming. We had our own family swim practice. I worked with the kids to teach them freestyle. Elise has great potential with swimming. Afterwards I made the family hamburgers. I taught Ethan how to cook burgers; when he gets older, I'll teach him how to cook brauts. I told him when he gets older, he'll need to know how to use a grill when I come over.

I went on a date with my wife on Saturday night and saw Clint Eastwood's Grand Torino. It was good but the end didn't live up to the Eastwood standard. All in all, the movie was very funny and riddled with enthnic slurs that the older generation seem to be fond of using.

Sunday morning I rode out to San Felipe alone on my Tri bike. The weather was nice (55 degrees) with a slight tailwind. When I got to San Felipe, I turned around and the wind shifted. I had another slight tailwind. Then, when I got to Bernilillo, a huge storm rolled in. I rode into an extremely gusty headwind all the way back to Albuquerque. My average speed, while riding into the storm, was 11 mph. I started to rain/hail about 100 yards before I got home. Weather in New Mexico can be really skitish at times. We're quickly approaching windy season. It seems from March-Early May, it's really windy here. You get used to it, but spending an hour or so fighting a gusty wind will really take it out of you both physically and mentally.

Another Week Closer To Doom

2009-02-03T10:20:00.003-07:00

Another week in the books and I'm trashed. You pobably get tired of me saying this, but it was intense. On a non-training side, I did the taxes, worked 50 hours, worked with my son to make sure he's finishing his home work on time and correctly, hosted a joint birthday party for my middle two children whose birthdays are a couple weeks apart (37 people attended), dealt with some financial surprises, refinanced my car, resolved my long-standing PayPayl issue, attended a superbowl party, taught a sunday school class, and fed my dog and my daughter's rabbit. On the training side, I spent 23.5 hours either swimming, biking, running, or working out. I ended the week with 13,500 yards in the pool, 250 miles on the bike and 6 miles of running--still lopsided. By Saturday afternoon, I was exhaused--walking dead exhausted. I struggled through the ride Saturday morning. The first hour I wanted to call it a day but was too tired to fight the wind back by myself. After a while my legs came around and I was feeling really randy. The group ended up pushing a fairly hard pace up Tramway and the first half of the Fingers, I was feeling really good climbing and hung with the lead group. I ran for 25 mintutes aftwards and it felt like my legs were at 90%; good improvement. Sunday, I missed the early morning ride because I slept in, so I did the Lobo ride. There were 4 flats in all; the first half was way too slow. I wasn't complaining though because I felt like I had wooden legs. The second half of the Lobo ride was like moto-pacing. It was all I could do to hang on. People were being dropped and I just focused on the wheel in front of me to hang on. It wasn't pretty. But I finished it up.
I slept in again Monday morning and missed Masters and didn't commute on my bike to work. My body was telling me it needed to rest. Today, I feel much better ready to finish off my last hard week of the block. I'm getting excited because my run is really starting to feel better.

Use the force!

That's Not Trivial!

2009-01-29T17:14:00.003-07:00

The day before I did my Ironman, I bought a sticker that said "IronMan Finisher". I really liked the sticker and thought it would be cool on my car. Also, I figured it would be a little extra motivation to finish because I wouldn't dare put it on the car if it weren't true.

This morning I was parked at a local grocery store parking lot just about to get in my car and someone approached me. "Hey, did you really finish an Ironman?" I answered affirmatively. He then responded, "Wow, that's not trivial!"

Check Out This Video!

2009-01-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

Ryder Hesjedal :: Haleakala Attempt from Media One Multimedia on Vimeo.

Firing It Back Up

2009-01-27T12:25:00.002-07:00

Last week was the first week of my training program. It was a bit like jumping into a frozen lake. It was a shock! After everything was said and done, I logged 24 hours. 285 miles in the bike; 10,000 yards of swimming (low because coach had surgery and canceled one of the workouts); and I ran ~6 miles. I also did a fair amount of core work. Saturday, I started off with a swim--I swam horribly because all of the accumulated training started to take it's toll on me. I couldn't get into a rythym. I just did what I could, which wasn't much. Afterwards, I crammed some food down and joined the team for a bike ride. It was cold and I was bundled up like a snow man. We rode for nearly 5 hours at a fairly slow pace. The final part of the ride was the dreaded ascent of Tramway. Tramway is nearly 5 miles and rises more than 1,000 feet at an average gradient of 3-4%. By no means is it a killer, but after a long ride and the sun is finally out, it's tough. I felt fine after the ride and ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes. I got some food, took a shower and laid down for a brief nap. When I awoke, my wife told me I was grunting and growning in my sleep. At first she thought I was kidding but that was really how I was sleeping. I must have been trashed. I woke up in a post nap stupor, and went on with the day. The next morning, the ride started at 7AM. I started with 2 other guys, one of which is peaking for Valley of the Sun Road race, which is in February. It was cold and it was windy. The pace was fairly brisk. I spent 95% of the time in the draft just trying to make it through the ride. Again, the final part of the ride was the dreaded ascension of Tramway. This time was a different story; I was a slug in the salt flats. When it was over, we'd gone nearly 85 miles in 5 hours.

As of late, recovery is really starting to be important. Before, I'd finish a ride, put the bike up, and go on my merry way. Now, I have a routine that I follow to maximize my ability to recover. I guess I'm getting old now. I don't like starting a workout feeling like I've already been whalloped; you don't seem to get as much out of it that way. So, recovery is the key.

This morning I went to the PT and he hurt me. First off, he shows me some fairly easy workouts--except one that isolated my knee injury. Then the painful part was having him massage the injury. Oh my gosh! Based on the technique he used, it might have been just as effective with a butcher's knife. All I have to say is THIS BETTER WORK!

I feel like my swimming game is in check...my bike game is in check. I just want to run like I was able to 6 months ago. At least I'm slowly starting to run again. The PT observed my running stride and said there was nothing too crazy other than a need for orthodics. I'm just too impatient. Can I just stick the knee in a microwave and instantly make it better?

On the family front, the kids are doing well. I've been working with Ethan more on his homework. He's been having lots of problems in that department lately. He tells us he's already done it and we find out he hasn't been turning it in. So, now I have to sit down with him every night and make him show me everything and correct it before he goes to bed. Otherwise, he's doing very well at basketball. Grace had her birthday last week. We're going to combine Grace and Ethan's birthday party and have a blow out. Tanya's going to rent a blow up jumper. The kids are pumped. I hope it's not too cold. Tanya's busy with work, working out and school.

Spent

2009-01-23T12:38:00.004-07:00

The week isn't even over yet and I feel spent. Monday, Wednesday, and today, I went to swim practice then came home and rode my bike to work, Ran/lifted weights at lunch, and rode home after work. By the time I get to work in the morning, I've already worked out 2.5 hours. The bike rides home tend to be a bit more productive because it's a 1600 foot elevation gain from point A to point B over 15 miles. This weekend I have a couple of 4 hour rides, a swim, and a run on tap. That should round my week out with 20 hours.

My run is still pathetic. When you've been out of it this long, your mind starts to mess with you. You start thinking you'll never run fast again, or, worse, you'll always be injured. I know there's been improvement. It's just slow...too slow!

My brother put this video of me on YouTube from the New years Eve festivities (sound is necessary to get the full effect).

Time To Start Training Again

2009-01-21T11:11:00.003-07:00

Well now that my preparation period is over and I can start really training again, I've started to beef up my bike miles. I commuted on Monday right after swim practice and again today. That makes for a long day before 8AM. I rode the trainer last night for an hour working on speed drills. These last couple of weeks have been hectic and is one of our traditionally busier times. We worked Saturday and Monday, which was a company holiday (MLK day). It's really lame working when no one else is in the office. Oh well, I'm comping that day times two for a couple of training days. But, it looks like things should be ramping down fairly quickly, so I can get off at a reasonable hour and not have to work weekends. The one challenge I have noticed over the years is time at work is a reflection of your boss' attitude. If your boss is ambitious and wants to work long hours, that, generally, is his/her expectation of you. It get's really challenging when your boss doesn't have a life outside of work (i.e. no kids, hobbies, spouse/love interest). That, more or less, is my current situation. That was the situation with my previous supervisor. What really strikes my odd is when your supervisor can't accept that you'd rather be doing something else than working. Oh well, such is the life of the weekend warrior!
I went to the Physical Therapist, who shall henceforth be known as PT. He inspected my knees, my posture, my back, my gait, and my flexibility. His preliminary diagnosis was my injury didn't effect the major knee ligaments (MCL, ACL) but was rather a muscle tear. He said I'm structurally pretty messed up. I'm very inflexible and rigid and riding a bike has messed up my posture. Because I'm so bow legged my patella doesn't track vertically up and down but rather at an angle, which creates a lot of stress on the inside of the knee. He said there probably isn't much that can be done about my structure, but we can work on my flexibility and get me into some orthodics and do some specific strength building exercises. He said I need to build my running over a much longer period of time.

He seems to know what he's talking about. What he says makes sense. I have a follow up appointment. I'll keep you posted on how it progresses.

Swim Contest

2009-01-19T11:21:00.003-07:00

Saturday morning I particiapted in the masters 1 hour swim contest in which you see how much you can swim in an hour. It started at 6:30AM and I had to bring someone to document my laps and splits. The closest thing I've ever done compared to this was the swim segment of my triathlons. My goal was to finish 4200 yards, which would be 2.4 miles. During my Iron Man in November, I finished ~4200 yards in 1:07. Finishing in 1 hour would mean I shaved 7 minutes off that pace without a wetsuit.

When I woke up in the morning, I was a bit sore and used the foam roller to work out the muscles a bit. When we got to the pool, it was a bit chaotic. There were swimmers in the lanes doing their workouts; I was under the impression that the pool would be exclusively for the 1 hour competition. I jumped in the pool and spent a little time warming up. I didn't feel great, but no matter, this was only a small swim. The coach went over the instructions. We were to start at 6:40 and swim non-stop for an hour. A minute before we were about to start, he was done with his instructions and it was quiet. It was the calm before the storm. Tick-tock, Tick-tock. Finally, 6:40 hit the digital clocks and the coach blew his whistle. My heart rate shot up a bit and I tried to match the speed of the person in my lane; we had to share lanes because other swimmers were training in the other lanes.

The person I was sharing my lane with was a bit faster than me and it took a few laps to realize I was going too hard. I had to let her go; I knew if I kept up the pace, I'd blow up. After the first 15 minutes I had recovered and found a rythym. My arms were gradually getting tired. After about 45 minutes, I was getting really tired. I just focused on my form and my stroke. My arms were starting to really get soar and my stomache was bloated from breathing like a swimmer: deep breath, hold, exhale, deep breath, hold, exhale, (continue for an hour for effect). By this point, I'd lost track of my total lap count and was getting tired of starting over after losing count. So, I would watch the other swimmers in the lanes next to me. Two lanes over was this really fast former collegiate swimmer that would glide past me like I was hardly moving. He would lap me every 4-5 laps. Finally, there was only 5 minutes to go and I tried to push through with the rest of my energy. At exactly 7:40, coach blew a horn and we stopped were we were at.

I finished the day at 3,685 yards or 3,700 yards rounded. That ended up being 74 laps. Afterwards, I could barely pull myself out of the pool. I was trashed. The rest of the day, I was exhausted. My guts hurt. And, I felt a bit dizzy from looping non-stop for an hour.

After crunching the numbers, I finished each 50 yards on average every 48 second. I was extremely consistent with a fast range 47 second and my slowest lap was 52 seconds (in which I had to let the water out of my goggles). For the most part, all of my laps were between 48 and 49 seconds. My mile time was 26 minutes, and my half iron distance (1.2 miles) was 33 minutes. I swam at the same pace in which I swam my iron distance...but without a wetsuit. That's the upside. The downside was I was beat by two old ladies. I suck! Oh, well I'm still improving and still have alot of upside potential.

On the running note, I'm able to run for 20 mintues with hardly any pain. It's like I'm really running again. That makes me happy.

Getting On

2009-01-12T08:48:00.002-07:00

This last week really kicked my butt. I can't tell if it's all the swimming or getting up at 5:00 AM to swim, but it's really wiping me out. I ended the week with 16 hours. 4.5 of those were swimming with 15,000 yards. 7.5 hours were on the bike and the rest were core workout stuff and rehabbing my leg to run. Today my leg feels really good. I'm going to give it a go at lunch on the treadmill. Fingers crossed!
This Saturday I'm entering a swim competition. It's a national contest in which you see how far you can swim in 1 hour. Someone has to record my laps and the time splits. During my IronMan I swam the 2.4 miles in 1:07. That's 4200 yards. That will be my goal; swim 4200 yards in 1 hour. This will be a 7 minute nominal time pick up, and that doesn't factor in the wetsuit advantage I had during the IronMan.

Somewhat off topic. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to take over the family finances. Strangely, my wife has done it all 15 years we've been married. I'm a CPA and she's an elemantary ed teacher (now a student again), yet she's always done the family books. The transition has been a difficult one. It's been stressful for the wife to let go, and stressful for me to get her to sit down and get me up to speed. We're not 100% there but getting there. Part of the hard part is being the ball buster when it comes down to staying on budget. I'm currently the ball buster when it comes to making the kids clean their rooms. The kids think I'm mean because of that. Now, with respect to being the budget ball buster, I'm afraid my wife will think I'm mean.

Another of my New Year's Resolutions is to eat more fruits and vegetables. So far it's been heavy fruit and less vegetables. I've been eating lots of apples, blue berries, blackberries, and rasberries. Sadly I'm allergic to bananas and avacadoes. I figure now that I'm getting on in age, I should eat more healthy. I've always struggled with eating fruits and veggies. I need to turn the corner on that. I can't be healthy; I can't be as fast as I possibly can be without taking in the best foods. Man cannot live on Coke and chocolate alone!

Chomping At The Bit

2009-01-08T14:53:00.002-07:00

A lot of my friends are burning the miles on the bike. I've been riding a bit, swimming a lot, and doing lots of weights/running therapy. I have this week and next with the 12.5 mile hour cap then I can start building up. It's killing me though. I really want to start logging the big miles. I'm chomping at the bit. It's Thursday, and I'm already at 8 hours. I do a trainer class tonight. This will make for a light weekend.

My leg is still progressing. Soon...hopefully...very soon I can start running like a human rather than a donkey. You silly rabbit! Donkey's don't run! They dawdle; they mosey. And, yes, that's where I've been for the last two months. I'm no quadraped; I've evolved. Let me graduate to the exclusivity of the bipeds--at least the running ones!

Week 1 of 2009

2009-01-06T09:00:00.003-07:00

Well now I'm in the full swing of training (and, unfortunately work). Last week I knocked out upwards of 18 hours--much too many. The biggest part of that was the resolution ride. I assure the following weeks will be as scheduled. I have 2 more weeks of 12.5 hours and then the real training starts. I swam 13000 yards last week. I rode 160 miles. And ran 3. Looks like the wheel may be a bit lopsided. The good thing is I'm, kinda-sort, running again. I was able to gut out 3 10-minute sessions on the treadmill. That was still a bit painful. There has been incremental improvement though. Hopefully, I'll be back at it before long.

Live Long A Prosper--Nanu Nanu!

Day 1 of '09 - Done!

2009-01-02T10:23:00.002-07:00

Yesterday's Resolution Ride was every thing I thought it would be, and more! I left the house (on bike) as 6:30 AM to get to the Nob Hill Starbucks (the designated meeting point). When I left the house, the thermometer was 33 degrees F. Start time was 7:30 AM, so leaving a little early would give me some time to warm up while waiting for the group.

The other day, I changed my tires to Armadillo's, which are kevlar wheels. They weigh a ton and ride like crap. But, they don't go flat, which is something you don't want to deal with in cold weather. The ride down was frigid. I was hardly awake because I went to bed the night before at 11:30. The whole ride down I kept asking myself why I was doing this ride. It was too cold and too early.

Once at Starbucks, I warmed myself by the fire while waiting for the others to show. Eventually, 14 riders (including myself) set-off for the Resolution Ride. What a way to ring in the new year!

For the first hour, people rode just hard enough to stay warm. My Armadillo tires are extremely heavy and don't roll worth a darn. I noticed my heart rate a bit higher than I wanted it to be. We stopped in Los Lunas to use the rest room and top off on drinks and food. After a few brief minutes, the group rolled off without any warning. I had to scramble to get my gloves, hat, helmet, glasses on, finish chewing my food and jump on the bike to try to catch the group. They already had a significant jump on me. I had to kill myself to catch the group. I looked at my heart rate and it was 175 BPM. What the heck!

Off we went along Highway 6 and it was a fairly moderate pace. After 20 miles, we stopped for a pee break. I decided to take advantage of the break because I was sitting on a full bladder. Being bundled up, it took some time to get myself in a position where I could pee. While mid stream, the pack takes off again at a full clip. Not Again! I rushed to finish the job--something people shouldn't rush. I haphazzardly got my clothes on again and jumped on my bike. It was with another great effort that I rejoined the pack. I checked the heart rate monitor; 176 beats per minute. What's going on here?!
We continued down Highway 6 until we got to a small store (that was incidentally closed on New Year's Day) just before the rode converges with Interstate 40. We stopped and started to shed clothes as it was getting warmer. We ate and relieved ourselves of excess bladder pressure.
Sure enough, the group took off again at full speed leaving me and two others to fight to catch back on. Same story, it was a hard effort to catch back on, my heart rate was much higher than I wanted it to be at this time of year of for this distance of a ride. WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE!
By this point, I was very upset with the group. It wasn't like I was dilly-dallying. There was even a word uttered: Hey Let's Go! Nothing. It was look up, and realize they were half way down the road.
We turned on to I-40 and headed back to town. At this point the pace went up signicantly. I was struggling to hang on. I noticed the group had already split up and the group behind was gradually falling behind. I shouted, "Hey we're splitting up the group!" No response...heads down, cranks mashing. Finally, I cracked and came off the group. My heart rate was 182. I was beginning to feel the beginning pangs of a bonk. I was drenched with sweat. I was annoyed with the group I was riding with. No longer than 2 months prior, I'd riden the same route and was flying. It had been nearly a month after my IronMan that I'd get back on the bike, and, Now, my fitness was at the bottom. I was flat.
I rode at a moderate pace to let my HR drop. The group behind caught me and motored past without even saying a word.
At this point, I resolved to not ride with this particular group anymore. It wasn't any fun. There were too many egos competing. It was Jan.1, and the group was riding like it was their most important race. I felt like I was not part of the group; I'd been left 3 different times at stops, dropped off the back without a single concern, and it wasn't fun. Then it dawned on me...this is exactly how road racing is. It's like being a new kid at school and never fitting in. No matter how hard you train or how fast you race, you're nobody. You may have a good race, and people might want you around breifly, but it's only briefly. It's just not fun.
As I rode, I noticed the group was waiting while someone fixed the flat. I just kept riding. I stopped at Rt. 66 gas station and grabbed some water and took off. The group had caught up as I was leaving. No one said a word. I figured they'd catch me coming up 9 mile hill, but I never saw them again.
I rode the rest of the way home at a comfortable pace. When I got home, I had 120 miles. I was tired and hungry. I ate some food, cleaned myself up, took a little rest, and met the family at the movies and watched BedTime Stories with Adam Sandler. It was good. It was fun.
I don't know if I'll ever do the Resolution Ride again...it doesn't really fit in to my training plan. I've done it more out of tradition than anything else.

Last Day of 2008

2008-12-31T09:45:00.002-07:00

I've finally gotten back into the swing of training again. This morning at Masters, we swam 3,800 yards, which included 1600 yards of kicking drills. For all my cycling strength, I'm so slow at kicking. I was getting lapped.

A couple of days ago, I was able to run for 10 minutes on the treadmill. That was as long as I could tolerate before I started noticing some pain. I directly switched to the eliptical afterwards. I don't want to rush things and hurt myself again. I'll try to run for another 10 minutes again today. I can't wait until I can run without a care again.

Tomorrow is the annual Resolution Ride in which a handful of brave souls meet and ride >100 miles. Last year was miserably cold; the temps were in the 20s all day. This year it's looking to be nearly twice that. Winter riding is such a beast. You start out bundled up with everything you have, and, as the temps rise, you start to over heat and sweat; you start to shed layers. The quandry is you don't really have many places to stowe your layers; it's all got to be on your person. At the same time, you have to stowe food, your phone, your wallet, and any other extras. So, shedding layers isn't as easy as it sounds.

I just found out my wife is hosting a New Year's Eve party at house this year. Is it rude for one of the co-hosts to beg off and go to bed early? Maybe we can make it a New York New Year's Eve.

Happy New Years!

Strange Day!

2008-12-26T09:25:00.002-07:00

Today, 12/26/2008, I came into work--I'd taken nearly a week-and-a-half off prior to Christmas because I was going to lose 84 hours of PTO. I just hung out for my time off. Anyway, I show up to work today, and there's not a soul in the whole building. I remember my boss telling me to come back the Friday after Christmas. Turns out today is a company holiday and Christmas Eve wasn't--DOH! I pulled a no show at work. I've never done that before. no one even called me. I guess that means my presense isn't necessary.

I've fallen off the blog wagon as of late because I've been in vacation/holiday mode. I'm not back to training regularly. I'm still in the preparation phase of training, which means I'm not supposed to exceed 12.5 hours. I've been doing a bit of everything these last couple of weeks. I've been a lot of circuit training with a class my wife goes to regularly. She likes it when I go so she can laugh at my lack of coordination. I've been hiking, and I even got out to do some nordic skiing. The other day I started jumping rope--UGH! Jumping rope is hard! I lasted 15 minutes and I was done. I'm officially swimming with the Academy Masters 4 times a week. This morning I swam 3,500 yards. It was a tough workout, but fun. I'm really enjoying it. I've also been riding a little bit. In previous years, when I get time off, I'm on the bike most of the time. It's like I'd use every available moment I had, to train and put in the miles. I'm trying to shift that way of thinking to manage my hours to a plan. The first thought I had when I realized today was a work holiday was...I can go out and ride. I'm already 10 hours into this week. I plan on swimming and riding Saturday, so a ride would put me over my 12.5 hour ceiling. I just have to tell myself, there will be 25 hour weeks in the near future, but not now--not this week. Many endurance athletes struggle with the discipline. More training isn't always better; sometimes you need a value to ramp up from. It's important to have the discipline to train when you don't want to to meet the week's goal, and it's important to back off when you've met the goal.

Speaking of training, last week was my first bike ride in nearly a month. I went out on the team ride. The pace was fairly fast, and, surprisingly, it wasn't a challenge to keep up. There were times when heading to the designated sprints when I would go to the front and drive the pace. I was surprised; I must have carried over some fitness with me, because I fully anticipated struggling to stay with the group.

Christmas was good. It was low-key, and that's the way I like it. I got some cool gifts--lots of gift cards, which are also my favorite. My wife gave me some tri bike shoes. The kids seemed very happy with their gifts. All around, it was a good time.

Little Bit of This and That

2008-12-15T12:12:00.002-07:00

My training officially starts for next year on December 22nd. So, I'm just doing a little bit of this and that. I managed to swim 12,500 yards last week. I can still swim with no pain, and swimming technique fades too quick to not try to keep up with it. Saturday, I took the kids for a hike in the foothills to a small waterfall. I wanted to see how my knee would hold out on varied terrain. Everything went well, except little Mia stopped her fall by grabbing a cactus. After picking out the "Pockies" and wiping away her tears, we were on our way again. My knee felt fine, so the next day I decided to do another more challenging hike to continue to build the knee. The night before brought Albuquerque's second snow of the year and really cold weather. Saturday it was in the low 50s, and Sunday it was in the 30s. I hiked a trail I used to hike with my dogs when they were younger and a little more agile. It goes up 1.5 miles and gains 1362 feet of elevation. The trail was hardly visible because of the snow. If felt good just to get out and get some fresh crisp air. My knee felt good, and the trail was so steep I felt like I was doing continuous squats/lunges. The way down was also fairly intense with the snow covered rocks; there was lots of slipping. Today my legs are a bit sore from the hike and the knee is a bit stiff. But, I'm almost to the point when I can start running again. For sure, I'll ride this weekend if not before--that is unless it's too cold outside. Ethan and I picked up a new WW2 video game and have been playing it together alot. It drives him nuts when I beat him; I guess he'll need to put in some more P time on the GameCube to beat his daddy. Who's your daddy!

What Does Someone Do In The Offseason?

2008-12-10T12:02:00.003-07:00

I've been doing a lot of sleeping, movie watching, errands, leaf raking, and planning lately. I've been going to bed nearly every night at 10pm and waking up at 7:30. Weekends I've been sleeping in until 8:30-9:00 am; it's great. For a zombie triathlete, sleep is a luxury. You take it when you can get it and go without to make the next workout. I've also rented every possible movie from RedBox possible. Last Sunday, Ethan was sick, so I made him watch the Mad Max trilogy; he didn't seem to like the movies as much as I did when I was a kid. I cleaned my car--something I've wanted to do since June. Now if I can get my Christmas shopping done and unpack our extra bedroom, I'll be all set.

I've been putting together my training plan for next year. I've posted my racing schedule below. There will probably be a few bike and running races thrown in to mix it up a bit. The big races are going to be Buffalo Springs 70.3(West Texas)/Lake Stevens 70.3 (Seattle, Washington)/ Austin 70.3 (Austin, Texas) with the effort trying to qualify for the 70.3 Championships in Clearwater, Florida, in November. I'm going to shorten the distances a bit to let my running legs get ready for the longer marathon distances. I'd like to presume my Kona campaign in 2010. Each of these 70.3 events do have a few Kona slots, but they're extremely competitive (more so than qualifying with a traditional IronMan). So I'm not taking myself out of the Kona game all together.

I have been swimming a lot these last couple of weeks. I don't want to start the Masters cold turkey and suffer. I have to say, my swimming has progressed quite a bit this last year, which makes me happy. Every few swim workouts, I've been doing 10X100 yards at 1:45 each. I consistently finish at 1:30 giving myself 15 seconds of rest between each. I'm not sure whether I should increase the volume of intervals (secretly I'd like to do 25 of these) or decrease the send off times. Either way, this would not have been something I could have done a year ago. Last year, I was struggling to consitently do flip turns. I'm excited to see what next year will bring. I'm optimisitic that the Masters will help me get to the next level.

I've been putting together my workout plans for the next year. My goal is start every workout with a specific workout task and work towards an ultimate objective. Towards the end of the season last year, I was more or less going through the motions. Ideally, I'd like to have a coach to put together my training plans and techniques--especially with running. But, I really have to pick and chose my options with the resource constraints I have. I feel like I have a lot of potential with this triathlon thing; I just wish I had all the tools necessary to get there as quickly as possible. If someone knows of any sponsorship/funding opportunities, let me know.

My knee is improving pretty well now. I've given it lots of rest and used the pool to rehab it a bit. I'm thinking by next week I can start riding the bike again and possibly start with the eliptical--crossing my fingers.

A couple of days ago Albuquerque got her first snow. Can I go back to Arizona for the winter? I don't look forward to long rides in the cold. It's miserable wearing multiple layers of clothes and your fingers and toes are freezing. You also build some bad habits while riding in the cold. Being bundled up, you get out of the habit of a strict drinking/eating regimine. Just 3 weeks ago, I was wearing a triathlon outfit for a 112 mile ride and wasn't the least bit cold.

Just Hanging Out For The Off-Season

2008-12-04T12:01:00.005-07:00

This is Shane (our >200 lbs. Mastiff) and Bunny Honey (Our daughter Grace's pet bunny). They co-habitate the backyard. They are best buddies; they even share a bed. I've never seen a rabbit and a dog get along so well. The bunny even eats Shane's food. It's funny to watch them interact with each other.

I've been rehabbing my knee taking it easy. I went to the doctor on Tuesday and they gave me a cortizone shot in the knee--OUCH! That entire day after, my knee was killing me, but it's getting better now. The prognosis is a torn bursa on the inner knee. It should be good to go in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I've swam a couple of times. I got invited to swim with the Academy Masters Program that swims monday/wednesday/Friday/Saturday from 5:15AM to 6:45AM. The facility they swim in is the best; it's a legit natatorium. How can I say no?

I've been working on a little internet business project in the downtime. I figure it'll be a way to drum up some more cash for next season. We'll see...most of the time, these things don't amount to much.

Here's a final picture of me at the finish line in Tempe.

Race Report

2008-11-24T09:16:00.005-07:00

4:00AM Alarm goes off. I jumped in the shower to get the muscles warm and fresh. I ate 2 bagels and my Naked Juice (brand of fruit puree). Tanya and Danny (my bro) drove me down to Tempe to get the party started. Once I got there, I went into transition to check the tire pressure on the bike and put all my food and water bottles on the bike. Once that was done, Tanya and Dan took off to pick up the rest of the family to get back to watch the swim start. While alone, I found a quiet place to get away from all the other contestants. At the beginning of these events, there's so much nervous energy that's extremely contagious. I was as ready as I was going to be at this point and hearing someone else talk about something that I might not have considered wouldn't help--not now. I stretched and massaged the muscles. I began to meditate on my race strategy. I was confident in my swim and bike but wasn't sure how the knee would hold up. At that moment the knee felt good, but I hadn't run for upwards of a month. I figured I'd give everything I had in the swim and bike and see how the run played out.

At 30 minutes before race start, I pulled on the wetsuit. I put my goggles on with my swim cap over the top. I made my way to the dock. There were 2,300 athletes making their way to the pier jumping in to the water. We were like lemmings jumping in. When it was my turn, I tried to hesitate for a moment, but with so many people behind me, I had to go. We were like soldiers jumping off a boat to storm a beach. There was a palpable trepidation amongst the athletes. The initial shock of the water took my breath away. I moved forward as the next athlete jumped in right behind me. As I began to move, I started to warm up and gather my senses. I made my way to the start buoys, which was 200 meters away from the dock. During that 200 meter swim, I began to get comfortable. I started with an easy breast stroke then gradually started swimming freestyle. I felt good. When I did Boise, the water was so cold and choppy it took me a third of the swim course to finally be comfortable swimming freestyle. This had cost me a lot of time. In the 10 minutes before the race started I swam a few hundred meters getting used to the water and getting comfortable with my stroke. I was really happy because I knew I could start the swim right off the bat in freestyle. I made my way to the front of the line. I figure it's better to make the faster swimmers swim over you, than having to swim through the slow swimmers if I had started in the back. I looked at the spectators from bridge looking for my family. I waived hoping they might see me. Then someone sang the national anthem from the shore. Then "Boom" a gun was fired and the race began.

The first 200 yards were swum all out. I was just trying to keep up with the front group. That pace caught up with me and I was winded. I slowed down to catch my breath. People swam over the top of me, which made it harder to catch my breath. I kept swimming still trying get the heart rate back in check. Then, after I calmed down, I began to swim at my optimal pace. I focused on my stroke gliding with each arm before starting the next stroke. No one was swimming over the top of me anymore. I began to catch people. The difficulty of catching people was they weren't alone but in pods of many people. I physically had to cut through them--push them aside--to get through them. There were times I could feel myself kicking other swimmers. I jammed my fingers on anther swimmer. I spent the bulk of the swim moving up from one pod of people to the next until 3/4s of the way when I caught up to the people swimming at my optimal speed. There were about 4 of us and we stayed together until the end.

During the swimming event, I sustained my worst injury. My zipper strap on my back kept wrapping under my arms as I swam giving me the equivalent of rope burns under both my arm pits. It's not that big of a deal, but gosh does it hurt. This morning, I have a bunch of scabs all over my arm pits. I can't wait to put on deodorant.

When I swam to the finishing dock, I put out my hand to the volunteer to help me out. He yanked me right out of the water. I ran up the path towards T1. Some other volunteers, aptly named "Strippers", stripped off my wetsuit. As I made my way, I kept hearing the volunteers shouting my race number ahead to the other volunteers to have my T1 bag ready for me. As I got to the change tent, a volunteer handed me my bag and another was eager to help me change into my bike clothes. Most of my bike clothes were on under my wetsuit, so there wasn't much I needed help with. But the volunteer put my socks and bike shoes on for me as I put my helmet on. I stuffed my wetsuit and swim stuff into the bag and ran off to my bike. Another volunteer grabbed my bike for me and ran along with me to the beginning of the bike course. I jumped on my bike and took off. I cannot say enough about the help the volunteers were for the transitions. I have never seen such help in any of the prior events I've done.

When I started the bike course, I had no idea of my swim time. Turns out I swam a 1:07, which is much better pace than anything I've done previously at half the distance.

On the bike, I slammed it in to the big gear dropped into the aero bars and went to work. The course was well marked with an open road. I was amazed at how many people were in front of me from the swim. I had a lot of time to make up.

About 5 miles into the ride, a peloton of about 15 riders came up behind me. It was like a team time trial event and the Tour De France. They were rotating through. My cycling instincts kicked in and I jumped on the back of the group and began to rotate through. We were averaging upwards of 30 MPH. All the other riders not in the peloton were shouting at us. Then it dawned on me, this is illegal. It's illegal to draft during these events. As soon as I realized what I was doing I pulled over to the side and let them go. I felt bad. Minutes later, a referee on the back of a motorcycle zipped by and caught up to the group. All the riders were assessed a 4 minute drafting penalty. They fought with the referee but were still busted.

The course was three loops of an out and back course. On the way out it was a long drag up a gradual hill with a fierce headwind. It was tough. The turn around was just past the peak of the hill on the downside. On the way back it was great: down hill with a headwind. The penalty tent was at the turn around, and all the riders in the peloton were in the tent. On the way back, I averaged 35 MPH. It was a drag race back to town. It was great. Half way back to town, the peloton came riding past, this time the person in the back was looking back for a referee. These guys were intent on drafting during the race at all costs. Being given two penalties is an automatic DQ. Off they went, zipping by at what I'd bet was upwards of 40 MPH in the downhill tailwind. Part of me felt bad because I was part of that for a brief period of time (2-3 miles) and partly because one of these riders was taking my ticket to Kona. Furthermore, they were so brazen in their activity; they didn't care that all the other riders were jeering them for cheating.

As progressed through each loop, the people in front of me became more sparse. By the end of the second loop, I had caught everyone I was going to catch and was finishing up. By the third loop the course was littered with riders at various stages of their bike section; it was impossible to know who was in what position. I just put my head down and rode.

I finished the 112 mile ride in 5:09. I had stopped twice; once to use the porta-john and once to check a false alarm flat tire. There many riders that didn't stop at a porta-john and did their business while riding. I couldn't bring myself to do that. I may have cost me a minute of so, but that's OK.

At T2, a volunteer took my bike and directed me to the change tent. Another volunteer handed me my t2 bag. When I got in the tent, another volunteer emptied the bag, pulled off my cycling shoes and sock (and timing chip), put on my running socks, and shoes. I put my own running shorts on--thank you very much. I threw on my hat and proceeded to my wild card event: running.

My knee felt good. I finished my first mile at a 7:30 minute pace. The transition from bike to run is painful and I was suffering. You're supposed to feel good after 3 miles of running. After the first mile, my knee started to hurt. I had compression socks on, a knee brace, and lots of Ibuprofen in my system. My pace started to come down to what my knee would allow. At the first timing mat, I didn't hear the buzzer go off. I looked down, there was no timing chip on my leg. Doh! It dawned on me the volunteer at T2 pulled my timing chip off and didn't put it back on. I grabbed the next volunteer I saw and had him radio in to HQ. He told me to stop at T2 after the first loop. This is why, people following me on the internet didn't see any updates after the bike section. When I got through the first loop, they gave me a new timing chip and sent me on my way.

By this time I was averaging 10 minute miles. It was time to focus on finishing rather than qualify. I was happy though because I had confidence I'd finish--even if I had to walk. The run course was three loops of run paths and sidewalks around the Tempe Park Lake. Different organizations of volunteers manned the run aid stations every mile. They all had different themes, super heroes, country western, angels, and more. They passed out gatorade, water, ice, pretzels, gels, coke, bananas, cookies, Powerbars. When it was dark they handed out chicken broth. They'd shout words of encouragement as you passed. The miles ticked by and my pace went from 7:30 minute mile to, ultimately 12:30 mile. By mile 20, I was hobbling pretty obviously. This made the volunteers at the aid station to give me that much more encouragement. Finally, the last mile was over and I ran to the finish line. I wasn't too aware of everything going on around me. My son Ethan ran with me for a 100 yards, and my daughter Elise crossed the finish line with me. My finishing time was 11:32. I ran a 5 hour marathon, which I like to call my cold turkey marathon. I honestly think I'm good for 2 hours less--but that's another time. They gave me one of these futuristic aluminum foil blankets, my medal (the hardware), a shirt, and a hat. They snapped some pictures. Then I found the family where more pictures were snapped.

I gingerly made my way to the transitions and grabbed my bike and transition bags. We went home where Dan made some big steaks, pasta, and, my favorite, brownies. Then I went to bed.

This morning I'm sore, my knee is extremely painful, and my arm pits are killing me. We're heading back to Albuquerque, but not before a trip to Chipotle for some burritos. Let the off-season begin. Thanks for everyone's support!

The Calm Before The Storm

2008-11-22T21:46:00.002-07:00

I'm just about to go to bed and wake up to an epic day. Today started off early with getting the three oldest kids to the Ironkids 1.25 mile run. They really enjoyed it. I ran with my daughter and my leg held up OK. These events are really family friendly.

Afterwards it was a rush getting everything set up in the transitions. The day before one of these events is very stressful trying to get all the final pieces in place. While dropping off my bike, I forgot I had my bike on top of the car. I accidental ran it into a parking garage. My heart sunk when I heard the noise. Fortunately, there wasn't any damage. I was driving really slow at the time. Still, it was quite a scare.

I'm now going to crash. I'm tired. Full race report tomorrow!

Co-Workers!

2008-11-19T15:58:00.004-07:00

Today during a meeting, all the people in my group put together a poll of my finishing time. The times varied from impossibly too fast (thanks for the confidence) to 12 hours. Fortunately, no one wagered a DNF (thans, again, for the confidence). Aftwards, a co-worker posted some statistical data from all the previous IronMan Arizona events. Take a gander.

Now you know what geeks do for fun!

That first blip of people on the left are the ones that got a golden Willie Wonka wrapper to the Chocolate Factory (Kona). Gosh I want to run with the Ompa Lompas next year!

Almost Time!

2008-11-17T15:41:00.002-07:00

The closer I get to the event, the more of a reality it becomes. I find myself growing more pensive. I keep catching myself saying, "I can't believe I'm going to do this!" or "Gosh, what was I thinking?!" At any rate, we leave 6AM Friday morning to pick up my race packet later that day. I've called the officials at Tempe Park Lake and the water temp is 65 degrees, which is much warmer than Boise (56 degrees). Today the weather in Phoenix is 84 degrees with a projected 77-78 degrees on Sunday. That's much warmer than Albuquerque this time of year, which will be a bit of shock to the system.

If you feel so inclined to follow me during the race, my bib number is 766. You can log into the Ironman.com website and go to the link for Ironman Arizona. There you'll find an athlete tracker. Just drop my bib number in there, and you'll be good to see my times for each event.

This last week was my last to get in any quality workouts. I ended up with 12 hours split between swimming and biking. As I rode around the city on Saturday morning, I couldn't help but be jeolous of the people out running. I want to be running or at least have the knowledge that I can be running without any fear of a nagging injury.

Part of me wants to treat this like a race and really push it. The other part of me wants to go at a pace that will ensure I finish and not be concerned with my final time. We'll see. Honestly, I'm just petrified and uncertain as to the reality of this new adventure. Again, what was I thinking?!

Next Year's Plans

2008-11-12T17:06:00.003-07:00

I know it's a bit premature, considering I'm 10 days away from my big day, but I've been thinking about plans for next year. Some of my thoughts are to focus on shorter distance events (i.e. half-iron) to let my running legs get used to the abuse and to develop some swimming speed and race experience. I worry that I inadvertantly named this blog the "Long" road to Kona for a reason. No, I'm not getting down on myself, but I'm just preparing myself for a potentialy long haul goal of getting that call up to Kona. At this moment, it's an a nebuluous goal that will firm up a bit after Arizona. Hey, if I qualify at the first attemp, great! Then I'll spend next year preparing for Kona. That's my plan A. But, I'm a contingency planner by nature, which means I've got plans B-Z already formulated in my mind. That's where I'm going with this entry.

My wife gets frustrated when I ask the following: "What's next?" She doesn't like that I can't just be content with the status quo. I understand her frustration; it's taxing always being on the go. But, unfortunately, it's my nature. I've got to conquer that next challenge. So, after Arizona, What's next?

I'd like to do 3-5 half iron distance events (i.e. Buffalo Springs, New Orleans, Austin, something in Q3)
I'd like to do some local shorter distance stuff
I'd like spend a lot more time running and less time injured
I'd like swim masters regularly--not the get up at 4:30Am group but the get up at 5:15 group--big difference
I'd like to do a few running events
I'd like to use a coach so I can it right or at least get sense that I'm doing it better than my current training technique.

We'll see. This is, after all, plan B.

12 More Days! Doh!

2008-11-10T19:21:00.003-07:00

The time is really drawing near. It kinda freaks me out. 12 days. Yikes! Well, I spend about 11 hours at Ironman practice. I mainly split my time between between cycling and swimming--there was about 1.5 hours of running, which was a bit of a no no! I feel weird laying off the bike so much. I only rode twice; once to/from work and a 3.5 hour ride on Saturday. I swam 4 times this week. Now that I'm coming down to it, I'm finding it hard to be motivated to train, which is probably a good thing. Instead I've been readying all the final details. I'm going to run tubulars on some Zipp 404 wheels. I put some latex sealant in the wheels just in case. And, I'm bringing an extra tuby--just in case. Truth be told, I've never changed a tuby. I hope it doesn't come down to that though. I've called my contact in Phoenix a couple of times to get a read on the the course/weather/swim. It's been windy--YAY! I figure living in the wind swept New Mexico should give me a bit of an advantage. I've spend lots of time training for the wind. It's really mental more than anything. The waters fairly cool but not Boise cold (56 degrees).

The real variable in this event will be the run for me. I try not to think about it too much--it's too depressing (see my last post). Oh well, real men are bourne from adversity (so are stress fractures and month long hobbles). I don't care! I'm crossing the line--even if it's in a stretcher! There's been too many early mornings, long solo rides, physical exhaustion, and hard work to just bag it because the run might not be stellar.

On another note; congrats to my sister for having her 5th baby. And, get well Marilyn.

The Weather's Cooling

2008-11-06T15:43:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I commuted to/from work on the bike. The temps were in 45 degrees in the morning and not much warmer in the evening. At the same time, it's been in the
mid-80's in Phoenix. That's going to hurt! After I got home, I jumped on the treadmill for an hour. My knee was killing and it was all I can do not to stop after 45 minutes. I'm not sure it's going to improve enough to be even close to 100% in the next couple of weeks. It's very frustrating going from planning on racing the Ironman to hoping I can finish. I've trained for this for so long. The thought of not being 100% for race day is depressing. My goal was to show up race day knowing I did all I could in terms of preparation. Now it's all up in the air.

Election Day Swim

2008-11-05T12:24:00.003-07:00

I left work and headed to my precinct to cast my ballot. Sure, the thought of blowing it off crept into my mind, but I just couldn't ignore the sacrifice that so many had made for me to have the freedom to cast a ballot. I couldn't blow off the principles that this country were established upon. I have a Chinese co-worker whose husband has just become a US citizen. Her excitement to get home to go with her husband and cast his first ballot was so electrifying. I couldn't take that for granted. I didn't blow of my vote.

After voting, I went to the pool and swam 2,500 meters straight without stopping. That's alot of alone time to think about things. I thought about the election, all the events that led up to the election, and my votes. I reflected on the issues that mattered to the election's outcome, the ones that shouldn't have mattered (but did), and the ones that should have mattered.

After the swim, I went home, had dinner with the family. Tanya made a great steak and pasta dinner. After dinner, I turned on the TV to get caught up on the latest with respect to the elections. They had just called the election for Obama and the cameras were filming Referend Jesse Jackson bawling like a baby. I didn't throw up a little bit in my mouth, but a lot! The cameras were also filming Oprah Winfrey and multiple other celebrities caught up in the Obama victory. Dammit! It was such a good dinner too. It all came out.

I promptly turned the TV off an went to bed. That's all I'm going to say about that.
Except, I guess I can expect to see some CHANGE that will bring me some HOPE. This should be a challenging task from a senator who didn't even finish his first term. Maybe I'm just too jaded to know it'll be More Of The Same.

Post Birthday Reminiscing

2008-11-04T16:02:00.002-07:00

As some of you may be aware, my birthday is October 31st (Halloween). This year was similar to the last few years in that I went to work, came home and took the kids trick-or-treating. The only difference was my oldest daughter decided to go trick-or-treating with some of her friends instead of with me--Bad deal! I guess I'm starting to get old enough that my kids are starting to do things with their friends, even on the important days.

Works been crazy lately. I swam in the morning Saturday then went to work from 10AM to 7PM. I came home pretty trashed. I narrowly dodged having to work on Sunday as well.

Sunday was daylight savings/losings. I got up early 5AM and rode with some friends for what was supposed to be a brisk 100 miles and ~5 hours. Well one of the friends invited some people not necessarily up to the brisk pace. So, the ride ended up being 120 miles and 7.5 hours...UGH! At any rate, a bad day on the bike is better than...(you get the jist).

I came and took the kids (and a couple for their uncles) to Tingley Beach to check the the remote control boats and the man-made fishing ponds. They enjoyed it, and I enjoyed hanging out with the kids. I felt really mellow from the ride.

Afterwards, my wife threw a family birthday party for me. She made some great lasgne and mojitos. It was a good time and I scored a bunch of cash/gift cards for future endurance sports equipment acquisitions.

I ended the week with 14 hours. A lot of the hours were crap from the overly long bike ride.

Monday I ran for 30 minutes, and felt really good. I'm a bit sore but feel like I can run a couple of times this week. I'm crossing my fingers.

I need to go to the voting booth tonight and cast my ballot. I'm still undecided though. Someone told me being undecided this late in the game means your an idiot. So that's why! I'm a blithering idiot. I need another mojito!

Taper - Week 1

2008-10-30T09:10:00.004-06:00

There are some real challenges with tapering. First--it messes with your mind not to be training as you've done for so long. I've been freaking out thinking about how I didn't train right for this or that. I want to squeeze in that last break through workout that'll magically cover what I forgot. As an endurance athlete, you, strangely, derive a bit of self-worth from how much you flog yourself during training (at least I do). But, if you ease up on the throttle, you start to worry you're losing it. It's such a strange mental struggle. Logically, I know I'm doing the right thing by letting my body recover, but my programming isn't on the same page. I really go stir crazy if I don't put in a long ride over a couple of weeks. It eats me up.

Second--my weight has been shooting up. I still eat like I'm full on training, but I'm not. So, I've been packing in the pounds. I can already see some of you rolling your eyes--"A little more weight will do him some good." I'm not so much a weight freak like some of my other collegues. But, here's were the issue comes into play. A little more weight during a 26 mile run can wreak havoc on an already injured leg, or be the source of a new injury. More weight is actully welcome on the swim; it adds a degree of buyancy. I'm indifferent to more weight on the bike--that is if the course is flat, which IMAZ is relatively flat. But, additional weight on the run can be a deal breaker. There's a bit of a chain reaction that takes place during such an event as an IronMan. The swim doesn't have too much affect other than initiating a bit of fatigue. The 100 mile bike ride is where the chain reaction really begins. Long miles, pushing a big gear, lots of fatigue all add up to a slightly modified running gait. Throw in a bit of additional weight on an altered gait, and you got an injury waiting to happen.

Sadly, I love to eat! Last night my wife made steak with a special cheese sauce pasta. Gosh, it was so good! I ate alot. Even after I was done, I kept eating. I knew I should stop, but the food was so good. After dinner a found myself on the couch with my belt and button undone watching TV. Thank goodness there wasn't any chocolate cake around, I would have eaten that too! At work I find myself eating all day. I have cut out the Coke and chocolate. I've made an effort to eat more fruit. But I love to eat! It's no fair.

End of Week Summary

2008-10-27T13:16:00.002-06:00

This was supposed to be my last week of my final block before taper. I really wanted to put up some big numbers, but my leg isn't letting me do the running thing too much right now. I finished the week off with 14 hours, which included 6.5 hours of riding for 135 miles, 6 hours of swimming for 14,000 meters of swimming, 30 minutes of running for 3.2 miles of running, and an hour of walking.

Saturday, I started with a hard tempo 2,000 meter (rougly half the Iron distance) swim just to get a feel for how long my swim will take. It took me 45 minutes sans wetsuit. I figure a wetsuit will cut a bit of time off, but this is still fairly slow. I started to freak out because a ~1.5 hour swim time will put me in a big hole right off the bat. I tried to brush off the time considering it was a fairly long swim week. I cooled down with an easy 1000. Righ after swimming, I jumped on the bike and rode my regular loop (and then some). I finished the ride with 100 miles and 5 hours. It was really windy and the wind kept shifting. The prior day, I changed my stem length from 12CM to 9CM so I could more on top of my aerobars. The change was a good one. I also wore my aero helmet, which probably gave many people a laugh at my expense--"That guy must have really liked the movie Tron!" I wanted to try out the aero helmet over a long distance to see how I felt after the ride. I'm very glad I did take it because the lack of ventilation in the helmet was horrible. I felt like it was raining inside the helmet because I sweat so much. After my ride, I felt like my head was dehaydrated and my eyes were sunken into my skull. Yes...there's a bit of hyperbole here, but the aero helmet adversely affected my performance. Imagine how bad it would be in the hot Arizona sun. No thanks!

After the ride, I loaded up on some Subway and got the girls dressed in their Halloween costumes. I took them and met Tanya at the kids' school fall carnival--not PC to use Halloween at public school functions. I brought a gallon of water and proceeded to gulp it down. After the carnival, we came home and watched some videos. Oh yeah, I polished off half a pint of Ben & Jerry's Brownie Batter ice cream. That probably wasn't the smartest thing to do.

Sunday morning, I dragged myself out of bed by 9 AM and went to the pool and swam an easy 2,500 meters. I came home and got ready for church. After church, I took a nap while the kids cleaned their rooms; Tanya went to a friend's house to cook dinners for the rest of the week. When I woke up, I had the kids practice their songs for their piano recital. We then met Tanya at the recital. The kids did well. Piano recitals are very interesting (more on this at a different time).

After piano, I decided to try out the running legs. My leg wasn't bugging me. I fired up the treadmill and ran for 30 minutes/3 miles. It was probably 10 minutes too long. As I was running, it dawned on me why my leg has been bugging me. I've been spending so much time pushing (mashing) a big gear while riding. The strain has been significant on the knees. To do that, and jump off and run isn't the best idea. Saturday, I never left the big chain ring. I averaged 20 MPH, over 5 hours, which included nearly 4,000 feet of elevation gain. There was lots of time I had wind on my face. That's terrible strain on the knees. So, I'm not going to do anymore long rides for awhile and I'll start to ice the knees. Nearly all riding for now on will be small chain ring--at least until the legs/knees recover. I'm fairly optimistic I will have my running legs back for IMAZ--if not sooner.